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papercutsunset · 11 months

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10 (do you know how it will end?) and 5 (is there a romance? why do they fall in love?) for whatever ur working on now

I'm working on everything, babey. I'm all over the place. I'll answer for whatever, I think.

I have answers to both, but I'm going to put them under the cut for spoiler reasons.

10: Do you know how it will end?

Beach Day: The ending has been plotted out for months. Tiff drags her grandfather up to the house, hits him with Baby Jesus from the lawn nativity, and goes to dig a grave in the rain; Esther comes by, decides to ask questions later, and helps her; later, Andy and Tiff have a scene of, like... everything is over, and we're okay. We're not going to Gatlinburg; we're not going back to Fort Reverence; we're not going home yet; let's go to the beach, even though Tiff's arm is broken, Drew got his torso slashed open, and Andy's still in shock. Let's throw a rat in the ocean.

Kay Gets Cursed: There are two endings. After they break out of the Storyteller's curse, obviously both Denny and Kay wake up in Dr. Deseret's home lab, and Jessie is also there (because of reasons that happen in the plot). Denny's chapter is, like in Unholy Water (and in PP2), mostly a conversation between herself and Jessie where she admits a bit of the truth. This time, they have to talk over the whole lycanthropy thing. In her epilogue chapter, Kay hypes herself up and talks to Dr. Deseret about her options. It's a huge moment of hope for her, that she can fix what has been happening. Kay's chapter ends with her walking into her and Mikey's apartment. (Lizzy and I already talked over that what would happen after the canon is basically that a very tired from working all day Mikey would come home and give her some hot chocolate, and then they would have an extensive debrief. Mikey's a good gal.)

PP2: Tiff gets the parasite out of her (happens off-screen, in Unhooking), and then has a really long conversation with her aunt about how she can't keep doing this; Denny and Jessie have a bit of a talk, wink wink. (If you've been in the Treehouse, you know that means that they kiss at the end of it. It's relevant for that oneshot we tried and for MLSG.)

The Monster Lesbian Support Group: Even though it's a project I started a few days ago, I actually do have the ending. Bloodsaw stands in the cemetery at the end of it, looking up at Laura's backdoor. They finally made it, but they've also seen Laura interacting with her children and her wife, and doesn't want to reopen the wounds. The rest of the group gets there (having found them after they ran off after the Thing), lets them have a moment, and then gives them a ride back to Lake Wonder (their car broke down. It was a plot point). Not much is said, since Bloodsaw wouldn't want that. They just get in the car, turn on some music, and start driving. (Kay's in the front seat, of course. There's a culmination of a subplot wherein, for once, Tiff isn't overenthusiastic and Bloodsaw isn't a total dick to her. They end up laying on her in the backseat, even though Denny says not to do that.)

5: Is there a romance? Why do they fall in love?

So... I'm not big on writing romance. I'll play one out, of course. I started doing it for real with Frankie Burns on Darkened States back in October, and branched out from there. It was a bit of an exercise in stepping outside of my comfort zone. Since Frankie and Kay appeared at around the same time, I think that discomfort on my end does show in both their portrayals. I realized, though, that I can just play the character as extremely awkward or otherwise as very unwell about what's happening. That led to all sorts of Winona Whatever things (you'll see in Season 2), led to some small details about Alf and the room (you'll see in Season 2), and some thoughts on Denny. Denny's the epitome of awkwardness when it comes to this thing, right?

It's a perk of being aroace, I guess. I need you to keep that in mind, because it flavors the way this progresses and it flavors my approach to things.

Beach Day:

No romance at all. All the main characters are family. More than that, Tiff's aroace and, though she makes threats about moms and has canonically had sex with girls (and one boy named Gavin who got her stomped by horses) before, romance isn't her style. Attraction in general isn't. So, no romance in this one. I think the extent of it is a mention of that one time someone kissed her and she walked away and never spoke to him again, and the conversation she has with Alice at the youth group Christmas party.

