#have you seen civilians doing whatever the hell he is doing in the final scene?
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the brilliance of jay's progression in countdown is that it gives you a promise of positive character development, and then it breaks it. and it does so intentionally, in the most diverting way, to emphasize jason's inability to escape the cycle.
or, another post breaking down the series, where i repeat myself a lot but also make a clearer argument.
there are three notable events that happen at the beginning: the subtle showcase of jay's internal conflict considering his approach toward killing (the very first encounter with duela and the monitor), jay reaching out to donna in crisis ("i guess I just wanted to be around someone else who might know how it feels…"), and finally – his helmet shattering. these scenes tell you: jason's direction as a character is changing, and it seems, for the better. he's about to abandon his trauma-based (no matter how ironic, it does remain tied to his trauma) identity, he is connecting with people, and he seems to be on a brink of understanding that his moral standing does not provide easy answers or solutions either.
and for the most part of the series, we see that narrative unfolding (even if a bit non-linear, still innocently convincing way). it is, in many ways, supported by bringing up features of his characterisation from the 80s. jason remains, of course, still unpleasant in ways typical for this era of writing, and is conflicted and disagreeable, which makes sense for his utrh/post-utrh personality. however, there are also details that bring us back to his original robin run and his cameos on ntt – we see him being responsible (e.g. #43 – suggesting to bring in other superheroes in crisis, even though he clearly is not keen on the idea of working with them), determined (#16: “isn’t that your super-power, stupid boy? too stupid to ever give up?” “maybe it is”), sensitive (half of the whole storyline, really), caring for gotham (gotham by gaslight) and people-oriented (as early as #51).
the issue that particularly signals that jason is an inherently good person and externalizes his internal conflicts regarding classic heroic vigilantism vs his cynical approach is #30, where we meet batman of earth-15 – alt jason, whom our jason attempts to punch in the face.
and on topic of batman – jason is always gravitating towards batman. in gotham by gaslight jay looks delighted to see (the foreign) bruce and suggests checking with the local bat. then, earth-51 arc arrives.
earth-51 arc (#16 - #13) is a culmination of a promise of catharsis for jason. we have already seen him as batman, as a confirmation that a different life for him is possible. and here he has a chance to come to terms with his past and overcome it. he meets a version of bruce who has done exactly what he wanted him to do in utrh: killed the joker and the rest of the rogue gallery. what is most important – he is disappointed with this version of his father. we realise that jason, deep down, has an intimate and intuitive understanding of what batman stands for; and that he shares most of his values. this is a truth that you can't ignore especially since jay is the one to inspire this hollow, cynical version of batman to go out and fight in a seemingly lost battle.
and then batman dies. right in front of him.
this is a central moment of the narrative, for many reasons, most strikingly:
the symmetry:, a premise known from the lost days, becomes literal. this "the father had lost a son, and now the son had lost the father" is a cruel parallel to a death in the family and bruce's grief. jason's death created a gap between them that jay has been desperately trying to close, with no avail – because in bruce's mind, jason remains dead. now that jason is grieving bruce, the connection closes on both sides, and there's no way for either of them to reconcile the mourning with the reality of the other being truly alive. in this sense, the arc solidifies that jason can never come home.
no good deed goes unpunished. as i have mentioned before, so far jason is established as someone good at heart, but confused; and the reader intuitively assumes that his better, honest side will win. yet, the moment jason gives in to hope, it victimises and retraumatizes him. this event, again, brings to mind his own death, when he tried his best to save sheila and ended up paying the highest price for it. so, narrative-wise, jason is always punished for his kindness.
perhaps because of the nonchalant act that jason pulls off, many readers seem to miss that everything that happens after that arc is an upshot that follows logically from it.
jason's immediate determination to leave – and later a short period of indecision that ends up with his dramatic exit, pushing his team away, makes perfect sense when you consider what intense trauma he has just gone through. admittedly, i'm not a fan of the notion that he would give up at all (i think he's always ready to give up on himself, but not on the world), but then on the other hand, if there's anything that would cause it, narrative-wise, witnessing batman dying does sound like a good incentive for that. (it also has to be pointed out that jason seems to be confident that the rest of the team can go into the final battle without him anyway; it's not like he would go back to his earth not even knowing if said earth will exist tomorrow).
it's crucial to notice that following that crisis of faith (faith in fighting for the world) is followed by him raising up for the challenge again, but now... worse and even more confused. in the final confrontation with donna, jason antagonizes the superhero community, and when we see him at the end of the series (#1) his monologue indicates that he believes the capes to be naive. (significantly, he also focuses on bruce and offends the memory of 51 earth-bruce by calling him crazy; an action that can be seen as suppression of his own guilt and invoking, once again, a cruel symmetry considering bruce's engagement in victim-blaming after jason's death). this, once again, is consistent with the "no good deed" reading – jason diminishes superhero values because he has been continuously punished for living by them. (and unlike other superheroes, he doesn't have a support system nor skills in compartmentalization that would help him deal with this trauma) every leap of hope re-traumatised him. hence, it seems to be no surprise that jason decides to abandon the mask, and in the closing scene we see him without it. the promise of the shattered helmet is pushed to an extreme – jason does not get a new alt identity. he denounces the idea of superheroism completely.
and yet, what is ultimately subversive about the ending, is that jay is not truly a civilian and he does not abandon vigilante ways. he does the same thing. we see him without a mask, but he is clearly working a case. he might have rejected the symbolic dimension of the vigilante work, but he still carries the same delusional hope for bettering the world and protecting people that the superhero community does. only now, he is even more isolated and doesn't have any identity to go by (as he is still legally dead).
as such, the ending opens a new question regarding jason's understanding of himself and vigilantism, or rather the lack thereof. is it possible that vigilantism is really at the core of jay's trauma? and why, potentially, is it something that is so destructive for him as a character specifically? (and i have some answers for that, but i'm not going to get into it here, as it's already a very long post)
so, tldr; the genius of countdown is that it establishes jay as sensitive, determined, and fundamentally good (this is what the purpose of seeing him as batman is!), and then it brutally reminds the reader that jason’s tragedy is that on this specific earth, in this specific timeline, his love doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. the story goes on as it did; one way or another, jay is trapped in the cycle of his care ironically creating rifts between him and the others, and bringing him to his own downfall.
#okay i know i said a lot of it already but it's been some time since i finished the reread and i feel like my take on it has shifted a bit#and i wanted to emphasise the 'no good deed' interpretation!!#also it's just that i've seen a lot of people saying that countdown ends with jason being a civilian.#while i think the whole genius of it is that he is not really a civilian??#have you seen civilians doing whatever the hell he is doing in the final scene?#this is arguably the element of the narrative that is by most readers missed – and i understand why#it's easy to get confused when navigating an event that spans across pretty much all of dc#fortunately for you i have worms for brain. and i have hyperanalysed it#i'm not saying overanalysed btw because i genuinely believe that this is not a case of accidental narrative brilliance#this is a pretty clear and straightforward progression once you dissect it from the rest of the series#and there are a lot of details that further cement my belief that it had to be intentional#i mean. even the recognition that donna and jason know each other is already... a lot for dc writers?#the fatal flaw#51#no good deed#jay.zip#jay.txt#jason todd#core texts
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Idk what this is but the thought of you being scared of Bakugos quirk is so hot to me
Tw:noncon, predatory behavior
“I swear he’s getting to be more and more like a villain every time I see him,” you giggle with Mina as you two walk out of the class. Bakugo had yet again exploded at one of your shared teachers for correcting him in his pronunciation of a word, and as usual it was quite a scene to behold. Chairs were almost thrown, his friends had to hold him back from leaping up while others egged him on, itching for amusement in their mind-numbingly dull class.
“Maybe Shigaraki was right,” your pink-haired friend snorts and you both collapse in wheezes, clawing and slapping at each other’s shoulders as the ludicrous image of Shigaraki being unable to reign in Bakugo comes to mind.
“Hey ladies, what’re you two laughing about?” A lilting and charming voice comes right at your ear, and you turn to see Denki, Kirishima and…Bakugo walking next to you.
Just because of his proximity and how you were literally just talking about him two seconds ago, you jump away from Bakugo’s glowering face and not so subtly hide behind Mina in a half playful jest.
“Huh? Whatcha ya jumpin’ around for?” Kirishima laughs and you exchange an embarrassed look with Mina.
“Oh nothing, we were just talking about how Bakugo’s quirk is totally villainous. We’re lucky he’s on our side,” Mina singsongs, but you slap her arm in alarm.
And well placed alarm at that, because Bakugo’s scowl deepens as he turns his head to you in a death-glare. You swallow hard seeing his expression and try to nervously laugh.
“But, uh, we were just joking. Right Mina?” You give her a pointed look and she deflects it happily.
“Nope! At least you weren’t, you’re half scared to death of him, isn’t that right Y/N?”
Denki interrupts before you can sputter in horror.
“Honestly, who isn’t scared of this dude?” He claps the other blond on his back and yelps when Bakugo’s hands start curling with smoke.
“Watch it dumbass.” He cranes his head to meet your eyes, but when he finds that you’re still avoiding eye contact with him he starts moving around his friends to better talk to you.
“My quirk isn’t that scary you idiot. It’s not like I care enough about any of you to blow you up-“
But with the smoke still curling form his hands and with the permanently intimidating scowl on his face reading closer and close to your, you can’t help but squeal and scrabble around him to sink your nails into Kirishima’s shoulders for protection.
“Okay, I get it! You don’t have to come any closer, I can see fine from here.” Your voice comes out too high and strained to be deemed as joking, but nonetheless everyone laughs at your dramatic show.
Everyone but Katsuki. Because he can see you’re actually scared, he’s seen it a hundred times on civilians who try to pretend they’re fine but still have that panicked glint in their eye.
“Jesus Y/N, with a reaction like that maybe he really is a villain. Bakubro, want us to send you back to Shigaraki’s place? Maybe you should reconsider his offer.”
And finally at Denki’s quip everyone including you this time laughs again in playful agreement, but yet again Bakugo’s blood starts simmering further.
Why the fuck were you being so obnoxious? He didn’t do anything to you before, right? So why the hell were you embarrassing him in front of all his friends and making him out to be this bloodthirsty monster?
Well, whatever. If a monster is what you want, then a monster is what you’ll get.
And so he waits for you after school, trailing behind you a couple hundred feet yet still keeping you in sight. He curses when you giggle with your friends, no doubt in his mind that you’re still throwing dirt on his name and he swears under his breath when you talk to Deku and his dweeb friends.
Of course when you hang around ditzy dorks like Deku he’s gonna look like a psycho in comparison.
But at one point you’re by the vending machine alone in a deserted hallway, fumbling with your coins and trying to quickly get a soda before your friends up ahead leave.
Too bad for you, because when he’s done with you they’ll never want to be seen with you again for their own safety.
You’re shoving money in the slot when he silently walks up a couple feet behind you.
“No friends around to gossip about me?”
You shriek and jump a good foot in the air at the sudden voice behind you. Clutching your heaving chest, you whirl around to see who it is.
Your blood runs cold. It’s Katsuki Bakugo, the absolute last person you want to be alone with in a deserted hallway.
Your feet move a step back.
Wrong move.
His nostrils flare and his eyes widen at your insulting retreat. You know he doesn’t take kindly to it, but with an expression like that how could you not?
“Uh, w-what do you mean?” You chuckle nervously.
He doesn’t laugh. In fact, he does something worse.
He matches your steps and moves forward a little bit.
At this you fully take a stride backwards and clash with the vending machine behind you.
He keeps advancing, slowly getting closer and checking you out, his head tilted as his eyes roam up and down your vulnerable body.
“Don’t move back. Why the fuck did you move away from me? That’s rude, we were just having a normal conversation.”
You surprise yourself by sounding level-headed in retaliation. “‘Kinda hard not to be a little uncomfortable when your conversation sounds so accusing.”
He lunges forward and you actually scream this time, throwing your hands up above your head in instinct to protect yourself from his proximity.
Bakugo doesn’t touch you but you can still feel his breath puffing on your head, can still feel the heat from his hands on either side of your body.
“You got a smart mouth don’t you? Is that why you embarrassed me earlier in front of everyone?”
“Embarrassed you-?” You squeak but immediately cut off when he thrusts his face right in front of yours, a manic look on his face as all his facial features stretch into a irate leer.
“I guess we’ll have to fix that tongue of yours. Put it to better use than to talk shit about me, right?”
Vermilion irises move from your face down your body, lingering on your chest and at the apex in between your legs.
Bile rises to your throat as he licks his lips and lets his lips ghost over yours, oh so close yet not touching.
And in the second before he descends, you shove him off with nothing but pure adrenaline feeling your fear and race past him, blindly running down the halls as fast as you can.
Surprisingly, you don’t hear anyone behind you. That doesn’t mean you don’t stop running though.
The real reason you don’t hear anyone behind you is because Katsuki Bakugo has an eerie smile on his face at your bolt. He languidly stretches his arms above his head and relishes in the popping of his joints, and in succession the popping of sparks in his hand. He kicks one leg out, then the other just to ensure you get a fair head start.
You’ve just made this so much more interesting.
He sets off at a light jog, and even in his carefree pace his strides are enough to eventually catch up with you, instinct like an animal’s guiding him through the winding halls and ending up catching a glimpse of your feet as you turn into another lane.
You’re panting, sweat pouring down your eyes as panic makes it hard to breathe or think rationally. The adrenaline that was pushing you is now dying down but at the worst time.
You take a quick glance back and your rapidly beating heart falters as you see him with a grin on his face as he practically jogs leisurely behind you. You’ve seen this same face on him when he’s in the battlefield, blasting through enemy hearts and blowing up heads as if they were fireworks.
He’s bloodthirsty. He wants you.
“Running away again? That’s not very heroic of you babe,” he calls out, and it’s terrifyingly infuriating how he’s not out of breath.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” you half scream and sob, trying to run faster but failing miserably.
You see a bathroom sign out of the corner of your eye and frantically stumble towards it.
Katsuki knows you know he’s even you take a turn and he laughs to himself at how boringly easy this is.
Maybe he was scary.
He shakes it off and continues his hunt after you, coming forth until he faces the bathroom door in which you were cowering behind.
There’s a small window, and no other door. Just a couple of stalls, a terrified girl, and a psycho with the taste of revenge practically palpable on his lustful tongue.
He knock with faux politeness. “You wanna come out and do this the easy way or you want me to barge in and take you myself?”
You sob and wheeze in response, desperately pushing against the flimsy door in a pathetic attempt to keep him out. Bakugo merely crosses his arms and leans against the door, staring intently at it with a smile still on his face.
Judging by the weight pushing more at the bottom of the door, he can tell you’re probably sitting down in an effort to catch your breath.
You both know he can come in at any time he so well pleases, but he decides he’ll play by your rules for a bit longer, indulge you a little before your inevitable downfall.
He hums loudly and slides down to join your parallel position on the floor.
“I’m tryina be nice here, y’know. You acted so scared of me when I never even bothered you before. Aren’t I being nice right now by letting you choose for yourself?”
He sounds so conversational, as if he were talking to one of his buddies. You stay silent but your silence speaks volumes.
It serves as nothing but a means to piss him off further.
The two of you sit in silence for seemingly hours, even though it’s only around 20 minutes. Every second you feel like he’s going to break down the door any second and blast your face off, but miraculously he doesn’t.
You don’t know what you’d rather prefer: for him to prolong your strained agony by letting you be so close yet so far from him, or to end your suffering and get it done with.
But you needn’t sit in silence stewing in your own fear any further, for at the exact moment you begin to doze off with the dying of the light the weight on the other side of the door lifts and you startle awake at the scuffling on the other side.
You blink a couple of times and blanch when you see through the window the purple light indicating that you really have been here longer than you thought.
Bakugo cracks his knuckles and rolls his head, popping a few more kinks in his neck before breathing out and bracing for impact.
“Ready or not little bitch, here I come.”
“Bakugo, wait-!”
But your plea doesn’t last for more than two words. The door bangs open with such a sound that you actually think he’s blasted it straight off his hinges. You gasp and shield yourself, jumping backwards and covering your face.
“‘Thought I made it clear by now that you can’t run. So why’d you try to leave? Huh? Think you’re smarter than me? You think you’re stronger than me?”
He’s stalking forward again, and you’re left tripping back over your feet and whimpering at his salacious intent as he backs you up and corners you into a stall.
He already knows the answers to his rhetorical questions but he wants to hear you say it. He wants to hear that scornful conviction in your voice about how big and bad he was that you used earlier.
With you tripping backwards into the cramped stall, his approach quickens in hunger at feeling you, feeling the fear radiating off your body.
Bakugo presses up against you against the wall and takes up the space around you, invading your personal bubble. He’s everywhere, growling in your ear, hands gripping your waist so tight you’re sure bruises sprout from his touch, his erect penis grinding on the inside of your thigh.
Your trepidation and terror rises to an insurmountable height as he smothers you.
When he suddenly grips your chin and forces your head to face him you gasp. His touch is even more callous than you thought.
“You lookin’ here bitch? Good.”
His palm is raised towards you and before you can even widen your eyes in realization his appendage starts sparking madly. You shriek and try to throw him loose as little bits of embers fly out and made your face, his voice rough as always yet dangerously low and soft.
“S’not so scary after all is it? You’re reacting better to it than I thought.” Bakugo Blanca you mocks your writhing figure as you desperately try to evade the mini explosions.
“Okay, I get it, please stop I don’t like it!” You shrilly cry out but his hand moves from your jaw down to your neck, and squeezes the last remnants of opposition out of you.
“Yeah? Good, I’m glad you get it. But honestly, I don’t care if you don’t like it.
Because I like it. I fucking love this quirk, ‘specially when you cower so prettily under it like you did earlier.”
You choke and try to scrabble at his hands but it’s like a butterfly’s touch to him, barely producing any fruition.
“I kept wondering to myself: why do I care if she’s scared of it? And then I realized,” he leans in and lets his lips brush over your ear, lets his hand lessen ever so slightly so that your main focus is his words.
“You just looked good enough to eat when you know you’re beneath me. When you know how dangerous I am.”
He pulls back and assesses the look on your face. “Makes you look good enough to eat.”
And without further ado he lowers his hand and starts rubbing his alit palm on your clothed pussy, his erection getting harder as your screams wilt into whines.
Your legs flail uselessly as he burns a hole through your pants and his fingers hook aside the band of your panties.
Bakugo thrusts his hips forwards and grinds his straining cock on your moist lips, taking in your blubbers and teary eyes.
You can’t even speak, you can only cry out like a child as he thrusts harder and harder, so hard that your back hits the wall painful and the stall walls rattle behind you.
“You-pant-fucking scared-pant-now slut?” He rasps, his head bobbing on rhythm with yours as he practically lifts you off your toes to match his pace.
Your clit is caught between the fabric and rolled cruelly pleasurable as his tip leaks precum, staining your own panties in the process.
With your attention rapt on his now-uncovered dick sliding in and out of your folds, he takes this opportunity to take his other hand off your neck and blast the wall next to your face.
The second you open your mouth in shock as bits of tile rain down on your face he slams his steaming palm over your lips, burning the soft flesh as you weep openly.
He sets off two more near your sides and another above your head, his own face aligned right in front of yours so you can see the mean smile on his face all the while he sets your heart racing at an alarming speed.
When the smoke clears and you can start feeling glass and tile imprint on your once-smooth face, he positions his dick up so that it prods at your hole and yanks your hair back.
His eyes practically glow with the mini fires preserved in the walls with his blasts, the impact of the air rushing around him makes his hair even spikier, his body is taunt and even more imposing than before.
