#so many perplexing things about the whole ordeal

[blossoms-phan]

rewatching “our awkward fancy meal” as an adult is so funny to me

[beardedmrbean]

COLUMBUS, Ohio − Police are investigating a strange finding buried in a backyard of a Columbus woman's home after her videos went viral on TikTok.

"It could be anything," Jennifer Watson, spokeswoman for the Columbus Division of Police, said Friday.

Katie Santry was digging holes for a fence in her backyard when she struck what appeared to be a buried rug, she said in a video posted to TikTok earlier this week. She also joked that her house might be haunted, saying her laptop had been broken and items were misplaced.

Santry's initial video has over 3 million views, and her entire chain of more than 20 clips about the rug mystery has garnered over 100 million views.

The investigation continued Friday morning, with significant police and media presence at the cul-de-sac in front of Santry's house. A few groups of curious neighbors and onlookers gathered nearby, filming videos and discussing updates.

Cars slowed down as they drove by, and many of the drivers held their phones out their windows to take pictures and videos.

Columbus police get involved

Several TikTok users urged Santry to contact the police as her videos went viral, and Columbus police visited the property Thursday.

Santry streamed the investigation on TikTok live, including the moments when two cadaver dogs sat down after sniffing a section of the yard. Cadaver dogs are often trained to sit to signal they have discovered human remains. Santry said at least 100,000 people watched the livestream.

"I'm still just hoping maybe someone just had a bloody nose on a rug and buried it," she wrote in a caption.

Watson said the dogs could have alerted to a variety of things.

"It could be body oil," Watson said. "It could be sweat. It could be it could be blood, like maybe a nick or a paper cut, something's as insignificant as that. So at this time, we don't know what we're looking at."

Who are the previous owners of Katie Santry's house?

The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, contacted the previous owner of the house – a 95-year-old Ohio resident – who said police called his family Thursday. He said that he and his wife did a lot of gardening, and he wondered if maybe they had discovered a burlap bag buried by mistake. 

He added that they're both perplexed by the whole ordeal and said the attention has been upsetting to his wife.

“The police called us yesterday, and they also asked some questions," he said. "They talked to my son too. None of us could remember anything about what was buried.” 

He added: “I just hope that if there’s treasure there … I hope they get lucky.”

Why are police investigating?

Watson said investigators on the property Friday were "starting to dig." Police held the scene overnight and continued investigating in the morning – Watson said they "needed light" to work.

"We're treating it as seriously as we can," Watson said. "You know, you can't leave any stone unturned in these incidents, so we just want to make sure that we are doing our due diligence."

[thespiralstaircasewriter]

A MADONNA OF THE WILD SIDE

Beside my bed, the last image and the first I saw everyday, back when I was a young girl, was a poster of Lou Reed and Rachel Humphreys.

I have to say that, more than him, it was her that I looked up to.

Her styled, wavy dark hair, her perfectly plucked eyebrows, her remote Monna Lisa composure.

To me she looked unexplicably calm, her limbs draped around her man, the composition of the tableau as majestic as any Renaissance Madonna portrait.

I couldn’t help but study her polished fingernails and her mysterious half-smile.

I really didn’t know a thing, in my closed up world, all alone with myself and my innate instincts. Which said: look, and learn. Look, and try to seize that secret. Look, and try to understand for yourself what life is.

Here, basic reality: Man, and Woman. So it seems. Like Father and Mother, but different. And it concerns me too, I thought, because I am a woman too, by birth. But I am and feel completely different from this Woman. Perhaps that might be because she is said to be… a Man? But she doesn’t look like one. The matter requires investigation.

A woman, I observed, was some role to interpret by serious rules, and at the same time, a nature, as evident as the one expressed by a thriving plant, or by a tiger, calmly licking her paw.

Rachel looked like a woman, in a pair of jeans and a black shirt. So a woman was obviously the essence which radiated through her person: it spoke to me, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Time passed, and I grew up. The poster went, and something else took its place.

I seemed to forget everything about Lou and Rachel, and if the sun had come out for the two of them, on one day lost in time.

And in time, I had my own chances to throw my bones at the world, to take long life digressions, to bore myself in well-thought out perspectives, to fuck and get fucked by my own quiproquos.

I went along what looked like my own way.

And you could say I turned around one day and found I had gone full circle, to be back to the same perplexity, and to the same attentive observation, this time surrounded by a modern, multi-faceted world, speaking in tongues, where a million oracles, high or low, just wait on every corner, to dole out any sorts of revelations you might ask for.

So I learned in detail the human story behind the lore I had picked up passing by, through the years, of how Rachel Humphreys was, in Lou Reed’s own words, ‘something else’, oscillating between a masculine and a feminine identity, and still retaining some man traits.

From what I found, Rachel had wanted to make her choice, and to be called a ‘she’. No ‘he’ days, anymore.

But that didn’t come true for Rachel. And we’ll never know exactly if she was denied that, or if she just put it on hold, busy on drugs, adventures and misadventures, thinking she would have the chance later. Later…

Likewise, we’ll never know if she left, or the way she held her head when she left, although I have a whole movie in my mind about that. Or if Rachel just lost her game and her man, and she was actually the one to watch him go, his heart closed for her, uncomprehending.

I’ll never know.

But I know that she fell from grace, that she suffered her own ordeal in the cruelest, unmitigated years of a modern Plague, and that she died a miserly death, like so many artists’ models. A sure death, the only biographic detail we possess about the mysterious beauties who look at us from ancient portraits.

And I know where her bones rest, I read, in a ‘pauper burial site’ on Hart Island, off the Bronx coast.

There she is, among many, many others, over one million souls, it says.

All the same, I feel as if I might just find her, in a dream.

Then I would know her in the multitude, and walk up to her.

Touch her shoulder, tell her I remember her.

Give her this story.

[kabutoraiger]

watched 2 different recent shows starring one of my favorite cute jdrama ossans (mashima hidekazu) since they were both subbed by the same person and the links were right there and it was like well why not. so i might as well do a joint review of them too.

coincidentally they both also feature a FL who's potentially down to fuck that middle aged man which is often an added draw for me but in advance i'll just say that i would not recommend either of these shows on that front.

"halation love" is a pretty limp lowkey mystery/"psychological thriller" where it being a fairly low budget show is kinda what damns it the most bc it's like. the cast is so small that once we eliminate both of the FL's sort of love interests as suspects who else could it be other than Guy C? there's not really any other recurring characters?

the FL here is also this aggravatingly bland doe-eyed waif who blinks confusedly through the whole ordeal & does things like apologize (in a genuine manner) to the guy who just tazed her & tied her up. just a spark of personality in this girl would've gone such a long way.

and this is just petty but they consistently put her in some of the ugliest clothes i have ever seen in a drama.

overall: not really recommended. mashima-san gets all bloody at one point though and it's very nice <3

"shoumonai bokura no renaimon" is a bizarre slice of life about a ~40 y/o guy who's contacted by his one true love from college only to find that she's actually dead & the one who contacted him is her teen daughter who looks exactly like her.

slice of life doesn't always need a coherent thesis statement i guess but i was still really perplexed about the messaging of this one. the ML and his childhood friend who's carried a torch for him for 25 yrs get into a relationship then later break up bc even after agreeing to date he never seemed to think of her romantically, only saying yes to make her happy/bc it would be an "easy" logical relationship. her putting her foot down against this is painted as a good move.

and yet in the end both the main women get into relationships with other men that neither of them ever display romantic attraction towards, who have seemingly just "worn them down" through persistence (not in the creepy way, but still). and THIS is painted as sweet. like ?? ??? it's the same thing though....

it's just a very frustrating straight people show in general. the best moments in it are probably the bits of cross generational bonding, and i kept waiting for the shoe to drop and for the daughter character to finally realize that her feelings for this 40 y/o man are actually "wanting a dad". dad & daughter are what most of their interactions read as. like, extremely so. at one point she calls him to pick her up at the park bc she fell off the jungle gym. (this 17 y/o girl kinda being written like she's 10 is a whole other can of worms, but.)

you could really do something with that, like a contemplation on the way society trains us to prioritize the idea of romance so much that we sometimes can't register other types of affection.

but the revelation never comes. she continues insisting she's romantically into this guy until getting rejected years later as a college student.

overall: also not recommended. but mashima-san wears many knit sweaters in it and looks very adorable :3

[lovelyrecs]

wowowow ari i won't lie i read through the entirety of this two days ago while i was half asleep in bed and i loved it so much. definitely seeing what captured me so very deeply with harmless and i enjoyed it SO much. now i will do what i was too sleep to and reblog PROPERLY. your memes btw. huge fan. huuuuge fan like i cannot, i slept and i dreamt some of them no joke

“Your numbers are the lowest of the whole team.” The latest tech-dude, with a tablet twelve models ahead of the one Bucky had in his room, tells him monotonously. “Wilson, Romanoff and Barton score the highest. Everyone else lies around the middle. You are dead-last.”

of course they do and of course he is. sam is kind and funny and would actually talk to his fans, nat is cool and scary and they like the intrigue and clint is insane

“I don’ care,” he mumbles. 

HELP ME the wittiest one liner he could come up with is a three-year old's snotty mumble. matches up.

“No one’s gonna listen to me.” Bucky wasn’t exactly the poster child for American values. He couldn’t even vote until three years ago, and that came only after the full wrath of a Steve Rogers descended on the email inbox of the DMV. 

this is very sad to me. however, the image of steve rogers hunched over a tiny laptop, angrily typing an email to the dmv is very very nice. but not nearly as nice as him later on going to the actual dmv, waiting in the long ass line with his arms crossed and then talking sternly to the clerks and etc while bucky stands behind him silently

“The team agreed to do a series of videos, each focusing on a different niche,” she begins, “Crash courses on science, pointing out mistakes in spy movies. Once a week.” Bucky nods along. He can pinpoint Bruce and Nat for those.

THAT WOULD BE SO

Maya is sick and tired, and the interns have shifted three times since the whole ordeal started. Bucky honestly feels a little bad. Maybe he should try to be like Scott, who not only wrote a book, finger-gunned at photographers, did an interview a week, but also agreed to a podcast and a video series about literally anything they suggested. 

scott!!! he WOULD and i would gobble it all up. i love that man. he's the people's princess and every time the interns get to work with him they let out a collective sigh of relief

They stick him in the background of a few videos. Just to interact, add his commentary on what was going on, suggestions. 

THE BACKGROUND??? LIKE A CRYPTID?? the content he will give is my profile picture-esque. just a blurry very petulant small face

Maya’s in the midst of explaining to him that sure, his numbers had gone up by a decimal, but that was because people had started editing him into the backgrounds of other pictures for other users to find in a perplexing take on Where’s Waldo.

LMAOO i have to say, though, what works works

For the next thirty minutes, he is subjected to a pop quiz about too many words ending with ‘core’, ‘coded’ and ‘eras’. He’s surprised that he knows what cottagecore is. He definitely doesn’t fucking know what a tomatogirl, nor does he want to. 

ari is that an actual thing that exists

Beyond that, the only thing he can think of is woodworking, which Sam introduced him to. While he spends time creating little figures, he wouldn’t say it was– 

THAT'S SO SWEET STOP IT I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIS LITTLE FIGURES

“Back to what we were talking about.” She ruffles through something on her laptop. “Puppets? History?”

PUPPET HISTORY also imagine if he'd said yes to puppets

“Whatever it is you think I did, Maya, I didn’t. I think,” you announce in a volume too much for a closed room, stopping when you see Bucky sitting cross-armed and looking delightfully disgruntled. “Oh hey, Barnes. Fancy seeing you here.”

IMAGINE THE AUDIENCE CHEERING LIKE IN A SITCOM. SHE'S BACK OH MY GOD DEAR READER

“Oh, am I finally getting hard launched?” You grin, and Bucky doesn’t know what that means. “Just imagine me kicking my feet, giggling or whatever.” 

HELP ME she's so me

“Do you know what skinwalkers are?”  “No.” “That’s what they say you look like, lurking in the back of all your friends’ videos,” you continue, swerving around your phone to show him.

I CANNOT THEY (you) MAKE MEMES OF HIM WHERE HE'S THE SKINWALKER LMAOO also like how she didn't expand at all like you get what you get suck it up you can use context clues “At least they’re calling you their boyfriend,” you add, entirely unhelpfully. “That’s gotta count.”

she's right, you have to look at the bright side. skinwalker bucky boyfriend. small wins.

Maya pointedly raises a finger at you. “Do you believe in ghosts?” “For the right price, I will believe in whatever you tell me to.” Her face lights up brighter than Bucky's ever seen.

i love her <3 also very clever way of leaving it open for readers ari u are a genius

“Fine,” he agrees and the sighs around the room are loud.  He scoffs. So fucking dramatic and for what.

LMAO why is he such a problem child and then pretends he doesn't know that. bucky barnes you make a conscious effort to be a little shit

ari shurisneakers you have done it again. live in my brain.

unsolved (i)

Summary: Bucky doesn't even believe in the paranormal. So who the hell thought it was a good idea to stick him in a series about everything haunted for the internet's amusement? With his loose-canon of a teammate who has no concept of subtlety or any shits left to give, to make things even worse. (Buzzfeed unsolved AU)

Warnings: swearing, frustrated bucky at his little shit supreme, Very Loud reader, images and memes that all have alt texts.

A/N: yes this is literally harmless in a different font. do not ask me if anything doesn't make sense. i cannot explain. i resurface every 3 years to present you with ideas born from menty b's. ANYWAY shout out to my beloved ryan and shane. pls enjoy <3

Bucky doesn’t appeal to the youths.

Apparently. 

On God, he cannot fathom why.

He had definitely left the house in the last six months, maybe. Smiled in at least two pictures that existed on the internet. He even knew what Discord was. Sort of.  

By all accounts, he should be treated as the modern day icon that he was.  

“The youths?” he repeats, the word so foreign on his tongue it felt odd to even say it.

“Your numbers are the lowest of the whole team.” The latest tech-dude, with a tablet twelve models ahead of the one Bucky had in his room, tells him monotonously. “Wilson, Romanoff and Barton score the highest. Everyone else lies around the middle. You are dead-last.”

Bucky has the audacity to look offended. 

“Anything to say?” Their PR head, Maya, asks him, amused. 

He stares, formulating the wittiest one liner he could in three seconds.

“I don’ care,” he mumbles. 

Maya sighs. “Look, the team took the decision together. As far as I’m aware, you are still a member. You need some PR if you guys want to stay in the public’s good books.”

“No one’s gonna listen to me.” Bucky wasn’t exactly the poster child for American values. He couldn’t even vote until three years ago, and that came only after the full wrath of a Steve Rogers descended on the email inbox of the DMV. 

“That’s why it’s important to get them to like you,” Maya emphasizes. “Or the idea of you at least. A very sanitized, corporate friendly version.”

His eyebrow twitches unintentionally.  

“And also you signed the contract.”

Well. Shit. 

Truth be told– and he has openly and rather loudly stated this on numerous occasions even especially when no one asked– he doesn’t understand why they need a PR team. The world has calmed down significantly over the last few years. Bucky hadn’t really been out crime-fighting as much as he was people-watching. There hasn’t been an earth-shatteringly dystopian-level event in the longest time, and there seemed to be a group of spandex-clad teenagers who seemed to do a good job at taking care of them when they did threaten to occur. Go kids.

Even if they needed PR, he could arguably understand the appeal of Sam and Nat and why the people would want to see more of them. Bucky, on the other hand, looked like he crawled onto Earth most days of the week. 

“What do I have to do?” he asks ultimately, knowing there was no way to get out of this. “Interviews?”

The intern shares a look with Maya. Bucky shares a look with the ceiling. 

“The team agreed to do a series of videos, each focusing on a different niche,” she begins, “Crash courses on science, pointing out mistakes in spy movies. Once a week.”

Bucky nods along. He can pinpoint Bruce and Nat for those.

Maya stares at him.

Bucky stares back.

“So,” she says slowly, like he’s a moron, “you would–”

“No.” 

The intern sighs heavily like they discussed that this was going to happen. Bucky was getting predictable. This annoys him even further, for some reason.

“Only once a week, and it doesn’t have to be anything crazy–”

“I’m not doing videos,” he interjects. “I’ll tweet a few times. I’ll even go outside. But ’m not doin’ videos.”

A big step was to get the Avengers off Twitter after the regular shit-storm that occurs every time they’d quote-tweet another politician calling them shitheads. Getting them back on seems counterproductive. 

“Fine,” Maya relents, looking at the intern. “We'll work something out.”

Bucky leans back in his chair, and meditating on ways he can weasel his way out of those too.

So they stick him in a couple of interviews.

Bucky, as the recluse extraordinaire that he was, does unsurprisingly terrible at them.

Variety does a piece on him that was supposed to take up 2 pages. They send back half a page worth of usable material and Bucky gets a lecture on how monosyllables don't count as answers.

He grunts in return. Maya’s itch to smack his shoulder with the rolled up draft increases.

