#this doesn't even take into account the whole thing with mina

[gnawednoble]

post-trespasser, and even a little into veilguard, i think mahvir'hanin is extremely grateful that iona only visited after solas left bc he knows her. one of her habits is to flirt around, mostly insincerely, and he absolutely could have predicted her doing that with solas and slowly coming to mean it. and frankly if he had to deal with his best friend's sort of boyfriend/ex-boyfriend trying to end the world on top of his own feelings about solas' whole thing, mahvir'hanin would have just retired. gone off the map. iona can deal with this now. or, no, actually i think he'd put adriel in charge and iona would tag along.

[throwawayhero]

could you give more hcs or a drabble about bakugou with a crush on reader!! pls i feel like ur fics are the closest ive seen to canon... i need more

No problem, and thanks! I try to make them seem canon, but sometimes it's difficult T-T. Just realising now that a few of these sound stalker-y and I'm sorta regretting writing this but oh well. I hope this is satisfactory!! c/w; social media au, buzzfeed, eminem (idek), karaoke, not proof read

!Katsuki who unintentionally catches himself playing with his hair while talking to you. Not in an obvious way (that's what he thinks at least), but more so absentmindedly fiddling with his side burns and such. It's kinda funny when he accidentally curls them and leaves them like that for a while. He also has a habit of playing with his baby hairs on the back of his neck.

!Katsuki who "accidentally" managed to copy your handwriting style down stroke for stroke? He doesn't really know how it happened, to be honest. He just noticed it one day during a group project after Jirou pointed it out to the two of you. You found it funny, but he found it outrageous and claimed that you had been the one to copy his handwriting.

!Katsuki who allowed you to tag along on one of Kirishima's and his study sessions. He beat the shit out of Eijirou and was gentle with you, more or less. He wouldn't hit you of course, but he certainly wasn't scared to yell. At least the first time. The look you gave him made him writhe with guilt, so he shut the fuck up out of embarrassment.

!Katsuki who heard you talking about a band you loved and decided it was his god given right to go through their whole discography and criticise it in his own time. But turns out, you have good taste, so he keeps to himself about it. "Accidentally" bought a spare ticket to their next concert and offered the spot to you. No big deal, right?

!Katsuki who did extensive searching for your socials, scrolling through his friends friends following, mutuals, and genuinely just word of mouth. When he did find your accounts, he stalked the SHIT out of them. When you requested to follow him, he freaked out and accepted straight away. He didn't follow you back until a week later, "just to be safe".

!Katsuki who unironically took one of those "Do I have a crush on my friend?" quizzes when he started to feel things towards you. 100% went down a rabbit hole on buzzfeed. He wanted to call his "crush" ANYTHING other than what it was. Mentioned it to Kirishima once and was left even ore confused than what he had originally been.

Unrelated but he just looks like he would listen to Eminem. Probably gets a good chuckle out of the whole "You gonna cancel me, yeah? Gen Z me brah?!" thing. Don't ask me to explain why I think this, it just makes sense.

!Katsuki who more often than not is watching you out of the corner of his eye. Not in an overly-creepy way, he's just "aware of his surroundings". He says that to anyone that mentions it, which is literally just his paranoia.

!Katsuki who secretly loved the fact that you hung out with him and his friends almost daily. Because then he wouldn't have to initiate hangouts and look as desperate as he really was. It gave him a plausible excuse to absorb every single opinion you uttered. It gave him an excuse to get even closer to you.

!Katsuki who freaked the FUCK out when everyone (besides the two of you) got sick and couldn't do the bi-weekly hangout everyone had played a part in organising. The group had settled on doing karaoke, so you can imagine how it went down with just the two of you there. Although, the two of you did make an amazing duet. (No one was really sick, Mina just mentioned Katsuki's behaviour and put 2 and 2 together. She also wanted to see if he would take initiative for once.)

!Katsuki who went out of his way to make changes to his hero costume that he knew you would like. Small details here and there, for both style and practicality. While it was cold he would use the neck warmer to hide the smirk that creeped onto his face when he saw you checking out his new look. He also started to make himself look nicer in general, indulging in a bit of jewellery (stud earrings, a ring or two, and a silver necklace), nicer shoes, wearing the uniform properly and such.

!Katsuki who has your number pinned in his contacts, as well as giving you your own message & ring tone sound. He has everyone but you, Kirishima, and his parents on silenced. He also has your contact saved as a nickname he assigned you without you knowing with a heart emoji. It's simple, but endearing.

[vickyvicarious]

I feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any thing so hunted as is the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not human—not even beast. To read Dr. Seward's account of poor Lucy's death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in one's heart.

This is an interesting quote. We see here that Mina's initial instinct is excitement. She is eager for the hunt, for revenge. It's only after she admits this eagerness that she kind of checks herself and says, reluctantly, that she supposes one ought to pity anything hunted in this way. It's never anything specific to him in the slightest, and it's more a begrudging bit of guilt for her own bloodthirstiness than it is genuine feeling on his behalf.

But even then, she says probably there should be pity, but she doesn't feel it. At the very least, she doesn't want to. (Really, I think it's more she feels she should want to, but doesn't feel even the desire for pity.) Fresh off learning what happened to her best friend because of Dracula - what he directly did to her - any pity Mina might feel has dried up. She wants him dead. And she wants to be involved in making that happen.

When she steps back later then, we know just how reluctant it is. She went right up through half the meeting fully expecting and eager to be involved in this whole process. She simply read the writing on the wall and didn't want them to exclude her even further if she protested harder, but she hates hanging back to let them do the hunting.

Spoilers below cut:

And later on, when she speaks against Jonathan's fervor in the same direction, it's still not really about Dracula himself:

"Jonathan dear, and you all my true, true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all this dreadful time. I know that you must fight—that you must destroy even as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter; but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may not hold your hands from his destruction." [...] "May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!" "Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things, Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just think, my dear—I have been thinking all this long, long day of it—that ... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity; and that some other like you—and with equal cause for anger—may deny it to me!

She outright tells him that she's been thinking about this all day. That she is afraid someone would feel the same kind of hate towards her that she felt on Lucy's behalf, that Jonathan feels on her behalf. Mina recognizes that she may need to be killed, and is fully willing to accept that. But the idea that she will be killed and be hated while it happens, that the people who do so might want her to burn in hell, might take joy in her suffering... that's a horrible thought. Even if they have as much right as she and Jonathan do for their own revenge, even if Mina becomes a vampire and causes as much harm as Lucy ever did, or even Dracula himself... she hopes that her death could at least come at the hands of those who love her and wish her well. The real her.

None of these people will ever know the 'real' or at least original Dracula. If Van Helsing is correct about his past, the human was far from being a good person forced against his will into monstrosity the way his victims are. But even so, Mina can't help but want sympathy for the possibility of that soul trapped by a vampire for such a terribly long time. Because she would want it for herself should it ever come to that.

[dathen]

While I'm not satisifed on the whole with the book's treatment of Renfield, I do love that it never takes the angle of him as some sort of cautionary tale of "This is what you get for following evil too closely! When you want to turn away later, you can't! It's your own fault for not being pure from the start!"

Like while it doesn't hold Seward to account as much as I need it to, the culpability still is fully on him for ignoring Renfield's pleading. Mina already showed there's a better way to talk to him the day before. Quincey comments that it was an awfully harsh response to him and that he can't help but feel there's something they should have listened to. Van Helsing reassures Jack's doubts while admitting he probably would have listened to Renfield if it had been just him. But hey, Seward's the expert here! ..And then it all blows up in their faces.

