#you get out of class for the day and teleport to what might be a literal ancient castle to go to bed

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Heritance

There's not much left for Tim in his parents' wills. Or, well, not much by his standards - the rest of the family, barring Bruce and Damian, think he is absolutely loaded and too full of himself to care. Which is maybe a little bit true; receiving about a dozen properties across the world, a trust fund and a wide collection of artifacts that his parents have accumulated through years of their archeological escapades is a lot by middle class standards.

But Tim knows how much money Drakes actually had, and a few old houses and an assembly of junk seems like not much in comparison.

In any case, it's all rather useless in Tim's position. He has no interest in traveling aside from when he has to for a mission, and he couldn't give less shits about archeology even if he tried. The trust fund is fine, he guesses, but it's not like he needs it, what with being the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and one of the Wayne Wards.

So, as morbid as it is, the best reaction he can muster at his inheritance is a shrug and a mention in his mile-long list of 'things I need to figure out when I have time'. Which basically means he'll maybe get to it when he's old and retired, and not any sooner, because Tim Drake the CEO and Red Robin the vigilante are both very, very busy people who never have time.

Naturally, his life has other plans, and it's only two or three months later that Tim finds himself breaking through the balcony window of his own apartment in Praha.

It's at that moment, when he's lying on top of a soft persian rug, surrounded by glass shards and wondering if this move was enough to lose his tail that he realizes his inheritance might be slightly more than just a few properties and some boxes with old things.

Because, through his own heavy breathing, he hears a thoughtful, slightly sarcastic voice from inside the room, "I guess the door was too hard to figure out for you, wasn't it."

He sits up, turning his head so sharply it almost snaps. His eyes immediately fall on a boy not much older than him, sitting with one leg thrown over the other on the dark red couch near the wall. He looks like he clearly belongs here: white, vintage collar shirt and black, high-waist trousers, a silver ring on his thumb that looks too old to have been bought in this century, dark raven hair and perfect porcelain skin.

And he is reading a newspaper. Like a slightly bleeding costumed guy in a domino mask breaking the window and falling onto the carpet is just another Tuesday.

Hold on, this is Tim's house! He double-checked the address, there's no mistake!

"Who are you?" He demands, frowning, as his hands reach to the birdarangs out of habit.

"Keeper of Doors," the boy answers, not looking up and flipping the page, "And you're the Drakes' heir, I assume."

Tim blinks. The response provides no actual answers, it only creates more questions. "What doors?" He asks because the rest of the points can most likely be addressed later. Like the issue of his busted secret identity, right.

The boy sighs and closes the newspaper, folding it in half and uncrossing his legs to sit a bit straighter. "Doors, capital 'D'. The ones that lead everywhere you want."

"The what?.." Tim repeats, dumbfounded and lost in this unexpected nonsense. The boy gives him a truly unimpressed look, his eyebrow twitching. Then, he stands up - Tim's fingers close around the birdarang again - and steps towards the nearest door, grabbing the handle. His feet make absolutely no sound.

"Drake manor," the boy announces and pushes the door open. He doesn't step through, however, instead just standing in the doorway and turning back to Tim, gesturing for him to look.

Tim does.

Seeing the familiar hall, the one he's seen so many times, the one he walked through every day before he moved out, makes him realize a few things at once. One, he needs to revise the list of houses he inherited since it looks like they are not just properties but a map of teleportation points, most likely. Two, his parents knew full well he didn't need the trust fund, it wasn't for him, it was probably for this boy, who may or may not be the, well, gatekeeper. Three, if the first part of his inheritance turned out to be this, he is going to need to call in Zatanna to sort through the collection of his parents' artifacts lest something turns out to be actually cursed in there.

Four, he's been staring at the boy and gaping like a fish for longer than its socially acceptable.

"...What's your name?" He asks, suddenly conscious about the fact he was kind of rude before. The boy snorts, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he closes the door back.

"Danny," he introduces and snaps his fingers. The glass shards around Tim move all at once, rising from the ground and going back towards the window, like a reversed video recording. A second later, the balcony window looks as good as new, not a crack in the glass. "And you?"

"Red Ro-" Tim starts, but then pauses. Fuck it, he might as well, "Tim."

Danny waves his hand in the air, like snatching something out of nowhere, and, just like that, there's a box that looks suspiciously like a first-aid kit in his hands.

"Nice to meet you, Tim. Now, get over here and stop ruining my carpet with your blood."

[egophiliac]

did you know that in one of dorm epel's voicelines he mentions he once got lost in pomefiore and ended up in a creepy basement. it's never mentioned again or given any clarification and i think about it every day

that comes up a couple of times actually! there's just like...a weird creepy dungeon slash old alchemy lab that the Pomefiore castle was built on top of. I think Vil might use it sometimes? but really it serves absolutely no purpose beyond the characters every once in a while being like "oh yeah, there's that secret underground laboratory we all apparently know about" and then never elaborating on it at all.

(I know it's a movie reference, but it's still pretty wild to just. in-universe have a not-so-secret basement alchemy dungeon that never has any relevance beyond a couple of throwaway lines. what other buckwild secrets does NRC hold that the characters just never talk about for some reason)

[aleskie]

A THOUSAND MILES SEEMS PRETTY FAR | Quinn Hughes x Reader

SUMMARY: But they have planes and trains and cars. He'd walk to you if he had no other way. aka long distance with quinn.

Word Count: 1k Warnings: none :D pure fluff. no angst, just love. ♫ Listen: Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's ♫

You and Quinn are on your bi-weekly phonecall, catching up on each other’s lives in the strange new reality of being miles apart. He talks about training and games, his neighbors and their quirky antics, the dishes he's trying to cook, and the restaurants he’s found nearby for when his cooking doesn't go as planned. There’s a lightheartedness in his voice as he tells you about getting recognized by fans, but you can hear the fatigue too, the weight of adjusting to a life where so much feels new and foreign.

“Tell me what it’s like over there,” he says, voice warm and familiar.

“Oh, honey,” you say with a laugh, “It’s been a wild few days.”

You update him on all the latest drama from home, from your mutual friends’ lives to the ridiculous gossip circulating on campus. You tell him about your classes, the endless cramming, and how you’re running on caffeine and pure determination. You mention the phone call you had with his mom, how she keeps you updated on his little brothers, Jack and Luke, and their texts to you asking for advice on how to hide things from their parents. 

Quinn chuckles sleepily, clearly entertained by their schemes. He’s already in bed, his face framed by the soft glow of his bedside lamp, while you’re still at your desk, laptop open, notes scattered around you. It’s late for both of you, and you know you’ll both pay for it with early alarms and sleepy eyes tomorrow, but the call feels worth it, like a lifeline between you. It was hard, you’ll admit, with him being in Vancouver and you still in Michigan, but it was better than not having him at all. 

“God, you look beautiful,” he murmurs, his voice thick with sleep. “Your lamp gives you this warm glow—you look like an angel.”

You laugh. “That’s probably just the homesickness talking. You’re either really sleepy or you just miss me. Or both.”

He stifles a yawn, smiling. “I always miss you,” he says, softer this time, the usual joking edge gone. “I never want to be apart from you.”

“Hey.” You lean closer, resting your chin in your hand as if it’ll somehow bring you closer to him. “Just two more years, Quinny. Then I’ll be right there with you.”

He’s silent for a moment, a question hanging in the space between you. Finally, he asks, “Do you wish I hadn’t left?”

You smile, reaching out to the screen as if you could brush his hair back. “I would never do that to you. This is your dream—you’ve wanted this as long as I’ve known you.”

He shifts in bed, tucking himself deeper into the pillows, watching you with that gaze that always made you feel seen, like you were the only one who mattered. The soft sound of your typing fills the quiet, and he’s content to just watch you, taking in the tiny changes in your expression as you work. In moments like this, he wishes he could teleport, even if just for an hour, just to see you, just to touch you. Being drafted to the NHL is everything he’s worked for, and he’d never give it up, but there’s still a quiet ache whenever he remembers you’re not there.

It isn’t the first time he’s asked if you wanted him to stay, and each time you tell him the same thing. You’d never ask that of him, wouldn’t dream of it. And every time, hearing you say those words—knowing you believe them—it reminds him just how much he loves you. It might be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for him. 

“People say we’re crazy for trying to make this work,” he says, his voice softening. “But I don’t think we are. Is that weird?”

You smile, looking at him through the screen, your eyes full of warmth. “Not weird at all, bub. I feel the same way. They can joke all they want, but we know this is real.”

His gaze softens further, your reassurance the steady anchor he didn’t realize he needed. The corners of his mouth tug into a smile, one that’s vulnerable and hopeful all at once.

“I love you,” he murmurs, his words barely more than a whisper, but somehow carrying a lifetime’s worth of promises. “I promise, when you get here, I’ll take care of you. I’ll give you everything you ever wanted.” Even thick with sleep, his eyes hold a fierce certainty, one that leaves no room for doubt. Maybe it was strange to some, betting so much on a relationship that started in university, but he knows, as surely as he’s known anything, that you’re it for him. He can already see it all so clearly—planning a wedding, finding a home, starting a life together. This is it.

“You already take care of me, Quinny,” you say, the affection in your voice unmistakable. “You’re all I need.”

He chuckles, his exhaustion creeping in with a long yawn. “Flatterer,” he teases, even as his eyes droop a little, his smile growing softer with every passing second.

“Might be time to call it a night,” you say gently, tucking your notebooks away and placing your pens back in their case. “Don’t miss me too much, yeah?”

His smile grows sleepy. “Almost summer,” he mumbles, words slow and relaxed. “I’ll have you all to myself then.” There’s a long pause, one filled with unspoken dreams. “I love you,” he finally says, voice laced with sincerity, each word as warm as a goodnight kiss.

“I love you too,” you reply, feeling the words settle in your heart, grounding you. “Goodnight, Quinn. Sweet dreams.”

“Goodnight.” His voice is soft, eyes fluttering as he murmurs, “I’ll dream of you.”

You smile, your voice tender. “And I’ll dream of you. Let’s meet up again there, alright?”

A sleepy grin spreads across his face, a warmth in his gaze that transcends the screen. “Yeah,” he whispers, his voice filled with a quiet certainty, “Let’s do that.”

You both linger for a moment, unwilling to end the call, sharing a silence so comfortable it feels like being wrapped in each other’s arms. His eyes are on you, tired but happy, and yours on him, both of you letting that last connection sink in before sleep pulls you both under.

“See you soon,” you say softly, a quiet promise in your voice.

“See you in dreams, love.”

[oepionie]

HIS COMPLETE DEVOTION: THE AFTERMATH. malleus draconia

Synopsis: A week after the spell incident, Lilia tells Malleus about all the things he's done to you when he lost his memory. Horrified at his actions, Malleus locks himself away in his room to brood.

Character/s: Malleus Draconia x GN! Reader

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Crack-Fluff, Malleus is really dramatic, Intense love, Lilia drags Malleus' ass, Lilia turns into his true form, Malleus has gargoyle bedsheets lol, Flustered Malleus, Malleus kneels for u

A/N: Might have went a little bit overboard here loll, I just read a bunch of sagau zhongli fics and it inspired me eheg

WordCount: 800+ | 💌Masterlist | PART I HERE

Malleus Draconia was in love with you. There was no doubt regarding that.

Every bit of your affection, no matter how small or big makes Malleus melt. In the aftermath of your love, he has trouble keeping his heart still as it bounces and dances around his chest. His face blossoms a bright red and a wide silly smile remains on his face for hours, leaving his cheeks burning and strained.

The dragon fae always clung onto you, standing by your side like a devoted knight - so vigilant and attentive that it would put his own retainers to shame.

Though, why is it now that you find yourself eating lunch all alone, with your dragon nowhere to be found?

Well…after the incident last week, Malleus dared not to show his face to you.

Lilia had told him about everything that had transpired that day and oh, how he hated to hear about the sorrow of his cherished treasure. It trod on, tore at, and beat at his poor heart. Even more so once he found out he was the cause of your pain. Such an unpardonable act that Malleus, overcome with grief, shut himself in his room.

No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't visit him. Every time you entered the area around his room, a push of wind magic would always carry you away; it was gentle enough to never hurt you but firm enough to never let you get past.

After days of trying, you decided to simply give Malleus his space, hoping that he wasn't taking it too seriously…

Guilt.

Such a twisted, dreadful feeling which gnawed at his bones and mauled his conscience.

Malleus sits in his bedroom, glaring down at his feet. After locking himself up, the young prince refused to speak to anyone and only came out when it was time for class.

When he was in school, he avoided you like the plague; immediately teleporting away as soon as he caught sight of your figure.

It was safe to say that he wasn't taking the situation so lightly and after a week of his dramatics and Sebek's mourning, Lilia eventually had to step in.

"No!" Malleus growls, tugging his gargoyle themed blanket away from Lilia's grasp and burying his head underneath it.

Lilia sighs and yanks it away from him once more, glaring at Malleus with a stern look. "Do you plan on going about the entire month sulking like this?"

"Yes. Yes I do." Malleus huffs, a puff of fire floating into the air before dissolving into ash and smoke. He turns his back to his guardian and shuts his eyes tight. "Leave."

Silence falls over the room as the two stay still. Lilia squints his eyes, slowly rolling the sleeves to his shirt up. His hair grows, draping over his shoulders and cascading down his back. Malleus turns to glance at him, eyes ripping wide open as he recognises Lilia in his true form.

"I may be old but that doesn't mean I've grown brittle." Lilia rushes forward, tackling Malleus in a vice grip. The dragon writhes in his arms but Lilia's hold doesn't falter one bit. He carries the wriggling fae out the dorm, along a path Malleus was all too familiar with.

"Now, let's go to that darling treasure of yours."

Despite Malleus' protests, the bat fae dragged the poor withered dragon all the way to your dorm.

Once they arrived, Lilia made sure to switch back to the form that you were familiar with.

Unsure of what to do with himself, Malleus stood uncomfortably behind him as the bat fae rapidly knocked on the old rickety wooden door.

There you appeared, disheveled and drowsy with Grim hanging off your shoulder. For the first time in weeks, Malleus' eyes fell upon your figure, and his heart hammered heavily in his chest. Lilia pushed him towards you. "Go on Malleus, I believe you wished to tell them something."

You looked up at him in anticipation, a bright smile on your face. With a trembling sigh, Malleus strode forward.

"I-I'm sorry." He dropped to his knees and bowed deeply, his head striking the ground hard. His shoulders were locked and tensed in a straight line, posture stiff and rigid.

"Malleus!" You gasped, rushing forward. Despite your hasty attempts to urge him to stand, he remained anchored to the ground like stone.

The dragon fae grabbed onto your ankles, his forehead pressed against your feet. "My treasure, I a-am so sorry."

"Oh Malleus, love, you're being a bit too dramatic. It's okay." You shushed him, stooping down to take him into your arms.

Almost immediately, he melts into your embrace, curling up against your chest. His head lay against your shoulder, an arm draped over his eyes. Apologies flowing out of his mouth in an uncommon display of vulnerability.

