#thank you to izzy for saving my ass with lighting tips!!!

[morrigan-sims]

I can't fucking wait to share these renders of Carrion. I've only started on one of them but augh I'm so excited. They're going to turn out SO GOOD, I think!!

[blessedboo]

Need [Pipe Down #2] | Oscar Diaz.

Oscar Diaz x Reader

Summary: You were supposed to get out of your post-breakup blues, but a certain someone clouded your mind all day. You decided to do something about it.

Requested: Yes (Thank you, my loves!)

Warnings: Cursing. Angst to fluff - fluff to smut (18+ Content) and then some more fluff.

Word Count: 4.6K

A/N: The reactions to Pipe Down were incredible. Y’all are so supportive, and fucking hilarious as well. This is my first time writing smut, so I apologize if it’s not that great; feedback is always appreciated. I hope you enjoy reading this sequel, it’s dedicated to all of you. Love ya!

You and Izzy were walking arm in arm back to her car, chatting, laughing. Times like these made you feel grateful to have her in your life, someone you could always count on to be there for you and lift your spirits. Honestly, you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself without your homegirl.

The laughter died down as you both sighed and continued walking in comfortable silence. You felt her eyes on you as she turned her head to face yours. She waited a few seconds before saying something, almost as if she was trying to read your thoughts.

“Alright, love. Be real with me now, are you sure you’re okay?”

You turned to face her and gave her a reassuring smile. “Of course, why?”

“You just seemed a little off back there. You’re usually downing mimosas with me by the minute, but instead you were staring off into space.” She paused for a second after saying that, abruptly stopping both of you in your tracks.

Her eyes widened as she side-eyed you, “Shiiit, you aren’t pregnant, are you?”

Your jaw dropped for a moment, shortly turning into a laugh as your head tipped back, shocked by her assumption.

“Girl, no. I do not have a baby in me. And if I did, trust me, you’d be the first one to know.”

“Well, my bad then,” she giggled.

After eventually getting in the car, Izzy thought it’d be nice to put the roof down, convertible style. Today’s light breeze and warm sun did you favors as your skin glowed and your hair flowed. You raised your arm up in the air, the brisk wind gently dancing around it as you jammed out to Brent Faiyaz, H.E.R and other R&B favorites.

You and Izzy sang simultaneously, screeching at the top of your lungs when it came to those high notes. It didn’t matter if it was good, it was a vibe.

Soon enough, the car began to approach your neighborhood. Izzy turned to you, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.

“Wellll, where am I dropping you off to?”

”Where else? Home, babes,” you let out a small laugh and nudged her elbow for asking you that question.

“Mm, I know. But which one? Yours or your baby daddy’s?” She bit her lip and winked at you. “If you get what I mean ...”

Izzy knowingly wiggled her brows up and down, tongue in cheek. Your brows furrowed slightly as you shook your head at her, unsure of what she was implying.

It took you a good three seconds but Izzy knew you got the message when your eyes widened, rolling to the back of your head. She cheekily snickered at you as you did.

You gave her an unamused look and pinched the bridge of your nose, realizing she was referring to Oscar. And not just ‘Oscar,’ she referred to him as your “baby daddy”. Oh please, as if you’d ever let his fine ass him knock you up. 

Would I?

You knew she was only teasing, but what she said started getting to you. It made you overthink and you didn’t like it.  

“You know damn well he is not my baby daddy, nor will he ever be. We’re over, Iz - we have been for two weeks, you know that.”

She kissed her teeth and raised an eyebrow at you, dismissing your comment, or what she knew as your lies. She always saw right through you, you couldn’t fake anything with her even if you tried.

“Bitch,” she retorted with an annoyed inflection in her tone, “you can’t fool me. I put two and two together when I saw how you acted at brunch. No wonder, Spooky got you all in your feelings, and I’m sure it has something to do with whatever happened between you two this morning.”

“I-“ 

You were immediately cut off by her. Yeah, she definitely wasn’t done scolding you.

“You’re lucky I saved your ass from saying something stupid.”

You had a mini-flashback to the moment you and Oscar shared right before she picked you up. You remembered how vulnerable you got in his arms, ready to spill all the pain you’d been feeling. You didn’t notice you started to slouch, or the frown that appeared on your face just then. But Izzy did.

She looked away to gather her thoughts before turning back to you, lips pulled to one side as she gave you an empathetic look. She grabbed your hand and clasped her fingers over it to comfort you.

“You miss him, huh?”

You couldn’t lie to her or yourself anymore. You sighed, “I’m angry at him. I’m upset with him—“

“But ...” Izzy added.

“—But I do miss him.” You groaned as you tipped your head back into the seat. You really missed him, and that longing feeling to be close to Oscar again was eating you up inside.

Longing for him to eat me up instead.

“Told ya,” Izzy smirked triumphantly, you scowled back at her in return.

“Not now, dumb ass.”

She chuckled before continuing the drive to your block.

—

“Alright, we’re here.”

The rest of the drive was silent, so deep in your daydream that you completely shut yourself off from your surroundings.

You looked at the house she parked at, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Iz, you’re a good couple of houses away from mine. We aren’t even on the right side of the street, this is Osca-“

You blinked once.

Twice.

Thrice.

“Izzy.”

She was looking down to avoid eye contact, but still smiling ever so mischievously. 

“Okay, don’t be mad, but—“

“IZ-“

“—BUT! I really think you should talk to him. You clearly aren’t over him, he probably isn’t over you. Both of you should stop being so stubborn, keep pride out of this, and have yourselves some bomb ass makeup sex.”

You whipped your head towards her, eyes bulging at the last remark.

“What? No sex? That’s cool too, that’s cool too. Maybe that’s just me then.”

You tried your best to stay annoyed at her, but you couldn’t help it. Your lips pulled into a smile as you admired your best friend. You let out a small chuckle before undoing your seat belt.

“I hate you.”

She grinned, “I know, I love you too.”

Izzy pulled you into a hug before you opened the car door and got out. You walked around, but she called out from behind as soon as you approached the lawn.

“Hey, wait!”

You spun your head around to look at her, forehead wrinkled as a questioning gesture.

“Go get ‘em, tiger!” She exclaimed as she pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth, closed her fists, and did a back-and-forth pumping gesture with both arms at her sides to signal fucking.

Cheeks turning red, you palmed your face embarrassedly, “Oh God, please stop.”

Man, you really loved her.

You waved her off as she laughed, hurriedly making your way to Oscar’s front door before anyone saw that atrocity.

Here you were again for the second time today. Damn, he got you fucked up.

All that readiness you had a minute ago washed away, now being encompassed by anxiousness and self-doubt. Great, your favorite duo of terror.

Am I being too desperate?

This is a bad idea.

No, I love him. Just do it, coward.

At last, you raised your hand to the dreaded large plank of wood you stood in front of. “It’s now or never.”

One knock. Two knocks. And a third.

He’s fucking that blonde chick.

Abort mission.

Mayday! Mayda-

“Y/N ... Back so soon?” A shirtless Oscar leaned up against the doorframe, bright-eyed and flashing that sexy smirk.

In any other instance, you’d retort with a witty remark, fire back with some sass.

But this wasn’t any other instance.

You were hurting, and you were tired. You were tired of the lonely nights, tired of these mind games, tired of bottling it all up. Oscar took notice of your silence and the blank, but sad, expression on your face. He sensed something was wrong. He knew because he felt that way too. Regretting what he said, his features softened. His eyes drooped whilst muscles relaxed as he reached his arms out to you.

There were a million reasons to turn back around and run for the hills. Could you trust him not to break your heart again? Could you guarantee that everything will work out from that point on?

The truth is, you didn’t know.

But if there was anything you did know, it’s that if you ran now, you may never get this chance again.

You were hesitant, but you stepped forward and gently placed a hand on his upper arm; a silent invite for him to embrace you. The corner of his lips curved into a small, sad smile. Neither of you had to speak to be able to empathize with each other. You felt each other’s everything. 

Pain. Frustration. Happiness. And everything in between. 

That was the beauty of your relationship.

He lead you inside before wrapping his strong arms around you, pulling you into a tight, but tender, hug. The warmth of his bare body engulfed your entire being. Your hands followed suit as you moved them under his arms and clasped them onto each shoulder, your face tilted to fit like a puzzle piece in the crook of his tattooed neck.

You basked in each other’s silence as the comfort washed over you. It was dead-quiet in the house, and all you could hear were Oscar’s gentle breaths as he inhaled and exhaled on the tops of your cheeks. Along with the soft thumping of his heartbeat as he relaxed into you more and more as the moment went by.

As much as you appreciated the embrace, there were still probing thoughts that lingered in the back of your mind. You had questions and you needed answers.

“Oscar?”

“Hm?”

“Couch.”

“Okay.”

Removing yourselves from each other, you made your way into his living room. You sat side-by-side, not as close as a few seconds ago, but close enough to reach out for him just in case you needed to beat his ass.

You took a deep breath in before letting out a sigh that sounded like it was hidden in the depths of your body. 

“You told me you were too busy to be with me. That you needed space. That it wasn’t the best time to be in a relationship, and that we weren’t right for each other anyway. Too different.”

“I know, I-“

“But earlier you tell me you miss me. A lot, might I add. How do you think that makes me feel? That’s frustrating and confusing as fuck, Oscar!”

“Y/N, I know. I fucked up. I fucked up big time. I knew I fucked up on that first night I spent without you. I was wrong, so goddamn wrong, and I hated myself for it.”

“So then why say it? Why, Oscar? We were doing so well, and then you drop the breakup bomb out of nowhere. And if you regretted it so much, why not talk to me the day after instead of ignoring me?”

“Because—“ He paused as he looked away. His open, expressive hands closing into a fist as he rubbed his thumb against the side of his index finger. This was a habit of his whenever he was anxious, annoyed, or anything of the sort. His nostrils flared as his eyebrows knitted together, lips curving downwards into a frown. You watched his actions intently, the battle he had with himself, his internal conflict, playing out in front of your eyes.

He sighed, “because I knew you’d be better off without me - in more ways than one. I’m a liability, nena. I bring more harm than good, to you and to Cesar.”

“—And with all that shit that went down with Cuchillos, I didn’t want you standing in the middle of the crossfire. I couldn’t risk anything happening to you, so I pushed you away. So yes, I did need my space to handle my shit without you, and yes, I was too busy … too busy to give you the attention we both needed. But I never stopped loving you, I just wanted to protect you.”

Oscar’s breathing was heavy as he closed his eyes, lids tucking in tightly after the release of this built-up resentment.

My baby was protecting me, and he was hurting in the process.

Lightning struck you at the center of your heart and made it shatter into a million broken fragments. Or at least that’s what it felt like. You ached for him. You always did knowing the life he was living, but now more than ever. Your eyes welled up with tears, your head dropping down.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. I know it doesn’t fix what I did, but I pro-“

You cut him off by clasping one hand over his nape, and another on the side of his face as you pulled him into a soft, sweet kiss. You didn’t do it out of pity. You didn’t do it to shut him up. You did it to reassure him, to calm his mind, to ease his blessed heart.

Prior to the two weeks of isolation, you were Oscar’s peace, and he yours. In a time he needed it most, he lost his peace, his only form of solace.

To say you felt bad was an understatement.

Your plump lips danced against his own. It was a tango of love and war. Longing, yet laced in suffering. The kiss was slow and sensual as the two lovers rekindled the flame that never truly died out. Beneath all that tenderness, both of your lips still fought for dominance. 

To claim the upper hand, he grabbed onto your waist and propped you onto his lap. With the close proximity of your rhythmically moving bodies, you inhaled deeply as the aroma of beer, cologne and cigarettes tickled your nose. The smell was intoxicating, pure bliss, and only he could pull it off. 

There were other things only he could pull off, like my clothes perhaps.

You could sense Oscar’s patience quickly dissipating with each taste of your soft, moist kisses. He couldn’t get enough of them, and two weeks away from them were two weeks too long. He lolled helplessly with his eyes clenched shut, in a trance of tongue. 

As the kiss got more heated, a sweet moan erupted from your throat. You were soaking up every ounce of loving he was giving you, hypnotized by the way he held you, felt you, caressed you. Oscar smiled against your lips as a result, bringing his hand up to the back of your head as his fingers tangled and intertwined with your locks to deepen his motions. 

You started to feel overwhelmed—in the best way possible—but he was, quite literally, taking your breath away. You unlatched your lips from his, both of you gasping for air simultaneously. You stared into each other’s eyes that glistened with lust and adoration. From the way you two were moving, you would’ve thought you had been away from each other for months. But that only seemed to prove the immense need and want for one another.

You stared at his now swollen, red, wet lips and giggled. He joined, chuckling as he saw your own, clearly enthusiastic at what he’d done to you. As he did, he brought a thumb up to wipe over your tear-stained cheeks.

“So ... does that mean I’m forgiven?” He asked sporting a cheeky, lopsided grin.

You licked your lips as you sat up on your knees, his thigh in between your legs whilst towering over him. Mindlessly, he ran his hands up your waist and down your hips, groping your thighs here and there ever so slightly.

“Hm,” you bit your fingernail pensively. Your eyes darkened with mischief as you thought of other ways he’d be able to make it up to you. You glared at him, biting your lip, “how badly do you miss me, baby?”

He smirked at your sudden burst of sexual prowess. “Badly, mamí.”

“Mm, what are you willing to do?”

“Anything.”

“Prove it. Prove that you missed me.” You coaxed, lust and desire laced your soft spoken voice.

And that was all he needed for him to unzip your shorts at a tantalizing pace, never breaking eye contact with you as he did. Maybe you deserved a little bit of teasing for the petty ‘mission’ you pulled earlier. You shimmied out of them impatiently, and he laughed at your attempt to hurry.

“What are you in a rush for, mamas? I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you,” he reassured you as he cupped your face before placing a small, chaste kiss on your lips.

You sighed, nodding your head. Your body relaxed as you lowered yourself onto his lap again.

“You’re right. Do your thing, my love.”

He pecked your cheek, your nose, the corner of your mouth and peppered light kisses along your jawline. You loved how romantic he was before devouring you or fucking you senseless - such a deliciously dynamic man.

He lifted your chin up to tilt your head back, giving him more access to the soft skin of your neck. Needless to say, you weren’t expecting his lips to brush up against the sensitive area below your ear as he licked you with a long, single swipe of his tongue.

Goodbye, Mr. Romantic and hello, Daddy.

He nipped and sucked, and nipped and sucked. Hot, open-mouthed kisses trailing all around your neck and down to your collarbone as one hand was wrapped gently, yet firmly, around your throat, right under your chin to hold it up. Your breaths were shaky, light moans rolled off your lips naturally, and a very apparent pool formed in your black lace panties.

Oscar unwrapped the knot of your top, letting the sleeves fall down your arms. His fingers slid on your smooth skin as he took it off completely.

“Damn, baby,” he whispered as he wishfully gazed at your breasts, passion shadowing over him. You placed your hands on his chest, nails lightly scratching the bare skin as you dragged them down. His lips parted in response, his excited heartbeats could be felt under your fingertips. From the heavy breathing to the glossy beads of sweat that glistened on his tanned skin, the atmosphere of the room got dense - air heavy, sexual tension thick. 

With an expert flick of his fingers, your bra was on the floor in a matter of seconds. Oscar’s big hands were on your waist and back, ensuring there was no way to escape. Not that you wanted to be anywhere else anyway. 

He wasted no time latching onto your right nipple, cupping your plump assets as he groped and squeezed teasingly. His tongue danced fluently over the swell of your breast, evoking a porn-worthy moan that reverberated against the four walls of the small room. The wet sensation combined with the tantalizingly sensual circular motions were heavenly. 

“Oh God,” you whimpered breathlessly. Though, it would be best if you kept God out of your sexual endeavours. 

Oscar didn’t forget about your left nipple as he alternated between pinching, tugging and rolling it in between his index and thumb. He brought his hand to his mouth, licking his two digits and then continuing his actions.

How considerate of him, you thought. He wanted to give both of your eager breasts the same type of attention, cute. 

As you ground your hips against his thigh, subtly getting off from the pressure hitting your core, he felt the moistness that started to coat the thin fabric and your inner thighs. Your nipple left the warmth of his mouth and was now encompassed by the cool air. You shivered at the new sensation, instantly missing the feel of his lips as you pouted. 

Smirking, he looked down, catching you in the act of your mini joyride. 

“Naughty.”

You giggled, “Maybe a little.”

He hummed amusingly before gently pushing your chest backwards so that you could lay down flat on the couch. He crawled to hover over you, letting out a groan as he bit his lip and took in your current state. The woman he cherished was sprawled half-naked on the couch, swollen breasts rising up and down, looking up at him with big love-hazed eyes and plump pouty lips as you waited for him to please you. 

In his eyes, it was the most angelic sight. You loved the way he looked at you as if you were the center of his universe. You smiled at him, following with a wink.

His face inched closer to yours as he gave you a sweet kiss before planting many of them on a trail from your neck, to the valley in between your breasts, and finally to the awaited destination. 

He looked up at you through his gorgeous, long lashes. He kept that hungry glare pointed on you as he hooked his fingers into your waistband, dragging them down swiftly. Your stomach fluttered in anticipation. If it was even possible, your arousal got more wet at the thought of his mouth on your pussy. You wanted him so bad, it was painful. 

“Please,” you pleaded. “I need you.”

That breathy whimper set him off. He didn't bother teasing the surrounding area as usual. He was starving, and he was gon’ feast like his life depended on it. 

As he lowered himself, the cold metal of his cross grazed your lips. You jumped at the stinging chill, a sensation that amplified tenfold due to the already aching area.

He ran two fingers up and down your soaking slit, spreading the two lips, then rubbing them closer together, and repeating. As his fingers occasionally brushed along your swollen clit, your thighs would involuntarily clench at the sensitivity. He followed your body’s requests by rubbing the bud in gentle circles, applying just enough pressure to stimulate you. He would press down on it every now and then, which would really get you going. 

At this point, you were already a whimpering mess for him and he loved it. 

“You want more, nena?” 

Unable to comprehend any words, you simply nodded. Now tugging and rolling at your throbbing bundle of nerves, “No no, I want you to tell me. Let me hear that voice.”

“Yes,” you whispered, “… M-more,” was all you managed to get out in a broken moan. 

Oscar gripped your thighs as he dropped his head down to your core. You were immediately met with a long lick that flattened against your entrance, from bottom to top.  You gasped at the moist feeling of his velvet tongue combined with the warm breaths that lingered on your skin. 

He spread your legs wider and pushed your thighs back, allowing more access for him to hit all the right spots. His lips smothered your pussy with sloppy, deep kisses.

He was french-kissing the fuck out of your core, and your endless cries only encouraged him to keep going. 

His tongue curled up to flick your clit rapidly before easing your pleasure with soft circular motions. Not wanting to lose his rhythm, he closed in on your pearl, sucking on it tenderly as his fingers wandered in between your folds.

“Oh Daddy… Fuck yeah,” you hissed. 

“Mm, you like that?” He groaned.

“Yes! Don’t stop, please don’t stop,” were only some of the obscenities that rolled off your tongue. 

Well, his tongue was doing most of the rolling. 

Your pussy was throbbing, aching for release. Breathless, you propped yourself up on one arm to get a glimpse of the action. Your fluids flowed out of you - it was ‘The Y/N River’ down there. They coated your walls, Oscar’s beard and definitely drenched the couch material under you. 

But he didn’t mind one bit. In fact, it drove him wild. He lapped up your juices in quick, yet deliberate, movements of his tongue. 

Feeling him do it was pleasurable enough, but watching his determination play out on your sex was a whole new level of sexy, and eventually brought you closer to release. Your back arched, your hips bucked and you were a moaning disaster. 

“Fuck! Fuuuck! Baby … I- … Ah, shit! … I’m g-gonna come. Just like that, yes. Yes!”

Your orgasm was bubbling at the pit of your stomach. You were so close.

“Fuck. Come. Come for me, mamí.”

