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shipmistress9 · 5 years ago

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FTLOAP: Chapter 44: Love Is A Shield To Hide Behind

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Reduced to little more than a stable boy, Hiccup, despite his noble birth, has few prospects for more in life. But when he meets a girl who came to look at the horses, being a stable boy might not be enough anymore. Together, they have tough choices to make and great risks to navigate if they want to survive and be together.

Rating: Explicit

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Discord-server for discussions and questions

Part 1: Prologue; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11;

Part 2: Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Interlude 1; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Chapter 22; Chapter 23; Chapter 24; Chapter 25; Chapter 26; Interlude 2; Chapter 27: Chapter 28 ; Chapter 29 ; Chapter 30; Chapter 31; Chapter 32; Interlude 3; Bonus 1; Chapter 33

Part 3: Chapter 34; Chapter 35; Chapter 36; Interlude 4; Chapter 37; Chapter 38; Chapter 39; Chapter 40; Interlude 5; Chapter 41; Chapter 42; Chapter 43

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: Ah, here we finally are with the new chapter. Again sorry that I couldn't update last week, but well... Life...

Anyway, a huge THANK YOU to you all and your congratulations on my pregnancy! I really didn't expect that strong a response and it completely overwhelmed me. But also on this point and maybe to soothe some worries: this is already my third pregnancy; I already have to kids at the age of 6 and 8. So this isn't my first and I already have a good idea of what awaits me once the baby is there. Yes, I'm probably going to have even less time and nerves to write for a while. But I picked writing as a hobby because of my kids. Because it gives me the chance to be something else than just a mother all day. So I definitely won't stop writing! :)

And also: Another BIG Thank you to @ mintyfreshness ,@hey-its-laura-again ,@tally21112 ,@oneleggeddork , @thepixiedustfactory , @heathenvampires ,@haddocktree and @angelstar1st for your support and your kind words a little while ago. I still struggle with those same issues, but thanks to you all, I’m doing a lot better now. :)

In this chapter now, things happen that have been planned for ages again, and I'm really excited that we've reached this point by now.

This chapter's title comes from 'Love Is A Shield' by Camouflage. It wasn't a title I'd decided on before and for a while, I actually struggled with how to name this chapter. But when I heard the song on the radio a few days back, it all clicked into place and afterwards, the chapter went through some heavy editing again. xD But I really like how it turned out now.

Furthermore on the topic music: I also stumbled across the song 'Brother' by Kodaline (again, I should add. I know that I've heard it before). And I feel like it's the perfect song to describe our Chaos Squad.

. o O o .

Only slowly, awareness seeped back into Astrid’s mind as she woke. She was someplace soft, with someone holding her, and a familiar scent in her nose. Denial almost rose in her, but then the memories of the previous night came back as well. She wasn’t dreaming that she was in Hiccup’s arms, his warmth seeping into her, his shallow breathing ruffling her hair.

With a sigh, she turned in his arms and cuddled closer against his chest, basking in his closeness. Everything would be okay. These horrible two weeks of separation were over, and from now on, they wouldn’t let go of each other ever again. She didn’t know how they’d manage that yet and last night’s discussion hadn’t brought up anything either, as far as she’d noticed at least. But she just knew that it would work out. Everything else was unacceptable.

For a short while, Astrid just watched him sleep. It was something she’d rarely seen before, with how they’d usually been equally exhausted when falling asleep and in a hurry when they’d woken up. But now, she had the time to really look at him, the light of early dawn falling through the window. He looked so peaceful and soft, as if nothing could bother him, and she wasn’t able to put into words how… how soothing that sight was. There had been so much pain and hurt and desperation on his face lately, so much sorrow – but now, it was all gone.

Unable to hold back, she reached up and brushed a strand of his unruly hair out of his face. At her touch, Hiccup stirred with a soft grunt. His arms around her tightened as if on reflex, before he slowly opened his eyes, his lips stretching into a warm smile at her sight.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, blinking a few times before his eyes were truly able to focus and his mind seemed to clear a little. “So last night wasn’t a dream after all. Or am I still dreaming?”

Chuckling, Astrid shook her head. “No, you’re not,” she murmured back and caressed his face to prove that she was real.

His smile widened and he leaned closer to place a soft kiss on her forehead. Astrid closed her eyes, humming at the intimate gesture, before she stretched to seek his lips with her own. When they kissed, it was calm and reassuring, his hand eventually roaming upwards to cradle her face. Smiling against his lips, she basked in the familiar touch, content in the perfection of this moment.

But just like every moment, it had to end eventually.

Too soon, a knock sounded from the door before it carefully got pushed open and Rachel poked her head inside. “Milady, it’s time,” she said in a low but urgent voice. “It won’t be long now before the rest of the castle wakes up.”

Astrid didn’t want to go, but she understood why it was necessary. Reluctantly, she peeled herself out of the nest of blankets and limbs she and Hiccup had slept in. It didn’t take her too long to get ready to leave, despite frequently getting distracted by his hands on her arms or his lips on her skin. And if Ruff minded the delay, she didn’t say anything for which Astrid was incredibly grateful.

“When can we meet like this again?” she eventually asked as they were about to leave, unsure whether she’d meant to ask Hiccup or Ruff. Since Hiccup could only shrug with a somewhat insecure expression, it was Ruff who answered after a short pause.

“Dagur and Eret suggested to meet again in two or three nights; we all need rest tonight and also need time to think or look up other options. And don’t look at me like that, young lady,” she added when Astrid’s face fell, “I know perfectly well that you can’t wait to get under his clothes again.” With a sly smirk, she glanced from her to Hiccup and back again. “I mean, I know that we won’t be able to keep you apart. But after all the sneaking through the castle you already did, I’d rather you’re meeting somewhere safe from now on. Tuff and I are looking into options there. The easiest would probably be to sneak him,” she nodded at Hiccup who had a somewhat stony expression on his face, ”into your rooms. Nobody goes into your bedroom without my say-so anyway.”

“And what if someone does?” Hiccup asked.

“Well, there’s space under the bed. I’ll knock and give you time to hide, and sneak you out later.”

Tuff snorted from outside the room. “Putting the cart before the horse, sis. How do you plan to get him in there in the first place?”

“I have an idea. But no promises for tonight,” Ruff rebutted.

Astrid nodded, trying to express her gratefulness, even as waiting for another day or two felt like an eternity. But at least she would be able to spend more time in Hiccup’s arms again. That was all that mattered. She turned to Hiccup again and stretched to give him a hurried kiss goodbye, giggling at the contrast of his soft lips and the rough scraping of his stubbles.

His hands held her tight though, unwilling to let her go just yet. “See you later,” he rasped into her ear, his fingers at her waist twitching.

Again, Astrid nodded as she retreated enough to look at him, her fingers raised to trace his lower lip. “Yes, later,” she breathed before she retreated for good.

Later meant today’s tournament. They wouldn’t be able to interact in any meaningful way, but at least they would see each other. That – and the memories of this wonderful and peaceful morning – would have to be enough for now.

. o O o .

Yes, she was certain that, eventually, she would need the reminder of waking up in Hiccup’s arms to cheer herself up. But for a while, everything was fine. After Ruff had escorted her back into her rooms, she’d lain down to get a little more sleep, before she was to meet everyone for breakfast again.

“I can’t believe how much your mood improved,” Tuff muttered as they walked down the corridors and stairs, her steps lighter than she’d felt in a very long time. “I mean, it’s not as if you’ve actually found a solution to your problem yet.”

He spoke quietly so as not to risk anyone overhearing them, and Astrid replied in the same manner. “Oh, I know we haven’t yet. But I’m positive that we will find one eventually.” Despite Eret’s warning and Hiccup’s reluctance, she hadn’t yet ruled out simply running away. Maybe Eret was right and they would have to somehow prepare their disappearance – somehow avert all the consequences he’d painted out – but that would certainly be manageable… somehow. Either way, she would not let anything come between her and Hiccup ever again, would trust in their love and in the certainty that it would overcome everything. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was important. She wasn’t the heir to the throne, the one who would have to lead the Kingdom one day. No, she was only the spare, nothing less – but also nothing more.

With something of a fond snort, Tuff shook his head but didn’t comment further. They’d almost reached the breakfast room by now, and from some side corridor in front of them, hissed voices could be heard. Curiously, Astrid threw a glance in that direction as they passed the opening and was surprised to spot Snot and his father standing a little distance away. From the way Spitelout towered over his son and Snot’s stony expression, it looked like a scolding. The sight surprised her, but Astrid quickly averted her gaze and hurried on. What happened between Snot and his father wasn’t her business. Although… maybe, if Snot’s behaviour really had returned to that of her joking and funny brother, she’d ask him about it later.

With the truest smile in what felt like ages, she entered the breakfast room and found everyone else already in their seats. After cheerfully greeting the assembled men, she took her seat next to Eret, and gladly accepted the bread roll, butter, and honey as he handed her one after the other. It wasn’t that much different from how he’d usually behaved, but she was aware of the fond smiles the older men threw them, of how their interactions would look to them. When she tore into her food with gusto – not even remembering when she’d last eaten, much less when she’d enjoyed eating anything – it even earned her some low but friendly chuckling from the end of the table where her father and the Grand Dukes sat. But she didn’t pay them any attention either. Of course, they thought her good mood originated from Eret, and for now, Astrid was happy to keep it that way. Well… it wasn’t her fault when they drew the wrong conclusions, was it? It meant that nobody would pay Hiccup any mind, that he was safe.

Thinking about him made her smile even brighter, remembering how she’d spend this night, short as it was, safely encased in his arms. She really hoped Ruff’s idea to get them more nights like this together again would work. She couldn’t wait to go back to him, his warmth, the soothing reassurance that they wouldn’t part again. And, to be honest, she also couldn’t wait to feel him again, his hands and lips on her skin, searching and exploring, pouring heat and pleasure into her body until she couldn’t take any more. She didn’t fool herself, knew that they would need a little time to reconnect to that part of their relationship – not to mention the mortifying realisation about how Tuff must have overheard them in the past and how she wouldn’t want to risk that again. But all that were questions for later.

“I’m glad to see you smile like this again, Astrid,” came her father’s voice, tearing her out of her daydreaming. “Up until yesterday, I was truly worried about you.”

His words made her grimace, which she quickly hid behind taking a sip of her tea. Yesterday… The ride… Markor… Her heart stuttered painfully at the reminder, but she quickly fought down the pain and instead retrieved the happy memory of her morning with Hiccup, of his kisses and caresses, his smile. She even preferred thinking about the awkward ride back to the castle, about how much easier that could have been if only she’d given in to the urge to lean back against him and let his closeness comfort her.

The distraction helped her focus again. With everything else that happened, she didn’t yet have time to truly mourn Markor’s death, the loss like a bitter taste in the back of her throat now. But now was not the right time either.

With a bit of effort and Eret nudging her beneath the table, she managed to smile back at her father and reassure him that she felt much better than yesterday too. Which was true in its own way. And… she had to admit to herself that lying to her father didn’t bother her as much as it used to. Deep down in her heart, she understood that he hadn’t meant to hurt her. But that didn’t mean that she was yet ready to forgive him or forget about it.

After this small exchange, the breakfast continued uneventful for another couple of minutes, until the door opened again and Snot and his father entered the room.

“Good morning, everyone,” Spite greeted them as they looked up, a tired smile on his face. ”I apologise for the delay; looks like I slept in. Though, after last night, I don’t think you can blame me.” He laughed, followed by consenting chuckling from all around the table.

Astrid, however, frowned. Why was he lying? Her eyes wandered to Snotlout behind his father; his expression was plain, not showing any reaction, not as they walked along the table and not as he took his seat next to her.

Well, maybe Uncle Spite was just being lenient, she mused as she reached for another roll. Whatever he’d scolded Snot for, there probably was no reason to expatiate on that here in front of everyone again.

Her gaze glided over the table, trying to decide what to put on her roll this time, when Snot all of a sudden held out a pot filled with red jam to her.

“Here, I recommend you try this,” he said with a smile that was too smooth for her taste. “It only arrived last week with a merchant. The berries used for this only grow in the higher regions of Westhill and are considered a delicacy.”

Astrid took the pot, even if a little hesitant. The jam smelled delicious, sweet with a slightly tart note in it, and she wasn’t averse to giving it a try. However, what bothered her was the way Snot was again advertising his home – and thus himself – with this recommendation. Was he still trying to flirt with her? She’d thought that, after last night, he’d given up, that she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t choose him. But apparently, she’d been wrong…

The jam was as tasty as it smelled, and with a tense smile, she thanked Snot, but then directly turned toward Eret on her other side, engaging him in some Smalltalk or other. Hopefully, Snot would eventually stop these fruitless advances. Last night, she’d been happy to have him back as simply her brother, but that seemed to have been a little premature.

. o O o .

