#they're just a bunch of kids excited to go on a silly little mission

[shinedoitsulikeabright]

Do you guys think there were moments while they were in that horse when Ody's soldiers giggled like middle school girls during a sleepover?

Elpenor: "Oh my gods, Perimedes, shush! You're gonna get us all busted!"

Perimedes: "But this is so much fun, they have no idea! They'll never see it coming! What a bunch of losers!"

Odysseus: "Guys, please, we worked so hard to build this stupid horse. Don't be the reason we lose the war."

Eurylochus: "If they didn't hear them by now, they probably never will. I'm honestly starting to suspect they're all deaf..."

Perimedes: "Heh, that makes our job much easier then."

Athena (to herself): "I have no idea how any of them lasted this long..."

[gabessquishytum]

Dream has real magic and to his ever growing shame deep embarrassment he works for a Medieval Times-esque theme restaurant as the "magician" (generic, non-copyright infringing magic professional from ye olde times 🙄).

The job is the pits, but it's not like anyone believes magic is real and it's not like poultice maker is a real modern job. So here Dream stays -- 3 shows a days on weekdays, 4 shows for kids on weekends, and one "after dark" show on Saturday nights for adults only where they serve beer and white or red wine.

The only bright spot is the guy playing the white knight character Robert, Hob. He's so charming and flirty and has seemingly made it his mission to make Dream smile (or flub his lines).

Lately, Hob has taken to asking Dream for a "favor" to wear while he's jousting, saying it will bring him luck. The script calls for Hob to win, but Dream might have added a little magic for luck.

I love this so so so much!!! Such a cute concept for these two. It gave me a crackish thought, too - what if Hob is an actual medieval knight?

Maybe he's immortal like in canon. Or maybe he got time-travelled into the modern age. Either way he used to be an actual sword wielding, joust competing, spur wearing knight! And however he got to modern times, it really tickles him to pretend to be a knight in this silly little restaurant. Sometimes he throws in a little Middle English to his stupid scripted lines, sometimes he wears real chainmail to work, but no one suspects anything. Hob just really seems like a normal guy. His brain doesn't explode when he drinks mountain dew or anything like that.

Whatever the case, Dream is definitely falling for him more and more as the weeks pass. The "luck" that Dream imbued in his favour earns Hob extra tips, and he uses the extra money to go right out and buy Dream a bunch of roses from the market. Dream takes them home and magics them so that they will never fade or wilt <3

When they finally get together as a couple they're both super nervous to "Come out" so to speak... and then Dream gets even more nervous because if Hob is a genuine medieval guy maybe he'll have a thing against magic? But Hob is like "no actually I think it's cool, we always had potions and poultices at home :)" and Dream just falls for him even more. He's so excited to show off his magic!!!

Hob is mainly just excited that in modern times he can get gay married to his beloved. Even if he does have to work under the yoke of post industrial capitalism. Swings and roundabouts!

[ladytabletop]

Game Roundup 2023 - Part 1

So I made it a mission to read through the games I've gotten in various bundles in the past. And it's uh... an undertaking.

But! I've read a lot of cool games and encountered a lot of new concepts.

For reasons (namely that I have a few thousand games) I am not going to mention every game in these posts, just ones that caught my attention for one reason or another. And in keeping with my reflection on ratings earlier this year, I'm going to refrain from critiquing the stuff I mention here - I may say "this one isn't one I'd personally play" or "there was some unpolished stuff in here", but I'm going to focus mainly on the positives and why the game grabbed me.

So, here we go!

Blades in the Dark by John Harper

Yeah, yeah, I know, this game is talked about a lot! But consider me a recent student of TTRPG history outside of d20 systems. I got the chance to play this game for several sessions and read the rulebook cover to cover. The stuff that works, really works. The stuff that doesn't? Bogs the whole thing down. But I find clocks to be such an intuitive mechanic, and downtimes is really a delight to me. There's a whole ton of Forged in the Dark stuff that toggles a bunch of the game's switches on and off to make things more streamlined. Was very glad to read this one.

