#the toga is exactly like I imagined it

[d1s1ntegrated]

Imagine Shigaraki with shy bookworm reader, who just hides her face blushes behind a book when she feels like he’s nearby?🤭

bookworm (nsfw)

shigaraki x shy!reader oneshot

summary: shigaraki catches you reading a verrryyyy dirty novella, and makes those chapters feel real.

btw this wasnt proofread, sorry if there are some minor mistakes!

cw: dirty talk, p/v, rough sex, overstimulation, corruption kink, slight breeding kink?, oral (fem rec), groping, shiggy is a hugeeee perv, mean shiggy, shy reader, missionary, teasing, dacryphilia, begging, minimal use of y/n, degradation, slight book abuse (sorry! but its for the plot)

.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.

"what are you doing?" shigaraki's voice cuts through the paragraph you were halfway through, causing you to jump. you slide your bookmark slowly between the pages.

"just reading" you answer him softly, and he scoffs.

"tch, again?" he rolls his eyes, "are you gonna do anything else today?"

you shake your head, reopening to the page you left off on. "probably not. it just got good" you retort, and refocus your eyes onto the dramatic scene. you look up at him over the top of the book- he's perched up on the arm of the old couch, picking at the already-ripped hangnails on his calloused hands. you watch him secretly for a few seconds before you plant your nose back into the book again, sighing contentedly. he suddenly interrupts you again by sliding down the arm and plopping down onto the worn seat. he audibly sighs and groans, and you tilt your head at him.

"is something wrong, shigaraki?" you ask innocently, and he huffs.

"tch. no. i'll leave you be" he slinks off the couch and heads over to the bar. you watch as he runs his slender fingers through his baby blue hair, and smile to yourself. he throws himself onto a barstool dramatically and you giggle lightly, but catch yourself.

"you know" he starts from across the room, "if you spent half as much time with the league as you do reading, you might actually learn something useful" he says matter-of-factly, and you bite your lip, fighting the urge to say something back.

its not that you weren't involved with the leagues missions- you were their perfect alibi. a small bookshop owner who just so happened to settle into the wrong part of town. it wasn't your fault the league found you useful, and it certainly wasn't your fault that their bribe was far too good to pass up. keep the shop, and you, out of chaos's way, and they use your place as not only a hideout, but a resource for information.

over the past few months playing pretend with them, you actually grew comfortable with the villains. toga came to the shop regularly with magne to read every trashy romance novel and gossip with you about boys. kurogiri would pop in and out on the premise of "needing information per tomura's request", and twice and spinner both enjoyed the comic section from time to time. you didn't see much of dabi, but when you did, he'd flit through the horror section, then secretly the romance section, ultimately to leave without a word, with a few books tucked under his coat. you acted like you didn't notice, because after a week or so, they'd return to their spots on the shelves. the only one you didn't see regularly was shigaraki.

shigaraki avoided seeing you as much as possible, and you subconsciously did the same. he liked to stay in his secluded hideaway, left to his own devices (literally, his devices. aka his PC). but when you started living at their base because your lease ended, and you didn't have the money to renew it AND keep the bookshop running (undercover work is hard, y'know!), you realized fast why exactly you didn't like coming face to face with tomura.

not only was he kind of an asshole, not to mention competitive, with a sharp and venomous tongue, he was so, so hot. his scars decorated his face like little strokes of paint on a canvas. his angular nose and carmine eyes were placed so perfectly on his pale skin. his thin lips dragging upwards into a predatory grin whenever he spoke of all things horrid. withal, the little birthmark just below those lips, that you found yourself fantasizing about kissing from time to time. just to see what it'd be like, of course. pure curiosity, nothing more. overall, the man was a picture-perfect portrait of your worst nightmare antagonist from the books you loved so much.

you weren't afraid of him per se, but you damn sure were intimidated. so you kept your head low, and your voice down around him. you were typically the quiet type, but something about him made you silent. as if one wrong word would cause him to turn and grip you tightly with all five fingers, turning you to nothing more than a fleeting memory.

he got off on your timidity. he looked at you like a helpless bunny, and he was the big scary wolf. you'd never admit it, but you got off on it equally the same. so when he'd approach you, you'd shove your face further into the pages of your book, as if getting closer to the words would save you from his vermillion gaze.

"i'm sorry, shigaraki. i just figured the further i stay away from the league's...well, anything, it would be safer for us overall." you masterfully answer him as to not provoke him. he stands from his seat and cracks his knuckles, dragging out his next reply.

"that doesn't mean you have to be completely oblivious to the world around you." he slowly approaches the back of the couch, and you feel yourself heat up at the proximity. he leans over the couch slightly to get closer, and you instinctively raise the book to cover everything up to your eyes. you blink at him and he smirks.

"what are you reading, anyways?" he snatches the book from your hands with three fingers and flips through it, eyes widening at the passage he lands on. he raises his eyebrows and you sink into yourself, covering your face with the sleeves of your oversized jumper.

"please," you croak out, "can i have it back?". your pleading sends a devilish smile to creep onto his face, and he shoves the book back into your hands.

"i didn't know our perfect little y/n was so, so filthy" he draws your name out with a teasing tone.

your face flushes and he chuckles.

"and here i thought you were the spitting image of innocence. seems as though i thought wrong for once" his face is inches from yours, his fingers tapping against the back of the couch. you can smell the combination of redbull and musky cologne on him, he's so close. you inhale sharply, breath hitching in your chest as he saunters around, swinging himself back over onto the unoccupied seat of the couch.

you don't answer as he asks another tantalizing question, causing him to lean over onto your legs, repeating it.

"i said," he raises his eyes to meet yours, "why'd you turn so quiet all of a sudden?"

you shake your head and look up at him, hovering over you.

"i'm always quiet..." you reply shakily, and he laughs.

"you're so pitiful, y/n, you know that?" he snakes a hand up to your thigh, drumming four fingers against the exposed skin under your shorts.

you nod and try to ignore him best as possible by reopening the book. this makes him even bolder, as he pinches your thigh, between thumb and forefinger, causing you to gasp out from behind the novel.

"don't act like i didn't see what you were reading there, slut." his voice is lower now, and his words slice through the core of your stomach and send pangs of heat through you. you giggle nervously as he creeps further, covering your very obvious desire with chapter 32 of your now clearly smutty book. he chuckles and drags his fingers under your sweater, tucking his ring finger down as not to hurt you. he trails up, underneath the hem of your bra, and forcefully pinches at one of your already-puffy nipples. you stifle a moan as you feel your core liquify, and he groans at the contact of your soft flesh on his cold, rough fingers. he pushes himself on top of you, your legs automatically spreading open for him as he drives his still-clothed hips down to meet yours. the friction alone drives you both wild, and he growls.

"you ever read any books where the villain gets the girl?" he asks, his voice thick with lust. you don't answer, but peer at him over the top of the book again and nod.

"is this one of them?" he flicks the back of the book and you jump, but nod again.

he hums passionately at your reaction and answer. then, without warning, he grips onto the hem of your shorts with all five fingers, sending them off of you into a pile of dust. your eyes widen, and you frown slightly. at least they were old, and already kind of ready to be replaced. he laughs and undoes the button of his jeans, yanking his pants and boxers down with them. you watch as his cock springs free, taken aback by the sheer size of it. it's not huge, but it's lengthy still, with a pretty dusty rose tint to the tip. it glistens with precum already, and he strokes it with three fingers as he watches you squirm, body clearly acting faster than your mind.

he grinds his dick down between your legs, brushing against the soft cotton of your underwear. he exhales sharply at the contact, and you bite your lip, feeling your wetness pressed against the material.

he pushed the seam of your panties to the side and dips a slender finger inside of you, and you gasp. he curls it, massaging one of your spots before promptly removing the finger and placing it into his mouth, sucking your essence off his finger with a slick pop, moaning.

"fuck, you taste better than i expected" he grumbles, and you whimper out a "hmm?"

"i don't know why i expected you to taste like paper or somethin'" he snickers and lowers his head down to your heat, licking your clit lazily. you moan out loud this time, with breathy little pants as his tongue dips into you. where he learned this, you're unsure, but his devouring sends your head back against the arm of the couch, unable to stifle your desperation anymore. he shoves a finger back inside while his mouth licks and nips at your swollen clit, and you feel yourself cresting towards orgasm. your eyes flutter shut as the tension inside of you builds, further and further, driving you insane. you whimper at his rapid movements, and the tight strings inside of you snap suddenly, sending white-hot currents to ripple through you. you clench tightly around his finger and he laps up your cum greedily, groaning at your collapse.

"i'm gonna show you why it's so important to pay attention to the outside world, baby" he whispers in your ear as he positions his cock to your opening. you nod and he presses the tip in slowly, emitting a small gasp from the both of you. he shudders as he slips it in, feeling you already clenched around his length.

he yanks the book from your hands, uncovering your face. he tosses the book to the floor and wraps four fingers around your neck gently.

"need you to pay attention to me baby, those words aren't gonna fuck you like i will" he thrusts into you hard, disallowing you to adjust fully. he pulls out and you breathe deeply, but he doesn't wait. he shoves it back in forcefully, the tip smacking against your cervix. you groan out in a mix of pleasure and pain, and he tightens the grasp on your neck slightly.

"look so good like this, slut, taking the big villains cock like this" he grumbles out into your ear, and you melt into a pool of desire. his words are enough to send you, but you hold back, craving more of him. he begins rutting into you rhythmically, slamming into your core with soft "slaps". he brings his hand off your neck to grab your face, pressing his cracked lips to yours. he shoves his tongue into your mouth and you taste yourself, sending a shiver down your spine. his moans tangle with yours as he picks up speed, and you feel as he sequentially grinds against your clit, the soft hair creating friction on your sensitive spot. you whimper at the contact and he bites on your lower lip.

"tell me how much you like this, filthy whore. tell me how badly you want my vile seed inside of you." he growls against your lips and you shiver again.

"i, shigaraki, please, i need it" you stutter out, and he groans.

"you're so pathetic. you want me to ruin you, huh?" he ends the question with a hard thrust, a shockwave of pain coursing through you. you nod and he continues, "what a depraved thing you are. you sit in front of me every fucking day and tease me, you know that?" he snarls.

"yes, i'm sorry, shigaraki, i'm sorry for being so filthy" you cry out, and he sends a swift slap to your thigh.

"don't apologize. i don't need an apology. i want to hear you beg." he sneers.

"please, shigaraki, please" you follow his orders dutifully, and he smiles wide.

"please what, wicked baby?" he thrusts into you hard and fast, his breathing staggering.

"please, let me cum, please, i need it, i need you to break me" you admit with tears rolling down your cheeks. he growls again and smacks your thigh again, digging four fingers into the pliable flesh again.

"break you? oh no, slut. i'm going to make it so that even the gods will turn their backs to you. you're mine, and by that, you're just as sick as i am now" he snaps, his voice a raspy and heavy breath. you clench tightly around him, his cock stretching you painfully still as you feel every ounce of purity in you dissipate. your moans and cries permeate the air with a sharpness that the whole city could hear, and you shatter forcefully around him, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him closer as your hips buck up, riding up to the intensity of the orgasm with a rushed mantra of "fucks, please's, and yes's." your own voice shocks you as the peak hits you, causing you to shout his name out with offensive indulgence.

"fuck, tomu, oh fuckfuckfuck, tomura" his name spills from your lips like honey, and he fractures inside of you at the sound. he pushes himself as deep as he can, hissing as he spills inside of you. the heat seeps through your entire body, feeling the stickiness coating your walls deeply. he twitches inside of you as he crashes down from his own orgasm, and sucks in air sharply as he pulls out slowly. the pain immediately hits you, choking a sharp cry out of you.

he hovers over you still, nipping at your neck. you sob out from overstimulation as he pumps his cum inside you more with a finger again for a few seconds before pulling it out.

"had to make sure it was really in there" he whispers, and you huff weakly.

"so?" he asks quietly, growling next to your ear, "was it comparable to your shitty book?" he teases. you nod and glance at the book strewn on the floor.

"better than." your voice is strained from the screaming, and he chuckles. you reach down and grab the title off the floor, shoving it into his hands, and on instinct he grabs hold of it with only a few fingers. you shake your head and motion with your hands.

"get rid of it." you say dismissively, and he gives you a confused look.

"it was only a placeholder for you anyways" you shrug, and with a snicker, he wraps his hands fully around the book as it crumbles to dust in his hands.

"does this mean you're done with the reading?" he asks snarkily, and you shake your head.

"no, it just means i'm done trying to compare you to a few chapters."

.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.

eeeenjoy! i went kinda hard with this one ngl. i lowkey really wanted a reason to write a little out of my usual loser!shiggy style, and something took over me for this.

thank you as always for the request <3

[moodyvoid]

Okay SO! Imagine if like the LoV members were getting their mugshots taken. What pose do you think they'd do? Could you make a scenario on that. If you don't take requests, it's just an idea.

The League of Villains getting their mugshots taken.

Mr. Compress, posing with his cane.

Cop: “Could you take off the mask?”

Mr. Compress: “Oh, certainly.”

Mr. Compress taking off the white mask to reveal the second mask.

Cop: “… could you take off the other mask?”

Mr. Compress: “What next? My hat???”

Cop: “Well, actually, yes.”

Mr. Compress: “This is an outrage.”

Cop: “The cane has to go too.”

Mr. Compress: “Try and take it from me.”

—

Toga, standing in front of the camera.

Toga: “Wait!”

Toga, fixing her hair.

Cop: “…”

Toga: “Okay… wait!”

Toga, pulling lipgloss out of her pocket.

Cop: “Was she not searched?”

Toga, putting the lipgloss away.

Toga: “Okay, okay, I’m ready.”

Cop, going to take the photo.

Toga: “Wait!”

Cop: “Enough! Stand still.”

Toga, standing still.

Cop, snapping the photo.

Toga, throwing up a peace sign and smiling at the last second.

Cop, sighing.

—

Twice, standing there with his mask on.

Cop: “You have to remove the mask.”

Twice: “But I’ll split.”

Cop: “You’ll what?— Nevermind, just take it off, I’ll make it quick.”

Twice takes off the mask.

Cop, snapping the photo, Twice smiling a big cheesy grin.

Cop: “… No smiling. Go again.”

Twice: “Please hurry. I’m going to split.”

Cop: “You’re fine. Look at the camera.”

Cop, snapping the photo again.

Cop, sighing: “You blinked. Go again.”

Twice: “I’m splitting!”

Cop: “No you’re not, stand still.”

Cop snaps the photo, pausing as multiple Twice’s are in the photo. He looks back up and the room is full of Twice doubles.

Twice: “I told you!”

Cop, turning to his partner: “I don’t have to take a picture of all of them, do I?”

—

Spinner and Tomura standing in front of the camera.

Cop: “I only need one of you.”

Tomura: “Spinner’s camera shy, so we’re taking our mugshot together.”

Cop: “No, you can’t do that.”

Tomura: “I wasn’t asking.”

Cop: “That’s not how it works here.”

Spinner: “Sounds like someone doesn’t have any friends.”

Tomura: “I bet you have to play Call of Duty with bots. Friendless cuck.”

Cop, holding back tears: “Maybe some people just enjoy playing with bots.”

—

Dabi, glaring at the camera.

Cop, about to take the picture.

Dabi, holding up his middle finger.

Cop: “I’m not taking your picture like that.”

Dabi: “I’m not putting it down and I’m not exactly in a rush to go to prison, so we can do this all night.”

Cop, grumbling: “Asshole.”

Cop, snapping the photo.

Dabi, taking out his own phone and taking a picture of the cop.

Cop: “What are you doing?”

Dabi: “Making sure I kill the right guy later. See you then.”

Cop, terrified.

[majoryeager104]

My nose started to randomly bleed since winter, and even though I’m used to it people around me are concerned for me, my professor even asked me if I needed to go home (should’ve said yes honestly 💀)

Anyway, can you please make Shigaraki and Dabi with a gf like that ? Thank you< 3

My sister deals with the same thing I gotchu <3

Dabi/Touya

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“oh come on”

Touya’s gruff voice from beside would have startled you if his sudden presence in front of you now didn’t startle you even more. He’d grabbed a tissue and before you could ask what he was doing or even process it he’d shoved it against your face and sat you down in a chair.

“really creepy when your nose just starts bleeding like that you know…”

you blinked, finally processing as he held the tissue to your face, and only just now did you notice the warm familiar trickle of blood against your upper lip. He was knelt in front of your chair right up against your legs, leaning wayyyy to close.

“I didn’t even realize”

“…that’s a bit creepier. Is this normal for you?”

he asked as he absentmindedly dabbed away the blood, as if grabbing you, shoving something in your face, and pinning you into a chair was a perfectly normal occurrence for him. Still, you nodded, not exactly in a position to protest. “Yeah, at least now it is” you replied, shrugging. “Damn” he muttered, turning to the table to reach for another tissue. “Jeez, and it’s a lot too.” He scoffed, cleaning up your face.

After a few minutes of this, he leaned back on his heels, sighing. “Seems like it stopped. You should really see a doctor about that. Weird as hell.”

And with that he stood up and left, and you watched him instantly burn the bloody tissues to ash on the floor, turning the corner and leaving you still quite confused to his behavior in the first place.

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Tomura

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You were sitting on the couch in the league hideout, hanging out with Toga and Magne as you usually did this time of day. The sun was setting, this part of the city was a little quieter, and that one dating show Himiko got addicted to was on. (I just know she’d binge love island just because)

The other league members were around as well, Compress, Twice, and Tomura, but they were scattered around the room doing various things, and with Himiko and Magne watching tv, it seemed no one noticed the blood that began to trickle down your face but you.

You glanced around nervously, looking for a box of tissues, but didn’t see it in the vicinity. Damn it, you thought, and I wore a white shirt today.

“has anyone seen the-”

Before you could finish, someone’s hand came up to your face from behind, careful as he leaned your head back and dabbed away the blood from your face with a tissue, Tomura offered a little smile “here you go”

you held it to your face and quietly thanked him, taking a moment to make sure you didn’t get any blood on your shirt. “You okay?” He asked quietly, sitting next to you. “Mhm” you replied simply, smiling behind the tissue that covered your face. He nodded, watching you curiously. “Actually, can you get me another one, please?” You asked quietly, and he nodded, standing up and moving back around the couch.

You turned just in time to see him accidentally decay the box, and sheepishly look around for more.

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Lowkey giggling for Shiggy tho bc like just imagining it was just 👌

[beelinx]

pink cat ear headphones

synopsis: your minecraft dogs went missing, and tomura looks mighty suspicious. also, he’s wearing pink cat ear headphones… okay then! warnings: kinda all around the place, and perhaps ooc tomura 😖 use of baby as a pet name + suggestive ending 1.3k words

if anyone were to look into the scene going on right now, they’d probably laugh and say it’s clearly fake. surely, the fearsome leader of the league of villains, the tomura shigaraki, couldn’t be sitting with his legs crossed, scratching his neck and munching on some chips while he plays minecraft.

wearing cat ear headphones.

pink cat ear headphones.

this simply looked way too ridiculous to ever be true, and yet here it was.

to be clear, though, the headphones did not belong to him.

his high quality headset (which did not have cat ears) broke a while back, after a couple of months of its quality slowly decaying. and, since the league had been pretty tight on money, he’d not been able to replace it yet. so, he had to look for the next best thing.

that being your cute, pink spare headphones.

honestly, he was not embarrassed by the headset itself. it was actually pretty good, the sound quality being almost on par with his old headset’s. and it was really comfortable, too. it sat snuggly on his head and provided sufficient blocking of outside noise.

also, they were yours. 

therefore, he loved them.

when he first tried them on, he’d worried about what his comrades would think about him wearing said device. he’d imagined toga or magne might like them, which somehow pissed him off. spinner might like them too, since the quality is good. mr. compress would probably say something about a fashion statement or whatever. twice could laugh at him, but tomura figured he didn’t mind what he thought very much. then there was dabi, who’d definitely get a kick out of seeing him wear the headset.

whatever, he couldn’t care less about what they thought now. not since you thought he looked cute wearing them.

“babe?”

he hummed in reply, too focused on the game right now to form a proper response.

“d’you know where my dogs are? i can’t find them anywhere, and i didn’t make them stand.” you asked him with your usual sweet voice.

he didn’t reply. mostly because he did know where your dogs were. well, they weren’t exactly anywhere, if he was really going to get down to it, because they got blown up by a creeper.

he felt guilty about it, especially because it was his fault. kinda. well, it was a mistake. 

tomura was returning to the base to store all he gathered in the mines, when a creeper snuck up on him. it blew up, immediately ending the lives of your three cute dogs. at the time, he blamed his battered headset for not letting him hear the monster on time, and he’d managed to ignore the issue, since you hadn’t joined the world in a while. now, though, you decided you wanted to play with him.

he was kinda lucky though, since you insisted on finding new animals for your farm, still blissfully oblivious to what had happened to your pets. meanwhile, tomura was desperately trying to find new wolves to bring to the base. his current plan, once he’d successfully captured the animals, was to then distract you to do something else, or wait until you had to go to the bathroom, and tame them on your account. then, he’d use the dye and name tags he’d premade, to properly ensure you wouldn’t tell the difference between your original dogs and these new impostors.

it was going smoothly. 

until this.

he replied slowly, not wanting to bring suspicion unto himself, “...they aren’t at the base?”