Sighing, you cast a glance at Lilia who only shrugged as if to say 'Well, he's your problem now.'

"I'll make it up to you." He whispers, throat burning after his numerous confession of guilt. You smiled, burying your face into his hair. "I know, Tsunotarou, I know."

" Though I must say…" You trailed off, and Malleus peered up at you, his eyes wide with curiosity. "That locket you had of me was really lovely."

Malleus coughed, his cheeks turning slightly red. "I hadn't intended for you to ever see it."

"Khee hee~ Ah yes, the locket." Lilia sniggered, grinning impishly. "Prefect, did you know he had a box of true gold specifically custom made for it?"

"Lilia."

"He was so protective of it, always growling if someone dared to touch what was his."

"Lilia, please."

"There was even an enchanted silk pillow! He would always place the box atop it. I'm quite sure both the box and the pillow were embedded with a protection spell.

"I beg of you, stop."

Likes and Reblogs are greatly appreciated and really motivating on my end!

Taglist: @keedas , @spadecentral , @crypticbibliophile ⤷ (want to be added?)

[robin-evry]

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐍!𝐘𝐔𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐖𝐒𝐓 🕊️🎙️

A Halovian singer who was born in Penacony and has risen to cosmic fame. An elegant and demure young lady. This time, she has been invited home by The Family to grace everyone with song during the Charmony Festival. She can use the power of "Harmony" to broadcast her music, manifesting "resonance" among not only her fans but all manner of lifeforms.

During the orientation, they woke up in a dazed and immediately rushed to ask where their brother was, when Crowley asked who they were, they realized they were in a different location or as well another dimension. The last time they remember is embracing their brother after the final battle with the astral express.

They were soon admitted into the infirmary due to during the teleportation their body is seen to bruise and need some healing.

Robin!yuu learn how to get used to the world. They also upload some of their music online and manage to get a record deal, starting their career as an idol again.

Many students are especially curious about what they are, many students believed that robin!yuu might be a seraphim or an angel that have fallen

( I mean they kinda are right since halovian are inspired by angels )

Grim is very fond of robin!yuu wings they are the softest material to cuddle upon, they're soft and warm like a pillow and blanket.

Vils favorite no doubt, they share some secrets about their routine as well to have a spa day together. Many pomifiore are inspired to be more like robin yuu.

It's not canon in the game, I headcanon when they are embarrassed their wings will cover their face. They can control their wings on their will.

Join the light music club, becoming an unofficial vocalist in the group. Carter once asked them to take a picture together and it went viral immediately.

He's also the one that helps them build a magicam account, robin Yuu upload some of their music there and it reaches one of the music Billboards and that's when multiple record studios started to reach for them. By using their power of the Harmony they managed to sign in a contract with a trustworthy record studio. They also upload some of their daily lives on magicam group photos of the first years at lunch, hanging out with their friends and others.

By this point robin!Yuu has reach over 5 million followers in the past few days, even vil is impressed. Vil wanted robin yuu to transfer into pomifiore because he found them more suitable in pomifiore than in ramshackle as well, he originally disproven of the first years due to their personality. And during one time he saw the run down ramshackle dorm because he wanted to visit them for some advice. He immediately asks the robin yuu to pack up their stuff and move to pomifiore there's no way a person can live in such conditions, but after some renovation he obligated but said pomifiore is always open for them. Too bad the pomifiore robe he prepared for them is going to waste.

If you don't know Robin!yuu have 4 wings two sets of wings in the side of their head and the other two in their back. But they usually hide these wings due to the size of them being large to expand thru a lunch table, grim will usually have them transporting both of them around school, it's not a surprising sight to see them flying around the school to get to their class. It's notify that robin!yuu wings are a light shade of purple and it's described to glow.

Robin!Yuu has the ability to summon a microphone and use the power of the Harmony to enhance their teammates magical and physical capabilities to 25%. By utilizing the ability of the Harmony, robin!yuu can create life forms ( doves ) as well as constructing any object they desire.

It's known that their voice has the ability to unite and resonate every life forms into Harmony, the stronger the resonance the stronger their ability of the Harmony will become making their teammates 25% - 50%.

During the VDC show, robin is tasked to be the host by Crowley, they are also allowed to sneak in a small opening performance, during the start of the VDC the lights turn off and robin!yuu will fall and spread their wings causing the crowd to cheer in astonishment. They greet the audience and will start the VDC by greeting themselves and sing one of their famous songs. And then the VDC will soon officially start.

Or during their introduction flight, a flight stairs similar to robin ultimate appear and robin!yuu landed in the center and started singing.

During their performance a certain RSA student looks at them with admiration in their eyes unable to take his eyes off them. His princess.

After their performance neige will try to approach them but they were covered by the first years as well some famous photographers trying to get their autographs or comments. But he manages to get some alone time with them during their break He asks for a selfie with robin!yuu while stuttering and they agree. Soon they both gave each other their phone numbers and started to have a conversation unfortunately robin!yuu still have some duties as a host but their talk was caught short, but for him it was heavenly.

After their bomb of a popularity will become one of the largest idols in twst, many sponsorship, as well as movie casting for their participation. Their old lives are back. But still they dearly miss their brother Always wondering whether or not his safe or not.

The headmaster of RSA once sent them a letter asking if they ever had a feeling of discomfort in NRC, they will receive a full scholarship into the school recommended by the princes in the school. Crowley ripped that letter from their hands into a million pieces since due to their uprising popularity NRC has become more well known and started to receive more money and students for the upcoming years.

[marscantread7]

Don't feel like doing that fancy shit w/ the pictures and borders and colors, so js headcanons I have for Sy and Xav and YOU! The reader, not mc. So basically Xavier and Sylus x regular, avg citizen reader. Ig for info. Ur a college student working some normal job js to pay off ur tuition. Like a barista or sumn. Not doing fast food, bc I'm currently a drive-thru worker at a fast food place and I cannot put my self insert character through that😭💔

Sorry abt the other LIs😭💔 I'm tryna get rid of my drafts so I'm js gonna do my two favorites for rn💀💀💀 I'll come back to this concept w/ the other three at a later date

Xavier

- he's suupppeeerrr overprotective of u. Bc like, ur not an evolver at all, and u have no sense of urgency, so like anytime there's fluctuations in the area, or even a wanderer appearance, he's teleporting u far, far away

- He loves helping u study for exams >_< and like, for ur online classes, esp if it's a gen ed class that isn't important to ur major, he will do ur assignments for u and even take tests and quizzes

- "Brings me back to the good ol days🙂‍↕️"

- He will have u bring home recipes for the new coffee ur shop has for a limited time so he can practice making it. He really loves (to try) cooking for u ans even if his croissants come out a little burnt, u enjoy it either way.

- u actually live in a dorm bc unfortunately u can't afford an apartment😓💔 Xavier always gets nervous when he's there bc "what if ur roommate says smth?" And ur js like, "She's always bringing smb new over. I promise u, she will not gaf abt me bringing the same boy over everyday."

- he will always make sure to visit the coffee shop everyday to get breakfast or lunch, and even drop off a treat for u.

- "Saw this fresh banana bread and brought u a few slices"

- keeps u in the dark abt everything involving protocores and wanderers bc bless ur soul! Ur too curious for ur own good and would definitely try to do ur own exploring

- he's caught u one too many times looking up the N109 Zone and has scolded u for it.

- oh yeah! And nothing against u, but he refuses to tell u that he's Lumiere bc of how curious u r. And crazy. U would definitely try to hunt him down to get exclusive pictures for ur Lumiere blog💀💀💀

- "Omg Xav!!! Look at this new Lumiere post? He's so cool!"

- *Xavier trying to keep his cool* Yeah. I bet he is😅😅😅

Sylus

- ur more chronically online than he originally thought when he first met u

- "What would u do if when he okay, so u said yes would go?" "Darling, what the FUCK r u talking abt rn?"

- he's trying so hard to convince u that u don't need to work and he can js pay off school for u

- "Crow man. Listen. I get ur super, mega rich, but u might not always be here to support me. I also feel like less of a burden on u. At least w/ my own money I have that security and assurance that I can still support myself if things don't work out between us, or if smth happens to u." "Kitten, I get that, but for the time being, I'm truly not going anywhere. Why don't u js let me pay for everything and u js put all ur money in a savings. I truly don't mind letting u use all my money, I have more than enough to spare."

- gave u one of his apartments to live in so ur not in those janky ass dorms.

- He refuses to let u step foot inside the N109 zone

- "Ur lucky ur even alive rn. If I hadn't caught u snooping around all those months ago-" "Ugh! Live a little? Aren't u all abt living life ln edge?"

- has to hide his motorcycle from u bc for some reason u know how to hotwire different vehicles????

- Mephisto always snitches on u when ur up to no good

- Srsly, bless ur heart. Ur such a curious soul, and Sylus HATES it. He's genuinely surprised on how u have made it this far in life bc the amount of dangerous situations he finds u in

- "So u knew the energy fluctuations in this area were high and u still decided to go???" "I've always wanted to see a Wanderer in person" "😐"

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

Haha😭😭 js Starcrow w/ a regular ass reader who has no sense of danger LMFAOOO. Kinda half assed the end of them bc I'm js trying to clear out my drafts rn while I have a burst of writing energy rn

[ramblingthoughtsofayoungadult]

Unpredictable-Limoreau x black!fem!reader fic

A/N: I was inspired a lot by the Bama Rush documentary and couldn't get the idea of a sorority girl in GOD U out of my head. Let me know if you want a part 2.

Warnings: some swearing

Words: 5.2k

Series Masterlist

Future probability cognition, the ability to see potential future outcomes, was usually a nice power to have. At 7, I knew my parents were going to get divorced before either of them considered filing. At 9, I knew my mother would focus all her energy on the agency. At 12, I knew that my older brother would take a head of surgery job in Buenos Aires, escaping the chaos at home. Despite this history, nothing could have prepared me for my second year at Godolkin.

The first day back on campus was uneventful: I survived a grueling early morning Pilates class that I envisioned would put me in Sydney’s, the Si Chi president, good graces and, later in the afternoon, I settled an argument between two Si Chi juniors by predicting that brunch would be the most successful rush event.

Being (one of) the first black high-ranking members of Si Chi could be a full-time job.

As I was re-reading the chapters for Brink’s class, my V-Phone buzzed with a text from Leah, one of the seniors in the sorority.

L: Do you know Emma?

I quickly typed back: Which one? Wallace or the girl who got the botched nj in SK?

L: Neither. Short girl with curly blonde hair. She’s here 4 u.

The yelp that left my mouth would have been embarrassing if anyone else was in the house study room. Quickly, I tucked my book under my arm and ran into the ivory and wood-paneled foyer complete with Tiffany crystal chandelier and faint instrumental piano music playing through the Bluetooth speakers. At the door, Leah’s arms were crossed over her lavender babydoll dress as she smiled fakely at Emma, who looked more apprehensive than usual.

“Emma, hi, I thought I told you to text me when you got here!” I greeted as I approached the two.

Emma’s expression relaxed when her blue eyes landed on me. “Sorry, I got distracted and then I got lost trying to find you.”

I glanced at Leah, who shot me a questioning look. “Thanks, Leah, I can take it from here.”

Leah shrugged, turned, and teleported into thin air. Emma’s eyes widened again as she stepped further into the house and I closed the door behind her.

“Sorry about Leah; she’s cagier than usual because she couldn’t get a refill on her favorites,” I explained.

“It’s fine, I’m just glad you aren’t like that,” Emma admitted.

I paused to finally hug her and she nearly crushed me as she wound her arms around my middle. It felt like forever since I had seen Emma, even though it was at my dad’s annual 4th of July barbecue. When I pulled away, Emma eyed the book in my hand.

“You’re reading before school starts. Nerd,” she teased.

   I playfully pushed her shoulder. “We’re in college, we have to take school way more seriously now. Besides, a requirement for Si Chi is at least a 3.8.”

   Emma tapped her chin. “Let me guess, you have a 4.0.”

  I smiled and tugged her further into the house. Of course, I had to give her a tour of the house and introduce her to the girls we passed. When we finally got to my room, Emma collapsed on top of my pastel blue comforter, dropping her bag on the matching rug.

  “I know Si Chi is a top house, but you basically live in Barbie’s Dream House,” Emma beamed. “How do I get in? What do I have to do? I will do literally anything or anyone.”

   I rolled my eyes and set my book on my desk. “I’m glad you like the place but, you haven’t even met your roommate yet. What’s her name again?”

  Emma pushed herself up on her elbows with a huff. “Marie Moreau. I tried to find her on social media, but she doesn’t have any: No X, no TikTok, not even an obligatory Facebook.”

  Social media presence was basically a requirement at GOD U these days so it was a bold move for someone to show up without any. It could mean Marie was hardcore about her studies or…

  “She might have strict parents,” I pointed out, sitting next to Emma.

  Emma raised an eyebrow. “They better not be weird, cult-y parents. I guess that would be my luck too: have a psycho roommate my freshman year.”

   “Hey, no one could have had it worse than me: a slob who always had boys over and threatened to gut me in my sleep,” I argued.

   “But, you saw all of that coming,” Emma argued.

   I shook my head. “Only the part where she stood over my bed with a knife in hand.” I sighed and pressed my hands into the covers. “I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with that ever again.”

   “Really, because some of these girls are giving unhinged,” Emma replied.

   “The nice thing is I either pick up on the signs or ‘see’ their breaking point,” I explained.

   Emma nodded and pushed herself off my bed to start exploring my room. As she started messing with my checkered Moschino teddy bear figurine, my phone buzzed on my desk. When I grabbed it, I saw it was a video call from Cate.

   “Hi, what’s up?” I greeted, holding the phone at the most flattering angle.

   “I’m trying to entertain myself while Luke preps for training,” Cate admitted.

   “What, you’re not totally entertained by your star boyfriend?” I teased.

   Cate rolled her eyes. “No, I can’t wait for this to be over. You’re coming, right?”

   I shook my head. “Sorry, we have a rush event at the same time, including a choreographed dance.”

  “Ooh, did you choreograph it?” Cate asked.

  “I might have helped a little.”

  “Well, I’m pissed I’ll miss it but make sure to have someone send me all the cute videos and pictures,” Cate requested.

  “Sure.”

  There was some yelling in the background and Cate rolled her eyes.

  “I have to go but we’ll talk later.”

  “Bye!”

  When I hung up, Emma was staring at me with her mouth gaping, the teddy figurine dangerously close to slipping from her grasp and onto the hardwood floor. I crossed the room as quickly as I could and carefully placed the figurine back on my dresser.

  “Emma, I love you but if you break anything, I will lose it,” I warned.

  “You know Cate Dunlap?” Emma asked slowly.

  “Oh, yeah, she’s my peer mentor. Dean Shetty paired us up last year since our powers are similar,” I answered.

  “So, you’ve met Luke Riordan? Like, you’ve been in his presence?”

  “Yes,” I answered slowly.

  “And you didn’t faint or throw up from his glory?”

   “Emma, he’s a regular person. His powers are insane but he is also human, just like us.”