Lumen by Spencer Campbell (GilaRPGs)

I made it a mission to read SRDs this year. I want to understand the how and why of the games I've been reading: why are they built the way they are, what is accomplished in building them this way, and can I build games this way myself? Spencer has a really solid handle on what he wants his games to do. They're power fantasies with little if any chance for failure. It's not about whether you do the thing, it's about how. I ended up having the chance to meet Spencer at GenCon, and I'm really excited to see Lumen 2.0, which is going to be completely diceless. Power fantasy games aren't my thing typically, but I really appreciate the intentionality of this system's design.

Are My Wings Even? by Sadia Bies

What a lovely, simple game that lets you play dress-up! This one isn't necessarily as polished as some of the others but you can tell it was designed with so much care and personal meaning. I love a tactile game. I love dressing up. This one has so much potential to be really tender. It won't be for everyone and that's okay, but I really adore it.

Sprouts by Julie-Anne "Jam" Munoz

This game came to me in a bundle for Trans Rights in FL, but I actually dug into it when I was looking for RPGs to play with kids. You draw your character on a post-it, and it's just a silly little guy! It has a pretty simple roll mechanic and advises a "get from point A to point B" adventure style, which takes place in actual 3D space in your home, because didn't you know? Sprouts live in your home, like dust bunnies! It's got really great language for children and emphasizes cooperation, and that you can't mess up your drawing - sprouts are sprouts.

The Wildsea by Felix Isaacs

I know, I know, I talk about this game too much! But really, it's been the gateway into other games for me. I think technically I probably read this last year, but I had to brush up for GenCon this year, so I'm counting it. Lots of folks have compared the tracks in this game to Blades' clocks, but they sprang up parallel, funnily enough! It has some definitely shared DNA in its design, and it rewards you for things out of combat more than things in combat, if that's how you want to play. The setting is lovely, the community is lovely, and really it was a joy to read, even as long as it is.

I'll do another of these soon, I imagine.

[violetjedisylveon]

Fight Or Flight

Summary: Omega explores Mantell City with Echo and discovers a harsh reality of the galaxy.

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: Blood, attacks, fighting, degrading remarks, discrimination, self hate, mental breakdown, lack of self care. Swearing.

A/N: Cid is a lot nicer in this au, she's more like a critical, shrewd but still caring aunt than what she is in the show. Let me have my nice aunt/grandma Cid headcanon.

Bad Batch Loth-Werewolf AU link here.

________________________________________________________________________________

Omega ran down one of the streets of Mantell City, her brothers had let her go exploring with Echo. Their last mission to Corellia was still fresh in her mind, it had been exciting but a little scary. She took a sharp turn down a smaller path.

"Omega slow down!" Echo called out.

"Okay!" Omega skidded to a stop and waited for Echo to catch up.

"You're excited today." He said, ruffling her hair.

"Yeah! We get to explore today!" Omega cheered happily.

Echo chuckled and patted her head again. "Just be careful, we never know who we'll run into." He warned.

She nodded obediently and grabbed his hand so he could keep up with her.

They walked, and ran, around Mantell City for hours, the sun was low in the sky and made long, silly looking shadows. Omega stomped around, watching her shadow make silly shapes, she giggled and looked around.

They were in an area she'd never seen before. It was pretty clean compared to the rest of the city. And it smelled strongly of humans. Weird, usually there's a bunch of different smells. She didn't pay much mind to that thought and kept going happily on her way.

Echo however, was a bit more skeptical of the area. It didn't look as seedy and shady as the rest of the city did, but he could only smell humans, that usually didn't mean anything good. His experiences had taught him just how speciesist humans could be, especially in places where they'd feel 'threatened' by the abundance of non-humans. They weren't in any real danger, most authorities, who were coincidentally human, sided with humans, or just didn't care and the aliens didn't want to deal with the human shit.

He had an unwanted feeling of being watched. The feeling of being hunted wasn't one any Loth appreciated.

"Omega, stick closer to me." He called out.

The young clone stopped and turned back to him with a confused look.

"Why? Is something wrong?" She asked.