His teeth gleam with the orange and red light next to you. His chest doesn’t heave, because he’s at ease with your terror.
“You think you know fear?”
With one swift movement he shoves up into you, but this time he doesn’t cover your mouth.
“You haven’t met me truly yet.”
#yandere bakugo x reader#tw:noncon#scummy bakugo#bakugo x you#yandere bakugo katsuki#bully bakugou#bakugo mha#mha#bnha#mha katsuki#bakugo bnha#bnha katsuki#katsuki#yandere katsuki#katsuki scenario#katsuki bakugo oneshot#bakugo katsuki#bakugo katsuki x reader#katsuki x y/n#katsuki smut#yandere bakugo#bakugo smut#mha yandere#yandere bnha
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Promises
I should probably be working on the three multichaps I've been balancing but ehehe oh well *throws a new fic to the fandom*
Summary: As the Scouts gear up to retake Shiganshina, Captain Levi makes a promise to the mother of his child. [Canonverse where Petra lives]
Words: 1,425
Pairing: Rivetra | Levi x Petra
- - -
“I’m marrying you when I get back.”
His voice was a hush, but the words were loud enough to make Petra pause on her self-imposed task to saddle in his horse. He’s sure that he’d scolded her for the nth time already, telling her that it’s not her job to do so.
Not now when she’s three months into her pregnancy.
It all started the same night after the 57th expedition. Their squad’s death led to passionate sighs and grief-stricken fucks in his office. This was promptly followed by nervous stutters the morning after.
They decided to never talk about it ever again, not when they’re anticipating Petra’s upcoming promotion to become his second-in-command with her being the remaining veteran in his team. The last thing he wants is people questioning the position that she more than deserved.
Three weeks later and Levi found himself barreling towards fatherhood.
He’d always considered himself a callous man, but seeing the heartbroken look on Petra’s face when she had no choice but to step down from his squad had been more than enough to break something inside him.
It was his very first time to sleep with a woman then and he’d already fucked it all up, and now he’d dragged his best subordinate down with him.
Levi had left the choice all up to her, not really knowing how to approach Petra when they weren’t even together. All he could do was promise to support her in whatever decision she’d take.
But Petra was insistent, her face fearful but voice filled with resolve when she announced that she’s keeping the child. Their child.
“Levi, you don’t have to,” Petra reasons, her hand now cradled on top of her rounding belly. “I’ve told you as much before.”
Levi gives a cursory glance at his surroundings, seeing both soldiers and the only civilians in on the plan buzz around preparing for the Scouts’ biggest mission yet. He hesitates for a moment, not used to showing any type of affection in public, but he still reaches out to tuck a stray copper hair behind her ear, his finger lingering and trailing down the back of her earlobe.
Petra visibly shivers, and it takes them both back to the night their child was conceived.
An accident, but to the both of them, not a mistake.
Not when he’d see Petra light up with the kid’s every kick after the initial discomfort on her face. Not when he’d enter the apartment he’s renting for her and how it always felt like he was coming home.
She used to stay back with her father in Karanese but after the Military Police started targeting her with rumors of Levi’s involvement in her pregnancy, he made sure to drop by and hide her away in the most secure spot he could find near the Scouts’ HQ before he went on the run.
Petra was not happy with being treated like a porcelain doll, and he’d had to buy her grilled chicken with goat cheese and a slice of cheesecake as she nagged him down. Damn woman had been too obsessed with cheese since they learned she’s pregnant, but he’d found it more endearing than annoying.
He knew then that he’s probably too far gone.
Fatherhood was never a part of his plan, but he’d be damned first before he allows this child to be fatherless and leave the woman who’d always stood by him hanging.
Levi had never defined his relationship with Petra. For so long, she was his subordinate and she’d been brave enough to push past the boundaries to offer friendship. She became his lover for a night, the next thing he knows, she’s the mother of his child.
He wants more of her. He wants it all. A family, a house he’d come home to after each mission, a kid eager to welcome him back and a wife who’d kiss him and ask about how his day went.
Was he in love? Who the hell knows. He’d never been in a relationship before to even have a direct comparison. His shitty childhood didn’t help at all. But one thing he’s sure of is that whatever Petra’s willing to give him, he’d gladly take it.
“Who says I feel like I have to?” Levi finally replies as he pulls out something from his pocket, placing it on her palm. “Here.”
The ring was a simple copper band, and a box couldn’t even be seen in sight. He’d bought it during Historia’s coronation and it was the only piece of quality jewelry he could find that won’t completely blow the budget he’d set out for her and the upcoming baby.
It’s a cheap-ass ring, but Petra cradles the band in her hand as if it’s worth a thousand gold coins.
“I don’t want to tie you down,” Petra argues, tears now welling in her eyes the more she gazes at the ring on her palm. “You willing to raise him is more than enough—”
“Oi, kid,” Levi said, kneeling down on one knee to level his face with her growing belly. Petra’s breath hitches, amber eyes blinking wide at how the captain was willing to show his soft side when he’d always hidden behind a stony demeanor. “Your mom’s being stubborn. Can you ask her if she can marry me? Maybe she’d listen to you. She’d been insubordinate since you popped up.”
Levi gives her a pointed look, although he spares her a playful quirk of his lip.
He notices that the other soldiers were sneaking glances at them now, while the 104th brats were full on staring at the scene. Levi throws them all a glare to mind their fucking business, which draws out a quiet chuckle from the woman before him when they see Eren and Jean scamper off.
“You’re going to be a great father,” Petra notes, before quietly adding, “And husband.”
He snaps up, eyes as soft as it’s intense as he looks at her, “Is that a yes?”
She bites her lip, the sunrise illuminating her cheek makes her blush all the more breathtaking. She carefully slips the copper ring on her finger, and Levi couldn’t help himself from raising her hand to give a soft kiss on the back of her palm.
“Maybe you can take me out on a date first when you get back from Shiganshina?” She asks as she straightens the cravat underneath his scout cape.
“Levi, time to go,” Erwin calls out from behind them. Hange was busy rambling to Moblit while the newer squad leaders herd all their new recruits for a final briefing of each team.
Petra looks at the horizon, at the way the green expanse meets the golden glow of the rising sun. He sees how the melancholy sparked in her eyes for a second when she takes a glance at all the other Scouts, and Levi felt that familiar tinge of guilt—the self-hatred that he’d done this to her even when both parties were consenting.
He leans down, giving her a kiss on her forehead and runs a thumb against her lower lip. He doesn’t know boundaries at this moment. They’d never fucked or even kissed since that night, but as she melts into his touch right now, he hopes to whoever deity’s out there that he’s doing something right.
“I’ll find a restaurant where you can eat all the cheese and chocolate that you want,” he promises instead.
“You better. You just proposed,” she teases him, but her voice betrays her as Levi hears the familiar nervous hitch in her tone. “I can’t be a widow when I’m not even married yet.”
It’s stupid to make such a promise, especially with how risky this mission is compared to all their previous attempts. But for the first time since he joined the scouts, Levi has this unwavering resolve that he is going to come back. Whatever it takes, he’ll come back.
He’d kill all the fucking titans if that meant his kid won’t grow up without a dad.
His hands settles on Petra’s waist to reassure both her and the child growing inside her, “I’ll be back here in no time.”
#rivetra#levi x petra#petra x levi#rivetra fic#levi ackerman#petra ral#rivetra au#writing's been hard recently because work's been draining so I'm trying to write short fics in between so i won't get too rusty lol
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“I need you”
Sero x fem!Black reader
Warnings: mentions of drugs, smut, p r a i s e, slight bruising, some overstim w/ nipple play, panic attack, angst, choking, and squirting
Summary: You’re about to tell Sero a thing or two after getting a call from him at 3am. But his response leads to a different discussion…
Word count: about 2.7k
Author’s note: Quick question/// how did we all come to an agreement that Sero smokes?? Is this canon? Could it be canon?
Authors note pt. 2: I didn’t think the angst would be so long, so just skip to the {***}asterisks if you just wanna read the smut
The Sero you know has always been calm, cool, and collected. When you receive a phone call at 3am, you assume it’s one of his usual antics; him asking you if you’ve heard Megan’s new song, explaining why Denki is such a dumbass, or his take on the Netflix show you told him to watch. The bright light of your phone stings your eyes before you hear the ringtone. Taki Taki by Selena Gomez blasts from your nightstand- a song Sero knew annoyed the crap out of you, and hence forced you to set it as his ringtone after a bet you lost months ago. Hearing it so many times now, after all, Sero was your best friend and boyfriend, the tune wasn’t as bad. As you reach over to answer it, silencing the dumb song, you’re semi-pissed off and ready to tell Sero that whatever he has to say can definitely wait til morning. You were exhausted and had just seen Sero only a few hours ago. However, when you answer the phone, the soft but audible sniffle instantly shuts you up.
There’s a shaky breath before “y/n...I....” he pauses, trying to regain control of his broken voice. Your heart squeezes terribly as he tried to force himself to talk. What had happened? You were just laughing together not too long ago.
“Sero? What’s wrong? Are you okay??”
You hear him struggling to tell you what’s going on with him, but only a strangled cry comes out as he bursts into tears. You’ve never heard Sero this broken, this distraught. Hell, you’ve hardly ever seen him have a semi bad day. Tears prickle at the corner of your eyes. It hurts you to know that your bestfriend is in so much pain.
“I need you,” he manages to get out through gasps.
“I’m on my way right now,” you tell him in a smooth, stable voice. You’re scared that it’ll only freak him out even more if he knew how panicked you were. In a total frenzy, you throw on a big shirt and grab your car keys on the way out, not even thinking about your bonnet still on your head, your raggedy house slippers on your feet, or even the fact that you're dashing out your apartment at 3am with no pants on. You can only think about Sero, and how bad he must be feeling to call you in absolute tears. You don’t bother with a seatbelt, and hardly look out for other cars as you zoom to his apartment. A trip that should have taken 20 minutes didn’t even take 10 as you park in the spot Sero was convinced was just for you. A space directly in front of his apartment that was always vacant, and also so happened to be right next to his car. Your feet fly you to the second floor and you fumble searching for the red cheetah printed key to his apartment that he copied for you. He thought it was hilarious how tacky it was, and even customized his own key so that you guys could match. That was Sero for you- always thinking of you. Always going the extra mile to see you happy. And now that precious boy was suffering, crying alone in his apartment. “Wait...is he even in his apartment?” You slam your palm to your forehead. You didn’t even bother asking where he was before rushing over. Fuck. Sending a silent prayer, you flip out the red key and open the door.
As soon as you do, a gush of smoke exits, flooding your nostrils with the smell of weed. You can hardly see into the space, trying to make it safely to Sero’s room where you figure he must be, smoking in his little alcove by the window with the air diffuser on. Instead, you hear his sniffling from the living room, almost blocked out by the tv which, ironically, is in fact playing the Netflix show that you recommended to him last week. Dragging your eyes from the flashing tv, you focus your attention to the shaking lump of covers on the sofa. Taking deep breaths, you walk towards him.
“Sero?” you whisper quietly and he freezes. He doesn’t respond, but you know he heard you. “Sero... I’m here”. You take a few more wary steps before you place your hand on the blanket he’s hiding under and peel it always carefully, revealing the top of his head. You bend down to get a look at his face, but when you try, he only lowers his head even more. You smooth his hair down with one hand, and place the other ever so gently under his chin, trying to get him to look at you. “Look at me, Sero. Please? Tell me what’s wrong”. Sero, being one to never deny you anything you ask for, tilts his head up gingerly. His eyes are totally bloodshot, and you can’t tell if it’s from the weed, the crying, or both. But either way, it breaks you I’m so many different ways. Sero opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. You slip into the thick covers with him and press him to your chest, wrapping your arms around his head. Almost instinctively, he wraps his arms around your waist, burying his face into you while gripping you tightly like his life depends on it. You keep smoothing down his hair, whispering a mix of “everything’s okay. I’m here. It’s okay. You’re safe,” while peckering kisses on his head. It takes a few minutes to calm down from his.. panic attack? Jesus, you want to know what’s wrong so you can fix it. Once he’s stable, he finally looks up at you with those big beautiful eyes and kisses your chin. Then your jaw, neck, collar bones, and finally stopping at the gap between your breasts. He sighs in to you, face between your breasts, and reluctantly releases his grip around your waist. All of a sudden, everything spills out at once. He rambles on about how 5 civilians had died right in front of him two months ago. 3 of them being children. How he could’ve saved them if he had been a better hero. How he was having nightmares about them, and about you. It could have been you that day. Would he be able to save you then? Would you resent him for being so weak? He’d been getting high almost every night to ease his anxiety, but he finally cracked when the Netflix show you gave him had a child die in the last scene of the 2nd season. That was the trigger for his first panic attack. When he called you, he was right in the middle of it, and couldn’t think of someone better to contact. And his gut was right. Just you holding him in your arms made the bad thoughts go away. You were better than the weed, better than all the numerous distractions he had to make him think about everything but the accident. He felt safe. He felt loved. He never knew that was what he needed most. Now that he was calm in your arms, he wanted to reciprocate all the love you always showered him.
*** [here’s the smut you whores]
He began pressing sloppy, wet kisses against the base of your neck, sucking so hard on the skin that you knew for a fact it would leave a bruise or two. “I love you y/n. You’re so good to me,” he breathes before licking long stripes along your collarbone. “I love you so much”. Dammit this man was high as hell. You felt some guilt bubbling in the pit of your stomach at Sero’s advances. Should you be enjoying this as much as you are right now? Your best friend just had a panic attack. Yet, the feeling was quickly replaced by a pleasurable heat as he firmly grabbed your ass with one hand and pressed his boner against your cunt, pushing almost painfully hard through your thin T-shirt. It wasn’t until that moment you remembered all you had on was this shirt and underwear.
With his other hand, he removes your bonnet and threads his hands in your curls, getting tangled easily while he lightly scraped your scalp, right at the crown. Right where you liked it. You let out a soft moan that was met with a slight throb of Sero’s cock. “You’re fucking perfect, Princesa. Your hair and skin feel so perfect. So perfect for Papi”. He bites down on your collar bone, receiving a sharp yelp in surprise and a tug at his hair. “ohhh hermosa you feel so good,” he groans, his Spanish beginning to flow as you both get even more turned on. “All I need is you, y/n,” he says. Carefully, he takes his hand out of your kinks and places one on your hip, rubbing small circles with his nails. He stops for a moment in this position. He murmurs, almost to himself, “You’re all I need, mi cielito. After all the bullshit I put you through, I don’t deserve you,” he starts to choke a bit on his words at the end, and you sense the tears coming. You love Sero, and in no way did he not deserve you. He needed to know that. Pulling his lips away from you, which are now swollen, you stare into his eyes and tell him “I love you, and only you Sero. I don’t want or need anyone else”. A quick tear escapes from his eye and it slides right into the crook of your arm. You wipe it away with the palm of your hand, keeping it pressed on his cheek. “I mean it, Sero”. A slow, lopsided smile presents itself on his face. “That was pretty cheesy y/n. I never pegged you for the sentimental type”. You mirror his smile, your heart soars at the inkling of normalcy between you two. “Oh fuck off,” you say playfully pushing his head away. “We both know that I’m a huge romantic. Besides,” dropping your voice and gently pressing your lips against his ear, “no one else could get me this wet in a few minutes. Sero giggled at you, yes giggled, and shook his head.
“Horny ass. Let me have this damn opportunity to be lovey-dovey” Sero’s fake agitation is so forced you couldn’t help but outrightly laugh. After the moment passes though, you suddenly become serious. “Are you sure about this Sero?”
“I’m always sure when it comes to you hermosa”
This time, he places a slow, deep kiss to your mouth, swiping a hot tongue along your bottom lip, asking for permission to enter. As usual, you give it to him without a second thought.
Sex with Sero is always passionate, but today felt extremely intense. You’d be lying to yourself if you said it didn’t turn you on. Plus, there was so much smoke in the apartment that you had to be getting a second hand high right now.
Sitting up and dragging you with him, covers sliding to the floor, he positions you two at the edge of the couch, your back facing a blaring tv that neither of you bother to turn off as you straddle him. One swift tug has your shirt off, revealing your pebbled nipples and a lacey red underwear you don’t even remember putting on.
A low whistle leaves Sero’s lips. “You couldn’t possibly have mistaken my phone call for a booty call, could you? ‘Cause this is sexy as fuck mami”
Wasting no more time, he wraps his mouth around one nipple, flicking the dexterous muscle back and forth. The other nipple pinched between his fingers while he pulls and squeezes harshly, the pain meshing deliciously with the pleasure. With his free hand, he wraps his lanky fingers around the back of your neck, encircling almost completely around your throat. Yanking your head back with just the right amount of force, you can’t help the loud, high pitched moan that leaves you. Your hips spasm along his thigh, leaving a visible line of slit on his pants. Sero hums against your skin, tightening his grip on you, “you like that, don’t you? Grinding your cunt on my thigh while my hands choke your pretty little neck”
You were going to respond, but his teeth bite down on your breast, the other one met by a thumb flicking across the bud quickly. Your hips buck against his leg, the pressure causing a flood of incoherent sounds. You’re a mess of moans, white pulsing at the edges of your vision, heat rocking through your entire body. And just when you think the pain starts to be too much, he presses his knee right against your clit, making you see stars. “Sero!!” Your screams and gasps are so noisy that you know the neighbors are sure of who’s making you feel this good. His mouth rips from your nipple with a pop, but instantly latches onto your lips.
He uses both of his hands to palm your ass, grinding your hips faster and harder, your clit exploding with pleasure. Eyes squeezed shut, you slam your arms down on him, clawing at his shoulders. The feeling was so fast, so intense, too good, you were being sent over the edge. Your words were incomprehensible, you could hardly even speak to tell him you were close, so so close.
“Fuck! Sero I-”
“Shit y/n you look so fucking hot,” he grunts against your lips, “Please cum, cum for papi. You’re so pretty on top of me y/n. Cum all over my pants with that pretty pussy of yours baby”. One hand smacks down across your tits, making you jump so hard you almost fall off his leg. He never stops gripping and kneading at them, rougher than ever, before twisting your nipples again. You claw at his shoulders, practically sobbing from the pleasure, screaming “yes yes yes! So good! So...!”
Another slap makes your eyes roll to the back of your head, your orgasm building in your core. He squishes your tits together, and plunges both nipples in his mouth, biting and sucking fervently. At the same time he bounces his knee, you feel the burning knot coming undone. “Papi, I’m gonna cum, I’m coming, I’m-”
You couldn’t say anymore, as a gush of hot liquid squirted all over his leg. Sero hums with your tits still in his mouth, the tiny vibrations sending bolts of electricity down your spine. You gradually came back down from your high (and not the weed high), Sero still rocking you slowly against his pant leg. When you come back to reality, your head falls forward, instantly tired and tense from that world-changing orgasm. After opening your eyes, you spot a wet circle right at the center of Sero’s legs. “Sero, did you just cum?”
He glances down, and his eyes widened when he also sees the sticky wetness seeping through. He looks back up at you, blessing you with his wide, toothy smile. “I guess I did, huh?”
Bitch is high as hell. You chuckle slightly before you hear a nearly inaudible squelch under you. Now you look between your own legs, and freeze at what you see.
Shit
“Did I… did I just?”
“Yeah,” Sero snorted, “You squirted on my thigh. I think it got on the couch too.”