His mouth attacked your pussy greedily, fingers doing quick work of rubbing your folds in ‘figure eights’. He used two of his digits to spread your folds as he tongue-fucked you. One of your hands held onto the back of his scalp, while the nails of the other dug into his broad shoulder so deeply you were scared to puncture skin.

Him egging you on and praising you nonstop was the last straw. He grumbled against your soaked core as your thighs clenched together. His name left your lips in a cry, over and over. 

Like a chant, or more so a prayer. 

You shook and shuddered uncontrollably during your throes of passion, your back landing onto the couch from the euphoric exhaustion. Your head tipped back in ecstasy as he cupped your core gently, hushing you into a state of ease.

Your breaths became less heavy as seconds passed by. You sighed before slightly turning your head upwards, only to catch your man staring at you intently. A big ol’ cheesy grin plastered on his gorgeous face.

“Beautiful,” he hummed. 

You shook your head, laughing at his cuteness. 

When your legs somewhat regained their strength, you sat up and clung onto his torso. The both of you laid back upright on the couch. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder to bring you closer. Placing a hand on his chest, the beats of his heart drummed for you. 

You smiled, and as if you communicated telepathically, you both looked at each other like lovestruck puppies. 

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Oscar.”

“Pase lo que pase?”

“Pase lo que pase.”  

You cupped his cheek as your two lips connected. A sweet kiss to seal the deal.

“So what are we going to do about this?” He asked, gesturing towards the obvious tent in his pants. You rolled your eyes, not being able to resist a small laugh. “You always have to ruin the mood, hm?”

“What? I’ve got needs too, Y/N.”

“Nuh-uh, I’m not letting you get off that easy. You’ve gotta work for it.” If looks could kill; he death-stared you down as his brows knitted together. “Eating you out ain’t enough?”

“Oh baby, no. That makes up for at least a week's worth. Cook me breakfast tomorrow, and you’ll be on the right path.”

He squinted at you unamusedly, along with slightly flared nostrils and lips pulled a straight line. “Seriously?”

“Very serious,” you raised your brow at him, sporting a cheeky smirk. 

He groaned while running a palm over his face, an eye roll on display right after. “Fine. So spoilt.”

“Keep that attitude up, boy. I’ll have you sleeping on the couch too.”

He scoffed as his forehead wrinkled in disbelief. He bit down on his bottom lip as he shook his head at you. It wasn’t long before he was towering over you, grabbing you by the waist and lifting you over his shoulder - ass out, facing skyward.

You gasped before squealing as you smacked your hands against his back. 

“What are you doing?! Let me down!”

“Nah. I make you come, and all of a sudden you’re bossing me around in my own house,” he retorted while sending a nice slap against your ass. “Must be out yo’ damn mind.”

Your bickering continued all the way into the bedroom. It was an evening of love and laughter, and there was nowhere else you’d rather be. 

____________________________________________

Spanish translations - [Correct me if I’m wrong]

Pase lo que pase - No matter what / Whatever happens

[s-trawberryv-eins]

Lonely Hearts Club

NOT MY GIF

Summary: In retrospect, she should’ve figured it would end badly. It was fun at first, the flirting. Fruitless and innocent. Never taken too seriously, a line carefully toed. A sort of 'take each day as it comes’ arrangement. But eventually, as anyone could've predicted, she crossed the line and fell. Hard.

Warnings: Angst, alcohol, implications of smut

Please read here before reading

Stark! OC x Bucky Barnes

Word count: 1573

 AVENGERS COMPOUND

UPSTATE NEW YORK

In retrospect, she should’ve figured it would end badly. It was fun at first, the flirting. Fruitless and innocent. Never taken too seriously, a line carefully toed. A sort of 'take each day as it comes’ arrangement. But eventually, as anyone could've predicted, she crossed the line and fell. Hard. For Bucky Barnes, of all people.

Thor arrived home with tales of outer space, his travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy coming to a brief stop to visit his Midgardian friends. “Revels!” His booming voice all but shook the compound as he announced his need for a party. "We shall engage in revels this coming Friday!” Turning to face her with a happy grin on his face, Caroline took that as her cue to begin the planning.

“I see no reason to deny Thor of a party, so I'll be in my lab spending my inheritance if anybody needs me."

-

And engage in revels they did. It was obvious to anybody who entered the room that this party was that of a Stark. Lavish, few expenses spared. Caroline found it to be a welcome distraction from her current predicament; should she tell Barnes how she felt, or not? She was fairly certain that her feelings were reciprocated, but it wasn't impossible that she had misread him.

Dressed to the nines in a nude top and midi skirt, she raked her fingers through her newly straightened hair and greeted her guests. Thor, Steve, and Bucky stood on the balcony, watching the large crowd forming in the vast open space. Decorated with black and gold balloons, music pumping through the air, and a seemingly never-ending supply of alcohol.

“Hello, gentlemen. Impressed?” Red lips curling up into a smile, she graciously accepted a glass of champagne from one of the waiters making rounds of the event. Coming to stand between Thor and Mr America himself, she offered her glass up to cheers. The four glasses met with a ‘clink’, and Caroline’s smile grew. Any effort to keep herself from making direct eye contact with the super soldier went out of the window when he spoke up.

“You've out done yourself. It looks wonderful. As do you, Caroline." The light pink dusting that appeared on her cheeks pulled a smirk from Barnes, but it disappeared as Thor placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles, also commenting on her work.

“Your father would be proud. And you do look ravishing, Miss Stark.” Pursing her lips slightly to hold back a giggle, she thanked the three avengers and made her way down the stairs.

“You need to make your move, pal. A girl like that's gotta have ‘em all after her.” Steve jabbed his friend with his elbow, as the three pairs of eyes followed the Stark girl down the stairs.

"It’s all a mess in my head. Can’t do it, Steve.” Bucky sighed, pushing himself away from the balcony and heading down to the bar. Neither Barnes nor Stark tried to mask their feelings for one another, and their flirtatious nature was obvious to everybody they lived with. It was hard for them to watch. Steve had noticed days ago the way Caroline’s face dropped when Barnes left her hanging, the way her gazed lingered. The evidence that this ran deeper than flirty banter right in front of him.

-

As the party drew to a close, Caroline took in the sight before her. Balloons and streamers littered the floor, glasses and bottles on every available surface. Having abandoned her heels long ago, the drunk doctor ran off in search of the object of her affection. But he was nowhere to be found.

“He’s left already, Care.” Steve’s voice was soft, sympathy drowning his blue eyes. Disappointment graced her features for a second before deciding she'd go to his room. “Care, don’t. He’s not alone.”

She was a strong girl, being an avenger required physical strength, but no training could have prepared her for the sudden weight that was her heart. It plummeted to her feet, cracking as it hit the concrete beneath her toes.

“Oh,” she tried and failed catastrophically to cover up how she felt. "Can you please tell Natasha and Wanda that I've gone to bed? And inform the staff that they're to expect a tip first thing tomorrow. Goodnight, Steve.” Turning on her heel, she tried towards the door but stumbled as a hand closed around her wrist.

“He’s a fool, Caroline. I’m sorry.“ With teary eyes and half a smile, she excused herself.

-

Tinkering away at her latest creation, Caroline was in a world of her own. Not noticing the presence of a visitor, she kept at it.

“What’s that?" The question startled her, and she jumped away from her project as if caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“It’s, uh,” composing herself, she gestured to the tech in front of her “it’s from Shuri. She’s been working on a new model for your arm and wanted suggestions.” The blush in her cheeks was evident, and he couldn’t help but stare. The spell was broken, however, when she cleared her throat slightly.

“Do you need something, Sergeant?” Taken aback by the sudden formalities, his brow drew together in confusion.

“I just came for a chat. You know, like usual?" His voice was soft, and his movements became shy and timid.

“I’m tired of usual, Bucky. I know you have feelings for me. I know that I’m not crazy. I can feel it, Buck." The scientist felt brave in the moment, but his reaction hit her right in the gut. He merely rolled his eyes and chuckled drily.

“Come off it, Caroline. You know we’re just messin’ about. I thought you knew that, anyway. Don’t, uh" tearing her eyes away from him, she felt the tears form as he spoke. "Don't read into it.”

“Is that a joke? Am I a joke to you? Why are you pretending that you don't know what I'm talking about, Bucky?"

“Listen, Care, I’m kinda seeing someone. I don't know if I gave you the wrong impression or what, but there's nothing between us. There never will be.”

He didn’t stick around for a response.

-

Having spent all night working from her laptop on a new comms system for the team, Caroline had nodded off on the sofa in the common room, laptop still placed firmly by her feet. Hearing quiet whispers and the shutting of a door, she was pulled from her dreamless sleep, and was listening nosily, trying to figure out who disturbed her.

“Sam, cut it. I’m not doing this again."

“Oh, shut up, dude. It’s obvious you have serious feelings for the girl. What is the issue?” Recognising the voices as Bucky and Sam, she froze. Not daring to move from the couch, she closed her eyes and prayed they didn't come any closer. This conversation was not meant for her, despite how much she wanted to hear the rest. The doctor had been hoping to avoid Barnes since their horrible confrontation in the lab.

“Shut up, you’ll wake her up.” Bucky’s voice was tired and irritated, obviously not in the mood for his friends’ antics. “So what if she has feelings for me? I don’t care.” Biting down hard on her bottom lip, Caroline wished to be anywhere else. "And I don’t actually feel anything for the girl. It's never gonna happen." Heavy footsteps indicated his departure, but Sam managed to have the last word.

“Bull. Shit. You’re scared, and you feel guilty because she’s Tony’s kid. Get outta here, man. Deserves better than your lousy ass anyway.” Earning a grunt and a half-slammed door in response, Sam only sighed. Confident that Bucky had left, Caroline made her presence known to Sam. Shock painted his features for a brief second, before sympathy settled on his face.

“I guess that’s that then.”

-

A month had passed since the Stark girl overheard the two boys in the kitchen. Contact had been brief between the scientist and the sergeant, a series off stiff hellos and tight-lipped smiles. Truthfully, she wasn’t entirely sure what’d happened. If Sam mentioned to Bucky that she was awake through their conversation, she didn’t know. Despite making her feelings towards him blatantly obvious, it seemed he’d never care whilst he held onto the guilt of his relationship with her father.

As if hearing his name in her thoughts, the super soldier waltzed into the common room, a smile on his face. "Everyone, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Caroline assumed it was a lie. She thought he was trying to save face, trying to knock her down when he said he’d been seeing somebody. But as the pretty blonde stepped out from behind him, she felt her heart fall once more.

“This is Izzie. My girlfriend.” Proud beaming smiles on both of their faces, whilst Caroline felt as though the air had been sucked out of the room entirely. The Avengers all jumped up, polite introductions and pleasantries were exchanged. Snapping back into the moment, Caroline forced herself up and out of her seat.

Her voice was sweet. Light and feminine. A brilliant actress, really. The crack in her voice almost impossible to detect. Unless you’re Natasha Romanoff, of course, who was waiting by the door for her friends impending departure.

“I’m Caroline. It’s really wonderful to meet you.”

[itsanerdlife]

Smoke 6/16

Pairing: Ronin!Clint Batron x Black Cat!Reader

Warning: Violence. Torture mentioned. Death mentioned. Nightmares. Lies. Seducing. Sexual humor. Broken and damaged pasts. Killing. Possessive Male. Struggling to open up. Secrets. Dark past.

A/N: ENDGAME SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT, DON’T READ THIS!!!

After the snap, the avengers split apart. Finding their own ways to cope. Clint found his under a new identity, Ronin. Getting revenge for those they lost. For the family taken from them. The evil left when heroes were wiped out, it became his mission to take out the evil. All while keeping a list of those who could help, if needed one day. Clint stumbles upon a woman, Cat. She’s a mystery in the dark. One happen stance meet, one night, gone like smoke.

After the second snap, setting the world right again. Fury is looking at those kept tabs on. When Cat appears on the screen, nobody know a lot about the mysterious woman who haunted Clint’s dreams and stole his favorite T-shirt. There’s a chance she’s in trouble, can Clint find her, convince her there is more, that he can save her? But is he the cause of what’s after her? Just what mystery is she keeping all to herself? Or is he the one she’s trying to save?

Clint

Strange strolls into the living room, only stopping when he takes notice of Y/N standing between Bucky and Clint.

“New member?” He lifts a brow looking at Tony.

“Something like that.” Tony smirks.

A low meow follows with a hiss. Odin is crouched low, tail coiled, his paw strikes out, at the edge of Strange’s cape. The cape pulls back, snapping at Odin, the corner of the material pointed at the cat, like a warning finger. Odin jumps, a startled meow escapes as he stumbles backwards, bumping into Banner. Odin looks up, only to be startled once more, he jumps, meowing, and taking off for under the couch.

“Pussy.” Y/N’s mouth puckers, shaking her head.

“Did he learn his lesson?” Tony smirks.

“No.” She sighs.

“The feline yours?” Strange looks from the couch to Y/N.

“Sadly.” She nods slowly. “Though I’m one hundred percent sure he would trade me for Morgan.” She admits. “He’s trashy for belly rubs.” She explains, when Strange looks confused. Her eyes widen suddenly, she shoots a glare at the couch.

“What?” He looks over at her. She holds up a finger at him.

“That was rude, and I will drop you off at a shelter.” She warns the cat under the couch.

“What did he say?” Nat smirks.

“He called me, the adult version of trashy.” She censors herself, avoiding eye contact.

“Slutty.” Wanda explains to Steve, who looked a little lost. Steve nods, finally understanding.

“Y/N where was Odin the other day?” Clint looks down at her.

“I thought we were going to Wally World or something?” She asks looking around.

“Y/N?” He asks. Tony is grinning in amusement.

“Wakanda, please.” Tony grins at Strange. Bucky chuckles to himself as Strange opens a portal, standing on the other side, is T’Challa, Okoye, and Shuri.

“Enjoy. Text when you’re ready to come back.” Strange smiles, letting them step through.

“You know ignoring me won’t make my question go away.” He smirks at her.

“I am trained in the art of distraction.” She bats her eyes up at him.

“Seems she’s pretty good at that actually.” Buck laughs.

“Stark, Nat said you needed some help? Not another war I assume.” T’Challa chuckles, hugging Tony. Buck lifts Shuri off her feet in a bear hug. When Buck sets her down, Peter hugs her tightly. Buck and T’Challa shake hands. Clint smiles at Okoye, she smiles, tipping her chin at him.

“No, no war. Just need some advanced tech you have plenty of.” Tony chuckles, hugging Shuri.

“T’Challa.” Clint shakes his hand; they exchange a smile.

“Wakanda royalty, meet Y/N.” Peter chuckles. “T’Challa, his sister Shuri, and their general of his army, Okoye.” He introduces her.

“She was not apart of the war, was she?” Okoye smirks, looking Y/N over.

“No, she’s currently new to our team.” Clint smiles.

“Finally, instead of another broken white boy to fix. Dreams come true.” Shuri grins at them. Buck laughs, pulling her into his side.

“I don’t think you could fix what’s broken with me. I’ve grown attached.” Y/N winks at her, a smile on her lips. Shuri grins, clearly taking a liking to Y/N’s sass.

“This is her former suit. Got into a tussle with something meaner than your typical house cat.” Tony hands over the suit.

“Tony, I’ll kill you and Odin will eat you. Don’t start with me.” Y/N smiles over at Tony.

“What’s an Odin?” T’Challa smirks.

“Her cat.” Buck chuckles.

“Follow me, we’ll head to my lab.” Shuri laughs, leading the way.

-------

Clint

The hologram of the idea for Y/N’s suit builds as Shuri talks. She’s looking at the damaged suit spread out on her table. She picks up Y/N’s set of ears, looking them over.

“The ears stabilize balance and equilibrium.” Shuri looks over at Y/N who is sitting watching. She nods slowly, agreeing with Shuri.

“Wait,” Peter turns looking at Y/N “didn’t you give a pair of those to Morgan?” He asks.

“They’re also low jacked as well and Odin has her sent.” She replies in a soft, casual tone. “He’ll always be able to find her, let alone will protect her to no end.” She adds.

“Y/N?” Clint looks over at her.

“She’s cute, and her brother is that.” She points a lazy finger at Peter. Clint nods, Buck shrugs, and T’Challa and Okoye smirk at one another.

“Offended.” Peter huffs.

“You let me knock you out cold.” Y/N points out.

“Thank you.” Tony smiles softly at her.

“I can fix that eye as well if you’d like.” Shuri smiles, point to her own eyes, looking at Y/N. Her hand comes up, wincing as she touches her swollen eye.

“What pick a fight with Banner?” T’Challa chuckles.

“More like a rhino.” Y/N smirks, letting Clint help her up, he leads her over to the table Shuri is waiting by.

“Brave woman.” Okoye smiles.

“Lie back, I’ll get you scanned. Match the suit to your form as well.” Shuri nods moving around the table.

“Can you show, um.” Tony scratches the back of his head “the changes in her?” He glances around quickly.

“He means my enhancements.” Y/N explains when the others look confused.

“Tony.” He sighs looking over. Tony shrugs.

“It’s fine. Show them.” Y/N looks over at Shuri who nods.

“Wow.” Peter and Shuri, whisper staring at the cell structure that was Y/N’s body.

“Meow.” She grins, giggling softly.

“So, you like cats?” T’Challa chuckles, smiling at her.

“Do you?” She sasses, smiling.

“I like her.” T’Challa nods, Clint laughs.

“Spoken for King.” Tony pats T’Challa on the shoulder, before standing behind Peter and Shuri for a better look.

“Shut up Tony.” Clint sighs, scrapping a hand down his face.

------

Clint

“I’ll have it built and ready in two days.” Shuri shows them the finished outline of Y/N’s suit. “With the stretch of your fingers, retractable, vibranium, claws.” She nods. “A nano tech eye mask and ears as well, it’ll form like a helmet, just in pieces.” She explains looking over at Y/N.

“One question.” Y/N looks over.

“Of course.” Shuri smiles.

“Can you make it stealth? No sound? Sort of like a cat on the prowl?” She shrugs.

“I can do that.” Shuri grins.

“Guess I could give Morgan my other ears.” She holds up the set of ears.

“She’ll always be low jacked.” Peter looks over at his father.

“Not such a bad thing.” Tony shrugs.

“Being your kid? It might be needed.” Clint snorts.

“Tap the charm, twice, your finger print releases the suit. Covering you in seconds.” Shuri explains, showing the necklace and charm.

“A cat?” Y/N smirks at her. The necklace was all silver, vibranium no doubt, with a outline of a cat as the charm.

“Fitting, yes?” Shuri grins, trying to not laugh.

“She’s a smart ass.” T’Challa sighs.

“Just happens to be my thing.” Y/N shrugs.

“Being one?” Clint grins at her.

“Oh sorry, I meant my type.” Her nose crinkles, and she grins at him.

“I really like her.” Okoye laughs softly.

“What is, this?” T’Challa picks up a small pocket size wand, that connected to Y/N’s old suits utility belt. Y/N smirks, watching. T’Challa turns it around, before finding a button on the bottom, he presses it, a long extension falls, suddenly.

“Is that a, whip?” Tony’s face practically lights up.

“It’s got a electric current through it when it’s snapped.” Y/N shrugs. T’Challa eyes the device in his hand.

“Dibs!!” Peter yells suddenly. Shuri laughs, Buck shakes his head, and Y/N looks startled. “I want to upgrade it.” Peter looks around, slightly abashed for his outburst.

“Might want Banner on standby, in case he electrocutes himself again.” Clint chuckles.

“Again!?!?” Shuri gasps, loudly, and rather excited. Peter looks rather off put.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He mutters.

“Doesn’t surprise me.” Y/N shakes her head slowly.

“Can you tell me the story of you knocking him out?” Shuri pleads with a grin.