They set him up for pap walks. Just him getting fast food for the team, or sitting in the park.

They don’t take into account that Bucky was trained professionally for years on how to hide, sneak in and out of places without a soul knowing he was ever there. 

The paparazzi spend three hours waiting for him outside the pizza place, while he’s been home for two hours with two demolished pepperonis and an order of mozzarella sticks. 

They give him access to his Twitter. 

He tweets some dumb shit and gets shadow banned by that evening. 

Maya is sick and tired, and the interns have shifted three times since the whole ordeal started. Bucky honestly feels a little bad. Maybe he should try to be like Scott, who not only wrote a book, finger-gunned at photographers, did an interview a week, but also agreed to a podcast and a video series about literally anything they suggested. 

“Play nice,” Sam tells Bucky one evening. 

It’s an off-hand comment, not even really looking at him while he says it. 

Bucky doesn’t need to ask what he’s referring to, but he thinks that maybe he has gone too far.

He begrudgingly agrees. 

Therefore, it begins. 

They stick him in the background of a few videos. Just to interact, add his commentary on what was going on, suggestions. 

Then the jokes really start.

“I just don’t got anything to add,” Bucky tries, in a failure of an attempt to justify his lack of contribution. 

Maya only stares at him, but Bucky swears he can hear her curse quietly, even though her lips don’t move even a millimeter.  

He is not put in another video. 

And so he finds himself here. 

In a meeting room that he’s convinced is barricaded from the outside so he can’t slither out the door again. Another intern with pink-tinted glasses that took up half their face.

Maya’s in the midst of explaining to him that sure, his numbers had gone up by a decimal, but that was because people had started editing him into the backgrounds of other pictures for other users to find in a perplexing take on Where’s Waldo.

“Videos seem to be working,” she ties it together. “But we need more than you just standing silently behind Captain Rogers.”

“But it’s working,” Bucky objects. “I don’t see why it has to change.”

Maya sends him a glare. Bucky decides then it’s good to shut up. 

“Are you on the internet a significant amount?” the intern asks. The glasses on their face have changed colours to green. Bucky’s eyebrow furrows. 

“No.” 

For the next thirty minutes, he is subjected to a pop quiz about too many words ending with ‘core’, ‘coded’ and ‘eras’. He’s surprised that he knows what cottagecore is. He definitely doesn’t fucking know what a tomatogirl, nor does he want to. 

“What do you like doing?” the intern enunciates, pulling up a spreadsheet of niches that had built a dedicated community around themselves over the years. “Makeup? Cleaning? Parkour?”

Bucky wonders if they’d really create a montage of him just micro cleaning the kitchen every week. It doesn’t sound half bad. 

Beyond that, the only thing he can think of is woodworking, which Sam introduced him to. While he spends time creating little figures, he wouldn’t say it was– 

“You really are dead silent,” the intern breaks his train of thought, tone almost that of wonder. “Guess the whole ‘ghost story for seventy years’ is more true than I thought.”

Bucky throws him a weary look, and works on unclenching the fist that tightened involuntarily. 

“Was that necessary?” Maya’s voice comes coldly. “Take fifteen. Go find the other one we were supposed to meet.”

While sheepish and somewhat apologetic, the kid still looks relieved to be out of there. To be honest, Bucky isn’t really offended– he’s grown a thick skin over the years. But he also thought the guy was a little shit now. 

Maya turns back to him, but Bucky finds that the table contains wonders far more interesting than the conversation at hand.

“Back to what we were talking about.” She ruffles through something on her laptop. “Puppets? History?”

He wordlessly shakes his head. 

Been the former, seen too much of the latter.

Maya’s head tilts abruptly. “You like ghosts?”  

He wonders if the prior conversation had anything to do with this insightful question. 

Bucky shrugs. “Don’t exist.”

“Really,” Maya deadpans. “Aliens and multiversal baboons are fine, but no ghosts.”

“I’ve seen aliens and multiversal baboons. Never seen a ghost in my life,” Bucky argues right back.

“Other people have seen ghosts.”

“Good for other people.”

The door swings open right as Maya’s eyes narrow at him. Guess it wasn’t padlocked. 

“Whatever it is you think I did, Maya, I didn’t. I think,” you announce in a volume too much for a closed room, stopping when you see Bucky sitting cross-armed and looking delightfully disgruntled. “Oh hey, Barnes. Fancy seeing you here.”

Bucky had met you. The newest addition to the team that had made a grand entrance a couple of weeks ago. He thinks you stay on the floor below him, but he has nothing backing this hypothesis other than the disco funk music that had started appearing at odd hours of the night. 

“Please sit,” Maya cracks a smile at you that Bucky had yet to earn. “Sorry, I know our meeting is scheduled for later, but I figured we could kill two birds with one stone.”

You look between her and Bucky, who hasn’t moved an inch since you got here, much less even said hello.

“You must be really bad if Maya had to call me in,” you tell him outright. “I’m usually like, her last option.”

“Thanks,” Bucky replies dryly. 

“Look, here’s my final pitch.” Maya sighs, before turning to you. “You’re new, and we need something to introduce you slowly to the public.”

“Oh, am I finally getting hard launched?” You grin, and Bucky doesn’t know what that means. “Just imagine me kicking my feet, giggling or whatever.” 

“And he needs… an upgrade.” Maya’s thumb juts out towards Bucky who simply rolls his eyes.

“Right.” Your sight lands on him from across the table. “I’ve seen the memes.”

“What memes?” he grunts, because while the team had definitely seen them, it didn't occur to anyone they should show it to him. He loves them. Really. So much. Die for them. 

You only look too happy to pull out your phone and start typing.

“Do you know what skinwalkers are?” 

“No.”

“That’s what they say you look like, lurking in the back of all your friends’ videos,” you continue, swerving around your phone to show him.

Bucky doesn’t look impressed. He can’t say he blames them either, which makes him inexplicably maddens him.  

“At least they’re calling you their boyfriend,” you add, entirely unhelpfully. “That’s gotta count.”

“Right.” Maya clears her throat. “The both of you–” 

“Are getting paired together, I suppose,” you hum. 

Bucky’s eyebrows pull together. 

He barely knows you. Just a little bit on how you ended up here, that you enjoyed hanging out with the team, figuring out your place in the compound, and were seemingly doing a great job at it. 

You were… loud. And open. 

Bucky feels the compulsive need to compensate for that by doubling down on how silent he could get, as if the two of you couldn’t co-exist in the same space in equilibrium. 

Maya pointedly raises a finger at you. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

“For the right price, I will believe in whatever you tell me to.”

Her face lights up brighter than Bucky's ever seen.

“Great.” Maya slams her laptop closed. “See you later.”

Bucky’s left staring as she exits, not even throwing the both of you another look.

“That was quick,” your voice cuts through the silence. “What was that all about?”

 “Don’ ask me,” he grumbles, with a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what was about to follow. 

“Ghost hunting?” Bucky echoes a week later, as expected.

“Yes,” Maya tells him simply. “Two of you. A series based on paranormal activity.”

“I don’t even believe in them,” he reiterates. 

“That’s the point,” she emphasises. “Skeptic and believer. It makes for a good contrast.”

“Why us both?” He hopes it doesn’t come off as offensive. He just doesn’t see why he can’t do this with Sam. Even Clint, if a gun was really pressed to his head. 

“I’m new, no one gives a shit about me,” you say brightly and full of promise. “Yet.”

“Exactly. It’ll be low key. Not an overwhelming number of viewers, no expectations. It’s perfect for launching one Avenger and re-launching another.”

“Sounds rad.” You grin, leaning back as your feet rest on the chair in front of you.

Maya looks relieved for a moment that at least one of you was on board. “No promises on anything. We shoot one video, and if it does well, we stick with it.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Bucky argues. 

“Then you have until tomorrow morning to give us another feasible idea,” Maya dishes back.

Bucky retreats into his seat, arms crossed over his chest. 

Truth be told, he considered himself to be the most boring person in the team and though he had made his peace with that, he was sure thar bringing that up now would entail Maya shooting him in the foot.

“Fine,” he agrees and the sighs around the room are loud. 

He scoffs. So fucking dramatic and for what.

“Put her there, partner.” You stretch ungracefully over the large table, sticking out your hand.

Bucky eyes your hand. “Do you even believe in ghosts?” 

“I do now, yeah.” You nod seriously. “Love ‘em. Can’t get enough of them.”

“One video,” Maya reminds him as a balm. “And if it doesn’t work, you’re off the hook forever.”

Off the hook? Forever? For Bucky?

Yay. 

“One video,” he reiterates.

You roll your eyes before smiling when he leans forward to grab it. You yank it up and down clunkily. He blinks at you, letting go slowly. 

“Thank fuck,” Maya groans, head dropping onto the table. 

Your smile is wild. “Guess we’re doing this shit together.”

He doesn’t even have to look very deep in his soul. He already knows he’s going to suffer.

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing!

to keep up with updates for this fic and others, please follow @shurisneakersupdates and turn on post notifications!

also i'd absolutely love to make this a community led fic like how harmless was! if you have memes or any paranormal ideas or just any prompts in general, please please send them my way <3

Next part

[cherishedteddie]

I haven't been remembering my dreams lately, but I just woke up from one that I remember some details from.

I went to Dollar General with my mom and sister, and they got what they needed and left to sit in the car. For some strange dreamlike logic I decided to get a liter of milk. I only want the liter so I pour the milk out. Not like on the floor or anything. I don't know where. So I go and try to check out at a self check out station and the empty bottle won't ring up. I guess because the bottle being empty voids the barcodes ability to scan? Perhaps the futuristic dream self checkouts are so advanced they can see the bottle is empty. I bag the empty bottle and leave without paying for I have no way to pay.

Perplexed on the entire ride home, but find out a family friend is there to visit when we return. I rope him into bringing me back to dollar general to get the situation sorted and pay.

He ends up taking me to a different dollar store and it happens to be the grand opening. It's in a shopping mall, there's a couple other stores. At first I'm hesitant to enter the establishment cos I see signage for the Dollar General but no way to enter or find it??? I finally open this ornate door that looks more like a vintage castle door than the entrance to a shipping center.

I enter and theres lots of people there. A line of chairs up against the wall to my right, some windowed countered to my left, all labeled different things. I keep walking and sort of see what could be a dollar general and start browsing. Found some snacks (these to be specific)

I momentarily become distracted down the arts and craft aisle when I see some markers that look like a hybrid between copic and prismcolor markers. I briefly contemplate it spending 23 dollars on a set of markers from the dollar store is a good idea. I decide against it and suddenly remember why I was there in the first place!

Despite there being many aisle of dollar general like product, the further I walk through the store the more it shifts into something else entirely. At one point I am trying to find a checkout place, a cashier for I am ready to go, but nothing. I'm too nervous to ask around so I just keep aimlessly wandering. I'm opening doors and seeing people fancily dreessed and I close them quickly and quietly, not before awkwardly meeting some gazes.

I guess it was some sort of grand opening and also some areas of the mall are reserved for holding events?

I realize all at once that my ride has been waiting on me and I grow sick with fear of being left and forever stuck in this store with no way to check out, get out and go home. This is when I run into Abby. (I wrote about her briefly before but Abby was a really dear friend from HS that passed away due to tragic circumstances in January 2019) She touched my arm and asked me what was wrong and I told her the whole ordeal and she laughs and points me to where she believe the checkout point to be and an exit. I choose to take the exit thanking her as she bids me farewell and I walk away to put the snacks back in there place before finally winding my way out. I find my ride is indeed there but there are no other cars in the parking lot now. I make my way to the car, apologize and get it.

This is when I wake up teary eyed and stressed out of my mind 😭

[kookiechess]

[ chris wood, cis man, he/him. ] ✧･ﾟ is that [ CHESHIRE “CHESS” KASS ] who just stumbled into town? rumour has it that they’re the [ FORTY ] year old originally hailing from [ ALICE IN WONDERLAND ]. if they had to choose a side they would consider themself [ EVIL ]. i’ve also heard that they’re [ RAMBUNCTIOUS ] but [ IMPULSIVE ] and have [ 3 ] children. i could almost swear i heard [ LOST MY MIND - ALICE KRISTIANSEN ] playing when they appeared.

TW;; Mental Illness, Threats, Kidnapping, Hostage, Murder

History;;

Chess was more of an enigma around Wonderland and less of an actual being, people would talk about him but rarely to him, not even bothering to learn his real name they all just referred to him as The Cheshire Cat, mostly because he tended to avoid people and disappear, having more fun playing pranks and confusing them with his riddles and words. Everything in Wonderland was always the same, tea parties with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, some of the only people he could stand to be around, but maybe it was because they were just as crazy as he once that it almost made him feel normal.

He went about the motions everyday, bored and wanting to have some fun. So he decided to do something no one in Wonderland dared to do, he was going to play a prank on the Queen of Hearts. It was so harmless he had forgotten what he'd done until the guards managed to catch him and he was in front of the queen. She was so angry as she screamed on and on about her roses and how he had destroyed them, honestly he hardly cared at all.

He only paid attention once the Queen threatened to behead him, then he was in survival mode. He somehow managed to convince the queen to spare him in exchange for his undying loyalty and to report on anything new in Wonderland to her before anyone else, do her bidding, and anything else she asked of him. Honestly it added just enough adventure and suspense in his life to keep him satisfied.

One day a mysterious girl appeared in wonderland and of course he played his tricks on her and gave her directions before he quickly vanished to tell the queen all about it. After that he stayed hidden but watched the blonde girl, something about him perplexed him, maybe it was the thought of there being more than wonderland out there for him somewhere and he watched to see how to get there. Or maybe it was just sheer boredom. Eventually the blonde left and when Chess tried to follow he couldn’t he was stuck in Wonderland. After that he gave up on the thought of anything else, resigned to his fate he fell further into madness, becoming worse, on top of it he began to grow darker and darker in nature, no longer caring about the things he formally cared for.

At some point Chess met another cat in Wonderland, she intrigued him enough to pursue her, but when things got serious he did what he does best and vanished. It wasn’t until the queen got ahold on her for something small, she kidnapped her and his kid, sentencing the girl to death, Chess was left with this kid he suddenly needed to be responsible for. The Queen thought the whole ordeal was hilarious and kept his son as a kind of pet, forcing Chess to stick around the castle, keeping an eye on them while still being his kooky and aloof self.

Chess was in the middle of scolding his kid and when he thought he heard the queen he vanished, when he reappeared he was no longer in Wonderland, he was in some strange town, he looked different, no longer pink, furry, and striped. In fact he looked more like Alice or the Queen. AS most would be confused and scared he was excited, he had a feeling this would be the best adventure of his life.

Personality/Facts;;

Chess suffers from many mental health issues, audio and visual hallucinations, and spotty memories, back in Wonderland this was just considered normal.

He had the ability to turn invisible.

He’s very disconnected from reality, coming off as mad, but he always has motives for what he did.

He rarely cares about anyone but himself.

He has the kind of smile that draws you in for some reason.

He’s a Gemini.

@scatteredintros

[indigobackfire]

Hello! Here’s a random message to you ^^

This is kind of in reference to your old message about not wanting to kill Rakepick in your story (I know, that’s some damn fast reaction, right?), but also to the post about the coat you reblogged recently.

So, I remember seeing your posts forever ago when you were ending Y5. Y’know, your standard reactions to Y5Ch30: calling Rakepick a bitch or something along these lines. Coincidently, that was also when you started liking my posts (mostly about Ben, I believe). AND THEN, you followed me. And I was like: “Girl, you’re not gonna like it here…” – which is my usual reaction when I’m followed by someone I know doesn’t like Rakepick. Needless to say, I was quite surprised later on.

Anyway, sorry for bringing you to the Dark Side, I guess 😅

🙈🤣 Oh I haven't seen that post in ages, I guess I was just perplexed MC was so okay with the whole ordeal, but I mean sending us to fight a Chimera was a bitchy move xD and is mostly trying to replicate Indigo's worry about her friends, she's afraid her or one of the others will have to sacrifice themselves defeating the vault, especially Ben.

You know, I spoiled myself of y6ch18 quite early with fanart (I remember fake self spoiling that Rowan was actually spying MC from a fanfic bio on wattpad xD), so my perception of Rakepick was tainted from the beginning.

But the thing is, she's too cool 🙈 and also because of my "background". I LOVE Hannibal, as I probably said many times before. I've read the books and watched the whole series at least three times and Rakepick is (almost) right up that alley.

Hannibal can be and is a bitch but I can't stop loving and being completely fascinated by his character. I know he's cruel and cold, he's killed characters I love, but there's an elegance to him, a cleverness I strive to have, the 'morally good' he does through 'evil' actions, his knowledge, his talents, his passion. Also uhm... really hot well groomed man 🙈.

That's how I see Rakepick, she's the mean person you admire. She's attractive, she confident in a way I wish I were, she's clever and sure of what she knows, she's insensitive but she's also the one to make MC strive to be a better witch/wizard (I'm thinking cool girl monologue from Gone Girl), she's a Gryffindor <3...