Omega suddenly felt like someone was watching her, sneaking up on her. Somewhere deep down, her mind screamed that she was being hunted. She shivered and moved towards her brother.

A shadow fell over her.

Someone laughed.

The sound was cold and unsettling.

"Look at this. A clone and a half clone kid." A cold voice said from behind her.

She could feel the fur coming in on her back sticking up from fear. She looked to Echo, unsure of whether to go towards him or stay put. He was reaching towards his blaster, Omega hoped he wouldn't use it.

"We're just passing through, let us head on our way and nobody has to get hurt." Echo said as calmly as he could manage.

Omega saw his gaze flick between her and something else. She froze at the click of a blaster.

They're gonna kill me! Her head screamed, all the noise ramped up as her mind frantically scrambled to find a way out of this.

"You are in our land, this place is off limits to any clones, even half clones." The person behind her paused, "Especially wolf clones." They hissed.

Omega got even more scared if that was even possible. She whimpered and wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing them.

"Leave the kid alone, she's not a clone, your problem is with me." Echo said.

Omega whimpered when she was shoved forwards. She looked to Echo for help, he gave her a small nod and took his hand away from his blaster.

"You think we'll listen to a pathetic droid clone like you? You're a stupid lab scrapper." They scoffed.

Lab Scrapper. The words froze in her mind. She didn't like them. They were bad words. A growl rose in her throat. Echo shook his head.

"Ha! Kid's like the clone, no wonder the mutt is hanging around you." She was shoved to the ground.

She rolled back and away from the group of humans, they all had blasters out. Echo let out a sigh and glanced at her regretfully.

"Sorry about this kid." She would ask what he meant but he answered the question before it left her mouth.

He changed and now stood at his full, nearly eleven foot height, towering over the humans. He let out a low, threatening growl. Omega knew it was a warning, Echo didn't really want to fight but he would if he had too.

The humans hardly waited after he growled to start firing. Echo swatted their blasters down with his tail, his thick skin and fur soaking up most of the damage. Most blasters weren't much against Loths, that was one of the reasons the Kaminoans had tolerated their existence.

Omega turned away and covered her eyes, she didn't want to see Echo do what Crosshair did. She couldn't imagine him doing that, he wasn't like Crosshair, he was kind and understanding and never mean to her. She didn't want to think of any of her brothers doing anything like that again.

Her head shot up as she heard Echo curse. Her blood froze yet again. There was something sticking out of Echo's side, it was wedged behind his shoulder and dug in deep. There was blood dripping down his dark fur.

They hurt him.

They hurt him?

They hurt him!

They hurt my brother!

Shock cascaded into rage.

There wasn't a voice telling her to stop this time.

She stood up, the ground was rough against her padded paws. She snarled and snapped at the nearest human. Warm liquid filled her mouth, it spilled out as she let go, dripping down her jaw.

She growled and snarled, her ears flat against her head and her fur fluffed out. She tasted blood in her mouth. It coated her chest, warm and salty and sticky.

Rage was fueling her.

They had dared to insult her brother and had the audacity to hurt him after!

She dimly heard Echo calling out for her to stop, she didn't listen. She stalked towards the humans who'd hurt her brother just because he was a clone and Loth.

That isn't right! He's a person!

She saw only red.

"Omega! Stop!"

Omega growled and lashed out at whoever was pulling her back. She felt a large paw holding her down.

"Omega, calm down. It's done, it's over. You won." Slowly, she came back to her senses.

She blinked and wiped at the sticky blood in her eyes that made it hard to see. She felt a rough, wet tongue lick the blood off for her.

She opened her eyes and instantly wished she'd kept them shut.

She stopped breathing. She swore her heart stopped too. Echo nudged her with his muzzle.

"Omega, I know it looks bad but-" He broke off as she pulled away from him.

She was wolf! Everything she'd ever been told not to do she had just done!

Echo is here! He saw!

Panic and shame and fear tumbled around in a gigantic mess of emotions and adrenaline. She made herself smaller, tucked her tail between her legs and stared in horror at her brother.

He was still wolf too, and the weapon, a knife, was still lodged in his side.