The tournament that day was a good opportunity to talk to Eret in relative privacy. Though talking about any sensitive topics in her open pavilion still wouldn’t be prudent, and even though Astrid wished she could also invite Dagur and Hiccup, she couldn’t do that without it seeming odd. So instead, she brought up another topic, hoping to get some clarification from Eret. But it seemed as if he was just as bewildered by their brother’s behaviour as she was.

“I don’t really know what’s up with Snot either,” Eret said with a shrug. “He hasn’t really talked to either of us since all this started, and only runs around in a bad mood all the time. He’s not his usual self.”

Astrid nodded, noticing the deep-seated confusion on Eret’s face. Apparently, Snot’s behaviour didn’t make any sense to him either and was possibly even more confusing to him. She knew that the boys had always been a tight group; Snot not talking to anyone these days was just weird.

“I just don’t get it,” she eventually sighed. “I didn’t have the impression that he was in love with me, not like that. There never were any indications, were there?”

Eret shook his head, though hesitantly. “I… don’t think so. But from what I’ve got, he hasn’t flirted with a single woman except for you these past two weeks – which is odd as you have to admit. And even though I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, it almost seems as if he’s serious about wanting to marry you, for… for better reasons than mine or Dagur’s…” He sighed, a sad expression on his face, but then frowned. “Except... that makes even less sense given his past behaviour. I mean, he vehemently refused to spend a night with Cami, and...” he trailed off, frowning at that memory, but then shook his head again. “No, I can’t even guess what’s on his mind lately.”

The thought made Astrid sad somehow. Had Snot, her brother, really harboured some hidden crush on her all these years? The idea felt weird, but given how little experience Astrid had had on that matter before she’d met Hiccup, who was she to tell? But even if… Even if her heart wasn’t bound to Hiccup’s in so many ways, the idea of marrying Snot of all people had never even crossed her mind.

She kept brooding over the thought in silence, comparing Snot’s too-smooth smile this morning with Hiccup’s warm and loving one, until Eret sitting up straighter drew her attention. He was avidly watching the fighting ground below them, making Astrid pay it more attention for once, too. Today, the participants got paired randomly and were supposed to fight two versus two, showing how well they worked with a partner. And now, it apparently was Dagur’s turn. They watched him entering the arena with three other men, watched them pull coloured marbles from a small bag to decide on the pairings, watched the men take their positions.

Next to her, Eret grew visibly tense, and Astrid couldn’t help herself but place a comforting hand on his upper arm. Dagur was a good fighter; surely he would make it out of this unscathed.

And he did. He and his partner fought well, working together to keep each other’s backs clear while the other two just tried to gain their own advantage. The duel was over quickly, Dagur and his partner the undisputed winners of the match.

“Did you really doubt his skills?” Astrid teased Eret as he relaxed again.

Eret snorted. “These fights aren’t just about skill,” he emphasised. “Sure, having it helps, but it’s also a lot about luck. And, in this case especially, about your partner and how well you work together. And no matter how much luck or skill one has, injuries or worse are always a possibility.”

Astrid nodded, grimacing at the point. She’d grown a little numb in this regard over the last two weeks but that reminder had torn off the bandage anew. Eret was right, of course. Injuries and accidents were possible; she’d even seen them happening practically every day during this tournament; one man just this morning had slipped in the mud and gotten run through by his opponent’s sword. Said opponent had been shocked and jumped back from the dying man as if burned. And in the melee the day before yesterday, another man had lost his eye, gashed open by his opponent’s shield. Still others had lost fingers or toes or worse. Fortunately – if such a word could be used to describe such waste – these accidents mainly seemed to happen to men she didn’t care about at all, and who weren’t the most loyal vassals anyway, according to Eret.

“Right, I need to get ready now,” Eret interrupted her musings as he got up from his seat. “It’s supposed to be my turn soon. Wish me luck that I get a sensible partner,” he added with a wink that probably was meant to be reassuring and cheerful.

Astrid grimaced; after his words from only minutes before, this now wasn’t exactly encouraging. But she played along, if only to not make him nervous now. “Oh, don’t you dare get killed on me now, Sir Eret,” she called after him, making him grin before he slipped out of sight and into the tent where Hiccup would be waiting with his gear.

Exhaling deeply, she sat back into her comfortable armchair and watched the current fight with little interest. Oh, how she wished these fights and tournaments and hunts would stop now that she’d supposedly chosen her future husband. She wasn’t going to change her mind, not because of some man or other proving to be an impressive fighter, at least. If only Hiccup could somehow be allowed to participate. It would be a long shot; to make her change of mind believable, he’d have to be outstanding – which, according to his own words, he wasn’t. But it would at least be a possibility.

With a soft shake of her head, she let out a sigh. There had to be a way! Hiccup had yet to tell her what exactly he’d seen in his vision, but if it had been enough to revive his hope, then it was enough for her, too. There was a way, a solution. They just had to find it.

For a little while longer, she pondered and brooded until Eret entered the arena, followed by Hiccup who carried his spare shield and weapon – and also followed by Snot and his squire Gustav!

Astrid felt herself sit up straighter in surprise at that; she hadn’t thought it possible for two of the ducal heirs to end up together in one of these duels. But then, even that decision came by drawing lots, and it had happened before already with Eret and Dagur fighting together in that melee a week ago.

However, she had a bad feeling about this, somehow. If they ended up as opponents, would Eret be able to fight Snot for real? Only last months, she would have laughed about such a coincidence; her brothers were used to sparring with each other, after all. They’d probably knock out the other two fighters and turn it into one of their usual training fights.

But that had been then. Today, Astrid had no idea how Snot would behave. Anxiously, she awaited the drawing of the marbles – and exhaled in relief when it turned out that Snot and Eret would fight together instead of against each other. A little calmer now, she leaned forward, watching as all four men took their places and the referee gave them the go to begin. This was the best option she could’ve hoped for. She didn’t want her brothers to actually fight against each other, especially not with Snot’s weird behaviour lately. But if they stood together to fight, then nothing could go wrong, right?

Except that Snot didn’t stand with Eret.

It only took a couple of seconds before it became clear that Snot had no intentions to work with Eret in this. He charged forward at his opponent, leaving Eret to fend on his own against his. She could even hear Eret’s curse as he realised what had happened, saw the surprise and then the anger on his face, even through his helmet’s visor. Yes, fights like these didn’t only depend on skill, but also on luck and on your partner. And at least in that last regard, Eret had just lost.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Astrid hissed under her breath, her eyes never leaving the fighting men below her. Anxiously, her hands clenched at her skirts, her whole body moving along with every one of Eret’s parries, dodges, and strikes. Damn it, this wasn’t the first time she had to watch him fight, and so far, he had yet to be beaten by anyone. Why was she so nervous now? But even though Snot’s stupidity gave the match a bad taste, Eret seemed to stand his ground just as well as usual – in the beginning, at least.

Astrid only saw it from the corner of her eye, her focus on Eret. But from one moment to the other, Snot was on the ground. He wasn’t bleeding, wasn’t even unconscious. But he’d lost his weapon, and judging by the uncoordinated way he tried to get back on his feet, his head must have been hit pretty hard. His opponent didn’t waste any time. He kicked Snot into the side, sending him back to the ground, then charged to where Eret and the other man were still fighting. Before anyone truly realised what had happened, he attacked Eret’s unguarded back. Astrid yelled out a warning, but it came too late, was only enough for Eret to turn but not enough for him to fully evade the blow.

Astrid’s scream of denial was drowned out in the general uproar that ran through the crowd as blood splattered the ground. It all happened incredibly fast. Eret whirled at her shout and saw the man coming up at him. He parried, desperately, and the man’s sword, which would have buried itself in his back, cut across his chest instead. Astrid saw his chainmail part under the blow.

But Eret’s parry was a masterstroke. Operating on what had to be reflex, his blade sliced open the other man’s arm down to the red-stained bone from his wrist to his elbow.

Gasping, Eret stood, his blade at the ready, even as his shirt and mail were stained with his own blood, and watched his other opponent warily. The man that had attacked him was bleeding profusely and had dropped his sword.

Dimly, Astrid became aware of the referee’s horn blowing, and he and his men, members of the King’s Guard, waded in to separate the fighters, as they always did when the tournament turned bloody, followed by Hiccup and Dagur. They carried Eret off to the healer’s tent, his arms slung over their shoulders, Eret’s opponent getting similar treatment from the guards, as the judges conferred on the scoring.

As order was restored, she was, at first, stunned and shocked. This shouldn’t have happened! Eret had said it so often, had been so sure that his rank as ducal heir would keep him safe from such an open attack. But the risk had come from ‘accidents and injuries happened.’ And not even men of high rank were safe from those.

And that hadn’t been an accident, anyway.

With her head spinning, she got up on shaky legs, her arms reaching out for something to stabilise her as she stumbled away from her chair. She had to get to Eret, had to know that he was okay. This was her fault; by singling him out, she’d painted a target on his back. A target the man he’d fought – some firstborn son of a count from Westhill, she vaguely recalled – had tried to score on.

“I have to get to the healer’s tent,” she muttered as Tuff tried to bar her from leaving her pavilion.

He didn’t seem happy about that idea. “Milady, I don’t think–”

But she cut him off directly with a determined gesture of her hand. She could imagine all the reasons he might come up with for why that wasn’t a good idea. This tournament was for her, and she should stay here and watch. A healer’s workspace could be an ugly place with blood everywhere – not the right surroundings for a lady. And since the patient was her public betrothed-to-be, she would do good at staying away when he very likely got stripped to get treated – for both propriety’s sake and to keep that target from getting bigger.

But none of that mattered.

“Get me to Eret!” she ordered, and there had to have been something in her voice or her expression that kept Tuff from objecting further. It also kept any guards and servants from blocking her way, even made the men outside the healer’s tent step aside as she approached with sure strides.

“How bad is it?” she blurted out as soon as she entered the tent, even before she could take in anything else. Offhandedly, she registered the scene in front of her; Eret was lying on a bench in the middle of the room, naked from the waist upwards and groaning in pain, with Fishlegs examining the gash on his upper chest and Hiccup hurrying about, his arms laden with healing supplies – while Dagur was sitting on Eret’s other side, holding his hand and murmuring encouragements.

Right… Fishlegs might not officially know about Eret’s and Dagur’s feelings for each other, but thanks to Heather they certainly weren’t a secret to him either. At least in this regard, they wouldn’t have to keep up appearances around him.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Fishlegs commented absentmindedly, still entirely concentrated on his work at hand as he reached for a piece of cloth to clean the wound. “It’s a deep cut, but luckily nothing but a flesh wound. The ribs beneath are unharmed and no sinews or major blood vessels were hit, either. It’ll scar, but he’ll live, barring infection."

The words were reassuring and part of her former tension floated out of her. She stepped a little closer, her eyes trying to examine the wound herself. But even though she understood the meaning of Fishlegs’ explanations, all of his lessons had only been theoretical so far, and all she saw was a gaping wound and too much blood. She thought about sitting down at his side as well to lend him support and comfort, but quickly decided against it. Dagur was doing a great job there already, clearly enough.

So there was little she could do but watch in silence as Fishlegs cleaned the wound, flinching every time Eret grunted or groaned in pain. A part of her, the part that she’d tried to ignore during the past two weeks and that now was stronger than ever, was acutely aware of Hiccup’s presence, of him standing only a few steps away now that Fishlegs had everything he needed to treat his patient. But this wasn’t really the moment to seek his closeness, not while Fishlegs could notice and not when all she could worry about was Eret and his wound.

The only warning then was Fishlegs throwing a quick telling glance up at Dagur before he applied a good amount of willow bark tincture onto the wound. Before, Eret had been able to stay relatively quiet despite the pain he had to be in, but with the sting and burn of the tincture, he couldn't do so any longer.

"Oh, fuck!" he cursed, his entire body going rigid, trembling with the effort to at least hold still.

Astrid whimpered, her hands clenching at her skirts. "I'm so sorry!" she whined once Eret’s shouting had calmed down to laboured panting only. "This is my fault. If I hadn't chosen you, hadn’t put that target on–"

"Nonsense," Eret interrupted her through gritted teeth. “Accidents happen in tournaments.”

“Bullshit,” she spat. “I know that, but that's not what I'm talking about. This man, he was trying to kill you. I saw him! He went straight for you after he knocked Snot down.”

“Given that I was fighting his partner, of course he did! He’d already taken Snot out, as you said–”

“Eret, you didn’t see him, he was going to stab you in the back!”

Eret scowled. “Maybe. And thanks for the warning, by the way. But it could have just been the heat of the moment, with his blood up. It wasn’t necessarily about you.”

She scowled and crossed her arms. “Uh-huh. Complete coincidence that the man publically favoured as the Princess’ betrothed-to-be almost comes down with a bad case of ‘sword in the back’? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it.”

“He is right in one thing, though,” Fishlegs threw in, and she turned to glare at him. He met her gaze with equanimity. "It could have just been the heat of the fight," he continued, rummaging about with his tools. "I've certainly seen worse wounds lately, without such a possible motivation. It’s pure luck that neither of you got injured before, if you ask me."