Kay Gets Cursed:

There are established bounds of the universe here.

Kay and Mikey are in an established relationship. They have been since 2017, when they met at Lumberland, almost died in the tunnels, killed/ate an anarchocapitalist business major clown, and went out for a burger afterwards. There's a lot about the relationship, especially about how Mikey is one of three people in the entire world by the beginning of this who knows what's going on with her, about how Mikey is wonderful, about how she wants to see Mikey in armor sometime... I mean, part of the ending tower sequence is stumbling on their alternate universe selves in the tower together, with Cursed Mikey in armor and a Sleeping Beauty pose, and Cursed Kay kneeling at her bedside with bone thorns coming out of her body. In this case, they're already in love, but it's more about letting it sink in that Mikey is going to stay at her side no matter what.

There are also some established rules for Denny and Jessie: namely, that they can't get together in this one.

Denny has had a weird relationship with her feelings for Jessie for forever, right? You don't get over the girl who cut your hair in fifth grade because she hated you, who guided you by the stars in the woods, who helped you through a thousand things as a teenager. She's always going to have a place in your life.

But Denny can not ask her out. To do so would be to upset the status quo and risk one of the most important relationships in her life. So, like-- she makes some realizations during this (so does Jessie), but they're not there yet.

PP2: Yes. This is the culmination of that arc from Kay Gets Cursed. They kiss at the end. Since this is another Tiff-and-Denny adventure, it's more about non-romantic relationships (except for Denny and Jessie).

The Monster Lesbian Support Group: In a way, yes? But also, no. It's more about Bloodsaw learning to let Laura go, even if they do still love her. (It's been a few weeks for Bloodsaw; it's been twenty-six years for Laura.)

#checking the mail #monster lesbian support group #pp2 #beach day #kay gets cursed

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scenefox2003 · 3 years

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How I used a crayfish dissection to cope with Marcy’s death

Okay so I’ve been wanting to share this story for WEEKS, and now that True Colors is out officially and we have all suffered I can finally do so without being an asshole. My story on how I got Marcy’s death spoiled and how I dealt with said information is pretty unique and at this point it would be rude not to share, so here we go.

Let me set the stage for you. I’m an eighteen year old girl, a junior in high school, and my life at this time basically revolves around two things, the fact that my school has just reopened and my hyperfixation on Amphibia, and more specifically Marcy. My favorite class is animal biology class, and the main thing we do in animal biology is dissections. It’s the Monday after the leak, and I’m super pumped because we’re doing our first dissection of the year, a crayfish. I’ve been looking forward to this for a whole week, and even though the True Colors disaster has had my attention for the weekend, the second I wake up all I can think about is how excited I am to cut open this dead crayfish and dig around inside of it. So I’m sitting at the counter eating my waffles before school, when I get a text from my friend. We’ve both fallen victim to the amphibia hyperfixation and screech fanfics and headcanons at each other daily, it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. The message says that she just got spoiled and that her day is ruined, and she asks me if I want to know so I can “prepare”, which obviously freaks me the fuck out so now I’ve got this dilemma because I don’t want to ruin my day because it’s CRAYFISH DISSECTION DAY BABEY but of course I’m terrified now and I know I’ll be miserable if I spend god knows how long until the finale airs worrying about what terrible thing will happen. So I decide to take the bait, but I also don’t want to get spoiled too bad. So I ask her to only confirm if any of the three girls die. So she just cuts to the chase and tells me Marcy gets full on stabbed on screen and is presumably dead. Keep in mind how intense hyperfixations are and also the fact that I heavily relate to this character and her struggles and love her to bits, so needless to say I am. Distraught. I drive to school and me and my friend commiserate together for a bit before I have to head off to Animal Biology, my first class of the day. I get my dead crayfish and start working on it in this weird emotional limbo between being super excited because ✨crayfish✨ and processing the fact that my favorite character dies. My classmates all start naming their crayfish and for some reason my brain thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world to name my crayfish Marcy because “they both get stabbed”. So this is Marcy, my dead crayfish that I cut open for a school assignment. I’m not gonna show any graphic crayfish gore because god knows we’ve all seen enough, but here she is. And fun fact, the crayfish is actually a girl, so it fits. I also think this is something Marcy as a character would appreciate. So yeah, that’s my contribution to the Amphibia fandom. A dead crayfish. Enjoy.