"Omega-" He started.

Her fear took over and she bolted, hardly hearing Echo calling after her. She blindly followed her nose back to Cid's, forcing herself into as complete of a change back as she could.

It hurt more than it ever had before but even the pain was dulled by an intense need for a small, safe space she could hide in.

She darted into Cid's and didn't stop, not even when her brothers were shouting in alarm and worry at her sudden arrival without Echo. At the blood on her.

She could feel it drying on her skin, hair and fur.

Without any thought, she bolted for Cid's office and hid in the darkness under the Trandoshan's desk.

She pressed herself into a corner and fought back the urge to shift. Her body was screaming, screeching at her. She dug her claws into her arms as she squeezed them, focusing on that pain instead of her body's screams.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't go back to being human, she couldn't make her body be normal again. She was stuck in her half shifted form.

Her mind was racing so fast and replaying every instant of her fight, over and over. Echo's frightened, worried face, blood on her paws, blood on the streets, blood on bodies. Just so much blood.

She cried and screamed and thrashed about, clawing at her body and clothes.

The door opened, she caught Hunter's scent.

He couldn't see this. Echo had and that was terrible already!

"Kid? Are you-"

She hardly gave him a chance to speak before she shouted and screeched and barked at him to leave.

"Go away! Go away! Go away! Get out! Get out! Get out now! Osik! Get the fuck out!" She screeched from her hiding place.

It wasn't often that she cursed, and she hadn't known many common ones until meeting her brothers again. She'd overheard those in an argument between Echo and Crosshair.

She panted heavily, holding her ears against her head as she waited for Hunter's reaction. There was a long stretch of silence.

And Hunter left.

He was going to be so mad! She was going to be in so much trouble!

Omega trembled and broke down into tears and screaming.

XXX

Omega curled further into herself as the door to Cid's office opened. It wasn't one of her brothers though, it was Cid.

She whimpered and cried again. Cid would be so mad at her for coming into her office like this and ruining it. She wasn't supposed to go in, but it had been the only hiding spot she could think of, and she didn't want to leave it now.

A bowl of warm, fragrant water was set down near her, Cid grunted and sat down heavily. Omega caught a glimpse of something pale in Cid's clawed hands.

"Need help cleaning, Tiny?" Cid spoke to her in a much softer voice than she had ever heard from the Trandoshan.

Her ears perked in surprise, Cid was sitting calmly and patiently waiting for her to respond with a towel and fur brush in her hands. The look on her face was almost worried, but it was definitely sympathetic.

She gave a small nod and scooted forwards slightly, leaning her head towards Cid. The Trandoshan had a surprisingly soft touch as she took the damp towel to her blood stained face, gently scrubbing the dried blood away with the warm water.

Omega tried not to pay attention to how much dried blood was coming off.

Cid muttered and took the brush to her ears, yanking out clumps of dead, matted blood stuck fur. It didn't hurt much until Cid got to one of her painful ear spots.With a whimper Omega held her hands over her ears to keep Cid from touching it.

"It looks like you've got a hot spot, Tiny." Cid said.

"Whats that?" Omega asked quietly.

"Moisture collects under your matted fur and lets bacteria grow and it makes a painful sore, they can get infected, good thing I'm cleaning it now." Cid told her.

The Trandoshan used a soft fluffy ball with some medicine on it and wiped at the painful spot, it stung, but Omega didn't protest.

She didn't say anything as Cid kept cleaning her ears, didn't even make a peep when Cid dipped a warmly wet towel into her ear to clean the blood there.

"This stuff is a pain, it'll get in your ears and cause an infection if you don't clean it fast enough." Cid said.

The Trandoshan was fine with her silence. She kept talking anyway, to distract the kid's active mind from inevitably going to those dark places.

Cid finished washing the dried blood out of her ears and grabbed a fur brush to dislodge anything stuck in her matted clumps. She whimpered a little but didn't do anything to stop her. It didn't feel great but it also didn't feel terrible.

"I'm done for now but you need to take better care of your ears kid, they'll get pelted." Cid told her.