--------------------------------------

Everything Peaches 2/6/19: @xmtd5 @mo320 @all1e23 @courtmr @avxgers @eliza-kat @izzy--lee @irepeldirt @dumblani @nishanki1 @crist1216 @alyssaj23 @allyp1023 @joannie95 @kolakube9 @rileyloves5 @sarahp879 @sea040561 @sexyvixen7 @pcterpvrker @pigwidgexn @doctoranon @abschaffer2 @justrae9903 @bookluver01 @teller258316 @callie-bear15 @nickimarie94 @wandressfox @amandab-ftw @carostar2020 @henrietteoaks @nea90sweetie @circusofchaos @itsagalaxystar @bettercallsabs @miraclesoflove @lucifersnipnips @queenkrissy11 @sadyoungadult @destiel-artemis @paintballkid711 @isabelcrichards @iwillbeinmynest @sweet-honey15 @chanelmadrid13 @mellxander1993 @killerbumblebee @spookygrantaire @geeksareunique @supernatural508 @sammysgirl1997 @itzmegaaaaaaan @booksbeforebois @childishhoebinoo @elizabethaellison @aspiringtranslator @mariekoukie6661 @pure-princess-97 @capsheadquaters @samanthasmileys @nerdypinupcrystal @atlas-of-the-world @youclickedthislink @futuremrsb-r-main @lovemarvelousfics @notyourtypicalrose @petersunderoos96 @loving-life-my-way @buckystolemyheart @booktvmoviefangirl @supernatural-girl97 @abbypalmer14-blog @fanfictionjunkie1112 @meganlikesfandoms @awkwardfangirl2014 @supernaturaldean67 @xqueenofthecraziesx   @queenoftheunderdark @writingaworldofmyown @supernaturallover2002 @daughterofthenight117 @mustbeaweasleyginger @mcuwillbethedeathofme @sprinklesandsugarcubes @whothehellisbucky-1930 @verymuchclosetedfangirl @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @ocaptain-mycaptainmorgan @wonderlandfandomkingdom @crazy-little-thing-called-buck @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @stupendoussciencenaturepanda @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety @supernatural-strangerthings-1980

Marvel Tag List 2/6/19: @lumelgy   @dottirose   @jcc04220 @rockagurl @a--1--1--3 @mizzzpink   @jade-taillia @coley0823 @widowsfics @bookluver01 @thelostallycat @shield-agent78 @dtftheavengers   @ilovetvshowsblog @capsheadquaters   @iamwarrenspeace @thefridgeismybestie @whenallsaidanddone @deanwinchestersrifle @fandomsstolemylife00   @daughterofthenight117 @lilmissperfectlyimperfect  

Clint ‘Destory Me, I’ll Thank You’ Barton: @ml7010 @coley0823 @yavanna80 @lakamaa12 @boltsgirl919 @feelmyroarrrr @mrsseizetheday @honey-bee-holly @marvelfansworld @mybarnesmyhero   @the-real-mary-jane @dumbbitchenergytm @agentsinstorybrooke @x-whyareyoureadingthis-x @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory

Smoke: @2s0uls @rimaries   @xxloki81xx @csigeoblue @demonlover87 @capandbuckylvr @marvelfansworld @natromanoffsboys @barton-you-dummy @thefandomimagines @thosesexytexasboys 

[ferallymine]

Worldbreaker Pt. 1

The rubble. The screams. The frantic hands digging through the mess above her buried broken lifeless body. The last stone moving away- seeing the white light shine onto her. A hand reaching out-

Mardea shot up, sweat covering her body. Reaching out to see the alarm clock, she had to bite down a yelp of pain.

“Not…again…” Her voice was tired and straining. Black Energy had marked her arms in the night, leaving burns on her skin and the sheets.

She stumbled into her bathroom, slamming the cold water handle on to fill the tub. Her feet sizzled on the chilled ivory tile, heat coming off her body in waves. She shouldn’t be this hot with just panties and a loose cotton tank top on, but this is one of many burdens of being Mardea Lin.

The water stung her tender burnt skin. Steam hissed from her body, distracting her from wanting to scream. Mardea hadn’t been severely burned by fire, but she imagined they were just as bad as her energy burns. Izzy’s the only one she ever felt the need to explain the difference to. His curiosity was always humorous to her.

The fact that the water was ice cold made the next part easier. Keeping thoughts in her mind to ground her to reality, Mardea submerged herself completely in the tub.

Green wisps flowed out from her palms. Interacting with the water, they went to work cooling her down and resolving her burns. A waterlogged scream escaped her throat, the sensory overload and pain being overwhelming. The burnt skin ripped itself off, attaching to the energy  swirling around it. New unblemished skin replaced it quickly- unnatural if one didn’t have a medic-related quirk.

It felt like hours, but Mardea was done in minutes. The water was grey and heavily clouded when she sat back up, now shivering from the cold. Her stomach churned, and without a moment to react, she vomited into the already dirty water.

“…fuck…” her voice was a quaky whisper. She couldn’t keep going on like this.

The push and pull of energy forces from within herself danced with the outside ones. It was as if something out there wanted her to lose control, wanted Code Black to become the new normal.

The water-vomit mixture spiraled down the drain. Mardea waited until the tub was empty before fighting for strength to rinse herself off with the shower.

Morning couldn’t come soon enough.

-----

“But consider the reverse!” Kaminari shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth, “If you had a human head and a bird body, all the villains would be too scared to fight and you could round ‘em up easy!”

“Easily,” Tokoyami corrected, pulling his hoodie as he stood up to leave, “And that is utterly ridiculous.”

Sero set his coffee down, “Does that mean if Hawks was reversed he’d have a bird body and human arms on his back?!”

“Holy. Shit. Dude.” Kaminari looked like he had an epiphany, “That would be…terrifying. I love it.”

Ashido slammed her hands flat on the table, “KIRI WOULD BE A ROCK THAT TURNS INTO A BALL OF FLESH!”

“Noooooo,” Kirishima groaned, leaning back with his hands on his face, “I was already a ball of flesh in the hero test! Unpleasant, 0 out of 10 do not recommend.”

Sero giggled, “Guys, guys listen… Bakugo… Is an explosion that throws out humans.”

An eruption of laughter consumed the living room of the dorms. The noise echoed into the hallway leading to the stairs.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Kirishima wiped a tear from his eye, “Does, ehehehe, does that mean that mean that he’s a continuous explosion or like, hah, one out of every 5 explosions is Bakugo randomly spurting out humans to attack villains.”

The laughter quieted, giving the group time to think, then Ashido spoke, “Can you imagine if the latter was true? Like, if you’re a villain using C4 to break into a bank then suddenly ‘I AM A VERY ANGRY EXPLOSION HAVE SOME HUMANS TO THE FACE!’ Bruh, I’d shit my pants.”

“What about the former?” A sudden appearance of Lin behind Kaminari made him jump and spill his cereal. “If he’s a continuous explosion he’d have to be put in a container to function as a ‘human’ in society. Imagine shoving Boom-boy into a reinforced Smucker’s jam jar.”

The laughter resumed. Kirishima looked up to ask Lin a question, “Hey, what if- wait. Lin you’re glowing.”

A brief panic, “Wh- no I’m not.” She looked herself over, “I’m not outputting any en-“

“No! Your skin is radiant,” A cheeky smile, “Did you do a new skincare routine from YouTube?”

A pause, “…Yes…that’s what I did.”

Ashido’s eyes sparkled, “DEAAAAAA you gotta show me!”

“Maybe later, after you bring your grade to a B.” She winked, “Anyway, I’m hungry, see ya later.” Lin meandered over to the kitchen, where Uraraka was making what smelled like waffles.

“… aaaand voila!” Uraraka flailed her arms in a dramatic manner, “A Together Breakfast!” The platter was filled with waffles topped with syrup, whipped cream, popcorn, and strawberries.

“Wow!” Midoriya’s stomach rumbled, “This looks great! Thank you!”

She giggled, “I made enough for everyone so dig in!” She gestured to those surrounding the counter. “Let our Saturday breakfast tradition begin!”

Lin leaned on Todoroki’s shoulder, the sudden contact startling him, “It’s just me, don’t worry.”

“Hello, love,” He tilted his head to lean on hers, “Sleepy?”

“Sore…”

“Training yesterday was that rough?”

“…Yes.” She straightened. Her silent body language purposely telling him that she didn’t wanna talk about it in front of the others. “My whole body feels vulnerable and tender. Like one touch will bruise for days.”

“Take it easy today, then,” He smiled, “Eat something to regain your strength.” A soft kiss to her head, reminding her that they can talk privately later.

“Hey Frick and Frack, save the PDA for when we’re not eating,” Bakugo sat on the counter, munching on toast with tomato and cheese slices on top. “You’re gonna make me puke.”

“Your taste in breakfast food will make me puke,” Midoriya stuck out his tongue.

“Says fucking you. Who eats shitty popcorn for breakfast?”

“It’s not popcorn, it’s pepcorn!” Uraraka tossed a kernel at the blonde, “Popcorn with a pep!”

Bakugo scowled, staring the group down. He swiped the kernel away from him, “You’re not original, this is all from YouTube.”

“Stop being such a fucking killjoy,” Jirou slammed her glass of juice down on the counter. “We get it, your aesthetic is to hate everything and think you’re the best. Don’t you get tired of having your head so far up your own ass? Huh?”

“I’m done,” Lin backed away and turned towards the hallway. “It’s too early for arguing.”

Yaoyorozu stood up, “Mardea, don’t go! We were gonna go out today! The Saturday Flea Market is up in the plaza across town!”

Fuck I forgot “Yeah, right…. Lemme put on proper ‘going out’ clothes.” A snap and she was gone in a green flash.

------

“Isn’t this fun! Nice to stretch our legs on a sunny day off.” Momo did a little spin, flowing out the bottom of her sunflower sundress.

Tsuyu joined the twirling, though her green romper left little to flow out. “Ribbit, it’s the perfect temperature today. I bet the pools will be packed.”

“Whaddaya think, ‘Dea?” Mina, clad in her pastel blue crop top and matching shorts, “Should we try swimming today or just mingle in the market?”

Mardea thought a moment, “Market wandering sounds good for now. Plus I didn’t bring a swimsuit- I doubt jean overalls would fair well in a pool.”

“Hmm, fair point.” Mina skipped ahead, stopping at a sunglasses stall. The sun reflected off them, making the products glitter and look more enticing.

Mardea glanced around the crowd. Mina was at that stall, whereas Tsuyu and Momo had been lost to the growing population of the market. The tips of her hair shifted to magenta. Her eyes scanned the scenery. Where were their energy signatures?

“Nice trick,” Mardea froze at the unfamiliar voice behind her, magenta instantly switching to lilac, “Color shifting is good for quick blending into crowds, though I feel that this little cosmetic show is a front for your quirk.”

It was a feminine sounding voice- maybe an older woman who smoked on occasion?

“I can feel your thoughts from back here, pumpkin.” A warm hand gripped her right shoulder, “You don’t have to turn around, I know who you are, Mardea. Don’t you think it’s strange that I snuck up on you with your magenta setting on?”

The lilac grew.

“You don’t need to be afraid. I want to help you. There’s a lot of energy in this world, you know. How would it be to not feel like it’ll crush you at any moment? What if you could control it? Not your definition of control- you still let that Code Black sit alone, festering. What if you could harness it?”

“Hey ‘Dea?” Mina’s voice called out, “We got lunch! Where ya at?”

“I will find you again,” The hand left, “Be wary, Mardea. You’re not the only one who knows energy.”

Momo came through the people, “Guys! She’s over here!” She turned, smiling, “Where have you- oh my god are you okay? You’re purple-y.”

Mardea looked up, eyes matching her hair, “We need to leave. Now.”

“Okay yeah. Yeah.” Momo took her twin’s hand, “You’re okay now. We’re here.” Mina and Tsuyu emerged, confused at the color shift. Momo pointed at them, “We’re leaving. Now. Back to UA.”

-----

“You’re sure it was a woman?” Aizawa sat across from Lin in his office.

Lin shrugged, “That what she sounded like. She snuck up on me, didn’t let me turn around.” She pulled her shirt collar over to expose her shoulder, “She bruised me when she grabbed me.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, “How did she do that?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Lin’s stress boiled over, red and lilac strands forming in her hair, “I don’t know who she is all I know is I didn’t sense her and she said I wasn’t the only one who knew energy and that she’s gonna find me again and I don’t know how to not let that happen because if I cant find her then no one can find her probably like how-” A gasp of air, hair returning to normal, as Aizawa grabbed her shoulders, kneeling in front of her.

“You need to calm down.” His voice was calm. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not going to tell you to not worry, because I know you will anyway. All the teachers will be on the lookout for suspicious women around campus. I’ll let the Pro-Heroes know that this happened and see if they can snoop out anything. Okay?”

“Okay…” She leaned forward, hugging him with tears in her eyes, “Thank you…”

A smile, “It’s okay.”

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia: Chapters 9-12

Chapters 0-8 can be found here

As always, these initial posts are raw and unedited, warts, typos, and all, beyond basic editing while writing.  I’ll have a new link in a couple days when it goes up on AO3 and FF.net

Their Hero Academia –Chapter Nine: Toshi Midoriya and the Taste of Victory

One minute, Toshi was discussing workout tips with Kimiko Ojiro and Daisuke Shoji, trying to take his mind off Katsumi and Izumi.  He was rooting for Katsumi, he truly was.  People deserved to be happy and if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Izumi did make her happy.  But he wasn’t sure how Izumi felt about Katsumi, beyond considering her a friend. As far as he could remember, he hadn’t ever recalled Izumi expressing romantic interest in anyone, male or female. He didn’t want to see Katsumi hurt. But only by getting her feelings out in the open could she move forward.

The next minute, there was a terrifying booming noise that shook the whole building and silenced all chatter in the common room, save for a terrified, high-pitched scream.  The lights flickered, but quickly came back on.

“Geeze, Aoyama,” Mika Mineta said, “give our eardrums a rest.”

“Excuse me for having a healthy sense of self-preservation!” Takiyo Aoyama snapped back.  “It would be a tragedy the world over were this face to get damaged.”  Toshi sighed. The two of them were probably never going to get along.

“What was that?” Tensei Iida asked.  “It sounded like something struck the fifth floor!”

“Something did!” Katsumi called out, coming back inside with Izumi hot on her feels.  “Some kind of missile or something!  We’re under attack!”

“We do not know that for certain, Katsumi,” Izumi corrected her.  “It could be…  All right, I do not know what else it might be.”

“Wait, the fifth floor?” Ojiro squealed.  “My stuff!”

“Okay,” Toshi said, trying to get everyone’s attention.  Sometimes, wrangling his friends was like herding cats.  He had a pretty good understanding of what to do in disaster situations thanks to his parents, especially his mom.  Dad may have been the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace, but his mom was one of the best Rescue Heroes in the country.  “Here’s what we do.  Feels like the building’s still standing, but let’s get everybody outside just in case.”

He went on.  “Haimawari?”

“Y—yes, Midoriya?” Isamu Haimawari asked.

“I’m sure the teachers are already aware and on their way, but you’re the fastest on land.  Go find one of them.”

“You can count on me!”

Good.  Haimawari was starting to sound more confident in himself.

Toshi frowned.  It was a risk, but he didn’t like the idea of just waiting around when there was a potential threat on hand either.  “I’m going to check upstairs and see what’s going on.”

“Not alone,” Katsumi said. “I’d never hear the end of it if I let you get your fool ass killed.”

“Me too,” Asuka Tokoyami said.  “If we have to evac, Frog Shadow can protect us.”

Toshi held up his hands. “Okay, okay.  That’s enough.   Let’s go!”

Rushing headlong into danger, getting his friends involved…  Yeah, he was his father’s son.

***

Toshi took the stairs quickly, Katsumi and Asuka hot on his heels.  With the building potentially damaged, the elevator didn’t seem like the safest option.  At least the smoke alarms didn’t seem to be going off.  That was a good sign.

They quickly emerged on fifth floor to find that the East wall had been smashed in, exposing the floor to the elements.   It looked like it had mercifully missed Izumi and Ojiro’s rooms.  But there, sitting in the middle of the floor, was a red-haired girl wearing a U.A. uniform.  She looked like she was about their age and she looked like she’d been crying.

“What.  The.  Hell.” Katsumi said.

“Hey,” Toshi called out, softly.  “Are you okay?”

The girl’s head snapped up, as though noticing them for the first time.  She started scrambling away from them.  “No… no… stay back!  I might hurt you!”   Her body started glowing with a strange, orange-red light.  “I… I can’t control my Quirk!”

Asuka summoned Frog-Shadow, putting it between them and the girl.  A good instinct under most circumstances, but something told Toshi it wasn’t the right call here.  He stepped around the glowing familiar and approached the girl.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m Toshinori Midoriya.  That’s Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo and Asuka Tokoyami. What’s your name?”

She backed a little further away, but she kept eye contact with him.  “Haya Tanaka.  I’m in Class 1-C.”

“Hope you know what you’re doing, Toshi,” Katsumi whispered.

Toshi didn’t answer her, but pressed on.  “Okay, nice to meet you, Tanaka.  What’s your Quirk?”

“C…Comet.  I light on fire and then I fly around real fast.  I was…  I was on my way to class when my Quirk activated all on its own.  I started flying and I couldn’t control where I was going and…  and I guess… I hit… your dorm…   Oh… oh no… did I…  Did I hurt anyone?”

Crap.  He was losing her.  Toshi quickly shook his head.  “You didn’t hurt anybody.  We were all downstairs.  Just knocked a big hole in the wall.  We were thinking of putting a window in anyway.”

That got a little laugh out of her and a groan from Katsumi and Asuka.  But her glow was starting to fade.  “Oh, thank goodness…”

Toshi gave her a little smile.  “See, it’s not so bad, Tanaka.  Pretty sure we’ve all lost control at some point or another.  Katsumi here used to blow stuff up all the time when we were growing up.”

Katsumi gave him a swat on the back of the head.  “Really?”

“Hey, I’m just saying…” Toshi said.  Tanaka’s glow had completely faded now.  He offered her a hand up.  “You feeling better?”

She took it. “Yeah.  I think I am.  Thanks.”

“Are we done revealing personal information now?”

Toshi nearly jumped through the roof.  “Mister Aizawa!  How long have you been behind us?!”

The homeroom teacher kept his gaze focused on Tanaka, his eyes red and his hair floating about his head. Clearly, it had been his Quirk that had really damped Tanaka’s powers and not anything he’d done.

“Long enough,” Aizawa said. “Running headlong into danger, trying to reach everyone… if I had any doubt you were a Midoriya, it’s gone now.”

“Uh… thanks?”

“I’m not sure it was a compliment.”

“That’s pretty cold, Mister Aizawa,” Asuka said.  

“So is life.  You three, get out of here.  I’ll get Tanaka down.”

Well… at least he’d tried.

A strange expression crossed Katsumi’s face.  “…Izzy!” And she took off down the stairs.

Toshi exchanged a look with Asuka.  It was already shaping up to be an interesting day.

***

There’s quite a crowd outside by the time they made their way down the stairs, not just their classmates, but students from the nearby Class 1-B and 1-C dorms as well.  A few of them, Toshi recognized, many he didn’t. There were teachers and staff too: Sato’s dad, Vice-Principal Midnight, the 1-B homeroom teacher Super Ball, the 1-C homeroom teacher Battle Fist, and more, along with Doctor Izumi (though to Toshi, she’d always just be Aunt Eri).

“Only the third day of school, and Class 1-A is already causing trouble?” a blonde kid from 1-B asked. “Why am I not surprised?”

A red-haired girl with metal lower arms smacked him upside the head with a surprisingly satisfying clang. “Oh, shut it, Monoma.”

“OW!  Jeeze, Tetsutesu, easy on my head.”

“Both of you, knock it off,” the rubber-faced (and rubber-bodied) Super Ball snapped.

“I expect better of you, Kana,” Battle Fist said.

“Aaaw, Moooom,” the red-haired girl (apparently Kana Tetsutetsu—he thought he recognized her now, one of Katsumi’s friends) wailed.