Also this meme my friend made lol

#amphibia #true colors

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ghostsbabey · 4 years

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Secret Santa Time!

So this is for my lovely geef @slasher-whore since I know how much she adores RZ’s myers! I had a lot of fun actually writing this in the frame of michael and how weird he would act around the holidays! And yes, this is a personalized fic, this is not a random S/O. Enjoy babey!

He had been watching her, he could see her through the window as she worked. He wanted to be there with her, his arms wrapped around her protectively as she hummed peacefully. His chest ached longingly to be next to her. She was shorter than him- much shorter, and a need to protect her burned through his body. His gaze softened as she lifted a guitar from a case, her body shifting before her fingers strummed the instrument. He could hear her voice clearly as she sang, the desire to be the one she was singing to growing. He couldn’t hide from her any longer, he had to step out of his hiding place from outside. Snow fell from his shoulders as he trudged through the snow, the usual lights draped over houses flickering on and off in patterns. His gaze momentarily shifted to the other houses, looking at the strange decorations set up before pushing open the door- stepping inside. The warmth of the house relaxed his tense muscles, the feeling of the cold ebbing away in his limbs causing a heavy sigh to escape his lungs. Her voice rang out in the nearby room and he found himself stalking towards the doorway- his footsteps light despite his large frame. He peeked through the doorway, his gaze focusing on her once more and how calm she looked as she strummed the strings on the guitar. He felt a warmth flutter in his abdomen, his eyelids heavy as his body relaxed. He was tired, and the feeling of the cold draining from his bones was a deadly combination. He felt like he could fall asleep at any second, and the calming sound of her voice was lulling him. His gaze shifted to her face and the mainy piercings that decorated it- his focus shifting to each one. It wasn’t until he met her gaze that he realized she had been watching him as he had been watching her. The strumming stopped, her lips pulled into a smile as she brushed her hair away from her face- the guitar set aside gently. “You’re sneaking around again mikey, what’s wrong? You look like you’re freezing, were you outside again?” Her soft tone echoed in his head before he looked down in what seemed like shame. He stepped through the doorway, his hands behind his back as he approached her. She rose from her sitting position, her arms outstretched with a wider smile than before, her eyes lit up in glee. She wanted a hug.