"That’s true. Or if that’s not good enough for you, Swanja: it also could have been purely politically motivated," Eret added, grimacing as Fishlegs probed his chest. "Could you be a little more gentle there, my good healer?”

“I’ll go get my feather-needles,” Fishlegs deadpanned, and Eret snorted.

“Just keep the red stuff on the inside,” he joked, and Astrid rolled her eyes.

Dagur smirked. “This is an excellent opportunity to prove something I’ve been wondering for a while, actually.”

“What’s that?” Astrid asked. She threw Dagur a quick glance, and saw that he was feeling just like she did: not in the mood for joking at all, but playing along for Eret’s sake.

“Well, we know his granddad doesn’t have a heart, and his dad has pragmatism instead of blood, so...”

“I think I can say that I have both,” Eret grunted, and looked back to Astrid. “Look, it might have just been someone stupid enough to think that taking out a ducal heir would gain him some recognition. Instead, he'll probably get excluded from the tournaments, maybe even punished further.”

Fishlegs, threading a needle with a focused look, said, “No need for that.”

“What do you mean?” Eret asked.

“I saw his arm when he was carried in,” Fishlegs said. “Why do you think the junior healer is attending to you, Sir Eret, ducal heir of a grand duchy, and not the senior healer? t’s near-certain that the man who attacked you will lose the arm, and also possibly his life if the bleeding can’t be brought under control,” Fishlegs said grimly.

Silence reigned for a moment, and Astrid wasn’t sure how to feel about this. Another unnecessary death, one that also might or might not be her fault… but it certainly wasn’t hitting an innocent man!

Then Eret coughed, thankfully breaking the silence. “Either way, the only one to blame for me getting hurt is that man, and probably myself – but definitely not you, Swanja. I should have paid better attention to the entire fight and not just my opponent."

"Or, if you want to put the blame on somebody else," Dagur growled, "then my suggestion would be Snot. What was that idiot thinking? It's not as if he doesn't know how duels like these work. Thor, we've done play fights like this with Daniel ever since we were able to hold sticks. There's literally no sane reason for why he fought on his own like that. Gods, I want to head over and punch him in the face for this idiocy!" At that, everyone just grunted in agreement.

Biting her lip, Astrid didn't object any further; she knew that they would only come up with more reassurances anyway. But that sense of guilt still lingered.

When Fishlegs was done with his preparations, he handed Eret a sturdy piece of leather with bite marks on it already, and when she spotted him holding a needle and a thread covered in more willow bark tincture in his hand, she realised what would come next. Her anxiety grew as she saw Eret bracing himself against the pain, clutching more firmly at Dagur’s hand, and she tensed as well.

“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, urgently, half expecting to get told off again. But with the leather already between his teeth, Eret couldn’t say anything, only rolled his eyes and threw a strange nod in her general direction. Astrid didn’t know what to make of it, but as soon as Fishlegs had turned all his attention to Eret’s wound again, she understood that the gesture hadn’t been meant for her at all.

She jumped as a pair of arms wound around her shoulders and waist and pulled her to the back of the tent, though not out of direct fear as she recognised them as Hiccup’s right away. No, it was the fear of how Fishlegs would react as Hiccup pulled her into his arms and against his chest that made her want to draw back at first. But, of course, Fishlegs was too absorbed by his work to notice anything else right now and he had his back toward them anyway, so she gave in.

Hiccup held her tightly, turning her so she couldn’t watch and murmuring reassurances into her ear to drown out Eret’s noises of pain. They all knew that it was necessary to suture the gash, but that didn’t make it any easier – for anyone. No, all she could do was try to not make it harder for Eret by showing how much his pain affected her too.

Instead, she pressed harder into Hiccup’s embrace, clinging to his formal squire outfit, and let his presence soothe her. A small voice inside her head was scolding her for this, for seeking Hiccup’s comfort when Eret was suffering because of her, of them. But she vehemently pushed it aside; Eret’s pain certainly wasn’t Hiccup’s fault. The target on Eret’s back was there, regardless of whether her choosing him was real or not.

She fought to calm herself, but no matter how sensible all their reasoning before had sounded, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that Eret getting wounded today was her fault, and hers alone. It didn’t matter whether one wanted to put the blame on Snot or Eret's attacker; in both cases, the reason behind it certainly was Astrid’s choice. She didn’t believe in an otherwise politically motivated attack, not with this impeccable timing.

Thuggory had even warned her that something would happen to her chosen if she didn’t choose him. Was it possible that he somehow was behind this? Eret had been lucky in that the attack had only caused such a relatively light wound, but so easily it could have been a lethal blow. And obviously, his high rank wouldn’t have saved him either.

She didn’t get the chance to further ponder on this, though. Hiccup did his best to distract her from such gloomy thoughts. Despite her worries over Eret’s well-being and flinching at every muffled noise of pain, she eventually gave in to Hiccup’s efforts. She made herself focus on every single one of his light touches and even enjoyed the way he caressed her and covered her face and hair with soft soothing kisses. It wasn’t enough to forget what was happening behind her or why – but it felt good nonetheless.

She wasn’t sure for how long she stood like this, closely encased in Hiccup’s arms and with his lips on her ear murmuring sweet nothings, with Fishlegs patching up the wound with moss and a tight bandage, with Dagur and Eret engaging him in a conversation to keep him from paying much attention to his surroundings, and with Tuff conveniently standing in the way should Fishlegs turn around anyway. It could have been only minutes or maybe it was over an hour. She knew that she was pushing her luck by refusing to step away, but she just felt as if she needed Hiccup’s closeness to cope. Last night and this morning had been good, but it had been far from enough to fully chase away the anxiousness and the pain of their separation before. It might have been her worries for Eret that had made her come here, but now that she knew he would be okay – and already was fairly okay with Dagur comforting him – she couldn’t help but give in and bask in Hiccup’s warmth. Their love was like a shield to ward off all the pain and misery around them, impenetrable and keeping them safe no matter what.

But she really shouldn’t have pushed her luck.

She didn’t even notice as the entrance of the tent flapped open and someone came in. In fact, nobody seemed to notice at first, the men caught up in their conversation, until a loud exclamation and the noise of a plate breaking on the floor drew all their attention.

“No!”

With a spark of her old panic, Astrid whirled around and away from Hiccup, just as everyone else turned toward the newcomer as well. Tuff even made a hasty step to the side to stand between her and Hiccup and the entrance, but it was too late.

Heather had seen enough to understand and, judging by the anger on her face, didn’t like what she saw. Before anyone could react, she stormed through the tent and grabbed Astrid by her arm. “Don’t you dare,” she shrieked, apparently not caring for her rank in the slightest as she pulled her away from Hiccup’s side with enough force that it hurt. “Don’t you dare ruin this.”

Astrid could do little but stumble along, bewildered when she spotted tears forming in Heather’s eyes, accusation and a kind of pain on her face that made her tremble. But before she could even try to make any rhyme or reason of her behaviour, Heather let go of her arm, nearly causing her to fall if Tuff hadn’t caught her, and turned toward Hiccup instead.

“And you,” she continued without pause, making a baffled Hiccup take a step backwards at her approach. “Stay away from the Princess. I don’t care how impressive your seduction skills might be; she’s not for you! Do you hear me? Get lost, there’s nothing to gain here for you except the noose!”

At that, Astrid froze, eyes wide in panic. No! No, Heather couldn’t tell anyone, couldn’t get Hiccup punished, not now. She couldn’t! She wanted to interrupt Heather’s tirade, wanted to order her to be quiet, to make her understand. She wasn’t sure why Heather was reacting that strongly or what it was exactly she could do to keep her from running directly to her father, but she just had to do something. However, before she could make any attempt at getting her body to react as it was supposed to, Dagur beat her to it.

“Heather, what–” he tried to interfere, to distract or even to calm his half-sister. But all it gained him was her turning on him and Eret next. Her angry expression grew even more intense as she stomped through the tent until she loomed over them, ignoring her brother and glaring down at Eret instead.

“I can’t believe it,” she hissed. “I know it’s all just an act, but still. Setting your squire up to seduce your bride, using him as some kind of bait or toyboy for her to fool around with, and all just because you’re not interested and don’t want to face reality – you should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Heather, calm down,” Dagur interrupted her again, more firmly this time. “That’s not what this is about at all. Listen, I–”

But he got no chance to explain further.

From one second to the other, Heather became eerily quiet, and even though Astrid couldn’t see her face, it had to be quite intimidating as not only Dagur but also Eret and even Fishlegs clamped their mouths shut as she turned toward him.

“Don’t you dare!” she spat. She was shaking now with livid rage. “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down or that this is not what it looks like. I know exactly what this is about. It’s about you being a selfish ass, about to ruin my life without even batting an eye. Or can you look me in the eye and swear on all that’s sacred to you that this is not about you all pretending for Astrid and Eret to get married, when in truth, you’re only looking for a way to circumvent your responsibilities.”

A stunned silence spread through the tent. Dagur had his mouth open to protest, but couldn’t get a single word out. And Astrid couldn’t even blame him. Heather had nailed it – even though in a completely different way than she thought. His eyes darted from Heather to Eret then to her and Hiccup and back to Heather before he closed his mouth again

“That’s what I thought,” she said bitterly. “But if you think I’m just going to stand and watch then you’re wrong.”

She turned and was about to leave when Dagur caught himself again. “No, wait!” he exclaimed, reaching out and catching her by the arm. She fought against his hold, but he wouldn’t budge, even pulled her back until he had his arms around her.

“Let me go,” she wailed. She was still fighting her brother, but without any true force anymore. Instead, she looked as if she was about to burst out into tears at any moment.

“Not until you tell me what all this is about,” he grunted. “What do you mean by ‘ruining your life’? I’d never do something to harm you, don’t you know that?” Still holding her tight, Dagur turned her around in his arms as Heather seemed to deflate until her head leaned against his chest and her tears were soaking his tunic.

After all of these years married, Astrid guessed that Fishlegs knew by now that it was better for him to keep out of any arguments between the siblings. But even as he’d clearly wanted to support his wife just now, still being busy with Eret’s wound had kept him from interfering – until now. “It’s… because of your father,” he threw in, cautiously. “And the succession.”

Astrid was on edge, watching the scene in front of her intently. Dagur seemed to have Heather under control for now and he certainly was the best one suited here to talk sense into her anyway – but that didn’t mean that Astrid would let her ruin everything. She was tense, trembling even, and ready to jump in should Heather make another attempt to run away.

So, at first, she didn’t quite appreciate Hiccup approaching her again, much less wrapping one arm around her waist from where he stood half behind her and half to her side. Didn’t he understand how much was at stake right not? But when she turned to look at him, to make him understand why she had to interfere, he shook his head.

“Let Dagur handle this,” he whispered with a strange expression in his eyes. “If it’s about their father, you can’t do anything here.”

She wanted to argue – but after only one heartbeat, she closed her mouth again and nodded. He was right; if this was in some way about House Berserker and their family, then they had to clear this up themselves.

Still ready to interfere if needed, she let Hiccup pull her closer to him. It wasn’t an obvious gesture that would draw Heather’s attention again, but still soothing enough, and only now did Astrid realise how much she’d been shaking. And despite the disturbing scene in front of them, she couldn’t help but lean even more into him, seeking his closeness as she tried to make sense.

What was all this about? House Berserker’s line of succession? How was there any room for arguments? Dagur was the sole heir and that was it. Wasn’t it? Astrid was relieved that Heather didn’t seem to care about her and Hiccup directly, but that only eased the situation so much.

Dagur seemed equally puzzled though. “What?” he asked, bewildered, and kept glancing from Fishlegs to Heather and back again. “What’s that supposed to mean? What has Father to do with any of this?”

Heather scoffed, her eyes growing hooded and angry. "You don’t get it, do you?” She pushed herself away from him again, and this time he let her as it was clear that she wasn’t about to run away again. Not yet at least. “If you know how and where to listen, the rumours are clear enough. Even I have heard about you moaning into a cup of ale by now, about how you’d rather get a clean death on the battlefield then die slowly of a broken heart married to someone you don’t love.” She laughed bitterly. “So, of course, Father heard about that too, that you’re considering taking the warrior way out. He even came up with an emergency plan already, a loophole. And a while ago, he came to our home to tell me about it.” She made a subconscious step toward Fishlegs, one arm wrapped tightly around herself. “If you died or,” she glanced at Eret, “did something else that would keep you from inheriting, then my child will be on hook to take your place.”

Astrid’s eyes widened in disbelief, and judging by the silence that followed her words, she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“Y-your child?” Dagur eventually inquired, puzzled. “But that doesn’t make any sense. If you or any other of our sibling could inherit then there wouldn’t be a problem at all. Aren alone would make for an excellent leader in my stead,” he went on, referring to their younger brother who’d joined the Order of Odin, if Astrid remembered correctly.

Heather sobbed, even though she still sounded angry. “Yeah, we can’t inherit. We might be his acknowledged children, but the Law says that any child born out of wedlock or by an Ástir cannot inherit, or be a part of a noble House,” she spat bitterly.