Oh my god. You press your palms to your eyes immediately, totally embarrassed by what you did. Not to mention the fact that you were basically naked, while Sero was still fully clothed. How did this even happen? You’ve never squirted before. Did you have some sort of torture kink? Your tits hurt like hell right now. Turning your head away, you say “that’s so embarrassing”
“Embarrassing? Look at me” Sero takes you by the wrists and removes your hands from your face, but your eyes still look away. “Look at me baby,” he persists, squeezing your cheeks between his thumb and index with his lanky fingers, forcing your eyes on his. His blissed out eyes are still glossed over with an incredible lustful stare. “That was fucking hot, y/n. Can you do it again? Please?”
#sero hanta#hanta sero x reader#fanfic#sero x black!reader#mha#mha smut#smut#hanta sero#class 1a#class 1 a x reader#my hero academia#boku no hero fic#bnha#bnha smut#black girls#anime
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Suture Up Your Future
i was watching reservoir dogs last night and that scene in the beginning with mr. orange is so intense i wanted to write some bad batch AnGst that mirrors it (and yes, the title is a queens of the stone age song, im really just snatching ideas from everybody huh lol). im also not too knowledgeable about trauma wounds like this and how to patch them up, but i did my best so pls be nice lmao im a sensitive bitch
Pairing: Platonic Bad Batch x Gender Neutral Reader / Platonic Tech x Gender Neutral Reader
Warnings: adult dialogue, severe wounds and blood loss, wound suturing, sad batch ™ but with a happy ending! yay!
Word Count: approx. 1.4k
✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
“Say it for me, Tech.” You were met with an agonistic cry instead of the words you needed the trooper to say. Not only to reassure himself, but you as well. “Say it,” you nearly screamed while he lay there bleeding out, “You’re going to be okay, fucking say it. You’re going to be okay.”
“I,” a sharp intake of breath made his chest heave and a new wave of fresh blood come out of his gaping wound, covering your hands in the warm substance, “‘m guh be oh-okay.”
“There we go, come on Tech, come on buddy breathe for me.”
~
Nothing was out of the ordinary when you woke up that day. Hunter asked if you wanted to stay on the Marauder while he, Tech, and Crosshair went on a supply run. Hunter sang his reassurances to you, fully knowing you had a point when you reminded him that this planet was not the most welcoming place for outsiders. Especially the army of the Republic. But Hunter made sure they had civilian clothing to disguise themselves; this was the closest planet you all could get to at the moment, with the little fuel you had, after all. “In and out, just like that,” the sergeant cooed with a snap of his fingers to enunciate the last word of his promise.
Echo, Wrecker, and yourself gave your best wishes to the group, then retreated back to the hull of the beloved ship. Echo toying with a new prosthetic he and Tech had been working on, Wrecker subjecting poor Gonky to yet another workout, and you occupied yourself with some tidying up. Maker knows that five busy soldiers plus one even busier medic, patching up said soldiers on a regular basis, equaled a filthy ship that was in dire need of some elbow grease.
What none of you had expected however, was the very early return of the three bad batchers, one of them being supported by the other two. Barely able to walk and blood leaking out of his abdomen.
Panic set in your gut upon the sight. Wrecker and Echo already in front of you, screaming their concerns and questions while you scrambled back into the ship to clear the table that was littered with empty dishes and Tech’s projects, then sprinting to your medkit to snag the supplies you’d need to treat a wound such as this. Returning to the table just as Wrecker set his vod down on the flat surface that, might you add, was much too small for his six-four frame and much too dirty for the situation at hand, but would have to do. Considering the severity of the scene before you. Tech had an enormous gash — you guessed from some sort of large knife — that ran from the bottom of his left ribs all the way to the front of his abdomen, ending just above his bellybutton.
“Fucking bounty hunters,” Crosshair growled from behind you but you couldn’t afford to pay him any mind, Tech was damn near about to bleed to death if you didn’t act quick. You could curse the people who did this to your friend later. “Echo, he’s going to need more blood. Get Wrecker hooked up to the blood draw.” You ordered while applying pressure to the gash, Tech’s blood slowing at the contact, but still steadily seeping through your fingers. Normally Wrecker would pout about being hooked up to a machine but the sight of his friend dancing with death made him move quicker than any of you had ever seen, ripping his shirt sleeve up so Echo could begin drawing blood.
The scene felt like a dream. Well, more like a nightmare, one that never stopped no matter how badly you wished you could just wake up and it would all be over. Instead, you were sweating through your shirt, a few tears stained your cheeks, and you were fucking covered in blood; Tech’s blood, to make the matter even more chilling. Everything happened so fast, you desperately wished you had gone on the run instead of Tech. Maybe that way you could all be sitting around this table, playing cards and giggling at Echo and Wrecker’s bickering over who’s cheating by now.
“What do you need me to do?” Hunter stepped to your side, prepared to do anything in order to save the youngest of the squad. “Get the gauze and alcohol out of my pack.” You threw your head in the direction of the stocked medpack sitting on the table near Tech’s legs. Hunter opened the bottle of antiseptic and handed it to you, Crosshair on the other side of the table taking the gauze from Hunter’s hand. Ready to stuff the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding more until you could properly suture him up. Dumping the alcohol inside the gash caused Tech to gasp, eyebrows furrowing and body going taut at the pain you inflicted on him. You pleaded with him to relax and help you in reassuring himself that he would be fine. Both you and Hunter continuing the verbal comfort while Crosshair unraveled the pristine white gauze and began shoving it into Tech’s side, dying it crimson almost immediately. The pressure from both yours and Crosshair’s hands did a good job at stopping the blood loss, just enough so you could begin really cleaning him up and sewing his abdomen back together. Hunter helped with handing you the needle and thread and you began puncturing Tech’s skin and pulling the thread through the tissue.
Cries and mumbles of curses came from Tech’s lips, his face paler than any of you had ever seen before. “Shhh…eh..it,” Tech groaned as you diligently worked at his stomach. You silently thanked whatever celestial power that was out there for slowing down the blood flow to a much more manageable pace. Crosshair’s efforts clearly paid off, you mentally noted, as you watched his steady marksman hands slowly remove the gauze while you advanced with your stitching.
“Blood transfusion is ready,” Echo suddenly appeared, ready to start replenishing the blood Tech had lost. “Just in time,” you managed a half-smile, not entirely sure of where it came from. But looking back, you think it was out of hope.
Tech’s glazed eyes silently caught the way your mouth curled up and he was infinitely grateful for it. To him — and the other members of the squad — you were a beacon of light in the cruel and unforgiving war you all were in the midst of. It was easy to let the darkness and the violence consume them, but the second you joined their squad as their senior medic, there was that sudden sense of hope; you were something that made all of it even more worth it.
The entire procedure of fixing up your friend honestly was a blur for the most part. One second they were dragging Tech’s limp and bloody body up the ramp, the next you all found yourselves slumped into chairs, over crates, hell, you were nearly passed out from exhaustion on the floor next to the table Tech was splayed out on. His wound clean and stitched to near perfection, and Wrecker’s blood slowly being pumped back into his veins, bringing that beautiful, healthy tan back to his features.
Being so tired led you to neglect the dried blood all over your arms and shirt. In your haze, you remember Wrecker gently grasping your biceps and heaving you off the grimy ground, urging you to wash up and change. When you began to protest, the gentle giant rubbed up and down your arms in an effort to persuade you, “He’ll be fine, kid. You stitched him up real good. Plus, you know how queasy he gets with blood. He’d want you to get cleaned up.” Just as the final syllable left his mouth, you felt the soft cotton of your extra shirt being brushed against your forearm, Crosshair’s arm extended to you from his place on a ration crate with a nod in your direction. A silent way of showing you he agreed with his older brother — we got him, don’t worry.
Your squad member’s wisdom proved to be true. Stepping out of the fresher in a new shirt sans sweat stains and blood, and your skin nice and clean, you were greeted with the sight of everybody crowding around their youngest vod still laying on the table. Weaseling your way in between Hunter and Echo, you found Tech awake. Albeit less sharp than he usually is, but still awake. Breathing. Fucking alive. The weight of dread that had been crushing your chest was suddenly gone, letting your lungs fully expand for the first time in hours. A soft hand found Tech’s cheek, the tips of your fingers accidentally bumping the edge of his goggles and another smile gracing your face, this one out of relief.
“Told you you’d be okay.”
#i know reservoir dogs is like...the ultimate white boy douchebag movie but i still like it#im taking it back from those bitches lol#and this is my first time writing something platonic AND writing angst I hope it's decent lol im more of a fluff and spicy stories kinda gal#my writing#tech fic#bad batch fic#the bad batch tech x reader#the bad batch platonic fic#the bad batch crosshair x reader#the bad batch hunter x reader#the bad batch echo x reader#the bad batch wrecker x reader#the bad batch fanfiction
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Penny being trans + autistic coded made me resonate with her as I am nonbinary and autistic myself. Her being a robot felt like me when I have to hide my neurodivergent traits. Her getting confirmation that she wasn't just a robot/machine but a real girl felt so validating. I don't have to look like everyone else to still be considered "real".
Ironwood's semblance being literal hyperfixiation, something I've dealt with since I have ADHD + autism would have made me feel better about myself. This is a man who, despite everything: his PTSD, being an amputee, still was a kind-hearted man. This is something rarely seen in media. I was happy.
Then they fucked up both Penny and Ironwood in ways that struck me. Penny is hacked into and forced to comply with basically forced suicide- she was to open the vault, then self-destruct.
Ironwood, oh dear god. They couldn't wait to fuck him over. He was so HAPPY to see team RWBYJNROQ. He told them everything about his plan, trusting them with literal GOVERNMENT secrets, giving them a place to stay, FREE weapon upgrades (Atlas is known for its advanced technology), hell even gave them their HUNTRESS LICENSES THREE-ISH YEARS EARLY (which Ruby later uses as a credibility source in her broadcast, which was eerily similar to Cinder's in Volume 3, when she says IRONWOOD CANNOT BE TRUSTED.)
Not to mention that she conveniently forgot she was calling for help from OTHER KINGDOMS. OF COURSE they wouldn't arrive soon enough. And no one had reason to trust her. She's a nobody. She was at the Vytal Festival and her team made it all the way to the singles? Cool. Ruby wasn't the final fighter, hell after the 4 vs 4 match she didn't compete further.
Blake would have obviously been a bad choice: she's a faunus and if anyone knows about the White Fang, they might recognize her.
Yang is more known than Ruby, but the world saw her kick an unarmed teen in the finals round. She doesn't have too good a reputation.
Weiss? She's well known as the Heiress, but also her singing. Having her give the speech is a mixed bag: on one hand, she's a recognizable face. On the other, that's a problem. Her father, the CEO of the SDC, is known for his cruelty. Blake said it herself way back in Volume 1: questionable business practices and partners.
So... How about no broadcast at all? What did her broadcast accomplish?
Nothing. Help didn't arrive and likely caused more panic. Plus, people still had a negative view of Atlas, as the last thing the world saw was Atlesian soldiers turning against civilians.
The last broadcast was before Beacon fell. So likely another hacker giving a message would be met with fear.
And what attracts Grimm? Negativity.
Ruby's broadcast could have been a DEATH SENTENCE to so many. But no, this is treated as the... Right course of action?
Ruby and co. hates Ironwood's plan, yet it's clear they don't have one. RWB spends a lot of time moping around the manor drinking tea. Team YOJR (Yang, Oscar, Jaune and Ren) actually DO SOMETHING. Oscar gets kidnapped and they chase after him. Ren rightfully points out that NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE DOING THIS. But that goes against the Hivemind™, so he must apologize and agree to whatever the fuck Ruby decides to do.
Which is NOTHING! RWBY didn't even take down the hound: WILLOW and WHITLEY did. A drunk woman and an unarmed teen defeated it.
Oscar is the one who blows up the whale (with his time bomb? huh??)
Ruby whines that it's all too much, cries on a staircase while her sister (remember that Ruby and Yang are related????) comforts her. The scene has no emotional depth because the two barely interact anymore.
OH GOD AND WHEN YANG TAKES A HIT FROM NEO THAT WAS MEANT FOR RUBY IT TAKES HER OUT COMPLETELY. AURA? GONE. HELL, SHE'S EVEN UNCONSCIOUS. I swear it's like the animation budget could only afford to have ONE character react, and it's Blake "sad kitty face" Belladonna. Not Ruby, who is her sister. WHO HAS A SPEED SEMBLANCE. But no, they just watch her fall, not knowing if she's alive.
Ruby has more of a reaction to CRESCENT ROSE, HER FUCKING WEAPON falling.
Which is retconned so hard in the Vol 9 trailer, where she tells Neo "I hope it was worth it" before falling into the void. Huh??
Anyways I'm rambling again but I am so angry!
-🎼
Never, ever, EVER apologize for rambling. I LOVE hearing peoples thoughts and sometimes it's a really nice feeling to let out your frustrations and anger towards something that has caused you harm and it really REALLY sounds like this caused you a lot of harm and so I do not blame you one bit for being hurt and angry. I should apologize for this taking so long. This was a lot and I needed to sort my thoughts and even so I probably missed some points so I also apologize for that.
Penny and Ironwoods biggest mistake was trusting and being kind to RWBY. They lied and betrayed James and treated him like garbage even though he showed them nothing but kindness and did whatever he could to help them and listened to them. Penny was told what to do and think far more so then James ever supposedly did. Ruby decided to give her a new body, decided she didn't like how James was treating her and that she thought James was a bad person, and decided that Penny was better off with them. Penny stopped being able to make her own decisions once she started hanging out with RWBY and co.
Really though what did they all think was going to happen when they sent out a message that matched beat to bear a lot of what Cinder said before Atlas fell? Did she think about the panic that would cause? Did she forget she was worried about Ironwood telling everyone back in Volume 7 because of the panic it would cause everyone??? Did that just conveniently slip her mind?
I honestly think Weiss would have been the best choice to give the broadcast of them all but I don't think they should have sent out the broadcast in the first place. It should realistically only cause panic and death but the narrative is gonna yadda yadda right past all of that.
Oh god yea RWBY and co complain and whine and scream that Ironwoods plan is bad whilst offering up no alternatives then just taking his plan and acting like it was theirs the whole time. They even did this in Volume 7 when in episode 2 they where worried about James telling Atlas about Salem and then turning around and acting all happy and shocked when James told everyone near the end of the season as if they wanted him to the whole time and not the other way around.
Man RWBY really did jack shit all volume huh? As you said all the major things side characters did:
Fight James TWICE: Winter, Emerald, and JNRO.
Try and rescue Oscar: JRY
Blow up the Whale: Oscar
"Redeem" Hazel and Emerald: Again Oscar
Defeat the hound: Whitley and Willow
Launch the tower: Penny
Help defend Mantel against the swarm of Grimm: FNKI and the soldiers that all died trying to buy Ruby time while she cries in a mansion.
Like what does this girl do to help any of the people SHE trapped???
Oh god Ren, poor Ren, he's finally seeing the light but he can't stray from the Hivemind so he needs to get back in, we can't question the pure and perfect Ruby her plans are always right even if it causes Salem to get two relics and destroys the only kingdom with an army or the technology to restore global communications in the process.
Yea you're right like CRWBY can make excuses all day for why Ruby didn't react to Yang falling and MAYBE I can buy her not using her Semblance because she's in shock but not crying or reacting at ALL to her supposed death?? Why does her weapon get a more emotional response then her SISTER? Why is only BLAKE allowed to be sad about Yang supposedly dying? Why does fucking WINTER have more of a reaction to her sister dying?
Why are all the people we are supposed to be rooting for so fucking unlikeable???
#RWDE#Pro Ironwood#James Ironwood#RWBY Bashing#Pro James Ironwood#ironwood Protection Squad#penny polendina#Sorry for MY rambling#and more rambling to come most likely
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Kidnapped - Thomas Shelby x Fem!Reader
Summary: Tommy Shelby and his wife are going to have their first baby in a week. She gets kidnapped due to Tommy’s business dealings. He has to find her and their unborn baby in time. (Requested By: @babylooneytoonz)
WC: 3.6K
Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Mild Violence
A/N: Sorry this took me so long to complete. Thank you so much for your patience, greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy this and I really enjoyed writing this!!
It was starting to get colder in Birmingham, as December was almost here with Christmas right around the corner. You had one week left until it was time to give birth to the growing baby in your stomach. You couldn’t have been happier for the arrival of your first born son. When you found out the news you were excited and a little nervous to tell Tommy, unsure of what his reaction was going to be. After the initial shock of the words left your mouth, he was just as happy as you to have his baby. He drove you just as wild as you drove him during these past almost nine months.
You put up with his over-protectiveness of always having someone travel with you where you went, having to let the maids help more than usual, and helping him deal with his doubts about becoming a father. Always reminding him of how much you trusted him and how he cared his best but showed it differently than others. He dealt with your morning sickness, cravings, mood swings of where you’d get angry with him over small things, sad over things that were normal or didn’t make you cry before, and your changing body which he always made sure you felt loved and comfortable in whatever you were wearing. He was sweet, supportive, and helpful as much as he could be through the whole pregnancy.
Today was no different as you found yourself getting a little fussy and annoyed with how cleaned and prepared everything was becoming for the arrival of the baby. Being stuck in the house the past few days because of the snow didn’t help. You finally convinced your husband of two years to let you come to the betting shop with him.
“Can you please help me put my shoes on Tom?” You sigh as you walk into your husband’s office. He zips up his bag as you come closer to the large mahogany desk. His blue eyes meet yours with a small grin.
“Who said you were leaving the house?” He gives you a serious look as you roll your eyes at his mocking.
“I said I am leaving this house before I burn it to the ground. If you don’t let me out, you will be burning to the ground with it.” You tease playfully, swatting him on the chest, as he pulls the chair out for you to take a seat as he begins doing up the laces.
“Who knew I married an arsonist.” He plays along, as you stand to leave, swatting you on your bum as you make your way to the front door.
As soon as you arrive at the office after greeting everyone and talking to the women for a little bit, you take a seat in the rocking chair, he got just for you and your growing bump. You curl up under the huge blue blanket and begin to finish reading a baby book your mother got you as he writes letters that need to be sent. It’s only a little after 1pm when your baby starts kicking around and your stomach begins to growl.
“Tommy we’re hungry.” You speak, removing the blanket from your body. You stand folding and hanging it on the back of the chair, making your way to your husband's chair.
“You’re hungry, how can I be of assistance.” He moves his papers to the side as you take a seat upon the desk with his assistance. His warm hands find your growing bump and begin rubbing small circles enjoying the feeling of knowing he was going to see his son soon. He could feel the love growing in his heart as the day got closer.
“I think we want fish and chips again for the 100th time.” You laugh as you knew Tom was tired of having this meal but would indulge you sometimes but often more than not would just get a sandwich.
“Alright, I’ll call it in. Maybe we’ll stop at the sweets shop on the way back.” His blue eyes pierce into your eyes. You couldn’t be any happier than you were to be with him. In these moments he was yours and yours only, wrapped in a little world. If only it could stay this way forever.
It’s only a short while longer until it’s time to pick up the meal. As soon as you are ready to leave with Tom, a blinder man walks in with a worried expression.
“Tommy, there’s an emergency, you’re needed on the phone.” He nods helping you off the desk, before picking up the phone. As soon as the call ends, he explains, he's needed at one of the docks. There’s an issue with the police. He wasn’t sure if he was going to go, but decided to.
“Sorry love, but I should be back in an hour tops.” His warm lips press into the skin on your forehead. It says all that you both need at the moment. He tells his men to go with you and make sure to get you back safely.
If only life could be that simple for Thomas Shelby.