He stopped in front of her, his hands slowly moving to expose a gift bag he was holding. There was still some melting snow on the edges of the bag, the tag scribbled on messily like his excitement got the best of him. His arm wrapped around her tightly, the feeling of her body pressing against his making his heart beat quicker. He held the bag in front of her with his free hand, his gaze averted from her eyes. The sound of her laughter made his cheeks flush as he squeezed her against him. She took the bag from his hand, setting it aside before hugging him tightly. “You didn’t have to get me anything, christmas is still a couple weeks away too. You’re supposed to wait until the 25th to give the gifts and let them open it, but if you want to do it now, I have no complaints.” She pulled his head down to kiss him, his body hunching to make up for the difference in height. His eyes closed as he relaxed into the kiss, his fingers digging into her side. He pulled away from the kiss after a few moments, his eyes reopening to look down at her lovingly. He didn’t care that he got the day wrong, or that he was still confused about the whole christmas thing. Her smile made him feel happy enough, he knew she cared, the way she looked at him was completely different from everyone else in his life. He hadn’t seen the same adoration since his mother when he was a child, but somehow it felt different from her. He knew that she loved him more than in just a family sense, she wanted to be in his life as more. She picked him. Out of everyone else available to her. His thoughts were disrupted when she pulled away from him, her smile never wavering as she walked away from him. “I guess I could give you your gift early too, I want to see your face when you open it. I know you’ll love it.” It didn’t take long for her to pull out a wrapped box, carrying it back over to him to set it down. He watched her sit on the floor, her hand patting the spot next to her- she wanted him to sit down. He sat down next to her, his arm wrapping around her before he tentatively reached for the box. She nodded in confirmation, her eyes full of glee as he carefully pulled the box into his lap. He stared at it before pulling at the paper, unwrapping it carefully like he was afraid to tear it. He didn’t want to ruin the beautiful display she had made. He could hear her pulling open the gift bag, the tissue paper used to cover the gift gingerly pulled out and set aside. Her squeal of delight came not long after she pulled the objects out of the bag. Her arms suddenly wrapped around his neck, pulling him down to her height to assault his face with kisses again. “I love it! Thank you so much michael.. You didn’t have to make these for me though. Do you like your gift? I feel like it isn’t nearly as good as yours” He couldn’t help but smile, her happiness making him feel giddy inside. He didn’t expect her to love the little figures he made from papier mache. He even painted them to look like her and himself. He looked down at the box, pulling it open to pull out a necklace. Her hand reached over, releasing the mechanism on the necklace to pop open the heart hanging at the bottom of the chain. It was a picture of himself with her, her smile and his oblivious expression causing tears to well in his eyes. He examined the heart locket, the feeling of engravings on the side catching his attention. He held up the necklace, looking at the engravings closely before slipping it over his head. His heart fluttered as he read the words she chose to engrave into the locket. ‘You’ll always be in my heart, you’re the most wonderful person I’ve ever met.- Love you, S’ His arms automatically wrapped around her, pulling her into a tight hug as he lowly mumbled. “I couldn’t ask for more..”

Extra

His eyes lazily opened, his body feeling heavier as he pulled the blankets up on himself more. He looked over at her sleeping form, how relaxed she was and how content she looked. He sighed happily, shifting to lay on his side while endearingly gazing at her. He found himself running his fingers absentmindedly through her dark red hair, the strands splayed out on the pillow she laid sprawled ungracefully in the bed. His head dipped down, kissing her forehead gently- a low hum escaping him as he relaxed once more. His hand moved from her hair to grasp the necklace around his neck, the feeling of the heart shape press against his palm calming him. The sound of his body shifting on the bed once more filled the room, his head lowering to rest on her chest- her heart beating rhythmically in her chest. He draped his arm over her, his eyelids drooping more as he lay listening to her heart. He felt at peace for once, nothing else mattered to him- he was happy. He closed his eyes, his breathing becoming more even as he pressed himself against her- his head still on her chest. He pulled the blanket over himself more, the warmth lulling him back to sleep as the memories of her laughter and the images of her smile replayed in his head. He was barely aware of the words that slipped past his lips before sleep overtook him. “I love you.. Spencer..”

#rob zombie myers #07 myers #personalized fic #secret santa #for spencer #I hope you like it!#major fluff uwu

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unsuccesscr · 5 years

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Hello and welcome to HD Wrote 3k words of Pain.

ft @invisiquirk hc that Tooru dies at 21.

Also @needlxd and @amplifyingtrace and @rrenao make an appearance bc...OC rights babey

Heroism is a profession that is, by its very nature, fraught with danger. As such, there isn’t a single hero in existence without some scars. Physical or otherwise.

Prism was one of the few that carried hers over from childhood. By the time she experienced her first battle she was already scarred. Already bent and bruised. Already prepared to look into the face of oblivion.

Tooru is the type of person to try to hide their pain. To pretend everything is fine, to focus on everyone but herself. It’s hard to tell if her wounds have begun to heal at all, or if she’s just better at shutting people out.