I like that we were given the option to mistrust her - as any teenager must mistrust authority - but I think another side of MC should've been drawn to her almost as much as Jacob once were, to be tempted to understand and follow her. Well, much like Will and Hannibal 🙈, Will doesn't trust Hannibal (n wants to kill him) but he can't help but crawl into his schemes, because Hannibal understands him like nobody else does, he accepts Will's wicked side wholeheartedly even if Will doesn't accept his, because he sees Hannibal, rivals him in an almost romantic way.

(Now that I'm thinking.... Hannibal and Clarice would be an even better example, considering MC and Clarice are both morally strong characters. But lots of Will is inspired by her, so both parallels work.)

Also I cannot shake off the feeling she knows something nobody else does, especially after that meeting with Jacob after Rowan's death where he's saying she's promising power and riches and whatever, but Rakepick is already extremely renowned to the point there's a book about her, Dumbledore travels the world to find her, she works in the best wizarding institution for Cursebreakers, etc etc.

Probably the reason why I love this line

She's not a saint and there are her own interests in the mix, but there's more to her than meets the eye or that the game is willing to dive into. I hope her comeback brings something new to the table cause there's still a lot to be explained, a lot we still don't know about her.

I'm still not sure what path I'll follow in my rewrite, plot is not my strongest suit 😅 and I'll overthink/be unsatisfied with everything, but your analysis sure help A LOT, they have logic! plus they're really fun to read 💖 also I'm one of those people who likes contradicting the trend xD if people hate her, I'll look for any reason to like her 🙈 just check who my faves are! So don't worry about corrupting me 😆

[journalxxx]

By Hook or by Crook (5)

“What do you make of all this?” Toshinori asked, when they were finally alone. They’d momentarily parked the kid in the hallway with a cup of tea while the hero had followed Tsukauchi in his office as he took care of the last bureaucratic dregs of the questioning.

“As I see it, there are two major possibilities we ought to consider.” Tsukauchi said without taking his eyes off the monitor of his computer. “The first is that Midoriya’s quirk is just a mutation, and he is in no way related to All For One. His father is likely a government official whose position grants him knowledge of enough confidential files to make him fear negative repercussions in case his son’s quirk was publicly known, and has therefore enforced silence on the matter. We aren’t looking at any outstanding crimes here, although this man isn’t going to win any Parent of the Year awards any time soon.”

Toshinori grimaced. Wouldn’t that be nice? “And what are the odds of this being our case?”

“I wouldn’t bet my next paycheck on it, for sure.” Tsukauchi typed something on the keyboard, and checked his phone at the same time, before sighing and leaning back in his chair. “The other possibility is that Midoriya is indeed related to All For One, maybe even his son. He’s been fostered to a trusted associate of his and kept in the dark about everything.”

That option could be more statistically or genetically likely, but it still didn’t sit right with Toshinori. “That doesn’t sound like something All For One would do though. Why not raise him as a successor, or even just an underling? Surely another All For One wielder would have made for an important asset to his schemes.”

“You forget that Midoriya’s quirk manifested only two years ago. It is possible that All For One may have planned to do so, but lost interest when the child was deemed quirkless.” Tsukauchi scratched his head pensively. “As for why he didn’t keep the kid close since his birth… we can only assume it was out of caution. Fourteen years ago you had already put a significant dent in All For One’s syndicate and influence. Maybe he was already taking precautions against his own downfall, and didn’t want his potential successor to be involved in case things took a turn for the worse too quickly.”

“... I guess that makes sense.” Toshinori nodded. As per habit, he sent a quiet thanks to his lucky star for accidentally baring his secret to a damnably honest and capable member of the force such as Tsukauchi, God knew Toshinori himself wasn’t exactly cut out for fine deductive work. “In this case, the boy’s father…”

“...Is a former subordinate of All For One’s currently employed by the government, yes. Not a pleasant scenario to work with.” Tsukauchi waited for the printer to regurgitate a disproportionate stack of documents that made Toshinori instinctively recoil. The detective flipped through the paperwork quickly before sprinkling his signature on just about every odd sheet. “Regardless of which of the two hypotheses is true, I definitely want to look into this Hisashi Midoriya. He is by far the most suspicious aspect of the boy’s account.”

“Yeah. He doesn’t visit his family for a decade and a half, he doesn’t talk about his job, he doesn’t follow basic legal procedures, and you can tell he had more of an active role in encouraging Midoriya to hide the quirk than the kid lets on... It doesn’t exactly paint a reassuring picture.” Toshinori sighed. “This isn’t going to be easy for the boy…”

“It never is, when a family member is involved in criminal activities. But the fact that their relationship seems rather distant may make things a little less traumatic for him.” Tsukauchi checked his watch as he tidied up some stationery and turned off his computer. “Well, I guess I’m not too unforgivably late for my other meeting since we don’t have to question Mrs. Midoriya.”

“...Sorry about that. And for springing this on you all of a sudden.” Toshinori said with an apologetic grimace and his utmost sincerity. “You’re a saint.”

Tsukauchi’s small smile implied that he was well aware of the fact. “I’ll drive Midoriya home while I’m on my way to the city hall. Do you need a lift? Or do you want me to let you on the rooftop for a smoke?” That bit of code speak would never not be tragically ironic, Toshinori thought.

“No, I’ve already finished my shift for the day.” All three, scant, scattered hours of it. Japan’s finest, most dependable hero, ladies and gentlemen.

“Then thank you for your hard work.” His friend gave him a quick look and a brief, firm squeeze to his shoulder before heading to the door. No pity, no unrequested sympathy, no disingenuous praise, just straightforward respect and understanding. He really was one of a kind.

Midoriya was exactly where they’d left him, busy fiddling with his phone. He perked up when he saw them return. “Uh, my mother just texted me back. She says she’ll be home in about an hour. If you still want to talk to her.”

Tsukauchi hesitated. “It’s a little too late for me, I’m afraid. I’m expected somewhere else, but…”

“I can wait.“ Toshinori immediately volunteered. “It won’t be as thorough or official as if you interviewed her yourself, but if it can lighten your workload just a little…”

“...Well, I don’t see why not. Hop in the car with us then.”

The return trip was silent. Toshinori glanced at Midoriya a couple of times from the rearview mirror, and he always caught him in an ill-concealed state of unrest. Fidgeting with his phone, picking at the seatbelt, gazing nervously out of both car windows. Toshinori didn’t like that. Why all that agitation, now that the worst of the ordeal was supposedly over?

The boy eventually locked eyes with him. “...Oh. Uhm.”

“Something on your mind?” Toshinori asked.

“Uh, well, I was wondering…” His gaze dropped to his knees. “Are you going to tell my mother about my quirk?”

“I’m afraid so. She is bound to find out anyway, eventually. The police will issue an update on your quirk registration, as per the norm in such cases.”

“...Ah.” Oh boy, now he looked like a kicked puppy. That was just depressing.

“I don’t necessarily have to be the one to break the news to her though. If it makes you feel any better, you can tell her about the incident in your own words.” Toshinori offered, hoping to soften the blow.

“I… I think I would prefer that. Thank you.” The boy quietly acquiesced.

Tsukauchi shot Toshinori a pointed look. All right, maybe that wasn’t the most proper way to go about it, maybe standard procedure demanded the officer in charge to keep mother and son separate during the questioning and explain things personally in the most objective possible terms. But Toshinori wasn’t an officer, he was a washed-up alter-ego of the Symbol of Peace acting in semi-official consulting capacity, and he’d be damned if he didn’t try to make things a little less humiliating for the forlorn child in the back. He condensed that whole argument into a meaningful glance of his own, that Tsukauchi couldn’t hold for more than two seconds lest he drove them all straight into the back of a truck. Toshinori took that as unspoken permission to proceed as he saw fit.

“I’ll be leaving this in your capable hands then.” Tsukauchi said as the two stepped out of the car. The man had a veritable talent for conveying irony while maintaining the straightest of faces and the driest of tones.

“Your trust is deeply appreciated. Drive safely!” Toshinori shut the door of the car decisively and waved him off with a dazzling smile.

“Uhm. Okay.” Midoriya said, his eyes darting between the hero and the speeding car with obvious perplexity. “Mom won’t be here for at least another forty minutes. I can fetch that photo you wanted in the meantime. I think I know where it is… probably...”

“I’ll take you up on that, thank you.” Toshinori followed him across the parking lot and up the stairs of the apartment complex. The boy’s eagerness to please was a sight for sore eyes in this cold, self-serving world. “You really did something commendable today, you know? Not many people would be so ready to relieve the pain of those who hurt them. That villain owes you more than he’ll ever know.”

“Oh…” The boy fiddled with his keys as a light redness tinged his cheeks. “It’s nothing, really. It isn’t my place to judge anyone... let alone steal from them. I just hope he’ll get better soon.”

“I’ll keep you up to date on his condition, if you want.”

“Oh, you don’t need to! It’s fine!” Midoriya’s instinctual politeness clashed against Toshinori’s no-nonsense availability. It was a fierce battle, but one didn’t become the number one hero without developing a certain skill in staring people into reasonableness. Midoriya surrendered with a small smile. “...I-It would put my mind at ease though.”

“Then I shall.” Toshinori claimed with finality. “Honestly, I wish I could have done more today for you and Tsukauchi. You two took care of all the heavy lifting and data collecting while I just stood around doing nothing the whole time.”

“You did, didn't you…?” Toshinori’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Well, he hadn’t been expecting that candid a confirmation of his uselessness. Midoriya flinched and started flailing about in obvious distress as soon as he realized he’d voiced that thought aloud. “N-No! I mean- I don’t mean that you were- What I’m saying is that you didn’t really need to come. But you did anyway! F-For my sake, I get that. Because you promised you’d help me out, even if you surely have better things to do with your time, and… I truly appreciate it. Really.”

Toshinori laughed softly. Yes, ‘truly appreciative’ was indeed the boy’s default mood whenever he was graced with the barest amount of consideration, as far as the hero had witnessed in their short acquaintance. He didn’t think it was some sort of hero-worship-related response either, the kid just seemed that sensitive to it. “Don’t worry about it. It’s part of the job.”

“Is it?” Midoriya finally opened the door and they stepped inside. He let out a small chuckle of his own as they removed their shoes. “I guess I have new insight to add to the online speculation about All Might’s decreasing workload. I guess it is to be expected if yo- if he’s taken  to follow up on all his cases so thoroughly.”

Toshinori had to fight back a traitorous cough. “W-well, there is really no need for me to overexert myself nowadays as I used to do in the past.“ He started, automatically supplying his PR-certified response to any inquiry on the topic. Goodness, people really did notice, didn’t they? It was hardly a new concern, but still… “The crime rate has been decreasing steadily, and the industry is so saturated with heroes that there’s someone ready to intervene almost at any place and at any given time. And those heroes could use the money and exposure way more than me…” Toshinori trailed off as they made their way to the living room. The boy was regarding him with unnerving attention, as if memorizing his speech word for word. “There are other reasons too, of course…”

Midoriya cocked his head to the side curiously, expecting further elaboration. Then it clicked, and he fleetingly glanced at the hero from head to toe with open contrition. “O-Oh! Of course! Your… Sorry, I forgot.”

That simple sentence confused Toshinori so much that he couldn’t help but gape back. The silence grew very awkward very quickly. “...Uhm. So, that photo of yours?”

“R-Right! I’ll go look for it! Make yourself comfortable! Be right back!” The boy bolted fast enough to leave metaphorical dust clouds behind him.

Toshinori wandered to the nearest chair with small steps. He forgot. That was quite the feat, while literally standing in front of the sad, wrecked husk that Toshinori had become. Or maybe the kid hadn’t realized that his appearance was a relatively recent development. That seemed more likely. Perhaps he had interpreted his vague answer about his quirk to mean that the number one hero had always been just that, a sickly, overachieving twig in a bodysuit keeping his own skeleton in the closet for nearly forty years.

Toshinori let out a sigh. Quite the uplifting impression he was leaving with this young one.

His circling thoughts were interrupted by a yelp, and the thundering noise of some heavy objects crashing just outside the living room.

“Midoriya?” Toshinori called, jumping to his feet. The second unanswered call had him by the source of the noise in a moment.

“I’m here! I’m fine!” Midoriya’s voice finally answered, from behind a half-closed door conspicuously marked as ‘Izuku’ by a familiar blond-banged nameplate. 

“What was that?”

“Just… some stuff that fell down...” Toshinori approached it and peeked inside. Even from his limited perspective, he could see the boy sitting on the floor and rubbing his forehead, next to a tipped-over chair.

“And did that stuff happen to include you?” Toshinori deadpanned, inviting himself in... and pausing on the threshold. Taking in the interior of the boy’s bedroom. Which wasn’t the priority right now. He willed himself to ignore the star-spangled elephant in the room assaulting his senses and knelt down beside Midoriya, gently peeling his hand away from the sore spot. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no, it’s just a bump.” 

“You should put some ice on it.” There were no cuts or outer signs or damage, which was a good start. Toshinori’s eyes fell on the bottom half of the toppled piece of furniture beside them. “...Did you seriously try to climb on a rolling chair?”

“I do that all the time. It’s steadier than it looks!” There was no appropriate reply to such a claim, but Toshinori’s judgemental glare was enough to make the boy squirm. “I’m fine, really-”

“Ice.” He pointed sternly at the corridor. Maybe there was still a minimal chance of preventing an oversized lump on Midoriya’s forehead from outing to Tsukauchi and other responsible adults the fact the boy had nearly cracked his skull within five minutes of being left in Toshinori’s charge.

“All right. Just a second.” Toshinori kept an eye on the kid, making sure he wasn’t struggling to keep his balance, as he made his way out of the room. Room that Toshinori was now free to observe in all its embarrassing magnificence.

A soft All Might carpet. All Might-themed bedding. Walls plastered with All Might posters. All Might-patterned curtains. Shelves and shelves and shelves of All Might action figures and books. 

It was always… humbling to be reminded of how much passion and care people from so many different walks of life could put in something as trivial as collecting hero merchandise - his hero merchandise, more often than not. Popularity and revenue were Toshinori’s very last priorities when it came to his job, but, despite merchandising being exactly about those, he wasn’t opposed to the practice in principle. It did help cement the reassuring image of the Symbol of Peace in the collective mind, which was definitely one of his lifetime goals. It brought a sizable influx of wealth to the agency’s treasury, which he largely redirected to charity and assorted emergency relief funds. It did seem to spark genuine joy and entertainment in both children and adults. And, when none of these arguments were enough to wash away the vague sense of guilt that came with profiting off the love and admiration of Japan’s fine citizens, Toshinori reminded himself that there were much worse, self-destructive indulgences people could waste their savings on. Alcohol. Tobacco. Drugs. Troll 2 DVDs. The like.

Midoriya reappeared nursing an ice pack against his temple. “Sorry about that. The photo should be in one of those boxes.” He gestured towards the wardrobe that sported a brown cardboard box on the top, and then towards the floor, where its twin lay sideways after a presumably rough landing. They cut through the tape of the latter and, after Midoriya emphatically assured him that he didn’t mind him browsing through his personal belongings in the slightest, Toshinori joined the kid on the carpet in their quest for the photographic Holy Grail. 

“I probably slipped it inside one of these…” The boy said, pulling out small piles of notebooks and publications. Toshinori confined his perusal to dated magazines, comics and books that didn’t seem likely to invade Midoriya’s privacy. The first box yielded no result.

“Maybe it’s in that one. Let me get another chair- oh.” Toshinori only needed to raise his arms and strain slightly on his toes to comfortably reach the top of the wardrobe and retrieve the second- crap, that was heavy. How the kid planned to pull it down himself while standing on wheels was beyond him. “Thank you.”

Toshinori was sitting cross-legged and flipping through an old gossip magazine lavishing pages and pages of speculation on the meager information they had managed to scrape together on his association with Dave - ah, those were the days… - when Midoriya finally let out a triumphant Aha!

“Found it!” He regarded his prize with joy, but his expression quickly morphed into concentration and then confusion. Toshinori held out his hand expectantly, and the boy deposited the photo into it while indicating a specific spot. “It’s, uh… my father’s this one.”

Toshinori looked at the man in question.

And froze.

“He doesn’t…” He heard the boy say distantly, as if from kilometres away. “He looks… a bit different from the picture in the police file…”

Toshinori coughed. He was different, all right. Subtly, cunningly so. Both men had short, snow-white hair, both had relatively plain features and pale complexion, both had faintly-colored eyes that could pass as blue under the right light. They were similar enough that they could be mistaken for one another, when described verbally. But the man in Tsukauchi’s file was a stranger to Toshinori. The man in this photo wasn’t.

“This-” The hero managed, between small bursts of coughs that he couldn’t restrain. “This is the man that- told you to keep quiet about your quirk-”

“Y-Yes.” Midoriya was gawking at him with obvious concern, and it only got worse when the hero’s words sank in. “I-I mean, he didn’t- he just- we sort of agreed that-”

“And the-” Toshinori covered his mouth with his hand, already tasting iron on his tongue as he patted his trousers to find some tissues. “The last time you spoke to him was…?”