“no, they’re not where i left them,” you pouted. he risked a look at you, your eyebrows furrowed as you desperately looked for the three creatures.

“i’m at the netherworld right now, i’ll help you look when i leave,” he replied, glad that his setup was out of view for you, so he could lie about this. then, before you could say anything else, he added, “maybe they despawned? they didn’t have any name tags on them.”

that was a reach, a really desperate one at that. he knew that, but he silently hoped that your minecraft knowledge was lacking and you wouldn’t realize.

“but they’re dogs? i tamed them, so they shouldn’t despawn,” he silently cursed himself for teaching you the game all those days back, “can creepers explode if something else triggers them? like beside the players?”

okay, admittedly, he considered lying to you again. the possibilities of his plan working tempting him incredibly. but, something was compelling him to tell you the truth. so, he did. in the sweetest, most loving way possible.

“i fucking blew them up.”

oh.

“…you what?”

“a creeper snuck up on me and blew them to pieces,” he rasped, “i was getting you new ones but since you’re so nosy.”

tomura rolled his eyes to finish off his statement. you merely stared at him in pure shock. why wouldn’t he tell you? losing your dogs made you sad, but you didn’t mind so much, since you knew it was an accident. also, no matter how indifferent he tries to seem, you know better. just the fact he was trying to replace your dogs without letting you know as to not to hurt your feelings tells you all you need to know:

tomura shigaraki cares for you, and he’s willing to do or say anything if it means ensuring your happiness.

his way of demonstrating this was a little… rough, but he couldn’t hide his true self from you, not when you know him so well.

“baby… i don’t mind the dogs, i know you didn’t mean to,” you assured him, “i just don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me? you know i wouldn’t have gotten mad at you, especially since it was a mistake.”

he didn’t turn to look at you, his mind still glued to the screen, where he was still on the hunt for wild wolves, “i wanted to get them for you before you realized. that’s it.”

your face broke into a soft, lovesick smile at his words. sure, they didn’t sound that sweet on the exterior, but you knew tomura, and you knew videogames were his love language. him giving you a minecraft flower would basically be the equivalent of giving you an engagement ring. therefore, to you this felt like him playing you a boombox outside your window to apologize for a mistake. 

“awww,” you cooed at him, “that’s so cute, tomura! you really wanted me to not get upset, huh? you’re the sweetest ever!” you giggled as you jumped on his lap.

“yeah, whatever,” he hissed back, one hand scratching his neck while the other held you at your waist, the game now discarded, merely serving as background noise. he avoided eye contact with you, his eyes trained on his desk. still though, you swore you could make out a light, pink dusting on his cheeks.

“well actually… i think i deserve some sort of compensation for this,” you faked an exaggerated pout at him, “you know, for killing my poor, innocent dogs.”

tomura’s grip on your hip grew tighter, as he replied, his voice husky, “what kind of compensation?”

you giggled softly, and instead of replying, you grabbed his chin and connected both of your lips. he kissed you back eagerly, using his grip on your hips to bring you closer to him. his hands started to wander, but before he could get any ideas, you pulled away.

“that’s it, enough compensation,” you told him, grinning cheekily.

“are you serious?” he hissed back at you in reply.

“what?” you asked him, feigning innocence, “i’m still grieving my dogs, you know.”

he rolled his eyes, “you are so annoying.”

without another word, he picked you up and threw you on the bed, making sure to compensate you properly for the incident.

[curiousochako]

What did Horikoshi mean by “Please read Manga Volume 42 and use your own imagination for that answer.” A importance thread

During the events of chapter 431 Katsuki and Izuku had the discussion back in the car scene where there is an importance on what it means to have people that are special to you. Katsuki emphasize to Izuku that it’s important to not give everyone special treatment because then the meaning itself dosen’t carry much weight if you view everyone the same way. He indirectly tells him to do an internal dive into his own heart to figure out if he has someone he views as special.

Shortly after that scene we then cut to the class 1A reunion where everyone gathers together to celebrate Shoto becoming the number two hero on the hero rankings. After the dating conversation gets brought up by Ashido which it then gets revealed to the reader that Kuroiro and Kinoko from class 1B began dating and shortly after that we get Kaminari and Jiro joking to everyone on how they did not begin dating.

Then we get Deku’s internal thoughts where he begins to question if there is a side of himself that he has not discovered (which chapter 431 directs the reader to the realization that romance was something he never explored for himself). Bakugo’s quote on how “Giving special treatment to everyone means that no one is really special to you”. Starts to play a role when Izuku is staring at Ochaco smiling and beginning to come to that conclusion that he indeed is in love with her.

Once more Deku thinks back to the conversation that he has with Bakugo after class 1A decides to go home for the night. We then get Ochaco’s perspective of her thinking back to some of the memories she had recalling her own feelings to Izuku. Here we are shown that it isn’t only Izuku who wanted a chance to talk to Ochaco more then usual as she is going through similar thoughts on the matter.

It’s important to keep in mind that Ochaco wasn’t the first one to confess but it was Deku as he was the one who ran all the way to find her. Deku says “I really want to talk to you, Uraraka. And not just today. From now on to” this is his way of confessing that he has fallen in love with her and wants to be in her life for as long as they live. Horikoshi wrote Izuku’s confession subtly but in a way that makes it clear that the answer to whether they do end up together is through his words. Ochaco’s expression also says it all.

Finally we reach this famous panel of Izuku and Ochaco looking directly at each other after Toga gives her speech about wanting Ochaco to live a life as she directly says to her “I’ve lived exactly the way I wanted to. And since I loved you so much, Ochaco, my wish is for you to live exactly like you want to!” the conversation Ochaco has with Toga is importance because she has holded on to the pain of not being able to save Toga from death and we see that Toga is helping Ochaco be more open and honest with her feelings which directly ties into her arc about not suppressing her feelings.

The last thing Ochaco says to Izuku on the speech he gave is that she feels the same way as he does about wanting to get closer.

The original question that led to Horikoshi’s answer asked “Did Ochaco finally confess her feelings to Deku? and with everything that has been presented in chapter 431 the only part of the chapter he is telling reader to imagine is Ochaco’s return confess to Deku since the chapter ends with them mutually agreeing that they feel the same way. It’s heavily implied that she most likely opened up more to Izuku about her feelings after the famous hand holding panel on the last page of the manga. Which is more then likely what Horikoshi was referring to and fans using their imaginations to piece together the answer to the question.

[redphlox]

the fact is izuku managed to save tenkos soul his body was too far gone due to what afo done to him and the damage in his mind lets be real here if toga and tenko had lived they would have been put in prison for their tragic pasts don't change the people they killed and the fact their identities were well known

Look dude - come closer, come sit down next to me. Lets talk.

I'm not sure how to explain that this is a fantasy story. That means that it doesn't have to reflect our current world 1:1, which has flawed systems. Storied aren't biographies. You can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, yes? I hope so. If your mom let you borrow her phone so that you can get on Tumblr to talk to me, then maybe you can have her explain if you're still confused by the time I'm through with you.

If you're using this argument for why the villains who were humanized by the author had to die cruel deaths in a story that preached about giving people Second Chances, then I'm led to believe that you also believe that Bakugo surviving his exploded heart was realistic. And that's completely unrealistic, just in case you're not sure.

There were a lot of unrealistic aspects to this story, including the part about people having superhuman abilities like creating explosions from their palms and making things float. Those abilities aren't real either, just in case you are confused. You might have picked up this story and thought it was an autobiography or a history textbook, so I advise that you ask your mom to take you to the library and talk to a librarian about the differences between literary genres.

Now - hold on to your seat, this is why I had you sit down; this next part is going to be really perplexing to you if you believe quirks are real - stories are usually used with the purpose of conveying a message, of exploring our Humanity and to experience of some kind of catharsis or emotion using our imaginations. You know the story about The three little pigs? That are also unrealistic, but it serves a purpose - it teaches little kids about perseverance and working hard. The first two little pigs didn't want to put in the effort to make a solid house, so they paid for it in the end with their lives. Do we live in the world where wolves literally come knocking on our doors trying to eat us? No, but we do live in a world where it's important to persevere and work hard. Disney's The Little Mermaid also isn't real, because Mermaids Don't exist, but it dealt with very real human experiences that we all deal with such as feeling out of place in the world, our identity, etc.

So, you can see that authors use fantasy stories to explore very real human emotions, social issues, what have you. BNHA starts off like that too. The very first words are exactly, "people are not all born equal", and it goes on to tell the story of a teen who's basically considered disabled because he's different. He's bullied, discriminated against, and he deals with very real human experiences such as disregarding authority to go after a friend he really cares about because he felt it was the right heroic thing to do, experiencing death (Night eye, Midnight), dealing with abusive parents (Endeavor) and comforting abuse victims (Shouto, Eri.)

These characters are not real, but they go through very real human experiences. These are real world issues.

You're still following me, right? Characters and stories aren't real, but their issues usually reflect real life issues.

All right. Not that we've established that stories often and talk about real world problems that we experience in everyday life, let's talk about how authors can approach these topics. It's all about using different Tools in your writing to convey your message.

Let's go back to my example with the Three Little Pigs. The moral of the story, the message, the theme, is that hard work pays off. If you slack off, you're possibly putting yourself in danger. But what if the last little pig's house had fallen down anyway despite his hard work? What if the wolf had eaten him anyway? Then the moral of the story is no longer that hard work pays off. The moral of the story is that no matter how hard you work, sometimes things just don't work out the way you imagined or planned.

Okay - so, which one of these morals is more realistic? That your hard work always pays off, or that sometimes, no matter how hard you work, you fail? I'm not sure where you are in life, but it's the second one. It's true. Sometimes no matter how hard you work, life fucks you in the ass without prep. People go to college with the aspirations of becoming medical doctors and can't get into med school no matter how many straight As, perfect grades they get. They worked hard, yet they didn't achieve what they wanted. Many families have a two income household but still can't make ends meet because of unexpected expenses such as medical bills, car accidents, deaths etc. You could be the world's most safe driver and still die in a car accident because of someone else's negligent driving.

That's the harsh reality of life. Does that mean that the moral of the Three Little Pigs story is wrong? No. It's a story and it teaches a really important lesson about resilience and survival. In a perfect world in that story, hard work always pays off. That's comforting to adults and helps little kids understand the importance of persevering and working hard. Those are good qualities to have.

Sometimes a storys themes and messages don't align with the readers personal views of the world but that doesn't mean the writing is bad. You could even have a moral disagreement with the themes presented in a story but have the writing still be good writing. For example, I personally don't agree that hard work always pays off. But in reference to The Three Little Pig, when it's a story for little kids, I agree that the writing fits. If I were the author of The Three Little pigs, I would make the theme be, "it's always good to work hard, but if your dreams don't come true then that's okay." I would write a story about all the pains of working hard and meeting failure but then overcoming it and being happy anyway in the face of failure. The story's theme would be resilience, not about hard work always paying off.

But the Three Little Pigs isn't like I just decribed, so do I think it's bad writing? No, because the theme of the story matches the conclusion .

This is where My Hero Academia fails. The beginning of the story, all the messages about giving people Second Chances , fall flat. It presented a highly nuanced issue that's very real to the world we're living in about reforming criminals and getting to the core of understanding criminal behavior. The story presented itself like it would address this issue with societal change... and instead it gave us superficial change such as holding hands with victims who appear to be blameless and morally pure like Eri and that new mysterious crying boy who is literally nameless.

The issue with that is that it's really naive. A lot of times, people who break the law, people in need - mentally ill people, the sick, the poor aren't perfect victims. I work in a hospital and a lot of the people who seek treatment REFUSE to heed the doctor's medical opinion. Does that mean that they deserve to die? No. Does that mean I should give up on them? No, I'm going to educate.

Following the logic of BNHA though, you would give up on these people. The suicidal person who's about to jump off the bridge? Well, if they don't take your hand willingly, then why should you keep trying to save them? The crying boy at the end is only saved because he took the grandma's hand. What if he had pushed her away? If he had, the story's logic says that he deserves whatever is coming to him. And of course this is a more nuanced topic than I'm portraying it to be - victims and people in need also have a role in helping themselves, but this story makes it seem like they get only one chance and they're doomed if they don't take it. Which is literally a message that the story presents through Endeavor and Gentle and La Brava: people deserve second chances. But only specific people, according to the story. It teaches you that not all people are born equal. Which is literally what the story set out to disprove.

Do you see how the math isn't mathing?

[quirkwizard]

Worth Two In The Bush

Once again, I would like to take about a controversial point within the story. This is certainly one of the more touchy points for the fans. I guess that's what happens when an event like this involves two fan favorite characters. Not only was it one of the biggest points of the Act 2 finale, but drastically changed how everyone through of Twice and Hawks. And it's something that's has always haunted both characters and any discussion of them. Naturally, I have my own thoughts on it.

Let me get this out of the way right now: yes, what Hawks did was morally wrong. The story constantly frames him killing Twice as a bad thing. Between the admonishment of the world at large and the actions of the villains, it's clear that this was a wrong thing to do. Hawks himself admits how much guilt he felt over doing it. Because everything that the series is going for runs counter to what Hawks did. Because heroes aren't supposed to kill people. They are meant to subdue villains. Even though it isn't exactly the cold blooded killing every one makes it out to be. Hawks gave Twice multiple opportunities to stand down, even if he could have easily killed him.

However, it was also the practical thing to do. Twice was the lynchpin for the villains. If he went off, it was game over for the heroes. Arguably more so then even Gigantomchia or Tomura. Twice could outmatch the heroes on a scale they can't even imagine. Could he have been captured? Maybe. Hawks even made an attempt for him to come along with any conflict. Which is a pretty generous offer given the stakes. And given the situation, it's not exactly a bad decision. Twice was a guy effectively screaming at Hawks he was going to set off a bomb and kill all the heroes. And even after being told to stop, he says he's going to do it. It's either kill him, or the bomb goes off.

And I bring those up first because that's what a lot of the discussion is based around. Because it's something that overshadows and repurposes the scene in a lot of people's minds. Hawks killing Twice isn't just "Look at how bad Hawks and the Commission are." There's more depth to it than that. It's a tragedy about two people who thought they knew one another, but didn't. An important factor in this is that Hawks didn't kill Twice right away. He even tries to give him multiple chances to stand down and save him from Dabi's flames. Which is pretty generous considering the sheer magnitude of Hawk's task and the consequences of it. It's clearly something that's hard for Hawks as well.

Hawks thought that Twice was a good guy in a bad spot. A guy who was just being taken advantage of by the group. Which is kind of right, but it's far too late and Twice is far too deep to pull back in the way that Hawks wanted to. The whole point is that Hawks didn't understand Twice. Because all that offer did was make Twice mad. It was an insult to the bonds he had built with the League members and especially Toga. It's meant to be part of the ongoing theme about trying to help and understand the villains. Hawks did try to get close to Twice and wanted to understand him, but never in a way that could help Twice. Because it was ultimately a surface-level read of someone like Jin.

It's just as much a tragedy for both of the characters. They are both nice people with a lot of baggage for how they are used to their powers. Maybe that's what made them such good friends. They were kindred spirits in a way and had a lot more connections than people give them credit for. For how close they were, they could never truly understand one another. And that ultimately led to ruin for both of them. Hawks has to kill someone that he considers a friend. Twice gets betrayed once again by someone he thought he could trust. All because these are two people wearing masks to protect themselves. And, no matter how close they are to someone, they still need that mask to keep things together.

[eriace]

telepathic menace ; shin asakura

oneshot & fluff ft. lime ↪ in which shin gets stressed and flustered in y/n's fleeting thoughts. ↷ shin asakura ; sakamoto days (requested by anonymous)

author's note: i'm so sorry if the reader doesn't parallel well with utsuro. cause she's crazy crazy and i did my best though. she lowkey reminds me of himeko toga too, i love them.

SHIN'S HEAD HURTS.

Not from the mission. Not from the busted ribs or the paperwork piling up at Sakamoto’s store. No—this headache had a name.

And it was hers.

She stood just a few feet away, balancing on the edge of a rooftop, wind tugging at the hem of her jacket and her voice echoing like a breeze inside his skull.

“Don’t look now, but that sniper’s two rooftops over. You should duck, pretty boy.”

He did. A bullet whizzed past his head a second later.

“Stop doing that!” Shin hissed, crouching behind the ledge. “You know I can read minds. You don’t need to broadcast it like we’re sharing a radio channel!”

She laughed—light and melodic, with just a hint of menace. Like someone who knew exactly what they were doing and enjoyed every second of it.

“i know. but it’s more fun when i imagine stupid things and you have to react to them.”

He scowled. “Like what—”

And then he felt it.

Images.

Her thoughts.

Not plans, not strategy—no, this wasn’t battlefield stuff. This was—

Lace. Skin. The brush of fingers against a chest that was definitely his. Her legs tangled with his under white sheets. Her lips brushing his ear as she whispered, "Oops."

His face exploded with heat.

“Are you serious right now?” he snapped, nearly slipping off the rooftop. “We’re in the middle of a mission!”

“You said stop broadcasting. You didn’t say I couldn’t think.”

“You’re impossible!”

“And you’re red. Adorable.”

By the time they made it back to the safehouse, Shin was exhausted.

Physically, sure. But mostly mentally. His powers worked fine—too well, in fact. But her brain was a carnival of chaos. She didn’t think linearly, didn’t filter anything, and worst of all?

She thought about him.

All the time.

Sometimes it was harmless. His hands, his jawline, his voice when he got too serious. But then there were thoughts that lingered, lazy and heavy, laced with affection she never dared speak aloud.

Until he heard it. Always in his head. Always clear.

“i want to kiss him. but only if he kisses me back like he means it.”

It haunted him.

Later that night, when they were assigned to the surveillance post in the upper room of the safehouse, things got worse.

The room was small. Dusty. One futon. She flopped onto it immediately, stretching like a cat, her cropped jacket riding up just enough to test his remaining sanity.

He chose the floor.

Ten minutes into silent observation, her thoughts hit him again—slow and sweet, like honey dripping over a knife.

“...I wonder if he’d let me sleep on his chest. I bet he’s warm.”

Shin gritted his teeth.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“You know what.”

“You keep telling me to stop, but never to leave.”

That made him pause.

She was right.

He’d never once told her to get out of his head. Only to stop talking, stop teasing. But the truth was… he liked her there. Even when she drove him up the wall. Even when she shattered every wall he built.

He turned to look at her.

Her gaze was soft now, not mocking. Just… curious.

He sat up. “You do this to mess with me, right?”

She blinked.

Then slowly smiled.

“Maybe. Or maybe I like hearing the way your thoughts change when I get close.”

She moved. Crawled over the futon and down to where he sat on the floor, knees brushing his.

“Like right now. You’re nervous, but you want me to stay. Your mind’s loud—but not scared. Just...open.”

She reached out, her fingers ghosting over his jaw, featherlight.

“And you think i’m beautiful. But you don’t think you’re allowed to say it.”

He swallowed hard, heart thudding in his throat.

“I do think you’re beautiful,” he said quietly.

Her eyes widened, just a little. Then softened again.

"Finally."

She leaned in. Slow. Deliberate. Shin didn’t move, didn’t breathe—just let her close the distance. Her lips brushed his, soft and warm and maddeningly gentle. And for once, her mind went quiet—not empty, but full of feeling.

Peaceful.

Warm.

Intimate.

When she pulled back, her thumb brushed his cheek, tracing the line of his jaw.

Shin let out a shaky breath. “You’re a menace.”

She grinned. “And you love it.”

God help him—he really did.

© eriace ;; don’t repost my works.

[these-written-reveries]

Dissimulate My Love (Pt. 2)

‣ Pairing: Touya Todoroki (Dabi) x GN!Reader

‣ Genre: flangst (angst & fluff)

‣ Summary: Touya is in love with you, and Toga knows. The self-proclaimed “expert” crafts the perfect plan to bring the two of you together, but Touya is still determined to keep his feelings hidden from you. Unfortunately for him, Toga’s plan seems to be working out in her favor, his carefully crafted mask slipping and his secret threatening to reveal itself at every turn.

‣ Warnings: angst (with a happy ending), slow burn, brief examples of suicidal/homicidal ideation, lots of swearing, Reader gets hurt but is alright, insecure/self-deprecating talk, Touya pining for Reader HARD, Toga being an annoying younger sibling to Touya

‣ Word Count: 11,018

‣ A/N: Finally got fed up thinking about it and decided to write it. Yay! Could've split this into multiple parts with how long it is, but I'm nice, so I won't do that to you guys (I really don't wanna format more posts than I need to heh). Would love to hear your thoughts on it!

***I imagined Touya wearing this as his disguise lol.

(Part 1 here)

Touya was way in over his head.

When he had agreed to Toga’s stupid blackmail proposition, he had hoped that she’d quickly forget about it, find something else that suited her fancy and leave him the hell alone.

It had been days, and her persistent, knowing looks and teasing chatter about you showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Oh, she was really set on this.

He should’ve known.

“We need two people to follow the suspect and gain more intel. Based on what Y/N gathered from their previous stakeout, it appears highly likely that he is working for both sides,” Shigaraki explained to the League members, scattered around the room.