Tanaka was handed off to Aunt Eri, and Aizawa went along as well.   Toshi hoped she was all right.  It definitely didn’t seem like it was her fault, but that was a hell of a loss of control.  Sure, Izumi had lost control yesterday, but that was a totally different kind of thing.

Weird, though, hadn’t Grandpa Might said something about a “Quirk misfire” during 1-B’s Battle Trials…?   It was probably just some kind of freaky coincidence.

“All right, all of you,” Vice-Principal Midnight said.  She was dressed far more conservatively than she had been in more active Pro-Hero days, but her suit was still low cut enough and tight enough to raise the pulse rate of anyone interested in women.  She was still fit and looked younger than her years.  And… he was staring.    Of course, so were a lot of other people.  But that didn’t really make it right.  Toshi forced himself to pay attention.

“Everyone get to class,” Midnight said.  “I’m sure you’ve all got busy days ahead of you.   We’ll have the dorm repaired before the end of the day.”

She unclipped her riding crop from her belt, giving it a slap against her open palm.  “You heard me!  Don’t make me have to… discipline you.”

Toshi saw Mineta raise a hand.  “Can I volunteer?” the horned girl asked.

Some things never changed.

***

Classes keep them busy, though Toshi’s still distracted by Tanaka and the events of the morning. He’s lost control in a moment of panic, sure.  More than once, he’s been stunned enough that when he jumped, it’s with zero gravity and he nearly went flying.   But he also always recovered just as quickly.  But to lose control like that?  And then there was whatever happened to Training Ground Beta that they still hadn’t completely fixed.  

But they’d tell them if something more was going on, right?

At lunch, Toshi saw Katsumi hustle Izumi away for a conversation.  Probably the same one that had been interrupted this morning.  Maybe now they’d get the chance to talk that the events of the morning had denied them.  He really hoped for the best.

Lunch was spent in the company of Asuka, Shota, and Haimawari.  As usual, Shota had Hero news to share, spotlighting a battle between the Villain Fullmetal and an up and coming hero called Wreck-It.  Dressed in red and black, Fullmetal had metallic arms and legs that he could reshape into various weapons, while Wreck-It was a behemoth of a man with incredible strength, but whose true power lie in his ability to cause matter to shatter through rapid-fire punches.  It was a hard fought battle, but eventually, Wreck-It did bring the Villain down.  Shota declared it the most awesome thing ever, as he likely would whatever he would share tomorrow.  Toshi was polite enough not to point out the inconsistency.

And finally, the afternoon brought them to their Heroics Class.   This time, Grandpa Might had them working through a variation on Capture the Flag.  They’d been taken to one of the mock cityscapes and had to make it through a horde of robot villains to retrieve a flag, but they also had to make it back to the exit before time ran out.  

With Haimawari and Izumi having to sit a few Heroics classes out, that left them with fourteen.  So they were split into two teams of four and two teams of three.  Toshi was teamed with Akaya Koda, Daisuke Shoji, and Chihiro Kaminari.  It was, in his opinion, a bit of an uneven mix of Quirks.   But you worked with what you had available and none of them would be here if they weren’t already.  He also knew that Chihiro wasn’t half was dumb as she acted around Mineta.

On the plus side, their costumes were finally in.  Toshi’s consisted of yellow boots, blue leggings, a red tunic, and yellow armguards. Across his chest he wore a circle with cut outs at ten, two, four, and eight, split by crossed lines, the symbol for the center of gravity, in gold.  Any resemblance to Grandpa Might’s Silver Age costume was… purely coincidental, of course.

Grandpa Might’s voice rang out over the loudspeaker.  “REMEMBER! YOU ONLY HAVE TWENTY MINUTES TO FIND THE FLAG AND MAKE IT BACK TO THE EXIT!  GO OUT THERE AND GIVE IT YOUR BEST!”

With that, the buzzer sounded, signaling the start of their test.

“Do you have a plan, Midoriya?” Koda asked.  Her own costume was fairly simple, a blue bodysuit, white boots and trucks, and a white leaf pattern swirled over the chest.  Around her waist was a belt with pouches that held various seeds.

He nodded.  “Shoji and I have more mobility than you and Chihiro. We’ll take high, you take low, and work our way to the other side.  Call out if you see anything or need help.”

“Good enough,” Shoji agreed. His costume was rather simple, a black bodysuit, black boots, and a black mask that stopped just short of his eyes and white hair.  His Extendo-Arms remained bare.  Only a white fist symbol, large and taking up most of his chest, broke up the black.

“Got it,” Chihiro said, tossing off a small salute with one of her Cords.  She wore yellow pants with a black stripe up the side and black boots, along with a white shirt, and yellow jacket with black trim.  A black insignia shaped like an electrical outlet adorned her chest.  

Symbols were in lately, in hero-design.

The course of action decided, they moved, Koda and Chihiro taking off on foot, while Toshi reduced his gravity down to near zero and took a mighty leap, landing on top of the closest building.  Shoji followed closely behind, the powerful hands of his Extendo-Arms digging into the side of the building and letting him hall himself up like a muscular spider.

From on top of the building, he could see more of the battlefield.  “There,” he told Shoji.  “See the big one, over there?  I’m betting that’s where the flag is.  Only one way to get there, boxed in by the other buildings, perfect chokepoint.”

“And that’s the direction the robots are coming from,” Shoji said, pointing with one of his regular arms.

“Okay, that too.”

With their Quirks, him bounding and Shoji extending his arms, it was easy for them to move to rooftop to rooftop, out of the way of the streets.  So it’s no wonder Koda and Chihiro ran into the robots (just One-Pointers for this exercise) before they did.

Koda acted first, reaching into her belt and throwing a handful of seeds at the nearest robot. As she did, she activated her Quirk, a soft green glow forming around her hand.  “Grow quickly,” she said, “that I might enlist your aid.”   The seeds sprouted quickly, growing into vines that wrapped their way around the robot, working their way into its joints and stopping it completely.

Chihiro struck out with her Extension Cords, jabbing both of them into a robot’s neck and unleashing a charge of electricity.  The robot sparked, stumbled, and fell over.   “Hope that wasn’t too much of a… shock!” she said, then laughed at her own joke. She quickly retracted her Cords, already attacking the next robot.

“C’mon!” Toshi said to Shoji.  “Let’s help!”   He jumped off the building, aiming for one of the other robots.  He concentrated, raising his gravity up to four times normal. “GRAVITY… SMASH!”

He landed on the robot with a powerful crash, crushing it like an aluminum can.  

But he wasn’t prepared for the second robot, which struck out at him with a large metal fist.   The blow rocked him backwards, hurting some (thank goodness he was tougher when his gravity was up), but his movements in response were slow, clumsy, slowed down by the heavy gravity he’d inflicted on himself. It took him a moment to clear his head enough to bring his gravity back to normal to dodge.

Fortunately, Shoji had his back.  He’d dropped down from above and gripped the robot in his Extendo-Arms, two each gripping one of its arms.  With a grunt, he tore the robot’s arms from its body, letting Chihiro sneak in and hit it with a powerful electric charge.

“Watch your back, Midoriya,” Shoji told him.

“Yeah,” Chihiro added. “You get your face punched in, Mika might stop hitting on you.”

Toshi had to laugh. “Promises, promises!”

***

Twelve minutes later, they had the flag.  But with three minutes to go on the clock, they were far from the exit, blocked by too many robots.

“Away with you, metal beasts!” Koda called out, rapidly growing more vines.   She had her large form in front of Chihiro, who was leaning against a wall, staring off into space.   She’d used too much electricity too quickly and shorted out her own brain. She’d be out of it for a good hour or so.  Too long to be helpful in getting out.

Shoji smashed through another robot with his arms, as Toshi did the same by increasing his gravity when he threw a punch.  They could keep smashing, but there were too many robots for them to make it.  Toshi was further hampered by having to hang onto the flag.

Unless…

“Shoji!” he shouted. “Think you throw me to the exit if I go near weightless?”

The six-armed boy’s eyed widened.  “Of course I can…  But if I miss, or if you don’t stop in time… you’re in for a big crash.”

“Won’t know unless we try,” Toshi said.  “Besides… we’re only got two minutes.  Do it!”

“Your funeral,” Shoji said. But he grabbed Toshi with one of his arms, cranking it bank, then flinging it forward like a trebuchet. With his gravity down to near zero, Toshi went flying through the air like a missile.

He had to focus, keep track of where he was…  Slowly, he increased his gravity so that he began to arc downward to the exit.  Too fast!   Too fast!   He couldn’t slow down in time, so all he could do was increase his gravity enough to protect himself…

He went sailing through the exit, crashing into the ground with a mighty thud.

The victory bell chimed.

“Team One wins,” an electronic voice announced.

“DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU SEE WHAT MY GRANDSON DID? I MEAN… AH…  GOOD JOB, EVERYONE!  AND I HOPE EVERYONE WATCHING LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THAT!”

Well, even if his grandfather was embarrassingly proud… the taste of victory was pretty dang sweet.

Their Hero Academia – Chapter Ten: Isamu Haimawari Sits This One Out

Isamu Haimawari was feeling pretty good.   Sure, he’d gotten injured yesterday (not a conversation he was relishing having with his parents and really, one he was hoping he could put off as long as possible), but he’d actually done all right in the Heroics lesson up until then.  And more importantly, he’d made up with Izumi Todoroki, who’d been laboring under the impression that he might blame her or hate her.  Since he wasn’t about to do either of those things, forgiving her had been easy and seemed to put her at ease.

Was it a little forward to take her hand?  Maybe. But it looked like she needed it and, well, his dad always said that small acts of kindness matter just as much as the big heroics.  It was what made him and his convenience store such a fixture in the neighborhood. People knew that if you needed help, you could talk to Koichi Haimawari and he’d do what he could.  Even if he wasn’t the Crawler anymore.  

He looked up just in time to see Kirishima-Bakugo bolting out the door.  She looked… scared?  That was weird.  He didn’t think she had any mood other than angry.  His friends may have claimed she had a softer side and he trusted them, but he hadn’t seen any sign of it yet.  Still…

“Ah… I think your friend’s unhappy about something,” he told Izumi. “Kirishima-Bakugo.”

Izumi frowned. “Katsumi is frequently unhappy. She usually finds a way to take it out on something.  …Or someone.”

“She fan out of here pretty fast,” Isamu said.  “I’d say she bolted.”

Her eyes went a bit wide at that.  “That is… not good,” she said after a moment.  She pushed back from the table and stood.  “Thank you, Isamu, but I should really check on her before…”

Isamu just nodded. He’d seen enough of the explosive blonde to understand at least some of what could follow “before.”

“Sure thing,” he said. He wondered if he should wish her good luck, but decided against it.  It would probably have been rude.  Either way, she headed for the door and after Kirishima-Bakugo.  

It was a shame though that he’d been benched from Heroics Class for the next few days.  Even after being hurt, he was actually looking forward to it.  He’d done pretty good yesterday, he thought.  Sure, he’d been a little scared the whole time, but he’d actually done his part in taking down some of the robots. And he already had some ideas on how he could do better.  Plus, eventually, they’d get to the point where they’d be taking on human opponents and he’d do better there.

Well… he’d just have to take the few days to recuperate and go from there.  

And then the building shook like a bomb had gone off, knocking Isamu from his chair and landing on the floor.  He really had to work on that grace under pressure thing.  Were they under attack?  Did a gas main explode?  Had Kirishima-Bakugo lost it and done something truly explosive?

All right, he didn’t really think the last one was true.

Probably.

***

“Haimawari?”

“Y—yes, Midoriya?” he asked.

“I’m sure the teachers are already aware and on their way, but you’re the fastest on land.  Go find one of them.”

He gave Midoriya a thumbs’ up.  “You can count on me!”

Outside, he dropped into a three-point stance and took off, racing along the sidewalk towards the main school building.  There’d have to be someone there.  Mister Aizawa was always there before any of them were.  Given that he always had a sleeping bag with him, Isamu wondered whether or not he actually ever left.

He banked left and right, dodging around students from the other classes who had come to gawk at the giant hole in their dorm.  There, up ahead, he could already see some of the staff running towards the building too.   He skidded to a stop, and stumbled, nearly falling, managing to right himself at the last second.

And nearly planted his face in someone’s cleavage!

He backed away quickly and fell on his butt again.  He looked up and his eyes went wide.  “V—V—Vice-Principal Midnight!”   Oh, he was in so much trouble…!  “I’m… I’m so…”

The Vice-Principal reared back her head and laughed, before fixing him with a mischievous stare. “Oh, you are a bold one, kid!  I love it!”

What… what was happening?

He recognized the others with her, Sugarman from the cafeteria (and Sato’s father), the 1-B homeroom teacher, the Bouncing Hero: Super Ball, and the 1-C homeroom teacher, the Furious Fighting Hero: Battle Fist.

“Relax, kid,” Battle Fist said.  “You’ve from 1-A, right?”

“R—right,” he said. “Midoriya… he sent me to get help, while he went upstairs to check out whatever hit us…”

“Kenta…!” he heard Sugarman say, and all four of them were off like a shot.

“You still want to help, kid?” Super Ball asked him.  When he nodded, the Hero went on, “Go to the Medical Building and get Doctor Izumi, okay?”

“Got it,” Isamu said. And he was off again.

***

Even if he didn’t get to participate in the Heroics exercise, at least he got to wear his costume. Isamua’s had thick solved red boots that joined protective padding around his knees, blue pants with red stripping on the edges, a blue padded tunic with red snaps and red shoulder pads, red gloves that came halfway up his forearms, and red protective pads on his elbows.  He topped that off with a red bandanna that covered the lower half of his face, and big crimson goggles to protect his eyes.  Maybe not as flashy as some of his classmates, but he liked it.  And with his Quirk, the padding was absolutely necessary, like the protective gear used by professional cyclists or skateboarders.

It definitely did its job of making him feel more heroic.   Considering his heroic career so far seemed to be nothing but one embarrassing moment after another, he needed all the help he could get in that regard.  

When Midoriya’s group won the exercise, he let out a cheer.  His friend had gotten a little battered by his victory, but he’d given it his all and pulled it off.  Midoriya had a confidence Isamu could only wish he had, second-guessing everything he did.

The next group up was Takuma Sero, Kenta Sato, Takiyo Aoyama, and Kimiko Ojiro.  Not really the most balanced group, he thought, lacking for the most part in mobility and limited in firepower.  He wished them luck.  If nothing else, at least they looked good in their costumes.

Sero’s costume was a bit plain.  Black boots and a black body suit, with a white stripe that started on the inside of the legs and went up the torso and down the outside of the arms, before ending in white stripes at the elbow, leaving his forearms bare so he could use his Acid Tape.  He finished it off with a helmet with a clear visor.

Sato was brightly dressed in red and yellow.  A red bodysuit, yellow gloves, trunks, and boots, faceless cowl that left his hair exposed, and a downward pointing yellow wedge on his chest, with a white tooth insignia in the middle.  Isamu had been told insignias were in right now for Hero designs, but hadn’t been able to come up with anything he liked.

Aoyama was, of course, sparkling, even indoors.  His leggings and sleeveless tunic were a dark blue, leaving his arms bare save for the reflective bands that took up his entire forearm.  Tall white boots, along with a white, high collared cape, and a reflective belt completed the outfit.  The belt and armbands were Support items, designed to help him focus his power.

And finally Ojiro. For someone invisible, she was dressed incredibly flashily.  High hot pink boots, practically neon green leggings and a tunic, with a hot pink leotard over that, along with hot pink gloves that went three-fourths of the way up her arms.  She finished it out with silvery-goggles of unspecified purpose and a small utility belt. Isamu guessed that when you were invisible, you wanted to stand out.

For now though, he was sitting in the stands with the rest of the group watching.  Just for today, fortunately.  He still felt a bit worn out from how Doctor Izumi had rewound him, but she had assured him he would be fine by the next day.  He sat with Izumi Todoroki, Shota Shinso, and Asuka Tokoyami, what he’d started thinking of as his friends.  He didn’t have a lot of those, having been thought of as the weird, awkward guy during middle school.  Though if he was honest with himself, he was probably still the weird, awkward guy.  But at least almost everyone here was a little weird.

At least Izumi seemed happy enough.  He’d only know her a few days, so he couldn’t claim to know her well, but after she’d run after Kirishima-Bakugo that morning, she’d seemed lost and distracted. He wondered if her change in mood had anything to do with whatever Kirishima-Bakugo had spirited her away for at lunch.  Midoriya seemed to know something about it, but he wouldn’t say anything about it. If he was a braver person, he would have asked her about it.  But it seemed… personal.  He didn’t think they were close enough that he could really ask.  But she and Kirishima-Bakugo were sitting together and were joined by Midoriya when his group returned, so he supposed it was all right.

His thoughts were interrupted by Mika Mineta leaning over from the row behind him.  Her costume consisted of brown chaps, a purple vest over a low cut brown tunic, thick, fringed purple gloves, and a small purple domino mask.  A thick purple belt and a lariat finished it off.  Leaning over, of course, put her considerable cleavage near his head.

“Looking good in that costume, Haimawari,” she said.  “You like mine?”

Various thoughts and impulses went to war in his head.  On a purely visceral level, Mineta was extremely attractive.  And he had no problem with assertive women; his mother certainly was one.  But Mineta was also unsettlingly aggressive and made him feel a bit like a piece of meat.

“It’s… ah…  it’s nice, Mineta,” he tried, desperately.

“You know where it would look even better?”

Nope, nope, nope, he wasn’t finishing that thought.

Thankfully, Tokoyami came to his rescue.  “Down, girl, *chirp*.”  Frog-Shadow materialized and gave Mineta a shove back into her seat.   “Thank you, Frog-Shadow.”

“No problem!”

“Thanks, Tokoyami,” he said. He considered, then decided to err on the side of politeness.  “And Frog-Shadow.”

The bird-headed girl shook her head.  “Don’t worry about it.  You’ve just got to firm with her.”

Yeah, being firm with attractive women throwing themselves at him?   He wasn’t sure that was going to happen.

Things weren’t going well with the group going through the exercise either.  They hadn’t even found the flag before they were overwhelmed by robots.  Sero’s Acid Tape was eating through a few of them and Kenta was taking bites out of any that got close, but neither was making a lot of headway.  Aoyama and Ojiro weren’t having much luck either. The former’s lasers were effective against the robots, but it looked like he wasn’t managing his power reserves well; his glow was already diminished and his blasts were becoming less and less effective.  And in the crowded space, Ojiro’s invisibility wasn’t especially effective either.  Nowhere to go meant nowhere to hide.

The buzzer sounded.   Time was up and the second team had failed the exercise.  Well… at least they hadn’t gotten knocked out?  That had to count for something, right?  Either way, he’d need to think of what they might have done differently. Since they weren’t participating, he and Izumi had to write up critiques of the other teams.

Frankly, he’d rather have been fighting robots.  He had a hard enough time figuring out what he should do, let alone what someone else should do.

***

Classes long done and homework battled as much as his brain could stand, Isamu’s fingers hovered over the call button on his phone, the contact picture of his parents staring back at him.  He should have called them yesterday, honestly, but he was afraid of what they might say, what they might think.  But how did you even begin to tell your parents that you’d suffered burns over 90% of your body and nearly died, saved only by the fact that the school’s chief doctor had a Quirk that let her rewind you?

His parents understood the cost of heroics.  The man who had taught his father, the vigilante called Knuckleduster, was dead, killed in the line of duty.  And his father had been badly injured helping people, his leg broken in such a way that even after it healed, he never walked right again, ending his career.  His mother had made it through it all unscathed, but had retired in solidarity with his father.

It was one thing to have been injured in the line of duty, in saving people.  It was another to have been so badly injured in training.  He wasn’t sure how they would take it, or what they would say, or what they would do.