Izuku likes to believe he knows her well enough to tell the difference. Knows her scars, has traced over them with gentle, careful, fingers, as she has done with his own. The ones not on her skin but within her mind and soul...those are a little more difficult to detect.

He knows some. About as much as she knows about his own. They’re not quite secret, but also not the type of thing one wants to talk about in any sort of detail. The kind that bring everything rushing back in an instant. So he doesn’t know everything, every bruise her mother had left; every nasty, vile word, spoken.

But he supposes he doesn’t need to. Tooru doesn’t need someone to hate Yue Hagakure, she needs someone that loves her. Despite all of the years that she’s been told she’s unlovable, despite all the lies Yue told her about her lack of worth. That she’s loved.

Of course, Izuku Midoriya is not the only one, not by a long shot. Tooru is as well loved as she is kind. He is, however, the only one who knows how much she needs to hear it. How easily she forgets that the world would shatter without her presence.

He’s the only one who bares witness to moments like this. Woken from some unknown nightmare, with shoulders curled forward, away from him; so she won’t wake him. As if rest is more important than this, more important than the quiet sound of her sobs.

“Tooru,” Spoken in a hushed tone. Always careful because loud noises, sudden movements, they can all reopen those unseen scars.

In response there’s a hiccup, a hitch of breath followed by forced even heaves. A rustle of the sheets around them, as Tooru turns towards the source of the voice.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” her own voice shakes, sounding oh so tired. And it hurts to wonder how long she had been like that before he had noticed.

“You should. You should wake me, I want to help.” The usual reply to the usual response. It has somehow become a part of their routine. These nightmares. Slowly, hands find hers; weaving their fingers together. He would like, in this moment, to hold her tightly. But that may be too much. “Is this ok?”

“Yes,” The affirmation is just as worn as her initial response. For a few moments they lay like that. Just listening to the sound of each other’s breathing, taking in the warmth of their shared space.

“Why do you stay with someone so broken?” Tooru asks. And she may not be broken but her voice is, clearly still in the mindset of her dream.

“You’re not broken. You’ve never been broken. Just...scarred,” Silence follows Izuku’s words. The kind of silence when she doesn’t want to argue, but doesn’t believe what he said. “I don’t know...what you were dreaming about just now…”

Tooru’s breath hitches and she tenses once more.

“I won’t ask, if you don’t want to talk about it,” The tension bleeds back out, slowly. He traces circles over her palm with the pad of his thumb. “But it wasn’t real. Even if it was a memory. It’s a lie to say you’re broken.”

There is more of that silence, so he simply continues.

“You know me better than that. You know I don’t settle. I’m with you because I want to be. Because, whether or not you believe it, you deserve love. And I'm incredibly, insanely, lucky, that I get to be someone who gives it to you.”

Finally there’s a response, a snort of laughter. Not derisive, not even laced with bitterness; genuine, if somewhat sad at the same time.

“You’re so corny,” Tooru teases, when she’s done laughing.

In place of a retort, he brings her knuckles up to his lips and gives them a small kiss. She can feel his smile against her skin. Feel the nightmare melting away.

“Hey,” Izuku speaks again after a moment “You should call in, we could stay in and watch movies and eat junk. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chill night.”

“I can’t do that, I have work. Lady Hydra depends on me, we don’t have a lot of sidekicks,” What’s unspoken is that she doesn’t want to acknowledge just how much this is affecting her. Doesn’t admit that she’s tired and the idea of doing patrol work after less than an hour of sleep isn’t appealing at all. Nowhere as appealing as sleeping in and spending time with her fiance.

“It will be fine for one day. You have sick days for a reason, someone can cover for you; just this once. Sasaki will understand, she cares about you too, you know,” One of the benefits of working for an underground hero. Or perhaps Lady Hydra was a special case. “Please?”