  “No, I’m a regular person. Luke Riordan is, like, a demigod or something. Is he better looking in person?”

   I hesitated and busied myself with grabbing my rush outfit from my closet and setting it on my bed. Then, I stared at my shoes, feeling Emma’s eyes bored into the back of my head. I closed my eyes and focused on the event tonight, the potential sounds and people. Seconds later, I got a decent image of my Si Chi sisters and I dancing in front of the house, surrounded by freshmen girls in Princess Polly and House of CB. I focused all my energy on looking at our feet and tried not to groan when I saw red high-top Converse.

   “Every time,” I muttered as I opened my eyes.

   Two more years, just two more years of going along and I would reap the benefits: a strong ranking, a decent contract, and my pick of the most eligible supes. I just had to keep playing the game.

   I grabbed my platform red Converses and set them in front of my bed, sheepishly turning to Emma. “Yes, Emma.”

     She squealed. “I knew it!”

     I laughed at her joy as she bounced in her Vans. “Go to the training today and see for yourself.”

   Emma’s expression deflated slightly as she walked closer to me. “I wish you could come, you could introduce us!”

   “There will be a next time,” I stated.

   “Promise?” She held up her pinky and eyed me as I slowly wrapped my manicured one around hers. She opened her mouth but was cut off by an alarm going off on her phone. “Shit, I have to go film a video!”

   “You’re still doing Little Cricket?” I asked.

   Emma shushed me loudly and her eyes filled with panic. “Not so loud and definitely not in this house!”

  The girls probably already know all about it, I thought.

  I flipped my waist-length box braids over my shoulder and laughed as she rushed towards the door. “You don’t know where you’re going, let me walk you out!”

  She paused for a split second and gave me some time to catch up to her. However, I led her through the quickest route back to the front door and she gave me a quick hug before she took off. I laughed as I closed the door behind her.

  “Some things never change,” I mused.

   When I got back up to my room, I realized she left her backpack and groaned. She would have to learn to be more responsible if she was going to survive more than a week here. So, I grabbed my purse and her backpack before traipsing the campus. Fortunately, Emma had texted me her dorm information before she got on campus.

   “In case of an emergency,” she’d insisted.

    The freshman dorms were not as bad as I remembered them but I cringed at a few musty speedster jocks I crossed in the hallway. A brief premonition helped me duck to avoid an ice user’s power going out of control when I finally made it to Emma’s door. First, I rapped on the door three times.

    “Emma, it’s me, you really have to keep a better eye on your stuff!” I called.

     After a few seconds of no answer, I knocked again.

     “Seriously? I can’t always be looking after you,” I teased.

     Finally, the door swung open, revealing a pretty black girl with big brown eyes and long brown dreads that were pulled partly away from her face. Her eyes widened at me and I smiled.

     “Sorry, I’m looking for Emma, she left her bag in my----”

     Emma cut me off, appearing next to the girl, “I was wondering where that went, thanks!” She grabbed the bag from me.

    “Oh, uh, come in,” the girl said, stepping aside.

    I nodded and wandered further into their dorm. It was small, like most freshman dorms, but Emma’s side offered pops of color and coziness. The other side was more basic, probably because the girl just moved in.

   “Marie, this is Y/N, my best friend, Y/N, Marie,” Emma introduced as she plopped onto her bed.

    I turned to Marie and extended a hand. “Nice to meet you.”

   She hesitated slightly before shaking my hand. “You too.”

  “Don’t worry, Marie, you’ll get used to her hotness,” Emma advised.

   My cheeks warmed as I whirled around to my friend. “Emma!”

   “It’s true!”

   The embarrassment floated in the pit of my stomach as I faced Marie, who looked somewhere between surprised and amused. “Sorry about her, she speaks without thinking.”

   “It’s okay. How do you two know each other?” Marie asked.

   “Her mom represents me,” Emma answered.

   “Oh.”

   “She’s the one who helped encourage me to make a YouTube channel and is helping me get into more commercials until my big break,” Emma continued.

   I sighed as I sat in Emma’s desk chair. “We’ve known each other since I was four and she was three.”

  “Do you want to be an actor too?” Marie asked.

   I shook my head. “I tried it when I was little but it wasn’t for me.”

   Emma’s eyes lit up and she sat up on her bed. “You should have seen her, she was so cute! She was that toddler in that one diaper commercial----”

   “Emma,” I softly begged.

    Marie laughed. “Now, I’m curious.”

    “Please don’t look it up, it’s not worth it anyway,” I insisted.

    Marie shrugged and sat on her bed. “My curiosity might get the best of me.”

    “Why did you have to mention that stupid commercial?” I whined at Emma, who laughed at my pain. “Anyway, what’s your major?”

     “Crimefighting,” Marie answered.

     I straightened up. “Me too.”

    “So, you’ve had classes with Brink? How is he? What’s he like?” Marie rambled.

    “Well, he’s really tough on first years and makes his tests almost impossible to pass,” I admitted.

     “Really?” Marie asked.

     “But, I can help you if you want; I did pretty well last year,” I offered.

     As soon as the words left my mouth, I questioned where they came from. Marie was a complete stranger, yet she was one of the easiest people to talk to. Normally, I stumbled over my words in front of new people, and this was…new.

    “That would be great, thanks,” Marie replied.

     Emma leaned forward. “Y/N, you are way too modest. She was in the top ten of the first years last year and she has a peer mentor and meets with Brink on a regular basis.”

     Marie snapped her attention to me. “Wait, what?”

     I shook my head. “She makes it sound more impressive than it is.”

    “No, I’m not; she hangs out with the Top Five all the time.”

    “Top Five?” Marie asked.

     Emma and I turned to her, stunned.

     “You don’t know what the Top Five are?” Emma asked slowly.

     Marie shook her head, growing tenser the longer we looked at her.

    “Godolkin ranks all the students based on their Q score, which is basically the strength of their powers, academics, and social media engagement. The Top One Hundred are the only ones published every day,” I explained.

   “And the Top Five are the only ones everyone really cares about since they’re the ones most likely to make it into the Seven,” Emma added. “It’s on the GOD U app.”

    “I don’t have a phone,” Marie admitted.

     Emma balked at her. “How have you gone this far in life without a phone?”

     Marie shrugged. “My parents wouldn’t let me have one.”

     “What about emergencies?” I asked.

     “Someone else always has one,” Marie countered.

     Something was off about her statement and I knew that if I focused on it long enough, I would get a premonition about her. However, I decided that it would be rude to do that in conversation and tabled it for later.

    “You’ll get through it,” I said.

    “So, what ranking are you, Y/N?” Marie asked.

    “Last I checked, I was number twenty,” I recalled.

     Marie and Emma’s eyes widened at me, and I shrunk a little under their gaze. It really was not that impressive considering how intense the nineteen other people above me were.

    “That’s amazing!” Emma cheered, leaping off her bed and hugging me.

    “How did that happen?” Marie asked gently.

     When Emma pulled away, I replied, “Well, right before summer break, I had a premonition about a case Brink had the class working on all year.”

    “You solved a crime?” Marie concluded.

     “I just helped with a tip,” I insisted.

    “Please, Y/N, don’t act like you haven’t solved cases before,” Emma stated.

     I narrowed my eyes at her and Emma smirked in reply. Marie held up her hands and shook her head.

    “Wait, as in plural?”

     “It’s really not a big deal. With all the forensics, psychology, and ethics classes you’ll take, you’ll be solving them too.”

      Marie looked unconvinced but did not push it. “So, what’s your ability? I’m sorry if that’s rude to ask.”

     “No, it’s fine. Future probability cognition, I can see potential outcomes for the future,” I explained.

     “That’s amazing,” Marie complimented.

      “Eh, a lot of times it means I get blurry images in my head but it’s helpful sometimes. What about you?”

      “Blood manipulation.”

       “Whoa, no offense, but that is such a supervillain power,” Emma thought outloud.

        “Emma!”

         “I said ‘no offense’!”

        Marie laughed. “It’s okay, I get why people would think that.”

       “Can you give us a demonstration?” Emma asked.

        Marie nodded and grabbed a switchblade from her cargo pants’ pocket. In a graceful motion, she cut one of her palms and held it out in front of her. Seconds later, a circle of blood floated in the air like water, swirling each way. Marie smiled at our expressions and the blood slowly flowed back in her palm and the mark healed.

       “That was awesome!” Emma cheered.

       “I think Brink will like you,” I added.

      “Thanks. I think it’s your turn, Y/N,” Marie said.

       I hesitated. “Well, mine is definitely not as impressive as yours and I can’t promise I’ll see anything…positive.”

     “That’s okay,” Marie insisted.

     “You can use me as a demonstration,” Emma offered.

     I turned to her and closed my eyes. My mind wandered to images of her face and the sound of her laugh. Eventually, I saw an image of her rolling around her dorm bed with some guy. Then, all of a sudden, she was small and---     “AAAH!” I jumped from my seat, both underclassmen looking at me confused.

     “Is it that bad?” Emma asked.

     My eyes looked everywhere but my best friend and my hands unconsciously flexed. “Whatever you do, do not bring a guy here in the future.”

   “You don’t want me to get laid?”

   “I don’t think you would want to experience what I just saw.” I shivered at the thought.

    “Have your powers made you respond like that before?” Marie asked.

     I nodded. “It’s rare, though, and I have help to get a handle on it.”

     Slowly, I sat down and focused on the orange circle rug on the floor. Suddenly, I wished Cate was there to wipe that premonition from my memory. My stomach churned and I swallowed thickly.

     “Oh, Marie, you have to come to the training with me today,” Emma announced.

      “What training?”

     “The Top Five have public training at the beginning of every year. This year, Luke Riordan is up first,” Emma explained with a grin.

       “Luke’s a big deal?” Marie asked.

       “Hell yeah, he’s number one!” Emma chastised.

        Marie turned to me. “Are you going?”

        I looked up at her and wondered if she seemed kind of hopeful. “No, I have to do rush tonight.”

      “On top of everything else, she is also the secretary of Si Chi, the top sorority on campus,” Emma bragged.

      “Wow, are you always this busy?” Marie asked.

     “Not always. Things calm down once rush is over.” My phone beeped in my bag and I grabbed it. “Speaking of which, I have to run and get ready.”

      “But you already look nice,” Marie commented.

      “Thanks, but I need to be up to Si Chi standards. Have fun at the training and Emma, please try not to act up too much.”

      “I can’t control what will happen once his clothes burn off.”

       “What?”        I shook my head. “I’ll see you around.”

    The next day, I was shocked awake by a series of texts from Emma.

          E: Emergency, pls come 2 my dorm.

         E: Srsly, Marie needs ur help.

    Immediately, I wondered my Marie would need my help. When I reached out to Emma last night, she was busy gushing over Luke and never mentioned any issues. Also, I didn’t see any posts about her on social media which calmed my nerves.

    After texting her I would be there soon, I slowly pushed myself to sit up in my head and pushed my silk sleep mask up over my scarf. Then, I meditated for a few minutes, breathing through all the chaotic thoughts and scenarios that included strangers and people that I knew. Just when my temples began to throb, I stopped and made my way into the en-suite bathroom.

   About thirty minutes later, Emma shoved her dorm room open and pulled me in. She was wearing a gray GOD U t shirt and matching shorts, her curly stuck up in random places.

   “Where the hell have you been?” she whispered.

   “I got here as soon as I could,” I defended. “What’s going on?”

    Marie stood from her desk, a deep frown on her face, and made her way towards us. “I’m not in any Crimefighting classes; it’s all performing arts!”

    I cocked my head to the side. “That’s weird. Can I see your schedule?”

   “It’s on my phone.” Emma handed it to me and I started scrolling through Marie’s schedule.

   “Did you register for any performing arts classes?” I asked.

   “No, I registered for all the first-year Crimefighting classes,” Marie insisted.

   The frustration was thick in her voice and I wondered what was keeping her from punching a hole in the wall.

   “Is there anything I can do?” Marie asked.

   “Sorry, I don’t know. I’ve never heard of this happening.” I paused for a moment and smiled. “But I might be able to help. I have a meeting with Brink today and if you come with me, I could introduce you and we could get this all figured out.”

   “Really? Do you know how it will go?”

   “Let me try.”

   I closed my eyes and focused on Brink, the Crimefighting building, and Marie. The images were as blurry as a Monet up close and all the audio was muffled as if everyone was speaking underwater. When I opened my eyes, I shook my head at Marie.

   “Looks like it’s up to fate,” I commented.

   Marie deflated and I did not know whether to comfort her or not.

   “I’m sending good vibes your way,” Emma offered.

   “Thanks, we’ll need it,” Marie replied.

    As much as I wanted to push back, I did not like not knowing how this would turn out. My heart drummed in my ears later that day as we walked to the Lamplighter building. At the very least, the sun was beaming on everything, making Godolkin look shinier than usual. It was the perfect day for the white cherry-printed sundress and denim jacket I wore with platform white sandals. My braids flowed freely around me under the cool breeze.

   When we walked into the building, I let out the breath I did not know I was holding in.

   “You okay?” Marie asked.

   “Yeah, why?” I replied.

   “Your heart rate picked up,” she observed.

    I paused and looked at her. “You can hear my heartbeat?”

   She nodded. “Sorry, I know that’s kind of weird.”    “Nothing’s weird at this school but, that’s good to know,” I assured.

   I made a mental note to be more intentional in meditation as I led Marie to Brink’s office. The Lamplighter building was practically empty since most students were sleeping off hangovers. However, Jordan Li wasn’t most students and was at their usual post, the desk outside of Brink’s office, eyes focused on their laptop. They were in their feminine form, hair slicked back in a low ponytail.

   A small smile etched its way on my glossed lips at the sight and I turned to Marie, whose eyes widened at Jordan.

  “Let me do the talking,” I whispered.

  “Sounds good,” she answered, nodding.

  As soon as we got in front of Jordan’s desk, I waved my hand in front of their face to no avail. With no choice, I grinned as I slammed my hands on the desk and called their name. Immediately, Jordan jumped in their seat, yanking their earbuds out as they exclaimed an expletive.

    I laughed as they rolled their eyes at me.

   “Seriously, freshie?” Jordan commented.

   “You can’t call me that anymore, I’m a sophomore,” I sang.

   “It doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Jordan teased.

    My cheeks warmed at their words and I gripped my Longchamp tote closer to me in an attempt to get a grip on myself.

   “By the way, I loved your little dance from last night,” Jordan added.

   “You saw that?” I rasped.

   “Rushtok is so big that no one can escape it.” Jordan glanced at their laptop. “You’re early, as usual.”

   “I like to be punctual but, I also have someone who might be your new favorite freshman,” I replied.

    “Impossible,” Jordan scoffed.

     I nodded to Marie, who slowly moved to stand next to me. “This is Marie Moreau. Marie, this is Jordan Li, Brink’s TA.”

    Jordan glanced at Marie, a smirk disappearing from their face. “Hi.”

    “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you. You’re so awesome; your powers are incredible,” Marie confessed.

    Jordan smirked. “I’m glad I impressed a freshman.”