Dagur shook his head, confused. “But… you’ve known that, and you’ve even told me that you’re happy about that. Haven’t you said – more than once if I recall – that you’re even glad not to be noble, with all those puffed-up lords and ladies in Southshore?”

“Aye. And that’s still true,” Heather huffed. “But think it through, brother. Children born out of wedlock or by an Ástir can’t inherit.”

Dagur nodded hesitantly, obviously trying to find what the loophole was. Then Astrid had to muffle a gasp when it hit her.

“Yes, the Princess got it,” Heather said sourly. “My child wouldn’t be the child of an Ástir.”

“Just a former one,” Astrid said numbly.

“And born in wedlock and an undisputed descendant of our father... apparently that’s good enough,” Heather confirmed in a bleak voice before it grew thick with tears. “He said he’d only... only take them if you were to die on the battlefield before you produced an heir, but…” again, her eyes flickered to Eret, “but we both know that’s not the main problem. You don’t want to marry, ever, so it’s inevitable. He’ll take my baby away from me! Justin and I wouldn’t even be allowed to come too; he’d just take them away and raise them as his own. And all just because you are too selfish to stand up to your responsibilities!”

Her voice had become thinner with every word, and for another heartbeat or three, all that could be heard was her sobbing before Dagur apparently caught himself again. “I didn’t know that,” he muttered, a troubled grimace on his face. Then he shook his head. “It’s true that I said something like that once, but… but I didn’t mean it!” Heather just stared at him with teary eyes, and he started to babble. “Odin! I’d never actively try to kill myself, no matter what. And even though I’m not exactly looking forward to a political marriage, I know about my responsibilities. But with knowing this, I have even more reason to stand up to them. I-I will take my place and prove to Father that he doesn’t need to bother you with this. Believe me, Heather, I won’t let anyone take your child away should you ever have one; not even our father!”

Another sob tore itself from her throat, louder and more urgent. Fishlegs, who’d just finished patching Eret up and had cleaned his hands, finally stood up, and Heather accepted his embrace gladly. She muttered something that sounded like “But that’ll be too late,” though Astrid wasn’t quite sure whether she’d understood it right. Dagur seemed equally confused, but before he could react, Eret preempted him.

“You’re already pregnant, aren’t you?” he said quietly. His skin was still covered in cold sweat from before, but despite the slightly dazed expression on his face, there was a clarity in his eyes that left no room for doubts. And it made sense, Astrid realised. The way Heather had begged her to marry Dagur or Eret, to separate them so that they would focus on their duties as heir instead. But also how she’d been overly tired, how she would wrap her arm around her midst in something of a protective gesture, how Fishlegs would jump up and prepare a cup of tea for her whenever he thought she needed one, and even the fact that he hadn’t needed that box of moss meant to deal with moonblood anymore – it all made sense now.

Weakly, Heather nodded. “Five months now,” she breathed. “We didn’t even plan for it to happen, knew how risky it was ever since he visited us. But when it did happen… we were so happy.” She leaned closer against Fishlegs, snuggling into his embrace in a way Astrid could emphasise all too well. “We were worried how Father would react if he learned about it, but when Astrid’s wedding was announced… I thought that was a sign from my Goddess herself, a reassurance that I wouldn’t need to be afraid anymore. That everything would be fine, that I would get to keep my child. But now…” She broke off again as fresh tears welled up in her eyes.

With a heavy sigh, Dagur stepped closer to them, his hand reaching for that of his sister. “I’m truly sorry, Heather. I didn’t know any of that. But… but I promise you don’t need to be afraid, okay? You’re my sister and I’d do everything for you. I meant what I said and I gladly repeat it again for you. I vow, by the life of the woman who raised us both and who we both love dearly, that I won’t let anyone take your child away from you!”

A faint smile crossed Heather’s face but didn’t reach her eyes. “I’d like to believe you,” she whispered, and then glanced at Eret on his bench. “And yet, here you are, still holding on to your impossible feelings for each other and even luring Astrid into your charade to cover for you. All just to stave off the only option that won’t end in even more people getting hurt. It’s only a few months now, why-why can’t you just accept it?”

Dagur opened his mouth to reply but closed it again right away. And what was he supposed to say anyway? Astrid vividly remembered Dagur placing his weapon to Eret’s feet during the tournament a week ago, remembered the short conversation they’d had afterwards. Eret and Dagur already had accepted their fate, long ago. Their love wasn’t what Heather needed to be concerned about...

“But he’s right,” she interjected on Dagur’s behalf, drawing everyone’s attention. Maybe it would be better to let Heather believe what she’d just said… but she owed it to Eret and Dagur to set this right. “What you saw… that wasn’t about Dagur and Eret at all. It… it’s my fault. It’s me who…” She trailed off again, unsure what she even wanted to say. It was her fault that everything was so complicated – because she couldn’t bear the thought of a life other than at Hiccup’s side.

Trying to make a point, she blindly reached for his hand on her shoulder, weaving her fingers through his as she held Heather’s gaze. She wanted her to understand. That she loved Hiccup, that he was more than just a distraction, her end of a deal. He was her soulmate. They loved each other, couldn’t live without each other. This had nothing to do with Eret or Dagur or her or anyone else.

And really, there was understanding in Heather’s eyes – but not the slightest hint of compassion. Mutely, she wound herself out of her husband’s arms, crouched down to pick up the shards of the plate she’d dropped earlier, and then turned to leave.

“Wait!” Dagur quickly caught her by the arm again, not with as much force as before but still enough to make her pause. “What are you going to do now? Will you… tell anyone?”

Oh, please not! Astrid prayed inwardly. If Heather told anyone… No, that couldn’t be happening. They had to stop her, somehow, just–

But Heather shook her head. “No,” she said in a bleak voice. “No, I won’t spill your secrets. I… I trust in your integrity, Dagur, that I can rely on your promise. But just to make this clear: if I ever have to choose between my hard-earned happiness and my loyalty to you nobles who wouldn’t stand up to your responsibilities… then I know my choice already.” She gave them all a last hard glare, then pulled her arm out of Dagur’s hold and left the tent. And even though Astrid wanted to be angry at her for this clear show of defiance... some deeply buried part of her couldn’t even blame her.

Responsibilities…

Yes, they all had a lot of them. Their lives came with many privileges compared to those of lower birth, and even though it wasn’t always easy, it certainly was simpler than that of many others. But this life came with a price, with responsibilities they all had to the people. They had to keep up stability and peace, had to follow the rules…

Needing his support, she turned to look at Hiccup again. She hoped to find comfort in his eyes, the reassurance that their love would endure every storm. As long as they had each other, nothing could go wrong, their love shielding them from everything.

But instead of that reassurance and comfort, all she could find in his eyes were desperation and pain.

He didn’t give her the chance to drown in those emotions, though. Instead, he pulled her into a tight embrace, his panted breaths heaving against her neck – but Astrid had seen enough, understood.

What had just happened with Heather… it didn’t affect her and Hiccup, not directly at least. Marrying Dagur had never really been an option and she fully trusted in his integrity anyway, so her and Hiccup looking for a way to be together didn’t make a difference there.

But that wasn’t the point anyway.

Their last resort… it wasn’t something they could do for real, she understood that now. Hiccup’s reluctance and Eret’s warning from last night, it all made sense to her now. No matter how strong her love for Hiccup was, it wasn’t worth everything. Even though she might want to, she couldn’t just run away from her responsibilities, not when that meant putting others in harm’s way.

And Eret had been right. Eloping just like that would not just be risky and most likely not work; it would also cause some serious political consequences, for House Jag’r but also for the Crown in general. Maybe things were different, maybe nobody would suffer from her actions as directly as Heather might suffer if Dagur wouldn’t be able to keep his promise. But that didn’t mean that she could take that risk lightly. There would be accusations and possibly even actions against Eret and his House, and people would lose their trust in House Hofferson too, in her Father and in Daniel. No, those weren’t things she could risk. Their love might be like a shield, but that didn’t mean she could hide behind it and ignore everything else.

With a low whimper, she pressed herself closer to Hiccup’s chest, felt how his arms around her tightened. A future without him wasn’t an option, but how could they reach it, that vision of their simple home?

More of Eret’s words from last night crossed her mind, about how there might be ways to prepare their disappearance. So far, she hadn’t let herself think about that too much, but now… How could they prepare her running away with Hiccup without it causing such a political uproar?

The answer was as simple as it was impossible. The only way for her to escape her golden cage was the same Dagur had apparently also already thought about. She’d have to die – except not for real, of course. Because in opposition to Dagur, her death wouldn’t harm anyone. She’d only have to fake it convincingly enough so that nobody would have any doubts.

Something like a hysterical laugh escaped her, one that directly changed into quiet sobbing. How were they supposed to pull that off? How could she make people believe that she was dead without a body? Because killing someone else who vaguely resembled her and mutilate their body to hide the differences was out of the question.

No, this wasn’t a sensible option either. She’d probably ponder more on this, but…

She pulled back, catching Hiccup’s wondering gaze for a heartbeat before she stretched to press her lips to his. He caught up to her mood without a pause, hurling her as close as was physically possible and kissing her with the same desperation she felt, too.

There had to be a solution! There had to be a way to make her choosing Hiccup as her husband possible. There still would be people who’d complain, but as long as he was legally eligible that wouldn’t matter.

They just had to find it…

. o O o .

So, erm... that was that. I honestly never thought the day would come where I shed even one tear for Heather... But writing this chapter certainly made me do so a lot!

#FTLOAP #For The Love Of A Princess #Hiccstrid #Hiccstrid fanfiction #fanfiction #httyd #httyd fanfiction #medieval au #Hiccstrid Medieval AU #royalty au #hiccstrid royal au #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #httyd romance

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the-everlasting-dream · 5 years ago

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MC asks for amazing Athena Park, please and thank you

Perfect Match MC

How tall are they?

At 5’9” Athena stands a good nine inches taller than her cousin Nadia.

How do they tend to dress?

Not afraid of showing off her gorgeous body, Athena Park likes to make a statement. That doesn’t necessarily mean wearing the fanciest outfit or have the craziest hair in the room. Sometimes it means putting on a silky form fitting wine colored dress with a hint of cleavage and letting your look speak for itself.

Do they like how they look?

With a cousin like Nadia Park one woman hype squad how can she not? That doesn’t mean she’s got no insecurities. Athena was very acne prone as a teen and if she doesn’t watch her diet and drink plenty of water, she gets a few angry red visitors coming to stay.

Are they an only child or do they have siblings?

Athena’s mum lived with her brother after she gave birth to her only child, meaning Athena and Nadia grew up in the same house, becoming as close as sisters. They bonded over annoying the hell out of Nadia’s older brother Noah. Of course during the biannual family reunion, they caused their fair share of havoc too.

After becoming friends with Elizabeth Richmond, the cousins got swept up into the craziness of the Indian community as if they were one of their own.

Are they a morning person or a night owl?

Night owl. Athena simply can’t find enough hours in the day to accomplish what she wants and if she has to sacrifice a bit of sleep to get it all done, she’s fine with that as long as she can make up for it in cat naps later on. Also someone’s gotta keep Damien entertained after those long stakeouts right?

Are they a cat or dog person?

Athena prefers cats but Damien is deathly allergic. She often jokes that if he annoys her enough

Got any favorite foods?

Peanut butter M&Ms. She will happily admit that she’s a slut for them. (And what of it? She challenges when Damien questions her)

What are their favorite movies/ tv shows?

Athena loooooves reality tv shows like America’s Most Eligible and super cheesy romances like Tender Nothings. It’s her tradition with Nadia to stay holed up on the couch during that time of the month and dissect each trashy interaction

Do they have any hidden talents?

Athena can tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue (of course she can) and she’s weirdly good at Sudoku

Do they believe in love at first sight?

She might have if Nadia hadn’t fallen so hard and fast for her first boyfriend - an endeavor that ended in a wonderfully flaming mess. As the dutifully cousin, she stepped in to do damage control and learnt more from Nadia’s lesson than she did herself. She’s a big flirt and can easily get anyone she pleases into bed but the big L Word scares her a little.

What are they afraid of?

While her best friend Elizabeth Richmond is afraid of everything creepy crawly Athena has no qualms putting the unwelcome intruder out of their misery. She’d never admit it out loud but she’s terrified of horror movies.

What are their guilty pleasures?

Ice cream. Sounds cliche but she’s worked hard to keep that tight body of hers staying tight so she usually resigns herself to a very strict diet until Damien brings home cookies and cream and that diet goes out the window.

Also sex. She likes that. A lot.

What was their dream job as a kid? Is it their dream job now?

Rich and famous was what young Athena Park wanted to be when anyone asked. Her tastes have evolved to value her privacy more especially after Eros but definitely keen for that glamazon life. Her promising career at a very prestigious fashion magazine allows her to have the best of both worlds including a little taste of modeling.

Have they ever broken a bone?