In spite of it all, the one thing he knew that he didn’t want to do was go home.  Sure, he’d nearly died.  And sure, he’d barely made it in to begin with.  But… he had friends here, people who believed in him (not that his parent’s didn’t).  He had a chance to be a real Pro-Hero, and he didn’t want to give that up.

He hit dial.  If Izumi could stand up to her parents… then he could stand up to his.

It rang once, twice, and then then voice of his mother, Kazuho Haimawari, came on the line. “Isamu!  Three days, young man!  Three days!  What, are you too busy being a Hero already to call?”

Yep, that was his mother all right.

“N—no, Mom, just… had a lot of stuff going on.”

“Stuff?”  Oh, crap. Her mom radar was probably already pinging.  “What kind of “stuff?’”

In for a penny, in for a pound.  “I’d, ah, I’d really only like to tell this once, Mom.  Is Dad around?”

“I don’t like that the sound of that,” the former Pop*Step said.  “Hang on, I just heard him come in.  Let me get him.”    There was the sound of the phone being put down and then, “KOICHI!”

There was the sound of rushing in the background, and he could tell his father had used his Quirk to speed into whatever room his mom was in.   “I’m the guy who answered your call!” he heard his father say.  That was followed by the sound of his mom smacking his dad upside the head.

“No time for your corniness!  Isamu’s on the phone!”

“Oh, hey, kiddo!  How’s the big hero in family doing?”

“It’s… It’s good, Dad.  I’m doing good.  But I really do need to tell you what happened…”

He swore he could hear the temperature on the other end of the line drop by several degrees. He must have impressed upon them how serious it was.

“What’s going on, son?” his father prompted.

“I…  I got hurt yesterday,” Isamu said after a long moment spent gathering his thoughts.  “One of my classmates, she’s got this Quirk where she absorbs heat and makes ice, but she has to let it out.   Only, she overused it and collapsed.  And I didn’t want her to hit her head or anything, so I raced over and caught her… only she hadn’t let go of all that heat yet.  So when she passed out, it kind of all came out at once.  As fire.  I got burned.  Like… all over.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the call, though it was quickly broken by his mother.  “What the hell, Isamu?!”

He quickly tried to press on.  “I’m—I’m okay, Mom.  The school doctor fixed me right up, like I wasn’t even hurt at all.  They got me there in time.”

“No, seriously, what the hell?  You waited over a day to tell us this?  That you almost died?!”

“Pop…” his dad said.  “Maybe you could calm down, just a little?”   It was clear his dad was worried too, but keeping a better level of control over it.

“Calm down? Calm down?!  Our son almost died and you’re telling me to calm down?  What is wrong with you?!”  From the sounds on the other end of the phone, she was probably smacking him.

“Ow, ow, ow! Hey, stop it!”   Yep, definitely smacking him.  “I need that arm, Pop!”

“Uh… Mom? Dad?”

The smacking sounds stopped.  

“Look, I didn’t tell you right away because I didn’t want to worry you.  That’s one’s on me. But I’m okay.  Really.  Got a couple days excused from Heroics, but I’m okay.  Even made nice with the girl who burned me. She was more upset than I was. But if I’m gonna get hurt… at least this was because I was doing the right thing.”

Silence again, then, “He’s got a point, Pop.”

“You’re just saying that because it sounds like something you’d say.  You never held any grudges either.”

“You do that enough for both of u---ow!”

“You sure you’re all right, Isamu?” his mom asked.

“I’m fine, Mom,” he insisted.  “Looking forward to getting back to Heroics.  Plus… I’ve made a bunch of new friends.  You’d like them.  One of them’s even Deku’s kid.”

“Wait, Deku’s kid?” his father asked.  “…Any chance you can get an autograph?”

Isamu squeezed the bridge of his nose, fighting the urge to laugh.  “I’ll see what I can do, Dad.”

Their Hero Academia –Chapter Eleven: Izumi Todoroki Tries to Sort it All Out

“I’m in love with you, Izzy. Been in love with you for a long time.”

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze around Izumi Todoroki, as her longtime friend Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo confessed her longtime love for her.  There was nothing in anything she had experienced, nothing in anything she had ever done, that could have prepared her for this, told her how to react.  She was not good, she knew, with reading people or knowing how most people would react to things.  And in that exact moment, she desperately wished that she was.

Katsumi had been her friend for longer than she could remember.  She had been her protector, always there when she needed her.  And in return, she had been one of the few people Katsumi would always, always listen to.  And that was something even Toshi did not have.  She truly valued Katsumi’s friendship, in spite of her friend’s sometimes rough edges.

Never, not even if she had been given a lifetime to guess, would she have thought that Katsumi might be in love with her.

Memories came, unbidden. All the times when she had calmed Katsumi down, stilled her from some disastrous path.  All the times she and Katsumi had shared their thoughts and secrets, all the times Katsumi had gone out of her way to look out for her.  Just the day before, when Katsumi had threatened to fight her parents if they tried to take her away from U.A.

Clearly, Izumi was a blind idiot for not seeing this sooner.

Izumi considered herself to be a straightforward and honest person.  Perhaps not quite to the degree that Asuka Tokoyami was, but she was not a liar and she did not avoid difficult situations.  She had asked for this, asked Katsumi to tell her what was the matter. And yet, in that moment, all she desperately wished that she could be anywhere else.  Because she truly had no idea what to do next.

“Katsumi, I…” she began, realizing she had no idea what she was going to say next.

It was almost a relief when a sound like a rocket split the air.  Both of them looked up and watched something streak across the sky towards the dormitory, with a sound like thunder. It looked like a comet, or a missile, and then…  It impacted with the fifth floor of the dormitory, shattering the wall with a colossal BOOM!  Though she prayed no one was hurt, it if meant she did not have to have this conversation right now…

“What the fuck was that?” Katsumi yelled.  “Are we under attack?”

The thought chilled Izumi to the bone, a chill that had nothing to do with her Quirk.  If any of her friends had been injured…   “We must find out,” she said.

Katsumi frowned, clearly annoyed that her heartfelt confession had been interrupted.  But as hot-headed as she could be, Katsumi was not so selfish as to put herself first in a situation like this.  “Ngh… no, you’re right, Izzy,” she said.  “C’mon!”

***

It was quite possibly one of the worst mornings Izumi had ever had.  Her thoughts kept drifting back to Katsumi’s confession and how there had been no time to discuss or process it.  Her sympathies lay heavily with Haya Tanaka, the girl from the morning. To have lost control of your Quirk like that…  It reminded her too much of how she’d injured Isamu.  In both cases, everyone involved had been very lucky.

But she had barely been able to concentrate on her school work.  She had made careless mistakes in her classes.  FireFox, their flame-powered powered math teacher were a head like a red panda hadn’t noticed, but Hawkeye, the blonde daughter of retired Pro-Hero and former U.A. teacher Snipe, certainly had during her English lesson.

Lunchtime was a merciful relief.

She told Toshi and the others to go on without her and waited outside the classroom for Katsumi. When her friend exited the classroom, she stopped her with a small touch.  “Katsumi… may we finish our conversation from this morning?”

Katsumi brightened slightly at that.  She’d spent most of the morning rather sullenly in her desk, almost looking like she was trying to hide, something Izumi never thought she’d see. “I’ll…  I’ll go get us lunches and bring it back here, okay, Izzy?  I know you gotta eat to take your pills.”

Izumu blinked.  She’d been so preoccupied she’d actually forgotten about that.  Amazing. That was how distracted she’d become. “I… thank you, Katsumi.  For remembering.”

It left her waiting for Katsumi again, though.  And that meant she was alone again with her thoughts, absently pacing the rows of desks in the classroom.  She could run (granted, not for terribly long, but she could when required), avoid the conversation entirely.  Or perhaps she could simply freeze herself in a block of ice and wait around in suspended animation for a few centuries (she was fairly certain her Quirk would have prevented that, even without the need to release the heat involved).

Run away… or stay and have a conversation she truly, truly did not wish to have.

All of her options were terrible ones.  No matter what she did, she was certain she was going to hurt her dearest friend in all the world.

Katsumi soon returned with two trays of food.  “Got a few things I knew you’d like,” she said.  “Including cold soba.  Because you have no taste.”

Izumi raised an eyebrow at that.  “There is nothing wrong with cold soba.  My father enjoys it as well.”

“Then you’ve both got no taste,” Katsumi teased.

They are in silence for few minutes, before Izumi finally found the courage to speak.  “Katsumi,” she began, “about this morning…”

Katsumi looked up from her food.  “I… I shouldn’t have said that, Izzy.  I’ve gone and made everything so fu—so weird.”

Izumi shook her head. “You followed your heart.  It must have taken considerable courage to tell me that.  I’m not sure I would have had the same courage, were our positions reversed.”

“Blame Toshi for that one. He’s the one who figured it out. He’s the one who convinced me to talk to you.  For somebody whose entire strategy is “get high up, then fall,” he can be pretty smart sometimes.

“…But don’t tell him I said that.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Izumi assured her.

They lapsed into silence again, eventually broken by Katsumi.  “You’re not in love with me,” she said.

Izumi looked down.   Katsumi deserved nothing less than her honesty.  She had bared her soul and Izumi could do no less in return.  “I am sorry,” she said.  “But I am not.  I love you as I love my family, as I love Toshi and Shota and Asuka.  There is no one I consider to be a better friend. But I am not in love with you.”

Katsumi looked down and Izumi could swear she could see some of the light leave her friend’s eyes, see something inside of her die just a little.  “Thanks for being honest with me,” she said.  She forced a smile that even Izumi could tell she didn’t really feel. “Is there… anybody you do like? Because I can make them ask you out if they’re too chicken.  Been told I’m very convincing.”

That was a question in and of itself.  “There is not,” she said after a moment.  “I do not know if I have ever experienced romantic attraction.  I can appreciate aesthetic attractiveness, such as the way you look when you smile, or Toshi’s muscles when he takes off his shirt…”

“Ick, ick, ick, he’s like my freaking brother, Izzy.”

“But romantic attraction… No.  I’ve never felt that.”

“That’s… that’s kinda sad, Izzy.”

Izumi nodded.  “I am not sure I agree.  Perhaps I am still waiting for the right person, or perhaps there is no right person for me.  I do not know.  I can only see where life takes me.”

She frowned and looked down. So many serious conversations is so few days.  Her parents, Isamu, and now Katsumi.  “Katsumi… are we still friends?”

Katsumi locked eyes with her for a moment.  “Yeah. We are, Izzy.  I think…  I think I need some time to work some things out, figure out who I’m gonna be if being in love with you isn’t getting me anywhere.  But you’re always gonna be my friend.  I love you, even if I ain’t gonna be in love with you.  Just gotta figure out what that makes me.”

“Thank you, Katsumi. I really hope you find someone who can make you happy.”

“Me too, Izzy.  Me too.”

Izumi rose and indicated that Katsumi should do the same, which she did, albeit with a puzzled look on her face.   Izumi pulled her friend into a tight hug, holding it for several long seconds.  She was not typically physically demonstrative and she could feel Katsumi jerk in surprise before she returned it.

“You will always be my friend, Katsumi.  Never, never forget that.”

***

Izumi always did enjoy the opportunity to see her friends and classmates in action.  True, she was envious of the freedom with which they moved and used their Quirks, but there was something about seeing them in action that did send a bit of a thrill through her heart.  Still, she regretted that she was being forced to sit this round out and would for the rest of the week as well.  She had significantly overextended her Quirk, after all.  But it meant that she would fall behind the others. She would have to work that much harder to catch up.

From what she understood, however, her costume should make it somewhat harder for her to overextend herself like that again.  After her parents had visited her, her mother had apparently made a call to the Iida Twins mother, Mei Iida, and suggested several potential modifications, which the support equipment designer had passed on to the school after making them into reality in the space of a long night.  The combined forces of Momo Yaoyorozu and Mei Iida were apparently very hard to argue with.

Her base costume was split between orange and a pale blue.  Her left boot, right leg, left half of her tunic, and right glove were blue, while the right boot, left leg, right half of her tunic, and left glove her orange.  Silver bands encircled the cuffs of her boots and gloves, matching the silver belt that contained basic field aid supplies and her own medications.  Finally, a silver harness completed the costume. The harness, along with the silver bands, was designed to help offset some of the hear she absorbed, letting her discharge it more harmlessly than letting it out as flame, as well as pulling heat all on its own when she absorbed dangerously high amounts.

The third team of the day had taken the field:  Sora Iida, Shota Shinso, and Asuka Todoroki.  The grouping was a bit unfair, in her opinion.  Sora’s Quirk provided high mobility, Shota’s high versatility, and Asuka’s provided both.   But Hero work was often unfair, and sometimes there were foes and situations to be faced that could not be handled by a particular Quirk.  Adapting even in the face of that was something they would all have to learn.

Sora’s costume harkened back to her father’s and uncle’s (Izumi’s uncle as well, since the elder Tensei Iida was married to her Aunt Fuyumi), having a heavily robotic styling. Silver boots, gloves, helmet, and chest plate contrasted well against the red of the rest of her costume, along with folded silver wings like a jet’s on her back.  Izumi knew that Sora’s costume (and that of her brother, Tensei, which looked virtually identical save for being blue where Sora’s was red) incorporated significant support gear that the twins had designed to enhance their Jetpack Quirk.

Asuka’s primarily wore green:  light green leggings, a light green tunic with a dark green stipe, white boots and gloves, and a dark green cape.  Izumi would not call herself the best judge of aesthetics, but it struck her as a bit plain. Then again, Asuka was noticeable enough on her own, between her bird-head and her Quirk.  Perhaps that was enough.

Shota’s costume was a bit of a mishmash of colors.  He wore navy blue boots with white stripes, white leggings, a navy blue tunic with white arm bands, and blue gloves.  On his chest, he had a series of jagged yellow lines, which Shota had told her was a representation of the sound waves for “Plus Ultra.”

Izumu watched as Sora took off, getting an aerial fix on the flag, while Asuka summoned Frog-Shadow to carry herself and Shota through the streets in great leaps.   Robots tried to stop them, but between Frog-Shadow and the immense power of Shota’s voice, they were quickly smashed.  With Sora’s flight power, keeping the flag and getting it out was easy.

Until the flying robots arrived.  One swatted Sora out of the air easily, sending her crashing to the ground with an impact that made Izumi wince.  Even knowing that injuries could be treated easily enough by the U.A. medical staff, it was not fun to watch someone get hurt like that.  

Shota let out a low pitched sound, one Izumi could practically feel in her bones, even from the observation stands.  It made her feel faintly… unwell.   But its effects on the robots were even more incredible.  Where the soundwaves impacted with the robots, the robots simply… weren’t anymore, dissolving away into dust.  

She was grateful Shota was such a happy, gentle soul.  The thought of his power turned towards malicious ends was truly horrifying and that was only the abilities they had discovered so far.  He was always trying to hit new high and low pitches, to see what they would do.  

Asuka took up the flag, trying to get to the exit on Frog-Shadow.  Unfortunately, their efforts weren’t in time.  The buzzer sounded with time running out.  A failure, but perhaps not as overwhelming of one as the previous group.  But she would already see where things could have gone better.   Izumi would have to reflect some, but she could likely complete her analysis without much trouble.

“Damn,” Katsumi said. “Almost thought they had that one. Who knew Loud Kid had it in him?”

“He is full of surprises,” Izumi agreed.  She was just thankful Katsumi was still speaking to her.  Yes, they had agreed they were still friends, but she suspected heartbreak was not something that mended so quickly.  She would have to be especially mindful of Katsumi and how she spoke to her and what she asked of her for a while now, before the two of them could find a new normal.  Whatever normal was, anyway.

Katsumi went on. “Let’s see… with you and the Newb sitting this one out, that means the last group is gonna be me, the other Jetset, and…”

She stopped, silently mouthing the names or identities she’d assigned to their classmates. “Crap.  Mineta.”

Izumi hid a small smile behind her hand.  Katsumi truly had no filters and was very free with her reactions.  She’d seen it get the explosive girl in trouble many times, but at the same time, she somewhat envied the freedom with which she acted and spoke.  “I am sure it will not be so bad,” she said.  “I think you have threatened her enough to belay her worst impulses.  You have led the horse to the waters of fear and made her drink.”

Katsumi just stared at her before cracking a smile of her own.  “Was that a joke, Izzy?  Are you doing jokes now?”

“Perhaps it was.”

Katsumi actually laughed at that.  “Just when I think I’ve got you figured out.”

***

Later, when classes were over and homework was done, Izumi found herself watching television in the common room with Toshi, Shota, and Asuka.  The dormitory had been repaired by the time they’d returned, a testament to how quickly U.A. could get things done.  And other than a few things knocked off her bookshelf, nothing in her room had been damaged.  Isamu had been invited to join them, but had mentioned that he needed to make a call home. He’d seemed reluctant to be making it, but Izumi understood that.  Parents were very complicated even at the best of times.

She hadn’t been paying too much attention to the movie they were watching, some old classic monster movie, but Toshi and Shota liked it, and her friends being happy was enough for her. However, the television suddenly caught her attention as the film stopped and the logo for the local news affiliate appeared on the screen.

“…interrupt your broadcast to bring you this special report from downtown Musutafu,” the newscaster, a furry man who looked slightly uncomfortable in his suit, “where we are receiving reports of several Pro-Heroes engaged in battle with a gigantified Villain.  We’re going live to the scene now…”

“Turn it up,” Toshi said. Shota, who had the remote, complied.

The scene shifted to the downtown area, where a giant, fire breathing lizard monster was lashing out at anyone and everything.  Giant claws, a massive tail, blazing fire, all of it was being unleashed.  Citizens ran from it, screaming, even as it let out a massive roar.

“Any idea who that is?” Asuka asked.

“No Villain I recognize,” Toshi said.

“Me neither,” Shota added.

Fortunately, there were Pro Heroes on the scene already.  The veteran Hero Kamui Woods could be seen pulling civilians out of the Villain’s path (he’d experienced a bit of decline in recent years, before rebranding himself as a Rescue Hero), while other Heroes attempted to stop the beast, but none of them were having any effect.  Its hide repelled their attacks and none were strong enough to stop it.

“That’s… not far from here,” Asuka said.  “Do you think we should be worried?”

The broadcast answered the question for them.  “There’s no need to worry… for I AM HERE!”

Out of the sky, a green and white figure (with red shoes) dropped, slamming a powerful fist into the creature’s head.

Toshi lit up.  “Dad!”

Deku’s blow snapped the giant lizard’s head back.  He hit the ground with a hard impact that cracked the concrete, but he followed up with a hard flick of his fingers, sending a burst of air into the lizard monster’s midsection.  It cried out in a screech that sounded more confused and fearful than hurt, its eyes locking on him.

They watched as Deku hesitated, gearing up for another blow, but stopping midway through another punch. Instead, he held a hand up to the lizard.  The lizard monster stared for a moment and it looked almost as though clouds were clearing from its eyes.  It reached out with its giant hand, brushing the tip of one of its claws against his hand. And then it simply vanished, replaced on the ground by a woman.

A… naked woman. Fortunately, the television camera cut away, as Deku wrapped his cape around her to try and preserve her modesty.

“…just lost control,” the woman who had been the lizard monster seemed to say, before the camera cut away to Deku, reporters mobbing him with questions.

“That was awesome!” Shota declared.  “He did the air flick!  He did the air flick!”

Toshi grinned.  “Okay, that part was pretty awesome.  But it was even more awesome how he stopped her without having to really hurt her.”

“How do you think he figured that out?” Izumi asked.  She’d seen no signs that it was anything more than a run of the mill giant Villain attack.

Toshi shook his head. “I dunno.”

“That look in her eyes, though,” Asuka said, “it reminds me of the girl from this morning.  *chirp*”

Toshi frowned.  “You know, I think you’re right…”

“That is troubling,” Izumi said.  Toshi and Asuka had filled the rest of the class in on what had happened.  To lose control like that…   Well, she’d already personally seen what happened when you lost control.  People got hurt.  Yet she had a feeling her own loss of control was nothing like what these others were experiencing.  Hers had been pushing beyond her limits.  This… was something else entirely.