And then all of Jacks' reasons for dismissing Renfield are also proven wrong in the narrative: It's not about how sane he is! He's still capable of caring about people and wanting to do the right thing! After Seward's dismissal, Renfield gets the last word: Remember that I did my best to get you to listen, and you refused. The wish to do good and the choice to turn away from harming people is what mattered, even if his efforts were in vain. He just needed the CHANCE.

[holiday-7]

POV: Meteora confronts Solaria (this isn't apart of the AU, I just did this for fun)

Meteora: Solaria. I have a question for you. Solaria: (rolls her eyes) What is it? Meteora: Why did you not help Mina when she was literally getting trampled by a dark magic warnicorn? Solaria: Because I realized that what I spent my life doing was wrong. And I want Mina to realize that, too. She spent pretty much her whole life acting like a racist piece of shit. Meteora: But, didn't you make her that way? Solaria: Look, she didn't have to become a Solarian Warrior if she didn't want to. If anything, I feel like she could've just left when she had the chance to. Nobody said that she had to pledge her allegiance to me. Jushtin: You know what? I've had enough of this shit. The fact that you wanna sit here and act like you're so goddamn self-righteous is actually fucking beyond me. And the fact that you say that your family mattered more to you than Mina is also beyond me. Because it seemed like you barely even cared about Eclipsa when she was a kid. And you would've especially not have approved of Meteora a couple hundred years ago. But now, you wanna switch up? Shut the actual fuck up, bitch. In my personal opinion, you just didn't wanna hold yourself accountable for your actions. So, you just put all the blame on Mina and the other Solarian Warriors. and on top of that, you actually fucking thought that me getting married was gonna help you get more people on your side? Bitch, please tell me you're fucking joking. Because no one in Spiderbite Kingdom likes you. And I especially want you to understand that you're gonna have to live with the shitty things you did for the rest of your fucking life. You wanna know what your fucking problem is? You want you and everyone else to think of yourself as the good guy. Well, I know you better than anyone, and I can tell you that you're not. In fact, I feel like you'd probably sleep a lot better at night if you just admitted to yourself that you're a selfish goddamn coward who just takes whatever she wants and doesn't give a shit about who she hurts in the process. That's you. That's Solaria Butterfly. You wanna act like you're so self-righteous for not helping Mina. But you did her wrong. And no one in this family is ever going to forgive you for the shit you've done to us. Now, leave right the fuck now. Go even learn how to play the ukelele while you're at it. I mean, you're gonna have to apologize somehow.

[astro-b-o-y-d]

As a general rule, there should be a balance between "this character should take responsibility for the consequences of their decisions/behaviors/actions/etc." and "this character made their decisions/behaves the way they do/acts the way they do because of [insert reasons here]". Because yes you should take responsibility for the results of your actions but there are almost always REASONS for those and those reasons must be taken into account and addressed.

YEAH!!! That's actually what I hope to achieve while writing my current longfic. Because on the one hand, everyone Bill has wronged has every right to be mad at him. Every right to not forgive him or extend a hand of kindness. They're more than right to hate him.

But on the other hand, both them and Bill are going to be exposed to everything that made him who he was up until this point, and there's going to be this whole thing of 'No one deserves to experience a childhood that pushed him to the point of doing what he did. Because while he very much made his own bad choices there, they were completely and unquestionably a result of his upbringing and that's worth acknowledging at least.'

On top of themes that discuss how those bad choices you went and made can affect others, even those people you weren't intending for them to affect. Because while I definitely want to touch on how Bill's home dimension was pretty bad and oppressive from the top down, I also don't want to imply him destroying it was as 'liberating' as he claims. Because it wasn't; he destroyed lives with his actions.

Even the lives who were suffering as much as he was, which is part of why I decided to bring in an OC in the form of Mina. A survivor/victim of his choice to destroy their dimension, something he cannot repress or ignore or pretend doesn't exist once she returns. He can't just be like 'Well I had a bad upbringing' because so did she. It's not an excuse for his actions, even if it IS an explanation.

ANYWAY, I don't want to ramble too much about my plans, but I agree with your general idea and hope I can do the ideas justice in my writing <3

[knowlessman]

bnha s3e4-7

(watching OP) wonder when Top-Hat Rorschach shows up, what their deal is

'XD "oh, what's this, five people from Class A have to do the remedial homework when only one person from Class B does" says the person from Class B who has to do the remedial homework -- Ditto, I swear you had an actual personality back in the horse race -- "I'd like to know what his mental state is" pretty sure you're looking at it Mina

EMERGENCY MEETING -- I forget whether Mandalay's the pervert. If she isn't, her new nickname is Emergency Meeting. Yes I know Among Us was last relevant like ten months ago or something, shut up

dangit, Dancing Boy spawncamped Hat-n'-Clogs

oh, it's Bakuswole from the OP -- ("that's the guy who killed my parents") damn, show, not enough trauma going around already?

probably every time the show zooms in on Deku's knuckles from now on I'm gonna be thinking, "so when is that new gauntlet from Melissa gonna come in? did it get lost in the mail?"

(some dude, the Cenobite I think, found a hand) uhhhhh

hehehe Greninja sure does look like a guy combat flirting would work on, with that getup and that dumbass weapon -- wait no Froppy is Greninja, I forgot

(bakuswole asking about bakugeta) …huh. family resemblance then, possibly

(kota used Splash!) kota you dumbass -- huh. surprise title drop -- also tho. baka no hero ("idiot's hero"), you mean; you were sposed to run 'XD (p sure I have that right, p sure that's how possessives work?)

still can't get over how handface, like, doesn't have a damn costume and slendervoid is just so fucking fancy -- "I was thinking of it as an rpg when I should have been thinking of it as a tactics game" idk did you find the neoseeker guide, did you buy the right gameshark, did you try putting the cartridge in crooked you old fart -- this guy is like a televangelist among villains and for some reason he thinks in outdated video game terms. his boss even knows not to trust him with mooks now, he had to get these randos off craigslist himself (or did Slendy do it for him, I forget) and half of them are just gonna try to kill him when they realize he hates Stain. guy's a fucking loser. -- (handface holding up a picture of bakugo lecter) "in a society bound by rules, we're not the only ones being oppressed" …I'm not sure there's even been a single allegation so far of heroes abusing power or generally doing RL-cop shit (although I might've either missed it, forgotten it, or lost it in the translation). There's Endeavor's… whole deal, but do the villains in this (other than Dabi I guess) have anything behind their walls of monologue other than "society doesn't let us do murders whenever we want and that's bad"?

(eraser v dabi) this is some hard naruto shit here. dang, and he knows mud clone jutsu? how many quirks does dancing boy have? -- oh mud clone jutsu is deadpool's quirk then. : | why is deadpool here

"you're not a real hero!" maybe get a real weapon before throwing stones

"everyone! free to engage!" inb4 bakugo blows up the planet -- …("kacchan is the target") as I said, inb4 bakugo blows up the planet

dayum. tokoyami… everything's kicking off

"I'll save both of them" deku with the Bat-plan. smart guy -- "surrender yourself to dark shadow" deku you say the damnedest things to the damnedest people

lol @ bakugo's saitama face here

-- "our mission is to escort bakugo there" vegeta-chan's gonna haaate this ♪ -- "with this team, we could even take on All Might!" ah yes, the rare Good Team Comp

oh, knife girl -- sakura getting to do things!