Red eyes landing on you between the fingers of the mask covering his face, he continued his speech. “Y/N, you will be assigned as one of the members for this mission. As for the second-”

“Ooh!”

Toga had her hand raised high, almost falling out of her seat as she tried to get Shigaraki to notice her.

He sighed. “Yes, Toga. I already picked you to be the second.”

“Actually, Tomura, I-I mean, Mr. Boss, I was going to suggest that Dabi be the second member for this mission,” Toga spoke sweetly, obviously hoping to sway the decision of the shaggy-haired leader.

Touya narrowed his eyes at Toga, but didn’t bother opening his mouth to object. Even if Shigaraki didn’t pick him, he was going to personally threaten persuade him into allowing him to go with you instead. After last time, he wasn’t letting you go without his protection.

Shigaraki’s eyes mimicked Touya’s, a mixture of curiosity and suspicion within his gaze. “Why?”

Toga shrugged. “Just ‘cause…well, I don’t think I’m a good fit for the job. Dabi would be better, in this case.”

“What are we? Chopped liver?” Twice scoffed.

Toga waved her hands around in defense. “Nooo! I just think Dabi and Y/N make a good team. Wouldn’t you all agree?”

Mr. Compress nodded. “They do work well together.”

“That’s true! Like that one time they defeated that rogue Nomu together!” Spinner added.

“Oh yeah! I thought we were all gonna die!” Twice put his hands on his face dramatically as he recalled the ordeal.

Toga smiled, looking back to Shigaraki. “Exactly! That’s why Dabi should join Y/N on this mission, Mr. Leader Boss!”

Fucking kiss ass...

Shigaraki rolled his eyes. “What makes you think extra crispy over there is a better fit for a stealth job, hm? He stands out like a sore thumb.”

Touya clenched his fists tightly, glaring daggers at him.

Fucking asshole...

“Don’t worry! I can sort out a good disguise for him!” Toga assured, a confident smile on her face.

Clearly over the entire conversation, Shigaraki grumbled to himself before letting out an exasperated sigh.

“Fine. But you better not fuck this up,” he said, pointing to both Toga and Touya.

Touya was almost annoyed he didn’t point at you too. Then again, he would’ve sooner burnt the crusty leader’s hand to ashes before it ever pointed your way to begin with.

He looked at you to gauge your reaction about him being your partner for the mission. You looked back at him and smiled, sending a surprising wave of relief through his body.

“Looks like you’re getting your wish this time,” you teased.

Touya half-chuckled. “Yeah, lucky me.”

“We do make a good team, though, don’t we?” you asked, looking at him with a familiar, yet all too foreign, softness in your eyes.

Unlike him, you didn’t try so hard to hide every ounce of emotion you felt. You were openly kind and compassionate towards those you cared about; always there for the other members of the League when they needed it. He admired that about you. And yet, he always found himself so confused to be on the receiving end of your kindness.

Why waste your kindness on someone like him?

If anything, you were a fool for doing so. Unbeknownst to you, every time you offered your sweet kindness to him, he only grew to crave it more, to crave you more.

In a way, his feelings for you were all your fault. If you had never spared him that warm smile when you two had met, if you had never gifted his ears with the sound of your adorable laughter when he had said something funny around you for the first time, if you had never placed a gentle hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him after a bad day, if you had never shown such concern for him when he was hurt, if you had never looked at him with that sweet look in your eyes…

If you weren’t still looking at him like that…

…maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t be so fucking obsessed with you, fighting for his goddamn life to remember how to breathe under the weight of your beautiful gaze.

It was pathetic, honestly. He knew it, yet he couldn’t make it stop.

All your fault.

“Yeah…I guess we do.” He nodded, doing his best to appear nonchalant, hiding the fact that internally he wanted to scream at you and kiss you at the same time.

All the while, he could feel the looming gaze of the young blonde behind him, her little giggle ringing in his ears—a taunting reminder of her secret plans and the fact that Touya still hadn’t found a way to put a stop to them before she pushed things too far.

Yeah. He was definitely in over his head.

“Change of plans. You’re gonna be their boyfriend!”

Touya stared at the young girl before him with a bewildered look on his face.

“Uhh…wasn’t that already implied when you said you wanted to 'help', or whatever?”

Toga groaned dramatically. “For the mission, dummy! You’re gonna be their fake boyfriend. And if you’re lucky, and you listen to every word I say, by the end of it, you’ll be their real boyfriend!”

Now it was Touya’s turn to groan.

It was too early for this shit. And by “early”, it was 2pm. His sleeping habits had started to resemble a nocturnal creature’s many years ago, and he never bothered to change it. Being up at night was better anyway, as he could more easily hide in the shadows and conduct his business, out of sight from those who may easily recognize him.

However, this mission required him to be up earlier than usual. Earlier than he really needed to be, but Toga insisted on having extra time to get his disguise all sorted out. She had been working on it for the past week, finding the right pieces for him. He had to keep her on a tight leash, otherwise he’d be clad in colorful clothes, a wig, and blingy accessories, as she had previously suggested to him before he quickly shut it down.

But of course, she always managed to find a loophole to appease her whims.

Unbeknownst to him, Toga had a vial of his blood laying around that she’d greedily stole from him the last time he was bleeding out after being injured. He was so out of it at the time, he didn’t even realize.

Apparently, she saw this as the most opportune time to use it.

He was mortified upon waking to find teasing messages from members of the League and pictures of Toga posing as him in a bunch of ridiculous outfits being used as memes in the group chat.

The group chat you were a part of.

To say he wasn’t happy with the little brat that week was an understatement.

By the end of it, he was nearly out of breath from saying so much at once, and she was smirking.

He was so livid and embarrassed, he waited for her arrival back home, only to pull her aside and berate her for it, ignoring her attempts to apologize and play innocent. He told her that it was a huge invasion of privacy and that she was sabotaging any chance of her stupid plans coming to fruition by sending embarrassing pictures like that and that you would probably never be able to look at him the same again and that she better drop the whole “matchmaker” act, because now he was absolutely certain he would never confess his feelings for you, because there was no way in hell you would ever feel the same, especially after seeing him like that!

Why the fuck was she smirking?

His heart nearly sank to his feet when he realized you had walked into the room.

Fuck.

Touya cringed thinking back to it. It had been three days, and he hadn’t spoken to, nor seen you at all. He still wasn’t even sure if you’d heard anything. You seemed to look away quickly and acted as if you didn’t just walk in on him angrily admitting his feelings for you to Toga, but how was he to know you weren’t just pretending not to have overheard?

In the moment, Touya didn’t bother to press for answers. He was out of there faster than anyone else could blink, but not before sending Toga a sharp glare, a silent warning not to speak a damn word to you, or she’d be next on his hit list.

Now, as he sat in an uncomfortable chair, suited up in his disguise, he grumbled at Toga’s hands in his hair. He gave up trying to swat her hands away after the third time of her smacking his hands in return and threatening to burn him with the curling iron if he didn’t stop. He made some snarky comment about his scars and how if she was gonna threaten him, she’d have to do better than that.

Just the mention of her spilling his secret to you was enough to shut him up real quick, his jaw clenching tightly as he huffed in frustration.

It wasn’t until a few minutes had passed that he felt it safe enough to continue his snarky attitude.

"This is stupid," he muttered.

"No, it's perfect! This is your chance to make a move!"

"The hell are you talking about? You really think that me pretending to be their boyfriend is gonna somehow make me their real boyfriend? This is just a job to them. They'll see everything I do as acting, that’s it."

"UGHHH! Haven't you ever seen a romance movie before?!" Toga exclaimed, waving the curling wand in the air dramatically as she spoke.

She didn't bother to leave room for him to respond, already knowing the answer.

"This is the part where you woo them by showing them what it'd be like to be in a relationship with you! They'll suddenly look at you differently afterwards and from there, the love will only grow bigger until you both can't take it anymore and then you'll finally makeout and live happily ever after!"

Touya rolled his eyes. "First of all, stop wavin’ that shit around unless you wanna end up lookin’ like me. Second of all, I don't know why I'm taking romantic advice from a naïve kid.."

Toga scoffed in offense. "You think I'm naïve, huh?"

"Yep," Touya responded, popping the "p" for extra emphasis.

A deep frown overtook Toga's features, huffing at him angrily as she pointed the curling wand at him. Touya remained unmoved, a deadpan look on his face.

"I am not! You're the one who knows absolutely nothing about love!"

A dry chuckle escaped Touya’s mouth, though his face remained mostly impassive.

"I may not know much about love, but I do know it's not all sunshine and rainbows and happily ever after's like you very obviously think it is. Sometimes people love people who’ll never love them back. And sometimes people love people, but that doesn't mean they should be in a relationship! Especially if it'll only ruin the life of the person they love."

The room went silent for a moment as Toga lowered the curling wand, her face softening.

"You really think that way about yourself? That's sad."

"Tsk...My whole existence is sad. Pathetic, really." Touya moved his eyes down to focus on the ground beneath his feet, suddenly feeling uncomfortably vulnerable under her gaze.

He was struggling to keep up his tough, detached façade. Even his self-deprecating jokes weren’t landing right.

All because of the thought of never getting to have you the way he longed so deeply for, to feel the love he'd always secretly wished to experience. It wasn’t something he could easily brush off with an indifferent shrug or a stupid joke. It was just depressing.

All your fault.

"Hey! Don't talk about my big brother like that!"

Touya's eyes went wide as they snapped up to meet Toga’s, who stood firm with one hand on her hip and a pout on her face, the other hand pointing the curling wand at him once more, this time in a scolding manner.

"Maybe you don't think of me as your little sister, but I think of you as my brother. I don't like it when the people I love say mean things about themselves. Especially when it's not even true!"

Touya was shocked into silence, which urged her to continue to speak.

"The only reason why I wanna help you so bad is because you're family and I want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy, Dabi. And I know you'd be great in a relationship because you're an amazing person! You're so tough and brave and you always protect us and you let me sit with you when I'm sad or when I have nightmares and you always make me feel better with your messed up jokes, and you're very considerate of the people close to you, even when you act like you could care less!"

She paused to take a breath, her passion getting the best of her.

"You're just...really cool, and I look up to you a lot. So I know you'd make Y/N happy too, and I bet they totally love you back! And even if they don’t…then it’s their loss!"

Touya remained silent, unsure of what to say. For once, he didn’t have a witty or even snarky response in return. He was filled with emotions he couldn’t fully make sense of or translate into words, even if he wanted to. Even if he should have said something.

Thankfully, Toga knew him well enough to know when to press for a response and when to move on. This time, it was the latter.

"Hm...you know, I think this look definitely needs some glasses," she said, stepping back to scan him up and down.

Touya let out a small huff of laughter, a fond smile tugging at his lips.

"You already curled my hair or whatever and now you wanna put me in glasses? What are you tryna to do? Reverse 'Princess Diaries' me?"

"First of all, they are beach waves. They’re super in style right now and—Wait...Did you just—"

"I've seen some romance movies." Touya shrugged, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

Toga let out a laugh that sounded more like a pig squealing. She seemed to be way too excited over this, and Touya couldn’t help the chuckle that rumbled in his chest as he watched her.

Once she managed to get ahold of herself, she spoke again.

"Since when do you, big scary Dabi, watch movies like that?!"

"Since when I wasn't big scary Dabi. I dunno, haven't seen that shit in years." He shrugged again, trying to bury the memories that began to bubble up to the surface.

Toga understood what he meant and grew a little quiet along with him as she finished up the final pieces of his hair and fixed the collar of his coat once more.

"I meant sunglasses, dummy. Since you won't let me use makeup to cover up your scars."

A cringe overtook Touya’s features. "I don't want that cakey shit on my face. Besides, I doubt you'd be able to cover all this up."

Toga shook her head with a sigh. "You underestimate my skills. Also, hate to break it to you, but 'Princess Diaries' isn't technically a romance movie."

Touya was taken aback. "The fuck? Yes it is."

Toga giggled. "Nope. It's like a total side plot. Cute of you think that, though."

Touya’s eyes narrowed at the blonde, who simply stuck her tongue out at him in return, handing him a black face mask, that which he quickly snatched from her.

"Don't patronize me, brat. You're younger than me, remember?"

"I may be younger, but I'm clearly smarter,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Touya glared at her, yet he could barely contain the amused smile that tugged at the corner of his lips behind the mask that now covered the lower half of his face. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the sound of footsteps entering the room.

Turning his head, he almost choked on his spit when he saw you, stood there in a pretty wig, the color of which matched his Blueflame almost perfectly, and artificial black horns curling out of the sides of your head. His eyes trailed lower, admiring every detail of your casual civilian outfit that suited you so well. Your face was covered with a black face mask, similar to his, but he could tell you were smiling underneath it by the way your eyes crinkled—a mixture of amusement and embarrassment at his reaction.

He was gawking like a fool. Thank fuck he had a mask over his mouth, otherwise he'd be even more embarrassed by the way his jaw hung slightly open as his eyes scanned over your perfect form. He turned to Toga, his hand outstretched.

"Gimme those glasses."

As he put them on, Toga began speaking, a smirk on her face. "Wow, Y/N, you look smokin' hot! Don't you think, Dabi?"

He rolled his eyes, clearing his throat before speaking. "Mhm, sure, I guess."

"Is that how you're gonna speak to your romantic partner? Come on, you can do better than that!" The younger girl nudged him with her elbow, staring at him expectantly.

He glanced at you, surprised to find you crossing your arms at him as well.

Between the two of you, he was doomed to never catch a break.

"Fuck, okay...You look...hot, or beautiful, or whatever. The blue suits you," he muttered, his face flushing as he tried to get the words out.

Toga patted him on the arm approvingly. "See? Was that so hard?"

Touya ignored her, his eyes glued on you and the way you looked back at him with your eyes crinkled up into somewhat of a flustered smile, a small giggle leaving your lips.

Goddammit. Could you stop being so fucking cute for one second? Give a man a break!

"Thanks, Dabi. Not to say you don't look good as well, but not gonna lie...somehow you look even more suspicious in that coat than without it,” you spoke teasingly, your eyes raking up and down his figure, making him suddenly feel way too hot in those clothes.

Toga spoke up before he could get a word out in response, waving her hands around as she spoke.

"I tried my best, okay?! This guy is not only very hard to properly disguise, but he's also stubborn as hell!"

You chuckled, placing a hand on Toga’s shoulder to get her to settle down.

"It's okay. You did great."

Turning back to Touya, you glanced at Toga’s work once more, before reaching a hand out towards his hair, causing every muscle in his body to freeze as you ran your fingers through it. The gentleness of your touch was so unfamiliar to him, yet he knew right away he could never get enough of it. He had to stop his eyes from fluttering closed in response to the intimate contact, instead focusing on your face that was much closer to him than usual, suddenly wishing he wasn't wearing the sunglasses so that he could truly admire the details and colors of your skin and eyes and the way the blue hair framed your features.

"I like your hair like this. It's nice." The soft tone of your voice somehow made the moment feel even more intimate.

Touya could feel his body temperature increasing. He hoped you couldn't feel it radiating off of him.

He swallowed hard, trying to make his voice sound nonchalant, despite the racing beat of his heart. "Thanks."

Just as quickly as you had initiated the contact, you pulled away, leaving him nearly whimpering at the lack of your touch. He stifled his response and by the time he had collected himself, you were already by the door, looking over your shoulder at him.

"You coming, boyfriend?" you asked, a teasing tone lacing your words.

He was fucked. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

"Y-Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Yep. Let's go."

He followed you out the door, stopping before it shut to glance back at the giddy girl looking after the two of them with a toothy smile. Any annoyance he felt towards her melted at the sight of her happy face.

Dammit. He really was getting soft, huh?

"See ya later, brat," was all he said before he finally let the door shut behind him.

The two of you had been following the suspect around all day, having gained little to nothing from it so far. He had been going about his business around town, while the two of you tried to appear like a normal couple, spending the day together, while still mostly staying out of sight from him. From your last mission, you had gathered information that put this guy at the top of the suspect list for being the mole that had been responsible for the sabotaging of many of the League’s planned attacks, forcing your leader to shut down any current and future plans until the mole was found and rid of.

You were told not to come back unless the two of you had successfully gathered the incriminating evidence needed, and you had the mole in your possession.

At this rate, it seemed like the two of you were never going to come back.

On second thought, Touya wouldn’t mind that one bit. The idea of spending the rest of your lives together, under the obligation of some stupid mission you were assigned years ago, made him smile to himself. At what point would it turn from “just a mission”, to something more?

If he really was lucky, as Toga suggested before, then this stupid mole would go underground, leaving the two of you to continue searching for him forever.

Forever. Just the two of you.

“What’s got you smiling so big?”

Touya snapped back to reality, locking in on your curious, but teasing eyes.

You were huddled against him as you both leaned against the cement wall of a random building, hugging his arm against your chest—the cold air apparently being the reason for your doing so. Your chin was propped up against his shoulder, glancing up at him with those gorgeous fucking eyes. Even behind the mask over your mouth, he could see you smiling clear as day.

He suddenly felt weak in the knees.

All day you’d been touchier towards him, and it was driving him insane. Of course, it was part of the job, but damn was it hard not to grab you and kiss you when you were so close to him.

So goddamn close, he was sure the scent of your perfume had attached itself to him too. So close, he could feel your breath at times, tickling his skin when you leaned in to whisper something to him. So close, he could see miniscule blemishes and features on you that he hadn’t noticed before.

His strength was wavering, as was the invisible mask he usually wore so well.

Unfortunately, the real mask he was wearing was doing little to hide his embarrassing moment of weakness from your observant gaze. Or, perhaps the lack of sunglasses over his eyes were to blame as well. He had taken those off a while ago, due to very few people being around.

And the fact that he was sick of them preventing him from being able to truly look at you.

Clearing his throat and straightening his spine, he wiped away his smile and shook his head.

“Nothing.”

As if you were going to let him off that easily. He knew that, but he was physically incapable of saying anything else in the moment, especially not when you gripped his arm tighter as the wind blew past the two of you, tugging him close enough that he could feel the rise and fall of your chest against his arm.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.”

There was a brief pause before you spoke again, standing on the tips of your toes as you drew yourself closer to his face, a playful smile on your own.

“I bet you were thinking of me, huh?”

Touya couldn’t help that he grew tense over what you said, but it only encouraged you to continue.

“Ha! Look at you, stiff as a board. How cute,” you teased. “I bet you enjoy pretending to be my boyfriend, huh?”

Damn right he did.

Touya scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Don’t get so cocky, now. That’s my job.”

You hummed. “And yet, I don’t see much of that cockiness right now. Looks like we switched roles, didn’t we, hot stuff?”

“You’re insufferable,” he muttered, shoving his hands deeper into the jacket of his coat and staring straight ahead near the shop where your target was expected to exit from at any moment.

He was dying inside. You were going to be the death of him.

You gasped, pointing at him. “See? That’s my line!”

He couldn’t help but join in on your laughter, shaking his head as you giggled into his arm.

Although he was desperately seeking an excuse to flee the current conversation, he simultaneously found himself disappointed when he spotted the familiar figure leaving the small convenience store with a bag in hand.

At once, he grew serious, honing in on the man, who took a quick scan of his surroundings as he continued to walk down the street opposite of the two of you.

Touya nodded his head in the direction of him. “He’s on the move.”

Placing a hand on your waist, he guided you to walk with him, lingering behind a ways back so as not to arise attention or suspicion from the man.

Touya felt your fingers graze against his palm before they laced themselves between his.

His breath hitched in his throat.

It was so much harder to focus when all he could think about in the moment was the soft feeling of your hand and how it seemed to fit in his perfectly.

Almost like you were made for him.

The two of you walked along for a while, taking some twists and turns, until you were eventually headed down a path towards an area Touya was quite familiar with.

His hold on your hand grew firmer, pulling you slightly closer to his side as he leaned in to speak to you.

“This place is trouble. Stay close to me.”

You nodded and wrapped your other hand around his bicep, a smirk tugging at his lips beneath his mask at the way you so willingly clung to him.

After a few more blocks, it became more obvious what Touya had meant. It was a severely neglected part of the city, a hot spot for criminal activity and overall shady business. Touya recalled once arguing with Shigaraki about never sending you to this area, at least not alone. He had heard too many stories and experienced many things himself in the area that just the thought of you stepping foot there sent a shiver down his spine.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get a say now. You would never agree to being left behind while he went alone. You were too stubborn for that.

He put all his focus into keeping an eye out for any danger that may be lurking around the corner, growing tense as he prepared himself for anything that might happen.

You seemed to respond to his shift in energy by holding onto him just a little tighter. This small action only spurred on his protective nature even more, determined to keep you safe from any harm.

A few more minutes of walking and the man suddenly came to a stop, making an abrupt turn into a small coffee shop. You and Touya stopped at the end of the block, staring at the shop he had just entered with bewildered faces.

“Coffee? Here? Didn’t we pass up like three other shops on the way here, in much safer areas?” you asked, looking at Touya.

He nodded. “There’s no way the coffee is that worth it.”

You were both silent for a while, hidden behind a corner as you watched the man order his drink and proceed to sit at one of the indoor tables near the window that served as a wall between the indoor seating area and the small, empty outdoor seating area.