-
You enter the car with Kyle, your usual driver and one of the young blinders James that Tommy recently hired. You enjoyed both their company and trusted them with your life. As you begin the drive to the restaurant you don’t notice the car tailing slowly behind you all.
The first stop goes fine without any complications. You ask to drive to the sweet shop to pick up some treats for yourselves and the office. You go inside and talk with Dolares who owns the bakery. Picking out the sweets, when all of a sudden you hear loud gunshots outside the shop, followed by screaming on the inside of the shop. All the commotion goes quiet as you’re met with two tall guys in black hats with a golden symbol on top with guns.
“Give Us, (Y/N) Shelby, Now!” The first guy screams waving his gun in the air.
“And nobody gets hurt!” His accomplice screams after James begins to draw his gun to take a shot. The gunshot goes off. It ends with James on the floor clutching his arm, yelling out in agony.
“I’ll go with you! Please don’t hurt anyone else.” You plead feeling the adrenaline rush through your body with fear to your core. The guy on the right, takes your arm tightly in his, tugging you along with him, as his gun points into the crowd of scared civilians watching in horror as the first guy opens the door. They shove you into a car and blindfold you, making their getaway.
-
The event takes longer than anticipated. By the time he gets back to the office he finds himself to be actually hungry and ready to rest for a moment in your presence before completing the never ending mountain of work on his desk. As soon as he opens the door to the shop, he can tell something is wrong. He could feel the tension as he entered the room. The workers were silent and no one was looking him in the eyes. Arthur calls him into the office, shutting the door behind them, as he walks inside to see his brothers, cousin, Polly and only one of the men he sent with him. He double scans the room noticing your missing but thinking maybe you were in the loo.
“What’s wrong with all of you? Like like the lot of you, have seen a fucking bloody ghost.” He speaks noticing the straight faces of his family and nervousness of his younger brothers.
“Tell him Arthur!” Polly huffs, staring at the eldest Shelby brother who approached in front of his brother.
“Listen Tom…” Arthur begins but his brother’s impatience gets the best of him.
“Just spit it out will you!” He shouts, thrashing his hands in the air.
“They took (Y/N) and the baby.” He responds and Tommy feels his blood run cold. He feels sick in the pit of his stomach and body is overcome with emotion as his head falls into his brother’s shoulder screaming out your name, as Arthur pats his shoulder, calling out reassurances to try to get him to calm down. It takes a few minutes for him to get a small grip on himself, trying not to let his mind travel to the worse case scenario.
“What do we know so far? Where are the men I sent with her?” He asks, fishing out a smoke from his pocket.
“James was with her when the accident occurred. He got shot in the arm, so we sent him to get patched up. He’ll be fine, but he said the men were older. Kyle said, they must have been following them for a while, before they even left.” Arthur continues to tell the information.
“Well let's start searching the area and calling around. We’ve wasted enough time. We need to find her, she’s due any day now.” He speaks in a calm tone and claps his hands as every gets up to get to work on finding you.
All he knew as he began his search for you was that he needed to find you and fast. He wouldn’t forgive or be able to live with himself if something happened to you and let alone his unborn son. It would be the day hell froze over and Thomas Shelby couldn’t handle going to Hell, not just yet.
-
You hear the car go down a gravel road before making a sharp stop. You hear the doors open and slam shut, before you are forcibly grabbed to be ushered out the car and into a cold building. You can smell the makings of bread and liquor before you behind a room with a musky smell to it. Your capturer finally lets you go and releases the blindfold from your eyes. You take in the small space of the red brick walls and bags of flour on one side of the room. The room is almost completely dark except for a small light shining from the window from the inside of the building.
“This is where you’ll stay if your husband ever comes to find you. The guy from the scene speaks in a dark tone, shutting and locking the bolt behind him. There you begin to take steps around the small room, the adrenaline finally leaving your body as you are able to calm down for a moment. It doesn’t take away the fear, making it become more prevalent than before. Your mind worries about James, the baby, and Tommy. You start to take deep breaths to soothe yourself and decide to talk to the baby in your stomach to take your mind off it all.
“Hey little guy it’s mummy. I just wanted to let you know everything is going to be okay. Mummy is going to protect us while we’re here in this new place. Your daddy is out looking for us, I'm sure of it. He’s going to find us, I promise. All I need you to do, is to stay inside just until daddy comes and finds us. We love you.” You pace around the small dingy room, crying, as your fingers rub your stomach, while trying to get your mind off the situation at hand.
You didn’t want to put too much stress on your body on top of this already stressful situation. It didn’t help that your baby was supposed to be coming literally any day and now you were far away from his father and family. You hoped Tommy would find you both before you went into labor because you didn’t think you could manage going through it alone, let alone in a dangerous situation as this was. As you sat down against a bag of flour, you closed your eyes to sleep, feeling your son give a small kick, giving you peace.
-
It was two days later and Tommy was actually closer to finding out where you were. He sent calls down to the docks, Camden town, and city of London to spread the word that you were missing and to be on the lookout. He barely slept more than five hours each night, due to Polly harassing him. Telling him that he would be no good to you tired and out of sorts. Each night he could barely fall asleep with fear gripping his heart about you and wondering if you were okay. Waking up in a cold sweat of him never finding you or finding dead somewhere.
“We know who took her! We have an address.” John speaks running into his office, as he just arrived to try to think over who wanted to target him.
“Who? Where is she?!”
“It’s the Malone brothers, they wanted to get revenge on you for that deal. The ones with the guns and the booze. 17 Crown St London, there’s warehouses nearby.” John reads before handing his older brother the piece of paper in his hand, who began staring at it as his last resort.
“Let’s go give them an even better deal and show them they don’t mess with Thomas Shelby.” He rages as his brother follows, meeting the others in the car as they drive off fast to London.
-
You had been stuck in this room for two days and felt yourself getting weaker and weaker. All they gave you was small cups of water and a few scraps of bread. You wondered if Tommy was any closer to finding you or if you were going to be kept here forever. You still trusted he was going to find you, but you just hoped he would get there soon, because you couldn’t survive much longer in this condition, especially with the strain of the baby.
-
“Start looking in all the warehouses and when you find them, save them for me.” He orders as he and the blinders began causing chaos. He and Arthur start checking warehouses together. Once they reach the third, they enter quietly. Walking down the long dark hall following the light at the end. When they get there they see the Malone brothers laughing together.
“Oi boys, sorry to crash the party, but we have some business to handle.” Arthur shoots his gun into the air.
“Took you long enough to find us.” The eldest Craig, responds as they draw their weapons.
“Think you’ve been in the game too long, that you’re losing your touch.” Darrel, the other man snares.
“Where’s my wife?!” Thomas close points the gun right in his face.
“Wouldn’t you like to know. How are you sure we didn’t kill her?” He responds condescendingly, spitting.
“If she was dead, you wouldn’t be breathing as long as you have.” He takes the the first punch
while Arthur takes the other. Both giving them a pounding and throwing firsts in his face repeatedly. He takes the blade slicing his eyes, blood splattering everywhere. He takes a moment to catch his breath, the adrenaline spurring him on his search to find you. He goes around the corner going down a corridor and he hears banging on a door half way through on the left. He looks at the bolt taking a second to figure it out, before of twisting the huge bolt, to find you screaming for help.
“Tommy!” Your voice cries out to him as he takes you into his arms. You can smell the stench of blood on him, but glad to be with him.
“I’m here love, I’m Here. I’ve got you.” He holds you close to his chest for a second longer before deciding to move you out. He lifts you into his arms holding you tight to his chest, instructing you to close your eyes. Not wanting you to see the messy scene inside the building, as just hearing it was traumatizing enough. You were used to him coming home covered in blood and bruises. You never really had to hear or see physically the chaos caused, more than a good right hook.
As soon as you get into the car safely. He wipes his face and has as much blood as possible. Holding you into his side as you drove back home in a silence, that left the air warm.
-
Once home, Frances and Mary greet you at the door. The doctor is on the couch waiting for you to be checked out. He gives you a clean bill of health and tells you the baby is healthy, which makes you both breathe a sigh of relief. Tommy helps you up the stairs and gives you both a hot shower. He lotions your body and dresses you in the warmest pajamas you have. He asks Mary to bring you some soup and tea for dinner knowing you had to be hungry. You just sit in silence trying to soak your safety net back in.
Tommy just sits at the side of the bed in a chair, not sure what to say, having too much on his mind that the word vomit was ready to come out but he was holding it in. Waiting for you to make the move to release your emotions. It happens right after you finish your dinner, Frances comes saying he’s wanted on the phone. You can feel your heart drop, not wanting him to leave the room. To be out of your sight. You needed him, you needed his comfort.
“Please don’t get the phone. Stay.” You plead quietly, he tells her to take a message, rushing over to you as the dam breaks and you begin soaking his shoulder with warm tears. Tears of many emotions.
“Shh..Shh. I'm not going anywhere love. I’m going to stay right here. Talk to me.” He pleads fingers rubbing your back in comforting circles.
“I was so scared. I knew you would come rescue us, I told him you would. You did but I can’t stop wondering if you didn’t or if you got hurt saving us.” Your fingers clutch him tightly, hiding your face in the crook of his neck.
“I was scared too, but I made you a promise on the day we started dating and when we wed, that i’ll always protect you. I’ll always save you from danger and rescue you. You’re my wife and I love you too much to think of what life would be like without you. We’re having a baby, and it’s my job to protect him. I’m sorry I got you both in that situation.” He wipes the remainder of your tears away with the pad of his thumbs, looking into your eyes with fondness.
“You’re forgiven. I love you so much Tommy.” You pull his face to meet your to kiss the man that had your heart forever.
“Please tell me you weren’t too hard on James. I didn’t want any bloodshed and I couldn't stop thinking about if that was our kid. I know they’re supposed to be dangerous, but I didn't want anyone to get hurt.” You speak after a few minutes of silence, the young lad making its way back to your thoughts. You knew he trusted your judgment and trusted you even in that situation.
You were one to hold your own and all his men respected you. When you meant business they followed your orders. With the young peaky men they respected you as much as they admired you. You got along with Finn, Michael, Isaiah, and James. They followed your orders but you would also spoil them sometimes with sweets or buying them lunch when at the office which would earn you a scolding from Tommy sometimes. That they’re meant to help and be tough, but you treated them like the growing men (boys) they were. They appreciated it secretly.
“He’s good love, at home resting so he can get back to the gang.” He squeezes your hand in his. It’s just quiet a moment, just you two admiring the other after being away from the other.
“Let’s get some rest, doll.” He pecks your lips, before tucking you in one your side of the bed as you turn to face his side. He slips in coming as close as possible with your bump between the two of you. You fall asleep with the comfort of your husband and quietness of your home.
-
It was the next morning when you awoke to aching back and cramps in your abdomen. The baby was moving around profusely in your stomach, as you decided to slip out of bed to pace around the room. Tom laid in bed with a peaceful expression on his face, snoring lightly as you stood watching the sun come up through the blinds. Having the window open just a small crack from fresh air to help alleviate the symptoms you were feeling. It’s only an hour later when you hear Tom stir, due to the creaking of the bed, the weight of his body shifting upward. His knuckles rub the sleep out of his eyes, before grabbing his glasses, off his nightstand, eyes finally coming in contact with yours.
“What are you doing out of bed love?” His voice rasps, as you make your way toward him.
“Couldn’t sleep, the little one in there might be ready to make his appearance.” You smile down at him, watching his expression match yours, as he entagles your fingers together.
“I’ll keep Pol on speed dial. For now, let’s have some breakfast, as we wait.” You nod, pulling him along downstairs to eat.
It was only after breakfast, did your water break when you were making your way to the living room.
-
Twelve hours later after a long time waiting, screaming, and then pushing all with Tommy and Polly by your side was your son, finally in your arms. He was no bigger than half a foot tall and looked adorable already even in his first minutes on the outside world. You were sitting up holding him in your arms admiring him with Tommy who was full of joy.
“I can’t believe we made this.” He whispers, pressing a kiss against your temple.
“Neither can I. He’s ours and I couldn't imagine doing life without you by our side.” You speak as the door creaks open, revealing the Shelby clan.
“Everyone meet Liam Michael Shelby.” Tommy says proudly holding his son in his arms as the family gathers around to take turns holding him. All congratulating you both and talking about how cute he was already.
Tommy knew in that moment how truly lucky he was to be experiencing this moment. Although fear still gripped his heart, he knew, he would forever protect you and his son, no matter the trouble that came along.
-
Taglist:
@captivatedbycillianmurphy
#Peaky Blinders#peaky blinders fanfiction#peaky blinder imagine#thomas shelby#thomas shelby imagine#thomas shelby x reader#Tommy Shelby#tommy shelby imagine#tommy shelby x reader#peakyxtommy
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how sweet it is (to be loved by you) - todoroki x reader [chapter 2/8]
Summary:
You are the head baker and owner of a struggling bakery. When pro hero Creati comes in for a wedding cake, of course you accept.
As a business owner, you are excited about the boom in profits resulting from the publicity of working a hero wedding.
As a baker, you are ecstatic to work on an extravagant cake - your most ambitious one to date.
As a woman, you are terrified as you begin to grow feelings for the one person you REALLY cant: the groom.
NOTES: NO infidelity, NO cheating, NO divorce!
Chapter One
MATURE : MINORS DO NOT INTERACT // 18+
Four Months Before the Wedding
“Hello.”
His voice is deep and his words soft-spoken. He politely kicks his winter boots against the mat at the front door and takes another step into the bakery. The movement causes flakes of snow to detach from his hair and flutter to the ground around him. It’s almost magical, like a scene from a fairytale. Wow. You can’t help but stare.
The man is tall -more so than you’d thought from the rare interview you’ve seen of him- and impeccably well dressed. His expensive-looking navy coat is long and chic, somehow managing to fit both his smaller waist and powerful shoulders. It’s probably tailored. You idly think of your coat hanging in the back: an item you’ve had for about five years now that definitely looks its age. What wouldn’t you give to be one of these rich people that for some reason seem to be visiting your bakery recently.
That thought brings you back to reality. Right. Pro hero Shouto is in your bakery.
Why is he in your bakery?
It slowly dawns on you. Rich people. The wedding. “Oh, you must be here for the cake.”
“I am.” He nods, looking around the little front area. You feel a little self-conscious, hoping that everything he sees is up to his standards. “Forgive me, were you about to close?”
“No no!” You wave your hands as he turns to look at you. “It’s okay! This actually works better, we can discuss everything without being interrupted.” Walking over to the door, you flip the sign over to ‘closed’ and gesture towards the seating area. “Please take a seat. I’ll go grab my stuff and be right back.”
Turning on your heel, you head for the back room without another look back at the hero. Instead of going straight for your wedding binder and notebooks, you lean against the nearest wall and place your head in your hands.
Oh my god. Shouto Todoroki is the groom.
Somehow, this wedding is an even bigger deal than you thought. Obviously, any hero wedding became an important event, but you had thought (hoped, even) that maybe Creati was marrying a civilian or a lesser-ranked hero. The wedding would still be a big deal, but you were confident in your ability to handle it. Shouto Todoroki, a beloved hero in the top 15, is definitely not what you were expecting. This wedding is bound to be huge in a way that you definitely had not prepared for.
The hero profession is a solitary one. Pro heroes rarely date, and if they do it is a very secretive affair. It is extremely dangerous to date a hero and those brave enough to try become an instant target for villains. This target only gets bigger the higher the hero’s rank is, and most top heroes don’t even try.
Thinking about it, you can’t really think of any of the top 10 heroes other than Creati (apparently) who are in a relationship. Sure, there were rumors about the number six hero Deku and the number twenty-four hero Uravity, and Endeavor must have had someone if he has kids but-
Oh.
Oh no.
Oh no no no.
Todoroki is, well, a Todoroki . He is Endeavor’s son. The terrifying number one hero will probably be at this wedding. The number one hero will probably eat your cake. And if it’s both Todoroki and Yaoyorozu’s wedding, you can bet that a bunch of other big-name heroes will be there as well. Your vision swims as pressure pushes on your shoulders. How can you even begin to deliver a cake up to this caliber? You might be good, but you’re just one person.
You’re going to need to block off more days.
After what is probably a suspiciously long pause, you manage to calm yourself down enough to push off the wall to grab your binder and notebook. You pause before heading out to the front area, taking a deep breath to steel yourself before walking out.
Todoroki has found a small table near the window. He has partially turned away from you, face resting on his palm as he looks out to the snowy street. He has taken off his scarf and coat, both draped carefully over the back of his chair. How does he manage to look so elegant while doing something so normal?
You pinch your thigh. Stop it. You can’t think this way about him. You have to be professional. He is a client. He is a married man .
“Sorry for the wait!” You call out, heading over. He turns to look at you as you sit across from him, placing the binder and notebook on the table. You take this opportunity to introduce yourself properly. Up close, you find him even more handsome than before. Those dual-toned eyes are calm and watchful, and his sharp features have a symmetry to them that would not look out-of-place on a Vogue Japan photoshoot.
“Nice to meet you.” Todoroki gives a polite smile, shaking your hand when offered. It’s quite cold. “I believe Momo has already spoken to you about the general idea.”
“Yup!” You nod, taking the moment to open your notebook. “Unless things have changed, we’re still going for a five-tier cake.” Glancing up, you wait for him to nod before continuing. “What design are we thinking of?”
You look down, ready to write quick notes on whatever design has been chosen. This is the part you’ve been both excited for and dreading the most. Normally, you are extremely excited to get a design and to work to bring that design to life. You live for the expression you see on the client's face at their first look at the finished product. This time though...you’re nervous.
The design that is chosen will either make or break your next few months. If the design is easy and normal, you will be able to complete it on time with confidence. If the design is unusual and complicated, you honestly don’t know what you are going to do. This cake has to be perfect down to the smallest details, and you have to balance your time between the cake and running the store. Maybe you can hire another baker on a contract for help. Hmm.
After a few moments of no response, you look up. “I don’t know.” That normally blank face seems unsure. His mouth pulled into a small frown.
“You...don’t know.” You blink. That’s a bit weird. “Okay...I just thought that you would have a bit more input.” He is the groom, after all. You didn’t think Yaoyorozu was the kind of woman to insist that only she had input in these matters. Wait. Was that rude to say? You decide to push past it for now. “No matter, as long as we can get the full contract done for today I’ll be happy. I’ll need the design elements as soon as possible though if we want them to be completed on time. Some parts will probably need a lot of planning. Do we know the flavour or flavours yet?”
“No.”
You suck in a breath through your teeth. Calm, be calm. “ Okay. I’d like to set up a taste test of the top requested flavours, so that you can get an idea of how the cake will actually taste and make the final decisions. I’ll need to do that as soon as possible.”
“I understand.” He nods, a bit stiffly.
“Do you...have a date in mind?”
He gives you a surprised look, two-toned eyes flickering over you. “...for the wedding?”
You sit up straight. “No!” What the hell? Did he think you were propositioning the groom to his own wedding? “You obviously have a date for the wedding. For the taste test!”
“Oh.” He replies simply, not seeming to understand the absolute absurdity of his own question. “No, I will likely not be involved with that. I only came today as a favour.” A favour?
Todoroki takes note of your confused expression and explains. “They got held up by the villain attack.” Oh, that makes sense. Yaoyorozu must have gone to help the others. The U.A students tend to appear whenever possible to help each other out. You think it’s sweet that they have such a strong bond after graduation. You don’t really talk to anybody you went to school with anymore.