    Marie looked taken aback and glanced at me.

   “I brought Marie with me since there’s been a mix-up. She applied for Crimefighting but she’s in all the performing arts classes. So, I was thinking that you’d be able to help,” I explained.

    Jordan looked back at their laptop and started typing again. “I know, I’m the one who rejected her.”

   Their words hung in the air and I could feel a lump starting to form in my throat. As smart as Jordan was, they were either unaware of how deeply their bluntness could cut or they did not care. After knowing them for a year, I began to lean toward the latter.

   “What?” Marie muttered.

   “Why?” I questioned.

   “She has no social media presence and, even though her scores are decent, she needs a following,” Jordan rattled.

   “Isn’t that a little biased? Do you know what her powers are? If you knew, I think you would be open to making an exception,” I argued gently. “Besides, she can still get a following online. With her face, it will take no time.”

    As soon as the comment left my mouth, I froze. I had no idea why I said that, maybe Emma’s tendencies had rubbed off on me.

    “Sorry, the decision’s final.” Jordan did not sound apologetic at all and I thought I saw them trying not to smirk again.

   “You can’t do that. Let me talk to Professor Brink,” Marie requested.

  “There’s no point, he leaves all admission decisions to me,” Jordan said. “You should learn from your friend. Y/N here has ten million followers across her social media and solved the Glasgow Ripper case and a twenty-year-old cold case before she got here.”

   Marie whirled around to me. “You solved the Glasgow Ripper case?”

   “I just gave them a tip and it was supposed to be anonymous,” I muttered.

    “Nothing is anonymous with Vought,” Jordan countered. “Plus, you led them to key evidence.”

    “They would have solved it…eventually,” I admitted.

   Based on my original estimate, it would have taken them three years and I always felt horrible whenever they showed the victims’ families on the news. The tension in the space was thick as Jordan and Marie glared at each other. I wracked my brain for something, anything to say.

   Fortunately, Brink took care of the tension when he burst out of his office, gun in hand, and shot at Jordan. Marie yelped as Jordan switched to their male form and absorbed the shot.

   “Wow, every time,” Brink admired.

   “If you keep it up, I’m going to run out of shirts, sir,” Jordan replied, smiling.

    Brink turned to Marie and me. “Oh, Y/N, you’re here, early as always.”

    “Hi, Professor Brink. How was your summer?” I asked.

    “Busy. And yours?”

    “Good. Um, Professor, I don’t want to take too much of your time, but this is Marie Moreau and there was a mix-up with her schedule,” I started.

    Professor Brink nodded and turned to Marie. “Is that so?”

    Marie quickly explained the dilemma, narrowing her eyes at Jordan but was able to stay as calm and professional as possible. I glanced at Professor Brink’s expression and while he looked pleasant, I dreaded his words.

   “Well, if Jordan rejected you, that’s final. I trust their judgment,” Professor Brink affirmed. “You can serve as a hero in many ways; Crimefighting is a select group of students who show high aptitude in several areas. That does not mean anyone else is less valuable. Maybe we will see you on Dancing with the Stars one day.”

   Marie’s face fell and her body tensed. I might have started crying if I was in her position but her eyes stayed dry. I gently put my hand on her shoulder.

   “We’ll figure something out,” I muttered.

   She did not look convinced and as I politely followed Brink into his office, I prayed that I would get some sort of helpful premonition. Then again, why did I want to help this girl? I knew her for less than twenty-four hours. Nothing was making sense.

    Later that day, I practically ran a hole into my bedroom floor as I ruminated over my next steps. My meeting with Brink was unremarkable and I couldn’t stop thinking about how to get Marie into crim. She was obviously a strong hero in the works, even if Jordan didn’t see it. One way to help would be to get her into a decent house on campus since that was one of the only viable routes outside of making it into the Top 100 to get noticed on campus. However, Marie did not strike me as the sorority type.

    Then again, I could help her with donors at fundraisers since they loved throwing their money to make themselves feel better. As I thought, my mind somehow circled back to Jordan. It was fun getting a rise out of them after everything last year. They were not as rude to me as they were to Marie, but they were still terrifying last year. They always had a critique for someone and had reduced numerous kids to tears before the first semester ended. Somehow, I impressed them last year and they started being nicer to me. It probably also did not hurt that I had befriended Cate.

    “Ugh, it’s hopeless!” I huffed, plopping onto my bed.

    Even when I tried to get premonitions, there was nothing helpful; just Jordan and Marie arguing while I attempted to settle things.

    What was this year turning into?

      My phone rang, jolting me from my thoughts, and I answered without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

    “Do you have any rush shit tonight?” Cate asked.

    I sat up and eyed her in the video call. “No, all the presidents and VPs are meeting tonight so we’re on our own.”

   “Great, so you’re free to go out with us,” Cate concluded with a grin.

  My heartbeat picked up at the thought of going out with Cate and the others. Any time I went out with them always ended in an interesting story, from the time Cate got us all out of a really embarrassing ticket to the time Andre and Luke drunkenly dueted “Never Gonna Give You Up” in a Korean karaoke bar.

  “I know that face, you’re thinking too much,” Cate warned.

  “Not in a bad way, in a good way. Where are we going?”

  “Don’t worry, just wear something hot and meet us in the parking lot at ten.”

  “Okay.”

  I hung up and set the phone on my dresser. Maybe this would help me clear my head or get me out of my head. Sometimes the thoughts could be suffocating but I would get a break tonight. I closed my eyes and wondered what would happen tonight. Slowly, clear images of a dark club and the sound of a thumping bass flooded my mind. The club was crowded but I saw myself dancing with Cate and…Marie?

[in1-nutshell]

I don't know why but I really want wobbles to meet Red cross and Deadloop

A portal opens and sends wobbles to tfp universe completely lost wandering around like a lost puppy until the prime bots find them

Tfp ratchet and red cross can't even figure why wobbles wobbles so they aren't allowed to leave the base until they go home

Deadloop keeps wobbles out of danger when wobbles does get out of the base

Wobbles has returned!

Hope you enjoy!

Wobbles meet Red Cross and Deadloop

SFW, Platonic, Slight Angst, Cybertronian reader

MTMTE/TFP

Red Cross was trying to repair one of Ratchet’s tools, that may or may not have been trampled by a certain green Wrecker.

The team was out on patrol, and she was handling most of the controls and monitors.

Thankfully Raf had offered to be an extra set of optics and audials in case there was trouble.

Jack and Miko were talking about a shared class and something about finals.

Suddenly a portal came from the wall behind her.

Raf: “Red Cross behind you!”  Red Cross dropped the tool and held her servos in fighting position, prepared for anything that came— THWUNK! Red Cross looked at what hit her helm. It was an arm. Red Cross: “WHAT IN THE ALLSPA—” WHAM! Another frame came out and slammed into the medic. The portal closes. Jack, Miko, and Raf all run over to check on Red Cross. The mystery bot groan as they roll to their side. Red Cross also groans sitting up, holding her side. Both bots look at each other. Wobbles: “Hey! You found my arm! Thanks!” Red Cross: “… I’m going to be punch-drunk by the time this war is over…”

The new bot, Wobbles, happily explained their situation while Red Cross patched their arm back.

Red Cross was still trying to wrap her processor around… everything, she didn’t notice the bots had called in a groundbrigde.

Raf took the liberty of opening the groundbrigde for the bots.

Everyone was surprised to see a new bot in the med bay and a slightly stressed-out Red Cross.

The kids helped Wobbles explain to the others about their situation.

Deadloop: “You’re a simp kid.” Miko spits out her drink. Jack and Raf: “A simp?” Deadloop: “A foolish person.” Wobbles: “Hey!” Deadloop: “You just told us that you WILLINGLY allowed yourself to be someone’s test subject for teleportation and didn’t think that something bad would happen!?” Red Cross: “Deadloop! That’s enough.” She places a servo on Wobbles shoulder. Red Cross: “Wobbles has had enough excitement for one day. Let them be, there isn’t much we can do about the past, can’t we?” Deadloop grumbles a bit but stays silent. Miko under her breath: “You’re the simp.” Deadloop: “What was that kid.” Miko: “Nothing!”

Optimus granted Wobbles permission to stay at the base until their team came and got them.

Wobbles is surprised to hear that this universe’s war was still going on.

They immediately told everything they knew about the ending of the war to Optimus.

It wasn’t much help, but if there was a chance to help these kind bots they were going to do just that.

Red Cross did not like Wobbles leaving her sight.

Red Cross: “Deadloop, Bulkhead where’s Wobbles?” Deadloop: “Their with Miko.” Red Cross: “Miko?” Bulkhead: “Yeah, they mentioned something about sparring.” Red Cross: “Come again?” Deadloop: “Don’t get your bolts twisted. Its just a friendly—ACK!” The smaller medic grabbed both mech’s chassis and brought them to her height. Red Cross: “Did you just say Wobbles is SPARRING? WITH MIKO?! You might as well ask them to stand in front of Big Bertha!” Bulkhead: “She has the Apex Armor! Don’t worry!” Deadloop: “Leave the lass alone Red. The pair can make their own decisions.” Red cross glares at Deadloop. Red Cross: “Its not Miko who I’m worried about!” CLANK! CRASH! THUNK! Miko: “WOBBLES DEAD!” Red Cross, with sudden strength tosses the pair aside and runs to the sparring room, Ratchet soon following behind. Bulkhead notices Deadloop still looking in the direction Red Cross ran off. Bulkhead: “Hey, Deadloop… have you… you know talked to her about…” Deadloop: “No.” Bulkhead: “Are you planning on it?” Deadloop stays silent. Deadloop: “… I don’t know…”

Ratchet and Red Cross could not figure out how Wobbles could keep on falling apart without much notice or injury.

Wobbles mentioned that their Ratchet and medical team never knew why either, they just lived with it.

Red Cross keep Wobbles a few feet away from her.

She has saved them from 5 falls, 10 trips, and 6 limbs from falling out.

The team can see how worried Red Cross is for this bot and do their best to help make things for her are easier.

Deadloop has made it his job to watch over Wobbles when Red Cross can’t.

Deadloop standing behind Red Cross. Deadloop: “Red Cross, you need to rest.” Red Cross: “And like I told Ratchet, no.” She begins to walk away but Deadloop grabs her servo. Deadloop: “Red, you need to get off your pedes, the pede injury is going to start acting up again.” Red Cross stays quiet. Deadloop: “…Its already started acting up hasn’t it?” Red Cross: “…maybe?” Deadloop: “For Primus sake Red.” The medic yelps a bit when the Seeker suddenly picks her up and places her on the med slab, elevating her pedes. Red Cross: “I don’t need your help. I’m a medic Deadloop.” Deadloop: “Well, you sure not acting like one.” Red Cross stays silent. Deadloop: “…Just stay off the pede for a while. I’ll keep on optic out for the kid.” Deadloop walks out of the med bay, missing Red Cross’s sad smile.

Deadloop, thankfully, doesn’t have to worry about Wobbles going too far.

After sharing some stories, the young bot was willing to stay near him to hear more.

Did Wobbles start to grow on him?

Maybe?

Was he ever going to tell anyone?

No.

Wobbles then starts telling Red Cross about the stories.

She chuckles a lot at the theatric the bot puts on… except when their servo nearly came off…

Soon enough the same portal came back.

Wobbles, after making sure all their parts where with them, said their goodbyes and hoped right in.

Red Cross: “As much as that bot made my energon levels spike, I’m going to miss them.” Ratchet: “I am not going to miss tracking down their missing servos again…” Red Cross: “You’re going to miss them Ratchet, no need to lie.” Red Cross briefly makes optic contact with Deadloop before looking back down. Red Cross: “I’ll be fixing that tool.” Deadloop: “Red.” Red Cross looks over at the Seeker. Red Cross: “Deadloop? What is it?” Deadloop:” I… I…” Red Cross: “Yes?” Deadloop: “…How long is it going to take? I need someone monitoring my flight path.” Red Cross: “Get one of the Wrecker’s to watch you.” Red Cross walks back into the med bay. Bulkhead:  “Deadloop…” Deadloop: “Just… just watch my flight will ya.”

Meanwhile… Brainstorm, Ambulon, First Aid and Ratchet are in the lab. Ambulon: “Where are they?” Brainstorm: “They should be here any moment now.” First Aid: “This is the last time I’m letting them near the lab without supervision.” Brainstorm: “I was here.” Ratchet: “You don’t count.” Brainstorm: “What does that mean—Oh! Here they are!” The portal opens. Ratchet: “Well?” Wobbles goes flying towards the medics at full speed. CRASH! Wobbles is sitting on a pile of medics. Wobbles waves at Brainstorm. Wobbles: “That was fun! You have no idea what was on the other side! When can I go again!” All the medics: “NO!” Ratchet is the first to get out of the pile. Ratchet: “And to the medbay with you.” Wobbles happily waves good bye to Brainstorm as the medics bring them to the medbay.

wobbles waving at everyone

[inkbyme]

₊ ⊹ 𝗠𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗮 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗺!𝗴𝗼𝗷𝗼 ₊ ⊹

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲”

Your quirk, Infinity, made you powerful—and isolated. U.A. wasn’t your dream; it was a cage, a place to control your abilities. You kept everyone at arm’s length, untouchable in a way.

But as the world grew darker, your classmates, especially Todoroki, began to break through your walls. This is the story of how you fought for others, for yourself, and learned that even Infinity has its limits.

𝟏 | 𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬r𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞

The air was buzzing with excitement at U.A. High School. It wasn’t every day that Class 1-A got a new transfer student, especially one with a reputation that preceded them. Rumors had been flying all morning—whispers about your incredible quirk, your rumored connection to Hawks, and even the Hero Commission’s involvement.

“Do you think they’re strong?” Kaminari asked, leaning on his desk. “If the Commission’s sending them, they’ve gotta be, right?”

“Strong doesn’t always mean cool,” Mina chimed in. “What if they’re, like, super boring?”

“They wouldn’t be boring if they could actually keep up with me,” Bakugo scoffed, leaning back in his chair.

“They might surprise you,” Todoroki said quietly, his eyes on the door.

Just as the conversation heated up, the classroom door slid open. Aizawa walked in, his usual tired expression firmly in place. “Quiet down. Your new classmate is here,” he said, motioning for you to enter.

You stepped in, hands in your pockets, your confident smirk already in place. The sunlight from the window glinted off your snow-white hair, and your striking blue eyes seemed to almost glow. Your U.A. uniform was slightly untidy—tie loosened, blazer unbuttoned—but it was clear you didn’t care about making a perfect first impression.

“Yo,” you said casually, your voice carrying an effortless charm. “Name’s [Y/N]. Let’s get this over with, yeah?”

The class stared in stunned silence for a moment. Then, the whispers began.

“They look like they walked out of a magazine!” Mina whispered.

“Those eyes… is that their quirk?” Midoriya muttered, furiously scribbling in his notebook.

“Another show-off,” Bakugo growled, glaring at you.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Aizawa interrupted. “Take your seat. And try not to cause any trouble.”