Omega turned to the Trandoshan, her eyes felt puffy, she knew they must've looked swollen. She saw understanding and sympathy on Cid's face. Cid wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

She felt the woman's large claws trace circles gently on her back. She curled into the Trandoshan and cried.

She cried about how awful she felt, how hard it was to sleep, how tired she felt all the time. She cried about the mess she'd made. She cried about how much of a mistake she felt like. She rambled and cried about everything that had gone wrong with her and how sorry she was for intruding on Cid's space.

She just cried for what seemed like hours.

"It's alright Tiny, there's nothing wrong with you." Cid told her in an attempt to comfort her.

"Yes there is! There's a lot of things wrong with me!" Omega cried.

"Just because your head works differently than most humans doesn't mean something is wrong with you." Cid said.

"What? Of course it means something is wrong!" Omega fought back, not questioning just how Cid knew about her closely kept secret.

"If it was wrong then why do natborns come out with a mind like yours, and your brother's? It's not all that rare given how many humans there are, other species have similar conditions. It's something that just happens, having it doesn't make you wrong, because you're not wrong." Cid's conviction was stronger than Omega had expected.

It made her further doubt what she'd been told by the Kaminoans. Nala Se had never told her she was wrong but some of the other Kaminoans said it right in front of her, others when they thought she wasn't listening, Lama Su had done both. Is my brain like being Loth? Is it really just something that happens? Why didn't Nala tell me?

"r-really?" She asked softly.

"Yep." Cid affirmed with a nod.

The kid didn't look like she believed her.

"You know, I've got a friend who's a lot like you." The way the kid's bloodshot eyes lit up made Cid feel a little something that was reserved for very specific people. Sympathy.

Sorry Blue, you'll understand why I talked when you see her.

"Do you want to know about her?" Cid asked.

"Yes! Er, that would be very nice." The kid's tail wagged around wildly.

XXX

Cid closed the door to her office, Tiny had fallen asleep on the floor and Cid hadn't wanted to wake her up by moving her so she had just tossed a blanket over her and given her a pillow.

She sighed and turned to face the five overprotective clones.

"Before you start going off, Tiny isn't physically hurt, she just fell asleep and shit, she needs it so for fuck's sake, be quiet." She snapped in a low voice.

The five clones all looked between each other, confused and unsure of what they were supposed to be doing with a child in the situation of Tiny. Cid sighed in annoyance and face palmed.

These idiots don't know anything! Who let them have a kid?

"You boys don't know anything about kids, do you?" She guessed.

"We're soilders." Moody stated.

"Wasn't Cut a soldier too?" Cid prompted.

"How-"

"Kid talks." She cut Goggles off.

"How much more do you know? You don't have kids." Moody put in.

"I had friends with kids, I know a lot more than you think." Cid snapped at him.

"Now, Tiny doesn't want to be bothered by any of you once she wakes up and I have a job for you, this one will pay well." Cid told them.

"You want us to leave her here after what happened today?!" Scomp asked in shock.

"Yes, she needs time to herself and she doesn't need to talk about it. She'll be fine. I promise." Cid told them.

They didn't look sold, she'd need to do more pushing. Maker knew that kid needed time alone to self-reflect.

________________________________________________________________________________

Omega is traumatizeder now!😃

One of my favorite things to do is take a character and traumatize the fuck out of them, I'm not done with Omega just yet😈

Yes, I'm a little evil sometimes.

It's really stupid fun to do.

I'm scared for the next episode, how about you guys?

It's going to be either a gut punch or more waiting to make us all go insane! So lot's of fun!

Alright, I hope you all have a good day, whatever that is for you!

VJS Out!

[hawksugarbaby]

Shinso x reader - Burning sensation

Fluff

Every morning at 7:00 you would meet shinso outside your dorm to head to school "Hey Hitoshi how ya doin this mornin" you asked sideling up to the boy who you had gotten to know quite well through your walks too and from school, and your time in class, and lunch, and training after school, you were never really away from each other actually. He took comfort in the time you spent together and you enjoyed talking to him and being his friend. It was pretty understandable why he didn't want to be friends, to begin with, but there was no way in hell you were letting the boy go through 3 years of school without any friends! So you made it your own personal mission to change his mind about you, and you were pretty chuffed when he actually stopped pushing you away yep this boat was firmly tied to the dock now. "I'm fine just tired" he was always tired.