Chewing on your lower lip, you hummed. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to find out for ourselves, huh?”

“Tsk. Fine.”

Touya took a step forward, but you stopped him, pulling him back by your connected hands and placing a firm hand on his chest. He looked at you with furrowed brows.

“I don’t think you should go in. Walking outside on a cold day looking like that is one thing, but entering a coffee shop looking like that will only draw suspicion. Especially the whole sunglasses indoors thing,” you said, motioning to his outfit. “I’ll go in and order and you can pick one of the outdoor tables for us to sit at. I don’t think he’s really seen us yet today, so he probably won’t even pay any attention to us.”

This time, you tried to take a step forward, only to quickly be drawn back, Touya’s arm snaking around your waist so you didn’t stumble.

“Ha. Very funny,” he muttered dryly.

“What? It’s a good plan!”

“Wrong. It’s a shit plan. In fact, it’s hilarious you think I’d let you go off anywhere on your own in this place.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, a frustrated huff causing your nostrils to flare.

How cute.

“I can handle myself, you know? How do you think I managed to get into the League, huh? Why do you think Shigaraki always sends me on missions like these?”

Touya pretended to be deep in thought. “Hm. Good questions. I think the answer to both is ‘’cause you’re pretty’.”

You gasped in offense, stepping back from him. “That is not true!”

Touya half-chuckled. “You think my eyes are lyin’ or somethin’?”

A frustrated growl left you as you yanked your hand out of his, trying to keep your voice contained as you spoke. “I am not just my looks! I have real skills, and I’ve made it this far without you, boyfriend, so I think I can order a damn coffee by myself!”

With that, you spun around and began storming towards the coffee shop, ignoring the fact that Touya was following behind you in stride, hands in his pockets as if he was unaffected by your sudden outburst.

Inside there were very few people and no line. You didn’t even spare a side glance at the man you’d been following all day, too angry to do anything but step up to the front counter and spill out some random order from the very small menu to the guy running the register. The other worker sat on a stack of boxes near the entrance to the back room, scrolling on their phone, but quickly sighed and got to work once they heard your order.

It was hard not to notice the gun poking out of the back of his jeans, just below where his apron tied around his waist.

“Can I get you anything, sir?” the cashier asked, the words lacking emotion, as if rehearsed to death.

You rolled your eyes as Touya’s presence loomed over you.

“Black coffee. Hot.”

Touya could tell you weren’t really paying attention to anything that was said at this point, still running over the words that were spoken earlier between the two of you in your mind as you reached for the wallet inside the little bag Toga lent you.

Touya was faster, handing the cashier the money before you could finish sifting through your wallet.

Your head snapped up, followed by a sharp inhale as you processed what he had done, before sending a glare his way and storming off to sit at one of the outdoor tables.

Now he was starting to regret being an asshole earlier. Just a little.

He still couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at his lips as he looked back at where you had run off to.

You were just so adorable when you were so worked up.

Pretty hot too.

You’d kill him if you could observe the thoughts than ran through his head.

“Trouble in paradise, huh?”

The cashier’s voice rang out in his head, interrupting his train of thought. He felt a twinge of annoyance as he turned to look at the guy, but ultimately let out a small huff of laughter, his eyes finding you again as he spoke.

“Yeah…Somethin’ like that.”

Touya was right. The coffee definitely wasn’t worth it.

Yet, the two of you continued to sip away at your drinks as if you couldn’t get enough of it, suddenly very interested in the trash blowing in the wind and the car alarm going off a few blocks away. You occasionally flicked your eyes to the man through the window, who seemed entirely uninterested, or possibly even unaware of your existence.

The last time Touya tried to speak, you snapped at him to “shut up”. At this point, he was running thin on patience.

"I was kidding, you know. You're a lot more than your looks. I didn’t expect you to take it so seriously."

“Of course I did. It came from you,” you blurted back, your tone full of bite, but your words revealing the hurt underneath. You let out an exasperated sigh as you pulled your mask down to take another sip of your drink.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know…It doesn’t matter,” you mumbled, picking at the edge of the cardboard sleeve over your cup.

An annoyed sigh fell past Touya’s lips. He reached over and placed his hand over yours, gently pulling it away from your cup so he could grasp it properly. Your eyes met his as he spoke.

“It matters to me. So spill it.”

He watched as the walls you built crumbled away, feeling you relax slightly under his touch.

“I just…I care about what you think. I respect you a lot and…I hate the idea of you thinking of me as only being valuable for my looks,” you explained, your eyes disconnected from his, but your grip on his hand growing slightly tighter, almost as if subconsciously seeking his comfort.

He tried and immediately failed at letting his ego run wild with this.

You were holding his hand. Seeking out his comfort. You cared about him and what he thinks.

Fuck. He needed to focus.

Touya scoffed. “Are you kidding me? Fuck…Yes, you’re goddamn gorgeous, I’d never lie about that, but I’ve never once thought of that as your sole defining quality. I mean, you’re badass as fuck, and I know I haven't really said it out loud before, but I really respect and admire you and your skills, and who you are as a person, and whatever. You’re just…really amazing.”

Your eyes crinkled slightly, your cheekbones rising on your face.

“Don’t listen to me, okay? I mean—yes, listen to me, but don’t listen to me when I’m being a dumb asshole, ‘cause I never really mean that shit. I just have a tendency to push people’s buttons,” he continued.

“On purpose. ‘Cause you like riling people up,” you added.

He chuckled, but remained serious as he spoke. “Yeah, but it’s different with you. As much as I like seeing you riled up, I don’t like it when you’re really hurt by what I say, so if I ever say some dumb shit again, you better call me out on it.”

“You know I will,” you laughed.

He joined your laughter, now feeling a weight off his chest as he looked at you fondly. “Good. I need someone to keep me in line.”

“Oh? And you’re electing me for the job?”

Finally, the two of you were back to your regular banter. Touya felt airy and happy once again as he smiled at you.

“You far exceed the requirements. Couldn’t think of a better person for the job.”

A delighted gasp entered your lungs. You placed a hand on your chest in a playful show of pride. “Wow. I’m honored.”

Touya couldn’t help but feel his face flush a little at the implications of your conversation. If only you meant it in the way he did…

He deflated a bit, but tried to hide it by placing his lips on the rim of the gross coffee that he regretted buying more with every little sip.

Silence dragged on for a while, both of you eyeing the man who still hadn’t moved from his spot in the coffee shop. He had bought himself a newspaper and some chips from the small convenience store earlier, seemingly reading every inch of the paper diligently.

At this rate, the two of you would be stuck in the damn cold outside of this coffee shop for hours. He was growing more aware of every chill that passed through you, and it made him grit his teeth, about to rip off the stupid jacket he was wearing and pass it over to you at any moment. But you’d inevitably decline, making some worried comment about how he might get recognized.

Stupid scars.

Finally, you broke the silence.

"Soo...those pictures…"

And just like that, he wished you hadn't. Was this your way of punishing him for earlier?

Touya's mouth suddenly felt dry, his hands becoming clammy as he braced himself for the rest of what you were about to say.

"You looked pretty good in the blue jacket. Kinda bummed she didn't pick that one for you."

He let out a small breath of relief, but tensed up once more when you opened your mouth to speak again.

"Not cool of her to do that, though. I'm assuming you scolded her well enough, based on the other night. Sorry for walking in on you, by the way. I didn't reali—"

"You heard what I said?"

Touya could feel his heart beating out of his chest. The fear and embarrassment of you finding out like that was enough to make him want to run out into oncoming traffic and let death finally take him.

He eyed the nearby street, mentally begging for a car to come speeding through.

"Not really. You just seemed upset, is all. Rightfully so, if you ask me."

And just like that, he no longer wished to die. Maybe life was worth living, after all?

Touya shrugged. "Yeah, I was. But she's just a kid, you know? No parents or whatever to guide her, just us pack of freaks. She's bound to make stupid mistakes," he explained, his dry laugh manifesting as a transparent cloud amongst the cold air. "Shit, I've done way worse. Guess I don't have much room to judge."

Your warm, visible smile set his nerves at ease. He latched his focus onto it as you took another sip of your drink before glancing back at him with a look that felt genuine and kind and made him feel...safe?

"You're a good big brother, you know?"

"Oh god, don't tell me you see me as that too?" Touya blurted with a groan of distaste.

You smirked. "Would that be a bad thing?"

Fuck. You're fucking kidding, right? What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

"Yes, that'd be the worst possible thing, even worse than being friend-zoned, because that means I stand even less of a chance than I have secretly begun to hope that I have, all because I've been letting that little brat get into my head lately, and fuck, of course this would happen to me, I'm an idiot to think that you'd ever love me back, what am I even doing—"

"Uh, no. That's...fine. Whatever," he said quietly, suddenly shutting down as he looked at his coffee.

Your breathy giggle is what caused him to glance up at you, only to find you covering your mouth like you were amused by some joke he wasn't in on. Or, perhaps, a joke that he was the butt of.

"I don't think it'd be appropriate to view my boyfriend as a brotherly figure, would it?"

God, he wished you weren't joking, that you really meant it, that none of this was pretend.

His teeth clashed together as he forced out a huff of laughter through his nose.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

And just like that, he couldn’t wait until all of this was over.

Finally…

Touya watched closely as the man stood to leave after receiving a phone call. Reading the man’s lips during the brief call failed to provide him with any valuable information. Regardless, the two of you were going to find out what he was up to…

one way or another.

Was Touya considering simply cornering the man and placing a hand around his neck, increasing the temperature in his palm until he finally talked? Maybe toss him around, leave a few serious burns, if option one didn't do the trick?

Yes. In fact, he’d argue his methods were far more effective.

But you wouldn’t approve, and neither would Shigaraki—in this case, at least.

As far as Touya was concerned...

This was a waste of fucking time.

The sound of your shoes making contact with the pavement was the only sound he could hear in the quiet area that the man had lead you to. Daylight was beginning to fade as the sun set against the horizon, causing the regular bustle of this side of the city to settle—for now. Touya knew better than anyone that the cover of night was a criminal's best friend. It was only a matter of time before the more dangerous kinds of creatures began to roam these very streets.

You both slowed down a bit, making more of an effort to remain quiet and undetected.

Touya couldn’t help but think of this guy as an idiot for not paying more attention to his surroundings. For what he was suspected of, you’d think he’d be a little more careful.

That, or you and Touya were just too good at your job.

Glancing at you, he took note of your focused gaze, and the fact that you weren’t touching him anymore.

He knew it was his fault for shutting down earlier. You seemed to sense this and backed off from the whole “couple” act. Despite the fact that it was his fault and you were simply trying to respect his unspoken boundaries, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated at you for it. Had he really grown so greedy and entitled to your touch and affection—albeit not genuine—in the span of a day?

All he knew was that his hand felt empty without your fingers laced between his, and that pissed him off.

How dare you give him a taste of this, with every intention to rip it all away from him after the mission was completed. How dare you toy with him like this, making him want you even more than he thought possible.

All your fucking fault.

And partly Toga's too. But he wasn't thinking about her at the moment.

Only you. Always you.

The target stopped before the back door of what looked to be an abandoned warehouse, causing you both to come to a halt. Touya pulled you around the corner the moment the man turned his head to glance around, checking for any observers.

Your back was pressed against his chest, his arm wrapped around your front as he kept his back flush against the brick wall. He didn’t hold himself back from indulging in the moment, breathing in your shampoo and perfume as your warmth and the distinct scent of you permeated through him, making his head feel fuzzy.

Maybe he was imagining things, but he could’ve sworn you leaned back into him, almost as if savoring the fleeting moment as much as he was.

No. He was definitely imagining things.

Once the two of you were sure the coast was clear, you snuck your way over to the abandoned building, checking for any windows that could be used to take a look on the inside.

“Over here!”

Touya turned his head, quickly following your hushed voice to where you stood, a window just above you and a pile of old wooden boards and boxes below it.

He smirked to himself as you struggled to climb on top of it before walking over to you and hoisting you up onto the platform without a word. You gave him a nod as a “thanks” and immediately turned to the window, standing on your toes to peek through the bottom of it.

“He’s meeting with someone. A man in a black suit, but he’s wearing a balaclava,” you whispered, detailing what you were seeing.

“They’re talking…Oh! The man just grabbed a briefcase from behind the box around the corner!”

“Let me guess. It’s filled with money,” Touya muttered flatly, leaning against the wall beside you.

“Yep.”

Touya scoffed, crossing his arms. “Let’s just bust in there already. We have the evidence we nee—”

“Oh shit! Oh fuck!” you whisper-yelled, voice laden with panic and surprise.

“What?!” Touya asked, only to be completely ignored as you leapt off the platform and began running as fast as you could around the corner, headed straight towards the door you saw the man enter through.

Shit.

Touya raced after you, suddenly understanding why you had run as he saw the man in the suit and balaclava bolting down the street a hundred feet ahead of you with the briefcase in hand.

“Y/N! Fall back!” Touya yelled, urging his legs to move faster so he could catch up to you, the cold air prickling his hot skin and blowing back his hair as his hood flew off his head.

The man turned his head, unwavering in his pace, as he reached his hand out behind him and out came a bunch of small blades, whizzing like bullets in your direction. You stumbled backwards, attempting to dodge the blades, and fell hard, hitting the back of your head against the pavement.

Touya’s heart stopped, his stomach dropping between his racing feet as a wave of dread sprawled from his chest to his head, making his ears ring.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!

Not you. Please not you.

Why didn’t he stop you earlier from running? Why wasn’t he faster?

This was all his fault.

It felt like years before he finally reached you, falling to his knees before you, his chest heaving, burning, aching for you.

You were out cold, unresponsive to his hands on you, trying to shake you awake as he scanned you for any serious injuries from the blades.

He would’ve been relieved to find that the blades managed to miss you, besides a few nicks on the surface of your skin, but all he could think about was the fact that you still weren’t waking up.

“Y/N! Wake the fuck up!” he cried out through clenched teeth, trying and failing to keep the panicked tears from welling up in his eyes.

Nothing came from you. No warm smile. No adorable laughter. No gentle touches. No sweet look in your eyes. No teasing remark.

And just like that, he felt like burning the whole world to ash and taking himself down with it.

“Fuck!” he yelled, yanking the mask off his face.

He checked your pulse, but it seemed slower than it should've been.

Or maybe he was simply too out of it to count properly.

Tears fell freely down his cheeks, the intensity of his emotions putting a strain on the staples around his mouth and eyes, causing pain to radiate throughout his face.

But he could barely feel it over the pain he felt in his chest, like his heart was being slowly torn to shreds, bit by bit.

With shaky hands, he pulled out his phone, struggling to find Kurogiri’s contact.

Why the fuck did he never bother to put his number on speed dial?

What the hell was he thinking?

This was all his fault.

Before he could press “call”, he heard a small groan come out of you, his eyes snapping up to you as you scrunched your face slightly in discomfort, your eyes beginning to flutter.

“Fuck. Y/N!”

His phone fell to the pavement as his hands instinctually moved to cradle your face, his touch mimicking the gentleness of your own towards him earlier that day. Every ounce of his being craved you, desperate and pleading for any reminder that you were still with him, that you wouldn't leave him. He was absorbing every micro-expression, movement, sound, and breath coming from you, as if it were the life force that fueled him.

When you finally opened your eyes, he felt like he could breathe again.

“D-Dabi?” you mumbled, your voice a little hoarse.

“Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you,” he whispered, not even bothering to hide the look of pure softness and love in his eyes as he gently grazed his shaky thumbs over your soft cheeks, wiping away the tears of his that fell like droplets of rain onto your skin.

He was filled with an overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude. Nothing else mattered to him in this moment but you.

Your eyes flickered from his eyes to his lips, which remained mere inches from yours, a shaky breath entering your lungs that Touya didn’t miss, snapping him back to reality for a moment.

His eyes were intense with worry and panic as he spoke.

“Are you okay? Are you hurting? How’s your head?”

“Kiss me,” you whispered, quickly causing him to grow quiet.

Touya froze, a blank stare on his face as he tried to process what you had said.

“Huh?”

“Please. Kiss me,” you repeated, your voice soft.

Touya wanted to scoff, but he didn’t have it in him. Clearly, you had a concussion and were talking nonsense.

He scanned your face, your eyes pleading and desperate.

For him.

Who was he to deny you at such a distressing time?

Letting go of any remaining inhibitions, he closed the gap between the two of you, pressing his lips against yours tenderly. Pouring all his feelings into the kiss, he internally melted at the feeling of your lips and the way they moved against his just as fervently.

Forcing himself to pull away, he opened his eyes to meet yours again, noticing the small, warm smile that pulled at your lips.

And just like that, everything was right in his world again.

Well...almost.

He needed to get you somewhere safe, where he could take care of you and make sure no harm ever came your way again.

“C’mon, sweetheart. Let’s get you home,” he said, grabbing his phone before helping you sit up.

You leaned your head against his chest weakly.

“You’re such a good boyfriend,” you mumbled, slurring your words.

Touya let out the smallest huff of laughter. “Yeah…We’ll see what you think when you come outta this hazy state.”

Pressing his phone to his ear, he waited for his cue before speaking.

“Kurogiri. Sent the address. Come get us. Y/N’s hurt.”

“What about ‘don’t fuck this up’ do you not understand?” Shigaraki snarled at Touya, who merely rolled his eyes at him, focusing on his job of carrying your tray of food to your room.

“You got your stupid mole-”

“Yeah, half dead! He’s still in a fucking coma! We’re no closer to finding out who he was working for! He’s just a useless corpse at this point!” Shigaraki stomped after him, scratching incessantly at his neck.

Touya clenched his teeth, letting out a frustrated huff before spinning around to face the red-eyed leader.

“Stop complaining. Doc said he’d wake up soon, didn’t he?”

Shigaraki grumbled to himself, scratching harder at his neck. “It’s taking too long. You do realize that every second we don’t find the fucker that you let get away, the entire League is put in more danger?”

Oh, he could just strangle him. Maybe light his ass up. Turn the crusty prick to ash before he could even think of spewing another disrespectful word at him.

“Y/N almost died trying to catch that bastard,” Touya spoke through his teeth. “If you think I don’t want his head on a stick, you’re sorely mistaken. I’ll find him myself if I have to. But for now, we wait.”

A growl left Shigaraki, his patience thin to none and his stress at an all-time high, if his raw and bleeding neck was anything to show for it.

Touya was seconds away from joining the club.

“We wait,” he repeated. “The ‘useless corpse’ will quickly become a lot more useful once he wakes up. Trust me.”

With that, he turned, continuing to walk the short remaining distance to your room. “Now, fuck off. Y/N doesn’t need to hear this bullshit.”

A scoff could be heard behind him, followed by some angry muttering that Touya didn’t even bother listening to.

All he was focused on was you.

Upon knocking quietly on the door, he heard a different voice instead of your own, granting him access.

Toga stood by your bedside, head facing the door as she locked eyes with Touya, a big knowing smile on her face that made him frown in return.

“You mind? They gotta eat,” he said, trying to get Toga out of the room as soon as possible. The longer she spent in there, the more likely she was to make it weird between the two of you.

Even weirder than it already was.

“Oh! Yep, not at all! See ya later, Y/N! Feel better soon!” She smiled and waved at you before practically skipping out of the room.

Touya rolled his eyes at her childish glee over the two of you being in the same room together.

Shutting the door behind her with his foot, he offered you a small smile as he set the tray of food on your bedside table.

“Need help sitting up?” he asked, and you nodded, still feeling quite weak after all that you'd been through that day.

Without hesitation, he leaned in, wrapping his arms around you and pressing his hands firmly against you as he positioned you upright, placing a pillow behind your back.

He was about to grab your tray when your hand wrapped around his wrist, causing him to look back at you.

“I still mean it, you know.”

Touya’s brows furrowed. “Mean what?”

You smiled. “That you’re a good boyfriend.”

Touya let out a sigh. “Thanks…I guess,” he muttered, before attempting to turn away from you again.

You wouldn’t let him. Tugging him back towards you.

“Just admit it.”

“Doll, if you don’t stop talking in vague little riddles, I’m gonna have to send the doc back in to reevaluate you,” he said, growing slightly frustrated.

“Admit you liked it! Being a couple…”

Dammit. Were you hell bent on embarrassing him to death, or what?

He already cried all over your face and kissed you while you were clearly out of it. If you didn’t stop, he might say something that would ruin what was left of your already shaken friendship.

He couldn’t lose you.

Touya scoffed. "You admit it!"

"Don't turn this around on me! I asked you first!" you said, pointing a finger at him.

"I'm not admitting shit!"

You raised a brow at him. "Oh really?"

"Yeah."

You suddenly grew quiet, the look on your face wavering, almost as if you were...nervous? Unsure?

"Why not?" you asked, your tone lacking the confidence it once held.

Touya was all the more confused, but he quickly shoved it down, along with the rest of his feelings.

He wouldn’t lose you.

"What the fuck does it matter? It was a job, nothing more!" he argued, waving his free arm in the air dramatically, hoping you'd drop it already.

You didn't. Of course, you didn't.

Instead, he watched as your face morphed into that of stubborn determination as you shifted your legs in the bed, fighting through the discomfort and weakness so you could stand up to properly face him, swatting his hands away as he tried to stop you.