"you're protecting bakugo? then where is he?" I thought bakugo was walking in the middle -- "bakugo doesn't belong to anyone" says the guy carrying him in a marble. …implicitly carrying him in a marble -- …oh. he got tokoyami too. dang

who is this guy todoroki's carrying, anyway? he gonna wake up at some point?

didn't take where rorschach was running to into account, didja, geniuses

"don't come after me, deku" goddammit sasuke

"fifteen students were in serious condition from the villains' attacks" camera pans over one girl on a stretcher whose t-shirt literally says "dead" wtf -- squints wait that's jiro, okay she should be fine then she just has really weird fashion sense

whenever deku's hanging out somewhere (in the hospital in this case) and you see the door open, the first faces you see are Worst Character and Worst-Character-in-Training. oh they let the whole class in this time, okay then -- pfft. kaminari's even wearing a t-shirt with an omega on it cuz that's the tier he's aiming for

tokoyami: "I'm sorry I caused you trouble" birdman, your classmates used you for your quirk (not for no reason but still), stop apologizing for having it

"all might saves everyone he can reach, I could have reached him" not with both of your broken arms trailing behind you

yaoyorozu is still the most competent character in the entire show by a handy margin. hell, she has to know how that fucking tracker works in order to even make it

we already knew captain america civil war was a bad movie but god damn, the conflict here and the sheer… actual writing behind it -- did civil war even have a plot besides "tony stark can't forgive a guy who was being mind-controlled"? I do not remember. I think in the comics it was a whole thing about whether supers should be registered and tracked and stuff?

…can't decide whether to stop for the night : | eh, we're between arcs so this's probably a good spot.

[murky-galaxy]

I know we're all frustrated with Seward right now for having had some sleep and thinking Van Helsing has gone mad, and yeah, he would be on the bottom of my list of main cast members I'd go vampire hunt with, so here's the main cast ranked by how good of an idea it would have been to take them vampire hunting, if I had no prior engagements with them:

Number 5: Arthur Holmwood, look I think he'd be really helpful and perhaps top of the list on any other occasion, but you can't just spring on someone who's fiancée died like a week before the wedding that you think their fiancée became a vampire and you need them to fill her mouth with garlic, cut off her head and stake her body. If I were in that situation and someone told me to do that I'd probably stake them on the spot, and I would have been in the right.

Number 4: Jack Seward, not only is this man too fucking rational to accept that vampires might be real, even if one is actively sucking on his neck probably, he also has an asylum he would be all to eager to throw you in, as the last 2 entries have proven. Would have been dead last if the vampire had been anyone but Lucy.

Number 3: Mina Harker, who is already a miles better pick than the 2 below her. Knows about vampires through Jonathan's account, and has a pretty practical can-do attitude. The only reason I'm putting her below Jonathan is because it is Lucy we're talking about. I'm personally choosing to headcanon Mina's lack of reaction to Lucy's death as it being far too painful for her to write about, but if you think she actually doesn't really care that much, she becomes number 2 (maybe even number 1) on this list quite easily.

Number 2: Jonathan Harker, already knows vampires are real and what they're capable of, but has also very recently been completely traumatized by one. Bit of a wildcard this one, because you have no idea how he would react to seeing another, but who knows, maybe killing it would provide some closure? Only barely edges out over Mina though, and that's once again, because it's Lucy we're talking about.

Number 1: Quincey Morris, our trusty cowboy. Even though he also proposed to Lucy, and clearly was fond of her, I really think he'd be most useful in this situation. Already had suspicions that Lucy's illness might be of a vampiric nature, and has probably seen/done some gruesome things out in the Wild West™, so yeah, he'd be willing to go along, I think. He would probably also be traumatized by the whole ordeal, but I don't think anyone is going to get out of Dracula untraumatized, you know.

[captainstiddies]

baku-squad boys and the little things they do

a/n: there will be other parts for lov, pro heros deku-squad and other students!!

bakugou

i think we can all agree this man is the biggest tsundere of the entire school

though i do believe once he does get into a relationship he's pretty aware of this fact after seeing his other friends in relationships

but he's always close to you even if he seems like he doesn't even notice the proximity, he does he made it so.

he always says that any food he's giving you is just extra or leftovers but he usually gives those to his friends, he specifically makes a separate serving for you seasoned to your liking and mainly not as spicy as his crazy ass likes it.

lets you sit on his lap even though he grumbles he still wraps his arms around you and rests his chin on your shoulder

tries to keep you on a good sleep schedule, even if its futile

kirishima

sleepy kiri for you all

whenever he goes to the vending machines he always brings you back something. could be water, could be ten packs of your favourite snack depends on his bank account and what the day holds

will learn your whole skincare routine so when you're too tired to do it or just fall asleep without doing it he will do it gently or at least try not to wake you up

definitely wears his sweaters before giving them to you not long enough to make em sweaty but enough so his cologne isn't too strong but strong enough to feel like you're right beside him

plays with your fingers whenever he can idk why he just really likes the feeling of playing with them

a thousand percent takes random candids of you and makes his favourites into a live photo so he can see all of them on his lock screen when he misses you

sero

puts your favourite music into a playlist so he can play it when you two hang out

because his sweaters are already loose on his body because of his quirk he buys even larger ones to be able to have you in them with him

if you ever miss class for some reason or another he copies his minas notes for you adding little comments about what happened during class in the margins

writes his first name with your last name CAUSE HE LIKES THE SOUND BETTER all over his notebooks

always makes sure your in on all of the jokes that the bakusquad has so you don't feel left out

no matter the time of day he lets you lay on his hammock even if he's out of his dorm

but will make you move onto the bed with him for cuddles

denki

the BIGGEST SIMP

sends you those memes with the hearts all the time

boasts about you to everyone and anyone that will listen, present mic a thousand percent knows every detail about you because this blondie WILL NOT SHUT UP

tries to slide notes over to you but always misses and has to 'psst' at whoever's closest to it to give it to you.

once it landed by Iida, the entire class got a lecture and all denki cared about was trying to get the folded piece of paper out of Iida's hand to give it to you before he reads it aloud ( Iida does, it was a simple "you, me, boba after class, mark yes or no " with only a yes option and a crude drawing of you two as stick figures holding boba )

changed your name in his phone to BEST BB IN THE WHOLE WORLD with like a shit ton of emojis, refuses to change it to something less...loud

even though he's known to short circuit he always goes to you during for comfort just thumbs up and a lil bit of drool coming from his lips as he mumbles how much he loves you as he kinda just plops onto you

when holding hands he swings them without a care in the world and will often kiss the back of your hand and give ya a goofy smile

[writteninkat]

xii - overwhelmed

word count - 2,220

"if i love you was a promise, would you break it if you're honest?"

index

You walk towards the classroom with your palms sweating and your heart about to beat right out of your chest. You had just confessed to Katsuki thinking he also felt the same, but all he replied was a lousy 'you don't even know me'.

You furrow your brows, clenching your palms into fists in irritation. How am I so stupid? I came to Japan to prove myself and to that dumb father of mine that I can be a powerful hero! And yet here I am being swept off track by some lousy high school crush!

"Careful- if you stare any harder you're gonna melt holes through the walls." A tired and very familiar voice calls out feom behind you. You turn around, anger still clouding your head as your eyes fall on a violet-haired boy.

"Careful- if you don't do anything about your lack of sleep anytime soon you're gonna collapse." You spat back; suddenly everything around you vexes you. You send a mental message to everyone in school; today you're hot-headed, your patience is as thin as a hair strand and taking out your anger through physical violence seems like an amazing idea right about now.

"Jokes on you, I've been like this my whole life and I've never collapsed." He smirks, causing you to raise a brow. "Okay maybe I never collapsed from my lack of sleep."

"Look what the hell do you want?"

"Well- thought you looked pretty upset." He holds up two pastel yellow-colored papers. "And I just so happen to have two free ice cream passes for that new ice cream place right beside the campus." He takes a look at his watch, "We still have an hour and thirty minutes till the bell rings. What do you say?"