“A little less than a month ago.”

Something inside Toshinori just gave up on trying to hold it together. He erupted into a brutal fit, vicious enough to shake his whole body and squeeze his eyes shut. He heard the boy asking something in alarm, and he felt warm blood trickling down his chin before he finally got ahold of a handkerchief to press against his lips. He hacked and spluttered for an interminable minute, his throat and chest tight and sore from the effort. Eventually it died down, and he found himself hunched over and bracing himself against the floor, wheezing and struggling for breath as something shuffled beside him. He turned to check on the noise, and saw Midoriya tapping on his phone.

“Don’t.” Toshinori rasped, swallowing down the remaining blood coating his mouth and reaching out to gesture at him dismissively with his clean hand. “I’m fine.”

“N-no, you aren’t.” The kid looked on the verge of fainting himself. Toshinori followed his horrified gaze, only to notice he’d sprayed plenty of little crimson stains on both the photo and the carpet, not to mention his own clothes. Damn, that was a mess even by his standards. “B-But- it’s okay, I’ll call an-”

Toshinori unceremoniously plucked the phone from Midoriya’s grasp, made sure that he hadn’t dialed any number, and tossed it on his bed. No need to make the situation even more headache-inducing than it already was. “I mean it. It happens. Don’t worry.”

Toshinori cleared his throat as he contemplated the ruined piece of evidence anew. At least he hadn’t marred the spot containing ‘Hisashi Midoriya’. Despite the less than optimal angle, there could really be no doubt. There was no mistaking that face for anyone else’s, it had been seared in Toshinori’s mind by more than three decades of pain and regret.

...Shit.

Shit.

Toshinori collected the picture from the floor and stood up to drop it on the kid’s desk, where it sat innocently surrounded by dozens of pieces of licensed All Might memorabilia.

“...So this is your father, and he’s alive and well.” He stated it aloud and with scorn, because he felt it was important for the universe to hear that its sense of humor didn’t fly with everyone.

“Ehr. Yes. Do you-”

“All right. Okay. Fine.” Toshinori turned on his heels and headed for the door. “Excuse me, I have to make a phone call.”

“...To your doctor?” Midoriya asked apprehensively, visibly starting to doubt the hero’s mental as well as physical well-being.

“No.” He almost stamped a huge, bloody handprint on his slacks before remembering that he still looked like he’d just slaughtered a pig and devoured it raw. “Can I use the bathroom?”

“Second door on the left.” The boy muttered, too stunned by now to object to any of Toshinori’s tangents.

Toshinori washed his face, neck and hands, and rinsed his mouth. He decided he couldn’t bother to do anything about the state of his clothes. He took care of scrubbing the sink too once he was done, making sure he didn’t accidentally leave any red smears on it. He dried his hands and fetched his phone.

“Tsukauchi? Sorry, can you make it back to Midoriya’s house? Yes, as soon as you can. ...No, but we found that photo. You need to see it, it’s… it’s him.”

He closed the call and stared at his reflection on the mirror. His brain didn’t produce a single coherent thought. He walked back to the kid’s room.

Midoriya was peering at the picture intently, even though he hadn’t moved it from where Toshinori had left it. The man’s eyes fell on the scattered blots on the carpet. In his experience, there wasn’t much hope of removing them completely, but it seemed rude not to try, at least. “Got any cleaning supplies?”

Midoriya blinked at him owlishly. “In the bathroom. Under the sink.”

One short trip later, Toshinori was back with paper towels and rubbing alcohol. He waved the boy off when he made to kneel down beside him to help. He handed him the ice pack that lay forgotten on the floor, and the kid pressed it back on his forehead mechanically as he sat on his bed. Toshinori could benefit from only a couple of minutes of silence before Midoriya spoke.

“You know him.”

“...Yes.”

“You’re upset.” 

Toshinori wondered if it showed on his face, or if it was just an educated guess based on the half-baked spontaneous hemorrhage he’d just displayed. He didn’t reply, his attention ostensibly focused on dabbing lightly at each smudge.

“Why…” The boy’s voice faltered. “W-Why is there a photo of another man in the police records?”

Toshinori couldn’t hold back a deep exhale. He wasn’t sure he was the most qualified person to have this conversation with the boy. He surely wasn’t the most eager to.

“All Might.” He felt compelled to raise his gaze. Midoriya was pale, his eyes wide and shiny with unshed tears. His expression was heartbreakingly imploring. “Please.”

He was going to find out anyway, at least the bare bones of it. Kindness was one thing, cowardice was another. Denying him an answer at this point felt more like the latter.

“I know him because he is known to the police. He’s a villain.”

“...A villain…?” The information bounced right against Midoriya’s shock. Toshinori gave him a curt nod. “No… no, that’s… not…” 

Toshinori could track the gradual, painstaking process of acceptance the poor kid was going through from the aborted expressions quickly blurring into each other. Horror, fear, confusion, disbelief. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle a sob.

“A-Are you sure?”

Toshinori hesitated. Was there any other possibility they weren’t considering? “Are you absolutely certain that that’s the person you’ve been talking to?”

“I… I’ve never met him in person. B-But mom has, and she’s been talking to him too. She said it’s him.”

“...Then I’m afraid there can be no mistake.” It felt like dropping a boulder on the child’s chest, and the way Midoriya crumpled onto himself, cradling his head in both his hands, reinforced that gut-churning impression. Toshinori made no effort to conceal the sympathy in his whisper. “I’m sorry, kid.”

“H-He said…” The rest of that thought was swallowed into distraught silence.

“He told you he worked for the government?”

Midoriya took his time to answer, and he did so with a half-choked snort. “He… he never did, actually. I thought… He said things that… made me think…”

Toshinori grit his teeth. Figures. That silver-tongued demon wouldn’t spare even a child from his precious little mind games. “I can imagine.”

The silence that followed was only broken by the boy’s quiet sniffles, and it was so long that Toshinori believed the kid to have exhausted his reserve of bravery for further questions. He’d resumed his ill-concealed procrastination via blood-cleaning when the next inquiry dropped.

“What did he do?”

Oh, man. What didn’t he do? “He’s been involved in a variety of criminal activities, both directly and indirectly. He’s… quite the nasty customer.”

“Since when? How long for?” Midoriya gripped his head even more tightly, his fingers digging deep among his curls. 

Toshinori had the distinct feeling that his well-meaning honesty was now trespassing into inadvertent cruelty. “We should wait for your mother before discussing this any-”

“Please.” Midoriya’s head snapped up, and the weight and emotion of those emerald eyes pierced through him like a blade. “Please, just tell me.”

Fourteen years of lies. Toshinori couldn’t bear to add even one more to the heap. “...Since long before you were born.”

Midoriya’s head dropped anew. Toshinori got back on his feet, unsure whether a kind word or a pat on the head could possibly ease that burden even slightly-

The ring of the doorbell made them both flinch, bursting that odd bubble of private desolation that had enveloped the boy’s room. They made their way out of the room, Midoriya quietly trailing behind the hero as the man opened the front door.

Tsukauchi opened his mouth to greet them, and froze. His eyes immediately homed in on the blood liberally splattered on Toshinori’s clothes, and on the melted ice pack Midoriya was still absently pressing to his temple. 

“...What happened?”

Inko Midoriya had the same dark green hair as her son, styled in a way that made something inside Toshinori’s chest ache with nostalgia and familiarity. She had the countenance of a demure, quiet, respectable housewife that valued stability and her loved ones’ well-being above all, and would never even conceive of starting a family with anyone any less sensible than she was.

That was why Toshinori was thrown for a loop when, upon being informed that her absentee husband was a criminal, she simply closed her eyes and bowed her head with a sigh and a resigned “...Yes, I am aware.”

Toshinori let Tsukauchi lead the questioning, as usual. Inko had met ‘Hisashi Midoriya’ (under a different alias, at the time) when she was twenty-six, working as a secretary at the main branch of Detnerat. The man had been introduced to her as a representative from another support item company doing some preliminary checks on Detnerat for a potential merger. 

This was unusual, but not exceedingly so. In the nearly thirty years he’d spent meticulously dismantling All For One’s organization, Toshinori had gathered evidence of him personally handling certain aspects of his schemes with surprising regularity, even relatively minor tasks or dirty deeds that could easily and safely be entrusted to his subordinates. He hardly ever found any specific reasons for All For One’s direct involvement. Toshinori strongly suspected that the bastard simply didn’t enjoy the lifestyle of the cooped-up, invisible puppeteer, and sometimes just felt like wrecking some havoc with his own diabolical hands. 

Inko had been charged with supplying him with quite a sizable amount of rather sensitive data, but since the CEO in person had given the authorization, she had performed her task diligently and unsuspectingly.

Now, Toshinori had been expecting the worst to emerge while questioning the circumstances that had led Inko Midoriya to her current marital status. Without exaggerating, the very worst. Any sort of revolting account of manipulation, coercion, even human experimentation, there was no low All For One wouldn’t stoop to. They had confined the boy to his room before starting for that exact reason. 

But apparently the universe wasn’t done throwing curve balls at Toshinori that day, and what they’d gotten instead was the succinct description of what seemed to be, by all accounts, a perfectly ordinary and unassuming workplace romance. One instigated mainly by Inko herself, no less. Toshinori’s strained mind didn’t quite know what to make of that baffling information, so it promptly repressed it. 

“We didn’t keep seeing each other after he stopped coming to the company, but I did reach out to him when I found out I was pregnant. That was when I became aware that there was much I didn’t know about him.”

“How so?”

“He told me.” Inko replied simply. “He was... forward about it, in a way. He said that he couldn’t settle down in any given place, nor spare the time for being part of a family. He offered to let me join him in his activities, but… the way he worded it made it clear that he wasn’t talking of any sort of legal business.”

“Did he mention any details about what his ‘business’ entailed, in general or in that specific time frame?”

“No, not at all. But considering how we met, I assume he must be involved in industrial espionage.” Grief, brief but intense, shadowed on the woman’s features for a moment. “I… I resigned from Detnerat as soon as I found out. He had been asking rather sensitive questions about the inner workings of the company, and… even though I never technically shared confidential information, I felt like I had exposed it to too great a danger because of my irresponsible conduct. And, honestly… I was afraid of what could emerge if I kept working there in my condition.”

Toshinori rubbed his hands in his lap uncomfortably. No job, a son on the way, a presumably disreputable partner to deal with… What a wretched situation to find oneself in.

“You said he offered you to join him? In what way, exactly?” Tsukauchi asked from above the pages and pages of notes filling his notepad.

“...I am not sure. I didn’t ask, I had no intention of getting caught in that sort of environment. Nor did I want Izuku to grow up embroiled in dubious activities from an early age.” Inko’s brows furrowed, and her fist clenched slightly. “...I didn’t want him to feel abandoned either though. I didn’t want him to grow thinking his father had deserted him. I asked Hisashi to grant us that, at least. Financial support and the decency to call, once in a while.”

Toshinori couldn’t hold back a sharp cough at that. Inko regarded him with a mix of concern and suspicion. 

He couldn’t blame her for it. He had accidentally caused her a fair share of grief when, her son having forgotten to warn her to expect guests upon her return, she’d opened the front door and found a freakishly tall, gaunt, haunted-looking, bloodied stranger looming in her hallway. Toshinori had waited in a conveniently secluded corner of the living room, trying to make himself look as small and non-threatening as possible, while Tsukauchi delivered the proper introductions and deflected the few concerned neighbors her terrified scream had attracted. Not exactly brilliant, as first impressions went.

“And he agreed to that?” Toshinori croaked.

“Yes. I was expecting some resistance, but… he agreed almost immediately.”

Toshinori gaped at the remissive-looking, soft-spoken woman who had once been capable of browbeating All For One into exercising a modicum of fatherly commitment. This whole Midoriya case was getting more and more unbelievable by the hour.

Tsukauchi cleared his throat pointedly. Toshinori scraped back together what little dignity he had left and tried to soldier on.

“Please continue, Mrs. Midoriya.” The detective encouraged.

“There isn’t much else to say, I think. I didn’t hear from him for months after that. I contacted him a few days after Izuku was born, and we’ve kept in touch ever since.”

Tsukauchi tapped his chin with his pen for a few moments, his expression deeply focussed. Then he looked Inko straight in the eye.

“You are being… unexpectedly forthcoming about all this, if I may.”

Inko let out a deep sigh. “I was never under the impression that we could escape the consequences of Hisashi’s actions forever. As soon as Izuku was born, I decided that I would never subject myself or my son to undue duresses just to keep my husband’s secrets. I told Hisashi as much as well.”

Toshinori had to stifle another wet cough with his handkerchief. How on earth was this woman still alive? 

“And he had no qualms about this declaration?”

“No. It rather amused him, actually. He said that any mother worth her salt would put her offspring’s safety above that of their parents. And… something about natural selection and survival of the fittest…” Inko’s eyes flickered upwards briefly, like those of a very normal wife exasperated by the very normal idiosyncrasies of her very normal husband. “He does go off on such tangents.”

“So you aren’t concerned about any possible retaliations on your husband’s part because of your cooperation with us?”

“Oh!” Her eyes went wide, almost shocked by the mere suggestion. “Oh no, I really don’t think he’d be capable of something like that.”

Oh, how very wrong she was. Toshinori frowned, admittedly perturbed by the level of trust All For One had managed to establish within the family without ever even deigning to step in their household. Precautions would have to be taken to protect the Midoriyas from the tragic fate that usually befell all those who were deemed traitors by the Symbol of Fear.

More and more questions followed. With his habitual thoroughness, Tsukauchi pursued a multitude of topics and leads that hadn’t even occurred to Toshinori, at least not so readily. Timing and means of communications, occasional postal deliveries to and from the family, details about the sums of money regularly deposited in the family’s account, and so forth. Toshinori was rather out of his depth here, but he tried his best to help Tsukauchi sort through the reams of documents, receipts, records, and diverse paperwork Inko produced at the detective’s request. By the time Tsukauchi declared to be satisfied with his preliminary inquiries, he had earned himself two plastic bags bursting with evidence, and Toshinori had developed a burgeoning migraine.

As they finally made their way to the entrance, Toshinori glanced at the door to Midoriya’s bedroom. Amidst that cascade of new revelations, they’d barely touched upon the topic of the villain attack and of Midoriya’s quirk with his mother. Toshinori felt genuinely sorry for the difficult conversations that were sure to follow between those two.

He hadn’t realized how late it’d gotten until he stepped outside the Midoriyas’ apartment. Sunset had come and gone, and the lampposts and the bright squares of the neighbors’ windows were the only sources of light in the moonless night of that unassuming residential area. As the door closed behind his back, squeezing into nothingness the rectangular glow framing him and Tsukauchi, Toshinori felt the darkness weigh on his shoulders and seep in his bones almost physically. 

He felt, suddenly, extremely tired.

“I’ll drive you home.” Tsukauchi’s wasn’t an offer, so Toshinori didn’t refuse.

“Thank you.”

They walked to the car as his friend made a couple of quick calls to instruct some agents to watch the house until the next morning. The fresh night air would have felt like a small bliss to Toshinori on any other day, but in that moment it only rattled whatever unpleasant manifestation of his unease had lodged itself in his lung earlier that afternoon and hadn’t left since. He coughed a few times in his fist, then a few more on purpose to make sure he got most of the discomfort in his throat out of his system before he settled in the passenger’s seat.

The drive was quiet. Toshinori gazed absently out of the window, letting the new awareness sink in his mind like a stone in a pond. All For One was alive. All For One was still alive, somehow. Toshinori couldn’t fathom how. They had never retrieved the body, that was true, but there was precious little they had managed to retrieve from the location of their fight back then. It was nothing short of a miracle they’d found Toshinori himself quickly enough to lend medical assistance. The only reason why they’d been able to keep the public from learning of the accident was because it hadn’t happened on the mainland, and the tiny, uninhabited island that hosted it had all but been wiped from the maps. That his foe may have survived that disaster, considering the damage he’d sustained, was almost inconceivable. Toshinori was pretty sure he’d actually caught a glimpse of the man’s exposed brain after landing the last-

“Are you all right?” Tsukauchi asked quietly.

The corner of Toshinori’s mouth twitched upwards. “I’m never going to defy New Year’s fortunes again. Moving away from Tokyo was a terrible idea.”

“This is a good thing. If you hadn’t, All For One would still be out there, and we’d be none the wiser.”

Hell. Five years. For five years they’d been none the wiser. How much strength had All For One regained in five years, while Toshinori’s own slowly went down the drain? How much of his criminal network had he managed to rebuild? How many unnoticed, unreported atrocities had he been plotting and executing, unbeknownst to all? The mere notion made Toshinori’s skin crawl.