“What’re you—Would you stop being so goddamn stubborn! Lie back, right now!” he ordered, to which you merely scoffed.

Touya gave up, allowing you to use his arm to stand up.

“If you try to leave this room, I will throw your ass back in that bed and tie you down,” he threatened lowly.

“Just shut up and look at me,” you commanded.

Touya blinked at you, shocked by your sudden shift in attitude to something far more serious than before.

Your eyes were unreadable, but they held strict contact with his, clearly challenging him. His heart fluttered excitedly in his chest, only frustrating him more.

“Drop the fucking attitude—”

“Touya.”

Shit.

Memories flooded back of him drunkenly telling you his real name and almost confessing his feelings for you shortly after. Even without him asking, you promised not to tell another soul about his true name. But you still knew, and that meant you knew more than anyone else in the entire League knew about him, and for some reason, that deeply frightened him.

He knew it would come to bite him in the ass someday. At least one of his secrets were still kept hidden from you.

It was better that way. For his sake, but mostly yours.

Hearing his real name roll off your tongue sent an immediate shiver down his spine, a mix of emotions rising within him as he remained frozen in place, his eyes watching you with intensity as you moved closer, stopping just inches away from his lips.

He had to remind himself to breathe.

"Just be real with me. Be honest,” you whispered, your breath fanning against his face.

Silence.

As it stretched on, and Touya battled with his own hesitation, your face began to grow more frustrated, until you finally snapped.

"Fine. I'll start."

You inhaled sharply, eyes boring into his as you spoke.

"I lied when I said I didn't overhear what you said the other night to Toga. I heard almost all of it."

Touya’s eyes widened, his face flushing.

"What…"

His brows furrowed as his face quickly evolved into a scowl, hands clenching, even as he continued to allow you to hold onto his arm for balance.

"Why the fuck didn't you just say you overheard me sooner? Why do all of this…teasing and prodding bullshit?"

You responded, but seemed to completely ignore his words. "It's a little cowardly of you, don't you think? And the Dabi I know isn't a coward."

Touya grew quiet.

You were right. He was a coward. If there was one thing he hated about you, it was the fact that you made him act like a damn idiot.

“Well, maybe Touya is,” he spoke softly, the fear seeping out of him as he felt his mask being pried off by you—the same one he’d hidden behind for years up to this point.

You were going to see him for who he really was, and you were going to fall back in disappointment, in disgust.

He didn’t want to lose you.

“Touya—”

“Don’t.”

He let out a shaky breath, keeping his eyes away from you.

“All I wanted was for you to tell me yourself! And every time I tried to give you the chance to, you didn’t take it,” you said quickly before he could interrupt you again.

"Let me guess, you had something to do with Toga's stupid plans?" he spoke flatly.

"Not really, but she did come to me first with the fake couple idea. I thought it was funny, so I agreed. Figured that maybe it'd give you the nudge you needed to stop being a big wimp and fess up already,” you said, attempting to lighten the mood a bit.

Based on the way he snapped his fierce gaze up to you, it was obvious that you had failed.

"Fuck you." He tried to sound angry, but even he wasn't convinced by his performance, internally cringing when he noticed a hint of the amused smile that you were trying your best to hide.

Touya growled in frustration, continuing to speak before you could say anything.

"So is this just a twisted ploy to get me to look like a fool, or do you actually want something more here?"

Your smile grew into a smirk.

"What do you think, hot stuff?”

Touya looked at you incredulously, before his face hardened, eyes filled with anger and hurt. You had to be fucking with him.

"Right. Well, I'm leaving. Glad you got a good laugh."

You grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"Wait! I love you too, okay?!”

Touya paused for a moment, replaying your words over and over before he finally turned around to face you, slowly…hesitantly.

"I never said that I lov—"

"You didn't have to. But you do...don't you?" you interrupted, growing impatient with the back and forth.

Touya shrugged his shoulders, his eyes softening as he looked at you. "The fuck do you think? I'm still here, aren't I?"

"I suppose I'd be incinerated by now if you didn't, right? Considering all my mean teasing and prodding," you said, a playful smile tugging at the corner of your lip.

He let out a dry laugh. "Maybe. Probably."

The air finally felt lighter between the two of you, but it was different than before. Touya considered for a moment that he must be dreaming, still too shocked to comprehend that you really felt the same as he did.

"So, what now?" you asked, your eyes flickering away as you suddenly struggled to hold eye contact with him.

So damn cute.

"You're asking me?" he questioned, brows raised.

"I just need to know if you want this too! You know…if you wanna be my real boyfriend,” you said, clearly flustered and unsure as you looked to him to anchor you to some sense of security.

Touya scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Fuckin’ hell," he cursed, taking a step forward before grabbing your face and pulling your lips to his.

He kissed you just as passionately as the time before, but this time the kiss felt more confident, more assured.

He was less gentle as well, grabbing your waist and pulling you flush against him as he continued to kiss you with everything he had, smirking against your lips when you let out a gasp in response to his actions.

For once, Touya was dropping the mask and allowing you to see his feelings for you in all their messy, stupid, lovesick glory. And for once, he felt confident about one thing…

He’d never lose you.

You’d already seen this much of him, and you hadn’t so much as flinched at the sight. Instead, you were diving right in, clinging to him for more.

He’d be damned if he were to ever let you slip away.

Your lips chased after his when he pulled back, eliciting a light chuckle from Touya as his eyes met yours again.

"Does that answer your question?" he spoke softly, so as not to disturb the delicate moment.

You nodded, still unable to speak. The way you pulled at his shirt told him all he needed to know as he leaned in again to press his lips against yours.

With his heart laid bare before you, he felt terrified, yet more free than he'd ever felt before. Knowing he had you to himself, your lips, your touch, your love, soothed any fears that managed to come up. He was melting into you, becoming softer for you, and he didn't regret it one bit.

“Are you guys making out yet?!” Toga’s voice rang from behind the door.

Touya groaned as he pulled away from you slightly, turning to yell at the door.

“What did I tell you about privacy, brat?!”

A girlish giggle, followed by the quick patters of her footsteps echoed down the hall.

He turned to find you giggling too.

“Look what you’ve encouraged!” he playfully scolded.

You laughed harder in response, grasping onto his shirt once you began to grow dizzy.

Touya clicked his tongue and shook his head, his hold growing tighter around you to protect you from falling over.

“Alright, that’s enough.”

He lifted you up before you could say a word and carefully placed you back into bed, letting out a sigh as he pulled away.

"You better hurry up and get un-concussed soon,” he said.

Holding a hand on one side of your aching head, you looked up at him with a pout. "Why?"

Touya smirked, leaning in to press his forehead against yours, blue eyes sparkling with affection as he looked into yours.

"So I can take you out on a real date."

Touya/Dabi Masterlist Main Masterlist

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[inseparabiles]

Another thing that haunts me:

we don't know the exact age of Geta and Caracalla, but they're somewhere in their early twenties - I place them squarely at 25 myself but this is based on nothing but vibes and an actor age/portrayal impression average. In ancient Rome, a boy became a youth around the age of 14, when he could don the toga virilis for the first time - but that did not make him a man. He'd still be under his father's, or other guardian's, authority and had only nominal privileges and responsibilities when compared to a child. But he'd have more freedom than he did before, to allow him the experiences he needs as he grows into a man.

After becoming a youth, a boy, with his new-found freedoms, was expected to participate in traditionally masculine behaviours that were simultaneously regarded as beneath fully-grown men, in essence, vices: fighting, gratuitous sex with little attachments, all sorts of things we still today associate with unruly teenagers, but this was an era of passage in which doing these things would prepare you for manhood and teach you things about life that you needed to have before you become a man. The youth would remain this way until marriage or about his mid-20s, which would likely be occurring around the same time. It was only at that point a boy would formally be recognised as an adult, and stop being a child/youth/less than a full member of his society, and be free of guardianship with full authority over themselves and their own decisions and choices.

However, upon reaching this milestone, this youth who'd now become a man was also expected to leave his juvenile behaviours into his past.

You... see where I'm heading with this?

In their culture, Geta and Caracalla aren't even men yet, if not for the sole reason that their father has passed and left them each the title of Emperor. They're just teenagers. Literally, in their society, these are youths, not full-grown men, and they're acting the part. To the dismay of all who, against their own framework, expect them to understand and heed the fact that they are now supposed to behave as men, as adults. But they're not. Not yet. They never had the chance to make this transition: we don't even know if they had the chance to be youths at all, under how their father was raising them.

Emperors and their families, after all, for many reasons, were not much unlike prisoners in their palace - they could not just go out there and mingle with others, for the very real fear of assassination. Geta and Caracalla may have nominally and by ritual become youths at some point in their life, around the usual timeframe no doubt, but did they ever before their father's passing have the chance to act as anything but children? Were they denied this phase of transition in their lives altogether?

Imagine: you are a child, and you are not allowed to become a teenager. Your body and mind go through these changes, but socially, you will never be allowed to be more than quiet in the corner, dismissed from new responsibilities because you are not trusted to bear them, and just as much you are barred from learning your boundaries as pushing them will only have you face ruthless violence. And then the person who has held you back from your future dies - but now, you are meant to be an adult.

Will you simply be an adult then? Will you even know what that means? Or will you become exactly what Geta and Caracalla become.

[scary-grace]

Enough to Go By (Chapter 19) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Your best friend vanished on the same night his family was murdered, and even though the world forgot about him, you never did. When a chance encounter brings you back into contact with Shimura Tenko, you'll do anything to make sure you don't lose him again. Keep his secrets? Sure. Aid the League of Villains? Of course. Sacrifice everything? You would - but as the battle between the League of Villains and hero society unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is far more than you or anyone else imagined it would be. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Chapter 19

“I still don’t get it,” Twice says. “What happened?”

You could ask the same question, and you have. You and the rest of the League are in Tomura’s hospital room, trying to piece together the chain of events that occurred in Deika City, and you can’t agree on anything. Everybody has gaps in their timeline, things they weren’t there for or were unconscious during or simply disagree on, as you and Dabi discover when you mention that you shot at his opponent to disorient them and he insists that he didn’t need any fucking help. “Why do we need to know what happened at all?” Tomura asks. He’s awake but fairly high on painkillers, and you can tell that all he wants is for everybody to shut up so he can go back to sleep. “We won. That’s it.”

“It almost wasn’t a win,” Spinner says. You and he are in agreement on that, at least. “If it wasn’t for Saintess’s quirk –”

“I can’t believe you have a quirk now!” Toga hugs you, then winces. “Ow. It’s the perfect quirk for you! Don’t you like it?”

“Spinner’s right. Our strategy was shit,” Dabi says. “We got split up. If we hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been stuck handling the ice bitch on my own.”

“You weren’t on your own,” Compress points out. “Saintess and I assisted you.”

“Fuck off.”

“I agree with Spinner. And with Dabi.” You add the last part only grudgingly. “We took way too much damage. That might not have happened if we’d stuck together.”

“We sort of stuck together!” Twice says. “I stuck us together with my ultimate attack! I’m calling it ‘Sad Man’s Parade’, because I was sad when I did it. But I’m not sad now!”

“We couldn’t have won without you,” Tomura says. Twice is pretty obviously beaming behind his mask. “All of you were important to the victory. But –”

He tries to sit up, grimaces. You slide one hand behind his back to support him while you adjust the bed, but then he leans against you instead of leaning back. You’re not exactly going to push him away, and he doesn’t speak up again. “But like I said,” Spinner says, filling in, “you’d have been dead if Saintess didn’t have a quirk.”

“And if she didn’t love you so much,” Toga says, elbowing you in the ribs until you wince. “I’m so glad you have a love quirk, too!”

You’re not sure you’d classify your quirk or Toga’s as a love quirk. You’re not sure how you’d classify your quirk, period, but you don’t hate having it. You’re grateful that you have it. Grateful doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Nobody’s looked into your quirk very much, except for someone whose quirk lets them detect quirks who confirmed that you have one, and so far all that’s changed is that the members of the MLA are much nicer to you than they would have been otherwise. Re-Destro in particular is a fan of yours – he admires loyalty, he says, and the fact that you took the time to help him too doesn’t hurt. For your part, you hate him. You’re not going to forget what he did to Tomura, and you know he’s only treating you well because you didn’t turn out to be quirkless after all, but you keep that under wraps. Even with your quirk, in most situations, your other skills still matter more.

But not in this one. In this one, with Tomura in a hospital bed and your quirk somehow helping him heal, your quirk is the only thing that matters.

“The doctor is coming here,” Compress says. He’s the only person who survived the fight with his earpiece intact – Tomura, Twice, Spinner, and Toga all lost theirs, Dabi claims he lost his but probably torched it instead, and you winged yours at the floor and crushed it midway through one of Tomura’s surgeries because the doctor wouldn’t shut up about your quirk. “He wants to discuss next steps, and to investigate Saintess’s quirk for himself.”

“Next steps for what? We don’t need him anymore.”

That comes from Tomura, and it’s a surprise to everybody. “What is that supposed to mean?” Dabi asks. “He’s the one who makes the Nomus.”

“We’ve got an army. We don’t need them.” Tomura’s refusing to open his eyes, and you’d believe he’s falling asleep if you couldn’t feel how tense he is. “We don’t need his money, either, and Gigantomachia follows me now. He can go to hell.”

“We should hear him out, at least. Don’t you think?” Compress ventures. “More power couldn’t hurt.”

“Yeah, if he can give us more stuff, we should take it,” Spinner agrees, glancing warily between you and Tomura – like this might be your idea, instead of right now being the first time you’ve heard anything about it. “Let’s hear him out.”

“Whatever.” Tomura finally quits leaning against you and flops back against the bed. “Did you all figure out what happened yet?”

Compress turns back to the whiteboard you’ve all been using to create a timeline – or timelines. There are seven markers, seven different colors of ink. One for each of you. “At the start of the rest period, we received the threat from the Meta Liberation Army, as well as the news that they’d kidnapped Giran. Shigaraki, you came up with the plan to use the MLA against Gigantomachia, and the doctor transported all of us –”

“Almost all of us,” Toga corrects, patting your arm lightly.

“Almost all of us to the outskirts of Deika City,” Compress continues. “We enter the city, split up, and engage the MLA sources. Toga and Twice are initially fighting alone, while Dabi and I and Spinner and Shigaraki proceed separately. Dabi and I meet resistance in the form of Geten – ”

“Ice bitch.”

“If you must,” Compress says, and Twice snorts. “Spinner and Shigaraki also meet resistance, but for the time being, they make progress. And at some point while all of us are fighting, the doctor transports Saintess to the outskirts of the city and sends her in to support us.”

Spinner looks confused. “Wait, was that before or after the Sad Man’s Parade?”

“Before,” you say. “I took a few shots at the – um, Ice Bitch –”

“You fucking didn’t.”

“I missed,” you say. “Then I chased after Spinner and Tomura, and that was when the Sad Man’s Parade happened. One of Twice’s clones caught me.”

“Really?” Twice asks. “What happened to it?”

“It tried to take me out of the city,” you say. “I – sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Twice says magnanimously. He reaches across Tomura’s hospital bed to pat your arm. “Anyway, that was after I rescued Toga –”

“Which was after I beat the one they sent after me,” Toga says. “I used Ochako’s blood – and if I love somebody enough, I can use their quirk, too! I love having a love quirk!”

She’s hugging you again. Compress is making a few edits to the timelines to accurately mark the Sad Man’s Parade. “Toga’s injuries remove her from the fight. Twice sends clones to aid Spinner and Shigaraki, and Saintess pursues them as well. Shigaraki, and the clones head to the tower where Re-Destro and Skeptic are waiting for them, but Spinner is held up, and Saintess aids him.”

“By murking a guy,” Spinner says. He still looks surprised. “It was nuts.”

“So you finally got your hands dirty,” Dabi remarks. He gives you an appraising look. “Took you long enough. Compress. Put it on the timeline.”

“As what?”

Dabi’s smirking. “Baby’s first kill.”

“Fuck off,” Tomura mutters. He hasn’t opened his eyes. “Twice cloned me, Dabi, and Compress and sent the clones ahead to the tower to draw fire and rescue Giran. I brought the tower down when I got there. Then I beat Re-Destro and took over his army. That’s it.”

“We’re missing a few things,” Compress says, and Tomura snarls under his breath. “Gigantomachia’s arrival, for one. He drew the remaining MLA members’ attention quite successfully and prevented them from assisting Re-Destro against you. You also received some backup from your sidekick during the fight.”

“I didn’t do very much,” you say. “I was there, I guess. Once Tomura’s quirk awakened he didn’t need backup from anyone.”

Compress makes a few adjustments to the timelines. “There. Are we all in agreement?” It’s quiet for a second. “I think we can agree that some errors were made.”

“We had two seconds to plan,” Tomura says. “It could have been worse.”

Spinner gives him an incredulous look. “How?”

“I’m tired,” Tomura says, instead of answering. “Get out. Figure out what went wrong and how to fix it if you want, but do it somewhere else.”

He’s in a bad mood, worse than he’s been since he woke up, and you’re not sure why. Nobody else seems concerned as to why, either – instead they get up and head for the door, Compress carrying the whiteboard and all the markers. As the door shuts behind them, you can hear them discussing lunch. Specifically, what fancy food they’re going to order on Re-Destro’s dime. Most of them have been having real meals only sporadically. Whatever they choose, you hope they order the entire menu.

But Tomura hasn’t said if he wants you to stay. You try to get to your feet, but Tomura catches your sleeve between the two remaining fingers on his left hand and pulls lightly. Lightly is all he can manage right now. “Not you.”

“Okay.” You sit down at the edge of the bed again. “I just wanted to check.”

“Never you.” Tomura pulls weakly at your sleeve again. “Closer.”

“I don’t think closer will make any difference with my quirk.”

Tomura gives you a look. It’s obscured a bit by the bandages on his face, but it’s unmistakably irritated. “It’s not for your quirk,” he says. “I need to touch my girlfriend.”

“But not your sidekick.”

“Shut up.” Tomura yanks at your sleeve a third time. “Come here.”

You kick off your shoes and settle into the limited space available on the bed, kicking yourself for hesitating for even a second. You shouldn’t give Tomura a hard time. He’s been through hell. But you weren’t giving him a hard time on purpose, you don’t think. You’ve got your own reasons. They’re stupid, but you have them.

And even when he’s doped up on painkillers, Tenko can guess them, because he knows you better than anyone. “It’s not for your quirk,” he says. He’s grimacing as he shuffles on the bed, trying to get closer and comfortable at the same time. “Don’t be stupid. I love you. Nothing’s changed.”

“Everything’s changed.” You close your eyes.

“Not us.” Tenko sounds sure. He’s never anything but sure when it comes to the two of you, and it’s sort of a relief. “Never us.”

“Okay.” You turn your head to kiss his shoulder lightly. It’s one of the only places on his body that’s not bandaged. “I love you, too. Get some rest.”

The two of you are quiet, but you know Tenko isn’t asleep, and you haven’t slept in days yourself. You should be able to sleep, but you can’t, and if neither of you are asleep, you have questions. “Why don’t you want the doctor’s help anymore?”

“I don’t need it.”

“That’s not the only reason,” you say. Tenko makes a dissatisfied sound. “Tell me.”

“He betrayed me.” Tenko’s voice is cold, furious, even through a layer of narcotics. “I told him to keep you away. I said I didn’t want you anywhere near it. He sent you right into the middle of it with a gun –”

“I got the gun on my own,” you say. “I’ve been practicing.”

“You should never have been there.” Tenko’s heart is beating faster. You set your hand on his chest, over his heart, as if you can slow it down on your own. “There’s no point to it if you die.”

Your stomach lurches. “Don’t say that.”

“You say it all the time,” Tenko says. “You said you don’t want to be in the new world unless I’m in it with you. How is what I said any different?”

It’s not. You want it to be, but it’s not – it’s just a different phrasing of the same sentiment. You let it stand. “I needed to be there,” you say. “If I hadn’t been, you’d have died.”

“He didn’t send you in there for me.” Tenko twists awkwardly, trying to get closer to you. “He was trying to wake up your quirk.”

You’d guessed, sort of. Based on all the yammering he was doing while you were trying to keep your quirk active during Tenko’s surgeries, this outcome is the one he was hoping for when he sent you into the middle of the fight between the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army. The League got four quirk awakenings for the price of one battle with the clash in Deika City – Toga’s ability to use the quirks of those she changes into, Twice’s ability to create infinite clones, Tenko’s ability to spread Decay like a virus, and your ability to keep Tenko alive. The doctor must be thrilled. No wonder he’s coming here.

“He betrayed me,” Tenko says again. “I don’t want him anywhere near us. If he comes here I’ll – damn it –”

He hisses with pain. How long has it been since his last painkiller dose? You sit up and nudge the pain-relief button within Tenko’s reach. He shakes his head. “I don’t need it.”

“You need to sleep. It’ll be harder to sleep if you’re in pain.” You look him over, taking in the awful things that have been done to him, and feel another awkward, terrible stab of gratitude for your quirk. Your greatest fear is losing him again, but your quirk made sure you wouldn’t have to. “If you won’t do it for you, for me? I won’t sleep well if I know you’re hurting.”

“Do you even sleep anymore?” Tenko somehow manages to look skeptical. “You look like hell. Pretty. But like hell.”