"And that idiot just says 'you barely even know me'" You wave your hands up, making a dumb face as well as a dumb voice to match, "like hello! I know I barely know you and that's why I feel so upset and conflicted right now! You get what I mean???" You huff back on your seat, shoving the small pink translucent teaspoon in your mouth.

Shinsou nods his head, eyes on his ice cream as he shoves a few scoops in his mouth. "Mmm- this banana flavor tastes amazing. You should try it." He offers his cup to you, making you frown.

"You're such a jerk! I thought you brought me here to let me vent out my anger." You frown, your eyebrows knitting together as you place your cup on the table, leaning back on your seat as you crossed your arms.

"I did. I listened as you vented out your anger to me and we're having ice cream but I never said we were going to talk about the situation." He points out, annoyingly unbothered expression resting on his face as he continues eating his own ice cream.

You look at him in irritation and silence for a few moments, trying to calm yourself before taking your little teaspoon and scooping a bit from his own cup. You shove the scoop inside your mouth, pouting. "The banana tastes amazing." You huff, expression still angry.

Shinsou chuckles lightly, the small smile actually lighting up his usually dark features. "It is, isn't it?" You've only ever met one person with a so-called 'contagious smile' and he was the funny boy you met at the park one day.

Ethan will have to share his spot in my list for 'contagious smiles'. You thought to yourself, letting a smile break your frown as you look down at your ice cream.

"Have you seen the new conjuring movie? It's pretty cool, a solid six out of ten." He shrugs. You shake your head, "I can't watch scary movies. I won't be able to sleep especially now that I live alone."

He raises a brow at you, "Oh come on. We can watch it together through video chat or something. I really wanna see you piss yourself while watching it." He chuckles, causing you to squint your eyes at him. "Is that a challenge?" You point your spoon accusingly at him.

"What if it is? You gonna back out? Loser?" He pushes jokingly, mirroring your squinted eyes. You bring your hand on the table in a fist, "Oh it's on."

Shinso walks you to your classroom just five minutes before the bell is about to ring. "How can I contact you?" He asks, doing the thing with his hand behind his nape as he looks away. "Here." You tug at his hand, writing down your discord account with a marker. "Call me after the sun sets. I'll be home by then."

He waves you good bye and you step in, almost completely forgetting about why you were annoyed so early in the morning. Your eyes fall on the blond boy, still looking angry as usual. His eyes meet yours for a fraction of a second before your looking towards your seat.

As you sit down, the bell rings and in comes Aizawa, tired as ever. "Today, you will all be choosing your hero names. This has a lot to do with the Pro-Hero draft picks and because you are only first years, any offers can be taken back before you graduate." He explains, pointing at a chart where Todoroki's, Katsuki's and your names are written at the top with thousands of heroes wanting to recruit you.

"You will all spend one week interning with the pro heroes you choose or those who chose you, depending on if you have multiple offers or just one." Aizawa continues to talk about the importance of hero names before Midnight walks in the classroom.

The class begins to cheer in excitement as they all are given boards and markers for their names. The cheering and yelling dies down in a few minutes but the excitement doesn't. You smile, feeling your heart throb at the innocent looks in your classmates' faces.

Each of you all are being called up to present your hero names and as your turn slowly comes closer, your palms begin to sweat and that feeling of not being able to stand properly hits you.

"L/n Y/n. It's your turn, come on up sweetie." Midnight calls for you, curling her fingers a few times. You stand from your seat, walking towards the front, keeping your eyes forward and looking anywhere but Katsuki's eyes.

You flip your board around. "I chose the name Tempest. It means a violent windy storm." Midnight claps her hands, "I love it! Basically telling the villains not to mess with the storm." She cheers, allowing you to walk back to your seat.

"So! Have you guys chosen an agency yet?" Mina asks, shoveling food in her mouth as Kirishima and Sero follow suit. You shrug your shoulders, "I'm having a difficult time choosing between Hawks' agency or Endeavor's agency. I want to work on my speed but then again, Endeavor's the number two. It'd be a waste to throw this chance away."

"And yet," Denki points his fork at you, "It's also a waste to throw away the chance of working with Hawks. I heard he's the youngest pro right now who has his own agency and is in the top ten."

As you were about to scold the blond for talking with his mouth full, Katsuki marches towards the table, setting his tray down before sitting down beside Kirishima. You look at the empty space beside you and your mood immediately turns sour.

Wow. Sure, he has the right to feel uncomfortable with my sudden confession but to not actually have some type of closure? You sigh, not bothering to finish your food before standing up. You slide your tray to Denki, earning a cheery mouthful 'thanks!' from him before you walk away.

You walk out the classroom upset, tired and hungry. Your mind races back to the tuna sandwhiches the cafe sold and your mouth immediately begins to water.

"Hey idiot."

All your food fantasies disappear the moment his gruff yet very warm and relaxing voice calls out to you. To make sure you weren't about to embarrass yourself, you look in front of you, searching for someone else only to be greeted by an empty hallway.

Slowly, you turn around, pressing your lips together as you look at Katsuki with the most nonchalant look you could pull, no matter how much you wanted to scowl at him.

"What's up?" You ask, mentally slapping yourself. What's up? What's up??? Who the fuck do you think you are to him, Kirishima??

He looks awaw, walking towards you. "They have new matcha cookies today. I checked before I got here."

You stand there, staring at him for a second, two seconds, five- ten- "Dumbass. Yo. Can you hear me?" Katsuki snaps his fingers in front of you, gaining your attention as he snaps you out of your daze- literally. "Well?"

As much as you want to say yes, accept his offer and just live a happy life, you didn't want to live a confusing one where you get hurt in the end. "I don't see why you have to do this, honestly." You look to your right, looking out the windows.

"We hang out, I feel like you're treating me differently than the others, I feel like I'm special to you, I recognize my feelings, and although I feel conflicted and upset I still confess my feelings to you." You grip onto your bag, "And you respond to me by what- telling me I barely know you?"

You look back at him, the corners of your lips pulled downwards sightly. "Katsuki I- I got the message, okay? Don't do whatever this is to me because from my point of view, you're leading me on cause you can't voice out or even figure out your own feelings." You motion your arms between the two of you. "If you liked hanging out with me, I'm sorry but I gotta keep some distance between the two of us before I go confessing to you again like an idiot."

You stand there, eyes dropped to the floor in silence.

Say something, you idiot! Fucking say something to me! Tell me how you feel- it doesn't matter if it'll hurt me, just say something!

"I'm sorry."

You look up at him, confused. His brows are knitted together in dejection as his shoulders sag momentarily.

You feel your eyes prickle with tears as you nod, pressing your lips together. "Okay." You click your tongue, turning away as you walked from the unnervingly quiet boy.

As you reach your apartment, the sun has already set, you're tired, your cheeks are stained and are still being stained with tears and your phone is blaring.

You answer it without another thought, Shinsou's tired and relaxed voice giving you a soft 'hey'. You can hold it in much longer as you break down into sobs.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? Talk to me, Y/n." He sounds genuinely concerned. You sob for a few moments, letting out all the emotion you've pent up inside you as you walked back to your apartment.

"I-I just-"

Another call interrupts the two of you, making you furrow your brows. "Hold on-" You sob, your eyes scanning down your screen to see your mom calling you. You put your call with Shinsou on hold, answering your mom.

"Hey mom!" You cheer, trying to act as gleeful as possible. "Hey baby! So I heard you have a boyfriend, your aunt Miwa sent me a picture of the two of you in the paintball place? I just thought maybe you wanted to know about that boy's abrasive and violent past?"

He's not your boyfriend.

"What- you looked into him?" You yell.