But Tsukauchi had the right idea, there was no point in brooding over the current situation. Things could have turned out a lot worse. If Toshinori had already chosen a successor and exhausted One For All’s embers, by now he’d be powerless and useless, and the burden of facing his revived nemesis would have fallen entirely on the new, inexperienced wielder. That truly would have been a worst-case scenario. But as things stood, he could still rely on his quirk for a decent amount of time. He could still tie this dreadful loose end himself before passing the torch, and he’d spare no effort in the endeavor. He’d pursue the monster to the ends of the Earth if he had to, even if it meant wearing himself down to nothing for the rest of his life.

Or meeting his gruesome, bitter end in the process.

Toshinori shivered.

“So,” he heard himself say, “where do we go from here?”

Tsukauchi gave him a stern, silent scrutiny, then he told him.

[texanredrose]

Soooo, lots of interesting ones in there, but Long Term Investment... Fae-Yang?? :eyes:

Fae Yang who really isn't good at this whole Fae magic thing.

Yang watched as the woman knelt before her, head bowed. A human desperate for a solution had come to her part of the woods, begged of her a boon, and accepted her price; every now and again, someone would come and ask for something fantastic, but this was the first time someone had actually accepted her terms straight away. Yang… hadn’t decided how she felt about it quite yet.

“Deal,” she said, head still bowed and voice somber. “You have my word.”

“Okay,” she replied, catching the casual tone and correcting herself while clearing her throat. Raven had drummed it into her head for years that the fae had a certain air about them that they had to maintain. “Very well. When you return home tonight, your mother will be in pristine health again. It will be like she never fell ill at all. Even the memory of her suffering will fade.”

“Thank you.” The woman looked up then, peerless blue eyes peering at her through white bangs that fell across the right side of her face. “Perhaps now, things can truly change.” She got to her feet, slightly taller than the fae in her polished boots. “With my mother capable of retaking the crown, our kingdom has hope again.”

“I just hope the price won’t prove to be too high.” She always hated that part. Mages could use magic without any stipulations but the fae had to be paid. Even now, she could feel a thread as a bit of her innate magic worked its way to the woman’s mother, ready to begin healing her and it would continue to prolong the woman’s life until the price was paid. Then… well, some fae revoked all their magic, and whatever calamity they were asked to do or undo would flow like a river with its dam removed. Yang never liked that; it didn’t make sense to her. It seemed… rude and petty. “I guess we just have to wait and see.”

“Indeed.” A few moments passed in silence, the two of them just… staring at each other. “So… when do we begin?”

“Begin?” Yang rose a brow, confused. “Begin what?”

“You said you wanted my firstborn as payment.”

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. “And… you agreed to that.”

“Of course. Now, when do we start?” The woman looked around, a small frown touching her lips. “I’ll admit, this isn’t the most erotic location but I suppose it will do.”

First, Yang considered why the inherent eroticism of her woodland home- not much, really, just a hollowed out burrow beneath an old tree, the entrance between two twisted roots- would be a topic for conversation warranting a comment.

Then, the pieces clicked into place.

“I… wait.” She blinked, trying to get a handle on what was going on while waving her hands in front of her. “Do you think- me and you- are you saying- what are you trying to say, here?”

“Well, you want a child, so I assume-”

“I don’t want a child, first off-”

The woman’s expression pinched into one of annoyance. “Then why make that your price?”

“Because it’s tradition!” She took a few steps back, trying to put a bit of distance between them. In the dark of early evening, she almost wished she didn’t have bright blonde locks cascading down her back; it would make disappearing into the shadows slightly more feasible. “Look, I don’t even like asking for something in return, okay? We just- we have to, it’s how fae magic works! I’ve always been told that asking for the firstborn is the, uh… like… default option. Then, most people, ya know, haggle.”

The human seemed genuinely perplexed for a moment before her expression turned thoughtful. “I see… well… if I’m honest, I’m not sure if I’ve made the right decision in that case. Giving a child to someone who doesn’t want one… I can’t imagine the child will be well taken care of by that person.”

Yang bristled at that, tempted to close the distance as her hands balled into fists at her sides. “Hey, don’t jump to conclusions! I basically raised my sister; I don’t mind having a kid or taking care of one.” At that point, she became aware of the flush to her cheeks becoming even hotter. “I’m just- I’m not going to just sleep with you to satisfy the terms of the deal, okay?”

For a moment, the woman seemed genuinely surprised. “Are you saying I have to woo you first?”

“What? How did- where are you drawing these conclusions from!?” The human moved back, likely reacting to her fae heritage shining through; without looking, she could tell her outburst of anger had turned her eyes from soft lilac to burning red as her hair began moving like a wildfire.

“I didn’t mean to insult you; I just don’t have many prospects and I imagine you’d rather have this debt settled sooner as opposed to later.”

Despite the anger still rolling through her, she could at least show genuine surprise at that statement. “How can someone like you not have any prospects?”

While the woman didn’t possess the supernatural beauty of the fae, she was attractive by human standards. Hair like moonlight, eyes like a frozen lake, tall and rigid and a bit too formal with sharp features and a smooth gait- Yang had seen many half as fair find partners without trouble, and humans always prized beauty, even when they claimed to be immune to its charms. She shouldn’t have any trouble finding a partner.

Yet, the wry smile on her lips begged to differ. “Let’s just say, those who are interested have all the wrong reasons.” Then, she looked around. “Are you confined to this area of the woods?”

“I… guess.” Crossing her arms over her chest, Yang leaned back against her home, watching the woman carefully. Raven had warned her that humans would sometimes try to outsmart the fae once a deal had been struck. As long as whatever trick she planned to pull didn’t harm Yang or her harm, she rightly wouldn’t care if the woman somehow found a loophole. “This is where I live and I’m not supposed to leave my home unattended.”

“I see.” A hum. “I must return home before my mother will be healed, correct?”

“Yeah. That’s part of the deal.”

“Do I have to stay home for her to be healthy?”

“N-no.”

A nod and a glance towards the sky above, obscured by the leaves of the tree, before she spoke. “Then, I must take my leave.” The woman drew herself to her full height and bowed at the waist, her hand over her heart. “Good evening, Miss Sunbeam of the fae, and farewell.”

“Yeah, take care... Princess.” She hated not knowing the woman’s name but names were powerful things to the fae. Humans were long warned not to impart such sensitive information to her kind. It was a wise decision but it just highlighted the inherent tragedy in her birthright. Rather that leave it at just the title, though, Yang decided to assign a fitting name, as she usually did. “Moonlight.” The woman stopped, looking back with a raised brow. “Uh… sorry. About the miscommunication. I didn’t mean to make you think that, uh, you had to sleep with me.”

A surprisingly soft smile. “Nothing to worry about, Miss Sunbeam. It wasn’t what I would call a threat.”

As the woman left the small clearing in front of her home, the fae found herself conflicted about the whole ordeal. She was happy the woman’s mother would recover… but now she wondered what she’d do when her payment came due. Not that she wouldn’t take care of the child, of course; she didn’t know how she’d handle taking the child from someone.

It scratched at a wound not yet healed and she instead turned her train of thought away from it and retreated to her burrow.

[theflashdriver]

Summer Nights (A Silvaze Fanfic)

This evening’s predicament was a creeping inevitability the Blaze had been powerless to escape. She had been unable to perceive its advancement directly, but the princess had monitored the gradually mounting evidence. More often than not, she’d arrive in one of the palace’s rooms only to find its windows were already open. On her rare ventures into town, she’d found the streets mired by ice-cream vendors and citizens wielding frozen treats. Even the lengthening of days had made her aware of the change occurring.

But, of course, Southern Island’s summer shift in temperature had been most obvious to Blaze through her partner. Silver the hedgehog was many things but subtle wasn’t one of them. The psychic didn’t whine often, only when he was seriously perplexed, but his emotions tended to manifest themselves in other ways. He’d smile so radiantly whenever he was happy, shout so casually in defiance of injustices, hide his tears so poorly and blush whenever she dared to pierce his armour of obliviousness.

For the past week he’d fought the heat, trying his hardest to appear unphased. She’d aided in his consumption of a frankly unhealthy volume of ice-cream, numerous quarts per day, and spent far more time with him in the island’s waters than she could truly spare. Watching him revert from being over excited to wear clothes, donning comfortable hoodies that she’d happily steal and owning a slightly overlarge wardrobe, to a mostly unclothed state had certainly been an experience. These were mere quirks though, surface level changes in his nature that she could easily overlook. He’d gone through similar phases before, when the psychic had first arrived in her world he’d spent night after night sleeping atop a hill and watching the stars.

Tonight however, regardless of the hedgehog’s apparent attempts to dull his reaction, Blaze couldn’t ignore his irregularity. He’d tried his hardest to lie still for a good full hour only to ease gently up and flip his pillow before returning to resume their spooning. During the hour that followed, Blaze had felt him shift away from her in the tiniest and most awkwardly slight of increments until his arms had been reaching for the feline rather than holding her. He’d eventually dared, after much trepidation and in the gentlest manner possible, to completely release her before cautiously shifting into a back to back position. He’d even pealed the covers from himself and carefully bundled them against the princess, leaving himself fully exposed.

Her silk sheets were thin, the balcony door was ajar and there was some space between them, but she supposed those boons were being undercut by the palace’s lack of air conditioning and her own body. Silver was clearly too hot to sleep. It was a phenomenon that Blaze understood, albeit one that she was incapable of personally experiencing.

Across her life, the downsides of her pyrokinetic condition had been far more blatant than the positives. Tonight’s hindsight had hardly made up for that, but it had granted her a greater insight into her partner and the world at large. In one peculiar aspect, she was fortunate; her affinity for flames kept her body naturally hot so the changing of seasons mostly went unfelt. Just as snowflakes would evaporate whenever they sought refuge within her fur, the warm air that surrounded them was cool in comparison to her natural temperature. It took a serious change to phase her, like the enveloping embrace of the sea or the unequivocal presence of lava, but such feelings would quickly fade once she reached some form of sanctity.

A sigh escaped hedgehog behind her, soon followed by the second soft pillow flip of the night. Despite the modicum of amusement she got from this whole ordeal, maintaining her current sleeping façade felt cruel. He had been so delicate in all his shifts, clearly concerned for her sleep more than his overheating. The past month had been busy, she’d been making public appearances and spent hours in meetings daily, and he’d clearly picked up on that. His concern had been palpable in recent evenings and it’d manifested in a handful of ways. Finding that dinner would be ready just as work ended, the overly common offer of a back rub and his willingness to lounge with her in the evenings rather than go stargazing had made it all so very clear.

A yawn broke through her lips and, in its wake, she decided to speak, “You know, if you’re too hot, you don’t have to sleep here, Silver.”

“I-I’m sorry, have I kept you up?” He quickly apologised, panic plain in his tone.

“You’re so naïve,” She hummed, rolling over only to find that his back was still too her, “I can tell that you’re struggling; how could I possibly sleep with that being the case?”

“Sorry,” He glumly repeated, “It’s just too hot. I can’t sleep.”

“I could tell as much,” Blaze reiterated, growing a smirk.

“But I don’t want to leave either, it doesn’t feel right,” The hedgehog quickly continued, “If I can handle all we have up until now, I should be able to sleep through a little bit of heat.”

“You should, but I can’t imagine lying next to me is helping,” Her curiosity had been piqued by his later statement, “Actually, what is the difference between tonight and the future we shared? Surely if you could sleep there then here should be far easier.”

“Well, um,” He finally rolled over and Blaze had to hold back a snicker at the sight of him, “I’m not sure how to describe it,” The hedgehog’s quills half covered his face and the heat was plain on his cheeks, “The city was dry and hot but here it’s wet and hot. There’s a massive difference.”

“Lava ran through the streets. Even I could feel it,” She reached across, improving his vision with a single brush of her hand, “How can this possibly be worse?”

“It’s the sweat to be honest. I’m just not used to sweating like this, I’m not even doing anything. In the future I was always exhausted to and that made sleep come easily, I’ve not come remotely close to battling monsters today,” That was true, any moment of true peace in their prior life had quickly led to sleep, “Sweating helped in the city, but it just doesn’t here. I’m soaking and it’s keeping me wide awake.”

“I know I’m not helping with that,” She watched him frown at her claim and felt herself swallow. Despite how pessimistic she could be about her abilities; the time traveller was always positive. That was why he hadn’t left, it made total sense and so completely suited him. That was what this was about, nothing else. It was such an unabashedly naïve mentality, and foolishly blunt, but so purely him, “Silver…”

“I’m not leaving you. I know there are guest rooms but that’s not the point,” He grumbled, flipping onto his back to stare at the ceiling, “I just have to get used to it, that’s all.”

With that shift, his quills had gotten even messier. Beneath the frustration at his physical situation, it was clear to Blaze the he was mentally toiling too. The hedgehog cared so very openly, so wholeheartedly, that she couldn’t help but grin, despite how silly he was being. She’d fallen in love with him for a variety of reasons, not the least of them being how staunchly he’d advocate for her birth right of flames. Even when she’d tried to smother them, even when she’d rather forget them, he’d always been so positive about them. That same positivity had led to prior situations similar to this, whether she’d accidentally burnt a meal or the hedgehog himself, he’d never speak badly of her power.

Despite knowing the discomfort it might bring, tender as she could be, Blaze scooted across the bedsheets to lie closer to him. Her hand breached the bedsheets and fingertips arrived to pace through his chest fur, finding it more unkempt than usual. Even though the moon was far from shining through the balcony doors, the princess could see her partner almost perfectly in the teal glow of his cyan palms. Everything from his sun kissed muzzle to the length of his nose to the furrow of his brow as he attempted to ignore the embarrassment born both from his foolishness and her new position.

That look prompted her to move even closer. Through the dark, her lips found his cheek and softly pressed against it. Even if she couldn’t sense it through the air, Blaze could feel his warmth on her lips. He was sweaty too but, compared to lip-lock following a spar or a serious battle, the hedgehog was frankly sweet. Still, that confirmation made her all the more interesting in what he was feeling.

“What’s does it feel like?” She pried.

“W-Warm, gentle, soft…” He mumbled, his hand rising to rub his cheek, “Wonderful.”

Her once small grin caved inward, generating a blush and drew out her serious tone, “Not the kiss, temperature. Being hot or cold or somewhere in between, all at the whim of the weather, how does it feel?”

“Oh, um,” His embarrassment grew, even in the dark his redness was palpable. Atop his misunderstanding, Silver had clearly never considered how to explain what he was feeling, “It’s uncomfortable now but it’s nice a lot of the time. Catching a cold wind on a day like today is wonderful, feeling its rustle through my fur is refreshing like a good night’s sleep. On a chilly day I almost feel attracted to warmth, I bundle closer to you because it feels like I’ve escaped the cold and found safety,” He managed to say, “I don’t think I can explain it properly but when it’s too cold you want to be hot and when it’s too hot you want to be cold, you seek out what you don’t have. My fur is white so it helps reflect the sun but doesn’t help with heat like this.”

“I see,” She hummed, muting her prior outburst, “So weather can make things more difficult but causes perhaps otherwise simple things to bring you joy?”

“Yeah, cold things feel good on hot days, hot things feel good on cold days,” He succinctly put, his yellow eyes finally settling on her face, “Being with you on cold nights makes this more than worth it. I’d endure a hundred hot days for a single cold one with you.”

“You don’t have to, you can spend a hot night or two in another room and I’ll still be here in the winter,” She caught herself speaking too quickly again. Just as she’d embarrassed him, he’d managed to slip beyond her stoicism and take a firm grasp on her heartstrings, “You’re so naïve.”

“What’s it like for you? Can you even tell that tea is hot? Are cold drinks the same as warm ones for you?” He followed up.

“Oh, I can tell when a drink is ice cold and a meal is piping hot,” She quickly confirmed before falling prey to greater speculation, “Though, I suppose the difference may not be as pronounced as how you feel it. Perhaps my threshold for what’s acceptable greatly differs,” They were getting off topic, “Regardless, it takes an exceptional change in our surroundings for me to feel what you are now. To experience what you are, I’d have to sleep in an ice bath or by a lava river,” She gave it a thought, natural temperatures weren’t the sort she most often felt, “I feel hot more commonly than cold, but I suppose I don’t in the same way that you do. I can feel the heat that I create, be it literal fire or otherwise, but that’s never uncomfortable in the way you describe. I don’t seek out the cold when I’m alight, my temperature could keep rising and I’d be unphased. It’s not the same as natural heat, it’s just… hot.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Silver admitted, “I guess we’re describing alien experiences to each other.”

It was true but, after twiddling with his chest fur for a moment longer, she managed to think things out just a little more clearly, “My flames are part of me so, while I feel their heat, it doesn’t affect me. I suppose they also allow me to ignore more mundane forms of heat, up to a certain point.”

“Oh, okay. It’s like your just more insulated because you’re already used to a certain kind of heat?” The hedgehog hummed.

“I suppose so,” She answered, but her mind had begun to drift.