You shrugged, strolling over to the empty desk in the back of the room. As you passed Todoroki, you caught his gaze—cool and assessing. You met his stare with a smirk, raising an eyebrow as if to say, What’re you looking at? He blinked and turned away, but not before you noticed a flicker of curiosity in his expression.

Later That Day: Quirk Assessment

To break the ice, Aizawa announced a quick combat exercise in the training grounds. “Let’s see what you’ve got, [Y/N]. You’ll face Midoriya in a one-on-one match.”

You stepped onto the field, stretching your arms lazily as Midoriya fidgeted nervously across from you. “Don’t hold back, alright?” you said with a grin. “I’d hate to get bored.”

The match began, and Midoriya immediately activated Full Cowling, dashing toward you with impressive speed. But just as he closed the distance, he froze mid-air.

“What—?!” Midoriya gasped, struggling to move.

You raised a hand, your fingers glowing faintly as the space around you shimmered. “Infinity,” you said, your tone light but smug. “You can’t touch me.”

The class watched in awe as Midoriya tried to break through the invisible barrier, only to be effortlessly outmaneuvered. You dodged his attacks with ease, teleporting short distances and keeping him at bay with precise movements. Finally, with a flick of your wrist, you sent him tumbling backward, ending the match.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Aizawa called.

As you walked off the field, you glanced at your classmates, who were clearly impressed—except for Bakugo, who looked furious, and Todoroki, who watched you with a thoughtful expression.

After Class: A Quiet Moment

The day ended, and you found yourself on the rooftop, leaning against the railing and enjoying the cool breeze. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over the campus. You heard footsteps behind you and turned to see Hawks.

“You settling in, kid?” he asked, his tone light but concerned.

You shrugged. “Same old, same old. They’re not bad, though. I think I’ll manage.”

Hawks leaned on the railing beside you, his sharp eyes scanning the horizon. “Just remember, you don’t have to do this alone. You’ve got me, alright?”

You rolled your eyes, but your smirk softened. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t get all sentimental on me.”

He chuckled, ruffling your hair before taking off into the sky. You watched him go, a flicker of emotion crossing your face before you turned back to the horizon.

Next: Part Two

Let me know if you have any feedback or if there’s any warnings I need to put on my post , I also take requests. Thank you for reading!

[bbnibini]

Random Cocytus Hall Headcanons

Mornings start late. Breakfast is lunch, lunch is dinner and dinner are some random snacks in the middle of the night–small and bite-sized, especially made for one particular sorcerer who has a tendency to forget his meals once he’s deep in his research.

Solomon gained a habit of eating anything that’s put in front of him, your pen? Gone. MC? Why is the steak crunchy? Man’s literally pavloved to do this because he wouldn’t eat otherwise. (Thanks, OG!Timeline, Simeon.)

Your weekends are spent scouring for magical items that will be considered rare in the original timeline/future. An "investment" if you will.

“Would you still love me if I was a worm?” “Am I also a worm, MC?” “No????” “Can I be one too? 🥺👉����” (He doesn’t want you to be alone)

“Pretending” to be a couple to get couple’s discounts in everything. Purposely making a scene in public for clout. (Fake proposals, wholesome pranks and polite catcalling). You both like the chaos. Responsibly (because Barbatos is watching). Sometimes, Asmo joins in too!

Every day is a marathon to outrun Solomon to the kitchen. It’s rather unfortunate that most of the time when it’s his turn to do the cooking, something goes wrong and you have to eat out. Not like he minds (a date is a date<3).

This is you everytime you try to wake Solomon in the morning. (He’s a notorious night owl and also a light sleeper, so he made some precautions to get a good rest by casting several layers of sound blocking spells that activate once his brain waves fall into a specific frequency range. And yes. You have to disarm them One.By.One. Every.Morning.) As much as you want him to sleep longer, unfortunately, RAD doesn’t have night class. :’( (What is even “night” in Devildom if it’s always dark? Don’t mind me having an existential crisis over a fictional realm lmao)

Solomon isn’t the type of person who voices out his grievances. He’s the type who endures and always tries to act “maturely”, especially in situations he considers unfair. (Please protect this man. He doesn’t know a thing about receiving compassion nor affection. It’s a very touchy subject to him; he would rather give and get nothing in return. Because that's what always happens. Kindness makes him vulnerable and being vulnerable scares him. )Why would he make his dearest apprentice worry? You are a person meant to be loved(unlike him), and he is painfully aware how he would have to share your attention with everyone else. What you might not know is how much he beats himself up over feeling “petty emotions”. Jealousy? Loneliness? A few swigs of liquid courage would make him forget, even just for the night. He is Solomon the Wise, not Solomon the Fool.

Is the type who answers you in person every time you try to text him in Decommunication:

You Hey, do we still have some bread? seen 1 hour ago

Then when you got tired waiting for him to text back he just: *Teleports behind you* “I bought some now! Did we forget anything else?”“SOLOMON I AM LITERALLY IN THE BATHROOM RIGHT NOW! HOW DID YOU GET HERE? WHY CAN’T YOU ANSWER MY TEXTS LIKE A NORMAL PERSON?!”“But…what about the bread? :( I got it for you.” "GET. OUT." "Do you need toilet pap-" "GET OUT!!!"

Contrary to Solomon’s defeatist beliefs, you crave his presence as much as he does. The little traces of him in Cocytus hall that lingers there even in his absence brings you so much comfort and reassurance. He is the first person you turn to in difficult times. “If Solomon is here, everything will be okay.” is a mantra you like muttering to yourself when you are especially troubled. Perhaps if a certain, depressed and inebriated soul would come to hear it, his own heart’s worries would finally be silenced.

WE GET IT! YOU’RE MARRIED!!  <; —----- everyone when you talk about each other

----

Happy NB Remix Release! Take this late tribute (AO3 mirror)

[devildom-moss]

Hi! I was wondering if I could request gnMc sneaking Mephistopheles and/or Solomon into the house of lamentation to hang out and spend the night in their room (sfw or nsfw) Thank you so much!

Ive been really loving your writing!

Thank you! I hope you will love this one as well. I considered doing SFW, but NSFW brain won that battle.

Sneaking Solomon and Mephistopheles in for the night

(Solomon x gn!MC) (Mephistopheles x gn!MC)

(NSFW)

Solomon

“Howdy,” Solomon greeted you from your bed with a cheeky wave as you walked in.

“Shh, they’ll hear you,” you hushed him and quickly locked the door. You told him to teleport into your room while everyone was having dinner, you just didn’t expect to find him sprawled out in your bed when you returned. He didn’t have to be so loud about saying hello to you. He didn’t have to be half-dressed either. “Are you naked under that robe?”

“Want to come and find out?” Solomon stretched a hand out to you, motioning you to join him in bed.

“The night’s still young; ask again later. Looks like something Asmo would buy,” you commented, walking into your bathroom to brush your teeth.

“How’d you guess?” Solomon laughed, “he actually bought this for me a few months ago. It’s a bit too sexy to wear around Purgatory Hall, though. I might even seduce Simeon looking like this. Asmo wanted me to model it for him, too.”

“Did you?” you asked, toothbrush still in your mouth.

“What do you think?” Solomon was so coy sometimes. He waited for your answer while you continued to brush your teeth, the door opened between you. This kind of familiarity was part of why you invited Solomon to spend the night.

You had to sneak him by the brothers. There would be no peace or alone time if they knew Solomon was in your room. Luckily, Solomon’s magic was strong enough to disguise his presence. He even gave you a magic charm to hang up near your door a week in advance to help detract from his sudden appearance. That’s also why you had him teleport during dinner: the expected day-to-day commotion at that time would be relatively high. It’d be easier to sneak him in the more distracted the brothers were. You lucked out that Leviathan and Satan were bickering over the anime adaptation of a book in the background of Lucifer lecturing everyone else about their recent test scores – except for Belphegor, whose only problem was that the only time he was awake for that class was to take the test. All of that had made it possible for Solomon to be there with you now.

You spit into the sink and washed your mouth out before getting back to Solomon. He was still lounging in your bed, laying on his stomach and leisurely swinging one leg. The lacy trim of the robe was slowly rising up the back of Solomon’s thighs, and from this distance, you could tell that the fabric was almost sheer. Not one to pass up an opportunity, you squeezed the back of his thigh – snaking your fingers beneath the hem of his robe. “I think you should have kept this pretty little number for my eyes only, but you showed him anyway because it’s Asmo.”

“O-oh?” Solomon stuttered, his confidence shattered with a tiny touch. He composed himself with a chuckle and rolled over so he could look at you. “Two for two. Want to make another guess and try for three?”

“I think,” you hummed and crawled over him in bed, “I was already right three times.”

“What?”

“Asmo got you the robe. You tried it on for him, and,” your fingers ran up his thighs until you hit his hip, “you’re not wearing anything under this. That’s three.”

Solomon gulped, his face flushed pink. “I thought you wanted to wait for later.”

“It is later.” Any plans of just relaxing in bed with Solomon had gone out the window when he showed up looking like that. He’s always been so pretty – he didn’t need to exacerbate your desire for him. You could hang out alone anywhere given the right opportunity. You could be homebodies snuggling in bed another time – and it would probably be easier at Purgatory Hall. You wouldn’t have Solomon in your bed again for a while, and you were both restraining a desire so starved that it shouldn’t have had so much strength. So, naturally, you wanted to unravel Solomon right then and there.

There was something about the domestic feeling of knowing that he can fall asleep with you and wake up in your bed that softened the edges around Solomon. He couldn’t joke and tease like he usually would when he was so overwhelmed by the fact that he was in your bed. He’d never felt more like your lover in that moment. Any touch you offered him, he’d take and savor so greedily that he’d give Mammon a run for his money. You could do anything you wanted to him.

It was hard for Solomon to choose between trying to commit every darkened corner of your room to memory – how the noises you were both making resonated against every wall – and focusing on your precious face as you fucked him and caressed his body. He let out such a sweet, restrained moan. He was trying so hard to be quiet; if he bit his lip just slightly harder, he’d break the skin and start to bleed – and he’d still be begging you, “MC, kiss me. Shut me up, please?”

You had to oblige him – not least because he sounded so desperate. His eyes appeared a soft, cloudy grey that darkened as his eyelids fluttered shut, as if you would make a stormy night out of him, all thunderous moans and glorious sparks. Even kissing wasn’t enough to quiet Solomon, and his hungry moans sent vibrations into your mouth.

Somehow, you managed to go a few rounds without anyone hearing before you were both sprawled out on the bed, entirely spent. In the smallest, quietest voice he had managed all night, Solomon asked, “should we go shower?”

“You want to?”

“I always wanted to have you wash my hair before I go to bed. I’d do the same for you,” Solomon admitted in a dreamy daze. He was too cute.

“Okay, let’s go do that.”

Solomon, having been prepared, had an alarm to wake him before any of the brothers would likely be up and about. Unfortunately, morning Solomon didn’t care, and he wanted to spend more time in your arms, which resulted in a hasty escape when Mammon came knocking at your door. He swore he felt magic from the other side of the door, and the room vaguely smelled of sex (but he would never bring that up), so the entire day consisted of Mammon trying to accuse you of sneaking someone into your room last night and wrap his brothers up in the hunt for the culprit with the only evidence he was willing to provide being him sensing magic on the other side of the door. No one was convinced.

Mephistopheles

He asked for this – even after you told him that you could easily come up with an excuse to spend the night with him at his place. No one would interrupt you there. He covered his eyes with his hand. The white glove seemed to bring out the faintest tint of pink in his face. Mephisto looked around the newspaper club room and out the windows to ensure you were truly alone.

“That’s part of the kink,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“I told you it was stupid and a bad idea,” Mephisto complained.

“No, it’s not. Just explain from the beginning, okay?” You took his hand to reassure him.

“Thanks.” Mephisto placed a kiss on your hand and continued, “so, when you asked me the other day if there was anything I wanted to try with you, I thought for a while. Well, I want to have sex with you in your bed at the House of Lamentation. It’s not just the sex – we could have sex anywhere. I could lock the door right now – hell, I could leave it unlocked and wide open – and fuck you right here in this room. But I want to fuck you in your own bed, right under Lucifer and his brother’s noses. I don’t know if it’s an exhibitionist kink or a possessive and jealous trait or some combination. I just thought about it and wanted it so much. We don’t have to.”

He sounded so hesitant and unsure of himself – which you honestly weren’t sure he was capable of. Mephisto was being vulnerable with you, and he was scared that you would resent him for it.

“Even if I refused your request, I’m not going to recoil with disgust at you. I know you’re a demon, and your desires don’t scare me.” You caressed his burning face with your free hand. “I’ll sneak you in tonight, if you want me to.”

Mephisto pulled you into his arms and kissed your face all over, occasionally chuckling at his success in this endeavor.

You used a classic to sneak him in. You declared that you were turning in early, and once everyone seemed preoccupied, quietly – and not-so-quietly – adjusted into their nights, you opened your window and Mephisto climbed through because demon windows don’t need screens or something. Fancy rich people windows maybe?. He didn’t make a show of entering your room, and even his clothes were barely considered before he arrived. Nothing mattered more to him than getting his hands on you.

Originally, Mephisto’s intention was to pleasure you until you were moaning his name loud enough to reach Lucifer’s ears. Just the thought of you cumming for him in your own bed, and how you could go to sleep every night for weeks and months after, thinking about everything he had done to you in that very place, filled him with pride. However, the second you pull a moan out of him, another idea took over his lust-clouded mind. He imagined one of the brothers walking by – especially Lucifer – and hearing him moan for you as if he was in heat and you were fucking him senseless. It hit him that he was in your bed, too, and that meant you had chosen him over everyone else – at least for the night.

Mephisto’s moaning got louder the closer he got to climaxing. Every sultry moan of your name and erotic gasp that parted his lips filled the room. He was so sexy as he combed his hair back with his fingers and panted. Whether it was because he wanted to keep going and make as much noise as possible or because he was more turned on than he had ever been or simply because he finally had all night with you, Mephisto kept you up early into the morning.

You only got two hours of rest before Lucifer reluctantly knocked at your door to dispose of the trash from the night before. No one really wanted to interrupt last night since it had already gone so far that Mephisto was practically yelling by the time they realized, but all of the brothers, most of all Lucifer, would be damned a second time around if they were going to let Mephisto snuggle with you all morning.

“Get out of the house, Mephisto.” Lucifer crossed his arms at your door.

Mephisto groaned and pulled you closer. “Good morning, MC. Hope your morning sucks, Lucifer.”

“Mephisto,” you cautioned him, still half-asleep.

“You’re here, so it does,” Lucifer groaned. “Get up, get dressed, get out. You have five minutes before you become a new chandelier in the living room. And MC, we’ll discuss this further later, but for now, I just need you to understand that I’m disappointed in your taste. Next time, sneak in at least a Solomon or higher.”

“You hate Solomon,” you mention.

“Yeah.” Lucifer turned and left the room, checking his watch. He yelled through the door, “four minutes and 28 seconds.”