The gleaming white windows of your school came into view lighting up the area around it like a child shining a magnifying glass on a bunch of tiny ants swarming to their colony. You nudged his side with your elbow getting his attention "SO I heard someone is getting transferred into the hero course next year!" you were so proud of him! This was his dream come true and he was finally getting his big opportunity "yeah it's pretty crazy" it was true he was more than thrilled to be joining the hero course but he felt like he was betraying you in some way, you should be in there with him! You were just as powerful if not more than he was. It didn't feel right leaving you "I can't believe it Hitoshi! I'm so happy for you, we should go get ice cream later to celebrate!" you walked through the door together weaving through the other people dotted around the corridor to reach your own classroom tucked away at the end . the thought hadn't even crossed your mind about how lonely you would be without Hitoshi, and it was coming up for the end of the year, you would have to cherish your time more than ever. "Ice cream sounds nice."

Th day went on rather uneventfully, thankfully it was lunch now so food was on the top of your mind "what should I get today?" you asked your lavender friend, you were determined to have everything on the menu at least once before you left school, you had quite a few options to go "what about a cappuccino and the udon?" it was pretty lucky he was keeping track of what you had and hadn't got yet otherwise you would never get close to finishing the challenge "you just want my cappuccino huh" you stepped up to the counter and ordered your food and drink which was ready in a flash thanks to lunch rush (give the dude some credit he does lunch for that entire school every day!) "maybe" he gave a lopsided grin and you rolled your eyes.

you both set off for a table near the back where you usually sat when a green-haired boy waving his arm caught your eye "hey Hitoshi is that one of your new classmates" you questioned gesturing to the freckled boy who was frantically trying to get his attention "oh yeah that's midoriya" he brushed off the topic and continued off to your table "hey wait you should go sit with them!" you called after the boy who groaned and span round his purple locks dangled in front of his eyes blocking his view fully but he could tell you weren't gonna let him leave. "but... why?" "because they're your classmates silly come on" you pulled him over to the table much to his dismay "h-hey shinso do you want to sit with us?" midoriya asked and everyone else at the table eyed him up like a flock of vultures inspecting there pray "can (y/n) sit too?" wait no what you weren't in that class why would you sit there? That was like... the top dog table right? "Of course!" oh well oh kay then guess you were one with the big leagues now. "Hi it's nice to meet you, I'm ururaka" she introduced herself with a big grin, you noticed she was holding her juice with 4 fingers and had pink pads in the middle of her fingertips "I'm (l/n) nice to meet you too" you sat down next to Hitoshi excited to make some new friends, maybe if you liked them he would like them more.

"So you and shinso are really good friends huh?" you nodded as you took a sip of your cappuccino and ultimately decided it was one of the less amazing things on the menu "yeah he's like my best friend and I'm pretty much his emotional support dog" you giggled and handed off the warm, bitter drink to him which he was more than happy to take off your hands "in all honesty she should be the one joining your class, daughter of the number 2 hero couldn't cut the hero programme" he teased and everyone else gasped "YOUR DAD IS HAWKS!" yep it was true you were the daughter of the number 2 hero hawks and someone else?? Mum didn't stick around long, your quirk was a little HOT TO HANDLE (roll with it) "what's your quirk! Can you show us!" midoriya begged from across the table which Hitoshi was not happy about he didn't like it when people gave you more attention than he did "um no I definitely cannot show you! But I can tell you what it iss" you sang and the boy grabbed a pencil and notepad out his bag "uh it's called Pheonix I have retractable wings... made of blue fire... and I can fly and shoot the feathers and I have the feather blades like dad and all that jazz" "she also has the same dumb personality" Hitoshi added and you gasped looking at him hurt "don't talk about my dad like that he loves you" he did actually like Hitoshi a surprising amount and you were pretty convinced he shipped you like a 15-year-old girl watching 2 boys in an anime about superheroes (-_-)