No but she got very close when she tripped down the stairs wearing her mother’s 6 inch stilettos as a kid while playing dress up with Nadia and Elizabeth

Have they ever been in trouble with the law?

Just a couple of counts in indecent exposure from her college days (hello streaking and skinny dipping) and trespassing when she was dared to sneak up the water tower but nothing a bag of her long eyelashes and pretty smile couldn’t get her out of.

+ three other random facts about them

> Her fashion icon is Jasmine Tookes who she follows almost obsessively on every socia; media platform and has been mistaken for more than once (including one time she made it all the way to the set of a fashion shoot before the real Jasmine walked on set!)

> She has a secret file of Damien’s most embarrassing secrets and has shared them loudly and proudly with her cousin and best friend - much to his chagrin. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was doing it on purpose so she could get punished later. Actually scratch that, Athena definitely likes getting punished.

> In an AU she has hooked up with both Leo and Bastien. At the same time.

Thanks for the ask @saivilo sorry I took so long to get to it!

#athena park #mc ask #playchoices #perfect match

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konan720 · 6 years ago

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Sgt. Frog/AHiT AU: Stranded

Description: A young recon squad of three crash land on earth after shortly arriving to the planet. Separated and lost; they look for a place to stay until they can find a way home.

(Chapter one: Mayday!)

‘Mayday! mayday! This is Recon ship Zeta! Engine failure! Requesting rescue!’

A voice played on, over and over throughout the vast void of space; the voice came from a downed ship, small for a normal sized ship of their kind. The beings that dwelled within it long since gone. The wreckage was now in the side of a large mountainous region of an island far from a major city.

In this island, stayed a quiet little town. The world they crashed on is referred to them as pekopon- living there are pekoponians;

But to the natives?

They know themselves as humans, who live on the planet earth.

Small ‘plap’ sounded off in a steady pattern, as a small being wondered though the empty streets of a neighborhood; it was raining heavily that day- Sky dark and unrelenting; though the small being didn’t seem to mind all that much.

She was more worried about being lost- and alone; scared she was, as she looked for her squad. Entering the planet was not in the plan, some unseen and unfortunate events occurred. They were only to study and give information back to the ones in charge, waiting back home-

They were to young to see any major battles yet; but they had special privileges. Asking enough times can also get you pretty far.

Finally coming to the conclusion that this small being wasn’t going to find her friends here, she sat down and started sniffling; stifled little sobs barely heard over the rain.

————

Earlier this morning, two young adults clambered around their neat two story house; they were both getting ready for today. “Moon! Get moving! We’re going to be late!” One could hear shouting from inside the house if they stand close enough “and bring an umbrella, it’s going to rain today!”

“Oh relax, bother- I’m always prepared!” A more calm tone follows after a loud one “Snatcher, what’s gotten into you today? You seem more agitated the usual.”

Identical twins stood at the entrance of their modern style doorstep. William, and Mathews- but to everyone else they grew up with;

MoonJumper and Snatcher.

“Mid terms.” Snatcher deadpanned

A simple ‘Ah’ followed after as the two walked onward to school. They had to keep moving as thy talked, it wasn’t going to wait for no one. Especially when it's college.

“And then there’s Vanessa!” He emphasized, raising his hands to the sky “she won’t stop bothering me! Even after I’ve broken up with her, she thinks we’re still dating!”

“You broken up with her; when did this happen?” MoonJumper asked

“A week ago- and boy; that wasn’t pretty..” Snatcher put a hand to his face; slightly traumatized by the display of displeasure she showed.

“I would imagine, she seems to be missing a few screws..” moon said, earning a nod from his brother.

being identical mostly twins, they had looked the same from birth, besides their eye colors, all the way to Middle school; during High school is when their styles changed-

Snatcher, bored of his brown hair, died it a dark shade of purple- a shade that looks indefinitely black at first if not looking at it with a bright light source.

MoonJumper still kept his natural brown color, but upon his face he wore glasses, his vision not as bad, but from time to time he'll use them. Mostly when he goes to school, because his seat was positioned in the far back.

The only thing that was still identical, was the fact they still have their hair at shoulder length. Fluffy, one would say, And smooth to boot.

As they left the neighborhood, and into the streets of town, they passed by many kinds of people. A sweet lady in her mid thirties waved them hello, she was a chef at- and quiet possibly, the best restaurant on the island. Owned and ran it with a few relatives.

Then there were the two men who always yelled at each other- well, one did, the other sauntered around and made sassy comeback. Apparently they were directors visiting the island for potential movie ideas- to bad they can't cooperate with each other. They could really make a good movie if one just puts their differences aside.

Then there's the mayor, the boss with his goons; there's something shady about them- but surprisingly they run the town just fine. Nobody really complains, everyone knows each other in some way. These are perks of living in a small town, on an island, far from any major excitement-

"God, this place is boring!" Snatcher suddenly yelled to himself. Earning a small chuckle from his brother.

Up ahead, you could see the college building, sitting just at the borders of the forest the led to the mountains. The mountain sat in the middle of the island, and branched off quite some ways to the northeast, creating a spiky peninsula dubbed- ship wreck isle. Their entire island, from above, comically looked like a frying pan!

"Let's hurry and get to class before Vanessa finds me.." The dark purple haired man said, a whisper as if she was already here.

"I honestly don't see what you saw in her." Moonjumper shook his head, "didn't the others say, 'stay away from her'?"

"Tell me; since when do I listen to other people's opinions?" He snapped back

"And now look where that's gotten you?" Moon raised an unimpressed brow "a crazy ex girlfriend- who by the way, has an unhealthy obsession over you. And is currently stalking you right now." He mumbled something hat last part, noticing movement out of the corner of his eye.

"What, where?!" Without needing an answer or a position, Snatcher took off; Leaving his brother behind. Shortly after, moon hears shuffling, and clapping of slippers chasing after twin. He only shook his head "we might need to call a restraining order.."

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

To some of the students class was boring, however, to Snatcher- it was going to help him with his dream of becoming lawyer. Unlike some of the students who doodle in their book, and stare out the window, he was one of the students to actually pay attention.

Him and his brother were both trying to achieve their dreams.

What a duo; a lawyer and an astronomer.

With Snatcher's noise in law, Moonjumper aimed for the skies. Hence why he'd gotten the name Moonjumper. Snatcher had received his because at any good opportunity he'd take it and take advantage of it.

As the bell rang for lunch, Snatcher took the chance to stretch out his arms as he watched every one else pack up and leave for their hangout spots. Today, he’ll be coming home alone; for some reason- Rachael; the School’s head of the florist club, has asked for his brother’s help.

Snatcher thinks there’s something going on between the two, because at how fast he had accepted the invitation- thinking back on it, he only chuckled more. Quickly looking out the window before taking his leave, he saw how fast the storm was approaching; it was looking nasty out there.

So nasty, at a point he could have sworn he saw something Strike the mountain side.

It was probably lightning.

“Time to hide for lunch again..” he mumbled to himself. It’s always hard to find a nice spot where Vanessa isn’t watching him- or breathing down his neck.

—————

Once school was over, Snatcher found himself walking down the streets as the rain pelted down on his umbrella... it was nice; peaceful.

Tap tap tap, the steps he took could be heard as he walked- but what was that-? Was that crying..? No, couldn’t have been, who would be out in this weather- at this time of evening? Snatcher paused, just to see if he was just hearing things..

But there it was, almost silent sobs; of what sounded like a child! Turning his head towards a dead end ally, he took action- hurrying over a few trash bags, and making sure he didn’t trip into old sludge, he found himself near and opening- a lamppost shined down on a slumped over figure.

It was so small.. and.. definitely not human. What.. what was it? It was purple, white, and wearing what looked like a tan top hat with flaps. It hadn’t noticed him yet, thankfully-

Should he leave? Before it sees him? It could be dangerous; it could have rabies-

As he stepped back, Snatcher accidentally stepped in a puddle, the splash makes the small head rise, and he got a more clear picture of its face. The bottom half was white, while the top part seemed to be purple. Big strange teal eyes looked back at him- and they were filed with tears. It looked like a small half tadpole that could walk like a human..

And then it spoke-

“I’m lost..” it.. she sniffed, rubbing her eyes “I don’t know where I am..”

it’s speaks English.

“You.. can talk..”

She nodded “can you help me..?” She approached him, and he backed up out of caution. “Don’t be scared pekoponian! I don’t mean any harm!..” she trailed off “I mean.. I as a single being.. the rest of my race is kinda..”

She was just rambling now, he couldn’t take his eyes off or her; Snatcher had to admit, she was cute- but what was that he was just called.. pekoponian..?

“Are you an alien..?” There’s no way something like this is native to earth, and hasn’t been discovered yet.

“I’m not supposed to answer question from a pekoponian-“ but she looked back and forth, making sure no one else was around “but.. yeah- I am!” She smiled.

The two stood there in the rain, after confirming this claim, it took awhile for the collage student to wrap his head around this. Should he just go for it? Just run? Or help her out? By the sound of it- she was the equivalent of a child; but she’s from space and alone- and let’s not forget soaking wet from the rain.

But she was an amphibious life form.. did the rain even bother her?

Snatcher closed his eyes, clinching his umbrella with his back to the alien; he could hear it start to cry again- as if feeling he was thinking about leaving.

“Please.. I’m all by myself right now- I don’t know what this planet will do to me!” She pleaded.

And that triggered thoughts to flood his head- she was an alien; is the government found out about her.. only bad things came to mind. Or what if she got road killed because she couldn’t understand crossing the road?

She probably doesn’t know much about this planet..

Taking a huge sigh, he finally caved in. Looking to the small little being, he extended his free hand. “Come on, kiddo..”

She smiled widely at the tall man, and he started walking off- keeping with his pace; the little frog followed.

“I’m Hakiki!” She smiled, “what’s your name?”

“You can call me.. Snatcher for now..” giving the small being a neutral look.

—————————-

This will be posted to Wattpad for now; Fanfiction.net, and Ao3 Soon!

#ahit #a hat in time #hat kid #a hat in time au #ahit au #fanfiction #sgt frog #AFiT #A Frog in Time

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indiefic · 7 years ago

Text

indie’s Steggy fic master post (Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter)

Updated 5/19/20

Series

Through Dangers Untold and Hardships Unnumbered

Through Dangers Untold and Hardships Unnumbered -Mature, 103K. Set post Avengers: AoU. Steve Rogers is reunited with an un-aging Peggy Carter. The series focuses heavily on the relationships between Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers, and their daughter, Sharon Carter.

Silver, Gold, and Other Precious Metals - Gen, 3K words. Set six months after the events of Through Dangers Untold. It’s Steve and Peggy’s first Christmas together and Sharon is helping.

Choice - Mature, 2K words. This does NOT need to be read as part of the TDU series. It deals directly with reproductive choice and abortion.

How You Turn My World - Gen, 3300 words. Steve’s POV from when Peggy is taken prisoner by Hydra. Deleted Scene.

You Can’t Take The Sky From Me

You Can’t Take the Sky From Me - Explicit, 53K words. Total AU based loosely on Firefly, the Star Wars EU. Steve and Peggy are part of a crew on a small ship, and they don’t like each other. At first. But they soon learn they have a lot more in common than they ever imagined.

Debts and Dry Spells - Mature, 2,700 words. Set three or four years after YCTtSFM. Steve’s away on a mission. Peggy has needs.

Dark Ways (the Evil Steve series)

Dark Ways - Mature, 11K words. Erskine was wrong. The serum twisted Steve as much as it twisted Schmidt. Modern setting. Steve is evil. Peggy isn’t (mostly). They’re still together. It’s complicated.

I Hate You: a Love Story (in three parts) - Teen, 4400 words. A continuation of Dark Ways.

The Amazing True Story of Two Assholes in Love - Mature, 12K words. Fills in some gaps from the last story. Steve and Peggy move in together.

Distant Shores

There But For the Grace - Mature, 21K. Our Avengers are assisted by Evvie Carter from an alternate dimension. Our Steve and Natasha are accidentally pulled into Evvie’s world and find a world where everyone is either dominant or submissive.

Distant Shores - Mature, WIP, currently 8 chapters and 14K words. A look at Evvie’s world, focusing on Steve, Peggy, and their family dynamics.

Stand Alone

Through A Glass Darkly - Mature, 38K words, set post Avengers: AoU. Steve is pulled into an alternate universe where Peggy Carter is Captain America and no one knows Steve Rogers.

The Life and Times of Agent Carter - Teen, 19K words. Set during an alternate version of Agent Carter: Season 1, where Steve didn’t die. Peggy and Steve both work for the SSR, but things are very strained between them.

Mind the Gap - Mature, 27K words. CougarPeggy/Steve Rogers. Steve Rogers is defrosted in the 1970s. Turns out the significant age difference can’t keep him and Peggy apart.

Time Heals All Wounds - Mature, 16K words. AU that spans the entire MCU timeline, but it set mostly during Peggy Carter’s years with the SSR office. Post IW Steve Rogers is sent back in time to 1943. How long can he watch the people he loves without getting involved? (spoiler: not long).