[stardustedknuckles]

I don't really know if it's an adhd thing or just the condition that is being me, but I think one of the things I hate most about my brain worms is how they've convinced me I have less energy than I do.

To be clear: I do in fact have a very low amount of energy. But what I mean specifically is that sometimes I'll think ahead to the idea that I might take a class, learn a skill, do something where I make the effort to go once a week and get something out of it. And I'll even imagine that at this point in time, I only have one job! Extra time!

And it'll settle over my thoughts like a cobweb: oh right, that sounds like a lot of energy and I'm preemptively tired and discouraged thinking about it.

Except. I have this test, where if I don't want to go somewhere or do something, I'll ask myself "would I go if I could instantly teleport there?" because often it's not a matter of not wanting to do the thing, it's the transitional states in between. It's getting up, it's getting dressed, it's waiting for the train, it's walking - because those are all individual tasks for me, where for people without chronic fatigue, Adhd, or what have you, it is just all part of the same action. Executive function, you could even say.

And it's easy to tell myself I don't want to do that when I don't have to, but the fact is that it doesn't bother me except for some specifically awful days to do all of that. It's literally fine.

So why does my brain offer up so much dread and exhaustion at the prospect of doing the same boring shit I do every day in preparation for something that is ultimately way more rewarding than staring at dogs and cleaning up after them every day? Why does a sewing or a singing lesson feel so much more weighty?

You wouldn't believe the things I've talked myself out of because of this alone. Making friends who will go with me to these things is pretty helpful, but it also... Requires that you go where the people who have those interests are first. Drives me nuts.

[flightfoot]

What's Going On?! - Prologue

AO3

Marinette played with her pencil as her eyes drifted to the back of Adrien’s head. Even after a couple of months, she still had trouble talking to him. Need to figure out how to defeat a Pigeon Man using a coin? Easy street. Telling Adrien that she liked him? She’d rather die.

*clunk*

Right. Need to keep a better grasp on that pencil. She was pretty sure it’d fallen into her purse at least, which was convenient for retrieval. Hopefully it didn’t hit poor Tikki–

Wait.

She brought her purse up to her desk, fishing through it more urgently. Her purse wasn’t that big, and Tikki wasn’t that small. She shouldn’t be able to miss her kwami!

“Marinette, are you missing something?” Ms. Bustier asked.

She blushed. “Oh, uh. Just my pencil. Sorry, it fell off my desk. I’ve got it now though!” She held it up.

Ms. Bustier nodded. “Very good.”

Where could Tikki have gone? Sure, staying in her purse for the entire school day must get boring, but she was normally there! Why would she leave?

~In a nearby classroom~

“Plagg, we shouldn’t be wandering around like this! What if our Holders need us?”

“Relax, Sugarcube, we’re only gonna be gone for a few minutes. They’re in class, how much could go wrong?” Plagg flew over to a plate of cheese. “This magically reappearing cheese isn’t going to eat itself!”

Tikki groaned.

Oh man, if an akuma attacked now–

Footsteps running through the halls.

Ooooooh crap.

“Why is everyone making a ruckus out there?” Ms. Bustier questioned, looking at the window.

Marinette had a few guesses. She didn’t have the time to verbalize any of them.

The door slammed open, and a giant… was that a purple teletubby? From that freaky American show for toddlers? Yeesh, girl got screwed worse than Nino had. At least the Bubbler still had human proportions, and didn’t look like some baby space alien.

“I am Teleoracle!” the unfortunate Akuma victim announced. “And I am here to show you your futures! No one else will know the pain of breaking a promise they didn’t know they’d be unable to keep.”

Okay, clearly a story there. It’d be nice to find that out, but she doubted it’d actually matter much, fightwise. She’d never been able to talk someone out of being an akuma before, despite her best efforts. Seemed unlikely that her first success would be with someone she didn’t even know. 

Well, probably didn’t know. She didn’t recognize the voice at least. Her appearance was so warped, it was hard to tell who she might be. She was only assuming Teleoracle was a girl based on her voice, her physical appearance was impossible to gender.

More importantly, she needed to get out of here and find Tikki. She just needed to avoid being a victim of whatever this akuma could do–

Teleoracle’s TV was lighting up. That couldn’t be good.

Okay, so it was probably going to display some kind of beam attack. Just need to duck and move quickly to dodge the beam–

The light flashed over the entire classroom, and suddenly, she was somewhere else. Seemed that Teleoracle’s power worked similarly to Pixelator’s, with being able to trap anyone caught in the flash in some sort of pocket dimension. This one was more interesting than Pixelator’s at least. Instead of being a blank white void, it was composed of a large, off-white, circular room with warm, dim lighting, and multiple bean bag chairs, armchairs, and sofas, all facing a large TV screen embedded in the wall.

All that seating would probably be needed, given that she wasn’t the only one transported here. Her entire class – Kim, Max, Nathaniel, Mylene, Ivan, Rose, Juleka, Alya, Nino, Adrien, Alix,  Chloe, and Sabrina – had been teleported with her.

Odd. Normally she’d expect this kind of akuma to teleport each of them to their own individual vision of the future. What kind of set-up would work for displaying all of their futures? Assuming that’s what was going to happen, anyway. That would make sense with the TV. 

Maybe they’d all take turns having their futures displayed? She hoped not, that could take awhile. Chat was still out there so maybe he could defeat the akuma, but he still wouldn’t be able to set everything right.

“Awww, I wanted to record the akuma!” Alya complained. “I only got a few seconds of footage before she zapped us.”

“You shouldn’t be running after akumas anyway, it’s not safe!” Marinette complained. The info Alya provided through her blog was invaluable, but she hated how much danger Alya put herself in to get it. At least she was able to protect her friend, that was the whole reason she became Ladybug in the first place.

“Don’t worry, Ladybug and Chat Noir are always there to save the day!” Alya declared. She looked around. “Guess we’ll just have to wait for them to take Teleoracle down. Not the worst place for an akuma to have sent us. At least we have nice seats.” She took out her phone and frowned. “No reception though.”

“If they take long enough, we might get to skip the school day!” Kim noted hopefully. His face fell. “Aww, but if they take too long, I’ll miss meeting up with Ondine after school.” He looked at the ceiling and yelled. “Ladybug, Chat Noir! Wait five hours before taking down Teleoracle, but don’t wait much longer than that!”

“There’s no way they can hear you,” Max told him. “We don’t appear to even be in the same dimension as them. Sound waves are not going to travel from wherever we are, back to Paris.”

Well there was no way Chat could hear them. Unbeknownst to Max, Ladybug could hear Kim just fine. “I doubt it’ll be that long,” she said. “Chat Noir will– Adrien?”

He looked up, startled. “I’m not Chat Noir!”

“Of course not!” She would never make that sort of mistake. Alya might have proposed that once, but it was a ridiculous idea. Chat Noir was a goofball! He wasn’t a reserved, dignified, but surprisingly sincere and emotionally vulnerable gentleman like Adrien was. “I was just wondering whether you’d lost something.” She’d seen him messing around with his jacket, looking in an inside pocket for something.

“Oh, it was nothing,” he said hastily. “Just a small toy I lost. I’m sure it’ll turn up later. It’d better,” he mumbled the last part quietly.

She’d have to be on the look out for that.

Alya elbowed her. “If you find it, you’ll have an excuse to visit his house to return it!” she whispered. 

Marinette blushed. Once this was over, she’d scour the classroom floor. She couldn’t let him lose something he clearly cared about so much. And having an excuse to drop by the mansion was a nice bonus – assuming that the secretary would let her in, anyway.

The screen flickered on.

“Looks like it’s starting,” Alya noted, making her way to one of the bean bag chairs. 

Everyone else made their way to their own seat, sometimes solo, and sometimes combined seating. Marinette took one of the bean bag chairs herself, those things were comfy.

Time to see what the future held, she guessed.

[qoldenskies]

I have a ton of questions the sprung up in reading the newest chapter of Clipped Wings. I figured it'd be better to ask in a tumblr ask than stuff my comment with more words.

First, just out of curiosity; is there a reason April calls Leo 'Elle'? It doesn't seems to be derivative from any part of his name. I know Mikey has one similar-- just El, I think? What's the inspiration/origin behind them? Or do you just like how they sound? I haven't seen them anywhere else and was just curious. This isn't a knock or anything, just something I've been wondering.

How did Raph Leo and Mikey keep Splinter from knowing about the whole 'locking in the closet' thing? It seems like Donnie screamed and cried for DAYS, even if it was on-and-off. Did they just get him out of the Lair for four days? How'd they manage that?

Finally, how much does April's mom know about the boys? I know she knows Donnie's name, and that he's a good friend of hers. It's likely she knows the names of the other turtles. Does she KNOW they're turtles? Has she ever met them? How much does she know about the current curse situation? I don't know how much or little April has said to her-- I only know of that conversation in Caged Lungs where it seems like they were talking about the possibility of abuse. April's Mom seemed to have called it before April even did.

Thank your for your time! :)

april calls donnie dee/d a lot in canon, so i thought it'd be cute to extend it to leo and mikey too (elle/l and em/m) just because i think theyre still nickname-able first letters of a name, rip raph lmao. i love how they all cycle between SO many nicknames for each other and i had to extend it just a little bit (plus it gives april something kind of special with them). it just kind of popped up when i was writing her and did not leave LOL

also donnie's voice broke. surprisingly early :( by the time splinter was back he wasn't doing anything but begging and sometimes his voice wouldnt even work at all, so it was more like he was silently mouthing it. he also went dissociative several times and blacked out-- it's mentioned in ME i think that splinter was there when they were celebrating leo's birthday, so when he was around and they were probably just throwing him off the trail.

in repo mantis donnie and mikey were gone for longer than a WEEK (i think like ten days!!), its not a big surprise that they can easily make an excuse for one of them just disappearing like that. splinter will trust them when they say donnie's safe, just busy.

it might be a bit contrived but its a necessity for plot!

and the boys have met april's mom at this point!! if there were more canon information on her i probably would have included her, but as it is i just imagine they had a really dumb funny first meeting where they tried way too hard to impress her and overshot PFFT

it wasn't as scary as you'd think, mutants are ALL OVER the media now, and there's a non-zero chance april's mom has met one before, especially if she's spoken to draxum. it was a bit of a surprise but she adjusted way quicker than she would have before the mutant crisis happened BGHFHGHF. OH YEAH NOT TO MENTION THE TELEPORTING CAT LOL

she did definitely call donnie's abuse, hearing "he doesn't want to go home and he looks beat up" is easy to call. afterwards april gives her a basic rundown and its probably a several day process to get things set up with online classes and such, so they had a lot of time to talk about it, but since chapter 11 especially april's been pretty distant because that was super traumatic for her.

[imagineanime2022]

S/O With Powers Like Raven

Tokoyami Fumikage X Reader, Shoto Todoroki X Reader, Hitoshi Shinso X Reader, Keigo Takami X Reader, Dabi X Reader,

Requested: @supernatural-hunter1

Request: I had this cute little ideas stuck in my head and I thought it was a really cute What if Tokoyami, Shoto, Shinsou, Hawks Dabi and Shigaraki had an S/O who’s quirk similar to Raven’s powers from original teen titans and I know, for a fact that TokoYami would fall harder in love than the others😂 I also did a story about it to if you want to go check it out sometime but I just thought it was cute. BTW, you did an amazing job with that Danny Phantom story😁 AND What if the class 1A students have an S/O who quirk is the same powers as Raven from “Teen Titans” (the original version)

Warnings: Bullying, Bad parenting, injury, any others let me know

Fumikage Tokoyami

🌙 You both sensed the other's energy from the moment that you walked into the classroom, well you kind of just appeared and he registered the change in the room. 🌙 You seemed to automatically stay away from people, you avoided talking to people or getting too close to them. 🌙 It wasn’t his excitement that felt from across the room, but Dark Shadow’s the demon took a liking to you the moment that she saw you so you had to address that because it was slightly distracting. 🌙 You were both fast friends but he fell for you the first time that he saw you interact with Dark Shadow when the villain attacked the training camp.

The moment that the villains made themselves known, you worried about the class mates that had already been sent out into the forest but honestly you were more worried about Tokoyami after having spoken about your powers, you knew that the darkness was going to make controlling Dark Shadow difficult. You took about 2 seconds to locate him and then teleport to where he was, you found him hands pressed to his head as he tried to contain Dark Shadow. “Tokoyami!” You called as you fell to your knees in front of him. “What are…you doing��here?” He asked as he managed to look up at you. “I came looking for you, I knew that Dark Shadow would be hard to control.” You explained. “You have to go, she’ll hurt you.” He reached forward trying to push you towards the trees. “She wouldn’t hurt me, I can help, trust me.” You pleaded, he doubled over again seemingly trying to contain the power that Dark Shadow harboured. You didn’t get a verbal answer from Tokoyami but you continued anyway. The moment that your power activated Dark Shadow seemed to focus on you. “Hey Shadow, I know that you feel a lot of power right now but you're hurting Tokoyami, you don’t want to do that do you?” “I don’t mean to.” Dark Shadow answered and you nodded as you lifted your hands drawing her closer to you, when her head finally rested in yours you started to slowly calm the rampaging emotions for both of them. “I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry, we’re okay now… All we need to do is find our way back now okay?” You asked. “Thank you.” Tokoyami said softly and you looked at him and smiled. “Of course.” You nodded, taking his hand and pulling him over with you.

🌙 From here on you both became very close, you were never seen far apart and you worked together well, with your ability to control and enhance the shadows and by extension Dark Shadow you became a formidable team. 🌙 It didn’t take long for you both to realise that the feelings you had extended past friendship. 🌙 Tokoyami fell hard for you, he made sure that you were safe and happy no matter the condition that he might be in. Kissing was out of the question given his beak, you pressed kisses to his cheeks and hands but he often showed affection by nuzzling you or running his hands through your hair instead. 🌙 You spent a lot of time together and it was usually in yours or his room at the dorm.

It had been a long day for both of you, you weren’t sure that you wanted to sit in the common room with the rest of your friends so you made your way to Tokoyami’s room which was closer than yours, you fell face first on his bed, he didn’t seem to be there yet so you closed your eyes for a moment hoping to get some rest before he got back.

When you opened your eyes again Dark Shadow was fliting around the room as Tokoyami sat at his desk. He seemed to be doing homework that you didn’t care to entertain at the moment. “You didn’t wake me.” You mumbled. “You seemed tired today, it’s better that you rested, you can go back to sleep, I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat.” He said as he turned to look at you, you shook your head sitting up and rubbing at your eyes. Tokoyami walked over to you sitting on the bed, you moved over and rested your head on his thigh. “What were you doing?” You asked. “Maths homework.” He answered as his hands started to run through your hair, Dark Shadow settled in a smaller form on your chest as you gently ran your hand over the entity. “Mm.” You hummed as your eyes started to close again, he knew that you were still tired and it wouldn’t take much to send you back to sleep, your rooms were very similar so you had already admitted that your felt safe enough to sleep there, but as he run his fingers through your hair he could see your face relaxing and he realised that he would do anything for you to always have this look on your face and you became a new reason for him to become a hero, to make a world where he could see you smile and relax this way all the time.