What was going on in the world?

 Their Hero Academia –Chapter Twelve: Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo Picks Up the Pieces

So.  Izzy didn’t love her.  Well, she loved her, but she didn’t love her love her.  And that was something Katsumi was just going to have to learn to live with.  She supposed it was better, now that it was out in the open, even if it felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest, frozen, set on fire, and the ashes scattered to the four winds.  Now that she knew Izzy was an impossibility, she could try and move on.

Right.

So why was that all she could think about?  Maybe she should have distanced herself more from Izzy.  But that didn’t feel right either.  She loved loved Izzy… but she loved her too.  She really was one of her best friends in all the world.  And Katsumi was well aware she was not the easiest person in the world to like.  Izzy, Toshi, Kana Tetsutetsu, she could probably count the number of people she really considered to be her friends on both hands and would have a few fingers left over.  She could not afford to lose what few friends she had.

Izzy did not love her and she would just have to make her peace with that.

“Are you all right, Kirishima-Bakugo?” Tensei Iida asked, his features hidden by his helmet.  His costume matched that of his sister’s, looking like a robot with silver boots, gloves, chest plate, wings, and helmet, accented with blue where his sister had red.

“You’re, ah, kinda distracted,” Mika Mineta said, actually sounding genuinely concerned, rather than flirtatious.

Well, crap.  If Mineta was noticing, then she must have been in a state.  “I’m fine,” Katsumi growled.  “Start looking for the damn flag already.”

She cracked her knuckles. If nothing else, she did look damn good in her costume.  She had thigh-high black boots with bolt laces, black and gold trunks, a black sleeveless and mid-riff baring top, golden armguards, and black fingerless gloves with a palm cut out.   An insignia like a cartoon bomb in gold on her top completed the look.  Dad would probably flip out when he saw it, but Papa would probably appreciate her embracing her Wo-Manliness.

And then the robots were upon them.  “Jetset!” she growled to Iida.  “Find the flag!  Horse-Face and I will take care of these damn tin cans!”

“Kirishima-Bakugo…” Iida began.  “I do not know if I feel right abandoning my teammates…”

“Get going already!”

Iida recoiled from her, activating his Jetpack Quirk to take to the air to begin the search for the flag.

“That’s your big plan?” Mineta asked, dodging out of the way of one of the robots.  She gave it a kick with one of her hooves, knocking it down.   “Send Iida after it and hope?” She let out a shriek as another robot nearly punched her head off.

“Stop yapping and fight!” Katsumi growled.

She eyed the nearest robot and let a grin creep across her face.  Finally, something she could hit.  And after the last couple of days she’d been having… she definitely needed it.

She slapped the closest robot, then gave it a hard punch with her other hand, knocking it into the next nearest one.  Just in time too, because the explosive charge she’d given the first robot took effect, blowing up its head and taking them both out.

She had to play this smart. Her Quirk worked by means of a liquid she secreted from her hands.  It did something on a chemical level to most matter, giving it highly volatile explosive properties.  But there was a limit to how much she could produce at a given time.  She’d run out during yesterday’s exercise, not something she wanted to experience again.

A purple sphere flew by her head, hitting a robot and obscuring its vision.  “Hey!  Watch where you’re aiming that!”

“Sorry!” Mineta apologized, headbutting a robot with her horns.   “Fired off that one by mistake!  Got a little spooked!”

Gaaah!   Mineta made her so mad!   If she wasn’t flirting with everything that moved, she was being a damn coward.  If she just stopped yapping and fought, she might actually be a halfway worthwhile hero!

Katsumi tore through the robots, touching each one long enough to impart explosiveness upon them. They blew up in a hail of shrapnel and smoke.   A wicked grin crossed her face.  “Damn, that felt good.”

“I am never getting the smell of smoke out of my hair,” Mineta wailed, leaning against a wall. “Did you have to blow so much stuff up?”

“Yes.”

“Teammates!” Iida’s voice cut through the air.  “I have the flag!”

Katsumi looked up to see Iida flying through the air, flag in hand.  Several flying robots were hot on his heels.

“Get it down here, Jetset! Horse-Face!  Start shooting them down!”

“Stop shouting!” Mineta snapped back, even as she peppered the air with sticky purple spheres. “I’ve already got a headache from all the explosions!”

“You’ll have more than a headache if you don’t shut up!”

Why didn’t people just listen to her?

“Jetset!  Low flight, keep going to the exit!”

Iida hesitated for a second, but the look in her eyes was enough to scare him into motion.

More robots were coming now. Katsumi took a breath and slapped both hands on the ground.  “Horse-Face, you might wanna back up!”

For once, Mineta listened to her, jumping several feet backwards with one easy bound.   Katsumi let her power seep into the ground… and then the concrete exploded, showing the robots with flames and rubble.

The destruction was one of the most beautiful things Katsumi had ever seen.

And yet… her thoughts still lingered on Izzy.

“Tensei Iida has made it to the exit!” All Might’s voice rang out over the loudspeaker.  “Team Four Wins!”

At least something was going right today.

***

The next morning, the sun rose.  Not completely unexpectedly, of course, but if the world had ended, at least she wouldn’t have had to face one where Izzy didn’t share her feelings, a world where she’d bared her soul and found rejection (kind, friendship embracing rejection, but still rejection).  She didn’t harbor any ill will towards Izzy.  She wasn’t sure that was something she could ever do.  And she truly hoped that whatever or whoever Izzy wanted out of life, she found it.

They were only fifteen. There was a lot of time in the world for things to happen, for either of them.  But she’d spent too many of the past years nursing an unrequited crush. Now, she had to Woman up and move forward.  And the best way to clear her head was exercise.  It was too early to tackle the punching bag though, as much as she might have liked to let out her pent up emotions that way.

Most of the rest of the class wouldn’t be up yet.  Katsumi had already learned she was one of the earliest risers.  The only one up earlier than her was Toshi, which she had already known.  He was one of the only people she knew who was dedicated to their health as she was and the only one she’d admit to being able to keep up with her (Not that she’d ever admit it, but it was sometimes the other way around.  He was just that good).

Fortunately, he hadn’t left yet.  Katsumi found him about to head out to the door on the ground floor.  He was wearing shorts and a tank top, as he usually did, and Katsumi was reminded of Izzy’s comments about aesthetic appreciation. Toshi was really fit.  His arms and legs were almost as well muscled as hers.  He was also practically her brother (Yes, she had an actual brother. But still.).

“You mind if I join you, Toshi?” she asked.

He only seemed slightly surprised by the question.  “Didn’t think you were that into running, Katsumi.”

She shrugged.  “Need to get moving today or I’m gonna explode.”

He nodded, opting not to ask any follow up questions.  He’d sat and talked with them some yesterday during the training exercise and new the basic outline of what had happened.  He’d push if he felt it was really important, but he also understood boundaries.

“Sure, then,” he said.

***

They kept up a brisk jog, enough to get their blood moving, making their way past the upperclassmen’s dorms and towards some of the smaller athletic fields.  She knew Toshi was actually faster than her, but right now, he was just keeping the pace.

“You’re using your Quirk,” she said.

Toshi blinked.  “How’d you know?”

“You’ve got your ‘Quirk’ face on, Toshi.  You make this weird look every time you use your Quirk.  Have for years.”

“I do?” he asked. “Aw, jeeze…”

She shook her head. “You making yourself lighter to cheat?   You know I don’t stand for cheating…”

“No!” he cried, quickly. “Not that!  Definitely not that!   I’m making myself heavier!  I figured out I can make my muscles stronger by working them under heavier gravity. So I’m, like, five percent heavier than usual right now.”

Okay, she had to admit, that was pretty smart.  “You come up with that on your own?”

He shook his head. “Wish I had.  But Dad suggested it.”

“Saw him on the news last night.  You hear from him today?”

Toshi shook his head again. “No.  Wish I had.  Izumi and Asuka think there’s something weird going on.  Love to talk to him about it, but his phone keeps going to voicemail.”

Huh.  That was odd.  Uncle Deku was usually extremely available, especially for Toshi and his sisters.  There must have been something big afoot, but what, she couldn’t even begin to guess.

Whatever thoughts she had were interrupted by someone coming up from behind them.  “On your left!”

She cast a glance over her shoulder.  “Kana, if you think I’m letting you pass me, you’ve got another thing coming!  Book it, Toshi!”

Katsumi sped up and Toshi did too, even as Kana Tetsutetsu ran up beside them.  The red-haired girl gave them a sharp-toothed grin.  “Only you could turn a morning jog into a competition, Katsumi.”

Katsumi gave her a fist bump as they kept running.  “Only way to get stronger is to keep pushing, Kana.  You know that.”

“Maybe I just like hearing you say it.”

Katsumi just laughed. Like her, Kana was a deeply devoted disciple of the Womanly Arts and Ways of Living.  She hadn’t had much chance to see her since school had started, so she was glad to have run into her.  Katsumi didn’t exactly do “girl time”, but maybe she’d see if Kana had time to talk later.

“You liking school so far, Tetsutetsu?” Toshi asked.

Kana made a face. “It’s mostly good.  Super Ball’s a good teacher, at least.  But I swear, we’ve only had three days of classes and I’ve already had to clobber Monoma ten times.  I’d do worse, if his parents weren’t friends with mine…”

“Yeah, well, mine aren’t,” Katsumi said.  Her father in particular had a rather low opinion of the Hero Phantom Thief.  “You need me to rough him up any?”

“Katsumi!” Toshi said. “You can’t do that!”

“Relax, Toshi,” she said. “There’s a chance I’m joking.” Which she was.  Well, maybe twenty-five percent joking.

“I appreciate the offer,” Kana said.  “But I’ll deal.”

The sound of a scream ruined any other chance of conversation.

Toshi pointed.  “That came from under the bleachers!”

The three of them exchanged a glance and took off as fast as they could.

***

The source of the scream was readily apparent when they neared the bleachers.   There were two students, one male and one female—Katsumi didn’t recognize them, but they looked old enough to be third years—and the woman definitely seemed to be the screamer.  The male, a dark-haired young man, was the problem.  His Quirk, some kind of blue-green laser blade pulsing from his hands, seemed to refuse to switch off.  And it was getting bigger, the blades already several feet long and growing.  He couldn’t even lower his hands, lest the blades start slicing up the ground.

“Get back!” he said. “I can’t turn it off!”

“What happened?” Toshi asked.

“We were just walking to class,” the girl, blue-haired and wide-eyed, with small antenna coming from her forehead, explained.   Given their location and the worry in her voice, Katsumi recognized a woman in love. They’d probably gone under the bleachers to make out, but that wasn’t really important now. “And then...!  We were heading back when Haru’s Quirk activated and he couldn’t shut it off!

“I were going to get help,” she went on, “but he was so scared we didn’t want to leave him…”

“No phones?” Katsumi asked. Who didn’t have a cellphone in this day and age?

My fault,” the girl said. “My Quirk blocks cell signals and it’s always on, so we never carry them.”

Another out of control Quirk, just like yesterday morning. And on the news last night.  And Toshi was wondering if whoever had destroyed the training ground the other day was part of it too.  This was starting to be a really bad trend.

“I’ll go get help,” Toshi said.  “I can cover it in a couple jumps.   Katsumi, Tetsutetsu, can you stay with her?”

“Of course,” Kana said.

“Get going already, Toshi!”

Toshi nodded and took a quick leap, carrying himself a considerable distance towards the main campus.

Which left Katsumi and Kana were an emotionally fragile girl and a guy with an out of control Quirk.  

“It hurts…” the guy—Haru —cried out, and his laser-blades grew longer.  

“Look out!”  Katsumi tackled the girl as the laser blade nearly skewered them.  Kana activated her own Quirk, converting her arms to metal and throwing them up in front of her body in an X.  The laser blade splashed against them and knocked her back, but didn’t cut through them.

“Damn!” Kana cried out, still holding her ground.  “That’s a strong Quirk you’ve got, man!  I can feel the heat!”  She took a single step back and then fell sideways, letting the laser-blade fly past as she rolled away.  She came up, returning her arms to normal.

Katsumi looked to the blue-haired girl.  “You got a name?”

The girl blinked. Maybe she’d been a bit too abrupt. “Rumi.  Rumi Saito.”

“Your boyfriend there, he ever been knocked out?”

“He’s not my…”  Saito trailed off under Katsumi’s glare. “Yes.  Sometimes. He’s in the Hero course.”

“Katsumi,” Kana said. “Are you thinking…?”

“Those blades of his shut off when it happened?” Katsumi pressed Saito for further details.

She swallowed hard, then nodded.  “Yes. They’re supposed to go off if he’s not actively sustaining them.”

Katsumi nodded.  The guy was in danger of hurting someone and hurting himself if this kept up, and Toshi still wasn’t back yet with help.

She’d be the first to admit, she wasn’t a great thinker.  She favored solutions that were simple and direct.  Toshi would probably have tried talking this guy down.  But from the look in his eyes and the steadily growing threat of the laser-blades, that wasn’t an option.

“For what it’s worth,” she told him, “I really am sorry about this.”

His blades were still pointing out to the sides, so she had a good shot at this.  Katsumi sprinted, closing the distance between herself and Haru quickly.  He started to panic, letting out a scream and bringing his hands closer to his body. This caused his laser-blades to lash out and she jumped over them, narrowly missing having her legs sliced to pieces by the energy blades.  She heard the sound of the blades meeting Kana’s metal again and knew her friend had stepped in to protect the girl.  

Katsumi crossed the remaining distance easily and threw a right cross that spun his head around and knocked his lights out.  She heard someone scream.  Probably Saito, given that she’d just slugged her boyfriend.  He let out a soft grunt and fell backwards, hitting the ground. When he did, his laser-blades went out.   Toshi would probably have scolded her for taking such a gamble, but hey, she turned out to be right.

“Katsumi… did you just hit that guy?”

She looked back to see Toshi, along with Vice-Principal Midnight, Doctor Izumi, and Aizawa. Toshi looked surprised, Midnight and Doctor Izumi looked various stages of amused, and Aizawa looked like he was contemplating retirement so that he could be anywhere other than where he was right now.  It was an expression Katsumi was already learning he made a lot.

“I suppose that’s one way to handle it,” Midnight said.  “You’re very direct, Kirishima-Bakugo.”

She shrugged.  “It worked, ma’am.”

Midnight sucked in a breath and her eyes narrowed.  She pointed an accusing finger.  “Never call me ma’am!  I am not old enough to be a ma’am!”

“Nemuri, we’re the same age,” Aizawa said in a deadpan voice.

“Fine, then she can call you ma’am!” Midnight shouted, smacking Aizwa in the chest.

“Ow,” he deadpanned.

Doctor Izumi cleared her throat.  “Dad, if you and the Vice-Principal are through, perhaps I could examine Haru?”

“Of course,” Midnight told her.  “Your dear old dad just loves to try and cut me down.”

Katsumi frowned and she could see that Toshi was thinking too.  “You people ever going to tell us what’s going on?”

Aizawa gave her a blank look.  “What do you mean?”

“I’m not stupid, Teach. And neither is Toshi.  Between yesterday and today and that news thing with the big lizard…”

“And whatever happened on the Training Ground…”  Toshi said.

“This has happened before?” Saito gasped.

“That was Yamaguchi,” Kana said.  “We were doing Battle Trials and her Vibration Quirk went out of control... She leveled the whole Training Ground. She still isn’t back from the hospital.”

Midnight and Aizawa shared a look.  Katsumi was pretty sure they were debating whether or not to reveal something.

It was Aizawa who spoke first.  “You’re both too clever for your own good.  But I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less from either of you.  There’s more going on than you know.”

“They deserve to know, Dad,” Doctor Izumi said, looking up from where she was examining Haru.

Midnight sighed. “She’s right.  We’ve been putting this off, but the students here deserve to know what’s happening.  It’s going to go public soon enough anyway.  I can convince Nezu.”

Yeah, whatever was going on, Katsumi knew they weren’t going to like the answer one bit.

[poklina]

for the au prompt- jimon #40

hey pal i don’t know why this is 3k words but it is lmao

thanks fr the prompt i had a Party writing it

enjoy:)))

bump in the night-3k

The bar was just like any other seedy Brooklyn bar at 1 in the morning; stale beer, a faint undercurrent of weed, and the quiet sound of long days being drowned out in shots of whiskey. It wasn't as crowded as it has been when Simon got here, and the noise level had stabilized quite nicely, leaving him alone with all of the other alcoholics and mistake-makers Brooklyn had to offer.

Home sweet home.

He sighed as he looked down into his beer, something that they had on tap that he'd been halfway drinking for the past 3 hours. He was only on his 2nd glass, considering that most of those three hours had been spent looking blankly at his phone and making forced small talk with the people that came up to try and take him home.

Simon wasn't really sure where his day had started to go so horridly wrong, but he suspected that it may have had something to do with the fact that as soon as he stepped outside this morning, it had started to rain. If that wasn't a sign of terrible things, then he didn't know what was.

The domino's just kept falling from there. First, he was late to work, then he realized that he had left one of his client's files on his counter, followed by a spectacular incident of spilling his lunch down the front of his shirt, which all culminated in him being called into his bosses office, and after a short speech about "company downsizing" and "having to keep the reputation of our clients," he'd been laid off and sent home with 6 months of severance the only thing that would keep him afloat for the coming months. He'd already started mentally applying for jobs anywhere he could find a "Now Hiring" sign in the window.

And after all of that, he'd ended up here, and hadn't left his seat since.

The worst part of this whole thing was that he couldn't even call anyone to come and join him in this pity party, because they were all either sleeping or having a grand old time with someone that actually cared about them. Clary was off on a date with Izzy, Magnus was staying at Alec's house, and Raphael...yeah. No sense in going down that path again.

"Hey, we're gonna be closing up here pretty soon. Can I call you a cab?" The bartender came over with a rag as she wiped down the counter. Her nametag read Maia. Simon would definitely be interested if it was any other night but tonight, but he just sighed and pushed the mostly full glass of lukewarm beer towards her.

"No, thanks though. I think I'm going to just walk home tonight. Clear my head."

"Are you sure? Don't want you getting mugged or anything." She looked up at him, her warm brown eyes looking straight at him, almost seeing right through him, filled with pity.

"Yea, it's okay. I only live a couple blocks away. Thanks, though. Appreciate it." Simon rubbed his hands quickly over his jeans before digging out his wallet and handing her a 10.

"Um, you've already paid for your drinks tonight, I don't-"

"It's your tip. Thanks for not kicking me out 2 hours ago." Simon smiled quickly, his heart not in it to keep it up.

"Oh. Um, thanks. I hope-well, I hope you have a good night, sir."

"You too, Maia."

He dug his hands into his pockets before shouldering the door open and walking into the cool grey of an early Brooklyn morning.

This was Simon's favorite time of day. Usually, he was asleep by now, exhausted from a day of accounting and such, but when he did find himself awake at the careful moments between midnight and the sun starting to rise, he would just stand at the one window in his tiny, shoe box apartment and breathe it in. The city noises, still alive and breathing even now, the quiet flickers of what stars he could see through the light pollution, the small line of grey just on the horizon, letting him know that there will be another day, and another, and another.

If he could live in this in between world for the rest of his life, he would gladly accept.

He was so caught up in the feeling that his eyes actually slipped shut, which of course lead him to walk straight into a brick wall.

Simon stumbled backwards, tripping over his feet and landing flat on his ass on the sidewalk, hands launching out to catch him, but only achieving scraped wrists in the process. He let out a groan internally as he scrambled to his feet again, already letting out a rapid fire apology.

"Shit, I am so sorry, I totally wasn't looking, please don't hurt me, I am-"

His words died a quick death in his throat as he looked into the blue brown eyes of the guy he just ran into.

Shit.

Of course, he thought bitterly,of fucking course this is how my day ends. I'm a good person, what on Earth did I do to deserve this?

They stood in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, when it was actually probably only about 30 seconds, before Jace cleared his throat and spoke to him for the first time in 4 years.