Beyond the hedgehog’s shoulder was her alarm clock, only just lit enough that she could make out its face. It was quarter past one, they’d already breached the next day. She was tired, that much was undeniable, but exhaustion wasn’t enough to dissuade her. The feline hadn’t worked much today, she’d been in and out of meetings but neither had sparred nor trained. Well, it wasn’t as though he could sleep, why not take advantage?

Blaze sat up in bed, allowing the covers to tumble loose. With a yawn, she brushed back her hair with her fingers and cast a glance down her frame. Black spat shorts and a loose white tank top were hardly the ideal garb for this plan but, with the addition of a nearby dressing gown and a set of slippers, she supposed they would suffice. Silver was staring at him, confusion in his glowing eyes.

“Seeing as you refuse to leave my side, and that you’re never going to sleep at this rate, we’re going out,” The feline slipped off of the edge of the bed and into a set of soft black slippers, “Let’s go where the air is cool.”

“What, now? Where?” His surprise fell on deaf ears as she wrapped herself up in a black dressing gown with baggy sleeves and a length that stretched well beyond her knee. It was his of course but he hardly needed it, even in Winter, so she’d found herself donning it more and more often.

The princess paced away from the bed, throwing a glance through the balcony door. It was a dark and cloudy night, hardly the sort for stargazing. Well, hardly the sort the regular people would spend stargazing. There was a place that they could always go, where the air would be cooler and the sky would be clear.

She glanced back only to find that Silver had stumbled out of bed, his quills cursed with pre-emptive bedhead. Not only were his front quills bedraggled but the pack pair had fanned out as a result of him lying on his back, giving the appearance that he had wings. He had managed to shuffle into his own pair of slippers, a fluffy grey set, but wore no garb beside them. The moment that he was within reach, she snatched up his hand and led him onto the outdoor landing.

The air was still, and the night bordered on being silent, as she cast her gaze across the dark garden bellow. Though his presence would light the area, she doubted he’d find much in the way of coolness down there. They had to go higher. Casually, Blaze released his hand but snuck her arm up his shoulder.

The hedgehog looked so confused, she leaned into him, “Let’s go visit the stars.”

He finally understood. Without another moment of hesitation, cyan energy began to coreless around the pyrokinetic. Blaze felt herself lighten before she slipped briefly into the air. He caught her legs, carrying her in an almost bridal style. The energy ebbed from him, flowing to encase his frame. His quills straightened and fluffed up as all that was white became teal. Gingerly, the hedgehog took a floating step to land on the balcony wall.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Blaze?” As he questioned, she moved in, “It is pretty la-

Her lips found his, cutting him off before he began to overthink this, “If it’ll help you cool off and sleep well then of course I do,” The hedgehog was blushing, she could see it through his aura, “Besides, we haven’t seen the stars tonight.”

That was enough to convince him to kick off and into the air. They glided slowly upward, and Blaze felt the wind part her fur. Though his frame was encased in psychic energy, she could see the slight drag of his flight rustling through his quills.

While she had once feared heights, reuniting with her partner had inspired a sort of enjoyment of them. She’d still been tense about them at first but, as had been the case in that other timeline, traveling with him had eased her fear. Once she could barely stand on her balcony, now she could happily sit amongst the clouds. Being with him made it easier of course, but she could still manage more now than she ever could before.

Seeing the sky on nights like this had helped with that growth too. Above them the cosmos stretched out endlessly, encompassing more than either time traveller could surely comprehend. Southern Island didn’t have much in the way of light pollution so the greater universe was usually clear to see but, with the clouds blocking out all evidence of civilisation, the sky was perfect. Even the stretching spiral arms of galaxies were totally visible. It was the kind of sky that most would only see once in a lifetime, yet it was so casually at her fingertips.

It was only in these rare moments that the true colouration of the universe became clear to her. The sky wasn’t just some black canvas with white speckles dotted across it, the universe was endlessly colourful. The emptiness was a deep dark blue but, no point in the sky was truly empty. The blueness was born from the light of a billion stars stretching out in endless directions, coming in all shapes and at all manner of distance. Some had more of a purple sheen to them, others a much purer white. Regardless, the moon’s presence, amongst yet separate from the rest of the cosmos, was that of a waxing crescent, only a night away from entirely vanishing.

“Is it better up here?” She asked, finally breaking her gaze from the sky.

“The wind is nice, the view is too,” He practically purred, “But just being here with you is nicer.”

Blaze rolled her eyes, “I want to know if this is helping Silver, first and foremost.”

“It is, it’s a lot more comfortable,” He more truthfully answered, “I’m not sure how long I can keep flying though. We’re not at risk of falling or anything, it’s just pretty late; I’m just tired.”

“Then let’s use this opportunity to tire you out properly,” She suggested, “The longer we stay up here, the less energy you’ll have to fight off sleep.”

She could tell that all he’d said was true by his body language alone. While the hedgehog’s usual serious gaze had been replaced with a far dopier one, all stiffness had faded from his shoulders and a small grin refused to leave his muzzle. Being up here really was helping.

Gently, but with intent, she pushed against his chest and felt him shift in the air. In a matter of moments he went from floating upright to lying on his back, almost settled atop a bed of clouds. He’d have fit in with them if it weren’t for the glowing energy that surrounded his being.

He looked perplexed as she stared down at him, “I thought you wanted to watch the stars?”

“The brightest star in the sky is right in front of me,” She countered, easing herself to lay more comfortably.

Her legs straddled his waist as she laid chest to chest with him, crossing her arms and setting her chin upon them. He didn’t seem to know where to stare, at her or the stars above, and her flustering comment likely hadn’t aided in that debate. He’d compared her to a star so often but, truth be told, he was far more like one than her. The hedgehog would take to the air so casually, it was almost as though he belonged up here with the night sky. While she had shunned her flames for so long, he’d glittered and shone for as long as she’d known him.

“You’re very light,” He mumbled, finally settling to look at her.

“Silver, you can lift buildings with the wave of your hand. Your understanding of light and heavy isn’t normal,” She casually parried.

“But I don’t have to use my powers to lift you,” He sleepily babbled, yawning partway through, “I remember when you were taller than me, that didn’t stop me either…”

Blaze cast her mind back, considering the time he was talking about. From when they’d first met until their early teenage years, the difference between their heights had been negligible. She assumed there here had been periods where she’d overtaken him, but he surely wasn’t thinking about one of those. He was thinking about the last time she’d been taller than him. When they were twelve, bordering on thirteen, she’d endured a growth spurt and ended up a good few inches taller than him. She’d rather taken pride in the change, using it as leverage to insist on doing a great share of their work, but it hadn’t lasted for long. By the time they’d turned fourteen he had taken the lead again, a position he’d hold for the rest of their lives, regardless of the heels she wore. That didn’t mean she’d given back control, of course.

“For less than a year, yes, I was,” She smiled, “We were neck and neck for a while. I rather liked being taller than you.”

“Sorry,” He grinned back, “I should have tried to stay short.”

“Some things just can’t be forgiven,” She yawned, feeling the weight of the hour on her shoulders, “You’ll have to find some other way to make it up to me.”

“Like what?” He asked, clearly not entirely oblivious.

Gently yet casually, she slipped forward and allowed her lips to mingle with his again. Fingers began to ply through windswept fur, she felt her tail coil around his back and heard a deep purr begin to ebb from his throat. She gingerly took his muzzle in her hand before not so softly pushing his cheek to deepen their lip-lock. The hedgehog wasn’t a bad kisser but, truth be told, he still seemed to lose himself in the occurrences’ bliss. More often than not, she found herself taking the lead in these situations and this was no different. When they finally parted, beaming like a fool the hedgehog’s eyes didn’t reopen.

“You’ll think of something,” She told him, keeping a hand on his cheek.

It was only with those words that Blaze noticed a change in their surroundings. All of a sudden his body was melding with the clouds, they had begun a slow and very controlled descent. When she was small, she’d have panicked at this; she’d have insisted on knowing what he was doing rather than knowing it inherently. At their age, having known him for this long, she could read him like a book. Now that he’d cooled down, the psychic had realised just how tired he was.

They vanished into the clouds and, now unable to see him, she could feel it. While his tail had been lightly wagging before, it’d now slowed almost to a standstill. His cheeks were plush in her hand, not resisting her touch on even a subconscious level, and his movements were heavy. The thump of his heart, barely audible over the buzzing of his aura, was peacefully rhythmic, he was entirely calm, so very comfortable with her atop him. Perhaps her heat truly wasn’t the problem.

As they exited through the cloud layer, Blaze was able to look upon his muzzle once again. His eyes had remained closed and relaxation had overtaken the smile on his face. The castle drifted back into view behind them and, without so much of a glance from the hedgehog, they lowered to perfectly levitate through the balcony doors. In a matter of moments, he glid down to arrive on their thoroughly messy bed.

Did he fall asleep the moment his head met with his pillow? Her rational side doubted it but, watching his frame ease into the mattress made her want to believe so. It’d surely be a fitful sleep, he’d probably wake up early or drift in and out of consciousness. Still, as long as she’d helped him get the slightest grace of sleep, she was happy with her efforts.

With a yawn and a stretch, she took a more comfortable position curled up against his frame before soon joining him in the land of the dreaming.

[3xm-draconic]

jjbla part 3

Chapter 3: Discovery.

Valentine had several bad habits, one of which was sneaking out to have a midnight snack. After the others had turned in for the night, Funny silently got out of bed, he didn’t worry about being quiet for his footsteps made no sound.

As he walked to the kitchen Funny remembered a rather comical time his quietness had gotten him in trouble, when Funny had still been president and living in the whitehouse, his wife Scarlet loved to walk around the halls and chat with visitors. He remembers accidentally scaring poor Scarlet when he had walked around a corner and bumped right into her, of course he found the whole ordeal rather hilarious… Scarlet however did not.

Funny stopped at the end of the bedroom hallway and suppressed a chuckle, since that day Scarlet had never let him live it down and even tried to bell him like a cat.

It was memories like this that started off sweet only to turn bitter in the end… he missed Scarlet.

Finally entering the kitchen, Funny turned on the light and immediately saw something small scurry out of his sight, “what was that?” he pondered “I hope it’s not a mouse or else Kira will go ballistic”, he carefully crept over to the breadbox where he had last seen it.

Peaking out of the breadbox he could see a bit of silvery-white fur, “better capture and get rid of it before anyone else sees” Funny quietly grabbed an empty poptart box and waited to capture the mouse, soon enough he saw the tiny intruder and when it had left the safety of the breadbox…SLAM! Funny caught it with the poptart box. “HA caught you, you little vermin” Funny growled proudly, “AHH! No no no please, please don’t kill me!”, Funny heard a small frightened child-like voice cry from within the box.

Funny stood there for a moment perplexed by what he had just heard “did… did the mouse just speak?” Funny carefully scooped up the talking creature into the poptart box and… from what he saw… it was no mouse, it was a small dirty child with pointy bunny-like ears and a thin pink tail with a tuffit of silvery-white fur on the end.

“THIS IS IT, I- I AM GOING TO DIE!” Mirtillo’s heart thudded in her chest, “their going to crush me into past or chop me into little bits for stew or…or…th-their going to eat me whole!” Mirtillo began to cry, hiccuping sobs racked her little body.

The top of her cardboard cage opened letting in the almost blinding light and she saw him, the monster who would ultimately bring her untimely demise, a tallfolk.

Among the many bizarre things Valentine has experienced in his life, finding a tiny rabbit-mouse-child in a breadbox was strangely not one of them, well until now anyway.

Honestly Valentine felt a little bad for scaring her, “h-hey now it’s ok I won't hurt you” Funny said trying to seem less threatening as possible, sadly it did not work.

She was just inconsolably sobbing at the bottom of the box and pleading with him to not eat her, why the hell would she think that? “It’s alright, I'm going to let you out now so we can talk ok?”, there was no answer and if there was one Valentine couldn’t hear it over all the crying.

Mirtillo felt the monster put her down back onto the counter, “this is my chance to run!”She ran from the box as fast as she could and attempted to get in the space between the counter and the fridge, “hey wait!” she heard the tallfolk’s voice boom behind her.

In her hast Mirtillo didn’t see the larger gap between the counters, she tripped and got her leg jammed in the gap the sharp edges cut her fiercely, she screamed and tried desperately to get out but she only succeeded in injuring her leg further.

“Stop it, you're hurting yourself!” Valentine said as he gently grabbed hold of the tiny child and carefully lifted her out of her painful predicament, he delicately held her between his first finger and his thumb “now will you calm down and let me see how badly you’ve hurt yourself? otherwise I can’t help you”.

She quieted down and seemed to watch him intently, as he examined her leg he saw it was not too badly injured altho the bleeding did concern him, “I'm sorry I scared you, can you tell me your name?”, she didn’t answer and just stared at him shaking and crying.

“My name is Funny Valentine, what is yours little one?”

“My name, why would he ask me my name?” Mirtillo wondered, “do all tallfolk ask us our names before eating us, is it some kind of ritual?” she kept quiet as he examined her leg “if I don’t tell him my name then… maybe he can’t eat me?”

Mirtillo shuttered as he held her tightly and began to walk out of the kitchen and towards the hallway, “wh-where is he taking me?!” she sobbed as he brought her into a strange room. It was decorated with old pictures, beer cans stacked into a pyramid in one corner, little green toy soldiers littered about the place and a strange tapestry hanging over the bed, it had red and white stripes and stars in one corner over a blue background, she had never seen anything like it. “So this is where tallfolk sleep… it’s a mess ”

“I know I have some bandages somewhere in here” he grumbled as he ransact through his nightstand drawer, he proceeded to take out several objects which included sticks with cotton on each end, a small bottle labeled ‘hand sanitizer’ and a few small bandaids.

“Oh no” Mirtillo whimpered “what is he going to do to me now?”

Valentine took the small bottle of hand sanitizer and coated a few q tips with it “now this is going to sting a little but trust me it helps clean your wounds, ok little mouse” but trying to clean the cuts on her leg were easier said than done, she screamed nonstop and eventually Valentine had to stick a cotton ball in her mouth to keep her from waking his roommate, Diego.

Once he had cleaned up her leg he took out the smallest bandages he had in his travel first aid kit and bandaged up the wound, “see? all better little mouse” he smiled. The mouse-rabbit-child seemed calmer now, she inspected his work and seemed perplexed as to why he had helped her, “it’s getting late now kid why don’t you get some shut eye hmm?”

Valentine gently placed her in a small empty shoe box he kept under his bed, this would keep her safe and hidden from the others, “night little one” he said gently as he hid the box back under his bed and behind a box of MREs. “Now” Valentine thought “what the FUCK do I tell the others?”

[dangitdespair]

Hey so i was the one that asked if requests were open and you don’t have to apologize is ok dear! So may i request Fuyuhiko proposing to his s/o?

Warning: Contains spoilers for SDR2 ending!

This is my first time writing for Fuyuhiko properly, so I hope it’s good,,,

- mod shuichi

By the way, please let me know if there are any mistakes. I wrote this kinda late and didn’t proof read it so there might be some goof ups in there.

The two of you had been through it all, pretty much. The killing game was finally over and the two of you were part of the remaining few who managed to overcome despair and make a future for yourselves.

Through the trials and ordeals that you had been thrown into head first, you managed to live it through. And it’s thanks to those tormenting events that the two of you were as close as you were. Your relationship had been forged in arduous times, but that’s what made it stronger.

A few years had passed since the ending of the killing game and with everyone regaining their consciousness. You and Fuyuhiko were travelling around the world with Future Foundation with the goal of undoing what damage the Tragic Event had brought. Such a life for the two of you was stressful, but it took you to many different places. One such place was a beautiful beach town on the tropical shores of the country you had just finished work in. Your assignment had just been completed, so the two of you are staying in the town for a few more days just to relax a bit.

For a while now, Fuyuhiko has been planning something, but he keeps putting it off, as it never feels like the right time. It never feels like the right time to ask you to marry him. He’s even got the ring and everything that he takes everywhere with him. He is deeply in love with you and wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his days with you, yet he doesn’t know when to ask. Or how to ask.

On the final day before you are supposed the leave the country together, Fuyuhiko is lying on your shared bed in the hotel you were stating in. His thoughts are swirling with you and self doubt that he’d ever be able to ask you. He’s had enough of these stupid-ass doubts! He rolls over, grabs his phone, and messages Peko, asking for help. But the answer he gets back is perplexing.

“‘I have to make it the right time’? The fuck is that supposed to mean?” He grumbles to himself, combing his fingers through his short blond hair in frustration. He continues to read the rest of Peko’s message. “‘I’ll keep thinking it’s never the right time if I keep thinking that’? ‘Just be myself’? ‘BECAUSE THEY FELL IN LOVE WITH THE REAL ME’?!” Fuyuhiko progressively gets louder and louder. He’s incredibly thankful you’re not there to hear his shouting. He sends back a ‘thanks’ and drops his phone off the side of the bed onto the carpeted floor.