His explanation does give your meeting a bit more context. If Yaoyorozu is ‘in charge’ of the cake, and Todoroki did not expect to even be meeting you, you can’t really get too annoyed at him that he doesn’t have the answers. At least he showed up and didn’t leave you wondering if you’d been stood up by the heroes. In the end, you decide to table the question about the cake tasting date, but underline it in your notebook. You’ll need that, soon.
The rest of the meeting goes smoothly. The two of you go over the contract in as much detail as possible. While it is extremely unorthodox for you to leave blank spaces in your contracts, you are sort of forced to do so in the areas of flavors and design. In the end, the hero couple is paying over double the amount you would normally charge for the cake. You can’t imagine any crazy design or flavour going over that cost. Neither hero seems like the crazy type of client. You’ll be fine. Hopefully. If you’re wrong then...well...you’re kind of screwed. The publicity has to be worth it.
After only about an hour of discussion (you really don’t have too much to go over, with Todoroki knowing nothing about the design or flavours), the meeting is over. You close your notebook, stand up and offer a hand to shake to end the meeting. Todoroki stands, shaking your hand with his cooler one. He assures you that somebody will reach out to you soon about the needed elements. You hope you’re right.
“I am sorry that I kept you after hours.” He says as he gracefully slides on his coat, glancing outside. “I hope you don’t have too far to walk.”
You shake your head. “Don’t worry, I actually live upstairs.” Something flickers in his face that you can’t catch.
Then he nods. “I see.” He wraps his scarf around his head, somehow managing to look both cute and attractive. He heads towards the door, the bell chiming as he opens it. “Goodbye then.”
“Goodbye!” You smile and wave. “Be safe out there!”
You watch as he leaves, completely still until you can no longer see the red and white hair out the window. Letting out a deep breath, you sink back down into the chair.
Well, that sure was something.
----
You’re not sure exactly what prompted the suddenly quick response after so long of nothing, but some of the information you need comes the very next day.
It’s early morning. The store has just opened, you can hear the slight bustle of your loyal morning folk as they come to get their breakfast. Your morning worker -a young man named Tanaka who is almost scarily jolly in the morning- welcomes everyone with his juxtaposition of a voice: booming yet somehow soft.
You have been down at the bakery for hours now, getting the first round of bread, pastries, and other necessary items complete before opening. It’s a lot of work, but you can’t complain. At least you still have work. You have just finished a batch of your personal favourite, rosemary goat cheese croissants when your phone rings in your pocket.
Pulling your phone out of your pocket (the thing has been covered in flour before, it’ll be fine), you check the contact name.
[ Contact: C Manager ]
Your eyes widen, and you instantly accept the call. With one careful eye on your ovens, you walk over to a nearby wall and lean against it. “Hello?”
"Good morning.” The soft voice of Yaoyorozu chimes in on the other end. You straighten a bit, surprised to hear the hero directly. “My apologies for Shouto the other day. I understand he wasn’t too much help to you.”
“No no, it’s okay!” You gesture with your hands, realizing afterward that she obviously doesn’t see it. “He was really kind, and we still got some work done.”
“I see.” She hums thoughtfully on the other end of the phone. “Well, he did mention that you were getting stressed about certain elements of the cake. Is that correct?” Oh no. You hope she doesn’t think you’re being rude.
But she doesn’t sound annoyed or frustrated at you. If you had to guess, her tone sounded more amused than anything. You bite your lip before answering. “Ah, well...I don’t want to pressure anyone. I just need to get started on certain things or it won't be done in time.”
“Yes, I understand.” She responds. “I figure I can give you some of the design ideas now if that works?”
Oh, hell yes! “That would be wonderful!” You can’t help but smile. Finally. “Do you want to meet somewhere?”
“Unfortunately, no. I’m caught up in this-” She pauses as a loud sound comes through the phone. “ thing at the moment. Will you be amenable to me giving you the details over the phone?”
“Oh, yea! That’s okay.” You push off the wall and rush towards the office area, grabbing the newly named ‘Y&S Wedding’ binder with your flour-covered hands. It’s fine. You anchor the phone between your shoulder and your face and grab a pen with your other hand, opening the notebook to the ‘design’ page. “Okay, what do you got?”
The cake turns out to be pretty normal as far as wedding cakes go, which you are extremely thankful for considering everything. It is a five-tier cake, classic white with cascading pink flowers and green stems/leaves. That is...definitely doable. You can ace this. Thank god. Relief hits you hard in the chest as you write it down.
“Is there anything extra that either party would like to be added?” You ask, your tone dipping into complete professionalism as your mind has a mini-party at the relatively easy design. You doodle a happy face beside your notes.
“No, that is alright,” Yaoyorozu replies. “It was a struggle already to talk him down from some of the crazy cake designs he had in mind to something more...appropriate.” A pause. “Not that any of the ideas were bad per se, but I don’t think the wedding is the place for a giant All Might statue cake.”
Your mind-party screeches to a halt. What?!
“He...wanted an All Might cake?” You ask in disbelief. That doesn’t sound like Todoroki at all. Maybe it was a way to ‘get back’ at Endeavor? There have been plenty of rumors over the years about that relationship, but they team up enough now that most have been pushed to the side.
“Yes, well, he adores the man.” She says it with a fondness that seems almost inappropriate considering your current state.
You think of the calm prince-like man from the day before. Could he really be that big of a fanboy of a hero like All Might? It just doesn’t compute. They were so different. You really can’t picture it. Still, it’s not like you really know Todoroki. Maybe he has some secret obsession or something.
Somehow, you feel like you’ve gained some insider knowledge. The press would pay a good amount for something like this. Not that you ever would go to them, ew. Actually, would they even believe you if you did? It was so absurd.
You realize that you have disappeared into your own thoughts. A big no-no when on the phone with a client. You pull yourself back. “Thank you for the design! I will get to work right away. Do we have any idea when we can do a cake tasting? That is the last big milestone here.”
“I’m sorry.” She responds, sounding truly apologetic. “It’s...difficult between all of our busy schedules. I promise I will work to get something set up.”
Well, honestly that is all you can really ask for. You thank her for the information and her time. The two of you say your goodbyes, and hang up. For a moment you stare down at your notebook in surprise. This is not how you expected things to go. It’s early, and you have a lot to do today. You already can tell you will be partially distracted, your brain trying to figure out the specifics of the design.
You smile. In the end, finally, you have something you can work with.
------
1 Week Later
Ten minutes before closing (of course) , the bell above the door chimes. You can’t see who has walked in, your back to the door as you wipe down a table. You take a brief moment to close your eyes and breathe before turning around.
“Good evening!” Your customer service voice is normally on point -the stuff of legends really- but this time it becomes higher-pitched at the end.
Shouto Todoroki stands in your doorway. Again.
After the last meeting, you truly didn’t expect to see the man again until his wedding (maybe not even then). He didn’t seem to have any input in the cake decisions, nor did he seem to care about not having any input.
“Oh, hello again.” You smile, fighting to keep your voice steady as you shove the cloth in your apron pocket.
“Hello.” His mouth ticks up in a soft smile.
“Were we supposed to have a meeting today?” You ask, pulling your phone out of your pocket to look at the date. No, you don’t think there was a meeting scheduled. You see Todoroki shake his head in your peripheral vision. The hero politely kicks his shoes on the mat and takes a few more steps into the store. Heterochromatic eyes look around for a moment before catching on to something to your right.
“Then what can I do for you today?” You ask politely, following his line of vision to your display case. “Here for a snack?”
Those eyes look straight back at you. “I want to order another cake for the wedding.”
What?! Your heart plummets. Another cake?! This late?! When you’re already having trouble getting the specifics on the first one?!
Todoroki seems to notice your panicked expression, hands going up in a calming gesture. “Not a large cake, but one of those small specialized ones.”
Your panicked thoughts pause. Wait. “Do you mean… a groom's cake?” Please be a groom's cake. You can make a groom's cake.
He nods. “It’s a surprise.” A surprise? For Yaoyorozu?
“Uh, sure. I can do that.” You reply. “Hold on a sec.” Instead of going for your physical notebook in the back, you decide to simply bring up the note app on your phone. It’s not as professional, but it works in a pinch. “Is there a theme?”
“All Might.”
You blink slowly, mouth opening in surprise. All Might?!
The conversation with Yaoyorozu comes to the forefront of your mind. Is he...really just an All Might fanboy? That seems so wrong, somehow. You narrow your eyes at his blank expression, considering him.
“...you must really like him, huh?” You whisper.
Todoroki tilts his head a bit to the side, eyes narrowing in confusion. “He is a very good teacher.”
...is that enough to get an entire cake based off of the man?!
A long moment passes where you both stare at each other, neither seemingly sure of what to say. Eventually, as the professional you have to break the tension. “Well, okay. I can definitely do that. Groom's cakes tend to be relatively small and fun. What elements are you looking for?”
“I will leave that up to you.”
“Uh, are you sure?” That is a lot of power he is just handing you, especially when he seems to care so much about the retired number one hero.
“You are very highly recommended by the Uraraka’s.” Do the Uraraka’s know everybody?! “I don’t really...have an eye for design either way, and as the wedding gets closer I feel like I may become too busy.”
“That makes sense.” You mumble, writing down on your notebook app. Weddings are normally difficult things to plan, and you can’t imagine the amount of stuff necessary for a large hero one. If he wants you to design the smaller cake, you can do that. Your mind is already pulling together a few ideas. Similar to the large cake, you’ll need to make this one amazing. “What budget are you thinking?”
“Is 50,000¥ enough?”
Startled, you look up. 50,000¥ was a lot for a groom's cake. You want to tell him so but said groom is no longer in your line of vision. Glancing over to your right, you find the hero looking into your display case. He seems to care very little about the amount he just mentioned (ugh, rich people) so you simply say. “Um, yeah...that’s enough.”
You walk closer to the man, wondering why he seems so interested in the unsold pastries. “You are about to close, but there are so many left.” He looks up as you get closer. “How much longer will they last?”
Stopping to stand about a foot away from the man, you also look into the display and frown. “Oh...yeah, they are probably going to be thrown out, sadly.”
“Why?” At his soft voice, you glance over at the hero. Your eyes lock with two-toned ones.
“I try to sell the leftovers at half-off the next day, but they still barely sell.” You shrug. “I try to give as much as possible to the local shelters, but it isn’t always possible.” Looking outside at the hail coming down, you know you won't make it there today.
“Do you always make too much?”
“No.” You sigh, looking back at the sad, unbought pastries. “We used to be much busier, a year or so ago, but that chain bakery opened down the street and took a lot of my customers with it. Sometimes I still find myself baking as if it’s as busy as it was a year ago, just on habit really.”
There’s a long silence. Then, “I’ll buy them.”
Your eyes widen as your head swings towards the hero. “What, all of them?!”
“Yes.” He nods.
“No no no you don’t have to do that.” You find yourself saying, hands waving uselessly in front of you. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you or anything, it’s okay. You don’t have to-”
Todoroki shakes his head. “No, I want to.”
He looks straight at you, eyes telling you that he won’t back down from this. And well, you’re really not sure why you are refusing him. Maybe it’s the worry that he thinks of you like a charity. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The next five or so minutes are spent with you packing up every last dessert and pastry into bags. Todoroki will need to use both arms to carry them, but the man doesn’t seem concerned. You are about to put the last rosemary goat cheese croissant away when he interrupts. “Wait, can you leave that one out?”
“Oh, sure.” You reply, placing it on a napkin as you close the paper bags on the counter with a piece of tape.
Todoroki reaches forward, his hand grabbing the croissant with one hand and bringing it to his mouth. One bite, and small parts of the flaky pastry flutter to the ground. You don’t mind, it makes you happy that the croissant lasts the entire day. Also, his wide-eyed expression is adorable.
He chews a bit more and swallows. “It’s good.”
“Thank you.” You smile. “You don’t have to say that, you know. I won't be offended or anything.” Okay, a bit of a lie. You adore those croissants.
“I’m not lying.” He insists, two-toned eyes staring straight at you. “It’s really good.”
His eyes are a bit more intense than normal. You look away, your cheeks warming a bit at the complimentary words. Shit, no. Married man. Nope. Not going there, even for a second. “Well, thank you.” You even your voice and continue packing the bags, keeping your eyes away from the man.
Once done, you carefully slide the bags across the counter towards him. “Here you go. Do you need help taking them anywhere?” Your professional voice is back.
Todoroki gives you a weird look, taking the bags in his hands. The croissant he was eating is mysteriously gone, although you notice a small crumb on his cheek. You look away. “No, I will be okay.” His deep voice echoes a bit in the small room.
After a brief moment, he walks towards the doorway. “Thank you for coming!” You call out, not moving from behind the counter. It’s safer here. “I’ll get started on the groom's cake right away! If I see you again, I’ll run my ideas by you.”
“I’ll come again.” Todoroki looks back with a small nod. “I hope you have a good night.”
The hero leaves as quickly as he appeared, disappearing out of sight only moments after he exits the bakery. If you had a chair behind you, you would sink down into it. As it is, you rest your hands against the counter in exhaustion.
These heroes were taking a lot out of you. Damn.
-------
2 Weeks Later
You stare up at the imposing building ahead of you, dread pooling in your stomach. The building itself was a hotel, tall and beautiful in architecture. That doesn’t matter too much though, you’re not exactly here for the hotel. No, you are here for the fancy-as-hell restaurant at the top: Eragawa.
Even the elevator to the restaurant is fancy. Luckily you are alone in it, so you are able to stare and judge your reflection in the mirrored walls without anyone seeing you. You frown, using your free hand to try and pat some of the flour off your shirt and organize your hair a bit. It doesn’t work, you already look extremely out of place.
It’s not like you wanted to be here at this fancy restaurant in your work slacks and shirt covered in various ingredients. The day had started normally, with you planning to spend your free time getting caught up on overdue paperwork. However, a text early in the morning ruined that plan.
[ Contact: C Manager ]
C Manager: Creati will meet you at Eragawa today at 7:30 p.m for the taste test.
Truthfully, you were starting to get a bit annoyed. The manager never asked your opinion, or even if you were free at the time they wanted you to be. They would always just make plans without you. You understood that Creati must have a really busy schedule right now, but damn . Still, it’s not like you could refuse. You had been waiting for this for a while now.
You: Okay. Thank you!
So, you had spent the rest of the day busier than ever. In between baking and managerial duties, you had to make a variety of cakes and icings in different flavours. Since you didn’t have any idea of where to start, you picked the most common flavours for her to try. It was... a lot to do on your own, and not for the first time did you wish you had some sort of assistant.
By the time you had everything ready to go, you had just enough time to make it to the restaurant. Knowing how impossible it had been trying to get this cake tasting appointment in the first place, you didn’t want to risk anything by being late. You had no time to shower or even change out of your work clothes. You simply grabbed the container of cakes, threw on your old coat, and ran out the door.
Now, though, you wonder if maybe it would have been better to be a bit late. The elevator door opens on the top floor, revealing a modern-looking restaurant in dark colours. You clutch at the handle of the container and look around. Wow. Nobody here looks like they would be caught dead in anything not a designer brand.
The hostess looks you over with a critical eye as you approach, but smiles and welcomes you nonetheless. “Good evening! Welcome to Eragawa, how can I help you today?”
“Um, hello.” You smile awkwardly back. Even the hostess is dressed nicer than you, damnit. “I’m with the Yaoyorozu group?”
The hostess blinks slowly at you. “Of course. Please wait here for a moment.” She turns to disappear into the back, another host taking up her post. You shuffle to the side of the waiting area and look around. The restaurant just screams ‘posh’ with its white tablecloth and candles and napkins folded into roses. You’d bet those glasses are made from actual crystal too. Damn.
The elevator door opens again as a group of well-dressed men and women walk in. You lean into the wall, trying to make yourself invisible to the other customers. It doesn’t work, and a woman in a fancy dress looks down her nose at you as she passes. The host takes them immediately to their table. Figures.
Eventually, the hostess you were talking to returns. “Please come this way.” You notice her smile is a bit larger this time as she leads you through the dining room. Quite a few patrons give you odd looks as you walk by, clearly not used to someone covered in powder walking through the area.
The hostess leads you past the dining room to a hallway in the back. You have just enough time to wonder if you are being taken out back like some sort of mafia movie before she stops at a door. She turns and opens it, bowing low as she gestures for you to go inside.
You walk through, eyes wide. Somehow, the private room is even more extravagant than the dining room. It’s dark and modern, like the rest of the restaurant, with giant windows overlooking the city. A beautiful crystal chandelier hangs from the tall ceiling. In the middle, two people sit at a round table. They look up as you enter.
Yaoyorozu’s eyes widen as she takes you in. You offer her a sheepish smile, before glancing at the other person. He looks at you with a carefully blank face, but you know he must be thinking something by the way those heterochromatic eyes flicker up and down over you.
Both of them are dressed beautifully. Yaoyorozu is in a gorgeous maroon dress and Todoroki in a light-blue button-down shirt and dark pants. They look properly dressed for this occasion.
Somehow, you feel even more embarrassed. Your cheeks warm a bit as you take a step into the room. “Um, hello.” You attempt a smile. “Sorry if I’m late, I just closed the bakery. Hello again, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki”
“Were you unable to get someone else to close the shop?” Yaoyorozu asks. If someone else were asking, you’d assume it was some sort of dig. Instead, she honestly just sounds concerned.
“I would if I could.” You reply, placing the cake carrier on the table. “Unfortunately, it’s just me.”
The two of them share a look that you can’t decipher. You just hope that you haven’t somehow embarrassed them. “Anyways,” You begin, trying to lighten the mood. “I come bearing the best gift of all, free cake!” Not much of a reaction there. Maybe a free cake to a rich person isn’t as great. Hm. “I’m actually glad that both of you could make it, this way we know for sure that the cake is up to your standards.”
Yaoyorozu looks at the carrier on the table. “Should we wait until after dinner?”
“Ah, I actually have food at home.” You lie, wringing your hands in your lap. There was no way you are staying here. It is too awkward. “If you like, I could leave it with you and head out? I won’t be able to stay though.”
“I see.” Todoroki replies, sharing another look with Yaoyorozu. “Then, shall we begin?”
The cake tasting goes...weirdly. While you have brought a wide variety of selection, the two come to a decision within the first three cakes. Their final decision doesn’t even come from one of your options but is rather a mix of a few they haven't tried yet. In the end, they decide on a vanilla cake with both a strawberry and matcha layer in the middle. They decide on it quickly, too.
“Do you want to try the samples I have?” You point to your cake options with strawberry and matcha. It’s a smart move. For all they know, you suck at these flavours.
However, Yaoyorozu simply shakes her head. “You are recommended by the Uraraka’s.” Her mouth ticks up as she looks over at Todoroki. “Plus, Shouto brought your desserts to the agency a few weeks ago. They were a resounding hit. I am confident in your abilities to pull this off.”
You turn to Todoroki, eyes wide. “You did?!”
He nods. Your mind blanks for a second at the implications. A bunch of heroes eating, and liking your desserts. That is really cool. Still, there is a very different matter at hand. “B-but those are pastries and desserts, not cakes.” You try to get them to see sense. The cakes are right in front of them, why are they messing about?
“It will be okay.” Yaoyorozu nods. “And, well, to be honest I do have another meeting I need to attend.”
Wait, what?
Didn’t they want to have dinner? Why is she leaving? You blink in confusion as the woman stands up. She looks over to Todoroki first, smiling, before turning to you.
“Good night you two.” She says kindly as she turns, walking out of the room with only the clicking of her heels audible. The door closes softly behind her. You stare at it for a moment, mind a whirlwind of confusion and disbelief.
“What just happened?” You turn back to look at Todoroki. The man is also wide-eyed, staring at the door. “Uh, are you okay?”