"Hey. It's...it's been awhile."

"Yeah, yeah. You could say that." Simon muttered, his hand nervously coming to scratch the back of his neck. Jace had broken up with him 4 years ago over text, and Simon immediately blocked his number and never looked back. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea for them to get together, seeing that they were just so different, but Simon had felt that Jace...Jace was something new. Something exciting. They had been together for 2 years before it started to fall apart. However, it had taken him just as long to get over him.

Simon looked at him again and as their eyes connected, he could feel every wall that he had carefully constructed around what they once had coming down with incredible efficiency. He knew that he never really got over Jace, but seeing him here, right in front of him, just made those feelings come screeching back to he front of his mind.

"So...uh, how're you?" Jace looked at him, face twisted into something that looked like either pity or regret or sadness, Simon couldn't tell.

"I've been pretty good. I mean, up until today, but, you know. What about you?" Simon forced out between gritted teeth, cursing his brain for the lack of a filter.

"I've been better. Like, a lot better. But yea." Jace hadn't taken his eyes off of Simon this whole conversation, glittering with something that looked a lot like sadness and hell. He'd had such a shitty day, there was no one else that was going to talk to him, and he'd already made plenty of bad decisions that day, so what was one more?

"You know what's great for shitty days, seeing that we both had one? Milkshakes. Right now. I mean, if you want to join me, that's be really cool, but I know we haven't seen each other in years and I totally get it if you just wanna pretend that this never happened but you know I'm just feeling pretty lonely and you look like you are too so-" Once the floodgates had opened, the torrent of feelings almost swept  Simon off of his feet with how much there was for Jace, once again cursing himself for the lack of a filter. Jace broke in quietly, but with just enough power to make him stop talking.

"Si. I'd love to. I know a great little diner a couple blocks away, unless you had another place?" Jace trailed off as Simon felt his heart rate pick up a tiny amount just from hearing that old nickname slip out of Jace's mouth like nothing was wrong. Simon was very glad it was dark outside, because he was pretty sure that he was blushing right now, and that is not something he could easily live down.

"No, no, uh. Lead on."

As Jace turned around and started walking, Simon could've sworn that he saw a smile flash across his face.

--

Jace pulled open the door and gestured Simon through, as he laughed mirthlessly at the name.

"Happy Days Diner. Wow, what a fitting name for today." he muttered under his breath as he walked inside and waited for Jace to follow and show him where to sit. He walked all the way to the back corner and slid into the booth as if he'd done it 100 times before. Simon did the same, the vinyl protesting slightly underneath him before settling. He looked down at the table, tracing the swirls of the wood with his eyes and drumming his fingers on his leg before he heard the approaching of shoes.

"Jace! Been awhile, my friend. Who's this?"  The waiter approached their table with a giant grin on his face, and Jace mirrored him, smile breaking out.

"Hey Luke, good to see you. This is Simon, he's...he's-"

"A friend." Simon cut in, sensing that Jace was obviously struggling to pinpoint exactly what they were right now.

"Yea, he's a friend."

"Well, what can I get for you guys? Do you need a menu, or..?"

"No, we're good. Can we just get 2 milkshakes?" Jace replied, looking to Simon for confirmation, and Simon nodded back.

"Alright, 2 milkshakes coming right up." Luke scribbled on his pad before disappearing back behind the counter. The diner was mostly empty, save for one or two people scattered around, picking at their burgers and whatnot. Even though it was mostly empty and fairly dark outside, Simon still felt...comfortable here. Like he was coming home.

Maybe it was the beer.

(Maybe it's Jace, a voice whispered in his head.)

Yep. Definitely the beer.

"So, what happened to you today? No offense, but you look like shit." Jace leaned across the table and crossed his arms against his chest, leaning his forearms on the table and looking intently at Simon.

"Well, um. I got laid off today. So, there's that." Simon muttered, hand coming to tangle in his hair, watching as Jace's eyes followed the movement and stopped on his lips.

"Oh, dude. That sucks, man, I'm so sorry. Still doing the accounting thing?"

"Yeah, but maybe this is a sign that I need to, you know, not do that." Simon said bitterly, and was surprised when Jace let out a soft chuckle in response. It'd been so long since he heard that, he'd forgotten how nice it had sounded.

"That's it. The universe is sending you a sign, Lewis. Don't fuck it up."

"Well, fuck up is my middle name, so we'll see how that goes."

This time, they both laughed, and Simon felt his defenses fall down faster and harder than before. All of the things that he had so carefully tried to forget when he blocked Jace's number were coming back in full force, from the way he liked his coffee (black, no sugar because "sugar's for pussies and grandma's, Lewis."), to his favorite kind of cereal (Raisin Bran, for some godforsaken reason), to that once spot right on his collarbone that made him go completely weak in the knees-

Before he could continue down that road, he was interrupted by Luke reaching their table with the 2 milkshakes in his hands and setting them down.

"Two chocolate milkshakes, because you both look like you need some sweetness in your lives right now." Luke grinned down at them, half jokingly, half completely serious (he wasn't blind, you don't get those eye bags without going through some serious shit).

"Thank you so much, Luke." Jace answered, grabbing the one closest to him and ripping the paper off of the straw.

"Yeah, thank you."

"Anytime. Well, if you need anything, just holler." Luke said, and walked away, back behind the counter and into the small kitchen once again.

Simon watched as Jace eagerly stuck the straw into the milkshake and started drinking, cheeks hollowing out, Adam's apple bobbing with each swallow. He didn't let his train of thought go any further, for fear of what he may think if he did. Finally, Jace came up for breath, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Simon jolted out of whatever strange trance he'd just been in, returning to the current conversation.

"So, uh, what happened to you today?"

At that, Jace seemed to shut down, eyes growing darker as he remembered whatever had happened to him, visibly upset at the memory.

"Uh, well. I guess...I got fired too. And then I got in a pretty bad fight with my roommate...so he kicked me out. I didn't even grab my charger. Or any clothes. So...um. Yeah. Pretty shit day." Jace spoke in halting sentences, eyes downcast and completely focused on the patterns on the table. Simon felt his heart break a little at the sight of him, curled in on himself and looking so much smaller than the larger than life character he walked in here with. Before he could stop himself, Simon opened his mouth and made yet another probably very, very bad decision.

"You can stay with me." Jace glanced up slowly, some of the life returning to his eyes.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to like, intrude or anything-" he stuttered out, hands twisting together nervously before Simon interrupted.

"No, no it's totally fine. I can sleep on the couch for a night or two."

"Simon...I-thank you. So much."

The way Jace said his name made Simon reconsider every decision he'd made in the past 4 years, starting with blocking his number. The way he was looking at him, the way he said his name, all of it filled Simon with something that he hadn't felt in 4 years, not even with the assortment of dates and relationships that had filled them. It was something that he had only ever felt around Jace. It started in his chest and expanded, cutting off his air and pressing his heart against his ribcage. It was warm and comforting and so, so good.

Simon felt a smile grow on his mouth, looking at Jace over the top of his glasses before quickly sliding back to his milkshake.

They sat there for what seemed like forever, quietly sipping and tossing jokes and bad puns back and forth. It was...nice. For the first time that whole day, Simon felt like he wasn't at risk of massively screwing anything up. Behind them, the night slipped slowly into dawn, grey light filtering through the trees, preparing for the beating sun to come back out.

Simon noticed the time around 3 am. It certainly didn't feel like they'd been there for 2 hours, but Simon...well, he wasn't complaining. Jace let out a wide yawn across from him, and he chuckled.

"I guess that's code for 'I'm exhausted, take me home, Prince Charming.'" Simon smiled from across the table and slid out of the booth, stretching his arms out above his head. Jace followed, stepping out of the booth, before digging into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. Suddenly, Luke called out from where he was cleaning the counter.

"Jace, don't worry about it. On the house tonight."

Jace smiled. "You sure Luke? It's no big deal-"

"Jesus, Wayland, take the free milkshake and go." Luke grinned back, laughing at the same time.

"Thanks, Luke. Have a great night." he said as they started walking toward the door, Simon following close behind Jace.

"Yea, you too."

Jace pushed open the door and waved Simon through, before following him into the cool Brooklyn morning.

--

They walked side by side in comfortable silence, punctuated by occasional jabs and soft laughter. Simon hadn't done anything like this is forever, and he was 100% sure he wanted to do it a thousand times more.

Finally, they reached Simon's brownstone building, and he buzzed them both up and opened the door to his apartment. He walked in and started to try and collect some of the dirty dishes scattered around, dumping them in the sink while giving a rushed apology.

"Sorry this place is such a mess, it's been a really weird week, and I wasn't expecting company-"

"Simon, it's fine. I'm just grateful that I don't have to sleep on a bench in a park somewhere."

"Nah, you're too pretty for that. Someone would've picked you up way before that."

They both laughed at that, and Jace stepped into Simon's space, barely a foot away from him. Simon felt his breath catch in his throat as he looked Jace up and down, taking in the way his hands rubbed together nervously, how his eyes glittered in the low light of the moon from the window, how his lips looked so perfect and they were just right there. They stood like that for a split second, before Jace cleared his throat, and the moment was broken.

"Well. Um, I'll take the couch. Thanks, again. For...everything."

Even though Simon wanted to argue that he could take the couch, because what kind of host lets their guest sleep on the couch, but the way he said it left no room for argument.

"Oh, um. Okay. Well, night, Jace." Simon said before turning and walking to his door, but right before he stepped in he turned around again.

"Hey. I...I had fun tonight."

Jace looked back up at him from where he was sitting on the threadbare couch and taking off his jacket to serve as a pillow, a half smile breaking on his lips.

"Yea, I did too. Night, Lewis."

And with that, Simon walked into his room and shut the door.

[txmquamalteridem]

Wonder Woman: Movie Review

Hi, hey, I just saw Wonder Woman, so now I am going to write a review on it! (Yay!!!)

Synopsis:  Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, Diana meets an American pilot who tells her about the massive conflict that's raging in the outside world. Convinced that she can stop the threat, Diana leaves her home for the first time. Fighting alongside men in a war to end all wars, she finally discovers her full powers and true destiny. (taken from the one and only google)

Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSB4wGIdDwo

Rating: 4.5/5 stars, around 90% and an A-

No spoilers review: I mean, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it and I will talk more specifically about the things that enjoyed in the spoiler section, but I will say that I enjoyed the fact that the main character was a woman and I enjoyed the way that they portrayed the way society looks at women and the way the movie shows the expectations we have for women and how it shows that these expectations are not right and not just. I loved most of the fight scenes (I’ll get to that later). I think the main reason that I wasn’t able to enjoy this movie as much as I would have liked is because I don’t enjoy plots that are as fast paced as this movie, and I am not trying to blame the movie for this, because I understand that you need to fit a complete story arch into 2 hours, which is difficult to manage, so I don’t blame them if it was fast paced, because it is a very tight schedule and it does feel fast at some points and I wasn’t able to enjoy that. I think I would have enjoyed it more, if it were a TV show. I did love the story line and the way it portrays the problems in our society and the way it shows us what is wrong. I as sitting there in the theater and I was feeling what they wanted me to feel: I was feeling embarrassed for this woman, strong, courageous woman, for standing up for what she believed in, I wanted her to fit in and go along with what everyone else said and blend into society, instead of doing what she wanted to do. I feel like this is slowly moving into the spoiler section, so I am going to conclude this by saying that while I did not enjoy the movie as much as I would have liked to, it was not for the story line and the message, it was more about my personal preferences like faster pacing and excessive amounts of action sequences, but that is just because I don’t typically enjoy that sorta thing, so yeah.

To conclude this section, if you are wondering whether to go see the movie, PLEASE DO, I will say that I was blinking tears out of my eyes by the end of it and I am really proud of what DC did with this story, so do yourself a favor and go get a ticket. 

Gonna go into spoilers now, so if you have seen the movie, feel free to read on!

Spoiler review: So, as I said before, I enjoyed most of the fight scenes that we got in this movie, which is saying a lot, as I usually don’t enjoy that kind of thing in general. Now, the one fight scene that I didn’t enjoy was the one at the very end of the film, when she is fighting Ares, like the full on wearing-armo(u)r-and-can-mold-anything-into-a-weapon Ares, because I felt like it was too much, the CGI, the special effects, the armor... I think what tipped it over the edge for me was the whole molding-anything-into-a-weapon thing and I just found that with this much editing going on, it wasn’t as “organic” as I would have liked it to be (which is ironic since none of the scenes in the film really are “organic”, but most of them aren’t as full on with special effects as this one was and I found that I wasn’t able to feel for them as much, and I felt disconnected from it all. With that said, I loved the other action sequences we got in this film,  like the No Man’s Land one. I loved how it showed Diana standing up for what she believed, instead of listening to what everyone else was telling her to do, it felt so empowering to watch her take down the Germans. And when she jumped into the church and took down the last German, it felt so wonderful and great and I was full of adrenaline. Also the fight scene at the start of the movie, when Diana saves Steven and the Germans discover their island. I enjoyed that one so much, because it showed women in and entirely new light (this makes me sound like a feminist), but I loved the way they Amazons were portrayed and how they were shown as these warriors who could stand up for themselves by themselves. It was very empowering to watch. Now let us talk about the romance... This is probably the only reason that I had problem with the pacing - the whole romance felt a bit insta-lovey - how they just met and barely know each other and suddenly he is telling her he loves her and giving her his fathers watch (which I would guess means a lot to him)... And it felt so very fast to me, maybe because I am used to seeing romantic feelings develop over multiple books, but this was like a skip-through-all-the-boring-stuff-and-get-to-the-cheesy-and-sweet-bit. It felt like they tried to mush too much into 2 hours with the romance and action and everything in-between and they may have done better to leave some of it out. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me...Now, another reason why I didn’t enjoy this movie as much as I wanted to was the mixed and crooked mythology... The thing is, I am such Rick Riordan trash and one of the many reasons that i enjoy his books is because of the way mythology is layed out very clearly and clear lines are drawn between the Greek and Roman mythology and I like it, because I get a clear understanding and a good history lesson. The mythology in WW was confusing and mixed and inaccurate with all their talk of Zeus dying and Ares living on and the Amazons, which aren’t even a part of Greek mythology, being creating to save the day, which is not how it is supposed to go. Since I knew the original stories (sorta knew the original stories anyways) I found it difficult to put that aside and focus on the ore important parts of the film, especially as this is mentioned multiple times during the movie. With that said, I did really enjoy the movie. So, now, that I have complained about the stuff that I didn’t enjoy, let me get into the things that I liked about this:

1. Bad-ass, kick-ass warrior women - THANK YOU WE NEED MORE OF THIS IN MODERN DAY MEDIA PLEASE!

2. The humor: OMFG the humor in this was so amazing - good enough to make me laugh out loud, which isn’t something that happens often, and, of course, all the dirty jokes you could ever need. Some of my favorites were the bath scene where he(Steve) explains what a watch is, the scene on the boat where they talk about sleeping together and the “doesn’t go with the outfit”, there are more, but these are the highlights

3. “It is not about deserve, it is about what you believe” I THANK YOU FOR YET ANOTHER CHEESY QUOTE THAT I WILL PUT ON MY WALL AND ALLOW PEOPLE TO JUDGE ME FOR

4. The fact that this doesn’t have a happy ending. To be honest, I’ve had it with the happy endings in these action movies, where it seems so unrealistic that everyone that matters to the viewer will survive and be fine by the end of it, because that is not how war works in real life - people die, there are casualties, there are sacrifices made - and I enjoyed this film’s portrayal of a not happy ending and a not-so-happily-ever-after-but-moving-somewhere-in-that-direction-and-making-the-world-a-better-place-because-i-have-nothing-else-left-but-also-because-i-kinda-want-to, that is why I loved that movie so much.

5. how you kind of felt attached to all the characters, even the minor ones, due to the great acting. The actors DELIVERED and thank god for that! Of course, Remus Lupin was my personal favorite, but.. the other ones where good too, not sure about that Gal Gadot, though (I AM BEING SARCASTIC)

To round up, I enjoyed the movie and the things that I didn’t enjoy were mostly just my own preference and not a problem with the story line and the portrayal of any ideas/concepts in the film, yeah.

Below this cut (sorta cut) are some references that I thought of, while watching the movie, if you want you can read it, as long as you have finished all the books that are set in the Shadowhunter world and all the SJM books. I don’t want to spoil anyone... Oh, and also Star Wars (and obviously finished the movie)

So, references:

1. Diana, just in general reminds me a lot of Izzy from TMI, with them both being such wonderfully bad-ass warriors

2. But also, the truth-rope-thingy Diana uses reminded me of Izzy’s whip way too much, so I just started thinking of them as one being

3. The cuffs that Diana uses at the end to absorb Ares’ power reminded me of Cortana (Emma’s sword) from TDA, with how both the sword and the cuffs absorb the power of that which they destroy. So Diana is sorta a mix between Emma and Izzy.. following me, yeah?

4. when Diana was caught in those iron/rock thing and Ares was taunting her, how much did it remind you of that ending scene in EoS with Maeve taunting Aelin and cuffing her and laughing at her.... So now she’s a mix of Aelin, Emma and Izzy in my head, which is very confusing, because she is also just Diana

5. The way Ares was trying to get Diana to use her anger about Steve’s death to get her to kill humans reminded me of the way Sith was trying to being Luke to the dark side in one of the Star Wars movies.. Anyone else? No?  Just me?

please let me know what you thought about the movie, I would love to talk about it with you!

[ladydracarysao3]

In Love, Serenity  

Chapter Twenty Six: Truth

Notes:

Buckle up.

[Read Chapter 26 on AO3]  or  [Start from the Beginning]

-Abner-

The feeling of frisky fingers pulls her from her dreams. They glide and trickle their way around from the back of her hip, down the side of her thigh, then back up to land, nestle, and cup her firmly in the center. Eyes still shut, she smiles and groans, pushing her hips back to find another set pressing against her from behind.

Her smile morphs into a hushed gasp. Her lips part just enough for her to catch the bottom one between her teeth, when his kisses began to caress her back. Slow. Warm. Wet. His mouth worships her skin around the sensitive areas of her neck while his hand presses on her below. Her hips involuntarily sway in rhythmic motions, and he follows her.

Hoarse and light whines escape her throat and he chuckles a breathy, rumbling sound. “Good morning,” he whispers in her ear. It is the sound of rolling thunder at daybreak, high in the heavens during early, sweet spring. The sound that promises a shower of life. It is needed. Wanted. Triumphant.

She smiles broadly and writhes against his naked body inside their combined bedrolls. They connect in a symphony of primal emotion. Elemental harmony. It is a carnal ritual that they have perfected together in misty twilight. Flesh working in tandem, creating senses within an ethereal trance.

It is a connection they make jointly with body and spirit. They entwine themselves together until they sweat and ache in savage, heaving satisfaction.

This is more than fun. This is more than anything.

She’s falling in love with him.

***

Griffin Wing Keep is only a day or two out of reach. They have been travelling across Orlias for the better part of two weeks. Abner was unexpectedly jubilant about sharing little things like frilly cakes with Hawke at every opportunity. She even told him a few stories about her travels through northern Orlesian cities. She’s bonding with him in a way she hasn’t allowed with anyone in years.

When they finally reach the desert, Abner realizes how absolutely beautiful it is, especially at night. The scorching sun leaves the large, beautiful, and cool moon in its stead. It’s even more romantic to her than the forests in the Dales were.

She is really glad Hawke bribed Leliana with nugs.

It all has felt… special. They travel on their horse’s side-by-side throughout the day, they joke with everyone who is willing, and they share a tent at night. They warm each other up near the fire in the evenings, blatantly displaying their affection, only to then stumble into their tent when the urges are just too strong to leash any longer. It’s already a very lax leash to begin with.

On this night, after she catches a few fennecs for supper, and while waiting for their meat to be cooked, Abner wanders a little farther from camp to sit on a large bolder and stare at the moon. Hawke finds her after a few minutes of solitude.