This is selfish, he knows. Because any day Tooru is not working as a sidekick is experience missed. She prides herself on being reliable; is reliable. But she’s also exhausted and in no state to fight. Likely, it would be fine. It always is. She’s strong and smart and always comes out relatively unscathed.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t worry. And if there’s one thing Izuku has learned over the years, it’s that sometimes being selfish is the right choice.

“This could be our last chance to hang out for a while, you know,” He adds. And it’s true, what with them both working as heroes and the wedding just around the corner.

“Okay,” Tooru relents, because it does sound like exactly what she needs. Just, a quiet day at home.

…

When Izuku stirs the next morning, it’s not with a start. It’s slowly, deliberately grasping at the dream even after it fades away.

They’ve been tormenting him for months, these ‘could have been’ dreams. He can’t tell if they’re better or worse than the nightmares. Would she really have stayed, had he simply pressed harder? If he had insisted would she still be here? Questions like these were useless, but plagued him anyway.

In the end, things had happened the way they happened. Tooru had gone to work with a smile, Izuku hadn’t stopped her. And the hero Prism was no more.

No more than a dream that gave him a few hours of respite a night.

The buzzing of bedside alarm was no more relentless than the forward motion of time itself, and with a worn sigh he reached over and shut it off; blinking away the lingering wetness in his eyes.

After a dream like that, it would be a good idea to book an appointment with a grief counselor. They could tell him that it wasn’t his fault. That you can’t erase someone’s trauma with affection alone. (He knows that, of course he knows that. But he could have made her stay, made her rest). While he pretends to believe those words. Pretends that guilt isn’t festering inside along with a different, more ugly, feeling.

Izuku had been doing that for months, though, with no results. Therapy didn’t help overnight, he knew that. Was still going for things that had happened to him a decade ago. But this was different. There was something impeding any sort of progress. He couldn’t move past the moment of her death.

Holding her cold, lifeless, hand, in his own.

There were more healthy ways of grieving. His friends insisted on them. Cards with professional’s numbers on them and pamphlets for support groups. They meant well. And they were going through the same loss. Izuku wasn’t so naive as to believe that he was the only one hurting, was the only one she had left behind.

It just seemed like he was the only one unable to move on.

Somewhat reluctantly, he heaves himself out of bed and away from the comfort of the ‘what could have been’ dream and prepares for the day ahead.

…

It’s a coincidence, really, a twist of fate; that the name Hagakure passes his desk. Not Tooru Hagakure, no, there would be no reason for that name to be attached to a recent report of organized crime in Osaka.

No, this was Yue Hagakure. Cold eyes staring back through a photograph.

Funny, he’d tried to imagine this woman many times. Tried to picture the kind of person who would hold such wrath towards her own child. Somehow, she seemed even more evil than he’d assumed.

He wonders if she knows that Tooru is dead. Wonders if she knows that it's her fault. That Tooru was always a little willing to die because of what she had done.

Sick of looking at her, her name and her face, he files the folder away quickly, and moves on to the rest of the paperwork assigned to him. Not exactly glamorous work, but necessary. And informative. As Izuku files away past reports he always skims for details, learning about villains he may one day have to face.

He tries to forget what he had read about shadow manipulation, about the Yakuza branch in Osaka headed by the woman named Hagakure.

Tries to forget how long it would take him to get there from his home in Kyoto by train.

…

Iida is the first one to notice. Perhaps because he knows the feeling of wanting revenge. He sees the storm brewing before Izuku himself does. Because he’s still pretending he didn’t see that file. Ignoring all the ways he could negate shadow manipulation.

Osaka isn’t in the area covered by the Wild Wild Pussycats, anyway. It’s neighboring. The report was just about the spread of Yakuza related activity. It wasn’t a mission. He was just a sidekick.

Revenge was a dangerous path.

Iida takes him out to lunch, just the two of them. They’re friends, certainly. Izuku can even safely say that the engine hero is one of his closest friends. But they usually go out as a group. And Iida never wants to meet up on a day he has patrol, never shirks responsibility.