You sit there with that for a second. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever called me pretty.”

“I said it before. When we were kids.” Tenko presses the pain-relief button three times in a row. “You can’t say it’s just the meds talking.”

You weren’t going to say that. You settle in next to Tenko again, wrapping your arms gingerly around him to avoid any more thrashing around on his part. “Get some rest, okay?”

“Tell me about it.”

“Hmm?”

“The new world.” Tenko’s voice is fuzzy already. “Your stories are always better than mine.”

The new world isn’t just a story. You almost correct him before you remember that the two of you are living in one of your childhood stories right now, that you’ve taken it and made it real. Maybe this is how you’ll convince Tenko, how you’ll make him see what you see, make him follow you. There are worse ways to do it. A lot of them.

“The new world,” you start. “Okay. If it’s a totally blank slate – all the cities and everything are gone – we’ll need somewhere to live, first of all. And humans are social creatures. We survive by helping each other. That’s how it’s supposed to be in this world, but it isn’t, so in the new world, that’s how we’ll do things. We’ll need somewhere to live, and we’ll need people we want to live near, so we can work together and start to build something new.”

“What if I don’t get rid of everything?”

You were hoping he’d say that. “Then we’ll find somewhere to fix up.”

Tenko’s voice is blurry with sleep and painkillers, but you can still hear the concern. “I don’t know how to fix things.”

“That’s okay.” You kiss his shoulder and huddle close to him. “I love you. And I do.”

It takes a few more days for the question of your quirk to come up in earnest, a few more days of Tenko healing markedly faster than he should be healing, a few more days of you barely leaving his side. When you do leave, it’s not by choice – it happens when four days without sleep catch up to you and you pass out in the middle of a strategy discussion being held in Tomura’s hospital room. And when you leave, you don’t go far. You wake up in a dark, quiet room in clean clothes and on a soft bed, with an IV taped down to the back of your hand.

You sit up so fast that your head spins, but you still manage to rip the needle out. In the darkness, someone tsks at you. “Fluids, my dear. You’re in dire need of rehydration.”

The doctor. “Where’s Tomura?” you demand.

“In his hospital room, asleep,” the doctor says. “It’s an ideal time to conduct some tests of your quirk – namely, whether distance is a factor in its efficacy.”

Oh. “How much distance?”

“Currently, the opposite end of the hospital,” the doctor says. “I’ve spoken to Shigaraki’s doctors, to Twice and Spinner, to Re-Destro, and to the medics who were in the helicopter with you. I’ve also conducted research into your family tree. Shall I tell you what I’ve already learned about your quirk?”

You want to tell him that you don’t care about your quirk, but you can’t say that – not when your quirk is part of the reason Tomura’s still alive. And you have to find out what your quirk can actually do. “Yes.”

“I fault myself, truly, for not guessing sooner,” the doctor says, instead of saying anything useful. Your eyes are adjusting to the darkness, and you can see him bustling around, outlined in the glow from three computer screens. “I looked into your immediate family, but there was another family member – one whose quirk also broke late, and one whose quirk is directly tied to the biochemical reaction we call love. Your cousin, Aiba Manami, also known as La Brava. I understand you visited her in jail the day of the battle. Did you discuss your quirk?”

“No,” you say. The doctor tsks again. “We didn’t. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mm, I suppose you’re right – based on the video from the visitation room, neither of you discussed quirks directly.” The doctor taps something on one of the screens, and it brightens suddenly, but his body blocks your view. “But it’s clear to me that your cousin guessed the mechanism by which your quirk functions, if nothing else. It’s why she prevented you from saying the words until – what was it that she said? Until it counts. You certainly did that. However –”

A machine beeps in the darkness. The doctor talks over it. “Circumstantial evidence suggests that neither the repetition of the statement in the presence of the object of your affection nor your proximity to the object of your affection affects the functioning of your quirk.”

That’s a lot of words at once, and although you were following for a while, you’re starting to get dizzy. “Say again?”

“Thus far, your quirk differs from your cousin’s in two important capacities,” the doctor says. “The first is the effect. While your cousin’s quirk provides a significant boost to the speed and power of her loved one, your quirk provides a slight acceleration of your loved one’s natural healing abilities.”

“How slight?”

“On a day to day basis, unnoticeable,” the doctor says. “The more significant the damage is, the more obvious the accelerated healing becomes. Which leads me to the second difference between your cousin’s quirk and yours: Duration. While La Brava’s quirk lasts for a discrete period of time, and can be activated only once per day, it would seem that your quirk, once activated, does not switch off.”

“That’s how it works in my side of the family,” you say. The doctor looks at you. The light from the screens reflects off his glasses, rendering him completely opaque. “Your quirk is active from when you’re born until you learn to –”

You trail off. “The biochemical reaction known as love isn’t something that can be switched on and off,” the doctor says. “I separated you from Shigaraki four hours ago. Those who were in the meeting you collapsed during were able to confirm that you had not told Shigaraki you loved him since the meeting began two hours previously. That makes six hours without the trigger phrase, four hours of which you spent physically separated from him, and during that time, the accelerated healing has not faltered.”

“So it doesn’t matter if I’m physically with him, or if I’ve said it recently,” you say slowly. “The first time I said it was all it needed. And it’ll stay active –”

“Unless your feelings for Shigaraki change. And I suspect they won’t,” the doctor says. He chuckles quietly. “You’ve been loyal to him for most of your life, after all. Why stop now?”

Even confused as you are, the jolt of foreboding knocks the air out of your lungs. “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t play coy, dear. That act worked when you were a civilian, but now no one will believe you’re that naive.” The doctor bends to investigate something on one of the screens. “It took me a while to piece it together, of course – it seems your perceived quirklessness clouded my vision, too – but once I looked into your background, it became clear. You are perhaps the last remaining person who knew Shigaraki Tomura before he became Shigaraki Tomura. Tell me – did you doubt yourself at all upon learning what he had become?”

What, not who. The doctor doesn’t see Tomura as a person, not the way you do, and now he’s waiting for your answer about something he clearly doesn’t understand. “No,” you say. You were doomed from the moment you saw him again. His return disrupted your life the same as his disappearance did, only this time, he’s with you. You were never going to let him go. “Never.”

“Remarkable,” the doctor says. You can see that he’s smiling. “Every Symbol of Fear needs one servant who’s loyal above all others, who serves him above all others, who does something for him that no one else could. Shigaraki’s master has me. Shigaraki has you.”

The idea of an equivalence between you and the doctor makes your skin crawl, the same as the idea that Tomura and his master are the same. They aren’t. You knew him before. They aren’t the same at all. “What could you do for Tomura’s master that no one else can?”

“Why, keep him alive, of course!”

“You have a healing quirk?”

“Precision of language. If I had a healing quirk, do you think I’d be a doctor?” The doctor clucks his tongue. It’s almost as irritating as the tsking. “No, my quirk is called Life-force. It allows the wielder to live twice an ordinary human lifespan. I offered this quirk to him, along with my service, and he accepted. The quirk I have currently is a copy of the original. I’d copy yours, but – mm. The emotional component makes it fairly useless to anyone other than yourself.”

Even when you have a quirk, you can’t escape being called useless. You grit your teeth. “We’ll need to conduct some further tests, but those can wait until Shigaraki has healed completely,” the doctor says. “In the meantime, we’ll need a name for your quirk. Initially, I thought that Devotion might be appropriate –”

“Does it need a name?” you interrupt. “All that matters is what it does.”

“But Shigaraki has many devoted followers,” the doctor says, ignoring you. “For loyalty like yours, something a little stronger is needed. I’ll think of something. Have a look at this.”

You get slowly to your feet, fighting dizziness, and come to peer at the screens. “This is a computer simulation of the natural course of Shigaraki’s injuries – what would have happened without the application of your quirk. Dire, isn’t it?”

Dire doesn’t begin to cover it. You see the same things unfold that the medic predicted. ATC, a rapid increase in internal bleeding, the slowing of his heart, the ceasing of his brain function as it’s deprived of blood and oxygen. Death within minutes. The doctor restarts the simulation, then runs a second one alongside it. This one, you recognize. It’s the same starting point, with your quirk added to the picture. No ATC. No deprivation of oxygen to the brain. His heart rate and breathing are unstable, courtesy of the damage, but as the simulation cycles through each successive scan, you can see the lacerations to his organs healing. You can see your quirk in action, keeping Tomura alive, long after the other simulation’s gone dark.

“That’s what your quirk is capable of, with nothing but Shigaraki’s natural healing factor to work with,” the doctor says. “I think we can all do better than that, don’t you?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will,” the doctor says. Something on the screen beeps. “Ah, Shigaraki is awake –and it appears he’s very unhappy with me. Best hurry along, dear. I’ll be in touch.”

You get lost on your way back to Tomura’s room, but a nurse points you in the right direction, and you get back in the middle of Spinner and Compress trying desperately to get Tomura to sit down – or at least to use his crutches if he’s going to tear off looking for you. Spinner spots you first, and it’s clear he’s relieved. “She’s back,” he says. “She’s fine. The doctor didn’t do anything to her.”

Tomura looks you up and down, not relieved yet. “What happened to your hand?”

“He put an IV in for fluids. I took it out when I woke up.” You might need to ask somebody to put in another one. You are really dehydrated. And hungry. And tired. “Everything’s fine. Get back in bed.

“If he thinks he can just kidnap you –”

“I took a nap for a few hours and he told me some more about my quirk,” you say. “That’s it.”

Tomura finally stops trying to stand up and walk. He sprawls back out in the bed, broken leg hanging off in a position that looks agonizing until you nudge past Spinner and lift it back onto the bed. He looks up at you. “What did he say about your quirk?”

“It’s sort of like my cousin’s,” you say. “In how it activates, anyway. It does something different – it makes you heal faster instead of powering you up – and the effect isn’t as pronounced as hers is.”

“Doesn’t your cousin’s quirk have a time limit?” Spinner asks. “What’s the time limit on yours?”

“It, um – it looks like there isn’t one,” you say awkwardly. “Once it switches on, it doesn’t switch off.”

“Weird,” Spinner says after a second. “Emitter-type quirks don’t usually stay on all the time.”

You wouldn’t know. You don’t think about quirks a lot – but Tomura does, and he’s got a weird look on his face. “What’s it costing you?”

“Hmm?”

“Your cousin’s quirk doesn’t cost her anything. The physical cost comes from the person she’s powering up,” Tomura says. “Most healing quirks use the energy of the person who’s being healed, which is why they have limits. Yours didn’t cost me or I would have died. What’s it costing you?”

“Not anything,” you say. “I don’t feel any different than usual.”

You don’t. Really. You’ve asked yourself the question – you remember Spinner saying something forever ago about how healing quirks take tons of mana – but you can’t think of anything that’s changed. You haven’t been able to sleep, sure, but you’ve been having problems with sleeping ever since Kamino. The issues you can think of can all be attributed to other things. If healing Tomura was draining your energy, wouldn’t you have been exhausted way before you passed out in a strategy session? “I don’t think there’s a cost to it,” you say again, settling down on the edge of Tomura’s bed. You’ve barely moved from this spot in days. “Did I miss anything from that meeting?”

“Nah, it broke up when you passed out,” Spinner says. “Honestly, we all thought you faked it to get us out of there. It was just Skeptic and what’s-his-name complaining that we aren’t committed enough to the cause.”

“Even if I didn’t fake it, I’m glad it helped,” you say. “They really had a whole meeting just to tell you guys you aren’t liberating hard enough?”

“No shit we aren’t. Their cause is bullshit. They want the same thing the heroes want, except with them on top.” It must have been a while since Tomura hit the pain-relief button. He’s in a really bad mood again. “The whole thing’s coming down. That includes them if they get in my way.”

“Maybe keep that part quiet for now,” you suggest. Spinner snorts. “This is just the same plan from before, right? Letting your enemies destroy each other and finishing the job when they’re too tired to keep fighting.”

Now that you think about it, that’s sort of Tomura’s MO – keeping to the shadows while his enemies duke it out, then stepping in to deal the final blow and stealing whatever they were fighting for. He did it with Stain, stealing Stain’s reputation to burnish the League’s after Stain showed up the heroes and was captured. He did it again with Overhaul and the heroes, and again with Gigantomachia and the MLA. It’s the right strategy for that kind of fight, one where you know you don’t have the brute force to win, but it’s not a strategy someone with a quirk as powerful as Tomura’s would jump to. Even after battling Gigantomachia for two months and defeating Re-Destro, Tomura still doesn’t fight like a supervillain. He fights like he’s quirkless. Just like you do. Just like you did.

You don’t see a problem with it. Spinner looks like he does. “We shouldn’t keep using the same plan.”

“We’ll keep using it as long as it keeps working,” Tomura says. He glances up at you, half a smirk on his face. “Just like your dumb jokes.”

“That was our old strategy,” you say, straightfaced. “If you can’t beat them, make them unfuckable instead.”

Tomura laughs, then grimaces as the motion strains his stitches. You haven’t heard him laugh in a while, and you feel better instantly – but at the same time, you’re conscious of Spinner staring, shocked. Has he really never heard Tomura laugh before? Is the difference between the person you love and the person the rest of the League knows really that big? No, you decide, they just aren’t used to him yet. And they’ve got a little time to get used to him. He’s who they’ll be living with in the new world, and although you’re closer to it than you’ve ever been, it’s still a long way away.

But you can help with the getting-used-to-it thing. “I mean, our track record is incredible,” you say. “We started off with All Might – hook a scarecrow up with a skeleton, and that’s what the whole society of potential All Might fuckers have to cope with now –”

Tomura is wheezing now. “And you’d think we couldn’t top that, but we’re not quitters,” you continue. That gets Spinner. He laughs a little bit, so you turn up the heat. “Plus Ultra, right? Overhaul was already pretty unfuckable, so the fact that we made it even worse really says something about our skills. And now we’ve got these guys, who – I’m sorry. Do we really think Skeptic gets laid?”

You have a feeling Skeptic is watching this from any one of his five million security cameras, but he already hates you for killing the other MLA lieutenant, so it doesn’t matter. The fact that Spinner and Tomura are both laughing now matters more, and you hear Compress chuckle quietly behind his mask. “I’d say our record’s perfect,” you finish. “The real question is where we go from here. Who do we have left?”

“Endeavor,” Spinner says. “But I don’t think he needs our help.”

Now you’re cackling – cackling, and thinking of Hirono, who one hundred percent thought Endeavor was fuckable. Hirono, who you miss. Just like you miss your friends. Just like part of you will always miss your boring, safe, normal life. “So we’re out of people to turn unfuckable,” Tomura decides. “I guess we just have to build the new world.”

The leap in logic is way too much for you. You burst out laughing, doubled over in a way that makes your bruised ribs ache, tears streaming down your face, and you try your hardest to imagine a new world. One that’s not like this one. One that’s full of things you like, just like Toga wants it to be. One where people like you and Spinner don’t have to be scared. One where people aren’t thrown away, one where the presence of heroes doesn’t give everyone else the ability to turn a blind eye to people who are being hurt in ways that can’t be solved by punching someone in the face. One where you and Tomura can be together, where there’s nothing left that he wants to destroy.

It’s a good world. A dream worth fighting for. But for the moment, while your new friends laugh and you struggle not to cry for the friends you lost, all you can think about is what’s already been left behind.

[sanjoongie]

ȶɦɛ ʄɨռǟʟ ɖǟʏ օʄ ʄǟȶɛ

🍷my submission for the Permevent for @cultofdionysusnet

🍷Pairing: Jung Wooyoung x Reader (f), side character Choi Jongho

🍷Genre: smut

🍷Au: cult au, party au

🍷Trope: god/worshipper, (slight e2l with Jongho)

🍷Rating: 18+, MDNI

🍷Word Count: 3,067

🍷Warnings: Drinking! (it is the cult of dionysus after all). The reader and wooyoung do not get drunk. there is NO drunk sex without consent. mentions of toys (m), usage of toys (f), masturbation (jongho is the object of desire for this), exhibitionism, public sex, voyeurism, shower sex, 69, slight manhandling

🍷Summary: During your initiation into the cult of dionysus, you find your rival Jongho there. You also find Wooyoung, the host aka Dionysus. Who knows what kind of debauchery you could get into?

🍷Author's note: This is my final submission for a cultofdionysusnet event. Today is my last day as a founding admin and member of the net. Once upon a time, a net rejected me because of my age. Rie and Ki came together with myself so that we could make a net that had no age cap. Although I will no longer be a part of the net, I will always appreciate what was done for me. I wish my members a muse filled writing life. This is my final sign off as admin Atropos Topaz 💞🍷

🍷divider provided by @cafekitsune

It had taken you years, a few books, and a signing tour but you had finally made it: you were an initiate to the Cult of Dionysus. The prestigious club, extremely elusive and exclusive, had only the most established creatives of our current decade as members. And now that included you.

You had received a burgundy and gold invitation at your abode one night and you squealed loudly. It had simply a location on the card, which was a vineyard in Greece. You even bought a white toga-like dress to wear to the function. You could only imagine the debauched devilry that this gathering was going to include. Besides, being able to rub elbows with some of the most elite minds, of course.

You had heard rumors, who hadn't? In your line of profession, there were always whispers of the best of the best being tapped for a club and then their star shooting even further in their respective profession. Last year, you had been jealous when another author had a huge publishing house offer them a contract, only to find out it was because of their connections with the Cult of Dionysus.

Now it was your turn to shine bright and get everything your greedy heart desired.

What you had not expected, when you arrived at the function and were given a bag of liquid by a gold-painted, naked server, was to be walking down an aisle of the vineyard with a… dildo. You slung the wineskin around your shoulder as if it was a purse with a strap and entered the backyard of the villa that hosted the vineyard.

“Bacchanalia has been banned since 186 BC but that has never stopped our people from indulging despite society trying to restrict us.”

The current ‘Dionysus’, as the host of the current Bacchanalia was so fondly called, was Jung Wooyoung. The famous playwright, dressed in all black like he was rebelling against the white attire of the remainder of the members, swung his arms out open as he spoke.

“That is exactly why we still retain some of our predecessors' rituals,” Wooyoung paused for dramatic effect. “Like the phallic procession.”

Excited murmurs rippled through the crowd. Wooyoung grinned in excitement, “How could we be the Cult of Dionysus without the orgies, right my friends?”

Some more hoots came from the crowd in response.

More gold-painted servers came around with a tray of dildos. You were about to pick up a tentacled one when another hand grabbed it. You went to glare at the owner of said hand and sighed.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Jongho drawled.

Choi Jongho, another author, and your direct competition, was the last person you wanted to see here. “How about we pretend to not know each other.”

Jongho snorted. “Fine by me.”

You instead grabbed a bright neon blue dildo from the tray. Goddamn Choi Jongho.

“We will begin the phallic procession and it will be followed by a drinking contest amongst our initiates. The wineskin that you have been given upon entering will be what you will be chugging down.” Wooyoung chuckled deeply at the next part. “Whoever loses the drinking contest will be giving us a private showing of their talents with their chosen dildo. We all remember San’s performance last year, right?”

Choi San, a well-known new age poet, looked down at the ground and dug his toe in the ground. Imagery of the sharp eyes and even sharper cheek boned man bouncing on a dildo in front of a crowd raced through your mind. You had to chase it away, so you could focus back on Wooyoung and what he was saying.

“If all our initiates would please make their way to the vineyard, we can begin the procession, initiates last.”

You thought you might feel weird holding a dildo by its base with your hand bracing it and your other hand wrapped around it, but there was something about the solidarity and silence of the almost ritual-like moment that changed your mind. The stars in the sky shone brightly. Grapes hung heavy from the vines. You truly felt like you were becoming an initiate of the cult of old; as if you truly stepped from the vineyard and would find yourself in Ancient Greece.

You were a member of this illustrious group now and you planned on drinking up every moment, no pun intended.

At the end of the vineyard, the current members were all gathered in a rough semicircle that closed when all the initiates finished their procession. The initiates and yourself stood in a line.

Wooyoung clapped to get everyone’s attention, standing at the apex of the circle of people. “You can put your phallic instruments down and let the drinking game begin.”

Servers placed trays in front of you, so as to not dirty up the dildos, and then everyone took the wineskins in their hands. You unpopped the cork and looked down the line on either side of you. Jongho was a few people down from you and he was already smirking. The man could drink his weight in alcohol and still hold his own, so he knew he wasn’t going to lose.

What you didn’t think he understood was that to lose this game was to win. Clearly all the members had been impressed by San’s performance last year. You knew this because the poet had had an amazing year after his initiation to the cult. You had originally thought it was just because of his entrance to the cult but you were sure now it was because of what he did during his initiation that gained him so much prestige.

So you had made a decision: you were deliberately going to lose the game.

“Ready?” Wooyoung announced with a gleam in his eye, holding his hand up like he was one of those girls signalling to go for a car race. “Drink!”

You held the wineskin up to your lips and swallowed dry. You let a little wine spill down your cheeks. But as other initiates finished theirs, the crowd hollering in triumph, at last you were the final initiate.

“Ah,” Wooyoung said with mock chagrin. “It seems another creative mind of the written word has lost the drinking game. You’re carrying on a tradition, it seems.”