So, with Peko’s words of wisdom now in his mind, he begins to formulate a plan in his mind.

~~~

That evening, you notice that Fuyuhiko is acting strange. He suggests that the two of you go for a walk on the beach. That’d be fine if he was almost never the one that initiated any dates. You noticed that he would be staring at you, only to look away last second when he notices you. Not to mention that he seems to be incredibly awkward. It was like the two of you had just begun dating again.

The two of you left at sunset after a nice dinner you had thrown together. It definitely wasn’t Teruteru level dining, but Fuyuhiko loved whatever you made, anyway. After a little bit of random talking about things, you notice something. Fuyuhiko seems to be rather tense, so you try to ask him what’s wrong. Except he doesn’t say anything. He would have normally brushed it off as nothing or began swearing like a sailor while ranting. But he remained silent this time. Only reaching out to hold your hand. Your eyes widen for a brief second, but your face fades into a smile. “Feeling brave, huh?” You tease. Fuyuhiko was never one for PDA, even though you’d been in a relationship for a few years now.

Then two of you continue to walk hand in hand until Fuyuhiko suddenly stops. You’re confused and turn to look back at him. “Are you alright?” You begin, when the shorter man falls to his knee. Your eyes widen in disbelief. Is he going to-?

“(Y/N), I... we’ve both been through some real tough shit. But we stuck together through it. We’ve literally been to fuckin’ hell and back, but we’re still together. You’ve been by my side the whole time. I’m just a short, grumpy heir to a massive criminal syndicate, yet you still love me. And I... I’m the same way. I love you too. So much. So that’s why I... I...” Fuyuhiko trails off his sentence and quickly wipes his teary eyes with his sleeve. He removes his hand from his pocket and reveals a ring box. In it, contained the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. You could feel your knees beginning to give out. Was this really real?

“Gah, I’m just gonna say it. That’s why I want you to marry me!” He calls out. You can hardly believe your ears. Once Fuyuhiko’s determined expression softens, he continues. “So we can make a future together.”

The scene is beautiful. The soft waves lapping at the shore, the gentle ocean breeze, and the fading purple and orange sky, illuminating the both of you. Unable to say articulate any words, all you can do is tackle Fuyuhiko into a bear hug. It’s not hard to knock him over since he’s so small. The two of you go hurdling back into the sand, with you laughing and crying at the same time. You couldn’t be happier.

“Yes!” You cry into his chest. You’ve got to look like an absolute mess right now. “Yes! I will!” After taking a deep breath, you settle down. “I’m so happy right now.”

The two of you sit up with your foreheads touching. Luckily, Fuyuhiko had held onto the ring so it didn’t go flying into the sand when you knocked him over. He carefully slides it onto your finger, where you admire it with an outstretched arm.

“You deserve nothing but happiness.” He says softly.

“I love you, Fuyuhiko,” You smile against him.

“I love you too, (Y/N) Kuzuryu,” he replies.

You can’t believe this has happened. Your future gets to be with the one you love. The two of you couldn’t be any happier.

[cannibalcreepers]

how would sister and brother react if they found out you were suicidal and the only reason they found out was because they found you cutting yourself

Give you some comfort writing of these two lovely twins <3

TW: suicide mentioning , self-harm mentioning

----

Sister Odet: As cold as ice,

Is what many would describe Sister Odet, she was cunning and cruel, mean as a snake and had a bite to match it. Though through her cold demeanor, she was not a heartless young woman. Sister had grown very fond of you over the months you have been living with the Odet family, being by your side and giving you more attention than her family members, even her brother, though she showed it in more subtle quiet ways, similar to how a cat would to its owner. So when she came across you, hiding in the empty office at the top floor of the mill, curled up on the corner, gripping onto your arm that was bleeding from the cut wounds you had given to yourself. At first she was confused on why you were sitting down on the grimey floor all huddled up and pathetic, but in seeing the red that was rolling down your skin her face scrunched up and she let out an upset and concerned whine, grabbing your other, unharmed, arm a bit too forcefully to pull you up from the ground, ignoring your yelp and protests as she drags you out from the room and into the open storage area. She was refusing to listen to whatever you were rambling about as she looked through multiple boxes with one hand while the other had you in a death grip so tight it was surely going to leave bruises, when she found what she was looking for, the first aid box, Sister shoved you to sit down on a nearby chair and reached out for the damaged arm which you snatched away from her “Are you going to listen of what!?” You snapped, her expression changing drastically from concerned to surprise and then anger as she bared her teeth and let out a hideous growling huff and grabbed at your arm again, this time being successful as she began wrapping up the bleeding. You knew what she was like, not one for empathy for others, sure Sister had a strangely sweet side where she cared about those she loved such as family and whatever you two were, in your mind you never really knew.

When she was done wrapping you up, did the young woman give you a nasty shove on your shoulder to get your attention and gestured to your now bandaged arm as a way to demand an answer. You made a sour face, eyes now filling with tears as they narrowed at the cannibal which made her brows knit together in confusion and once again concern, she didn’t understand how you got those scratches but she could see you were hurting and upset, that it probably wasn’t helping she was so rough and pushy with you. Raising her hand she reached up to brush a strand of your hair back behind your ear and tilted her head to look at your face when you started to cower away from her touch, the strong emotions of guilt, dread and doubt was rushing back in and breaking you down into a sobbing mess. Despite how rough she was before, this soft, gentle gesture just broke you, causing the flood of explaining to her how horribly depressed you had been feeling, how you were regretting so much decisions you had made and that you felt like you didn’t want to be a part of anything anymore, that the world wouldn’t care if you were gone. This confession was a bit overwhelming for Sister as her eyes were wide and a frown formed on her face, her brain trying to take in as much as it could from what you were saying. Sister didn’t respond for a bit, part of her felt annoyed and angry, that you were stupid for feeling this since you were here, with her and the family, that they gave you everything and you felt like this? Though that was her selfish, uncaring side that she had to push aside and remember you too had feelings like herself, she had to think what the others would do? What would Mama do? Well, whenever she got hurt or sad, Ma would give her comfort and that was all she could think to do. Leaning in close, the young cannibal woman wrapped her arms around your neck and pulled you into a hug, running her fingers through your hair and down you back over and over in a gentle motion. This sadly could not fix what was happening to you and she may not understand this, but the kind gesture was enough to calm you down for now as you held her back, letting out small shudders and sniffles from crying so much.

Brother Odet:

This young man is dumb as shit.

You thought One-Eye was dumb, Brother Odet takes the fucking cake on biggest dumbass in the family. He is completely unaware of what is going on and just blatantly dosn’t reading the room. So when he comes across you dragging one of the pocket knives along the skin of your leg he thought you were just testing out your pain tolerance, he’s seen uncle Three-Fingers do that before to freak out victims so he just lets out a snorting laugh that shocks you so bad the blade digs right past to flesh to bone, making you cry out and grasp at the wound. The yell caused him to jump and look shocked that you were bleeding a bit too much now, with a scramble he ran off down the hall to grab some clothes and blankets, returning quickly as he almost plows into you to press the material down over your wound. You were a bit shocked by the whole ordeal, you didn’t know what to say for being caught in such a situation, it was all so…...silly. With a small choked noise you let out some broken giggles, Brother looking up from where he was wrapping up the bleeding wound with an old ripped up shirt, innocently tilting his head and look perplexed at your giggles, which suddenly burst into sobbing laughter, tears running down your cheeks as you laugh loudly, placing a hand over one of your eyes and digging your fingers against your skull at how stupid this situation was.

The young cannibal didn’t quite understand but would let out a few giggles himself, finding your laughter contagious. When your own subsided to a sigh, wiping the tears away from your face and looking down at your poorly wrapped up leg that ached and burned from such a deep cut, you knew you were going to have to get it sewn up and you didn’t want that conversation with either of the parents, or even Sister. Glancing up at the sweetness that is Brother you reached up with both hands and cupped his cheeks “I want to fucking die…” You whispered. Brother was taken aback by you words, his usual carefree expression turning into one of concern and worry, reaching out to cup your own cheeks and pull you in to press his forehead against your own, he didn’t like you saying such things and wasn’t sure if he was supposed to pry, he wasn’t sure exactly what to say as no one he cared about ever said such things, not like they could say that. Other than victims and you were no victim, he could only hold you and try to let you know that he cared about you, that you weren’t alone and hoped you understood this.

[erekiosuncreativeideas]

Being Human - Chapter 16

<= Chapter 15

Summary : Snatcher learns something that is definitely not a good thing. Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826561/chapters/68121814

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sorry for the late posting ! I have a bit of a writer block, and I tried toi delay my chapters as much as possible until I couldn't anymore (the 17th chapter isn't finished so it'll force me to write it eventually), sorry about that ! I hope you're still interested in this story despite my lack of recent activity.

I hope you'll like this chapter !

Of course, the “Oh The Humanity” AU belongs to @doodledrawsthings​​ !

Happy reading !

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chapter 16 - “So, what are you doing here?”

Out of all the people who could have come out of this hallway, Moonjumper was perhaps the less surprising one to Snatcher. Obviously, the fear of seeing Her had engulfed him since the moment the alarm went off, but now, he felt a huge wave of relief hitting him. The man knew very well this was absolutely stupid for him to think She would be able to come onto the ship uninvited… But still.

His posture relaxed once he realized he wasn’t in danger. This was maybe the first time he was truly happy to see Moonjumper, but compared to Vanessa, this wasn’t really difficult. However… Why was he here? Did something happen with Her…?

The living corpse’s face lit up as his eyes fell on Snatcher and the bow-wearing kid next to him. He had his hands clasped together, his face shifting from worry to relief as he saw them:

-“Oh hello! There you are!” he greeted the two, floating a bit closer, while the bow-wearing child approached him too, her smile wide. Her annoyed expression had been quickly replaced by a happy one, an excited one even, as if she hadn’t seen the guy for weeks when, in fact, it had only been two days.

-“Moonjumper!” she greeted him back, stopping just in front of him, her posture clear of how glad she was to see him. The feeling seemed to be mutual as he gave her a warm smile, just as happy to see her. The other’s eyes soon drifted higher to meet Snatcher’s, and the corpse’s warm expression fell a bit. Well, this wasn’t quite surprising, considering how sour their relationship was. In all honesty, who wouldn’t be put off by seeing their dead, rotten body floating right before them, stolen by an unknown spirit? Not a lot of people.

-“Good morning,” said Snatcher simply, the gears in his mind turning more and more. Was this a simple visit of courtesy or… Was there more to it? The former ghost couldn’t help but think of the worst-case scenario. But could this be possible…? It had only been a few days!

Yet, Vanessa was unpredictable and much cleverer than what she let people think. She wasn’t just a Queen that had gone crazy with jealousy and control… No, no… She was far more intelligent and cruel that one would think. And Snatcher knew that from experience. Furthermore, the man couldn’t help but think of Moonjumper’s worried face as the latter had entered the room… He had a bad feeling, he hated that, but that feeling was definitely there, eating him little by little.

Something had happened.

His thoughts were soon cut short as Moonjumper started to talk again, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence that had followed Snatcher’s greeting:

“I- uh, seem to have triggered some sort of alarm…?” wondered the ghost with confusion and nervousness: “Is… Is this normal?”

The former spirit couldn’t blame the other, that loud thing had surprised him too quite a lot. Just the same, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was something that happened on a regular basis or not. Given how annoyed the little girl had been instead of surprised or startled like he had been, he supposed the former was most likely.

-“Yeah, I was wondering about that too,” added Snatcher with a perplexed frown, tilting his head slightly.

The little girl winced as she glanced away, probably remembering quite a lot of situations revolving about said alarm. When she did start to explain, her features showed some hints of irritation.

-“Well… It’s something that Hat and I built in the spaceship in case of… Incidents.”

-“‘Incidents’?” repeated Snatcher, even more confused and, perhaps, a bit nervous now. What did she mean by that…? Apparently, Moonjumper’s face showed the same signs of worry he was expressing, if not more. Both of their stances were now tensed, waiting anxiously for the child to continue her explanation. At their insistence, she seemed a little uncomfortable, as if she didn’t know how to explain something to them in a way that wouldn’t worry them even more.

Well, this was not a success.

-“Hum… I mean, Space is a dangerous place, you know?” she tried to clarify: “And there are many, many life forms out there, not all being super nice so… It’s better to be prepared, right? Just in case. So Hat and I decided to install that alarm, but…” She paused, looking elsewhere as she kept going, more annoyed: “So far, it has only been a bother, and we never had any problems. But… You never know, right?”

Okay, so if Snatcher was nervous before, now he was just scared. What kind of horrific creatures would cause the need for such a system? Space was not his forte, never had been actually, but now the idea of stargazing through the window just made him terribly ill at ease. Who knew what he’d happen to see in this endless black void…?

Yeah no, he didn’t want to think about that.

As the bow-wearing kid looked back at them, she seemed to notice their change of behaviour and expression and raised her hands quickly:

-“B-but it’s fine!” she soon added with a forced smile: “It doesn’t happen really ofte-”

-“It has happened before?!” interrupted Moonjumper, with a panicked and horrified look in his eyes. Well, then again, Snatcher couldn’t blame him. The simple thought of an unknown creature possibly infiltrating the ship… It made him shiver. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about with Vanessa!

-“No! I mean, yes, but-!” the child was starting to grow a little frustrated and she eventually covered her face with both of her hands, rubbing it as she was maybe thinking of a way to calm the two. Eventually, she sighed and tried to smile again, though it didn’t reassure Snatcher very much: “Your solar system is safe,” she informed them calmly: “You don’t need to be afraid, for real. I mean, otherwise your planet would have probably been invaded by some giant eldritch horrors by now, or-”

The little girl closed her lips shut and tight as she realized she was only making things worse. Giant eldritch horrors? Normally, that wouldn’t scare Snatcher, but being in his fragile and weak human body made him reconsider a lot of things, and this was one of them. With so many risks of dying and not even being sure to come back as a ghost afterwards, he just couldn’t allow himself to be reckless... Especially with the time limit looming over them, this sword of Damocles looming over their head. He had to be there if Vanessa happened to do something, whether it was as a powerful spirit… Or as a weak and pathetic human being.

He needed to be there.

Right in front of them, the bow-wearing kid was fidgeting uncomfortably, a wince clearly visible on her face as a heavy and awkward silence settled in the room. Well, now it was much too late to try to reassure any of them, especially Moonjumper, whose face said enough about the whole ordeal. Quite soon, the little girl found herself unable to do anything else than to flee the conversation:

-“Uuuh, you know what, I’ll, uh…” she stuttered, gesturing to the engine room: “I’ll tell Hat you’re here, so, hm… Have fun you two!” And, without waiting for them to protest or even reply, the bow-wearing child dashed to the door and disappeared into the hallway, leaving two very confused and nervous spirits on their own.

-“What. The heck,” let out Snatcher, frowning even more, his eyes fixed on the now closed door.

-“I, uh… I’m starting to fear for these children’s safety,” murmured Moonjumper, just as shocked as him.

-“You don’t say,” answered the former ghost flatly. That wasn’t really surprising, considering all the kind of trouble the kids were used to put themselves into. Plus, Subcon was kind of a death trap in itself, and yet the little girls kept visiting no matter how many time they had almost got killed. However, if there was anything to be worried about, this wasn’t the kids’ safety (Ha!) but his.

Eventually, the former spirit turned back to Moonjumper, his mind realizing the golden opportunity he had for being alone with the living corpse. Without the kids being around them, Snatcher could ask about the state of Subcon Forest without having Moonjumper worrying about upsetting the children.

-“So, what are you doing here?” he asked, straight to the point. There was no use in delaying the inevitable and if there was something he had to know about… Well, it was better now than later. With Vanessa able to freeze his entire kingdom again, it was better to be careful.

Just like he had expected, Moonjumper was taken aback by his straightforward attitude, making him fidget just like the bow-wearing kid earlier. This sight was more than enough to tell Snatcher that, yes, there was indeed something bothering Moonjumper, and most likely something linked to their biggest problem at the moment: Vanessa. And yet, the corpse glanced away, biting his lips as if he was trying to find a way to tell him what was happening without upsetting him too much.

But the silence on its own was more than enough to make him upset.

-“Okay,” Snatcher pinched his nose, feeling a weight settling in his stomach. Gods, what was he going to learn… His legs were starting to shake a bit and the man felt like his muscles freezing from the tension and apprehension. If he had to know something, it was now or never: “What’s happening? I know you’re not here just to say ‘hi’, especially since it’s only been a couple of days. So what’s wrong?”

Snatcher didn’t have the strength to play the questioner type too long. Dealing with this body was already quite a lot on his mind, so if he had to get more worries over his unfortunately weak shoulders…

-“It’s…” Moonjumper started, looking much more worried than when he had first appeared in the room. Had he been trying to hide it as long as there was a kid in the room? “It’s your fires. They’re starting to die down already.”

Snatcher frowned again, more and more confused.