On Top of It - Gen, 1,400 words. Set during the Agent Carter episode “The Iron Ceiling”. The mixed SSR and 107th team gets stuck having to spend the night in a very tiny room together.

Coffee Talk - Gen, 1,400 words. Set during Season 1 of Agent Carter. Jack Thompson is sick of Peggy Carter thinking she can do whatever she wants.

Where Angels Fear to Tread - Gen, 1,100 words. Peggy Carter falls asleep and Phillips and the Fedora squad are afraid to wake her. They have to call in backup.

A DIY Life - WIP. AU. A story in which Steve and Peggy do everything completely backwards.Peggy buys a house and gets a lot more than she bargained for.

Duty Bound - Mature, 46K words. AU space opera. Peggy’s a disgraced rebel leader, Steve is the imperial poster boy. They’re forced into a marriage neither of them want.

Christmas Present - Mature, 2700 words. Post-Endgame. Steve decides to stay in the 1970s after he returns the Tesseract.

A Man For The Season - Mature, 16K words. AU. Peggy’s brother is getting married and she needs a fake boyfriend for the proceedings.

Ms. Carter - Mature, 26K words. AU. Steve Rogers is a former soldier, now an underemployed artist working for an escort service. Peggy Carter is too busy to date.

Elseworlds: Endgame Edition - Teen, 2K words, WIPish. Non-linear. Post-Endgame, Steve Rogers was pulled into one of the many other possible worlds that Dr. Strange saw. In this one, Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter are both evil.

Still Right Here - Mature, 36K words. Logan-inspired Steggy story. Starts out with Steve as a down and out MMA fighter. Peggy's a zombie. But it doesn't stay that way for long. Peggy gets the help to find her way back to herself, and is helping Steve do the same when they're confronted with a child that neither of them knew about. There's a lot of bumps along the way as they make a life together.

You Only Live Twice - Mature, 21K words. Set around the CA:CW timeline. Steve is pulled in at the last minute to replace Barton on one of Fury’s super secret ops. He has to pretend to be the lover of high ranking Hydra operative - Peggy Carter.

Midnight Oil, Weaponized Aphrodisiacs, and Other Ignoramus Inventions - Mature, 8,500 words. Sexpollen. General McGuinness stole Midnight Oil. Now the toxic compound is on the loose and America’s golden boy has been exposed. Agent Carter to the rescue.

End of the Line - Gen, 3K words. WIPish (it’s not linear). Peggy Carter is the Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers never got the serum.

Wasted Hearts - Mature, 21K words. Very AU set in a somewhat Victorian alternate 1940s. Inspired by Game of Thrones. Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter married very young. Twenty years later, and following the death of their teenage son, they’re forced together again.

All These Years - Explicit, 15K words. Set in the 60s. Steve and Peggy have been married for nearly twenty years and it’s about to come to an end. (Warnings for cheating, substance abuse, loss of a child.)

Proofing Water - Mature, 16K words, set vaguely in the post CATFA timeline, but some random MCU characters make appearances. Three years after Peggy Carter walked out of Steve Rogers’ life forever, she walks back in.

Mending the Empty Bones - Mature, 35K words. Ladyhawke inspired AU set in medieval Italy. Steve and Peggy have loved each other since childhood, but the bishop’s curse has forced them to be forever together, and forever apart.

An Ordinary Life - Teen, 10K words. AU set around the CA:tWS timeline. Steve Rogers was the Winter Soldier. Bucky Barnes is doing everything he can to prevent Rogers from harming Peggy Carter or her sons.

Unmade - Mature for themes, not explicit sexual content, 16K words. AU. Steve and Peggy both received the serum and were on the Valkyrie when it went down. Steve was under Loki’s thrall during the Avengers, and both he and Peggy have to deal with the fallout from his actions. Warnings for PTSD, pregnancy as a result of rape.

Faith - Mature, WIP currently 7,500 words. Peggy Carter/ Skinny!Steve. Peggy is pulled into an alternate world where Hydra and Captain America never existed. She’s completely lost until she finds a familiar face.

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men - Mature, 21K words. WIP. Peggy was taken by Hydra shortly after Bucky. Peggy and Bucky were known as the Winter Soldier, and the Winter Witch. Set during CA:tWS. Steve is married with a kid, but the reappearance of Peggy and Bucky play hell on his personal life.

Certain Dark Things - Mature, ficlet, 1,800 words. Vampire AU. Peggy’s a queen without any subjects and Steve is a footsoldier without a queen. The math isn’t that hard.

Ghosts of Future Past - Mature, WIP currently 24K words. Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes all grew up together in Brooklyn. Flashbacks to their lives together growing up and during the war. Main story is set around Avengers: AoU timeline. Peggy Carter is Captain America. Steve Rogers was Captain America, but now he’s the Winter Soldier.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas If Only In My Dreams - Mature, 4,200 words. Peggy’s first Christmas after Steve went down with the Valkyrie. Written for the Steggy secret santa exchange on Tumblr.

First Thanks Giving In The New World - Teen, 4,700 words. Steve never made it onto the Valkyrie. Peggy thinks it’s a relief he won’t remember how badly they lost. Warning for body horror.

You Won’t Be Alone - Mature, 4,800 words. Mostly PWP. Set during CATFA. Peggy goes to Steve after they bring Zola in.

Haunted - Teen, 2,100 words. Set during Agent Carter, season 1. Angie drags Peggy to a Halloween party.

Torpedoes, Land Mines, and Other Weapons of Moderate Destruction - Gen, 4,100 words. Jack Thompson is a compassionate guy. He doesn’t want to toss Peggy Carter out on her ear without a chance - unless he has to.

Another Year Over and a New One Just Begun - Teen, 6K words. Written for the 2016 Steggy Secret Santa. Steve and Peggy get snowed in during a mission.

Between the Shadow and the Soul - Gen, 1500 words. Written as a pinch hit for the 2016 Steggy Secret Santa. Post CA:CW, Steve and Peggy are reunited. Modern setting post CA:CW.

Winter’s Discontent - Teen (so far), WIP 2K words. Amnesia Peggy. Winter Soldier Steve. Modern setting. Based on a gifset by Justine.

A Fixed Point - Mature, 39K words. Pacific Rim fusion story. Meg Carver can’t remember anything about her life before she woke up in the hospital five years ago. Now she’s in the jaeger pilot program. Steve Rogers is her instructor. Things get messy.

No Trace - Teen, ficlet 1,200 words. Peggy Carter is married to Jack Thompson, but after the birth of her son, she is visited by her son’s father - Steve Rogers.

Mercury in Retrograde - Teen, 4,200 words. MCU/Jupiter Ascending mashup crackfic. Steve Rogers’ sole purpose in life is to ensure the safety of Peggy Carter. But that doesn’t explain why she won’t leave him when he gets sick, or why she travels to the backwater Jupiter Jones calls home to beg for her help.

The One - Mature, 2K words. Peggy Carter/Jack Thompson. But it’s all about Steve. Just read it. Jack POV.

#master fic list #indiefic #steggy #I updated my fic list #this is most of them

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blacknovelist · 7 years ago

Note

I want some cute/fluff things to go awww for from the BNHA Ageswap AU, so let me here 'em! Tell us about some funny or adorable things that happened before the Canon of ageswap between the friends/former classmates/teachers when they dealt with younger siblings & brotherhood, a fire spitting baby and a telekinetic green haired girl that just lost her parents. Maybe not in that order. Chronological, if that is manageable. I want some dorky friends being friends and dorks while trying to manage.

bless your heart, fluff sounds wonderful right about now! :D Forgive me if this answer turns out entirely too long and incoherent, but I really like thinking about this stuff.

so, like the Ageswap heroes, a lot of them when they graduated were more on line of like, just regular old friends. But there were certainly groups of them that were good close buddies together (i.e the Dream Team of Ageswap Uravity/Ingenium/Deku, who absolutely were besties, and also Kirishima and Bakugou were pretty alright with each other come grad time). Once their hero work started in earnest, it turned out their ties to each other was beneficial from time to time, so it drew them much closer together! Within just a few years of graduating, they’re much closer to the Family UA we know and love, but it isn’t until just a bit later that they get that final push.

(Putting the rest of it under the cut because while I answered your question and gave you some Fun Times, on a whole this answer turned into every conceivable fact and detail about the history of the Family UA squad and their adventures in childrearing, and also general silly things about Inko, Enji and Tensei because I could. Sorry - I hope you don’t mind, and that I more or less cover the stuff you’re really looking for!! This is going to be a record-setter as far as length goes, oh jeez.)

Most of the Ageswap Heroes work as just heroes for some time following their graduation, making names for themselves and rising through the rankings. Their jobs at UA don’t happen until a little further down the timeline, which I’ll elaborate on later.

Inko is the first to join the Ageswap UA fam, actually. Deku had been fighting some villains, a group they’d been tracking down for a good few months now - it’s the first time they’d been able to pin these guys, and it’s now or never to bring them in. Still, even in a two-on-five fight, Deku’s no pushover. It’s all going well until one of the villains whirls around, swings wide past the two heroes, and launches a hit straight at a building nearby.

Someone screams. One of the others follows their comrade’s lead and takes potshots at people on the street, and the whole block just starts to crumble.

On that day, the pro-hero Deku breaks his self-imposed quirk limits (which are in place more for the protection of others than for his own sake at this point in time, in order to quickly subdue the villains so that he can call in rescue squads because they have civilians they need to save right this damn minute, come on!

He works in tandem with the rescue teams for hours. It’s the low burning kind of physical activity, the careful shift of debris and following the desperate yell of people, trapped and afraid and god, if only he could’ve ended the fight sooner-!

It’s not his fault, not entirely - he can’t be everywhere at once, with some villains engaging him and others going to wreak havoc, but though this isn’t the first time there may be casualties, it’s still hard. They’d been fighting in an area with plenty of offices and apartments, and though some had managed to evacuate, others had been unable to do more than lock themselves into their homes and hope for the best.

Deku sees something incredible and terrible, in the ruins of one of the apartment complexes. A married couple, crumpled cold and together beneath rubble, unseeing eyes locked on the ruined door frame. Above them, in the room they diligently guarded, chunks of wood and plaster and tile float harmlessly among stuffed toys and dolls. It’s like some kind of morbid baby mobile to entertain the slumbering infant, still unaware of the world around her.

(”Esper-like quirks,” they tell him later. “They used their quirks before death and tied them to the baby, and the strength of it caused their quirks to linger. We’ve never seen anything like it, but you found her just in time - the effects wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”

“That’s not true,” Deku doesn’t say when they leave, baby tucked into the crook of his arm, safe and sound and fast asleep. “I didn’t find her fast enough - her parents would still be alive if I had.”)

Izuku takes Inko in, after, because of a sense of duty. It was his fault, in a way, not stopping the villains fast enough, not finding Inko and her parents fast enough. When he returns home, the first thing he does is call Ochako, and explain everything. He wasn’t sure who else to call, he admits, and there’s probably someone else they know who would be better to call about this, but there’s a sleeping baby with dead parents in his hands that he’s just asked to have temporary custody over and dear god he’s got absolutely NO CLUE WHAT I’M DOING PLEASE H EL P ME

(he wants to do right by this baby, by god, but he’s not exactly built for this.)

Once she’s done laughing, Ochako pulls Tenya aside because as it turned out, she’d been with him at the time. Between the three of them, Deku buys a shit-ton of baby supplies, goes over the procedure for gaining legal custody of Inko, tells everyone that “yeah sorry I’ve got a kid now! ….surprise?”, and gets so many visits from everyone at this time like “damn, man, lookit u growing up so quick :’)”

The first year is an adventure, man. This is the first kid of the Ageswap UA squad, so, no one has any clue what their doing. Izuku gets lots of little “care packages” in the mail from everyone containing stuff that’s supposed to help him (by the second month he’s got two whole cabinets devoted to diapers, and he tells everyone to stop sending them already because god, guys, she’s one baby, come on). Eventually, with lots of trial and error, Izuku settles into something normal-ish with Inko, the custody goes through, and everything’s fine.

Then a year later, Tensei is born! Tenya, for his part, is ecstatic at his little brother’s birth, because of course he is, it’s his little brother! Everyone is invited to come meet his little bro, but only a few people can really make it - Uraraka comes, and though Izuku can’t make it in person, he skypes in with Inko and sends his love and wishes. Todoroki drops by with his significant other (who, for reasons, we aren’t elaborating on. I don’t really want to fridge them, but right now, that’s mostly what we’re doing with them), as well as most of the class at varying times because they need to travel to arrive where Tenya and his bro are, and sometimes that kind of time just doesn’t happen for a while. By the time Tensei is a year old, though, everyone has visited at least once! Bakugou’s visit only lasted a few minutes, but at least he showed up.

Tenya does his best to help his parents look after the newborn Tensei as the Iida fam figure out how to balance their hero duties with taking care of the baby. For a time, the Iida family ducks out of the limelight in order to focus on Tensei. When they have the time, the others come in to help after their first visits. It’s sporadic, but the Iida’s appreciate it a lot! Tenya and Izuku end up swapping a lot of tips and things between them at this time.