Izuku pretends not to see the red flags. He does an awful lot of pretending, these days.

“Midoriya,” Iida breaches the topic with an air of formality, despite their familiarity. A nervous tick Izuku knows well, but ignores. Maybe if he continues to pretend everything is fine, it will be. At the very least, he refuses to look up from his menu.

“Why haven’t you gone to the counselor?”

This gets Izuku’s attention, causing him to flinch. Appointments were made through the agency. They wouldn’t know what was discussed, but they would know if he canceled repeatedly. Which he had. Mandalay had probably relayed that detail to Iida. He wouldn’t hold it against her.

“It doesn’t help,” He opts to answer honestly. “I went a couple times, it didn’t help.

Iida frowns at the pitiful excuse for a reason, gently taking the menu from his friend’s hands and setting it down. “This kind of thing takes time. Itou still going.”

That made sense. The ex-villain was closer to Tooru than anyone. No one ever really talked about it, but Kitiara had been saved by Tooru. They were sisters, if not by blood. And if anyone knew the hole her loss had left, it would be her.

Izuku hadn’t seen her since the funeral. Not that that was her fault, he was avoiding her. Avoiding seeing that emptiness reflected back.

“I’m dealing, in my own way.” Izuku says, uncomfortable with the concerned stare of his long time friend.

“I hear there’s been a rise in Yakuza activity near Kyoto. In Osaka.” Iida says, his expression clearly stating that he sees right through the core of Izuku’s darkest thoughts.

“Yeah, I suppose so. I don’t see a lot of action, as a sidekick.” Izuku tries, in vain, to keep the conversation casual.

“Revenge won’t help.” Iida moves straight to the point.

“I know,” Izuku replies. Because he does know. But it’s getting difficult to ignore how badly he wants to make Yue Hagakure pay. At least the criminals behind Tooru’s death had already been put away. Lady Hydra had made sure of that.

Iida looks unconvinced. “I learned that lesson back at UA, you saw what happened.”

“I know. I did.” Izuku winces, trying not to look at the scar on the back of Iida’s hand. “You’re right. And I….I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

…

The next, almost as if on cue, is Todoroki. Whereas Iida has been in Izuku’s place, he has been in Tooru’s place. Has scars from the hands that were supposed to raise him gently. Had been molded into a weapon for his father’s use.

Unlike Iida, he doesn’t take no for an answer. Tells Izuku where to meet him.

Somehow, he ends up staring at the name Hagakure once more. Tooru Hagakure, engraved in stone. Early spring frost causes the grass to crunch under their feet, and Todoroki says nothing; allows Izuku to grieve in silence.

He’s not sure how long they spend there. Long enough that he can no longer feel his fingers or the tips of his ears. He’s not even sure he’s had a single thought, the entire time. Brain filled with static as he stares at the marker. Surrounded, as always, by fresh flowers.

The ice and fire user waits until they’re ready to leave to speak.

“I’ve thought about it,” Todoroki says, voice impassive “Taking down my old man for the shit he pulled.”

Izuku’s not sure how to react to this confession, looking at the unreadable expression that follows it with concern and confusion. Todoroki, in turn, looks at Tooru’s grave.

“Sometimes our demons get the best of us. When that happens...we don’t hurt only ourselves, but everyone around us. That’s why I didn’t do it. Not because he deserves forgiveness, but because I wouldn’t really be hurting him.”

Izuku swallows hard, mouth suddenly dry at the double meaning to his words.

Todoroki looks, much like Iida, directly through him when he continues. “Don’t do anything stupid, Midoriya.”

…

Predictably, the one who is able to crack through his walls, in the end, is Leia. As it so often has been since they were children.

It takes little more than her plaintive voice over the phone, telling him to get some rest.