"Well I had to! It's my first time my baby has a boyfriend. Anyway, I don't mean to be that mom but I don't think he's a good fit for you, honey. He's bullied countless students in middle school and after observing how he acted in the sports festival, I don't think that boy changed at all." Your mother does sound truly concerned for you but everything seemed to be too much for you today.

Before you can even think of the sentences you want to say, you hear a knock on your door. You sigh, pacing towards it as you pull it open, brows furrowing in anger at the sight of your father in front of you.

"Y/n I just want a second chance-"

You yell.

You yell out your frustrations, your sadness, your hesrtsches, everything. Every single emotion you felt today just came pouring out as you yelled from the top of your lungs.

Your body falls to the floor as your limbs begin feeling like jell-o and your head begins to spin. You hear your father ordering his guards around frantically, but his words are all muffled and unclear. You begin seeing double- seeing two of your father really isn't helping right now.

"Hey, Y/n, baby keep your eyes open for me. I'll bring you to the hospital just-"

"Can all of you just shut the fuck up for a moment?" You whisper weakly before darkness swallows you up once again.

It's cold. It's dark. You're alone.

You're always alone.

[katsukikitten]

Warnings College AU sexual and adult themes. Yall know the drill okay

Chapter 2

Bugzapper⚡💔: i have a proposition to make. 

Jiro flashes Mina her phone as she sips iced coffee in the blessed air conditioning of the cafe.

"That's never a good sign." She comments, moon bright eyes glued to the phone as she thinks. 

"What's not a good sign?" Uraraka asks from across the table, the two girls fill her in. 

"Oh." She racks her brain on what that could be, "Okay well I'm dying to know, now." 

🎵Music to my soul 🎶 : What do you want airhead? 

Jiro's text sent a surge of excitement through Kaminari. It was exactly what he needed after three hours of begging and bribing Bakugou to allow the sorority in or at least invite them. His fingers fly across the screen setting up a date and time for a "meeting over lunch" to discuss the proposition in further detail.  

Meanwhile across campus, you huff, eyes narrowed as a rare emotion is pulled from your fingertips in the form of deadly ice. Pulling the moisture from the air to freeze it or pulling any water towards you to keep your flank safe as your opponent rushes you at breakneck speeds. 

You hated this fucking guy, cocky, brash, so God damn arrogant in the way he held himself, in the way he spoke. It made you nauseous just thinking of him.Had you known he was the male star of this university you wouldn't have transferred, yet you still needed to transfer didn't you? Anything to get out from under the shadow of a certain Todoroki. 

No one cared to admit or to notice, that your quirk was different from Shoto's. You could manipulate water towards you to freeze, and manipulate whatever was already frozen. Your ice was denser and more durable than his and dare you say it colder than his too. Yet no one gave a shit, his was ice AND fire. You were just a one trick pony and a trick they already saw. Your opponent's taunting doesn't help matters much.

"I've already seen this before Ice Brat. Did ya forget where I fucking went to high school?" His hand heats the ice as he activates his quirk before three deafening blasts ring out. 

As you allow him to break down the ice you act on pure rage, securing some revenge from the first time he signed your hair. Pointed icicles lie in wait and once the wall is fully down you give him a nasty smirk before sending the straight his way. 

You're supposed to melt your weapons before they hit your opponent, neither of you are supposed to go all out per the professor's and college's strict rules in the athletics department but Bakugou always does. Somehow his big stupid mouth spews something that eggs you on. As if someone were shoving bamboo skewers beneath your skin, under your nails, sending you into an unheard of rage. 

Normally you were as your quirk, icy, unbothered by the world but Bakugou, God you could wring his neck. Freeze his hot blood as you watch him turn into slush beneath your feet. 

He expects you to abide by the rules, to splash him with glacier water but he realizes it too late. That you won't he let's off a quick blast, shattering two of the four deadly points. One grazes his cheek as he just barely dodges while the other lodges itself into his arm. 

You have half a mind to twist it. You pull at his blood bringing it into your arsenal. Blood red needles and bullets surround Bakugou. 

"I don't think you've seen this before.." You say darkly ready to release your hold and shred him into, give him a taste of his own medicine. Maybe he would see how bitter and nauseating he was. He smirks, opening his mouth to retort but you send your ice his way aiming for non vital spots although the ice creeps closer to your heart begging it to hit something vital. The inside of your ice palace begins to reek of burning sugar and spice, he plans to let out an explosion to bring this whole place down from the inside out. 

Just as he is about to detonate and just as the blood and ice are about to pierce skin the professor bursts into the gym.  

"I step out for five minutes and this is what happens?!"

The ice and blood return to liquid splashing across Bakugou as his skin pops. The professor takes in the damage from your ice and his explosions, still better controlled than most of his other students quirks. 

"I gotta stop pairing these two together." He murmurs to himself before dismissing class. With a flick of your wrist the ice fortress melts, returning to the reservoir below the gym floor, ignoring the molten glare that is sent your way.

"You're such a bitch." Bakugou growls as you pass, flinging blood from his fingers as he wipes at his face. You offer him a fake pitying smile before heading into the women's locker room. 

"Fucking asshole." You hiss, forcing the sight of his garnet gaze out of your mind. Instead turning your attention to your buzzing phone in your locker. It's a few missed calls and some texts in the girl's group chat. Briefly you wonder if you ever should have joined that stupid sorority, it was small, non toxic, and would look good should you need to transfer again. 

Not only did you somehow get elected the president but you also became friends with the three other ladies despite your best efforts not too. 

Mins: Prez we might have a way to save the sorority...lunch after you're done with training? 

IceQueen ❄: Hope it's good, the Dean already put the house up for sale. Let me get ready and I'll be there shortly. 

Mina presents her phone to the crowd around her, Kirishima, Denki, Sero, Jiro and Uraraka do a small celebration. Denki more so than anyone else, he knows the combined car washes will be more than enough to fix up the house, he also recently learned that you had the power of negotiation on your side. Having just listened to Mina retell the story of how you got free food for a month from a bar for yourself and your friends. And not from some sleaze who wanted to sleep with you either, no it was from the owner himself. 

Denki is hopeful and so are the ladies indicating that this may be his best idea yet. 

You arrive at the small bistro early, spying your party on the front patio. The three men had seen you in person before, they knew you were easy on the eyes but up close you were breathtaking. Manicured nails but nothing gaudy, normally nude or soft shades, light makeup, mascara at most as far as they could tell and your outfit was well put together. You were what the world called plus size but everyone else called thiccc. Your confidence oozing in your light blouse tucked into your black skinny jeans, uncaring that you had a pouch. 

You needed that extra fat to keep from freezing by your own quirk. The only thing you needed society to worry about was your intelligence and your power. 

Both were SSR ranked so what did you fucking care that your body was ranked lower. They were stupid in thinking you'd skimp power in the name of vanity. 

You recognize everyone at the table and internalize the dread you're feeling. Scheming is afoot and you're the last to arrive. You can tell by their half finished drinks and picked over appetizer, still you sit and act unaware. Denki goes to hold out his hand first for a formal introduction causing a sly cat smile to settle over your glossy lips. 

"No need, I'm aware of who the three of you are. Sero we share our lingual class, Denki, our chemistry class, and Kirishima we share two classes, world studies and villain hero theory. Truly a pleasure." You tell then your name before ordering something to drink from the lingering waitress. Sitting stick straight with your shoulders backs has the men mirroring you. 

"Well ladies I take it the plan to save the sorority involves these fine gentlemen." You ask coolly and they nod. After a moment of silence Mina and Denki go to speak. Awkwardly encouraging the other to speak until Minai clears her throat. 

"As you know they are a newly formed frat with Sero as their president. They moved into their house about a month ago and they say it is quite large. So they have invited us to move in." 