So everyone’s time is like, majorly divided now. There’s hero duties to uphold, kids to look after, media hounds to dissuade from invading all parts of their personal lives, it’s a bit of a mess. Everyone wants the world to slow down a little at that point.

Which, of course, is exactly why the world decides it’s a fantastic time for Todoroki Enji to come into this world, screaming his little baby head off many miles away. It’s all a bit of a mess, really, because Inko is just barely past one year old, Tensei was born weeks ago, and now there’s little Enji in on it too! Poor Ageswap UA squad.

As mentioned in a previous ask, it’s some time before the three babies meet each other face to face. But, that hardly means a thing in the wake of our favourite thing - CHILDREARING SHENANIGANS.

To make this quick, I’m going to provide slightly chronological details and anecdotes about these kids growing up and in general, about the Nineteen Adults who are Completely Winging This Every Step of The Way (feat. Tenya’s parents, who do know what they’re doing, Tsuyu, who also knows what she’s doing thanks to her siblings, and the sporadic and spread out conversations @guardianlioness and I have had on the subject of Fam 1-A raising the children):

Kirishima is a blessing to everyone throughout everything, honestly, he gets along so well with the babies and his power with toddlers is comparable only to Deku’s own power with them.

Tsuyu is wonderful at looking after babies too, and is a godsend whenever any of the three need to be looked after

Uraraka loves to come by and spoil Tensei and Inko with laughter and toys and playing and liberal (safe) use of some zero g’s when he was first born.

Also, when Inko’s quirk manifested into her small-object attraction, Uraraka was ecstatic bc it’s a very floaty quirk.

Uraraka splits her time between visiting Tensei and Inko and Enji basically all the time, once Enji is born, and is a close second for the status of go-to babysitter (Tsuyu is admittedly in first whenever she’s in the country, because she’s just got good experience about it)

Tensei as a baby, for some reason, is quite fond of Sero! Though he tends to visit a bit less as far as the regular visitors go, because of, you know, hero-ing.

Dark Shadow takes a shine to Inko when Tokoyami passes through to say hello. He swears up and down Inko (who at the time was like, maybe under a month old) babbled something that sounded suspiciously like “birdie” and no, of course he isn’t happy about that, he’s no common bird! (Try telling that to Dark Shadow though, who is perfectly content with the nickname)

On the reg, though, because I’m tired and describing how every baby reacts to everyone would get repetitive real quick, it’s just facts that basically everyone gets along with the children well enough? There really isn’t anyone who doesn’t help out at some point or who was bad with the three kids, and all of them love their many aunts and uncles (even if some of them won’t acknowledge or admit it)

Tensei, surprisingly, was fussiest as a baby, though he mellowed out with age. He’s followed by Enji and Inko as far as baby rankings go. Enji was a damn hellion during the toddler stage though, and Inko had some trouble around the same age.

Frankly, and pardon my language, everyone fucking loves Inko basically instantly once Izuku takes her in, even if they first meet her over video call. She’s cute as a button when she’s a baby, all rounded face and tufts of long hair and lots of smiles and laughs and gosh, how is it possible for a baby to be this adorable?? We Just Don’t Know.

Once he’s over his panic, Izuku does well by Inko, though he’s still a bit awkward. He’s nothing before the power of a baby, tbh but compensates through sheer Dad Ability. When it comes to little kids and toddlers though? Izuku is a literal godsend. His wonderful skills were definitely put to a lot of use around the terrible toddler times (often through video call for Enji, though there were times he would drop by and visit in person if he was in the area while on the job.)

Izuku’s ability with kids and toddlers has a lot to do with Enji’s respect for his uncle actually - he’s one of the few people Enji listens to on a regular basis, and whose opinion he trusts, and one of the only people he’ll actually listen to (which causes trouble during his time at UA, but that’s much further down the line)

Everyone has had a go at babysitting each of the trio at least once in their lives, to varying degrees of success.

On related and unrelated notes respectively, Aoyama and Hagakure aren’t allowed to babysit without at least one other responsible person present at the time. Also, Sero and Kaminari aren’t allowed to babysit Tensei as a kid without supervision (together or individually), and Enji goes through a minor phase where he refuses to allow any of his uncles to look after him for completely unknown reasons to everyone else

(it’s because he’s worried that if his uncles look after him too much he’ll start treating his aunts funny like how the stupid kids at school treat girls funny sometimes for child logic reasons, and Enji is too smart a kid to think that treating his aunts with anything but respect is a bad move. As a result, during this time, he spends as much time with his super strong aunts as he possibly can to remind himself to never go down that road, until he realizes that of course spending time with his uncles wouldn’t change anything, duh! They’re just as afraid and respectful of the women in his life as he is, and with due reason. And so, everything returns to normal again.)

Inko’s quirk is the first to come in at the tender age of 8 months, and caused a little bit of chaos when it did. It starts with her picking up the teddy bear that fell out of her bed while Izuku is bending down to pick it up for her, which scares the shit outta him. He’s extra careful not to leave small and potentially dangerous things (like screws or something) lying around where she might be able to pick them up with her quirk.

Second is Enji, who gains his at one year and two months. His manifestation comes in the form of him completely setting his head and hair on fire, leading to a long fifteen minutes of confirming Enji is perfectly okay frantic phone calls, emergency skype video calls, the copious use of google, and Shouto frantically trying to get his son to put out his quirk without hurting him before his son accidentally burns their entire house down (which he barely manages).

incidentally, Enji only loses control of his quirk as a baby - his control doesn’t waver after that, until many, many years later when he’s attending UA.

Tensei’s quirk manifests a bit before his second birthday in an uncontrollable burst of exhaust that sends the little boy’s face into the early birthday cake the Iida family bought in a rare moment of free time for all of them. Bless his heart, Tensei only laughs as they clean him up and deem the cake salvageable (and they send many profuse thank-you’s to everyone who had the foresight to send them tips on how to cushion everything and send their boy plenty of helmets)

They start learning self-defense when they’re around five years old each, though mostly minor basic things that wouldn’t hurt them or anything, you know? Everyone wants to make sure they can take care of themselves, whether they go on to be heroes or not. (This is why Inko’s prowess in fighting can match that of 1-A when quirks aren’t involved).

The first time Inko and Izuku visit her parent’s graves, Inko is three. She brings a handful of flowers her dad let her pick at the park (and one of which they bought impulsively after seeing it in the window of a shop), and spends hours laughing and telling them stories about her day, and how much fun her aunts and uncles are (”Auntie Ocha taught me how to a somersault in zero gravity last week!” “Wait, Ochako did what-”) and how much she loves her dad. Izuku swears he isn’t crying when he tells Inko’s parents about Inko and her studies and what a wonderful, beautiful daughter they’ve managed to create and how happy he is he can take care of her, really.

that’s a lie, of course he is, really, who do you think we’re talking about here

Inko has always known that she isn’t Izuku’s biological daughter. Izuku has always wanted to be very open that he loves her so, so much and is sorry he couldn’t save her parents when she was a baby, because it was important to him that she know about the two noble people who spent the last moments of their lives making sure she survived.

When Inko is four, just before they move to one of the wards closer to Enji and Tensei and everyone, Izuku asks Inko about her taking on his last name and him officially adopting her (at this time she’s his ward and he’s only got custody/guardianship of her). He refrained from just going through with it because he wanted to be Inko’s choice, instead of making it for her. She accepts immediately and affectionately refers to the night her paperwork went through as “Family day” (which instantly becomes a shared Ageswap Fam Holiday and day of celebration, naturally)

Tensei and Enji have no clue that Inko isn’t Izuku’s biologically and don’t actually learn this detail until they’re students at UA. In their defense, it kind of wasn’t their fault (though they’ve got their physical differences, Inko and Izuku share an uncanny resemblance for sharing absolutely no blood whatsoever) as everyone forgot to tell them in general, but it doesn’t make a difference because Inko is still family, after all.

Though, it does explain Family day a little bit, when they explain that it was the day he legally adopted her way back when.

Tensei is a bit of a mischievous little spirit, he is, but I’m sure we all know that. Left to his own devices, his curiosity and desire to do really awesome cool things (in traditional kid form) lead him into some pretty ridiculous situations.

He and Enji grew up in about the same(ish) area, so as toddlers they spent a lot of time together, which did help. Sometimes, they’d go out and get into the kind of dumb situations only kids can get into except twofold because there’s two of them to lead to extra trouble, because of course they would

both refuse to disclose the details of what is loosely referred to as “the cat and chick incident”, and since the only thing any of their guardians ever heard about it was the aftermath… god only knows

Enji, as a kid, was very standoffish and very prideful over his quirk. He was cordial with Tensei and Inko, at the least, and both have his respect, but man, was he ever bad at making friends.

Still, for all his vices, he was still a kid. It’s not often, but if you ask Shouto at the right moment in time, he’ll show you all the photo albums he’s kept of his boy growing up. A fan-favourite series of pictures is of Enji having fun at the fair with all the cotton candy and ferris wheel and roller coaster rides his little heart could ever desire. Enji vehemently denies the legitimacy and existence of those photographs at all possible times.

Inko and Tensei get on like a house on damn fire, the devil duo they are. Not that any of their parents ever learn the full details of their antics, since Inko is much better at hiding her tracks than she really has any right to be frankly

The only time they were caught is the time they were going to have Tensei distract some bullies while Inko floats water balloons over their heads, to trick them into thinking they were haunted and maybe get them to stop being jerks. Instead the water balloons go to the noble cause of becoming ammo in a massive water fight that they somehow manage to drag Tenya, Enji and Shouto into, and the parents get some tips that lead to stern talking-to’s and the end of bullying in their area. It’s great all around.

The reason why Inko wants to become a doctor focused on hero medicine is because of the aftermath of the ShigaDeku fight, in pre-canon. Izuku had to go through a great deal of physical therapy and impose a limit on his use of One For All because of the results of the fight and, well, Inko of course took it upon herself to make sure her dad took good care of himself in the aftermath, you know? Eventually she realized that if she became a doctor, she’d have the knowledge to better help her dad along with all the other heroes out there keeping them safe. Thus, doctor Inko was born!

A lot of the Hero squad associate with UA and became teachers for the kids, tbh. Seeing them grow up right before their eyes… it kind of puts things into perspective, how they grow and change and work towards their dreams just like they all once did! Still, not everyone was suited to teaching (and some of them have specialties that are in high demand in the hero industry), which is why some of the squad only really come on as guests and substitute teachers from time to time (such as Ochako)

Once in a blue moon, Shouto and Enji will spend the entire weekend together. These weekends are difficult, sometimes, as their relationship is rocky, but Enji will never admit how much he treasures the times he gets to sit down on the couch with his dad and fall asleep there, knowing he’ll still be home when he wakes in the morning.

When Inko is old enough to cook, there are times Inko and Izuku will argue over who gets to make breakfast that morning. It’s a toss of the coin as to who wins each time

Tenya and Tensei don’t get to hang out often, but one constant ritual between them is when they slouch in the living room and do pretty much whatever. Sometimes Tenya will have paperwork and Tensei will be playing video games, or Tenya will be texting Ochako (who is inevitably bothering him about hanging out with him and Izuku sometime soon) while Tensei eats dinner, and that kind of stuff. It’s nice to bask in the presence of the other and when Tensei feels negative/volatile but doesn’t want to be in his room (or doesn’t want to be alone), he’ll gravitate to the living room automatically.

Tensei’s greatest hero has always been and always will be his brave older brother, who always follows the rules and is full of nothing but enthusiasm and the desire to see the world thrive by saving lives and keeping others safe.

The one and only time Inko, Tensei and Enji teamed up in any sort of incident-slash-adventure was when they were about eight years old, in which they discovered a sturdy but abandoned shopping cart in an alleyway one day. Naturally, they decided Experiments Must Be Conducted and subsequently learned that when all three of their quirks are paired together, they’re freaking unstoppable

(the gist of what happened is Inko would move or topple obstacles over so the cart could make it past them, Tensei would power them forward uncontrollably, and Enji would use his fire to let them make sharp turns or brake sharply since Tensei’s quirk didn’t let him do that. They may have unwittingly made local news in the process and gotten into so much trouble afterwards, but it was totally worth it.)

#boku no hero academia #bnha #my hero academia #mha #ageswap au #anonymous #novelist answers #i got very enthusiastic about answering and made this ask approx. 100% longer than it had to be because i went on about the 1-a fam #but you know what? i can't regret flinging every single piece of pre-ageswap-canon fluff i could possibly conjure up at you #(i'm still sorry about how long it is lmao)#long post #i do not envy anyone who is on mobile rn and i'd like to offer my sincerest condolences and apologies that u have to scroll past this #how much of this ask was ad-libbed instead of coming from conersations and shit? That's an excellent question

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xtreme-icecream · 8 years ago

Text

since the weather’s a little sunny with a chance of superhero au on my dash here’s blueprints for an muse+aqours one i made but never shared; ‘tis nearly a year old

Blurb: Once upon a time in Japan’s Capital of Heroes™ (slightly sci-fi Akihabara) there was a team of seven superheroes that the public Idolized (hehe). since i’m reconstructing my memory by pulling stuff out of my ass we’ll call them the Dream Team, and atm they still dont have permanent superhero names but they were Honoka (glorious leader), Umi, Kotori, Eli, Nozomi, Nico and Maki.