“You haven’t taken any time off since it happened,” Leia says, in the somewhat firm (but still, oh so gentle) tone that she reserves for when either he, or Katsuki, are being particularly stubborn. “You’re going to get burnt out.”

Revenge won’t help.

Don’t do anything stupid.

“Take some time, process things. Get some rest. Please, Izuchan, i’m...worried about you. I haven’t seen you this tired since highschool.”

And she’s right. He still had nightmares, to be sure, but hadn’t outright neglected self care for years. He slept, plenty, though. It was the only time he was able to be with Tooru again.

But he’d also been working more hours than necessary. If he worked all day and slept all night he didn’t have to be alone with his thoughts. That had always been a problem for him. He’d just forgotten for a while, because for a while he wasn’t alone even when he was alone.

“I miss her.” Izuku admits for the first time out loud in a long while. “I miss her so much I...Tooru deserved better. She deserved a long, happy life. She shouldn’t have died it’s not fair.”

And he’s aware that he sounds like a child, whining about how it's not fair. But it truly wasn’t. Tooru had already been robbed of her childhood, and now she had been robbed of her future as well. She deserved so much more. A light like that shouldn’t be gone. Not when the awful woman who had hurt her still walked free.

It’s in that moment, with Leia’s words of comfort floating through the speaker of the phone, that Izuku realizes what he’s missing. Why he’s been stuck.

Closure.

…

Even if he’d tried, he didn’t forget. Didn’t forget that file on Osaka. It hadn’t contained her exact location, of course. If the police knew that, they would have brought her in already. But Izuku was smart, and he’d plenty of time on his hands; since he’d finally decided to use his time off.

Mandalay was thrilled enough that he seemed to finally be mourning in a somewhat healthy way, that she had granted the leave request without question.

From there, it was just a matter of following the trail. Yue Hagakure wasn’t as much of a ghost as she’d like to think.

…

Deku isn’t sure that Yue is surprised to see him. He doesn’t even know for sure if she knows who he is. Or, at the least, who he was to Tooru.

And he doesn’t really care. The less he has to listen to Yue Hagakure, the better. Doesn’t care what words she uses to defend herself, if any.

Instead, he focuses on what needs to be done.

Closure.

…

The battle is hard fought, and hard won. Yue, even without the use of her quirk (he’d made sure, before cornering her, that there would be no shadows to manipulate) is a skilled fighter; and not one to give up easily.

But she underestimates him. The hero without a quirk. And that, ultimately, is her downfall.

With her face in the dirt she continues to antagonize. The words she speaks foul and acidic. Towards him. Towards Tooru.

So she did know, after all, the reason why he, specifically, was here. He thinks about all the satisfying ways to shut her up.

…

When the police are called in Yue Hagakure is restrained and injured, but very much alive. Albeit with a somewhat spiteful gag, preventing any more vile insults.

Later, when Izuku is commended on his restraint; he doesn’t mention the fact that he’s still shaking with the urge to end her life when she’s taken away.

…

Yue Hagakure doesn’t exactly look the picture of regret, even in her holding cell. Pissed, certainly, but seemingly confident that she won’t be in there for long.

She has no idea, the enemy she made. Enemies, plural, because Izuku isn’t even close to the only person who wants her to suffer for what she did to Tooru.

Just because revenge was off the table doesn’t mean that she would get away with everything.

“You can escape. But I’ll find you again.” He says, voice startlingly calm even to himself. “And again. And again. And again.”

“I will do whatever it takes to make sure you rot in here like you deserve.”

Tooru wouldn’t get what she deserved, the happy life, the peace. There was nothing he could do about that now. But Yue Hagakure would get all she deserved, that much was certain.

#invisiquirk #amplifyingtrace #needlxd #rrenao #;;out of character #v;;my deku means you can do it (pro hero)#so uhhh basically this is how it goes down in main verse #Izuku still goes off the rails a bit but uh less murdery #tw;;death #tw;;child abuse #tw;;recovery

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