"How do you propose we ask the college to have a co-ed house? What does this fraternity home even look like?" They knew you would be quick to ask questions Mina answers the first while Denki provides the answer to the second. 

"Union and Diversity. Forming close relationships now to carry over into our hero careers." 

"The house needs some work but looks a lot better than what it did." Denki shows you before and after pictures as you gesture for his phone. He passes you his electric yellow case with nervous hope tingling beneath his skin. You swipe through the photos. 

"You boys did a great job on the outside. Inside needs a lot of work. Hardwoods will be easy to fix, they are original but don't seen to be damaged, a good scrub will spruce them up. Wait, are those?" You zoom in on the photo of the living room, "Are those foldable camping chairs and a VHS tv?" 

They gulp loudly as they nod, your purse your lips in disapproval. 

"I can fix that." You pass Denki back his phone, assuming that all the roommates will be present, "I see the main focus was the kitchen but some of the appliances seem to be on their last legs. I can fix that as well." 

"Soooo….So it's a yes?" Jiro asks, feeling relief for the first time in months since they received the letter of eviction. 

"Gotta get the college to agree first." You think on it a moment, "But I'm sure we can arrange that. Uraraka can you draft an email to the Dean requesting an official meeting regarding our sorority? Be sure to explain in detail our situation, how we are being forced to disband by their account and the solution we have. Make sure it's an afternoon meeting too. The dean hates to miss golf with our rival university's dean." 

With the plan set in motion all of you return to your evening classes. Jiro nudges Denki in the ribs, listening to his heart race from their closeness. 

"When are we going to tell her about Bakugou?" She throws her almost lover a look that he seems to wither beneath. His jaw tics before he retorts. 

"I think we should wait to see if this even works first." 

After a week the important meeting arrives and as you thought the Dean is already exhibiting signs of impatience. He is more than ready to wrap this up and you already know his answer is going to be no. Already trying to get it out before the four of you can even have a seat. 

Still you weren't the Ice Queen on campus for nothing. You saunter into the room, mineola folder filled with your copies of counterpoints pressed firmly to your chest, you can already see he doesn't have the copies you sent him. You place the folder down and open it, leafing through the pages as you speak. 

"This request is going to be approved and here are the reasons why. An example of sexism could be made that a new fraternity was approved housing, new housing, after a decades old sorority was deemed "too small" both parties are similar in count. Second funding and donations are easily influenced with letters to alumni and especially by attendees to this university. My transfer from YAU has brought in revenue of roughly 2.6 million dollars, increasing your diversity for women when this is normally a male dominated school. I am aware that my transfer had even encouraged other students from YAU to transfer here. Which I'm sure is one of your favorite bragging points to tell Dean Fraunk during your weekly golf trips isn't it? So it would truly be a shame if these points would come to light in the investigation of my return to YUA just months before the university sports festival. I do look amazing in Ice Blue you know. Matches my quirk a lot better than Maroon." You put the ball in his court, he is visibly upset, eyes flying to the facts that you've presented. All important, viable facts. You were right MMU was known to be a male dominated school and the media would have a field day if they uncovered a mistake he happened to look over. Not to mention you were his main bragging point, Dean Yuzi always talked about how he had stolen you, the female star of rising heroes, from YUA.  The silence in the room is amplified by the ticking of the clock, seconds accumulating into minutes as it counts down his T time with his old college buddy and rival. He gulps nervously, knowing what he has to do in order to keep both his bragging rights and a law suit under wraps. He looks up to you as you wear your stone cold face, making him think of a loan shark who hasn't been getting their payments on time. He is fearful for your future boss.  

"I believe I have no choice but to approve." 

"Correct." You respond, "Now we have a bit more to discuss. I noticed that classrooms 456 and 215 are being remodeled. Those gently used flat screens will be given to our house since it is technically college property. Common space 3 and 1 are being renovated in dorms A and B. We will accept the leather arm chairs as they are in good shape but we demand a new couch. I know it is in the budget as I help plan the budget. I also believe it is time for an allowance for our hybrid house." The Dean shrinks away from your tenacity, nodding as that is all he can do.  

"Well this is a generous offer and should cover most of the basic necessities such as a new fridge and mattress. The aesthetic we will be raising funds for. Kindly spread the word, we don't want to take up more of your time and be late with your 'meeting' with Dean Fraunk." You place a flyer on his desk as you turn on your heel. The rest of the sorority, mouth agape following suit. Yuzi looks down at the flyer, head hung in a mixture of disbelief and shame as he reads over the neon paper advertising a co-ed car wash. 

He just hopes you and Bakugou are worth the trouble. 

[babyboyblasty]

CHAPTER 10:

"You look nice, Deku" Uraraka smiled, her hands held behind her back as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet in a childish manner, looking at her green haired friend. "Is there anyone in particular you're trying to impress?" she gave him a knowing look that Izuku stuttered and blushed to.

"No! O-of course not" he immediately denied and averted his eyes when that only seemed to make Uraraka's smirk widen. Izuku knew he was a terrible liar and Uraraka could be very scary sometimes. "But um, hypothetically speaking.. if I /were/ trying to impress someone- which I'm not- but hypothetically speaking do you think they'll.. you know. Be impressed? Hypothetically."

Uraraka looked her friend up and down. Izuku's fashion sense has definitely improved since the beginning of their first year. Both Tsuyu and herself had made sure to teach Deku and Todoroki a thing or two about dressing themselves since they were completely clueless sometimes. Midoriya was wearing brown, cuffed corduroy pants with a forest green oversized short sleeve button up, a lighter green long sleeve underneath that to create layers. The red shoes were never going away though and Uraraka gave up in trying to get him to wear another pair of shoes. He looked good and Uraraka noticed how his hair was a bit neater too so he obviously put a bit of extra effort into trying to style his curls. In fact, looking around the common room it seemed that Deku wasn't the only one who put a little extra effort into their appearance today. Half the boys there looked like they were going off to a party instead of a casual class outing. Even Iida looked like he was trying out a new hairstyle. No glasses either.

"Umm, Uraraka-san?" Izuku waved his hand in front of the girl's face to get her attention. She zoned out for a bit there and she blinked, turning to face him again.

"Oh, right! Well, /hypothetically speaking/ right?" she smiled and he nodded, "I think they'll be very impressed." Deku beamed and her eyes shifted to Todoroki who was just arriving downstairs. "Oh, look! There's Todoroki-kun. Let's go talk" she grabbed Deku's hand in hers and took him with her. He looked very good! Todoroki's aesthetic was more of a simplistic/classy style with neutral colors. This time he decided to switch it up and was wearing a white t-shirt with an unbuttoned, loose fitting pale blue and white striped dress shirt over that. He had black jeans and white sneakers too. He looked very good. "Oooo~ is there anyone /you're/ trying to impress, Todoroki-kun?" Ochako teased.

"Yes."

Ochako didn't expect such a direct answer but giggled anyway at her blunt friend. Deku on the other hand didn't find it as funny.

"Is Bakugou here yet?" Shoto changed the subject and looked around the common room but didn't spot the explosion quirk user anywhere. He felt a little disappointed.

"No, Kacchan isn't here. Neither is Kirishima-kun" Izuku really tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone. He knew that they were best friends but did they really have to be glued at the hip 24/7? Deku doesn't like the way he starts to feel when he thinks of those two together but he can't help it.

"Oh" Shoto mumbled. There was an awkward silence where no one said anything for a few seconds until Uraraka couldn't stand it and broke it.

"So how are you feeling, Todoroki-kun? Are you still tired or are you feeling a bit better from earlier?" Ochako questioned. That got Izuku's attention and he turned to Todoroki with a curious expression. Was he sick? Todoroki didn't mention anything to him today. He wondered why he didn't tell him.