“There you are, my little minx,” he coos as he sits beside her. Wrapping his arms around her, he kisses her temple before watching the beauty of the moon as well. She nuzzles her head into the inside of his shoulder and breathes in his scent. He has a natural calming quality. She feels more at ease with him each passing day. His essence is unique… perfect.

“You are certainly a skilled hunter. There hasn’t been a single night where you haven’t provided something for dinner. It’s impressive,” he says while squeezing her between his arms.

“My parents taught me. They were both the best hunters in our clan. It’s how we were allowed to stay.” She feels Hawke stiffen, obviously unsure of how to react to the information. She has never spoken of her parents to him. While she has shared escapades as a spy and assassin, she still hasn’t said a word about life before that.

Until now.

He clears his throat. “Allowed to stay?” he asks, uncertainty ringing in his voice.

“Yep. They weren’t supposed to find each other, but they did anyway. My father was Avvar, but my mother was Dalish. When she became pregnant, she was cast out of her clan. The Avvar at least see value in a pair of expert hunters.” She stays quiet for a few moments then giggles at a thought in her mind. “I think my father would have liked you. He had a thing for ‘unconventional.’ He liked breaking the rules.”

“What happened to your parents?” his voice is still hesitant, unsure if a question will cause her to shut back down, while still wanting to know more about her.

She doesn’t shut down, however. She trusts him now. She can’t explain any of it, but for the first time in her new life, she found someone she actually wants to know her. “They died during the blight. That’s when I was given to Ofred. My parents wouldn’t have allowed such a… transaction.” She grits her teeth and her hands grab onto Hawke’s arm that crosses the front of her. “Lots of people died during the blight, but I was told the Gods no longer favored our clan because I was a disgrace, and that I should be grateful of the fact another clan would take me at all. I was cursed and could rot for all they cared. It was only some twisted loyalty to my father that kept me alive.”

Hawke doesn’t speak, he just holds her. She’s glad. She doesn’t need his pity, or words of sorrow, or reassurance. “Ofred was a monster. He broke me in more ways than one. But that Avvar Izzy judged before we left, he and his wife saved me. They got me out. I wandered scared and alone for a while, terrified that he would track me. Then I met Leliana, and everything changed.” She sits up and smiles at the sad gaze Hawke gives her. She presses a kiss to his lips and says, “And now I’m here with you.”

He smiles at this and kisses her back. “Thank you for telling me,” he says.

“I… I care about you, Rhaegar,” her heart races as soon as the phrase is spoken. It’s out now, carried away in the gentle evening breeze. Carried away with sands and wishes.

“I care about you, too,” he says. “I need to…” his voice falters and he begins to pull away. “I need to tell you something.” He drops both his eye contact and his touch.

“What is it?” Abner’s hand finds his shoulder and she tips her head to the side with an encouraging smile trying to coax him back to her.

“Hey! Idiots! Soups on!” Bull beckons with his booming voice behind them. His horned figure is silhouetted by the fire light behind him as he stands at the edge of camp.

“We should go,” Hawke says, lifting himself off the boulder.

Abner grabs his hand before he can walk away. “What were you going to tell me?”

His eyes still don’t make contact, “It’s nothing. We can talk about it later.” He looks at her and smiles in a way that seems… odd… He speaks while squeezes her hand, “C’mon, let's go enjoy the fruits of your labor.” He pulls her up from the rock and swings her into his arms, wrapping himself around her again. They walk toward the beckoning Qunari.

“You two are utterly disgusting,” Bull grunts with a smirk as they approach. Abner immediately starts laughing. “What?” He squints at her.

“Utterly… Utters… Ox man…” She laughs, releasing herself from Hawke’s side to clutch her stomach and giggle while doubled over.

“Oh, for the love of…” Bull laughs, grabbing her into an easy headlock and rubbing his knuckles into the top of her head.

Her laughter is robust. Vivacious, carefree joy emanates from her. She feels amazing. “Hey,” she laughs and swats the Qunari’s hands away. “You said it, not me. Not my fault!”

“Go on, you,” he grunts, pushing her snickering body toward camp in good humor.

--

After they sup, Abner is leaning against a wagon near one of the fires. She listens to the lively conversations with a proud smirk on her face. Watching Hawke as he tells a story to a fascinated and giggling Izzy with Varric's assistance. They regale her in a tale about nobles they found under a demon’s spell. They walked through a mansion finding its occupants doing crazy, sexual things as if no one was watching - much to some tight-ass Starkhaven prince’s horror.

“Sebastien turned ten shades of crimson when he saw that lord enjoying some… oral attention. It is hilarious to think about now, I bet he prayed to the maker all night after that one,” Varric chuckles in his raspy, cheerful tones.

Hawke snickers and looks over at Abner, motioning for her to come sit beside him. She does, and he brings her into his arms, kissing the top of her head as she settles.

“Was the Lady of the house not heartbroken from the infidelity?” Alistair’s voice cracks like a whip and he appears from between a couple of tents.

All of the cheer vacates Varric’s voice, replaced with terse sounds through clenched teeth. “It was her doing, Warden. She called the demon into the house in the first place, she was already mad. Her mind long gone by we time we arrived.”

“Hmm, I see. I guess virtue to one’s spouse is not highly regarded by some,” Alistair says as he seats himself next to a puzzled Izzalea. She looks back and forth between the warden and the dwarf as if questions are flying through her mind, but decides to say nothing.  Abner has noticed that the man whom so many have referred to as sarcastic and silly, is much more serious and dour than she’d expected. She’s often caught him looking at her with a dark, angered look in his eye.

“Leave it alone, Warden,” Varric grumbles before taking a swig from a jug of ale in his hand. He passes it to Izzalea, motioning for her to pass it on, “Here, share this with him. He needs to lighten up.”

Izzalea attempts to hand Alistair the jug, but he closes his eyes, purses his lips, and lifts his hand with a shake of his head. “What’s going on here?” Izzalea says, a pinch in her brows. She hands the jug back to the dwarf. “Are you alright, Alistair?”

“Oh, me? No. No. I’m fine.” There is an edge to his voice and length to his words that makes Abner uneasy. “What I want to know is, how’s Hawke doing?”

“Alistair—” Varric starts, warning in his voice, but Alistair cuts him off.

“Now, now, Varric, let the man speak for himself. How are you Hawke? You seem to be having a fine time.”

Hawke and Abner sit straighter, but he keeps an arm around her. “I am, yes. Is there a problem?”

“Oh, good… good. I’m glad. Tell me, Hawke,” each word is bladed to a sharp point. “How is Merrill doing these days?”

Abner feels everything about Hawke tense immediately. “She’s fine, last I knew.” Abner looks at his face and sees a stern look in his eye and a firmly set jaw as he glowers across the fire at the warden.

“Last you knew? You don’t keep in regular contact?”

“I send her a letter from time to time.”

“So… what is the darling woman up to?”

Every word is slow and punctuated coming from Hawke, at this point. “She’s. Helping. The. Elves.”

Alistair tips his head pensively. “Oh, that’s nice of her. I’ve always thought her such a sweet and caring woman. So, does she know what you are up to?” His tone is positively antagonistic.

“Alistair. Seriously.” Varric interrupts.

Izzalea and Abner sit silent, confusion and suspicion in their eyes as they watch and listen to the men. Abner doesn’t like this. She doesn’t like this one bit. “Who is Merrill?” she asks.

“Oh, you don’t know? She’s Hawke’s wife.”

Silence follows.

The air could be cut with a knife.

Abner sits there, stunned. Every inch of her skin that has contact with Hawke boils, wanting to recoil away. She doesn’t look at him. She doesn’t move. She just stares into the hazel eyes of the Warden. Then she finds her voice. “The fuck you just say?”

“We were never formally married,” Hawke’s tone in indistinguishable. It is neither angered nor sad, it just is.

“You may as well have been, no? You’ve been together for what, seven? Eight years?”

She hears Varric groan and drop his forehead into his hands. “I told you to let it go, to let him handle it.”

Abner’s eyebrows lift, her eyes widen and she looks down at the groaning, doubled over dwarf. Hawke fails to respond, or move, or do anything. The longer she stays in this position, his repulsive body touching hers, the sicker she begins to feel. She starts to pull away from him as her stomach flips and flops inside her.

“Abner…” he whispers, “Abner, I meant to…” He reaches out his hand to try and stop her retreat.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” she snarls at him, growling from the pit of her being.

She stands and starts backing away. “You are fucking married?”

She glares at Varric who has lifted his head slightly to watch her, “And you fucking knew?” She points an accusatory finger at the rest of the group, “You all knew?”

Izzalea shakes her head silently, pity in her eyes and a sorrowful frown.

“I’m sorry that he didn’t tell you—” Alistair begins.

“Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear anymore from you,” she snaps at the warden, pointing her finger at him. She looks at Hawke and drops her arm to her side. He is staring at her so helplessly. She feels emotion well behind her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? I trusted you.” Her lower lip quivers, so she bits it from within.

Hawke doesn’t respond, he just sits there. Pathetic. Izzalea mumbles to the other two men that they should go. The three quietly rise and disappear in an attempt to give Abner some privacy. Once they are gone, he moves toward her, reaching for her again. She recoils and backs away from grasp with a look of pure hatred. He drops to his knees.

“Explain yourself.”

“We never had a fully monogamous relationship, I swear. And I haven’t even seen her in two years. We write to each other less and less.” He’s begging. Her heart races as she looks down at him.

The sound is flat, emotionless. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“At first I didn’t think it would matter. I didn’t think I would know you very long. And then… ever since you reconciled with me, it’s loomed over me. I knew I should have said something, but I couldn’t figure out how. I just got you back, I didn't want to risk losing you again, didn’t know how you’d react. But I was going to tell you, I swear it.”

“I told you everything.”

He tips his head, “Well… today you did, but not befo—“

“Oh, fuck right off.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He inches toward her. She stands her ground this time, looking down at him with a sneer. He grabs her hands and brings them to his mouth, speaking into her flesh, “I’m so, so sorry.” He looks up at her, pleading. “Please don’t look at me like that. Don’t look at me like you wouldn’t care if I just disappeared.”

“It’s not even the fact that you're married, or not married, or whatever-the-fuck you claim she is to you. It’s that you didn’t give me a chance to decide if I was okay with it.”  Her heart breaks and she hates it. “You lied to me.”

“Well, if you think about it, you didn’t tell me you were married either…”

She snaps her hands away and hurdles her body away incredulously. “How dare you compare that to what you’ve done!” Her voice is like a wolf’s growl. His stupid fucking mouth. He says the dumbest fucking things.

“Shit. I know. I fucked up. I keep fucking up. I’m only human, Abner. I make mistakes. I’m sorry.”

She looks away from him and starts pacing back and forth agitatedly. Dust from her boots stomping in the dirty sand cloud around them. Her arms crossed she shakes her head and mumbles under her breath in her native tongue that she knows he can’t understand.

“I’m a fool, Abner. I will do anything. Anything. I have never felt—“

“Shut up! Shutupshutupshutup! Shut! Up!” she orders as she paces. She straightens he arms to her sides, hands balled into fists.

“I love you.”

“Shut up!” she covers her ears and screams the words. She can’t deal with this anymore. This is too messed up. She doesn’t know how she feels. Her care for him was already new and strange, and now this? “I need some space,” she says and walks away.

Abner leaves him behind her, his knees in the dirt, head and shoulders slouched. She marches through the camp, not particularly sure where she’s going or what she is going to do… about any of it. She sees another group around another small fire. The elven apostate sits there, one of the members in a small cluster of people.

She gets an idea.

She needs an escape.

She marches up to him and grabs the small knapsack he always keeps next to him with a couple books inside. The weirdo even reads on horseback. She rifles through it and everyone hushes their conversations to watch her.

“Can I help you?” Solas asks indignantly.

“Where do you hide it?” she asks poking her fingers around little pockets within the lining of the bag.

“Hide what?”

She stops long enough to stare him as if her face groans. “Solas, don’t insult my intelligence. Someone as experienced in escapism as you, and all your Fade shit, has got to keep a couple joints on him at all times.”

Sera snorts and laughs from the other side of the fire. “She’s got you pegged, elfy,” she says.

With a roll of his eyes, he groans and reaches into his sleeve. He must have some hidden pocket stitched there, because he produces a long, thin roll of elfroot. “This is medicine, Abner,” he says, annoyed.

“Yeah? Well, I need some healing, apostate,” she snarks and snatches it from his hand. She stands up straight and looks him in his piercing grey eyes. “Well? You comin’ or what?”

She detects a subtle twitch of a smirk at the corner of his mouth and he narrows his eyes briefly. He leans down to rifle through his bag for a moment and produces two apples. “One for me and one for you, since you would most likely take mine, anyway.” Effortlessly he tosses the apple in the air with a flick of his wrist, and she just as deftly catches it with a coy, lopsided grin.

He rises from his perch and they disappear into the dark sands beyond the edge of camp.

[itsanerdlife]

Smoke 3/16

Pairing: Ronin!Clint Batron x Black Cat!Reader

Warning: Violence. Torture mentioned. Death mentioned. Nightmares. Lies. Seducing. Sexual humor. Broken and damaged pasts. Killing. Possessive Male. Struggling to open up. Secrets. Dark past.

A/N: ENDGAME SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT, DON’T READ THIS!!!

After the snap, the avengers split apart. Finding their own ways to cope. Clint found his under a new identity, Ronin. Getting revenge for those they lost. For the family taken from them. The evil left when heroes were wiped out, it became his mission to take out the evil. All while keeping a list of those who could help, if needed one day. Clint stumbles upon a woman, Cat. She’s a mystery in the dark. One happen stance meet, one night, gone like smoke.

After the second snap, setting the world right again. Fury is looking at those kept tabs on. When Cat appears on the screen, nobody know a lot about the mysterious woman who haunted Clint’s dreams and stole his favorite T-shirt. There’s a chance she’s in trouble, can Clint find her, convince her there is more, that he can save her? But is he the cause of what’s after her? Just what mystery is she keeping all to herself? Or is he the one she’s trying to save?

Clint

Three days had past, since they started looking for Cat. She came up in none of the databases they had. As far as anyone knew, nobody knew her, she wasn’t linked to any of the groups they knew of as well. Clint and Peter decided to take Morgan for lunch Friday for her half day of school, she pleaded for cheeseburgers and fries. They headed for the little burger place they liked most.

“There’s something about alleys.” Her voice hits his ears.

He stops dead in his tracks looking over at the little alley way. She smirks leaning on one shoulder, watching him. Her hands in the pockets of her skin tight, skinny jeans. Her hair pulled up in a messy bun, the same little set of cat ears perched in her hair. She wore his Rolling Stones tee, tied up at the end, hiking it up on her hips, under an open leather jacket.

“Cat.” He stares at her. Morgan peers around him to look at her. She sat in his arms, him being untrusting of letting her walk on her own, with the busy sidewalk traffic.

“Spider.” She smiles, pushing off the wall, strolling towards them.

“Cat.” Peter flushes pink.

“I like her ears, Petey.” Morgan grins, looking over at her brother.

“You do?” Cat lights up, a smile on her face. She plucks the ears right from her head, stepping closer out of the alley way. “Well how about you keep these ones. I have more.” She winks at Morgan who takes the ears with a smile.

“Thank you.” She grins, putting them on. “Look Petey, I’m a kitty.” She grins at her brother.

“Peter, take your sister inside.” Clint hands Morgan off to Peter.

“Nice to see you.” Peter nods at Cat.

“Bye.” Morgan waves, still smiling.

“Bye.” Cat wiggles her fingers smiling back. The two of them heading into the diner. “Yours?” She lifts a brow at him. He chuckles, looking from where Peter and Morgan disappeared back to her.

“My niece.” He corrects her.

“Family, right.” She nods slowly. “I heard you were, looking for me.” She smirks at him, tucking one hand into her back pocket.

“I want to talk to you.” He looks her over once more, he couldn’t help it. “Help you.” He adds.

“Is that all?” Her brow lifts and her head tips slightly. “Help me?” She asks.

“Maybe I’ve been thinking about you the last two years.” He shrugs one shoulder, attempting to play it cool.

“Little old me?” She bats her eyes at him, her other hand lands on her chest.

“Cat, please. I can help.” He pleads, moving in closer towards her. In the slight breeze of the day, she smells like blossoms, those pink ones, he couldn’t think of what the hell they were called.

“I’m a big strong girl, Ronin.” She gives him a playful smile. “I’ve been thinking about you too.” She slips a hand up his chest. Her mouth on his, his hands grip the edges of her leather jacket, before she’s slipping back out of his grasp.

“That’s my shirt.” He eyes the material on her as she backs away. A smug grin on her lips.

“But it looks so good on me.” She laughs, she turns disappearing into the traffic on the sidewalk.

“Fuck, it does.” He sighs, scratching the back of his neck. He turns heading into the diner after his two. He drops into the booth on the other side of Peter and Morgan.

“Uncle Clint is starry eyed.” Peter chuckles, talking to Morgan.

“What’s that mean?” She looks up at Peter.

“He likes Cat.” Peter laughs.

“Thanks Parker.” Clint sighs, shaking his head.

“You get it done?” He asks, leaning back in the booth, watching Clint.

“I did.” He nods, pulling his phone out, setting it on the table top.

---------------

Clint

He sat in the chair in the cracker box apartment Cat was stashed away in. He slipped in while she was out, tracking her on his phone. He waited, his phone warning him she was close, coming home. The door opens, before she kicks it shut, stripping off her jacket. Her head snaps up, her body tenses as she pushes back into the closed front door.

“Christ.” She pants, shaking her head, trying to catch her breathe. “How the hell did you find me?” She throws her jacket on the couch. Running hand through her hair, she moves across the room, turning to look at him, she leans against the rickety table that had two mismatched chairs to it.

“Tracker.” He smirks watching her.

“You low jacked me?” She lifts a brow at him.

“Well you did slip out my window, before I woke, with my favorite tee.” He points out standing up from the chair.

“I don’t need you to save me.” She grips the edge of the table behind her, leaning into it.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to still.” He shrugs, closing the distance between the two of them.

“Why would you want to save me?” She looks up at him from where she leaned on the table, when he stops in front of her.

“Because I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve been thinking about you.” He admits, watching her. “I got out of the life, you can as well. I’ll help you. Before it comes back to bite you in the ass.” He pleads.

“You got your family back, that’s why you got out.” Cat points out.

“My team, they’re my family. They want to help you as well.” He explains, his hands slip around her waist, settling himself flush with her.

“Join your team?” She blinks, tilting her head.

“The Avengers, Cat.” He speaks in a low voice, barely inches between them. “I’m an Avenger.” His eyes search her face as confusion washes over her features. “Ronin is who I became when half our team was taken out with the snap. I couldn’t be Hawkeye when the team was gone.” He explains, her breathe hitches for a moment, surprised.

“I’m not Avengers type.” She slips her hands up his chest.

“Whatever you’re running from, let us help you. You’d be surprised what you have in common with the rest of us.” He smirks.

“Who says you can help me?” She asks, her fingers curling into his T-shirt.

“Not to brag but I helped bring back half the population. A snap didn’t stop us, didn’t stop me.” He smirks.

“Why me?” She wonders.

“For them? I’m not sure.” He admits, slipping his hand from her waist, brushing her hair back. “For me? Maybe I want you. Need you.” His voice low. She swallows hard.

“I’m,” she takes a staggering breathe “not saying,” her gaze drops to his mouth “yes.” She finishes. He chuckles, leaning, his mouth hovers just above hers. His fingers, wrap into long, white blonde strands, holding to her.

“Say yes, Cat.” He whispers against her mouth. “Say yes you’ll hear us out.” Her body flush with his, his hand in her hair, the other gripping tightly to her waist.

“Okay, yes.” She pants softly. His mouth closes the distance, sealing her word. His hands move, gripping her thighs, pushing her up on the table, stepping between her thighs.

---------------------

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