You attempted to look deflated and Wooyoung clapped you on the back. “I’m sure you’ll put on a great show,” he said loudly before leaning in and whispering in your ear. “I’ll be watching.”

Once again, a gold-painted server came with a soft blanket. They laid out the blanket for you in the middle of the loose circle of members, the initiates blending into said circle. They offered you your dildo and then melted back into the shadows as they had been doing the entire evening.

Your stage was set, it was just up to you to live up to the performance now.

Luckily, it wasn’t hard for you to get wet and excited with a crowd. Your exhibitionism had gotten you into trouble plenty when you were in your wild and youthful phase, but the kink had never expired as you got older.

The second part that made this a little bit easier and little bit sexier, was imagining someone who you despised fucking you good. So when you moved to your knees, pulled up your toga-like dress, pulled aside your panties and pushed the head of the dildo along your already-wet folds, and moaned in pleasure, you slowly opened your eyes to make eye contact with none other than Choi Jongho.

And the man, for the first time since you’ve been aware of his existence, looked away first.

You imagined Jongho would drink in the way you reacted to him. Dragging his cockhead through your folds, circling your clit, making you beg for him to penetrate you. You played the dildo against your body, imagining the smirking, golden author above you. He may be your rival but he certainly was an atractive mother fucker.

You yanked one side of your dress to reveal one of your breasts and immediately pinched your nipple between your forefinger and thumb. You yanked it and twisted it, sure Jongho would want you to make as many pretty noises as you could for him. Jongho would be rough but accurate in his pleasure with you, presumably of course.

Finally, you sank down on the electric blue dildo. You were so wet that it barely went in with resistance but you did let out a pathetic whine as you were filled. You arched your back as you took the dildo to the hilt. You didn’t leave any time, eager for the pleasure that was being offered, both imaginary and real.

“That’s it, take me in your eager hole,” Imaginary Jongho hissed in your ear quietly.

You moaned and bounced eagerly on the dildo. You didn’t dare open your eyes again, in case you broke the pleasure bubble you were living in currently. But you did hope everyone’s eyes were on you.

Because of the situation, or perhaps due to the scenario playing on in your head, it wasn’t long as the dildo rubbed the spongy spot inside of you and you came undone for everyone in the loose circle around you. You cried out, throwing your head back, and riding that dildo for all it was worth.

With your head tilted back, panting, you were unsure if you had enough energy to even open your eyes.

Then you felt something touch your lips, and on instinct, you opened them up. Cold, pure water entered your lips, and you hummed in contentment.

When you at last opened your eyes wearily, you saw that it was Wooyoung that was gifting you with water. His own eyes were dark and trained solely on your face.

“You did well.”

A shiver shot down your spine at the praise. You could tell that was Wooyoung’s intent by the half-smirk that graced his lips.

He offered you a hand and you gratefully took it. Wooyoung draped his cloak over you, covering your body.

“Trying to outdo San’s performance, I see,” Wooyoung teased you.

You followed him as the rest of the members of the cult dispersed amongst the outdoor set up. Some were already in compromising positions, and even though you yourself had just performed, you avoided watching what was going on. The less inner circle secrets you knew, the less you had to lie about.

“Can I escort you to the villa? There are several bathrooms that you could clean yourself up in.”

Wooyoung was offering for you to become less dirty but somehow the cadence in his tone let you know he was only thinking of more dirty scenarios.

“I would be honored by the honorary Dionysus,” You smiled happily.

Wooyoung waved away your statement with mock humility. “Oh, please.”

Nonetheless, Wooyoung guided you with subtle pushes on the small of your back until you both made your way back through the vineyard. Your legs were a wee bit wobbly but you were sure the trek would be worth it.

It seemed a few others had the same idea. You spotted Yeosang, the famous cellist, in a dark corner, someone sucking on the sensitive skin of his neck. Mingi the oil painting specialist was filming himself fucking someone. Hongjoong, a newly risen sculptor, was admiring someone’s curves and skin with his hands. So much for not knowing what was going on with the inner circle.

Wooyoung finally brought you to a lavish bathroom, the stand up shower having multiple heads on different walls.

After completely ditching his clothing, Wooyoung stepped inside, putting the water on. He adjusted the temperature and offered you a hand in. You eagerly pushed your toga dress off, along with Wooyoung’s cloak, and stepped into the warm water with the bronze god.

You weren’t sure exactly when Wooyoung had assumed the mantle of the host of the party, but when there seemed to be a fuzzy, golden line that covered his skin, you knew something was different.

“You need not be afraid,” Wooyoung grinned, full of boyish amusement.

You gasped in delight when you saw that his eyes were the most wonderfully deep burgundy color of a dark, red wine. “Wooyoung?”

“You are the chosen initiate to first receive his Gift,” Wooyoung raised an attractive eyebrow. “Do you accept it?”

You immediately knelt beneath the rain shower head, water falling around you, head bowed. “With your pleasure, I would receive the blessing of the Muse.”

Wooyoung cupped your chin and pushed up, to signal for you to rise.

“So it shall be,” he whispered seductively against your lips and then pressed them together.

You felt a thrill, a buzz, a jolt of energy travel through you. You squealed in surprise and glee. Wooyoung tossed his head back and cackled, a full belly laugh full of excitement. “I knew we chose right.”

Wooyoung held your head between both his hands, kissing you in the shower. You wrapped a leg around his hip. Wooyoung’s full erect cock pressed between your legs and you whimpered at the interaction.

Without breaking the kiss, Wooyoung gently played his cockhead against your folds, just like you had guided the blue dildo to do earlier. You appreciated the kindness of Wooyoung, for you had played with yourself quite roughly and were now sensitive and puffy down below.

“I bet you taste sweeter than any of the wine we offer,” Wooyoung said in a throaty voice.

You put a firm hand on Wooyoung’s muscled shoulder. “You will not be tasting me without allowing me to return the favor.”

That’s how you found the two of you on the warm tiles of the shower, Wooyoung on his back and you hovering over his glorious body. Your mouth played along the side of Wooyoung’s cock, until you came to the peak, and then encompassed his cock in your mouth. The heaviness on your tongue was like heaven. Wooyoung’s hands tugged on your legs, maneuvering for you to sit even further down on his face, so that his tongue could swirl around your clit.

Wooyoung called for a halt suddenly, strong, veined hands wrapping around your wrists before you could make him spill his seed inside of your mouth.

“I will not do you a disservice,” Wooyoung growled.

You watched on with curiosity as he switched your positions, allowing him to manhandle you until you were below him on the sweaty tiles. The water continued to flow, making the entire bathroom fill with steam. Wooyoung’s elbows held his body above you. His hair clung to his face, making you want to reach up and push his hair out of his face.

Wooyoung once again held onto your wrist. He gripped the both of them in his hand and held your hands against your chest. Wooyoung’s head dipped between your head and shoulder, to lick and kiss up your neck. “If I don’t deliver my gift, I will simply go crazy.”

You bucked your hips upwards. “Please, Wooyoung. I’m ready.”

Wooyoung, as if he had done it a million times, pulled back his hips and easily slid into you. The slide of his cock inside of you made you moan wantonly. You weren’t sure if it was because he was possessed by Dionysus himself, the god of wine and pleasure, but everything felt SO good. Every drag of his cock, every thrust of his hips against yours, spoke of your nerves alighting.

Wooyoung’s whines and moans against your skin were like music to your ears. He sounded desperate and delicious at the same time. “So good,” he moaned as he picked up the pace.

Neither of you were drunk on wine, but the both of you seemed to be drunk off each other. Your hips continued to rise upwards in order to meet Wooyoung’s thrusts. Wooyoung sounded pussy drunk off you, whimpering about how warm and wet and good your pussy was for him.

“Soon, please let it be soon, I’m--” Your words were swallowed by Wooyoung’s kisses. His lips were wet, from both the moisture in the air and his spit.

All you were left with were your own cries crescendoing into a cacophony of pleasure as your climax escalated. When your climax hit you, it was like you saw stars. You floated in a feeling of pure bliss, your pussy lips clenching along Wooyoung’s length as you rode out your pleasure.

You opened your eyes to find Wooyoung watching you carefully. “And now, for the pièce de résistance.”

If you thought your climax was the cherry on top, you had been sorely mistaken. Wooyoung’s thrusts were choppy and sloppy but it wasn’t too long before he came inside of you. You could feel his cum fill you up, swirling around in your insides, but it was more than that. It felt warm, it felt powerful and then you gasped when your own skin lit up with the soft golden light that had been filling Wooyoung.

Even though Wooyoung’s nose was scrunched up from his climax, he still gasped his final words, performing as Dionysus’ proxy. “The muse will be with you for only a few days, so use it wisely. I look forward to reading what you come up with.”

And then he collapsed on top of you.

You laughed, giddy and full of excitement. You had just had probably the best sex of your life AND you were about to write your next great novel?

Wooyoung followed with his sweet laughter twinkling in the air, albeit sounding a little tired.

“Perhaps my novel might do so well that Seonghwa will want to direct a movie based on it!” You thought out loud, stars in your eyes already. You should use your Cult of Dionysus connections well, after all.

Wooyoung raised his head, the look on his face of pure betrayal. “No no no, he’d ruin it. Let me write a Broadway play for you. That would do it much better justice.” Wooyoung momentarily got a cocky look on his face. “Besides, that would give you an excuse to be in the theatre to watch its opening night with yours truly.”

The night was far from completed, but you already won over the cult, Wooyoung, and a god himself. Things could only go up from here.

[shadowed-dancer]

I feel like Horikoshi wrote the main plots to this epilogue before writing the actual story because so many of these moments are amazing and are exactly what I'd have wanted as a conclusion to this series

Themes/moments I like are:

Call back and new meaning to the whole "People are not born equal" intro

Uraraka being inspired by Toga and expanding quirk counselling

Kids moving away from wanting to be "heroes" and instead be people who just... are heroic

La Brava and Gentle owning a company together (and I see wedding rings!)

Hatsume being successful

Shoto no longer being called "Endeavor's son" and instead being a hero in his own right

Deku wanting to help people even without a quirk (that's how the whole series started, after all)

Deku encouraging someone that they can be a hero the same way All Might did for him

Bakugo making it so Deku can be a quirkless hero as opposed to his attitude towards him in middle school (can you say growth?)

Deku seeing Shigaraki's ghost(?) to show he never forgot him

The tragic part is that the buildup to some of these are so poorly written (or non-existent) that these otherwise wonderful conclusions feel... flat. They don't feel earned.

It feels like Horikoshi knew where he wanted to go but wasn't sure how to get there, so rather than write a path from one moment to another, the final war arc jumped from point to point, laid the bare minimum setup, and now little moments of this epilogue are built on a shaky foundation.

Overall thoughts: Great chapter in isolation if you imagine proper setup prior to this. But we didn't get that, and it is something the finale will have to deal with

Also where is Hisashi Midoriya???

[amazingmsme]

Restless ‘Til We Reach Home

Anywhere I’d Follow You (ch. 1)

AN: happy underworld saga release day! Literally the day we’ve all been waiting for! This fic is my pride & joy rn so I hope y’all like it! Be sure to buckle in cause you’re in for one hell of a ride! The underworld saga is literally everything I could’ve imagined & more, & it makes this chapter hit so much harder. & I wouldn’t have it any other way 💗

Edit: omg I can’t believe I forgot to add the ghost!polites playlist that I so lovingly created! My sincere apologies to anyone who read it without the intended listening experience

Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 3.5 Ch. 4 Ch. 5

Polites woke alone in the darkness. Or at least, he thought he was alone, until he felt a body shift next to him. The sky above was an inky black, completely devoid of stars. It didn't feel right.

He jolted upright, the ground underneath him rocking with his movement. No, it wasn't the ground, it was wood. He was on a small boat, and the bodies around him were his fellow soldiers. Most still remained unconscious.

"Odysseus!" he called out, but received no answer. "Eurylochus!" His voice echoed down the approaching canyon, bouncing back until it met his ears.

"Shhhh," a husky voice sounded from above. Polites startled and looked up, seeing a cloaked man standing at the back of the boat. His face was concealed by the hood pulled over its head, the only discernible feature being two bony hands peeking out from his sleeves. They clutched onto an oar, thrusting the boat further on its journey.

Polites crawled to the edge of the boat and leaned out, and he was greeted by perhaps the most beautiful sight. They were floating on a glowing river, the water a brilliant blue green. It was as he was staring into the ethereal water that he realized why the sky had no stars: they'd all fallen in the river.

The awestruck smile fell flat when he took a good look at his surroundings.

Everywhere he looked was gray and rocky and completely devoid of life. He heard people moaning in the distance and could see them trudging along in mindless huddles. Small fights broke out amongst them, and Polites could see fires burn in the distance.

He had to be dreaming, he was sure of it! He pinched his arm as hard as he could until he yelped from the pain. When he didn't wake up, he reached his hands into the water, splashing his face repeatedly.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up, wake up!" he yelled each time the cool water hit his skin. His vision blurred as the water dripped down his face and his eyes filled with tears. His shoulders shook as he sobbed, leaning over the edge of the boat. He could feel when they hit the shore, but he didn't budge, even as everyone else filed out.

The ripples around the boat began to calm, and soon enough the surface of the water was as smooth as glass. His eyes met his reflection and he jerked back, rocking the boat slightly. Hesitantly, he leaned back over the glowing water to get a closer look. Ripples sent minor shockwaves through his reflection, slowing until it showed a clear picture.

A choked gasp escaped his throat as he clamped a hand over his mouth. He looked up at the ferryman, who nodded solemnly. The tears he'd been holding back finally rolled down past his cheeks.

His head hung low as he cried, and he could feel each tear drip from his nose or chin. When he opened his eyes again, he saw tiny dots of red on his toga. Hesitantly, he reached up to wipe the tears from his face. When he pulled away, his hands were stained red.

He thrusted his hands in the water, scrubbing furiously to rid them of the blood. The stream before him turned a pale pink before the current carried it away.

Polites knew exactly where he was.

At first he tried to lay low, but he had always been outgoing and friendly, even to those who weren't so friendly back. But it quickly became clear that down here, no one wanted to talk to him. Or so it would seem.

Polites got into the habit of exploring the underworld every day. There was nothing to do but wander aimlessly or work, and Polites much preferred the former. It was while on one of these walks that he spotted a young woman kneeling by the riverbank. At first he thought nothing of it, but the closer he got, he could hear her quiet sobs and sniffles.

He approached cautiously, waving when he felt he was close enough to warrant a greeting. "Well hello there!" he said in a chipper voice, offering a shy grin. She looked up at the stranger before her, yelping and falling back onto her hands. He was quick to put her at ease.

"Hey hey, it's okay! I'm nice, I was just crushed by a cyclops," he explained his appearance, aiming for humor. The girl's lips twitched in a fleeting smile.

"Oh! Um, I'm sorry..." she apologized, and he waved a hand dismissively.

"Why? You have something to do with it?" he joked, smiling when she giggled, shaking her head.

"Noho..."

"Then you have nothing to apologize for!" He turned to her, holding his hand out to her. "I'm Polites." She studied him, chewing her lip before she accepted it.

"Eurydice."

"Ah, what a lovely name for a lovely woman," he complimented. Her smile was tainted with sadness. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" he asked gently. She shook her head, plastering on a fake smile.

"I'm in Hades, why wouldn't I be fine?" she tried to joke like he'd done moments before, but it fell flat.

"You know, if you need to get something off your chest, I'm all ears. I was practically the sole shoulder to cry on for 600 men." His tone made it impossible for Eurydice to discern whether or not he was being serious. Finally, she decided, "Yeah right."

"No really! Well, obviously not all of them took me up on my offer, but I'm a great listener," he offered with a warm, genuine smile. She let out an amused huff.

"I know it sounds stupid, but... I really thought I was gonna bust outta here." Polites placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think it's stupid at all. I mean, we all want out-"

"No, you don't get it!" she spun around to face him, tears in her eyes. Polites held his hands up in surrender on reflex, his entire body tense. Eurydice heaved a sigh, burying her face in her hands. "I was so close..."

Polites was almost afraid to ask, but, "C-close to what?"

Eurydice looked up with wide, tearful eyes as she stared longingly out into the distance. She spoke breathily as her mind began to wander, "Freedom."

Polites couldn't believe what he was hearing. He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Wait, you mean you were trying to leave? How?" he asked desperately, the wounds on his face and body starting to bleed.

"I wasn't on my own. Orpheus came for me."

"Orpheus?" he questioned.

"I died on our wedding day..." she answered, trailing off as she stared at the ground. "And he risked everything to come save me. We could've made it out and we'd both be happy. Start a family..." she took a grounding breath, drying her eyes. "I never did get to hear how his song turned out."

Polites perked up slightly. "Oh, he's a musician?" he asked. She smiled as she remembered her love.

"Mhm. Said he was gonna write a song to fix what's wrong with the world," she said, amusement clear in her tone. "Guess he hasn't finished it yet."

"Well, sounds like he's got his work cut out for him. I can't imagine it'll be easy for him, without you," he said softly. A sob caught in Eurydice's throat as she looked away, closing her eyes softly.

"Don't. Please."

"Sorry," he immediately apologized, feeling rather guilty.

"It's fine. It's not like it's your fault or anything."

Polites looked at her, mouth slightly agape as he tried to decipher whether she was teasing him as he'd done earlier, or if it was sheer coincidence. The subtle twitch of her lips was all he needed to know. He barked out a laugh, bumping their shoulders together.

"Well would you look at that! Looks like someone's getting their sense of humor back!" he praised, making her roll her eyes.

"Never left," she lied. Her gaze locked on the Palace of Hades, and Polites followed her line of sight.

"He had something to do with it, didn't he?"

Eurydice took a shaky breath and nodded. "Yeah."

"They usually do. Even when you don't think so... They do."

~~~

Life in Hades is not what Polites expected.

For one, he didn't know where the crumbling rubble ended and the new scaffolding began. Every day it seemed, the underworld would change ever so slightly. Buildings and complex machinery were all being built before his very eyes. It was nothing like Polites had ever seen.

Slowly, copper and iron replaced stonework as buildings all but erected themselves, and horseless chariots carted material to various work sites. The grand palace in the center of the underworld has all but doubled in size in the short time he's been here. And jutting out from the southern east corner, stood an imposing factory spitting black smoke. It felt... wrong. Almost as if Hades had tried to tuck it away out of sight, only for his greed to force it to grow until the rocks could conceal it no longer.

He said he was doing this for them; that he was creating a greater home for their eternity. So then, why was he turning the air thick with smog? Why must the tortured souls carry the burden of his progress?

Nothing was right anymore. Then again, nothing had been right for a long time.

~~~

Polites never thought he'd grow used to the underworld, but with Eurydice, he found a flow. They steered clear of the mindless work convoys, with their bowl shaped helmets and tools in hand. They marched along packed gravel roads in uniform lines, singing in a low, menacing chant.

They didn't stray far from the riverbanks, and when they did, chose to walk through rolling fields of nothing but dead grass and dirt. They found solace in the few crumbling ruins that have yet to undergo renovations.

Shriveled vines choked out the grand archway the pair sat under, but not even the resilience of nature could last under a God's iron grip. Polites closed his eyes, trying to picture the lush foliage that swallowed the rubble of a once ancient building. When he opened his eyes, he was met with the disappointing reality of thick, dry vines sprawling over crumbling stone as if caught in a wooden spiderweb.

"You ever made a flower crown?"

The question came out of nowhere, catching him off guard. If asked, he would deny the way he had jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Um, n-no, I can't say I have."

When Polites didn't elaborate, Eurydice continued. "My sisters and I used to pick flowers in the meadow behind our house and we'd spend hours weaving crowns and necklaces while we talked." She smiled at the fond, distant memory. Polites smiled back.

"That sounds really lovely," he assured. He saw the longing in her eyes, could feel the ache in her heart. If only he could ease that pain...

"It was. I think you'd really like it. Heh, too bad I can't teach you."

"Yeah, that's too bad," he lamented in agreement before an idea struck him. "Or, you know... we could still try," he suggested, holding up a handful of dry vines and twigs. Eurydice's face lit up with a smile as bright as the sun.

"Really? You mean that?"