"I feel better, thank you. I'm excited to be going out with my friends" he smiled briefly and Izuku returned it. After that things started to go back to normal as they talked about what stores they wanted to go to and if they had anything in particular they wanted to buy. The common room was filled with brief conversation before the 'ding' of the elevator was heard and everyone turned to look at a nervous Kirishima standing on the far opposite side of a bored looking Bakugou. Izuku felt a knot form in his throat and Todoroki felt his heart skip a beat, their faces heating up a little at what girl Kacchan was wearing. He looked good. Hell, even if he was in his normal body and wore that he'd look good.

"You're here!" Mina rushed forward to hug her two friends in a crushing hug which Kirishima gladly returned. The girls may or may not be feeling smug at how everyone reacted to seeing Bakugou. Yeah, they did that.

"I said I would go with you extras, didn't I? Now let go, pinky" Bakugou groaned. She smiled wide before stepping back.

"This'll be so much fun!" Mina jumped up and down.

"Everyone please form a single file line for attendance! As class president I must make sure everyone is accounted for before we vacate school grounds" Iida made sure to grab everyone's attention by speaking loud and clear as well as waving his arms about. Where he pulled the clipboard from no one knows but Iida started to check off names in the class roster to submit to Aizawa sensei once they come back in a few hours. "Alright. Everyone is here. We can go now" he nodded in confirmation.

The class had to take the bus to go to the mall so Iida stayed by the door until everyone was inside before going in himself. Bakugou was planning to sit with Kirishima but the redhead as soon as he was in the bus went and sat beside Sero instead. Katsuki was confused since they always sit together and even Sero was looking between the pair in confusion. "You don't mind, right Bakubro?" Kirishima awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. Bakugou just shrugged and moved on to find an empty seat to which Kirishima let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"What was that?" Sero questioned once Bakugou was out of earshot.

"What was what?" Kirishima turned to him.

"That. You always sit with Bakugou so why all of a sudden did you decide to sit next to me? I don't mind but I was a little caught off guard, man. You know, you've been acting weird ever since the night we played games in my room. Is everything cool?" Sero had an idea of what was happening but he wanted to hear it from Kiri himself.

"Yeah, everything's good. I just need to sort some things out for myself first" he explained and Sero nodded, leaving it at that. Kirishima appreciated that about Sero. He knew if it was Mina or Kaminari they wouldn't stop pestering him about it. Kirishima just wanted some time to hopefully figure out why he was all of a sudden feeling so weird around Katsuki.

On the other end of the bus, towards the back, Bakugou found an empty seat. Everyone else seemed to be already sitting with someone else but he didn't really mind it. Once seated, Bakugou put his elbow up on the edge of the window and looked outside. He felt someone slightly tap his shoulder though and looked up to a shy Koda. 'May I sit here?' he signed and Bakugou raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and signed back 'go for it' and Koda smiled a little, quickly sitting down beside Bakugou. Aizawa did mention that because of his quirk, he may experience hearing loss in the future if he didn't take the proper precautions so Bakugou has been taking JSL classes from Koda since the beginning of their second year and developed a somewhat mutual understanding with the guy. He really wasn't all that bad, just a little quiet. And while they weren't friends friends, Bakugou knew that if he ever needed a quiet place to study or just hang out for a bit without talking, he could go to Koda's room. The same went for Bakugou. If Koda ever wanted to spar or wanted pointers to help in improving his fighting skills, Bakugou is available.

Now that everyone had a seat, the bus began to move. The ride was going to take approximately fifteen to twenty minutes so he just wanted to use the break to relax. Bakugou could tell Koda wanted to say something based on the way he would look at him every few minutes but then look away though. "What is it?" he finally asked a little less than halfway into the trip and Koda shook his head. "I know you want to say something, now what is it?"

Koda looked hesitant at first but then signed 'how are you feeling?' with a sincere look. Maybe if it was someone else Bakugou would have told them off for getting into his business but Koda was someone who earned his respect and admiration throughout their time together in UA and who he saw as an equal.

"Why do you ask?" he asked instead, a bit defensive, and Koda responded by signing 'this is a big change and I was just wondering how you were doing.' Bakugou shrugged. "It isn't something I can't handle. Besides, today is the last day of the quirk so I should be back to normal by tomorrow morning" Bakugou mumbled, adding in a "thanks" as an afterthought. Honestly speaking, Koda has been the only one who's asked him how he felt about this whole quirk situation. The rest of his classmates all just seemed to be having fun with it and while he didn't mind, it was nice to be asked.

'You're always welcome to come hang out with me and my bunny if you ever need quiet time,' Koda offered. 'He told me he misses the angry blonde boy with the warm hands" he joked. Bakugou smirked a little with a "tch, sure whatever. Tell 'im I miss the furball too" leaving his lips. After that Bakugou and Koda fell into a comfortable silence where Bakugou closed his eyes to rest for the few minutes they had left on the bus ride.

Everyone else in class 3-A never thought they'd see the day where they all wished they were in Koda's place. The anivoice boy was sitting perfectly still so as to not wake the pretty blonde that had leaned his head on the other's shoulder sometime along the trip and was now sleeping peacefully on him.

[word count: 1775]

( this fan art isn't in correlation with the story chapter but oH MY GOD LOOK HOW PRETTY GIRL BAKUGOU IS- 😩)

[iceice-baeby]

Wasn't Dracula mostly inspired by, you know, Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Tepes, Dracul, the Dragon, who used bats in his fights to confuse the enemy (hence the whole turning into bats thing) and inspired the Vampire mythos in Europe up into modern times? Which is why Dracula was also from Transilvania? Correct me if I'm wrong but... I thought that was obvious

Who we don't really know the sexuality off but I'd assume straight? He was a sex slave for a man as a child but I wouldn't take that into account.

And I mean. Inspiration and sexuality of the author also does not exactly dictate the character though (otherwise all my characters would be asexual (like me) or straight (like the inspirations))

Aside from the book: Musical Dracula comes across as more straight to me, since he is definitely into Mina and doesn't really care at all for any of the male characters (just like in the book, though there it was more scary since it was a Horror Story after all), but Renfield is like, definitely gay for Dracula. The Masters Song is just so full of longing and admiration that it's REALLY hard to interpret differently, even for a skeptic like me xD

my youtube recommended is like: is dracula bi, nuclear science, advanced ai, complex politics, everything wrong with everything wrong with kung fu panda, kant's philosophy, is milf a slur, british folklore, castle engineering, how deadly would gambit's cards actually be, bob ross...

[vickyvicarious]

I greatly fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world without trouble. She will be dreaming of this to-night, I am sure. The whole agglomeration of things—the ship steered into port by a dead man; his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads; the touching funeral; the dog, now furious and now in terror—will all afford material for her dreams.

I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and back.

This might be an answer to the question of why Lucy sleepwalks to the graveyard. I know a lot of people say it's Dracula's doing,and even her earlier sleepwalking is easier to mistake as his influence when not paying attention to dates. But we know that she's been sleepwalking for over a week now, when he was still way out at sea. Even if she is vulnerable to his mere presence in some way that doesn't require any direct intervention, that wouldn't explain her sleepwalking with that much time/distance between them. So it starts perfectly naturally.

Then, the question is, at what point does that change? And tonight's sleepwalking is such a departure from usual, one that leads her right to him to be drunk from for the first time. So it's tempting to say now is when he starts. But honestly, I don't think that's true.