"But if your dad is the number 2 hero how come you aren't in the hero course" ouch. You gripped your chopsticks harshly "some bitch thought it would be funny to knock me out during the entrance exam and it was too late to get me in by recommendation" the chopsticks snapped splintering off into a bunch of smaller pieces. The lively nature of the cafe suddenly turned to one of concern when 2 mini puffs of thick smoke filtered out from the back of your blazer blanketing the roof and the smell of burning fabric infiltrated your noses "your burning" Hitoshi said from beside you "OH sorry sorry I didn't notice" you said and started to calm yourself down by stealing Hitoshi's lemonade "you must be upset about having to be in different classes after the new year" the boy with the bird head said. Well yeah but he wouldn't be leaving you completely, you opened your mouth to speak but before you could start Hitoshi started "I don't intend on letting her go half a year alone in that class, either she moves up or I go back down" he grit his teeth at the thought of you being alone in that class by yourself, and if it meant he had to give up his dream of being in the hero course he would. You smiled and then sighed when you realised you couldn't finish your udon since your chopsticks had transformed into toothpicks.

Ah yes, finally the end of the day. You and Hitoshi walked out of the nicely air-conditioned school into the dry blistering heat of the outside world "oh god whyyy" you cried and shook your fist at the sun then immediately regretted it as a bunch of white spots danced around in your eyes (FUN FACT THOSE ARE CALLED PHOSPHENES. Y'know, like phosphor) "so ice cream" you stumbled around trying to your friends and jumped when he put his hands on the back of your shoulders "just keep walking dummy" he said and you did so until you gained your sight back. "It's such a hot day this is evil" you crossed your arms angrily as you made your way to your house since you had decided to get changed before you got ice cream so that the sweltering heat didn't melt you both to a puddle of sweat and ew (THAT'S WHAT I'M GOING WITH OKAY).

"HEY DAD ARE YOU HOME?" you shouted into the house and a little red feather shot down to where you were standing "I'LL TAKE THAT AS A YES THEN" you and shinso wandered up to your room dumping your bags with an audible thud "crop top and jeans?" you asked holding up your clothes and showing them off to Hitoshi "sure why not," he said and pulled out the bag of clothes in the bottom of your wardrobe that you kept there for him. "Vest and shorts?" he held up the clothes and you nodded and he descended down the hall to the bathroom waving to your dad as he went past. It was such a perfect day, it was too good to be overthinking little things like clothes or how lonely you would be without Hitoshi or what he meant when he said when he wasn't leaving you behind or how he really felt about you or- "how's my chicklet?" (hawk's most defining personality trait is that he likes chicken don't @me) your dad asked ruffling your hair "it is too hot to exist right now but Hitoshi and I are gonna get ice cream" you grinned and cracked open your window hoping a breeze would come through and cool you down a smidge. "Like a date?" "No dad it's not a date" "finneee have fun" he pouted and left you alone to get changed.

"Hey, Hitoshi what ice cream do you want?" you asked looking over the menu on the side of the truck that was parked in the park... "it's a vanilla day I think," you stepped up to the counter ordering your ice creams both with a flake obviously and sat on a cool metal bench which was hidden by the big weeping willow tree, it was your favourite spot in the whole park because it was always shady and the big tree made you feel like little kids again, you were so small in comparison and when the wind picked up the branches whipped around like a carousel and tangled together like a curtain to hide behind.

"hey you'll be okay in the class by yourself for a while right?" he asked and took a pit off his ice cream "I'll have to be won't I. I'm really proud of you you know that" you stole the flake that he was about to bite into and took a bite out of it letting the chocolate bit's fall off and land on your crop top melting almost instantly "I know. But I promise I'm gonna get you up there with me. You won the sports festival I don't know why they're taking me" (ROLL WITH IT) he stole your flake in retaliation and started eating his ice cream "because you deserve it stop doubting yourself" you preached. You listened to the cars drive by and the angry drivers honking at each other, in all fairness there were indicators for a reason. The bustling life of the city drowned out by the calm bubble surrounding the 2 of you "well you deserve it too (y/n)" he argued and you both burst into a fit of laughter knowing that it was almost impossible to be mad at each other and this wasn't even close to a reason.