Shoto Todoroki

🔥 You and Shoto barely acknowledged each other at the start of the school year, you both had your goals and would stop at nothing to achieve them. 🔥 You guys got closer after the sports festival, after finding out that you both had Daddy issues that you needed to solve, you didn’t really need to talk when in each other's presence. 🔥 Shoto was super curious about your quirk, he’d never really seen anything like it, you were in some way able to mute most quirks that you came into contact with and despite the fact that it came from your father you weren’t afraid of using it. 🔥 The first time that he saw your father was during the Stain incident, while Iida, Midoriya and himself were dealing with Stain. You were dealing with your father.

“You really think that you can be a hero!?” Your father asked as you dodged yet another attack of pure energy. “You don’t know what I can do.” You glared at him but he was quick this time and the next attack that he sent out hit you, you fell over the side of the building that you had been fighting on, you couldn’t catch yourself before hitting the ground, you laid there dazed for a second before you rolled to the side avoiding yet another attack from your father. “(H/N)!” Your head turned to where Shoto was standing with Midoriya and Iida. “What are you doing here!?” You asked as you kept your eyes on your father. “Those are kids from your class?” He asked “well then shall I get rid of the distraction.” He lifted his hands towards them, you didn’t think twice about creating a shield in front of them but it left you vulnerable to another attack, which it seemed your dad had counted on, you saw the blast of energy and almost felt it before the ice came up around you protecting you, it was then that you all heard the pros that had been looking for the others heading down into the alley way, you stepped into the shadows and portaled out near Shoto and the others. “Are you guys okay?” You asked. “We’re fine, what about you?” Shoto asked. “I’m fine thanks to you.” You smiled. “Who was that?” Shoto asked. “That’s my Dad.” You answered as you looked at where he had been. “That’s your Dad?” Shoto asked. “Yeah I told you we both had family issues.” You nodded and he looked down the alley at Endeavour running towards them all and he thought for a second that at least his Dad cared about his safety.

🔥 You and Shoto were very much traumatised children so he recognised boundaries that you never really talked about but they were there. 🔥 You were part of the reason that he decided to try and repair his relationship with his Dad. 🔥 Stood with you no matter what you said or decided, you guys were a power couple without the couple part, you were both a little oblivious to the fact for a little while. 🔥 That is until you met his siblings, who loved you by the way.

“So Mum was asking when you're going to bring your partner to see her.” Natsuo teased, they had never seen Shoto shocked or caught off guard but the moment that he started choking Fiyumi leaned forward to pat his back Fuyumi leaned forward to pat his back and help to stop the coughing. “Natsuo you could have phrased that differently.” Fuyumi muttered as she handed him some water. “Mum just said that she was curious about the friend that you write about all the time is all.” “She did?” Shoto asked. “Have you told (Y/N) about Mum?” Natsuo asked. “Mmm, we talked about it.” He answered. “We’ve talked about our family a lot.” “You have?” Fuyumi asked. “Yeah, they said that they wished she had a brother and sister like you guys, they’ve been alone since their mum died so…” Shoto trailed off as his phone vibrated. His siblings watched as he picked up the phone and smiled, answering the text message immediately. “You should really think about that partner thing, you seem happier when you're with them almost like our Dad didn’t take everything from you.” Natsuo said as he stood from the table and carried his bowl to the sink where he washed it and then left to get on with the rest of his day. “Wait!” Shoto called out “how would I know that I like them?” “Well I mean I’ve seen you with them, you care about them right? You want to protect them from anything that might hurt them.” Natsuo shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. “You also want to give them anything that they might want right? That’s why you introduced them to us, to a family.” Fuyumi added, Shoto bit down on his lip as he looked down at his Soba, they were right but did that mean that he liked you and if it did? What about you? Did you like him? “Shoto this is something that you have to talk to them about, knowing how they feel is important too.”

That was how Shoto found himself sitting in the small apartment that you called yours “something is bothering you, it has been since you got here.” You said as you looked at him “what's going on?” “I was talking to Natsuo and Fuyumi this morning and they said something.” He started explaining, you nodded to signal that you were listening without interrupting him. “Well we were talking about you, they said that my Mum wants to meet you since I write about you a lot when I send her letters.” “If that’s what you are worried about then I’d be happy to see your Mum.” You said. “No that’s not it… Well not all of it.” He said “there was something else, Natsuo called you my partner.” “Is that bad?” You asked. “I had to ask him what he meant but when he explained it to me, I realised that everything that he said was true for me… But then Fuyumi said that this isn’t something I can decide on my own, what you think is important, so I guess I wanted to know what you thought.” Shoto explained he gripped his trouser legs tightly as he waited for you to speak. “You know I told myself for the longest time that you couldn’t want me and that if my feelings for you were that strong that I should let you find someone better for you.” You explained. “What!?” He asked. “I don’t want someone else!” “I know that now… but that was hard to tell before.” You shrugged. “So the way I feel is the same as you and I wouldn’t have a problem with being your partner if you think that I’m good enough.” “You're more than enough.” He nodded. “As are you.” You said softly, pressing a shy kiss to his cheek.

Hitoshi Shinso

🧠 Hitoshi didn’t actually take much note of you for the first couple of days, actually the first time that he ever really took note of you was when people started badgering you about your quirk. 🧠 He noticed that you didn’t seem to want to talk about it, at first he thought that you were quirkless but realised that for you to be in the same class as him you had to have some kind of quirk so he then decided that you had to be ashamed of it for some reason. 🧠 He never asked you about your quirk, you were paired together for school projects and quickly learned that you liked the same things and understood each other's boundaries well enough without having to spell them out. 🧠 The first time that Shinso saw your quirk it was out of control, he had walked into the room after realising that you were late for lunch.

Shinso walked into the classroom that he was sure you last lesson before lunch was, his eyes found you first with your hands over your head as you cried, his eyes moved around the room where it seemed that shadows reached out to grab three girls who must have been in the room with you “(Y/N).” Shinso called out to you and sighed when you looked up at him but your eyes widened. “You have to leave, I can’t stop them… You’ll get hurt.” You muttered “they’re right I shouldn’t be here, I should be locked up somewhere.” Shinso felt the flare in your quirk as the shadows darkened and tightened around the girls. “They said that?” He asked, stepping forward. “No! Don’t do that!?” You pleaded, the shadows receded from the girls and they all fell to the ground. “Go.” He ordered as you curled in on yourself, you hands pressing to your head, you were mumbling to yourself, he hated seeing you like this. If he had been here instead of training with Aizawa this wouldn’t have happened.

Aizawa! He could help but he didn’t know how he was going to get a message to him, he was in the process of figuring it out when someone called his name “Shinso, you know them?” He looked over at the entrance to the classroom and saw that Aizawa was standing there with Present Mic and Midnight. It seemed that someone must have told them about what was happening over here and they rushed over. “They’re my friend, their names (Y/N), those girls were teasing them. I think it caused her to lose control of their quirk.” Shinso explained. “Not completely.” Midnight muttered as she directed Aizawa’s eyes to Shinso’s feet where the shadows circled him but didn’t dare touch him. “Mmm.” Aizawa hummed as his attention turned to you and nullified your quirk, Shinso moved quickly crouching in front of you. “Are you okay?” He asked, he didn’t get an answer but he could feel you shaking and your breathing was out of control. “(Y/N), look at me.” When you looked up he repeated his question. “I don-'' You stopped a blank expression across your face as you looked at him. “Calm down.” He ordered, he watched as your breathing went back to normal and only then did he let control go, he waited for you to be angry at him or push him away but instead you launched forward wrapping your arms around him. “Thank you.” You breathed and he stayed stock still for a moment before his arms wrapped around you and pulled you closer. “Anything for you.” He answered.

🧠 From there on Aizawa insisted that you train with him and Shinso if only to learn control of quirk so you don’t have to be afraid of it. 🧠 You watch Shinso grow and become stronger and you wonder if he was always going to think of you as a friend or just a burden. 🧠 You started pulling away after that, it was getting to the time where Shinso would show his quirk to the rest of the hero course and then he’d be leaving you, you know that he’ll get on the hero course no problem, he’ll make new friends and leave you alone. 🧠 Shinso noticed the moment that you stopped coming to the training with him and Aizawa, you didn’t answer any messages and seemed to be actively avoiding him, that is until you couldn’t anymore.

Shinso showed up at the classroom earlier than you had expected, he waited for all of the other students to filter out, he realised after a while that you had been eating your lunch in your classroom so you didn’t have to see him so when he was sure that you were on your own he walked into the room closing the door behind him. You looked like you were ready to run but your body was frozen. It was then that he realised that you weren’t avoiding him because you wanted to. “Where have you been?” He asked. “I’ve been here.” You answered “always here.” “You stopped coming to training.” He stated, as he pulled the chair out from in front of you and sat down. “I didn’t want to hold you back.” You mumbled but your eyes moved from him and he knew that he was getting to the bottom of the issue. “Hold me back?” He asked “you aren’t doing that and we both know that.” “Mm.” You hummed as if you weren’t actually listening to him. “There’s something that you're not telling me.” He accused and you looked at him now, he saw a number of different emotions flash across your face before you finally spoke “I’m just getting used to not having you around.” You finally said and he leaned forward taking your chin in his hand and directing your gaze to him. “What do you mean?” He asked. “You’ll be moving to the hero course and I’ll have to get on without you.” You explained. “We don’t know that I’m going to be on the hero course.” He argued, it was your turn to give him a look of disbelief “look it doesn’t matter because me being on the hero course won’t change anything.” “It changes everything!” You argued. “You won’t be here, you’ll make new friends, better friends and then you won’t need me anymore.” “Your overthinking everything again-” “Overthinking!? Shinso you're an amazing person there’s no way that you're not going to make friends, hell you made friends after the sports festival right!?” Shinso knew that he needed to do something to get you to calm down and listen to him so with his grip still on your chin he leaned in quickly connecting your lips and effectively stopping you from talking, it took a little while for you to kiss him back but just as you were relaxing into the kiss he pulled back. “I told you overthinking, we might not be in the same classes anymore but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to forget about you, that’s the hardest thing for me to do.” He explained. “You’ll be my first and highest priority no matter what.”

Keigo Takami

🪶 Keigo had heard of you before, people talked about your work as a hero all the time but he had never seen you around, he wondered how you could do all this work without ever running into him. 🪶 Turned out that you worked on opposite shifts, he kept everyone safe during the day and you kept everyone safe overnight, that answered a lot of his questions. 🪶 He liked your look, your hero name, even saw some of the footage from your arrests and your quirk was interesting too. Some would say that he was kind of a fan, 🪶 Keigo actually cast you out of his mind assuming that you were never going to work together, he couldn’t have been more wrong though.

Keigo didn’t know who he was supposed to be working with but it had to be someone worth his time considering The Commission never really asked him to complete missions with the other pro heroes. It was late into the evening when he found himself balancing on the ledge of the building waiting for the hero that was supposed to meet with him. He didn’t hear them until they were standing right next to him “Oh it’s you.” He said as he looked at you “you're the one that I’m working with. Can’t say I’m disappointed.” “I didn’t know you knew who I was, mighty No.2.” You said as you gave a sarcastic bow. “No need for that.” He waved you off “they said that you’d tell me what’s going on.” “Mm.” You hummed. “There’s a group of smugglers, they smuggle everything from weapons to people. I've foiled a good number of their plans and taken down their branches but I can’t seem to take down the core of their operation.” “They’re slippery then?” He asked. “No, the core branches operate during the day, my quirk is pretty useless when there's no shadows around.” You explained as the shadows circled around your wrists “I can’t move as quickly or as stealthily so my agency asked the commission for a team up since you're the only hero fast enough to keep up with me at the moment, you know without drawing attention.” “Endeavour is a little flashing in the dark.” Hawks laughed and you rolled your eyes. “Not to mention difficult to work with, his quirk basically nullifies mine with how bright he is.” You shrugged. “First things first we need to get here, I’ll meet you there.” You informed him and he nodded. “Do you need a lift?” He asked. “No, I'm good.” You answered as you stepped over the ledge disappearing into the shadows below you both, he smirked as he glanced at the location one more time before flying high above the clouds he was going to enjoy working with you.

🪶 You guys became close friends after working together on that mission, the success only made you both more popular and you were probably the only person that Keigo could call a real friend. 🪶 You often woke up to him in your house, you started leaving the window open for him, he then started showing up when you were out on patrol and you would come home and find him on the sofa, you don’t know when it started but you always pressed a kiss to the top of his head before shuffling off to sleep for the day. 🪶 He’d often play with your shadows when you gave them the free will to do as they pleased, he was the first person that had not been afraid of the power that you had. 🪶 Neither of you noticed that you had grown closer than friends until you were forced too, you had unfortunately been caught in a fight with Dabi who had targeted you after watching the two of you together.

You groaned as you opened your eyes, your body felt heavier than it ever had before, you looked around, the room was bright, too bright. A hospital room, you couldn’t remember what happened, you know that you were in so much pain that you passed out, you tried to remember more but in the end your eyes slid closed and you gave into unconsciousness.

Keigo sat perched on the roof of a building watching people milling around, he heard someone behind him and he immediately turned one of his feathers poised for attack.

Dabi.

“What are you doing here?” Keigo asked. “I don’t suppose you checked on your little shadow ruler before you came out today?” Dabi asked. “What are you talking about?” Keigo asked. “I ran into them last night, they weren’t moving when we were done… I don’t know if anyone else found them, they might still be lying in that alleyway.” Dabi shrugged. “What did you do?” He asked. “Do you really have time for that, shouldn’t you be looking for them?” Dabi asked, Keigo knew that he should fight Dabi but he couldn’t ignore the fact that you might be hurt somewhere, he at least knew that the League hadn’t taken you based on the way that Dabi spoke about you. Keigo opened his phone ready to call your agency when a notification for a news story popped up.

Breaking News: (H/N) brought to hospital after gruesome fight with Villain Dabi

The hospital you were in was not in the article for obvious reasons but that information was only a phone call away and he had no intention of letting anyone get in the way of finding you and making sure that you were safe.

When you opened your eyes again you recognised the bright red wings “Hawks?” You asked. “Even when you're hurt you're so careful.” He said softly as you reached out for your hands. “Why didn’t you call me when this happened?” He asked. “I’ve hardly been awake, I remember waking for a second but it wasn’t long.” You answered. “Do you know what happened to me?” “You don’t remember?” He asked. “No really.” You answered, “I remember passing out and a whole lot of blue.” “Dabi.” Keigo said. “That makes sense… But if it was only him then.” You reached around unwrapping the bandages as Keigo watched you curiously, when you finally unwrapped your arms, your skin looked completely healed. “You can heal?” He asked. “In certain circumstances I can.” You answered as you flung your legs over the side of the bed however as you turned you realised that Keigo had not moved and instead he seemed to move closer his wings shielding you both from any prying eyes. “Do you know how worried I was?” He asked. “Worried?” You asked. “Dabi found me just to tell me that you were lying somewhere hurt and alone, I didn’t know if I was going to find you.” He said “we were both lucky the Eraserhead was on patrol that night too.” You’d have to thank him later but as your mind wondered Keigo leaned in closer “I realised something.” “Really?” You asked. “Yeah, I realised how hard it would be to live without you, how much I want to be with you every second of every day and how much I really want to do this.” He leaned forward connecting your lips, the kiss was charged and almost messy, he forced himself to pull away “let’s get the doctors to give you the all clear, then we’re going home.” “Sounds good.” You hummed. “You’ll have to come back to my place this time, we don’t know if he knows where you live so for now what’s mine is yours.” Keigo said as he walked out of the door to find a doctor.