That seems to shake him out of it. Heterochromatic eyes shift to you. “Yes.” He nods. “We should also leave.” The hero stands up, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair. It’s the same long navy one you admired the first time you met him.
“Um, okay?” You reply, confused. Oh god, you hope you haven’t done something to somehow ruin their entire night. Dread curls in your stomach as you pack the cakes back up into the carrier
Todoroki leads the way back to the elevator. Yaoyorozu is no longer in sight, probably long gone by now. The staff seems as confused as you feel as you leave, sending odd looks to each other. Your stomach tightens a bit more.
It’s only when you reach the elevator that something clicks in your head. You were dining with two heroes, who both suddenly started acting weird. Really, there is only one explanation you can think of: there’s a villain nearby.
Your heart pounds heavily as you enter the elevator, clutching the carrier tighter in your hands. If there is a villain nearby, why didn’t the heroes evacuate the restaurant? Maybe it’s not safe. Maybe they have to wait for more heroes or a hero with the right quirk?
Despite having lived in Musutafu for most of your life, you’ve never been too close to a villain attack. You have always counted yourself lucky in that way, but maybe your luck is running out. You glance over to Todoroki at your side. The hero doesn’t look any particular way, that blank mask still on his face.
The two of you exit the elevator and head out of the hotel lobby. There is a distinct lack of heroes or police outside, which surprises you. Yaoyorozu must have called for someone, right?
Todoroki leads you across the street to the nearby sidewalk. “What do you need me to do?” You whisper as you finally come to a stop. “Do you want me to call the police?”
“The police?” He looks down at you, tilting his head slightly in confusion. Then his eyes narrow. “Is something wrong?”
Is something... not wrong? You look back up at the hotel, where everything seems completely normal. There is no screaming, no fighting, nothing. Oh.
As the panic subsides, another layer of embarrassment begins to creep in. Were you really freaking out over nothing??
“I-uh, thought that since we booked it out of there so fast, something had to be wrong.” You look away and try to explain, face warming. “Maybe like a villain or...something.”
“Ah.” He replies. “No, nothing like that.”
“Then...why did we leave?” You risk a glance back up. Todoroki is still looking down at you, expression once again soft.
“You were uncomfortable.” He replies simply.
You can’t even deny it. “So we left?”
“So we left.”
Well, damn. That’s sweet. “But...what about your dinner?”
He pauses, looking around. “Where do you want to go?"
“Uh, I have food-”
“Don't lie.” He interrupts, looking back at you. “You spent your whole day working and baking these cakes. You didn’t even have the time to change before coming here. There is no way you had time to make food.” That’s the most you’ve heard him say at once. Huh. And well, he’s right.
“I could have leftovers?” You attempt, knowing that you’ve been beaten. Your shoulders slump a bit as you consider arguing more. Who are you to be eating with a hero anyways? But...you are tired and hungry. All fight drains from your exhausted bones as you look up at him. You think about potential places as you look around. Honestly, you haven’t been to this part of town much (other than a few fancy dinner nights with your ex, but you don’t want to think about that). Todoroki waits patiently as you think.
“Well...I know one place.” You finally say. “But I’m not really sure if it’s your style.”
“It’s okay.” He shrugs. “I’m sure it's good if you like it.” Oh god. Why does he say those things? You hide your flushed face by walking away. The hero falls into step beside you, seemingly content to let you lead the way.
Walking with Todoroki at night is an ethereal experience. You know it will be a part of your dreams for years to come. Both of you are quiet, taking in the scenery as you walk. It’s cold through your thin jacket, and you shiver a bit at first. It’s a bit weird, but after a few moments, the temperature seems to rise. You put it down to scientific anomalies.
“There it is.” You point out a small stall half-hidden on the street. The two of you make your way over to the small. You keep one eye on the hero, ready to abort at the smallest sign of hesitation from the man. This is definitely not his usual scene.
When you are almost there, the man pauses. You turn, looking up to his face. “Todoroki?” The hero looks surprised, eyes wide and staring at the name of the stall.
“It’s perfect.” He responds, before starting to walk again. His pace is faster than normal, and you have to actually speed up to keep beside him.
As you finally make your way up to the soba stand, you call out. “Hey Haru!”
Haru -a middle-aged man with a bald head- looks up, smiling big when he sees you. “Hey! I haven’t seen ya sorry face ‘round here in a while. How’ve ya been? Come ‘ere to chat with this old man?” His eyes then catch on Todoroki. “Ah, I see.” His smile ticks up into a smirk.
Your own eyes widen. “No! It’s not what you think, Haru. We’re just here to eat.”
Haru doesn’t look like he believes you but lets it go. “Havin’ the usual then?” You nod. He turns to Todoroki. “And fer you?”
“Do you have cold soba?” The hero asks, taking a seat on the stool next to you.
“Hah! Do I have cold soba?” Haru replies sarcastically. “‘Course I do!”
“Haru makes the best soba on this side of the city.” You say, looking up at Todoroki. The hero looks down at you, and his expression makes you pause. His face is soft and kind, eyes glittering with delight. He smiles.
Your stomach flutters. You push it away and smile back.
#todoroki shouto x reader#todoroki shouto x you#todoroki shouto x y/n#todoroki x reader#shouto x reader#j writes#bnha fic#bnha fanfiction#reader-insert
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Thoughts on Lies
Warning: Spoilers! And possibly having your heart torn into pieces. Other than that, have fun!
We open up with Marinette figuring out the recipes for the power ups as the new guardian.
I am disappointed that she still has not stopped oogooling over Adrien when he appeared on the news. Especially since she was allegedly with Luka by then. (I'll explain what I mean in just a minute)
Adrien was tired after the day he had as Adrien, which is a contrast of what Marinette believes his life is like. But being Chat Noir is the highlight of his day...
...only to not see Ladybug show up for patrols. And we see that it was all due to her figuring out the powerups.
Also, the patrols are a thing in cannon and I am still not over it after "Truth".
Chat Noir hoping for an akumatization so he can escape his civilian life radiated the same energy as Alya asking for akumatizations to interview the temporary heroes on her IG post. I get it, but still! We do not have people in danger for our needs.
Plagg being the one who announces any voice messages for Chat and asking for cheese through the feature on the Chat Phone brings me a whole other level of life.
Also, the whole milk thing at Le Grand Paris bar counter. It was hilarious, but also very sad. He really missed his m'lady
He ends the patrol after he saw Kagami training with her mom. And the smiles on his face! *Cries in Marichat and Ladynoir*
Plagg is the one that encourages Adrien to move on from Adrien, just like he applauded him from doing so in Loveater.
Kagami apparently said that fencing lessons are scheduled an hour in advance and Adrien (with that goofy grin on his face) knew what was up!
Both Ms. Tsurugi and Gabriel are very pissed at one another for the schedule change. That's hilarious, although everything comes at a price.
The parallels! Kagami is apparently learning Russian at her mother's request. Truly is a reflection of Adrien, civilian life wise.
Kagami? Lying???? The hell???? Who are you and what have you done to Kagami????? (Why am I surprised, y'all did this in Desperada)
She lies to their parents and the teacher to be in the art room with Adrien. I get it, teenage rebellion after being under an uninvolved parent, but still!
I like how the writers gave Kagami another dimension by saying she loves art, but her mom does not like her passion for drawing.
To Kagami's mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH???!!! HER DRAWINGS BELONG IN A MUSEUM!
Also, art reflecting the truth? Hmmm.....
Since people like mentioning that Marinette has a thing for people with absent parents after "Truth", I will now say that Adrien has a thing for people who are great at drawing. I do not take criticism.
Kagami is hinting that Adrien's civilian life is not his true self (thank you for understanding him!)...
...but also says that being a "clown" (it was the Chat pose) is also not who he really is. The fandom would disagree with you. Although that brings up the question of whether both personalities merge to form who he really is and cannot be seen completely by anyone in any part of his life. But he is more like Chat Noir regardless.
Also, I want to see Adrien and Kagami spend more time together prior to this episode to see why she was not pleased with him being a clown if that's who he truly is, because her repositioning him against the wall made me feel like she is trying to place Adrien into a mold that reflects the image she might have created in her mind. (I don't know, this was just the first thought that came in my mind.)
They almost kiss, with Adrien being taken into shock (not terrified as we thought) until the alarm saying they have fencing lessons starting interrupts them and Adrien runs out, not before BLUSHING LIKE HELLO?!?!?
This is what I referred to in my second point and confirms what everyone was saying about this episode: this is "Truth", but through Adrien's perspective. Finally, an Adrien-centered episode!!!
To continue, every time Adrien and Kagami are together or were about to kiss, a sentimonster appears, with Ladybug trying to do something about it. Just like Lukanette, just like Adrigami: being a superhero affects your love life as a civilian.
Chat being thrown off the roof by accident and being rescued will never get old or less funny lol.
Montages continues up until the boat scene, where Adrien missed the intro to the performance, but I will never get over the fact as to how Adrien made it there before Marinette. It is beyond me.
Kagami not letting Adrien stay for 5 more minutes. Hmm...
Their cute moment together was what will lead to the demise of Adrigami as Kagami noticed he dropped the infamous lucky charm bracelet. *le gasp!
Why *le gasp*? Because 1) I fear it symbolizes that something will happen to Adrienette or that Adrien has forgotten about her, and 2) Wait until later.
Kagami revealed she lied so she can spend more time with Adrien alone, lying about leaving rehearsal earlier, lying about the fencing lessons rescheduling, and who else knows what else so she can be with him.
She tells him she loves him. But Adrien notices Ladybug and an Akuma. Oh boy, he wasn't able to give her any attention.
Because he left towards the direction of the boat (and said he left something there), Kagami used that to conclude it had something to do with Marinette. Oh boy.
Either I missed an entire scene about Ladybug knowing ShadowMoth's name, or we were not supposed to know how they know until this episode. It feels out of place to me, but oh well.
"I..am...AN INCREDIBLE SWIMMER!" still cracks me up even when I know how important it was in protecting her secret identity.
Happy Birthday Prince Ali!
Apparently, Kagami lied that her mom was in charge of watching over Adrien (or maybe not? I can't tell at this point.)
Yep, Kagami believes that Adrien is going after Marinette and probably resents them both if her facial expression says anything
We get to see that Ladynoir moment from "Truth"!! I love these two and their banter.
Adrienette stans, not much has changed. Adrien was concerned that he lost the Lucky Charm bracelet, for real. But said again because he though he would be clear of the lie since he thought he had it on him.
Kagami confronts him with it. AND THIS IS HIS SHOCKED FACE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER!!!
Thinking that she lies to get out of being with her, she leaves. With the bracelet. The leaving part is understandable, especially because she does not know about him being Chat Noir or what entails him to do. But why take the bracelet???
Adrien is also saddened by what happened. He also liked her.
We've never seen that part of city hall. Well designed in my opinion.
She was the akuma in City Hall with the glowing sphere! We were right!!!
Adrien feels guilty, though it is not really his fault. He has a duty to Paris!
Why is the music sounding different in French.
Jagged Stone. How do I feel about you after learning you purposefully abandoned Luka and apparently Juleka? Also, what's with the song??? (Rhetorical question. Do not answer)
We were wrong about Kagami's power: it paralyzes people who lie, not kill everything in its path.
Jagged, you abandoned your children. And you apparently lied about your age?!?!?! Both episodes show something about Jagged Stone that make him seem like an awful person on the inside.
Ladybug, how do you know about Lies's powers?!?!? There is a hole in the plot here! Unless there were other paralyzed civilians that gave her power a dead giveaway.
Chat Noir, if you lie as a civilian for whatever reason, of course Ladybug will too, since as a civilian, you need to lie to keep your secret identity a secret. Same rules apply to Ladybug, especially as the guardian.
The Lucky Charm is a drone, not a camera like I thought. How the hell did I get into an ivy if I can't tell the difference?!?!
Chat Noir pretending to lie is funny. It might also be his peppy attitude to lying. Also, his funnier version of ShadowMoth's name.
Ladybug finds the akumatized object and gasps. I wonder if its only a eureka moment or also the fact that she recognizes the bracelet, especially if its custom made.
Brutally honest people does not exist (we have all lied at some point, even Kagami who is usually brutally honest with people), but animals can't lie.
Fang being involved in destroying the akuma is cool.
This is the moment that we dreaded so much, yet knew was coming: CHAT NOIR DIES!
JK! He actually is paralyzed by truth because he jumped into the glowing orb. We were right that this is an anguishing scene to watch, but we're wrong about the part that he's killed. Yet, he still unnecessarily sacrificed himself and caused Ladybug to be angst about it.
WHAT IS UP WITH CHAT NOIR BEING HAPPY ABOUT SACRIFICING HIMSELF?!?!? AND DO NOT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE TRUSTS LADYBUG!
Yes Ladybug. Chat is crazy. And also crazy for you. And you are right about the crazy unconscious part. My Ladynoir heart!
ShadowMoth almost won until Fang bit off the charm bracelet. Thanks Fang!
Chat backing away from Fang licking him is a mood.
My favorite Ladynoir moment of the evening: Ladybug telling Chat to stop sacrificing himself and Chat saying she likes her adorable angry face. Her smirk afterwards.. And then their pound it.
But no seriously Chat. You need to stop doing that to Ladybug. She cannot take it anymore
Plagg said that even if Adrien loves someone else, he is likely to go back to Ladybug. Just like he goes back to Camembert. Seriously, despite his cheese analogies, he gives great wisdom.
Not Kagami almost beating up Adrien during his fencing lessons. And Mr. D'Angercourt notices this too as he stopped Kagami's final blow.
Also, isn't it illegal in fencing to push people? Oh boy.
And there's the Adrigami breakup scene: Adrien telling Kagami that he enjoys their time together and Kagami knowing their is sincerity in him. It is sort of unclear who actually ended things when Adrien asks if they could still be friends, but Kagami ends it all by saying that she will let him know once she can face him again. Ouch.
Adrien is hurt and stares at the lucky charm bracelet with what looks like sadness. Once again ouch.
Like Lukanette, I want to see Adrien and Kagami be happy together at least until halfway through this season. The issue is that it will hurt them more in the end.
Also, I noticed the difference between Luka and Kagami when ending their respective relationships. It hurt them both, but Kagami was more forward about it and Luka was somewhat passive. It could be based on what they know about their now exes (Luka knew that Marinette had feelings for Adrien and was not secretive about it even when they were together if the truths her friends said and the opening scene to this episode reflect this, whereas Kagami only has a suspicion and Adrien does not say anything regarding to it.
Also, I really did not like how the breakup on this end resulted in. While more realistic for a lot of people, it did not help that it involved Kagami as there are people who will go after Kagami after watching this episode, and I believe that the writers know this. Kagami is a good person who has a different response to the trust issues and lack of communication, as well as lies in their relationship. Not saying its a perfect one, but an understandable one. In conclusion, don't trash Kagami, especially if you saw this coming.
I take back what I said before; this is my favorite Ladynoir scene. I want to hug them both because they have to lie and keep secrets from everyone, even have some secrets between themselves! But at least they can trust each other! Excuse me while I cry over how much we are being fed. Also, the fact that they broke up with their respective partners makes this both heartwarming and heart breaking.
Overall, this episode is just as good as Lies! It is the first fully Adrien-centered episode, which makes this a first and already exciting. While I did not like how their breakup was handled, it was realistic and showed that honesty and communication are important. Also, can my children be happy together for longer than an episode??? I swear, their pain hurts me.
But at least Ladybug and Chat Noir have each other's company to get them through. May us Ladynoir stans continue to be fed!
#miraculous ladybug#miraculous#ml#ml ladybug#miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir#mlb#934 posts#ml spoilers#934 miraculous thoughts#miraculous lb#miraculous les aventures de ladybug et chat noir#miraculous season 4#mlb season 4#ml season 4#ml season 4 spoilers#miraculous season 4 spoilers#mlb 2021#mlb spoilers#adrien agreste#kagami tsurugi#adrigami#ladybug#chat noir#ladynoir#934 thoughts
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I’ll Make the World Safe and Sound for You
Read here on AO3!
Summary:
Dick tilts his head, looks at Bruce until his eyes narrow under his mask. “You’re hurt.” he stands up on his tiptoes to point at a spot on Bruce’s chin. “Right there.”
Bruce reaches up and touches his chin, finds a small cut there. It stings now that he’s aware of it, but not overwhelmingly so. A stitch or two and he’ll be right as rain. That robber had one hell of a right hook, his ring slicing right through Bruce’s skin. “I’m fine. Agent A will fix me up when we get back to base.”
“But you told me that you should always be careful with open wounds in the field. You could get an infection.” Bruce knew that first-aid seminar he gave Dick last weekend was a mistake.
Six months ago, Bruce would have seen a drugstore robbery as atrociously boring, barely worthy of his time. A dud. Nowadays, however, Bruce would take on whatever dull chore he can find if it means he gets to see his Robin flipping about, utterly joyful as he delivers quips at a criminal’s expense.
“You know there’s a bank across the street, right?” Dick says, throwing a batarang at the floor in front of the final robber’s foot. He trips, falling headfirst into a stack of foot baths on clearance. “The only stuff you guys’ll get here is rash ointment and baby powder.”
Bruce zip-ties the man’s hands behind him and drops him with the others. The police have already been called, and the store was empty but for the young cashier cowering at the front counter and a few late-night stragglers who have long since fled the scene. Their work here is done.
Seemingly on command, Robin cartwheels back to Bruce with a grin. “How’d I do, boss?”
“You were a little slow on that roundhouse kick.”
“I was perfectly adequate and you know it.”
Bruce ruffles his hair, making Dick squawk and shove his hand away. “Need I remind you of who is the teacher here?”
Dick grumbles, fixing his hair. “Should be me. You could stand to learn how to have fun like a normal person.”
If there weren’t a civilian present, Bruce would chuckle. “Ready to head home, chum?”
Dick tilts his head, looks at Bruce until his eyes narrow under his mask. “You’re hurt.” he stands up on his tiptoes to point at a spot on Bruce’s chin. “Right there.”
Bruce reaches up and touches his chin, finds a small cut there. It stings now that he’s aware of it, but not overwhelmingly so. A stitch or two and he’ll be right as rain. That robber had one hell of a right hook, his ring slicing right through Bruce’s skin. “I’m fine. Agent A will fix me up when we get back to base.”
“But you told me that you should always be careful with open wounds in the field. You could get an infection.” Bruce knew that first-aid seminar he gave Dick last weekend was a mistake.
“Then what do you propose we do about this?”
Dick cranes his neck until he spots the aisle labeled “First-Aid” and heads over. Bruce shadows him as the kid peruses the aisle, gathering supplies and shoving them into Bruce’s arms. Peroxide, gauze pads, antiseptic cream, and plenty of other products which they will definitely not be needing, but Bruce doesn’t stop him.
Dick stops in front of the band-aids. He puts a finger to his chin as he scans the options. “They don’t have any Batman ones.”
“I’m sure the regular bandages will accomplish the same thing.”
“Nope, you need a cool one. You’re a superhero. You should have a superhero on your band-aid.” He’s quiet for a moment before he spots a box and seizes it with a grin. “Perfect.”
Bruce takes one look at the package. “No.”
“Come on, everyone loves Superman.”
“Pick something else.”
“Need I remind you of who is the doctor here?”
Bruce sighs and gives in. “Fine. Are you finished here?”
“Yep!” Dick leads the way back to the front, where the cashier stares at the tied-up robbers as if they are live explosives. Her fearful expression doesn’t change as the two vigilantes approach her counter. “I’d like to buy these, please,” Dick says politely.