"Hey I need to tell you something" he whispered taking a bite out of the sugary cone "oooh~ are you going to profess your undying love for me" you giggled not knowing what you were getting into in the next few minutes "yes... I am" ".....WHAT!" WELL, THIS TOOK A TURN "I like you. Like in a girlfriend type of way" he sighed when a big flake of his cone cracked and fell into the dirt under him "oh. This is unexpected" you whispered taking a bite out of your own cone getting crumbs down your top "if you don't feel the same it's okay I just wanted you to know" he pursed his lips and drew little circles in the dry dirt "no I do, I do feel the same I guess I just didn't realise I felt the same... does that make sense?" it probably didn't.

Of course, you felt the same, he had been your best friend for a while now so obviously you caught some feelings but you had never given them a title like, a crush or love or anything like that, they were just there. They would either go away or they wouldn't and now you were here. You were glad they hadn't "yeah it does" he smiled and the wind picked up a bit lacing the branches together to create th perfect veil as he leaned down and kissed you softly, it was nice and filled with love and admiration and your face turned soft pink and matched the heat of the sun beating down right now.

It didn't last long unfortunately as 2 pillars of smoke started coming out of your shirt and burning fabric once again took over your senses "NO NO NO NOT NOW COME ON" you shouted feeling the fabric separating on your back and you held the front of your crop top on your front "okay well we're gonna not do that for now" Hitoshi said calmy and you shot him a panicked glance gesturing to your unfortunate situation with your other hand. The back of your top fell off and you arched your back when it came into contact with the cold rugged bark of the willow tree "OKAY WELL NOT WALKING HOME LIKE THAT" he shouted and took off his vest throwing it to you and turning away.

You put it on quickly after you calmed down a bit and you weren't burning anything. "Okay you can turn around," you instructed focusing only on the branches in front of you "what not gonna look at me?" "nope" "why not?" you cleared your throat and clicked your tongue "because if I do this shirt will just burn off too and then we'll have to phone dad and get him to bring me a shirt and then he'll ask how I managed to burn two of my shirts off and then I have to listen to him go on and on like a 15-year-old girl about how he totally called that we would get together and then-" "alright I get it," he said putting his hand over your mouth 'well you just set yourself up for failure' you thought and licked his hand which he pulled back and wiped on your jeans "your gross" he chuckled and stood up wiping the dirt off his jeans and standing directly in your eye line putting his hand out to help you up. Which you didn't accept since you were rather busy ogling those goddamn washboard abs "well your not burning yet but you might be brain dead" he flicked your forehead and you shook your head slightly accepting his help up.

You started to walk home as the bright blue sky turned to a medley of tangerine and lavenders with pink brush strokes in between. "We should get ice cream more often," he said his honeyed voice cutting the silence held between you "I agree, we train so much we deserve it!" you exclaimed "you just wanna see me shirtless" he teased. It took every ounce of willpower you had to not burn the shirt off by accident but thankfully you didn't "pfft no. I want ice cream the shirtless thing doesn't have to be exclusively an ice cream thing" you pointed out nudging his shoulder with yours as your house got closer and he rolled his eyes wrapping his arm around your waist pulling you next to him like 2 magnets sticking to each other.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow Hitoshi," you said once you reached your door "yeah see you tomorrow," he said pecking your cheek and walking off down the road leaving you astonished at your door. "DAD YOUR NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS" you screamed as you entered the house.

4 weeks later

"We have another student joining the hero course" the grumpy teacher announced and you bust into the 1-A classroom with your wings outstretched behind you "PUT THE GREMLIN BACK" shinso shouted from the back of the classroom "GO BACK UNDER THE BRIDGE YOU CAME FROM" you shouted back and took your seat next to him "dad wants to know if you're staying for dinner after training" you whispered, "yeah what are we having?" "chicken"