Dabi

💀 You and Dabi operated in the same areas and ran into each other a lot, so he had seen you in action and was not surprised that people feared you. Took the time to find out what your name was, where you came from, and anything else worth knowing. 💀 He never really said more than 3 words to you at a time and you never pushed for a conversation, something he was fond of. 💀 You were a formidable force even when faced with someone who could have been far stronger than you were. 💀 He didn’t think of you as much of a team player though so he was surprised when you showed up at the bar to speak to Shigaraki.

“You made it.” Giran cheered. “I distinctly remember you saying this was a team, they all seem to be at each other's throats.” You noted. “Well they’ve just met.” Giran shrugged. “Bodes well.” You mumbled. “Who’s this?” Shigaraki asked as he turned his attention to you. “(V/N) what are you doing here?” Dabi asked. “Probably the same as you.” You answered. “You believe in Stain’s message?” He asked and you shook your head. “Of course not, I couldn’t care less about him, he showed his hand.” You answered waving off the suggestion only stopping a second to use your telekinesis to create a shield as Toga hurtled at you, flinging her to the side when her knife connected with the table you were using as a shield. “So tell Tomura Shigaraki why I should follow you.” “I don’t want to, nor do I have to sell myself to you.” Shigaraki growled out and you shrugged. “Fair enough, until next time Dabi.” You waved before you disappeared. “You just lost one of the strongest pieces on the board.” Dabi muttered as he turned to leave “call me when you know what the plan is.”

Dabi headed back to his apartment, he wasn't sure how long it was going to be before he heard from Shigaraki but he couldn’t care less the only thing that he could think about was you, the way you appeared, ran the show and left. “Didn’t take you for a team player.” He didn't know how you got into his apartment but he wasn’t going to show you that. “I’m not.” He answered as his head lazily rolled towards you “I didn’t think that you paid me much attention.” “Good.” You mumbled as he stood, he walked as if he was going to walk past you changing direction at the last minute and caging you against the wall. “What are you doing here (Y/N)?” He asked, he moved his face closer to yours, trying to draw you out but you just looked up at him and closer still. “Just wanted to know I’m going to have this place all to myself?” You asked. “What and leave you the mysterious little shadow ruler, now why would I do that? There’s still so much I don’t know.” He teased as leaned closer to your ear “so much I dont trust.” “Smart little arsonist.” You smirked before disappearing into the shadows and appearing at the window on the other side of the room. “Until next time, Dabi.”

💀 From there on Dabi paid more attention, you were there all the time, just outside of everyone’s view, everyone except him. 💀 Eventually conversations became easier and your home became his home, at first it was because your place was closer to the bar then his and slowly developed into him wanting to be there because you were there. 💀 You were probably the only person outside of the league of villains that had his number and that regularly contacts. 💀 He kept an eye on news when you both had to be apart for long periods of time to make sure that you were okay and nothing happened to you.

After the issue with the heroes when they kidnapped Bakugo, you hadn’t heard from Dabi, it worried you, so you started staying out longer and travelling farther to try and even catch glimpse of him, you had sent him messages that he wasn’t answering so you assumed that either his phone was broken or lost.

You sighed as you unlocked your door another night with no sign of him, it had actually been 24 hours since you had been home so you were pretty tired that might have been why you didn’t realise that there was someone in your living room “where have you been?” You jumped at the sound of his voice before turning to the sofa where he was sitting with his arms stretched over the back, your eyes widened, he looked like he was okay, you didn’t even think about answering his question instead you moved across the room and wrapped your arms around his neck straddling his waist without even thinking about it. “You're okay…” You breathed, you could feel that he had tensed beneath you, until his arms started moving and they wrapped around your waist. “I’m fine.” He answered, his hand rested on the back of your neck, gently guiding your face back after a while so that he could look at you. “Are you?” “Me? I’m fine.” You answered softly, he gently ran his thumb over the apple of your cheek. “Why didn’t you answer my texts?” “Lost my phone in the attack.” He answered his voice was low as if he was scared of ruining the moment. “I was worried about you.” You said. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” He smirked and you narrowed your eyes. “We’re not together.” You reminded him and he leaned forward his lips a breath away from yours. “We could be.” He suggested before connecting your lips in a rough kiss, his teeth grazed against your bottom lip, guiding your mouth open for him to take control of the kiss, the hand on your cheek slid to the back of your neck to hold you where he wanted to keep you for a long as possible.

Request Here!!

[ibuprofinator]

alright I beat veilguard, here are my thoughts. light spoilers but I'm avoiding anything explicit.

TLDR: worth it if you can get it on sale and can make peace with some cringe writing, lore changes, and lack of meaningful reactivity based on the race you choose. A major thing going for it is that it feels 100% complete and fully realized before release, which is more than what I can say for a lot of games. I had a lot of fun with it at the end of the day even if I doubt I'll replay it all the way through again any time soon.

Gameplay

The combat is very fun, and it's kind of incredible how different your experience of the game can be depending on your class (on a mechanical level). I've tried both mage and warrior, and their base mechanics are VASTLY different to the point where it feels like I might as well be playing a different game with some similar mechanics. I've talked to my friend who beat the game as a rogue, and even their mechanics seem very different from what I experienced from the other two classes.

The bad side of that is that they reuse the mechanics of a lot of enemies. It's not noticeable right away, but once you fight a few mages or two of the seven or so dragons you can fight in the game it gets very repetitive. The dragon mechanics barely changing depending on the type of dragon was especially annoying. Also, if you reach the max level (50) just know that enemies stop scaling after level 45 and things won't feel like a challenge anymore once you reach that threshold. For context I beat the game on the second hardest difficulty.

I still would've rather they changed around a few things so we could bring 3 companions with us like in previous games. I also wish they had more automatic skill use from our companions since I always forget to get them to use any of their skills. I heavily relied on some of the skill upgrades that had them use it automatically.

Exploration/Level Design

The world exploration is fine. I find that it's a bit too hand-holdy at times, and seems to rely heavily on giving you a shiny thing (chests) in order to keep you engaged which makes it feel cheap (in addition to all the chests/collectables being marked on the mini-map. again, a bit too hand-holdy for me).

That being said, I like how relatively limited the world is. Especially in comparison to Inquisition where there was just WAY too much. The areas aren't absurdly huge, but I felt like I was getting a good baseline for the vibe of whatever country I was in. In some ways, it felt like a more streamlined and higher quality version of the areas in Origins/DA2.

The areas are obviously very well thought out and designed, and I really enjoy the stark difference between areas you see both before and after your first major choice. I've seen people critique that choice being too early in the game, and I kind of disagree. My gripes with it are how it was handled after the change, but I'm not going to go into a tangent about that here.

The one thing that irks me to no end is the teleport beacon system. You always have a designated "respawn point" when you die. What this means in practice is that every single time you load a save that isn't in the middle of a cutscene, you'll spawn at whatever teleport beacon is set as your spawn point instead of where you physically were when you saved.

I hate this. To me it contributes to the cheap feeling of the game and also throws me off because every single time I loaded a save I didn't know what the fuck I was doing since often times I was far away from the actual thing I was in the middle of before I quit the game for the day. It's okay-ish if you're just tracking a quest, but there's actual world exploration in this game without markers.

Alright, now the actual writing of the game.

It's cringe too much of the time. It assumes you're not paying attention to anything most of the time. I hate the "next time on..." narration after the quests that sometimes outright spoil you for the next thing that's going to happen. I hate that you get the resolution to mysteries that have existed since Origins before you're even fully out of the intro to the game without giving any of it time to breathe.

Meanwhile, it seems unwilling to engage in anything that might potentially be vaguely "problematic". The companions don't argue, or if they do it's resolved almost immediately. Any tension between the companions is caused by one person having concerns about another person, and then the other person is like "yeah I get why you're concerned we're cool" (both in banter and in scenes at your base).

The world feels devoid of basic elements of previous games, like elven oppression, beyond a few non-specific references about "elves having it hard. In addition, they seem to be adding NPCs of different races to the background of the world seemingly at random. No, I don't think that there'd be this many vashoth or tal-vashoth shop-keepers in this part of Antiva, or this many elves casually intermingling with humans in Minrathous or all these veil jumpers that aren't elven much less Dalish.

It seems almost random, and more in line with modern dnd played for fun with friends or the atmosphere in the lower city in BG3 than a dragon age game. The fact that you can choose any origin regardless of your starting race is kind of insane considering the reality of some of those origins. There doesn't seem to be much, if any, intention behind it. Which makes it even more frustrating that I can count on half of one hand the amount of times it came up in any real way that I was playing as a dwarf, and lost track of the amount of times it should have considering a big part of the main plot has to do with dwarven history.

To be specific, and without giving too many spoilers, there's one scene where you find out something about the origin of modern dwarves. The "angry" dialogue option for that is for Rook to start yelling and making very good points, only for it to end with them saying that they can't dream with the same weight as everything else and it comes across as goofy as hell considering we don't know dick or all about the downsides to not dreaming in-universe. It's just something they can't do. But no, not dreaming is the same thing as your entire civilization crumbling right?

The companions themselves are written to be hard to dislike. Aside from Taash, all their hard edges have been smoothed down into something that barely manages to stay engaging. To be completely fair, I might be especially sensitive to this. I had just beaten BG3 and then DA2 before playing this game, and they're both games with a bunch of shitty people who slowly get better over time. VG, in contrast, doesn't have any tangible character arc for a lot of the characters outside of maybe one choice at the end of their quest line. Even then, it's minimal.

The game clearly has a few themes it was going for, but it either hits you over the head with them or doesn't earn them. There was one point where Rook (with no prompting from me!) said that their group had become a family. Which, yes they all get along and are working well together towards the goal of saving the world, but that didn't really feel earned at the point they said it.

Another theme I think they wanted were "a real leader takes responsibility for their actions" but we don't have any real options to either take responsibility or deny responsibility. This ties back to the issue I mentioned earlier where interpersonal problems get almost immediately resolved, and most were never even that serious in the first place.

There's a lot of explicitly telling you what the narrative themes are without following though. I've critiqued BG3 for hitting you over the head with themes, but it's NOTHING like what I've seen in VG.

They also have a very bad attempt at calling back to earlier parts of their arc/things Rook said. Forgive me for bringing up Astarion, but an example of that is Astarion saying "this is a gift, I won't forget it" both when he bites you for the first time and when he stays a spawn after killing Cazador. In Veilguard it's just people saying the same line almost verbatim about 100 times. Like I said earlier, the game assumes you're not paying attention.

And finally, I like the overarching story as a concept. Rook being forced to take responsibility for this team, in part because they feel guilty and in part because everyone else is too bogged down in their shit to do it so they HAVE to. And then working hard to build that team and the factions supporting them up in preparation to face something completely unprecedented? Then the individual plot points without having to slog through how they're written to get to the end? Love all that! Great bones to work off of!

I also really liked a lot of the arcs of the NPCs, and the one I think about constantly is Jacobus (SPOILERS IN THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH) specifically where Treviso is blighted. I'm not sure if it's different if Treviso isn't blighted, but I was so heartbroken by everything that happened to him culminating in him giving in to the taint to lead a group of darkspawn against the mayor to stop them from releasing gaatlok.

SPOILERS OVER

And that's the thing, there's so many little moments like that in the game that felt so incredibly real that it made me more and more frustrated at a noticeable amount of the game that seemed to be written by someone who read a few bullshit pop psychology articles and wanted to gloat about it by inserting a bunch of surface level mental health understanding into the game.

All that being said, and despite the fact that I don't think the game earned a lot of the character moments that came in the finale...it has, by far, the BEST end game sequence of ANY game - RPG or otherwise - that I've ever played.

I've never been hit so hard emotionally by characters I otherwise didn't give a shit about. I made one choice knowing it would result in someone specific dying (and I didn't really care because I didn't like them), but the way that person died and the way that death is talked about afterwards broke me in ways I didn't expect.

And the ending is LONG, too. It really feels like you're fighting a final battle alongside an army and the army is supporting the small group you're in so you can make it to where you need to go and kill the gods. And it feels realistic. There's no way everyone gets out unscathed, it's physically impossible in the game itself.

For a game that made me feel incredibly safe in the sense that all the companions had plot armor up until that point, it felt like a shock in a really good way. You spend all this time with your companions, learning about them and watching them interact with each other in the lighthouse and see their relationships with each other and then at the end of it there's nothing you can do to save some of them. Some don't die, but face something almost worse than death. And it's all for your benefit so you can have a small shot at pulling this off.

It's like the suicide mission in ME2 on crack in the best way possible. You learn things over the course of that long ass finale that made me look at the entire game differently and understand a lot of characters so much more.

To dial it back a bit, I think the romance in this game is pretty well done. I've only done Neve's, but it feels more realistic than other similar RPGs in the sense that y'all aren't falling over yourselves to commit to each other and there's no expectation on staying together after this. It feels like a new relationship, and she even still flirts with Lucanis which I honestly didn't mind! It, perhaps unintentionally, made it all seem that much more realistic plus it would've built up nicely to them getting together had I not romanced either of them.

It almost marketed itself as a dating sim, but really it's such a small part of your interaction with your romantic interest. I'm assuming other romances are slightly different, but I kissed Neve a grand total of one time before the finale and then there were a bunch of longing glances. I played with the idea of romancing Taash before reloading, and it feels like y'all are just incredibly casual about it even after going to have dinner with their mom. Both felt VERY realistic for the stakes of the game and the level of commitment both of y'all would be able to offer.

Do I think this is GOTY worthy? No, but I do think it's overall more fun to play than Inquisition which DID win GOTY. I think it's worth the $40 I paid for it, and I had a very good time playing it despite how much I just wish it wasn't a Dragon Age game. Unlike with Inquisition, I don't dread the idea of playing this game again. Leading up to me playing DAV, I was going to replay all the DA games, but I ended up skipping Inquisition because I did NOT want to have to slog through all of that again (I was doing completionist playthroughs).

The game is really good at cinematics and the big moments in the world, and I just wish that same love and care translated to. I don't know. The actual writing all throughout the game.

I really hope the series ends here, and they don't do something with the vague hints that have been in this game and Inquisition about some bullshit going on across the sea (the secret post-credits scene pissed me off but I'm not going to get into that).

It has a sense of finality to it, and I'm happy with this wrapping up everything I've seen this series build towards since I got Origins for Christmas when I was 13.