The girl blinks. “Uh, sure. Do you have a rewards card?”
Dick looks at Bruce. “No,” Bruce says. He dumps their supplies on the counter to be scanned. Then he grabs a few bills from his utility belt, kept in there for emergencies like this one.
“Can I pay for it?” Dick asks. Bruce hands over the cash. Dick gives it to the girl, who finishes the transaction and bags their supplies. “Sorry about trashing your store,” Dick tells her. “The cops are coming soon, though, so they’ll take care of it.”
“Can we go now?” Bruce asks.
“But I have to bandage your wound! It would be irresponsible to leave it exposed to the elements.” Dick climbs up onto the counter so he’s at eye-level with Bruce. “Here, get closer.”
Bruce rolls his eyes but obeys. He waits patiently while Dick fiddles with the child lock on the peroxide bottle. He hands it silently to Bruce, who cracks it open and hands it back. Dick takes the utmost care as he cleans the tiny cut, patting it dry with a square of gauze. “You should do something about all this stubble.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“It’s scratchy, like you’ve got sandpaper on your face. Catwoman’s going to get sick of all those prickly kisses.”
The cashier squeaks, smothering a laugh.
Dick smooths a bright blue Superman band-aid over the cut, as gently as if he were handling a fragile kitten. “There. All done.” He hops down from the counter. “You’re lucky I was here to help, or your whole face might have fallen off.”
Has Bruce mentioned that he would die for this kid? Because he really would. “Thank goodness I have you to protect me.”
“You’re darn right.” Then Dick spots the candy aisle behind Bruce and his eyes widen. He tugs on Bruce’s arm. “Hey, B, can I get some candy?”
“We have candy at home.”
“No, we have dinner mints and those gross old man hard candies. They don’t count.”
Bruce checks the clock on the far wall. They have a few minutes before the authorities arrive, and if Gordon asks why Batman and his partner hung around the scene for so long, he can say they were simply keeping an eye on the traumatized cashier. (Oh, who is he kidding? Jim is going to tease him anyway as soon as he gets a look at the Superman bandage.)
“Fine,” Bruce says, “you can get one thing. One.” He might as well have just promised the kid a million dollars with the enthusiasm bursting from every pore as Dick runs off to pick out his candy.
“I don’t know how you do it, Batman.” Bruce turns and finds the cashier leaning on the counter now, looking at him with no trace of the fear she wore before.
“Do what?”
“Take that kid out every night and let him fight criminals twice his size. I have a ten-year-old niece back home and just the thought of her getting hurt shakes me up. I’ll never understand how you can let such a sweet kid put himself in danger like that.”
Bruce can’t blame her for being concerned. Nearly every publication in Gotham has its own opinion on Batman and his young partner, speculating about what kind of a monster would endanger a child like that. Bruce tries not to let it get to him. After all, it’s not like Batman can give an exclusive interview and clear his good name. That’s not how this thing works.
“You aren’t the first person to say that to me, and I understand your concern. I do. You would have to be a psychopath to willingly put a child in harm’s way.” He looks back at Dick, who is trying to decide between a package of gummy bears and a chocolate bar, oblivious of their conversation. “Would you like to know a secret?”
The girl nods.
Bruce smiles. “I haven’t let anyone with a weapon more dangerous than a butter knife within ten feet of that kid since the day he started as Robin.”
Her eyebrows crease. “But tonight, when he took down that guy by himself—”
“That man had sensory exotropia in his right eye. I disarmed him and sent him Robin’s way because I knew that he wouldn’t be able to see Robin coming from his blind spot on that side. I would never put my partner in harm’s way like that. Not when he’s still so young.”
“So you’re lying to the kid?”
“Not lying. Robin wants to help me protect Gotham, and he does. What he doesn’t know about me taking extra measures to keep him safe won’t hurt him.”
“Why not just tell him he can’t be Robin in the first place?”
Bruce snorts. “Have you met that kid? I couldn’t stop him from becoming Robin if I tried. And trust me, I’ve tried.”
The cashier smiles knowingly, like she’s gotten a glimpse into his soul. “Who knew the Batman was such a softie on the inside?”
“Only for Robin, I assure you. But don’t tell anyone I said that. It’ll ruin my reputation.”
#whumptober 2020#no.20#field medicine#dick grayson#robin#nightwing#batman#bruce wayne#batfamily#batfam#dc comics#fanfiction#fanfic
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vengeance / chapter 9: anxiety
chapter 8: unspoken confession | chapter 10: loving
vengeance masterlist
Bakugou could still feel his heart pounding in his ears as he made his way quickly across the town.
Why hadn't he taken a car? He didn’t know.
Maybe because it felt like he was getting there faster if he was able to blast his way to the edge of the city without getting stuck in traffic.
The urgency to get to the scene was so immediate, it almost gave him whiplash from how his emotions had changed within the past five minutes.
Five minutes ago, he’d been standing in your apartment and ready to open up the last of his walls to you. Ready to show the deepest parts of himself that he thought he’d buried so long ago.
Five minutes ago, he was pissed off at the fact that it was his night off, and that he shouldn’t have been disturbed when he was spending time with you.
But all of that drifted away from the thirty seconds he heard frantic shouting about your name, how he had to come quickly, and how there were pictures of you.
Kirishima’s words were ringing in his ears as he finally spotted a few police cars headed off into the same direction, and he followed them to a old apartment complex that was now flooded with heroes, civilians, and cops alike.
He quickly controlled his blasts to bring him to a stop in front of the building, uncaring of the few dirty looks he was getting from the officers. He knew they were sneering at him from the sidelines because this part of town was technically out of his jurisdiction. And normally, he wouldn’t give a flying fuck about stomping over there and creating a scene to silence their dirty looks.
But he couldn’t. You were the only one on his mind.
He quickly caught wind of Kirishima’s notorious hair above the crowd, and jogged his way over to him quickly.
Kirishima immediately returned his confused looks with a grimace before he explained the situation.
“The police said that they received a 911 call at 8 o’ clock, stating that there was a girl in danger at the address of this apartment and that they needed to check out the scene immediately,” Kirishima started as he lead Bakugou through the crowd of people standing about the entrance of the building. “Now normally, those kinds of calls would be ignored since the person who called hung up immediately after they said that. But the operators reported that they had received multiple calls for the same apartment reporting a disturbance. They said it sounded like a fight.”
Bakugou nodded along as he listened to Kirishima. They’d finally made their way to the entrance of the building, where some reporters had snuck in and were trying to interview other heroes and policemen on the situation.
“So the police sent one of their cars out to investigate the apartment they said the disturbance was coming from, and I uh… I think you should see it for yourself,” Kirishima gestured to the opened apartment door in front of them.
Bakugou shot him a sidelong glare before stepping in.
“S’ filthy,” he sneered, giving a pointed stare at the dirty clothes that were littering the small living room. He wasn’t going to give it a second look but something very blatantly caught his eye.
It was a red pair of lacy panties that was mixed into the jumbled mess of clothes, blatantly sticking out of the drab colors, and he kneeled down to get a closer look. They seemed familiar, somehow.
“Tut tut,” he heard from across the room.
His glare was immediately directed towards the sound of the disapproval coming from the doorway between the bathroom and the kitchen.
Of fucking course this side of town lies in Monoma’s jurisdiction.
“Of course you’d be one to start handling evidence without thinking about the consequences of your actions,” he said condescendingly.
“Look man,” Kirishima immediately stated. “I know this isn’t even part of our area but please don’t start this right now. You know what the situation is.”
Monoma only rolled his eyes as he shoved his way past the two to head out the door.
“Have fun.”
The room was silent for a few moments, as Bakugou left the panties on the floor and inspected the rest of the room. He didn’t like how no one was actually telling him what happened.
“Could we stop tiptoeing around the actual problem and actually show me what’s wrong? Why the hell is Y/N in danger and how is she involved in all this shit?”, he spat, turning his attention to Kirishima immediately.
“Go look in the bedroom.”
Bakugou quickly spun on his heels as he walked to where Kirishima had directed him. He stopped half-hazardly in front of the door, slightly scared over what could possibly be behind it and why it was so bad.
And as soon as he opened the door, his eyes widened at the sight of your face plastered on every single wall in the small room.
That underwear…. That underwear was yours.
He turned back to see Kirishima in the doorway giving him a grimace as he crossed his arms over his chest. He knew how bad it was.
“Who lives here?”, Bakugou’s rough voice broke the small semblance of silence in the small room. He wasn’t asking, he was demanding.
An officer walked past Kirishima and stepped into the room, turning to address Bakugou quickly.
Yours and Bakugou’s relationship wasn’t a secret from the public, and this officer knew exactly who he was dealing with. It didn’t matter in this situation if the area was in Bakugou’s jurisdiction or not because of the subject matter of the case. And he’d rather deal with other officers being annoyed at the pro’s presence than the possibility of getting his arms blown off.
“The landlord said the man who lived here’s name is Ochiro Ito,” the officer replied simply.
“Where is he?”
“I apologize sir bu-”
“What the hell are you apologizing for you fucknut?” Bakugou interrupted quickly. “What's the answer to the goddamned question I was asking?”
“He wasn’t here when the police arrived on the scene, sir.”
Kirishima immediately noticed the way Bakugou’s eye began twitching uncontrollably as he stepped closer to the officer. It appeared that he was about to lunge at him and choke him right then and there.
Kirishima quickly ushered the officer out, trying to make sure that he wasn’t present to experience the wrath of the angry blonde.
Well, angry wasn’t the right word.
He looked livid.
His breaths were coming out short and shallow, and it was obvious that every second he stayed in the room was making him angrier. He was about to destroy the whole place and everything in it.
The fact that someone had been violating you, looking at you, even thinking about you in this way was…
He couldn’t even describe it.
It felt like his chest was burning in a way he couldn’t understand. Your smile plastered in front of him didn’t have the effect it normally did. It made the feeling worse. He felt like he was going to collapse and fall to the floor at any second.
The anxiety bubbling up in his chest was becoming overbearing, and his already heavy breathing wasn’t helping calm his mind down in any capacity. Your face was running through his mind currently, and he needed to know you were okay.
All the what ifs in the entire world ran through his mind in that moment, and even as he tried to make a move to call you, or step out the door, or anything, his body refused to listen. He just stood there, breathing heavily.
Kirishima noticed the loud breathing and quickly stepped over to where Bakugou was staring wide-eyed at the ground. He was having an anxiety attack.
“Hey,” Kirishima spoke softly, bringing his hand up to Bakugou’s shoulder. “It’s okay. She’s fine. She’s at home and nothing’s going to happen to her.”
He pressed small circles into Bakugou’s back, trying to bring him out of the state that he was in. It’d been so long since he’d seen him like this.
Bakugou’s breathing began slowing down slightly, as he tried to match his with Kirishima’s. The words he was hearing were helping slightly, but the sinking feeling in his stomach was throwing his mind off.
“Look, the police have already started to look for him okay? Even Monoma said that he’ll tell the others at his agency about what happened and they’ll be helping the investigation. She’ll be fine, I promise.”
Bakugou almost wanted to punch him at that moment. How the hell could he promise that in the first place? Bakugou, himself, had promised that he would always protect you, and look at what was happening. There was some psycho on the loose that had been stalking you for who knows how goddamn long and he had no idea about it.
What was wrong with him? What if this guy had tried something with you? What would have happened then?
‘It’s all my fault. Everything is all my fault. I shouldn’t even be here anymore.’
“Yeah,” was all Bakugou said before he stepped out of the room.
...
The second Bakugou left, you were left staring at the door he’d exited through.
For the second time today, you had no idea what was happening, or where he was going. You had no idea if he was in danger or anything.
After locking the door, you sighed as you leaned back against it.
When would Katsuki finally begin to tell you about these things before he ran off? It’d been 5 years since you’d been together, and you’d known him for even longer. Couldn’t you be trusted with whatever was going on?
Then there was the thing with Midoriya, which he still hadn’t addressed whatsoever. The only information you’d gotten out of that situation was from Midoriya himself. Katsuki had nothing to do with anything you’d learned.
You glanced longingly at the tv, wanting to turn it on and check the news to see if you could find out what was happening.
And at first, you felt almost guilty about it. Katsuki was trying to tell you something before he was interrupted. And it wasn’t like he was going to come back without explaining the situation to you when he walked in.
As you mulled over the idea for a few moments, you became distracted when your phone began ringing.
You walked over to where it sat on the table slowly, staring at the caller slightly confused. It was Camie.
You pressed the accept button and brought it up to your ear slowly, only to be attacked by her shouting into the phone for you to turn on the news quickly.
What if something happened to Katsuki?
“Okay I got it, I will,” you breathed out.
You were trying to sound cool and collected but you felt like you were about to pass out. Katsuki had left in such a rush and there was something that had gone unsaid between the two of you.
You fumbled over the remote as you tried to turn the news channel on quickly, ignoring the other notifications that were coming through the phone, also telling you to turn the news on.
Finally you turned on the news channel, looking at the reporter who was standing outside an old apartment building along with other heroes and officers.
“Good evening, this is Rika Suzumi coming to you live from an apartment building at the edge of downtown, where the stalker of the number four hero, Dynamite’s girlfriend lives. Police were sent down to the scene after numerous calls reporting a fight, followed by someone claiming a woman is in danger. When investigating the apartment of the stalker, it was found that he had many personal items as well as pictures of twenty-five year old Y/N L/N, leading to many heroes to arrive at the scene, including Dynamite himself.
The screen cut away from the reporter to a video of Katsuki walking with Kirishima right beside him. The press was attacking them both with questions, and while Kirishima tried to pacify them, Katsuki looked completely out of it. He had a dazed look and acted like he wasn’t being surrounded.
You glanced down at your phone, only to see that Camie had already hung up.
You only stared back at the tv screen in shock, not knowing what else to do in the situation. Your shoulders slumped as you fell back onto the couch, your eyes giving a glazed stare to the tv in front of you.
The news cut back to the reporter, as she added, “The police have also said that he was nowhere to be found when they arrived at the scene. So if you see this man, going by the name of Ochiro Ito, please contact the authorities immediately.”
When the screen cut to a picture of him, you couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling in your mind that you’d seen him somewhere before.
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Welcome to Live Commentary
I had no one to talk to while watching the movie and I hate being alone with my thoughts so I wrote everything down in my notes app. It's not coherent! Enjoy!
Aw yeah 1.5 seconds of Bular that is all I needed! Might as well stop now I've seen my boy I'm satisfied.
Why is there a nearly 4 minute recap as if I haven't watched the show at least 50 times. I should be the one giving the recap.
The beginning felt a bit forced to me but maybe that's just me? Like they just tried to squeeze too many things into a small timeframe without any buildup, it just didn't really work. Congrats on the engagement! This is my OTP so I'm very happy! But it came out of nowhere.
Nari in Douxies body is so wrong and I love it and hate it at the same time (positive)
Eli is BIG. I knew he was gonna be tall but I was not prepared for that chiseled face. Or the fact that he stepped off the ship without glasses? I wear glasses and I would not choose to step off a spaceship blind.
OkAY who had mpreg on their bingo card?
AAARRRGGHH actually said a full sentence 🥺 there is no heterosexual explanation for this scene and I'm here for it
Arcadia being the center of the universe really does make a lot of sense. I hate how much sense it makes. Despise it.
Strickler in a Christmas sweater is something i didn't know I needed. Jim's jacket too but that's just adorable, Jim's adorable. Oh sweet baby you're about to get fucked over so bad.
Love seeing Barbara actively participating in battle too. Good for her! Power family!!
Where are the kids tho? Is NotEnrique babysitting? Either that or they hired the girl from the Incredibles movie.
Nomura is so talented I love seeing her fighting on the good side. I can't explain it but I love digitigrade legs they're just so pretty?? Aesthetically pleasing??? Fuck yeah, legg! I could watch Nomura run around and be badass all day.
WAIT NO OH SHIT HOW DARE YOU FUCK
STRICKLER DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE NOT YOU TOO THAT'S TOO FUCKING RUDE DON'T DO THIS TO ME
THERE'S NO WAY HE'S DEAD RIGHT WE SAW NO BODY
Barbara does not deserve this I refuse to accept it. He's fine he'll be back they wouldn't kill two Changelings at once. Also Nomura is with Draal now I take no criticism.
So my favorite characters were Bular, Draal, Gunmar and Angor. And before this movie I always half-joked that everyone I love dies, how I still like Strickler and Nomura but apart from them all of my faves were killed in the very order of favoritism. AND NOW LOOK AT THIS. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I LOVE A CHARACTER. MY LOVE IS TOXIC.
OKAY I LOVE GUN RO- WAIT NO I DON'T LOVE HIM FUCK ABORT ABORT
It's great tho omg
I didn't realize it was Gun Robot when I saw it in the trailer this is amazing
Okay but imagine you're chilling in your trollmarket minding your own business when some misfit group of strangers waltzes in, steals your favorite shiny and celebrates your death before running off
"I AM GUN ROBOT" IS THE HORN LMAOOO
Nana better show up at some point to reunite with her boytoy, I'll cancel this entire franchise otherwise
Something bad is going to happen to Toby isn't it. He's getting too much screentime
Jim's hand got DEEP FRIED
ARCHIE NO
We can play Scrabble okay if they don't free them (which they must) I want an after credits scene of them playing scrabble
Douxie and Nari's bond 🥺🥺🥺
Nari pls just say what you fuckin mean the world is ending
Oh god is she going to remember killing Nomura oh nooo
Claire don't make the portal you will die again. Your hair gon be white all over
EVERYONE AVOIDING THE SCHOOL JUST RIGHT THERE LMAO RIP
I love how Darci is just with the school bus. Civilian girlfriend. But also love how the world is ending and Coach is like "fuck that I'm gonna teach these kids"
Does he know his son is pregnant
"Going back to the city where it's safe" buddy have you been to that city
Whatever happens, Nari has the coolest looking titan. Giant four legged gremlin. I'd adopt him.
WAIT SHE CAN FEEL THE PAIN?
Me: oh i love that titan
The titan 5 seconds later:
Did Nari just fucking die what the FUCK
Oh of COURSE the pages are stuck together RIGHT THERE
Seriously tho how do you not notice an entire nougat nummy in a book
Wait so Arcadia has another heartstone? Or OH SO IT'S ALIVE. OKAY GREAT. GUNMAR COULDN'T EVEN DO THAT RIGHT HUH
Love how the Heartstone has been dormant/dead for months and apparently heard Blinky say it's alive and decided to wake up RIGHT THEN
Finally they're evacuating the city. This is like, the third apocalypse there. About time.
Okay so you can't pull Excalibur from the rock, but you CAN carve out the stone. Couldn't you just carve it off the sword as close as possible and like. Use that? Just swing the whole damn rock around?
God i can NOT get over Steve's pants. I mean I read a spoiler he was gonna be pregnant but I thought it was a prank or shitpost. I did not see this coming and I am never going to be over it. I love how he and Aja just roll with it and nobody else even cares. They've seen weirder stuff. So he's pregnant now. Whatever.
Jim's hand is bandaged and his ribs still hurt. I love that they're actually consistent with his injuries. I mean sucks for him but hell yeah for hero that doesn't always win!
Okayyy here comes the heartstone. Why not!
IS HE IN LABOR
So if you kiss an Akiridion 7 times you will have 3-5 babies in a few hours. How are they not overpopulated?? Also Aja couldn't have WARNED STEVE BEFOREHAND?