Mina points out here that she thinks the events of the day will provide material for Lucy's dreams and influence her sleepwalking. Later on, we get Lucy's own account of what she remembers from that night:

"I didn't quite dream; but it all seemed to be real. I only wanted to be here in this spot—I don't know why, for I was afraid of something—I don't know what. I remember, though I suppose I was asleep, passing through the streets and over the bridge. A fish leaped as I went by, and I leaned over to look at it, and I heard a lot of dogs howling—the whole town seemed as if it must be full of dogs all howling at once—as I went up the steps. Then I had a vague memory of something long and dark with red eyes, just as we saw in the sunset, and something very sweet and very bitter all around me at once; and then I seemed sinking into deep green water, and there was a singing in my ears, as I have heard there is to drowning men; and then everything seemed passing away from me; my soul seemed to go out from my body and float about the air. I seem to remember that once the West Lighthouse was right under me, and then there was a sort of agonising feeling, as if I were in an earthquake, and I came back and found you shaking my body. I saw you do it before I felt you."

While there are other reasons for several of these elements, there are parallels to the events of the funeral as well. Dogs always oppose Dracula, so they may well have been truly howling... but Mina doesn't mention it, so it's possible that was part of her dream. If so it could have been related to the terrified dog she saw at the funeral. Similarly, the idea of water and drowning men, while perhaps just part of the experience of being drunk from, could have been an impression influenced by her thoughts of the story of the Captain and his companions. Another detail, admittedly more tenuous: while the lighthouse isn't in the same area as the cliffs that she and Mina walked to, or the Demeter's crash site, Lucy's spirit still goes towards the edge of water and land... towards the direction the Demeter blew in from?

Even Lucy wanting so badly to go to their spot in the graveyard despite being afraid... It could be due to the incident at the funeral making such a deep impression upon her. It scares/upsets her, but weighs heavily on her mind, and things that are on her mind can influence her sleeping behavior. Mina took her on a long walk that day as well... what if that plays in to sleeping Lucy wanting to go on a longer walk away from the house?

Mina is tired herself tonight, and perhaps doesn't hide the key as well, since she feels like the long walk will have done the trick to get Lucy to rest quietly. And we've seen a build of Lucy being more determined to try and get out anyway, with her having an odd concentration and searching for the key...

[vickyvicarious]

Okay, so during the talk about psychopomp!Jonathan the other day, I got this ask which mentioned Arthur as Charon taking Jonathan down the river Styx, and I told @treeaspen that I'd share my thoughts on that further in another post. So... here it is. Fair warning, this isn't exactly a coherent meta, more just some scattered thoughts pulled from my quite rusty greco-roman mythology knowledge. I still find it interesting to think about, though (and as always, welcome thoughts or corrections from people who know more mythology).

I had been reminded of the river Styx before, and mentioned it a little in my collection of shared traits between Dracula and Jonathan, namely the "return to hell" section. Here's the relevant bit:

Taking a river to hell - of course you’ll think of Styx (though Hades as a whole is not actually a direct parallel to a Christian Hell, it still encompasses the 'bad afterlife’ so to speak). But Jonathan and Arthur’s boating accident forced them off the river early, which is actually a good thing in this metaphor, because the further down the river Styx you travel, the worse your punishment will be in the afterlife. So in that sense, them being forced to stop traveling down the river in a boat is akin to saying that though they follow Dracula back to (metaphorical) hell, they aren’t going as far in/won’t be permanently damned the same way.

However, Styx isn't the only river in/to the underworld, nor is it the only one with which Charon is associated. In a lot of accounts, that's actually the Acheron, sometimes called "the river of woe". This connection is interesting to me as well because Acheron was in some stories a son of Demeter, making another connection to Dracula traveling on the ship Demeter to get to England. If we see him as coming out of the underworld, so to speak, then him ravaging and destroying all life aboard the Demeter takes on an interesting possible symbology. Similarly, Dracula arrived in Whitby on August 8, and fled the country on October 4, meaning he stayed for only about 3 months. This doesn't completely line up (if you only include his time in England, it's too short, but if you count the whole trip, it's too long), but it did remind me of the story of Demeter and Persephone, and how she (at least in the Edith Hamilton version) had to stay in the underworld for a third of the year, or about 4 months. It's kind of like Dracula ascends from the world of death (his castle specifically) to bring the underworld or hell out to the rest of the world, in a reversal of what happened to Persephone. (I know I've also seen another interesting interpretation of the significance of the Demeter, which I believe goes in a different direction, but I can't find it right now.)

Anyway, going back to the Acheron... Calling it "the river of woe" makes me think about how Jonathan and Arthur are both in mourning. Jonathan is mourning his father and trying to postpone/overturn the loss of his wife, while Arthur has already lost both (and never even got to his wedding, in fact). They've actually got a fair few parallels between them, from when they were both the ones to think they saw Dracula in Carfax during the first investigation there, to the sudden responsibilities both have recently inherited accompanied with great loss. But rather than succumbing to their woe, they are a comfort to one another. Jonathan, less directly (that was more Mina), but his account jumpstarted the proper vampire hunt, bringing some form of closure at least. Arthur is being directly very supportive and kind to Jonathan during their trip up the river, especially making him get some sleep.

Arthur as Charon is also an interesting idea. Because Arthur is the one supplying the money for most of this trip, and specifically this portion of it. However, he's also the 'boatman' of the equation. He buys/owns the steamboat they're using. He's the one who knows how to use it and at least somewhat to repair it when his lack of understanding of the local terrain leads them to crash. So, in that sense he's definitely the one "ferrying" Jonathan. However, his personality and description isn't like Charon at all, with one exception - sometimes he's associated with/wields a large hammer. Perhaps you could match that to Arthur's hammer staking Lucy as him escorting her back to her proper place in the afterlife/underworld, rather than the perversion of death that vampires are when 'unliving'. However, the rest of Charon's typical description sounds a lot more like Jonathan at that point in the story. He's often described as an gaunt old man/demon with flaming eyes, ragged beard and clothes. At various points during his flight from Dracula and his hunt of Dracula, Jonathan definitely matches that description more. Also, Jonathan is the one who knows the way to the underworld, who has been there before and can guide newcomers there. Altogether, Jonathan and Arthur both fill Charon's role.

Finally, one of the most famous stories involving a trip to the underworld is that of Orpheus trying to rescue Eurydice. Even though that story doesn't usually emphasize the river at all, Arthur and Jonathan both could be seen as partially relating to different aspects of the myth. Both their wives (or wife-to-be) were lost to death, fairly close to the wedding. Of course, Mina's not completely lost, hence the whole hunt, but it seems inevitable if Dracula isn't defeated. Arthur doesn't realize how fully he's lost Lucy until the first time he sees her after death, on a trip to a land of death (the graveyard). Of course, then he does nearly the opposite of Orpheus, when the final time he sees her is comforting; her peaceful expression after the staking is complete being taken as reassurance that they've saved her soul. Meanwhile, Jonathan refuses to give up on his love, just like Orpheus, and willingly returns to his own hell in order to save her. He's actually already been on a sort of katabasis (journey of a living person into/out of the underworld) in the first part of the book. That journey gives him the full context of the horrors he will be facing, but he braves them regardless for Mina. His journey is more successful... and due to the way they separate just before the river, Jonathan does not actually see Mina again until after Dracula has been killed. In this sense, he separated from his marked-by-death wife before going up the river Acheron/Styx (entering Dracula's domain/the underworld), and only sees her after defeating him (and thus exiting the underworld). All the while, he had no knowledge of her condition or exact whereabouts. Meanwhile Mina had a link to Jonathan, knowing how to follow where he had been on his first visit to the castle and later sensing his approach and being able to find him. She also literally saw him during his act of saving her/the final attack, via looking through Van Helsing's spyglasses. So Jonathan and Mina actually have some pretty interesting parallels to a successful Orpheus and Eurydice story as well.