-“My… Fires? What do you-” but then, he closed his mouth. His fires. The ones he had lit up to protect Subcon Forest from his ex’s magic, the ones that were the only thing heating up the area enough to keep it warm and safe from Vanessa. The only barrier against this unnatural and terrifying cold that had killed so many people… Including him.

Those fires were dying down.

The former ghost’s face paled up as soon as this thought materialized in his mind, hitting him violently as he was forced to understand what it meant. What it all meant for him, for his forest… And for his minions. If those fires ever went out, then there wouldn’t be anything to protect Subcon from the terrible cold and ice coming from the manor, but this wasn’t the worst, no, oh no.

Vanessa would feel that there were no resistance against her magic anymore. This couldn’t happen, this just couldn’t happen, ever.

-“Snatcher...! Snatcher!” Moonjumper tried to call him back to reality, but Snatcher was too lost in his own horrifying thoughts. How could this already be happening? Those fires shouldn’t die down so soon! Sure, he had predicted this would happen, considering they originated from his powers and, thus, depended on them to remain active and warm. Now that the man was in a human body with none of his magical abilities left, he didn’t have any power source to maintain them. It didn’t take him long to put two and two together: this would be what would make Vanessa understand that the Forest wasn’t as well protected as before. However, he had expected this to happen much, much later. Not now. They hadn’t found anything to reverse the situation yet…!

Oh Gods. He was hyperventilating again. His body was now trembling like a leaf and he only realized he was hugging himself. A loud, very loud ringing noise was echoing in his brain, making him unable to distinguish any other sound. What? Why…?

Why was he so scared…?

He was forced out of his thoughts as he felt two hands on his shoulders, shaking him back and forth to bring him back to the present. He heard his name being called, though it was muffled by that deafening ringing noise. What would he do if Vanessa came before they found any solution? How was he going to protect his kingdom in this weak, stupid and pathetic meat sack of a body? The Queen wouldn’t give them any chance to fight back, especially if she was free to use his powers at their full potential in the Forest…

What was she going to do if she saw him like that again…? That thought alone made his stomach turn strongly, giving him the urge to throw up. No, no, no, no, he couldn’t go through that again, he couldn’t, she wouldn’t let him die this time, she would do her best to keep him alive, locked up for him to never, never escape again-

The pressure on his shoulders disappeared eventually… Only to reappear somewhere else, on his cheeks, forcing him to look up. There, he could see Moonjumper’s panicked face.

-“Snatcher!” the latter yelled, forcing him out of his trance. It was only then that the former spirit managed to glance around him, pulling himself together little by little. He was still in the ship. He was still safe.

His eyes went back on Moonjumper’s, the other letting go of his face now that he was able to think coherently again. As soon as he was free again, Snatcher stepped away: his breath was quick and heavy, his heart was pounding inside of his chest, his eyes were stinging… He reached out to rub his eyes, but as soon as his fingers touched them… He could feel them wet.

Did he really… Did he really start to cry…? In front of Moonjumper out of all people?! This could only be a joke. As fast as he could, he tried to dry them up, not wanting anyone to see him in that state, and especially not the spirit who had stolen his past life. No, absolutely not, not happening in a million years!

-“I’m… I’m sorry,” apologized Moonjumper, his expression no more afraid but guilty instead. His eyes were fixed on him, staring at him with what Snatcher identified as pity, as compassion. Gods, he would always hate being looked at this way. This made him feel even more pitiful than he already was in a state like this. But the other started to talk again, catching his attention again: “I should have been more tactful…”

But this apology wasn’t changing anything. It wasn’t changing the current situation, it wouldn’t keep Vanessa away. Those were just words. And words would never, never save them from a crazy Ice Queen starved for a twisted and inhuman love.

-“How much…” Snatcher could feel a lump in his throat, almost preventing him from talking. He still managed to get the words out, though his voice sounded much too broken for his liking: “How much have they died down?” he decided to ask. Maybe he had been panicking over nothing, perhaps the situation wasn’t as bad as it seemed! After all, he had always been quite powerful, it would make sense that his powers would persist even after him becoming human again!

… Right?

His eyes were staring at Moonjumper, awaiting the other’s answer with an unbearable impatience. He was hoping to see some kind of reassurance, something to make him feel better, anything other than the worst-case scenario he had started to picture since the very beginning of this problem. But the corpse wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t wearing the face of someone intending to comfort him, no…

Moonjumper seemed as terrified as he was himself.

-“Almost… Almost halfway,” answered the corpse with a paler face than the one he already had, his hands trembling as he fidgeted in the air.

As soon as the words came to Snatcher ears, he felt like he had just received a bucket of freezing water over his shoulders. Halfway…? No, no, this couldn’t be, this was too soon, way too soon! The man had thought it would take at least a week for that to happen! How could this be?!

-“No,” he breathed out, stepping away once more. He couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it! Those fires were their only hope of keeping Vanessa away and oblivious of the situation! And those same fires were dying down?! “No, no, no, that’s not true,” he kept going, his voice becoming more and more distressed as he was glancing everywhere randomly: “You’re wrong, it’s not possible, they’re not-”

-“They are,” insisted Moonjumper with a troubled voice, not giving him the time to finish: “I thought just like you at first, I… I didn’t want to believe it either… But they’re already getting weaker. I… I checked, multiple times.”

This wasn’t good, this really wasn’t good… Snatcher felt like the world around him was collapsing around him. Their barrier against that crazy monster was weakening, it was weakening and they wouldn’t be able to fight her like this. But the worst question was yet to come, the most terrible and the most terrifying one that Snatcher wanted to avoid thinking about at all cost. But he didn’t have the choice anymore.

-“Do you…” The words got stuck in his throat, his breath becoming heavier and heavier as he struggled to talk again, fighting against the dread that was settling over him: “Do you think she noticed anything yet?”

If Vanessa had noticed anything… Then that would only announce a terrible danger. It wouldn’t take her long to understand that the Forest was soon unprotected… And that she would have the perfect opportunity to strike.

-“I don’t… I don’t know,” answered Moonjumper trustfully as he glanced elsewhere, visibly just as scared as he was: “I haven’t felt anything different coming from the manor yet, so I would guess not, but-”

However, the corpse was cut short in his reply by a high pitched voice that was very, very familiar to the two spirits.

-“What are you two talking about?”

The duo turned in the direction of the voice… Only to find the two little girls, standing up in front of the door leading to the engine room, a confused and worried expression painted on their faces. Both were glancing at them repeatedly, looking for an answer to their question, any answer. But the fear on their faces were already more than a good indicator of what was happening. Soon, their own faces crumpled as they started to understand.

No matter what they had to do to reverse this whole situation… Then they’d have to speed up the process, as much as possible.

Snatcher would not let Vanessa freeze the entire forest again.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Hehehehehe another cliffhanger, woohooo- Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter ! See you in the next one !

=> Chapter 17

[charlthotte]

Breaking Through the Iron Wall - Aone Takanobu x Reader

Chapter 14

Rising on the cool Tuesday morning, I couldn't curtail a sense of joyous anticipation, as that very day I would leave for our practice match in Tokyo. However, as I scanned over the contents of my overnight bag - a tiny sliver of timorousness crept inside my mind: I simply couldn't help thinking of the worst. What if Shiro would leave us while we were away? Relentlessly, I tried to shrink those thoughts to the back of my head - but only to a slight avail, as that thought lingered, latched onto my fibres of being.

Capering down the stairs, I was greeted by the warm smile of my pyjama-clad father. Obviously, he had only recently arisen from the depths of slumber - his hair ruffled by the happenings of the night - his glasses laying skewed upon the bridge of his nose. "Hey, kiddo!" He spoke joyously, holding his arms out wide, "How are we feeling today?"

A humble meal stood on the table in front of me, a simple breakfast - nothing more. "Morning, Dad. I think I'm okay, a bit nervous at that"

"Don't be nervous! You get to spend a whole night in Tokyo of all places!" He hesitated, taking in my anxious aura, "I'm sure everything will go along just beautifully, be hopeful, kiddo." Smiling goofily, he bounded towards me - wrapping my body in an over-zealous bear hug - almost throttling me.

Sighing, I replied, "I'll try, thanks Dad"

We ate breakfast, chatting nonchalantly until I had no choice but to depart. Bidding me a heartfelt goodbye, hugging me until I was close to imploding. As I walked away, my luggage on tow - he waved and hollered feverishly, a stream of 'Goodbyes' and "I love yous' cascading from between his lips. I laughed at his antics, equalling his words but in a less incandescent manner. Even if the trip would only span one night, I'd still miss him nonetheless.

Upon arriving at the train station, little time passed before my train cruised along the tracks before me - and per usual - Takanobu was situated in his usual seat, seeming much more tranquil compared to the prior day. No longer was his face as troubled, yet it still harnessed an essence of anxiousness - but for an understandable reason. Neither of us felt the need to greet each other - simply acknowledging the other's presence as we always did. However, as we departed the carriage in tandem - a certain somebody laid his grievances bare, "(Y/N), do you think Shiro will be okay?"

"I hope he will be, but I can't really say much more."

"Can you be sure?" With saying that, his voice broke slightly - only highlighting his demeanour of worry.

Sighing, I paused, unsure of how to answer what he had asked, "Truthfully, we can't be sure. We have to hope for the best - nothing more, nothing less." Hopeless words, they were - but I couldn't offer him anything more.

"Okay..." He let out a shaky, breathless laugh, "I'll try. Thanks, (Y/N)."

"Don't mention it, it's not something worthy of thanks." And with that, he didn't care to speak afterwards - letting both of us fall into a revelling pit of gaucheness. Even during classes and breaks, that silence carried on until the coach journey to Tokyo as school ended. Somehow, even Futakuchi managed to not break a word.

The drive was to take a gruelling four hours of doing hardly anything. Occasionally, I would give directions to Coach Oiwake, the rest of my time being occupied by a book, as always. That was, until I felt a sudden jolt ricochet through the back of my seat - which of course, was gifted graciously by the grimace sat behind me. "Your Majestyyyyy, how long until we get thereeee?"` Futakuchi whined like a little kid, pursing out his bottom lip - mimicking a needy baby.

Behind me, sat Futakuchi and Takanobu - the prior jesting his usual jests and the latter; gazing out of the window, his eyes travelling along the road - occasionally latching onto a building or animal in the background. "Just under two and a half hours. That's if there aren't any mishaps."

"Well that sucks, I guess I'll just take a nap, then." He declared, reclining in his seat - letting his legs fall underneath my chair. Immediately, he kicked his head backwards, clamping his eyes shut, "So don't be too rowdy, you two." Falling silent after his sarcastic articulation. Feeling no apparent need to reply to him, I buried my senses back into my book, wishing for the ride to terminate.

Hardly any time had passed before the faint sounds of Futakuchi snoring rang out through the faint buzz of the team's chatter. However, little after that - a scheming Kamasaki crept up behind his chair - his eyes twinkling with devilish delight. The Machiavellian jumped from where he stood, severely startling the slumbering teen. That was when the environment gained an intense ambiance of chaos. Futakuchi screaming a slew of obscenities at his attacker, the latter defending himself relentlessly, explaining how the whole ordeal was simply a bit of friendly banter. Every other member of the team - in some way - was trying to make the conflict die down. However, with one single glance from Takanobu - Futakuchi immediately curtailed his fighting spirit - becoming a dog with its tail tucked between its legs.

"Now... Everyone leave me alone. Please and thank you" He declared curtly, a scorn scowl taking residence upon his face.

Not a single objection was made to that statement, everyone staying silent in trepidation of catalysing another ruckus. The situation pretty much stayed like that for the rest of the drive there - except from the odd 'Shut up' coming from Futakuchi's mouth. Yet, it was still far from peaceful - the constant murmur of voices in the background, distracting me from my novel.

As we arrived at our accommodation for the night, I could sense the team's excitement rising - even if the practice match was early in the next morning. Even the grimace's cocky exterior had shifted and let a ray of giddiness outwards. A rare sight to say the least.

Most of the team rushed into the inn, not paying attention to their rowdiness that was highly apparent to every person passing by. Their escapades were swiftly ushered away by a sighing Moniwa, commanding them to calm their turbulence.

The scene surrounding me was purely picturesque, it certainly wasn't something that you would expect from being in a mostly modern region of Tokyo. A serene, little river trickled down the side of the narrow road - endowed with numerous water lilies of various hues of white and pink. The water flowing through it was rather dark, yet somehow comforting - as you couldn't see just how deep you were falling in. Standing sturdily over the stream, was a bridge - made of many differing stones - each one a different shape, colour and consistency to the next. Adorning the river's surroundings - were flora and foliage - offering a natural touch to its metropolitan environment. I could have sat, gazing at that sight for hours on end; something about it felt weirdly nostalgic and comforting - as if it held some sort of importance to me.

However, that could never be the case, as I followed the rest of the team into our rooms. Being the manager, I had the privilege of having a room to myself, as sharing a room with any member of the team would have surely been catastrophic. 

At that time, the mid-evening sky had begun to grow a relaxing shade of scarlet - wispy clouds floating through it. There was no apparent need for food, seeing as though everyone had eaten on the drive there - so I laid on my futon, a book in hand. Dappled light shone through the window panes - casting light in peculiar patterns across the floor. Shadows swam across the walls, twirling along with the wind. Perhaps Tokyo wasn't going to be that bad after all...

A sudden knock on the door echoed through the room, "Come in." I said reflexively. The hinges creaked shrilly, as the unknown figure made its way passed the doorway. My instincts told me that Takanobu would be standing there - but alas, it was the fawn-haired Futakuchi, wearing a padded, navy jacket and a grey scarf draped around his neck.

"So, (Y/N). Aone and I were wondering if you'd like to go on a little stroll with us? And, don't worry - Coach Oiwake already said we were okay to do so." Futakuchi asked, seemingly out of his little tantrum from earlier.

Taken aback, I stood up from my futon, smoothing down my clothes, "Oh... Uh, Sure - I guess." Hurling on my coat and shoes as I exited the room. It seemed strange that Futakuchi was asking me to do such a thing - especially since he called me by my name, instead of some stupid nickname - after all, he had never expressed interest in socialising normally with me.

Briefly, I made eye contact with Takanobu, only for him to avert his gaze instantly - a nervous disposition on his face, as he looked down to the floor - his hands fiddling with something inside his pockets.

Sensing the awkward air, Futakuchi attempted to start a conversation, "Where do you guys want to go? I was thinking of following that river to see where it goes, is that fine with you two?"

Neither of us offered any opposition to his suggestion, Takanobu only nodded - while I hummed a little sound of affirmation. I didn't have anything better to do. It didn't take long before Futakuchi started talking about the most random things - trying not to be awkward himself, "Sooooooo, (Y/N), how different is Miyagi to Hokkaido?"

"Well, the different dialects were strange at first. But it is nice not seeing snow all the time, life near the Kitami mountains wasn't exactly... Perfect."

Awkwardly laughing, Futakuchi carried on with the small talk, as if he was trying to stall, "I guess so. Why did you move here though?"

"My mother had a promotion, and that meant that we had to move here." I replied, nonchalantly - perplexed by his sudden 'interest' in my life. And for the next half hour or so, he kept asking questions - some generic and some bizarre. It was slightly obvious that he didn't really care about my answers but instead, only used them as a method of delaying something. As that happened, Takanobu sauntered beside us - never uttering a word, but still fiddling with whatever object he was hiding inside of his pockets.

Abruptly, Futakuchi stopped dead in his tracks - as we had somehow arrived back at the bridge from before. The evening sky illuminated the water perfectly - as the waning sunlight hit each droplet of the river, it reflected back into my eyes. It almost sparkled. Each lily bobbed up and down in a majestic rhythm, acting as the river's heartbeat.

"Now, you two - I'll be heading back - so don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." The fawn-haired teen acquiesced, his usual aura becoming rather apparent. Smirking back to Takanobu and I while strolling back into the inn. 

As soon as Futakuchi disappeared behind the inn's doors, I felt a timid tap at my shoulder. Turning around, I was met with an equally timid Takanobu. He drew his hand out from his pocket, holding a flower - specifically a hydrangea. A flower that was used to show someone's gratitude for being understood by another. The flower's complexity would mirror that of the person giving it - and how the recipient learned to accept and understand that complexity, and maybe love them for it.

Immediately, Takanobu's face flushed over with a crimson wash - seemingly embarrassed by the gesture. But, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he took the time to research into my interests, and use that knowledge to express the way he was feeling. To put it simply, I found it cute - adorable actually - the way that the man with the stoic and intimidating aura would appear so vulnerable in front of me. The inside of me was screaming with joy, that I tried my best to contain.

I held my right hand out to him, to indicate that I accepted his gesture - and as I took the flower from his, our hands brushed - only for an instant. His skin felt warm and clammy - as if his nervousness was running through his entire body.

 Through a bright smile, I began to speak, "Thank you, Takanobu. I'm happy that you can feel that way with me." A single tear of joy began to prick at my eye. Taking notice of that, Takanobu's arms scooped me into a comforting hug - without a single word.

Never before had I felt so unapologetically cheery. He was the first person to make me feel that way...