They ran a good four years of Justice until one day Super Nozomi went MIA, which was bad because she had a pretty important role in keeping the whole band together. It Was Never The Same Again. stuff went downhill from there--Super Nico and Super Maki handled a lot of the PR after that which made it even worse when they disappeared next. the rumor mill revved up 2 turbo mode, and the public p much thought that the Dream Team’s time was over. a few hopefuls held that they’d get back on their feet somehow, but unfortunately for them especially, the next person to go missing after a heroic deed was glorious leader Honoka.

what was left of the dream team was more than just discouraged, but even after this, they still had to defend Justice. so they kept it up.

As they continued to work, tracking down their old teammates on the side, their biggest fan, Chika Takami from Uchiura (far far from sci-fi akiba) discovers her own set of superpowers, and alongside her friend You, a nearly-graduated sidekick herself, they visit sci-fi akiba to get advice and hopefully lend a hand to her heroes.

the visit goes awry when an evil robot that makes things blow up attacks, but that incident allows Chika and You a chance to join their heroes For Real. from there, the Dream Team (with the help of the Chikafriends) try to rebuild their name

and now for the good, the bad, and the wishy-washy (good vs. bad according to in-universe news outlets and idk genre meta stuff)

The Good Guys

Like any respectable team of superheroes, these guys all work together in the same city, same HQ. (also for Reasons i gave everyone archnemeses so in case everyone has to fight in an epic battle of life or death we know what the matchups are, but also they really do fight each other often and there are personal issues there)

1. Eli: - the new leader, taking the position after Honoka. kinda stressed out since the team’s in a bit of a tight spot as far as public and government approval goes. - she’s kitsune themed not just because i’m unoriginal, but Also because it’s matchy-matchy with shrine-priestess-themed nozomi - they might’ve been a two-person team before joining honk & co. idk - her powers include anti-demon blue fire, Regular blue fire, antigravity (limited to herself, so she can jump kinda floaty), and a spirit sense that clues her in on how her Squad is - manages the team overall - archnemesis: Super Kanan

2. Umi: - the second-in-command, even when honk was around - aside from being publicly acknowledged as a superhero and being four years older, she’s basically canon umi groomed for heroism - No secret identity. the sonoda family is a family of superpowerless superheroes that’s been in action since the birth of newspaper - blames herself the most for what happened to honk - her “powers” include archery, swordsmanship, being Umi, and several martial arts. probably can also use a gun if she has to. - Team Chika’s advisor, kind of. she signed up to take responsibility for them - Not ‘Batman With A Sword’!! - archnemesis: Super Dia

3. Kotori - Mom - also Very Super. superhuman strength, flight, fire and wind manipulation, six big strong wings, supernatural senses. she’s a seraph, george - a watcher-type angel, too. generally has some idea of what’s going on in akiba, but she still appreciates surveillance technology bc even she wants to turn her brain off sometimes - the Chikasquad likes to go to her to circumvent Umi’s Iron Fisted Ass. it works 90% of the time - best public approval. very nice to people she saves. spends the most time outside HQ for solo Justice, and sometimes even leaves the city for a bit - archnemesis: Super Yoshiko

4. Hanayo - formerly an apprentice of nico. she joined the team properly shortly after nico went missing, and succeeded her Super Identity even if their powers and uh personality are kinda different - still learning about her powers! learns very quickly though. kind of a natural actually, and would be a grade-A hero if she was a little less shy in front of the news - already a part of the team, but relates to the Chikasquad about being treated like a trainee. she is a cool super senpai - her powers include superhuman strength, speed and senses, regeneration, near invulnerability. very powerful, but the powers only recently stabilized👀 - she keeps rin’s secrets but at what cost - archnemesis: none really; ruby’s kinda her “villainous” counterpart but she’s hardly a villain and they’re even kinda friends

5. Riko - kinda like maki’s sidekick. not a proper member of the team because her powers are hard to learn and she’s still young and inexperienced - technically ChikaYou’s senior in the crimefighting department, but she’s not looking to be a leader - ChikaYou think she’s good enough to be promoted to proper membership. Riko has Doubts - manipulates Sound. very complicated power like if she’s not careful she could level a portion of city by making somethin loud enough. also she can do stuff like distort her voice, mimic other voices, make noise from out of nowhere, etc. stretch the science a lil i guess - one morbid technique maki taught her is to make a heart beat so loud it kind of explodes and breaks the person’s chest from the inside. Stretch the Science - also, superhuman hearing and some acrobatics skill - archnemesis: Super Maki

6. Chika - Honoka’s biggest fan!!! - more clever than she appears, but also may be a bit too eager to leap into the fray - takes the lead whenever she, You and Riko fight crime, but still thinks they’re better suited to think of strategy and stuff. tends to be in the middle anyway. - hopes to get the respect that will make the Dream Team finally tell her what dark secrets they’re hiding about The Incidents. she can smell a conspiracy - kind of weird powers. flight, fireballs (more like small stars really), small to mid-scale explosions, heat resistance, invulnerability to burns, regeneration. she can survive alone in space too but that’s not coming up anytime soon - archnemesis: Super Honoka, but she has to learn it’s Honoka

7. You - formerly a sidekick to her father (i call him Captain Pacific) she’s now an independent super identity - before chika got her powers they had that dynamic where theyre like ‘Superhero in high school + their normal best friend who knows their secret identity’ and she got this old mindset where she as a super needs to keep chika safe even now that chika has powers and can finally return the favor - also kind of?? rivals with riko?? not romantically, more like city hero vs. small town hero, plans vs. action, etc. these differences are kind of why chika’s the leader - her superhero identity is liger-themed fsr???? i don’t know!! shes not a boat or an anchor in any case. big cats make good superheroes maybe - superhuman strength and senses, water manipulation, night vision, Buoyancy manipulation (she will make things float in the air if she wants, george). also some special armor. not the type for spandex - archnemesis: Super Rin (Not because she’s the other nya)

The Bad Guys

like your usual rogues gallery, these guys dont really work together and just wreak havoc independently....... until the big twist that they all really Were in cahoots reveals itself!!! idk if they are tho, the good guys ^ are where most of my brainpower went. theyre numbered but really there’s no order.

1. Nico - in a villainous trio with RinMaki, kind of their leader - her aesthetic now that she’s Evil is assassin-ish which is totally Not nico. the cops will never suspect heehee (she doesnt kill people tho even if she totally can) - her powers include super regeneration (yes Super), super senses, and super strength. also now she has knives n swords n guns. Deadpool nico - for her mundane identity she’s a nico nico neet i think, living apart from her family - archnemesis: Mari, but in an ‘oh fuck not you again’ way kinda

2. Rin - Hanayo’s old friend. she lets hanayo in on the fact that she’s workin on some shady stuff with nickmack but she also asks hanayo to only tip the team off at the right time...... mysterious - currently maki’s schoolmate in her mundane identity. keeps up with schoolwork and crime despite having no life-juggling training with the help of her superpowers - rin is fast in that her neural system works at multiple times the speed of a regular person. fast brain, fast action, a+ coordination and memory skills. more clever than your average rin - also she’s still a star athlete that can parkour with the best of them and recently got her paws on some high-tech hacker/spyware. eventually she even learns to mod it herself - she’s lynx themed get it -leaves villain calling cards. for The Plan - archnemesis: Super You

3. Maki - kinda very sad about leaving her old team, esp riko, whom she was supposed to mentor, but like she wont show it - sure they steal but she still has Money just in case. also she has some houses to hide out in i guess - kind of mission control now. only reveals herself in the most dramatic moments. kind of a big deal - regenerates, can help others regenerate, can straight up manipulate blood n stuff. can also sense heartbeats and make hearts explode (not that she has). Danger danger - archnemesis: Super Riko :(

4. Yoshiko - Died and was resurrected as some kind of pseudo-angel ofc. doesnt remember her life as a human and fsr nothing comes up in investigation either. slightly concerned about the fact that no one who knew her is looking for her and about the lack of such people in the first place - has a bad handle on her powers. her flight and invulnerability do their jobs, but her fires start at bad times and her feathers feel a little more like needles than down and Also they shoot. porcupine bullet wings. her super senses give her headaches. sucks to be her - her flavor of villainy is more like ‘local safety hazard flies again’ - ‘yoshiko’s dead, george. I’m yohane now’ - archnemesis: Super Kotori, whom she’s naturally opposed to fsr

5. Ruby - woke up from some kind of sci-fi stasis with powers, was confused, accidentally blew shit up and got locked up. very stressful beginning for ruby - she’s staying in the basement of HQ while they observe her and try to help her manage her explosive powers. Hanayo, especially, tries to help - vaguely remembers having a sister. also has positive feelings about some ‘hanamaru’ - again her archnemesis is a Friend so

6. Dia - woke up from some kind of sci-fi stasis missing some of her old skeleton and a portion of her spine. she’s part terminator now - on that note she’s got Very Fast reflexes now and among other things, a more efficient circulatory system. doesnt tire easily. also immune to electric shock and is cybernetically connected with her special Not-Adamantium™ sword+armor. most bullet wounds are nonlethal to her. - is looking for ruby. among other things - incidentally her mask is very important to her because her mole as a facial feature is really incriminating. no clark kenting for her - lowkey wanted to be Eli’s right hand man in the past. ended up being enemies with Eli’s actual right hand - archnemesis: Umi

7. Kanan - she’s like if sharkboy was also a waterbender and an eel. aqualad but with more Teeth. u feel - tbh idk what her personal agenda is anymore but she’s kind of a cowboy - buddies with dia in both their identities. inconvenient hiding her gills tho - also they share origin stories but the corrosive vat of radioactive waste or w/e turned her into a fish person instead of melting her from the inside like it did with dia - archnemesis: Super Eli

The Other Guys

the news doesnt know what to make of them. theyre very mysterious

1. Honoka - honoka’s body is missing (hidden in an evil lair somewhere) but portions of her mind and powers were uploaded into a robot. honkbot gradually gets more honoka-like with every encounter it was with the Dream Team - as a robot, her steel does not melt and no substance on earth can scratch it. probably can crush her tho - Lots of Fire. breathes fire, shoots fire, flies with fire, kind of a human-shaped tank with flamethrowers. honoka as a fleshy also could not be burnt (but she probs couldnt survive in space) - honoka’s mind does her best to hack the robot. with her mind. - archnemesis: Super Chika ofc

2. Nozomi - knows shit. what shit? only she knows - kind of friendly with yoshiko and tries to help out but yoshiko is equal parts shy and abrasive with people so they dont hang much - telepathic, can see spirits, sometimes gets glimpses of the future. her cards can cut things - the wildest of wildcards. gives tips to Everyone - also leaves contact cards. she can weaponize them tho - no archnemesis

3. Hanamaru - i’ll be frank i have no idea what maru can do but chances are she’s met nozomi - most likely a human burdened with knowledge of super affairs - maybe she remembers yoshiko too. maybe she connects it all - no archnemesis

4. Mari - powers: Money. also her left arm is entirely robotic. she lost it saving kanan and dia from radioactive Death. it’s bulletproof, can shoot things, communicate with her personal vehicles, and has wifi tho - doesnt really involve herself much with stuff going on but she’s biding her time and savings, waiting for The Right Moment. vague - keeps an eye on everyone and everything but especially KanaDia, who have unfortunately split up from her. she keeps them alive tho - actually she’s responsible for turning Dia into Samurai!Terminator. (dia consented to it ofc) - no secret identity! mari ohara being a cyborg is just another celebrity fun fact - archnemesis: Super Nico, who keeps stealing her stuff!! she doesnt mind too much tho

side info: - the Dream Team are also kind of the spiritual successors of Tsubasa, Anju and Erena (we’ll call them the Arisers). Honoka is Tsubasa’s literal successor, but by the time of that succession the three of them has disbanded, mostly bc Tsubasa fuckin Died. - saint snow are probably telepathic parkour artists or someth. also good guys tho. if the plot ever goes to sci-fi hokkaido we’ll see them there - t b h shion girls academy are their own justice league, and YG international school are international supers who do superheroics in two countries. supers everywhere - Captain Pacific is an international super too - right now it’s no plot just lore

#see the biggest twist is that yousoro was the first furry #xtreme clutter #i dont remember a lot of things this is a really old au but im glad that dia's sword has always been a constant in the public consciousness #choose from a roster of 18 heroes!!#also i probably remembered some things wrong like maki's powers but they were Red #sharing this bc its all i can do with it at this point. its so Old

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