"Well, I mean, I'm sure yours turned out much better than whatever we can make down here, but-" his rambling was cut off when Eurydice slammed into him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck in a grateful hug.

~~~

Polites had lost track of how long he'd been there, though he was grateful for Eurydice's company. It was the single source of comfort since he'd awoken in the underworld, the one reminder that there was once a time when things were good.

They would walk along the riverbanks, sharing stories from their lives. Eurydice once said that Orpheus would've liked Polites, and he swelled with pride. The feeling would've been mutual, he assured.

He can't help but to picture his friends meeting this lively young spirit, ripped from the Earth too soon. He thinks they'd like her too.

There were no days and nights here; everything ran together in one big screaming haze. At times, Polites thought they were the only souls down here who weren't screaming...

He missed being alive. He missed his friends, missed the way the sun warmed his skin, the way the sea would taste on the air, the way the wind would whip through his hair. He missed food, and feeling hungry, or tired. He missed the way he could feel his heart race in his chest when Odysseus would put himself in harms way, only to come out unscathed.

He always came out unscathed, no matter the challenge.

He was walking alone, trying to clear his head when he heard his name being called. "Polites! Polites!"

He turned to see Eurydice running towards him, feet pounding against the rocky shore. He met her halfway, picking up on her sense of urgency.

"Eurydice! Is everything alri-"

"There's a ship," she rushed out breathlessly. His eyes went wide and he scanned the horizon.

"Of course, the ferryman brings people-"

"No, I mean a real, living ship!" she emphasized with a playful punch to his shoulder. He smirked down at her, bumping their hips together.

"You know ships aren't really alive," he teased, tilting his head back to laugh at his own joke. She rolled her eyes, snatching the bandana from around his head. His hands flew up a second too late as he turned to face her. "Hey!"

She giggled, waving the bandana out of reach. "I'm being serious!" she insisted through a smile. He snorted, snatching the cloth from her grasp playfully.

"Yeah, that's why you stole my bandana," he taunted, shooting her a grin.

"You weren't listening! Just look!" she pointed in the distance. Polites looked up to humor her and gasped when he saw a large ship creeping up the river. It was much closer to them now. He took a step away from the bank.

Eurydice smirked, looking at him from the corner of her eye. "You believe me now?" He nodded wordlessly, mouth gaping open in shock.

They stood like that, just frozen in awe watching it get closer. The figures aboard the ship were now visible, and Polites shaded his eyes, squinting up at the deck. Did he really see what he thought he saw? Was that really...

"Steady as she goes men!" A figure paced around the deck, barking orders and securing the ship. Polites would know that voice anywhere.

"Odysseus?" he asked, barely aware he said the name aloud. Eurydice gasped and snapped her head to look at him.

"Odysseus? Like, like your Odysseus?" she asked frantically. Polites looked back at the ship for some other kind of proof, spotting Eurylochus at the wheel.

"Yes, I'm sure. Look, there's Eurylochus," he said, pointing at his friend.

She turned to him with an expression on her face that he hadn't seen since the day they first met.

"You have to go."

His head snapped down to look at her, "What?"

"They came here looking for you! I mean, why else would they come all the way here?" she asked, clutching to the fabric of his toga. "You're important to them, Polites. You're the missing piece, they need you," she pleaded.

The ship was right in front of them now, Odysseus clutching the rail of the ship with a horrified look. When his eyes landed on Polites, he froze, all the color quickly draining from his face. He turned away abruptly.

"I-I don't know Eurydice. That doesn't really seem like- I'm sure there's gotta be another reason!" He wasn't sure why or how they were here, but he had a hard time believing it would be for him. It would hurt too much, getting his hopes up like that.

"A reason to go through the underworld?" she asked incredulously. Her expression softened, and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "They've missed you."

A sob caught in his throat. "Yeah, I miss them too."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

He turned to her, tears in his eyes. "B-but what about you? You can't come, and I can't leave you!" he said, gripping onto her hands for dear life. "Y-you'd be alone again, I can't do that!"

"Shh, hey, hey, look at me," she said in a soothing voice, but Polites could see the tears shining in her eyes. "Don't think of it like that, okay? You're doing this for me." She squeezed his hands so hard, her knuckles were turning white. Funny, how even their spirits react like they still have blood.

He closed his eyes and shook his head, but a soft hand cupping his face brought him back to reality. "Hades only made sure I couldn't get out, just to spite our love. He won't notice if you escape, I promise," she reassured. He placed a hand atop hers, still shaking his head.

"You can't promise that-"

"Maybe, but I can try. Please Polites," she was practically begging at this point. "One of us has to see the sun again."

A sob shuttered through his body and he surged forward, grabbing her in a tight hug- their last hug. Maybe the last hug he'd ever be able to actually feel.

"I don't want to leave you," he muttered into her hair. He could feel her tears begin to fall down his arm like raindrops.

"Me either, but you have to. It's your only chance." She held on for a few more seconds before allowing herself to slip away.

"Goodbye Eurydice. Thank you for... everything."

"Farewell Polites. I know you'll keep them safe."

He nodded to her before turning towards the ship, marching along the shore. He got about halfway before her sweet voice called out to him.

"Polites, wait!" He stopped in his tracks, turning just in time to catch her in his arms. Her hands carded through thick black hair as she squeezed him tight. She kissed his cheek, pulling away to whisper in his ear, "If you ever come across Orpheus, please tell him I'm okay."

"Of course. You have my word," he promised.

When Eurydice pulled away, a small amount of blood was smeared on her lips and cheek. Polites decided not to dwell on what that meant.

~~~

Polites jogged along the riverbank until he caught back up with the ship. He waded into the water, trying to figure out how to get back on the ship. He saw a rope nearby and grabbed ahold, climbing up. The rope swayed with the ship as if it were weightless, making it more difficult to ascend.

The rope slapped against the side of the ship, sending Polites hurling through the hull of the ship and into the lower deck. His body tumbled and hit a few crates, causing them to come crashing down.

"Oh no no no!" he muttered, trying to restack them, only for his hands to phase right through.

On the deck above, Odysseus heard the commotion and ordered one of his men to investigate as he continued to warn the others to stay on guard.

He trudged below deck, not expecting what awaited him.

Polites yelped when he heard a clatter behind him, turning to see one of the soldiers standing in the doorway, his sword laying on the ground before him. He opened his mouth to speak, but the man turned on his heels and scrambled up the stairs.

"Captain!"

Odysseus immediately ran to the soldier's aid, hand on the hilt of his sword. "What was it?"

"I-it was Polites, Sir..."

The captain bristled at the name, turning his back on the man.

"Impossible."

"But I'm telling you, he was right there!"

Odysseus sighed, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Listen to me, brother. This place is not to be trusted, okay? Nothing that you see or hear is to be trusted. Those were Circe's words. Got that?"

The man nodded, though he was clearly still shaken up. Odysseus sighed once more.

"Come on. Why don't you show me where he was," he said, deciding it might be a good idea to help put both their minds at ease.

Odysseus crept down the stairs carefully, eyes scanning the shadows for any intruders.

"Hello? Anyone down here?" He was met with silence. He didn't know how tense he was until his fears were put at ease. It was empty.

"The boxes must've fallen on their own, it's been a little bumpy. Let's go," he ordered, picking up the discarded sword and holding it out for the man to take.

Meanwhile, Polites was crouched behind a barrel on the upper deck, watching what few soldiers remained. They all looked so different, but none more than Odysseus. He watched as his friend marched up the stairs to resume his task of guiding the ship.

But... his directions didn't sound right. The way Odysseus was leading them would pass by two guardians, and more would surely die. Odysseus didn't know his way around here like he did, to no fault of his own. But Polites couldn't let that happen.

He made sure no one was looking when he crept from his hiding spot.

He stood behind Eurylochus, hesitant to speak. But the fork in the river was approaching.

"Actually, you're gonna wanna take a right," he said from behind. Eurylochus jumped at the unexpected voice, turning to face him. His face morphed in terror as he saw the man before him.

"CAPTA-mmm!"

"Shhh!" Polites shushed, slapping a hand over his friend's mouth. Eurylochus tried to shove him away, only for his hands to phase through his attacker's arm. His eyes were wide with fear as he fumbled for his sword, still trying to steer the ship through the narrow waterway. "It's me! You have to trust me!"

"I don't think so."

Polites turned to see the tip of a sword pointed at him, the eyes of Odysseus staring him down with a vengeance.

"Captain, I-"

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, taking a step closer. Polites let go of Eurylochus, shying away behind him. "Now who are you really?" he all but growled.

Polites furrowed his brow in confusion. "Do... do you not recognize me?" he asked weakly. Odysseus let out a low, sadistic chuckle, and it was hard to believe this was his beloved friend.

"Ohoho I know who you want us to think it is! But we've been through enough, I know a trap when I see one. So I'm only asking one more time." He pressed the blade to where his throat would be. "Who. Are. You."

"Odysseus, it really is me! W-why don't you believe me?" he asked helplessly, realizing his sword wasn't the only one trained towards him.

"Why should I?"

"B-because I'm trying to help you!" he insisted. There was a long stretch of silence before Odysseus answered.

"I don't believe you."

Odysseus reared back, preparing to strike. Polites panicked, he didn't know where else to go, where to hide. On instinct he clutched onto Eurylochus for protection.

He opened his eyes, and Eurylochus was gone. No, that wasn't right... he could still hear him. He sounded... scared.

"Captain... help me," his hand raised on its own towards Odysseus. No, that wasn't his hand...

The soldiers had cowered back when Polites disappeared; they were all clearly on edge.

"Eurylochus?" Odysseus asked carefully.

"He's here."

Polites had to speak up, he had to make them listen.

"Please, I'm just trying to help." He spoke with a double voice. "I know a better way. Please... you have to trust me. I'm- I'm not a god, or whatever you think I am," he pleaded. "I'm me."

Odysseus glared at him, lips curled in a sneer. A tense silence fell over them as the seconds ticked by.

"Fine." He stepped back and lowered his sword. "As you were." When no one moved, he repeated himself in a harsher tone. "As you were!" They immediately broke up and returned to their posts, keeping an eye on their new passenger.

"Are... you gonna stand there the whole time?" he asked carefully.

"Yup," Odysseus answered, popping the p. "Are you gonna hide the whole time?" he countered.

Polites took a breath to ground himself. By the Gods, it felt good to breathe again... But this wasn't his body. These weren't his lungs…

"That depends. Are you gonna pull your sword on me again?" he asked.

"Only if you try anything." That was as good an answer as any, he supposed. Polites sighed, stepping out of his friend's body.

Eurylochus gasped as he regained full control of his limbs. He lurched forward, using the steering wheel for support. He glared at the spectral intruder.

"What did you do to me?" he demanded. Polites held his hands up in surrender. "I-I don't know! I was scared, I panicked!"

Eurylochus glared down at him, getting in his personal space to get his point across. "Don't do it again." A gentle hand on his shoulder snapped him out of it.

"Eurylochus, why not get some rest? Feel free to use my quarters," Odysseus offered. Eurylochus nodded in thanks, but not once did he take his eyes off Polites.

Odysseus was steering now, his mind elsewhere as he thought of what the prophet Tiresias had foretold.

"There is a world where I help you get home, but that's not a world I know..."

"You're gonna want to hang left, there's some larger rocks.

"I see a man who gets to make it home alive, but it's no longer you."

"Captain?"

Odysseus didn't like who he was becoming, but each challenged left him more broken than the last, and the mosaic he was creating of himself was more of an abomination.

"Captain watch out!"

Odysseus shook himself out of it, cutting the wheel to avoid the boulders. Polites watched him carefully, waiting for his friend to thank him and smile like he used to.

That moment never came.

Polites crossed his arms and huffed, "You're welcome."

Odysseus clenched his jaw. The imposter's tone was light and teasing, and so much like the friend he knew. But the underworld was nothing but lies and deceit, danger lurking around every corner. He was sure the man before him was nothing more than a farce.

"Just stop pretending," he sighed in defeat.

"Come again?" Polites asked, cocking his head. Odysseus tensed at the disgusting cracking sound the movement made.

"Nothing. Just- no more talking until we're safe."

We. Polites smiled as he stood next to his friend, just like old times. It never occurred to him that he wasn't meant to be included in that statement.

"Okay Captain."

Polites remained by his side, offering directions whenever they're needed. He doesn't dare speak beyond that, knowing how testy his friend can be when he's trying to focus. Not to mention he seemed like he was in a bad mood to begin with.

He had no idea.

"Alright, it shouldn't be much farther. Just go straight through there," Polites guided, pointing towards a cave on the horizon. The smallest amount of sunlight shimmered through.

"Everyone! Full speed ahead!" Odysseus yelled across the ship, men scurrying about the deck.

Odysseus kept his eyes trained on their destination as he spoke. "Thank you... You can go now."

"Oh! Right, you're- you're busy. We can talk later," Polites said, backing away. "I should probably go apologize to Eurylochus." He turned to make his leave, but Odysseus stood guarding his path.

"Stay away from him," he threatened, face shrouded by long, matted hair and hidden behind a thick beard. His once warm gaze turned black as he trained his weapon at Polites for a second time.

If he were still alive, his heart would be pounding right out of his chest.

"Odysseus? You're scaring me," Polites said, looking him up and down.

"AND YOU'RE SCARING EVERYONE!" he screamed, surging forward. Polites is taller than him, even when he's not floating, but Odysseus's presence towers over him.

"Wha-what?" he breathed out, backing himself against the rail. Odysseus kept him trapped there for a few more seconds before turning away. Polites spared a glance and saw every pair of eyes resting solely on him, hushed whispers floating about as hands hovered over their own weapons. He looked back at his captain with wide, fearful eyes.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to..."

Odysseus ignored him, not so much as a glance his way. And that hurt.

"Odysseus?"

"Don't call me that," he snarled, finally looking over his shoulder. Polites couldn't help but snicker.

"Don't call you by your name? Okay, Captain," he teased, hoping to catch a glimpse of that brilliant smile.

"Knock it off! You're not as funny as you think you are," Odysseus snapped, making him pout.

"Ouch. You know, my new friend Eurydice thought I was hilarious. She-"

"I don't care."

Polites felt his phantom heart sink at those words. Odysseus had never spoken to him like that before...

"Oh. O-okay. I'll just, um, I'll go."

"Good riddance."

Polites tried to stifle the hurt gasp he let out, biting his quivering lip. He just wanted to disappear. He didn't want to be here, but he didn't know where to go. After a moment, Odysseus chanced a glance over his shoulder and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Finally. Thought he'd never leave." Polites felt tears well in his eyes despite his confusion. He was still here, what did he mean? He reached a hand up to rub his tired face, only to freeze. He couldn't see himself. To test his theory, he raced down to the middle of the deck and stood there, but no one paid him any mind. He got his wish. They got their wish.

He disappeared.

Polites felt himself sink through the floorboards, but didn't care enough to stop it before he plopped down below deck. He landed flat on his back, not bothering to get up. What would even be the point?

Finally, he sat up before drifting into a standing position.

~~~

Eurylochus couldn't sleep. How the hell did Odysseus expect him to rest after all that? His mind was reeling, and in all honesty, he was completely and utterly confused.

Trust nothing in the underworld.

Circe's instructions. More importantly, Captain's instructions. Up until now, he thought that was to be believed. Everything down here was a wicked and cruel trick. And yet, this vision of Polites had seemed so real. More than that, it felt real. He had no idea what it did to him, but in the moments he was possessed, he knew what it was thinking: what it was feeling. And it was scared, hurt and confused: like a wild animal backed into a corner. But nowhere could he feel any kind of ill will towards any of them. And that scared Eurylochus just as much as it perplexed him.

He gave up on sleep and decided to go back to the upper deck. He navigated the narrow halls and froze in his tracks when he came upon the transparent image of his fallen friend.

"Eurylochus!" Polites startled, standing up a little straighter when he noticed him.

Said man recoiled as he was addressed, and watched him with a careful eye, his hand hovering over his weapon.

"Please don't," he said, cowering back towards the shadows. "I just want to apologize for earlier. I-I didn't mean to do... that."

He was met with nothing but silence.

"Eurylochus? Say something," he pleaded. He noticed the way Eurylochus stared at the ground instead of him.

"You're not really him, are you?" he asked skeptically. Pilotes felt his shoulders sag in defeat.

"You too?"

Eurylochus dared to meet his gaze. The expression he wore was that of skepticism and a hope long lost.

"I'm not convinced yet." As he walked past, he paused at Polites's side. "So convince me."

His words caused a smile to break out across his face as he turned to his friend. Eurylochus looked shocked before his expression melted into something softer.

"That's a start, I guess." He abruptly continued on his way, not wanting to linger with their friend's spirit. Polites was left alone in the dark, his thoughts serving as his only company.

He didn't emerge from the lower deck until he was sure they were well out of the underworld.

[redphlox]

Are you feeling about Touya? I can't imagine Horikoshi it would be way too cruel, especially since him and Shouto need to eat soba together.

Feeling hopeful. I know the general consensus in the Dabi fandom right now is fear and despondency but when I look at the overall picture of the story, Touya dying doesn't make any sense and there's a lot of setup for him to survive.

The random guard/whoever saying Touya is heading toward a slow death means nothing to me. Not when Ujiko, the brilliant (but evil) doctor who saved Touya from certain death on Sekoto Peak, was wrong about Dabi's body not surviving a month after he woke up from the coma. The core of Touya's character is literally about survival and determination, going above and beyond to exceed expectations to live and be seen. I also feel that there might be something within Touya that allows him to survive, which is how he has any fire resistance at all. He was crying actual real tears this chapter instead of blood, which hints that his body is healing. I've seen other people theorize that Shouto's Phosphor has healing properties, which is promising and more in line with the stories' themes and messages than Touya dying again.

Overall, the tone of the Todoroki family arc is positive and hopeful. Yes, Fuyumi quit her teaching position, but one of the students' parents helped her find another one. This means that not only does this one parent believe in her, but so does this new employer. And those kindergarteners that Shouto connected with during the remedial license Arc have been supporting him this entire time. These instances show that society is changing their attitude towards the relatives of those who commit crimes and are willing to accept the Todorokis back into society and are literally cheering for them. This doesn't change the fact that some people will definitely hate them, but it's not all doom and gloom. And the soba thing - what a way to connect to someone who was born to replace you! That's a deep connection right there, and that's good. The story has focused a lot on connections and how life-saving and important those can be. Dying would rip that connection and go against the themes

Also, I feel like the Todoroki family would be much more worried and emotionally wrecked if they thought Touya was actually dying. Endeavor keeps talking to Touya about the future and visiting him. Unless all of them are in denial about what is happening, then why would they torture themselves talking about something that can't happen? All these conversations they want to have etc etc. It would be cruel, and Horikoshi is a sensitive guy. I don't think he could write something like that, and it doesn't fit what he's written so far.

To go further than Touya, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Toga and Spinner also on their deathbeds currently too, tbh. I'm thinking that mysterious new character (who is Tenko, no doubt), saved by his regeneration quirk, may help them. There's set up for it via Kurogiri telling Shigaraki his friends are waiting for him, and not to mention Shigaraki's always been the hero of the lov. He might not have saved them emotionally like the hero kids did, but he can save them physically. I'm not sure how exactly it'll all happen but I think they will all be okay in the end.

I know some readers have a different, more critical/negative opinion than I do, and that's fine. Ever since Shigiraki died, I've been saying that it's going to get worse before it gets better and that we're not going to see a resolution to that soon, and that's all been happening. I hate this saying, but, it's not over till the fat lady sings. I'm just going to keep on reading. I keep telling my friends this over and over again but it's kind of like reading the last Harry Potter (author is dead to me) book and stopping/rage quitting when Harry is killed by Voldemort in the forest. Keep reading. The story is not over yet, and a lot can change for the better. Let Horikoshi tell his story.

[class1akids]

The way toga grief towards losing jin was sidelined and how uraraka never really comfort toga about jin was kinda weird to me

Yeah - this is why I'm not as big a fan of that fight as the whole fandom seems to be.

The PLF war confrontation between Toga and Ochako centered on the question of "who gets save by the heroes?" mirroring Ochako's question of "who saves the heroes". And then the answer Ochako gives "girl, even if that's what pleases you, you can't just go around killing people and expect no consequences" (which is valid, but is not exactly a response to Toga's question) pushes Toga further into grief.

Then Toga makes another attempt - this time with Deku and asks "what you want to do with me" and Deku's response "I can't imagine being like you - hurting the ones you claim to love" further escalates Toga.

And I think here the fight shifts away a bit from Toga's grief and more towards validating her own way of being. Or rather in a way, the two is conflated into the same: Jin got killed because his quirk was judged too dangerous and he wouldn't back down.

So I guess Ochako's attempts to understand her make Toga feel like a "person" who is not just to be stopped, but also seen as a human being. But in the end, Ochako is just one person and her calling Toga's smile pretty will not solve all the systemic issues around toxic quirk counselling, the way dangerous quirks are treated from childhood, the pressure to conform, the lack of mental care for people like Jin, the way the marginalized or poor are treated, families that disown their "difficult children". And I think the outcome of the fight recognizes that as Toga stays suicidal and says that the world as is doesn't work for her but the destruction doesn't make her happy either.

So even if Toga is "saved", she feels like her only option is to die and Ochako is clearly not happy with this outcome (btw, I still think Toga will live). There is no alternative for them, because Toga and Ochako are just two "normal teenage girls" with limited tools and the world they live in doesn't foster that understanding. Ochako reached and saved Toga's soul on a personal level, but in the grand scheme of things, nothing changed (yet).

I feel like this is maybe the outcome of all 3 fights - Toga's, Toya's and Tenko's "inner child" all got a moment of acceptance / relief they needed, but in the end, a bunch of teenagers reaching out in empathy can only go so far if the systemic issues have not been addressed.

And if Hori puts some effort into these issues in the epilogue - it can tie together quite well. Toga's and Uraraka's story can touch the heart of people to start to think about quirk discrimination and it could inspire people with the real power (like Hawks for example, if he becomes like the head of HPSC) to make changes to crucial aspects of how society works with buy-in from the public opinion.

I definitely feel like the narrative would let both the LoV Trio and the Savior squad down if everything stayed the same. But if the villains' issues become something the hero kids deeply care about on a broader level, their efforts can ignite a change. Then something good can come out of the confrontations, something important that can reach a new common ground between "destruction" and "bringing it all back".