Eli is so supportive omfg
So uh where are the babies gonna come out of? I'm not into mpreg how does this usually work
OH STEVE THANKS FOR ASKING MY QUESTION
Oh good thing he happens to have 8 friends still alive. Otherwise this would've never worked. Nomura had to die otherwise there would've been 10 of them.
Why is everyone bowing to Jim? Did they rehearse this?
Stuart if you hadn't taken a bathroom break you would've thrown off the math and doomed the world. That was a poop of fate my man
Ahhh the signature quote. Where did Douxie and the Akiridions learn it? Did they rehearse this too? It's really cliché but I do like it tbh
If Strickler were dead we'd see more Barbara right?
WOOO BLINKY DRIVING
Ah Jim just used she/her for Bellroc! Finally we're learning some pronouns. I've been wondering this whole time.
MY VIRGIN EYES. WHAT IS GOING O N
How are they not dying with all this lava?
She really just yeeted Varvatos
Did Claire just tell AAARRRGGHH to jump off the titan and he did it without question
I want to say I like Stuart and want him to have more screentime, but I won't say it because I don't want him to die
Jim's poor ribs
Toby can drive yoooo
Tobyyy you're scaring meeeee
So did they really need the different stone or was the amulet just waiting for Jim to choose death over giving up
I saw the armor before but it looks VERY COOL
Also I didn't mention this before but I love that they cut Merlin's name from the incantation. Good for them.
Toby you lost your helmet noooo
For real tho I'm terrified for Toby rn. I saw a comment somewhere earlier that just said "Toby no" with no context and I am AFRAID
So do Bellroc's eyes work after all? I thought she was blinded back in Wizards in the past.
DID SHE JUST FUCKING STAB MY BOY
TOBY YOU SHOULD NOT BE THERE GET OUT THE TRUCK
Bellroc maybe screaming "i'm powerless" in front of your enemy isn't the best idea
She sploosh
DID JIM SURVIVE THAT FALL AND ALSO IS THE TACO TRUCK OKAY
How is he lifting Claire like that buddy you have bruised ribs and just got stabbed
ELI HI CAN WE SEE THE KIDS
SEVEN KIDS! AND ELI JR I LOVE IT
This show really loves to give people more than the recommended amount of babies with no warning huh
She immediately knows which one is Eli Jr 🥺 okay listen I'm not the biggest fan of comic relief sideplot surprise babies, but I have to admit they're cute. Cute couple. Throuple. Eli is in on this. He even has a Junior.
I TOLD YOU WHERE'S THE DAMN TACO TRUCK NANA WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU AND NEITHER WILL I
Oh yea he better fuckin be alive I will commit murder
HE BETTER FUCKIN BE ALIVE BITCH
FUCK YOU
THAT'S A WHOLE ASS CHILD HE ISN'T ALLOWED TO DIE IT'S ILLEGAL
JIM IS GONNA LOOK DOWN AT THE GREEN GLOWING BITCH AAARRRGGHH CONVENIENTLY THREW THERE AND SEE HIM ALIVE OR SOMETHING
YEAH USE THE SWORD TO UNDEAD HIM! THAT'S HOW YOU USE SWORDS!
Unbecoming Part 2
So is Jim just gonna Groundhog Day it until everyone is fine? There's only 13 minutes left we're gonna need a bigger movie
Also I screamed so much about everyone's death and now everyone reading this after they already saw the whole thing is gonna shame me for clowning huh
The scene where Blinky is giving his goodbye speech, there are no babies and Steve has a round belly? Did he reabsorb them?? I mean I know Jim is about to un-birth them but he hasn't started yet
JUST HOW FAR BACK IS HE PLANNING TO GO
WAIT HOLD UP EXCUSE ME WHAT
Oh they did NOT just do that. I though he was just gonna go back to like, the start of the movie maybe. Not all the way
Imagine being in your early twenties with as much trauma as this kid has and having to pretend you're 16 again
Somewhere Unkar is complaining because "oh sure NOW it's a good idea"
I know Jim is wondering where Toby is because he was there before. But before, he made an entire meatloaf AND did his homework before leaving the house, so honey maybe wait a minute
For a second I thought Toby wasn't gonna be there and Jim would return to the right time. But there he is!
Alright so they're in school now, did they take the canal and just didn't mention the amulet on screen or did they pass it as if the Unbecoming episode hadn't been that traumatizing? Jim you know what happens when you ignore it
Jim maybe you're being too obvious here lmao
Soooo. Anyway. These whole past years I've rewatched this show over and over and over again are cancelled now?
OKAY AT LEAST WE SAW NANA FOR A SPLIT SECOND THAT'S IRONIC TIMING
So we get the quote again. And Trollhunter Tobias is nice. Cool. Cool AU I mean, but I don't know. I don't knowwww. I've been way too invested in everything to just accept that it never happened?? So uh. Hm. How about this.
Strickler survived because fuck you, and Toby also survived and just has scars now. Maybe a wheelchair but he's fine, also he can use the Warhammer for super speed and make it awesome once he's used to it. Archie and Charlie get freed once they rebuild the bridge (and they were playing scrabble to pass the time). Nomura is still dead because she died on screen and I can't really deny that but she's with Draal so it's okay. Everyone is traumatized but they'll be fine. NotEnrique is still babysitting 500 babies and Steve is about to bring 7 more.
In summary, I reject Groundhog Day ending but everything else was great, as long as it actually happened. It was a good movie. But you can't just cancel years of passion. Having the prospect of a million "canon AUs" sounds great for writing but at the same time nooo you can't do that he didn't have to go back THAT far HHHHH
I liked the movie. It was a great watch and a satisfying end to a franchise, but I gotta say I do not fancy the ending of it so I will from now on be in denial. I honestly feel kind of betrayed that this show was my whole life for so long, I learned every smallest fact, and they basically deleted it from existence. I know what they were going for, I think, but no thank you I will be going with my own opinion. Still gonna rewatch it a few dozen times though ✌🏻
And that concludes my live commentary that was supposed to be a small handful of notes. Feel free to shame me for my opinions. See ya!
#rott spoilers#trollhunters#tales of arcadia#this got a LOT longer than expected#i'd be surprised if anyone actually read the whole thing but oh well#i just. have a LOT of opinions#i started out so optimistic too#mpreg mention#can't believe i have to use that tag on a post about canon
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Obscured Chapter Four: Enter Mask
Chapter Word Count: 5, 629
Link: AO3
Relationship: Izuku Midoriya X Reader
Previous Chapter: Three
Next Chapter: Five
MASTERLIST
Warnings: Language, violence, blood, drugs
...
The house was quiet. No one wanted to speak, especially you. The entire ride home you sat in the back and fumed, refusing to talk to anyone. Childish, yes, but you felt like you were being treated like one. It was bad enough that Izuku was treating you like some frail little doll that would break the instant anyone touched it, now your friends saw you as some pathetically useless civilian. He didn't even bother to explain his reasoning, he was more paranoid than you've ever seen him.
Ochaco and Momo were sitting across from you, on the couch in Inko's living room, each trying their hardest not to acknowledge the awkward tension in the room. Ochaco was buried in her phone, typing away. Momo was staring into her teacup with such an intense focus, you'd think it was revealing some deep secret to her. You could smell whatever delicious food Inko was whipping up in the kitchen. She'd kicked everyone out of there, said dinner was her treat.
Inko was the only one you weren't mad at. If anything, she should be just as upset as you. She hadn't been allowed to leave the house for those two weeks either. Izuku claiming it was for her own safety. It was like he couldn't see how much of an overbearing blockhead he was being. You loved the man, but sometimes his fears outweighed his senses.
You'd been effectively ignoring everyone for the past few hours, scrolling through articles on your phone. You'd been sent a link to an article about a possible gang war creating tensions in the Agamar Quarter. You didn't recognize the sender, some obscure online blog that you'd never heard of before. It didn't really interest you and you were about to click out of it, but saw something that caught your eye. It was a picture of Izuku, well Deku.
With a renewed interest, you read the entire thing. Apparently, the Hashira gang had been found murdered in one of their stash houses. It was a massacre and it could possibly lead to more gang violence over territory. Deku had been called in to help with the investigation which you found odd. He didn't normally investigate gang crimes, especially something so far from his sector. The information in the article was scarce so you focused on Izuku's face in the photo. It was a side shot of him leaving the scene, and he looked nervous.
"Would you like some more tea?" Momo broke the silence.
You glanced up. You'd been so engrossed in the story that you almost forgot they were sitting across from you.
The cup on the table was untouched and probably cold by now. "No, I'm fine."
You went back to the article, but Ochaco spoke up next.
"Uh, so," She put her phone down. "Did any dresses catch your eye today? We can always try another shop if you didn't like any of those."
With a sigh, you dropped your phone. They weren't going to leave you alone now that you finally started talking again.
"I don't even know if I want to go anymore." You murmured.
Ochaco frowned. "To the gala?"
To be honest, you didn't feel like going anywhere with anyone at the moment. You hadn't had a moment to yourself for over two weeks and it was really starting to get on your nerves. You especially didn't want to go anywhere with Izuku either. You were angry at him, at yourself, at the entire criminal industry. He was taking this whole protective thing way too far. There was a limit to how much coddling you could take and he'd already surpassed that a long time ago.
It might have bothered you less if you didn't keep comparing yourself to how he treats Momo and Ochaco. You knew for a fact that he treated them as equals when facing disastrous circumstances, that he could count on them to handle themselves. It wasn't a fair comparison, you knew that. They were heroes. They trained for years to fight villains and had quirks to protect themselves. You had nothing like that. All you had was your experience running a busy E.R. They weren't the same, but he could at least give you some credit on handling stressful situations.
There was a small voice in the back of your mind telling you that it was because you were born quirkless. He didn't see you in the same light as the others because you had a disadvantage, a weakness.
You shook that thought away. Izuku respected you, he always had. He would never look down on you because you were born without power. He used to be the same as you. He would know how it felt better than anyone, it was what made him so determined to be a hero in the first place. You two might not have had the same career goals, but you did share one motivation; helping people.
You brushed the hair out of your face and finally looked up at them. "Are you bringing anyone?" You asked Ochaco.
She blinked. "Um...maybe."
"You found a date?" Momo smirked. "When were you going to tell us this?"
Ochaco blushed. "No, it's not a date! We're just going as friends."
"Come on," Momo elbowed her. "Spill the beans."
Your phone buzzed as you got another email, but you ignored it. This was actually getting interesting. Ochaco didn't date all that much, and she usually just went to the gala with Tsu and some of the other girls. But if she was bringing someone to the gala, a highly publicized event, then it had to be serious.
Ochaco rubbed the back of her head and shrugged, covering her burning face. "It's um..."
The attention in the room shifted as the front door opened. You jumped out of your seat and zoomed to the door, the girls trailing behind you.
Izuku stepped through and closed the door quietly. He wasn't expecting you to torpedo straight into him, almost knocking him off his feet, in a fierce hug. As quickly as you slammed into him, you jumped back and slapped his shoulder.
"Ow, what was that for?" He rubbed his shoulder.
"For worrying me!" You crossed your arms. "And for making me angry. And all the other dumb stuff you did."
Guilt flooded his eyes as he stared at you, but you'd been waiting for hours to chew him out and you weren't stopping there.
"You gave me some ominous demand to come home and then leave me to worry all day while you've been out doing who-knows-what!" You shouted. "You've been running around crime scenes with your little secrets while you force me to stay here like some sort of pet! I've had it!"
Izuku shrunk as you finally sucked in a breath. "Y/N... I didn't realize th-"
"No, you've had your head stuck too far up your ass to realize anything!" You stepped closer. "Now tell me what the hell is going on."
He glanced behind you. The others had gathered at the end of the room, looking very stiff and out of place. You'd forgotten they were here again. It was already embarrassing enough that they had to play bodyguard, now they had to witness your tantrum.
You rubbed your face and stepped away from him. "Please just explain what's going on."
Izuku was silent, almost like he was afraid to speak. You'd gone too far and you were too embarrassed to even admit it to everyone. What the hell was going on with your moods lately? You were like a compass that had gone haywire.
"I'm sorry." He finally whispered. "I'll explain everything."
He lead everyone into the dining room. Izuku sat at the head of the table and Inko sat at the other end. He scanned over everyone, looking so uncomfortable, squirming in the hot seat.
"I'm sorry," He said again. "I didn't want you to worry."
You held up your hand. "I don't want excuses, I want answers. So talk."
His green hair was frizzy, he kept running his fingers through it, a nervous habit. "I think....I think Tatsuya, everything about him, was orchestrated by someone else."
There was silence. He locked eyes with you, waiting for some type of reaction. When you showed none, he continued.
"The Hashira gang was murdered early this morning. I think the same person was behind it as well."
"What makes you say that?" Momo asked.
"It was a message." He frowned, staring a hole into the wood table.
Ochaco leaned forward. "They left you a message?"
"The entire scene was a message." He whispered. "I think this was personal. Someone I must have wronged in the past, someone that wants revenge."
He threaded his fingers together, nervously fiddling with his thumbs. Staring at him, you lost that fire of anger that had been squatting in your stomach for so long. He was scared. This case was getting to him. You'd been so caught up in your own little ball of emotions, you overlooked just how much he was carrying with him, and it was a lot. Guess he wasn't the only one acting like a blockhead.
"Do you have any idea who?" Momo asked.
He shook his head. "Not at the moment...It's a long list."
Silence enveloped the room in cool tension as the information was processed. If this was personal and they had been behind Tatsuya and these other mass murders, then you could see why he'd been so freaked out lately.
Dammit. This was supposed to be over.
"What happens now?" You locked eyes.
"Whoever this person is, they won't hesitate to attack anyone close to me. They've proven that already." He paused. "But I refuse to let that happen again."
"How can I help?" Momo asked.
Ochaco nodded. "Yeah, we’re with you. Tell us what you want."
Izuku gave them a small smile. "Kacchan and Kirishima are working together on this. So is Shoto. They have some leads we're following." He glanced at the door. "Tsukauchi stationed some uniforms outside the house." He looked back at you. "I can station a hero with you here too, someone we trust."
You turned to Inko. She'd been sitting quietly this whole time. No one had asked her what she thought of all this. She would be in just as much danger as you, so she should have a say. Plus this was her house.
"Inko, what do you want to do?"
She sniffed and looked at her son. "I trust your judgement Izuku."
He nodded, looking slightly relieved. "Okay, I'll start making calls, see what the others have come up with."
A timer went off and everyone flinched. Inko waved everyone back down. "Dinner's almost ready." She scurried off into the kitchen.
"Y/N," Izuku leaned towards you. "Can I talk to you?"
Ochaco stood up, pulling Momo up with her. "We should get going. I'll check in with you later."
Momo nodded. "Yes, let us know what we can do to help."
"Shoto has the case files. You can talk to him."
Izuku walked them to the door where they gave quick goodbyes to everyone. Once they were gone, Izuku pulled you into the living room and sat you down.
"You have every right to be angry with me." He said quietly. "I just wanted to keep you safe."
He looked so hurt, like a puppy that had just been kicked. Damn, you could never stay mad when that stupid baby face of his looked so sad. Why did he always have to look so adorable, it was maddening sometimes.
"I'm not angry with you." You cocked your head. "Well, I was. It's just that you're treating me like a kid. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself you know."
His eyes grew wide. "Of course I know that! You keep proving that."
"Then why are you treating me like some kind of glass doll." You narrowed your eyes.
He shook his head and leaned forward. "I'm sorry. I just keep thinking about what could have happened. What can happen, if a villain gets to you. It, it terrifies me."
You stared at him for a moment. His hands had curled around your own, squeezing gently, as if you might disappear if he let go. His head was bowed, the edges of his curls were brushing against your neck as he rested against your shoulder. You leaned your head on top of his and closed your eyes.
Well, I'm not worried." You whispered. "You should have more faith in your abilities honey. In case you forgot, you're pretty outstanding."
You brought a hand up to run through his hair. It amazed you that it always still retained its softness even through the frizz. He loved when you would rub his head, so he curled up next to you, laying his head in your lap and staring up at you. His giant green eyes scanned over your face, as if trying to memorize every little detail.
"How the heck did I ever find someone as amazing as you?" He smiled, tracing his fingers along your arm.
You booped him on the nose. "You landed yourself right into my E.R."
He grabbed your hand and pulled you down for a quick kiss. "And I'm so glad I did."
You hummed in agreement and leaned back on the couch, shutting your eyes and relaxing for once. Of course the real world never stops, and so once again, your phone buzzed. You were hoping that one of your colleagues would get back with you about what's happening at the hospital. They've been reluctant to keep you updated while on your temporary leave. You were itching to get back to work.
"Izu," You nudged him. "Can you grab my phone?"
His eyes were shut, but he fumbled his hand around on the coffee table before he found it and handed it to you. Then he went back to snuggling in your lap, burying his face in your stomach. You absentmindedly played with his hair while you looked at your notifications. There were a few of them, all from that same blogger. The first one's subject line read; For your viewing pleasure. You clicked it and an image popped up.
"Oh my god!" You dropped the phone in your shock, straight onto Izuku's face.
He bolted up, rubbing the spot where the phone landed. "What?"
You blinked, staring at your phone, now lying facedown on the couch.
He grabbed it and turned it over. "Who sent this?" He asked in quiet disbelief.
"I don't know," you sat up straighter, "some blogger."
The email contained only pictures. A lot of them. They were all from the Hashira crime scene, except these weren't from some forensic photographer. These were taken while some of the members were still alive, taken by the killer. Now, you'd seen your fair share of bloody scenes at work, but nothing so brutal and....personal before. You could hardly stand to look at them, but one thing that you did focus on was one common element in all of the pictures, all the victims were being done up in Deku attire.
The phone buzzed again, with another email. Izuku opened it up this time. There were no pictures, just a short, simple message.
Change is happening. Get ready.
.
Ground Zero bit his tongue as he listened to another dumb story Red Riot was telling. He was half tempted to mute the comms, but that could jeopardize the stakeout. He hated stakeouts to begin with, but he absolutely loathed stakeouts with other people. Red Riot was a people person and Ground Zero was, to put it simply, not. So two hours in, he was ready to blow up the entire block.
"Anyway," Red Riot went on. "So now my foot's suck in there right? Kaminari's short-circuited and I still got half a pie left," He cracked up. "So then-"
"Shut up!" He finally exploded. "We're supposed to be quiet and I can't take any more of your shitty stories!"
"Ah, your just mad cause you weren't there." He said through the communicator.
Ground Zero grit his teeth and put his hand up to the comms, but forced himself to let it be. Instead, he focused his attention on navigating the rooftop he was on. It was narrow and the gravel crunched softly under his feet as he made his way across. Once he got to the edge, the building offered a nice view of the district. Red Riot was a few blocks over slowly making his rounds.
He was sure this guy would show tonight. He'd been pretty consistent with his appearances. Not so smart when your running drugs, but helpful to the hero who has to catch him.
"You know, maybe if you actually came to our get-togethers, you wouldn't miss out so much," Red commented. "I know the gang would like to see you again."
Ground Zero rolled his eyes and glanced down at the street below him. The building he was on was almost twenty stories up. "I don't have time to mess around."
"Dude," He sighed. "You've been working this case non-stop. Why is this so important to you?"
Ground Zero leaped off the building over the almost 5-meter gap and landed neatly on the other side. "They're criminals. Isn't that reason enough?"
Red was hesitant. "Yeah, but it seems like lately...I don't know."
"Exactly." He retorted. "You don't know."
Ground Zero scanned the surrounding buildings. The night was clear and the moon shone brightly overhead. Even though it was nearly two in the morning, the city lights made it easy to navigate the maze of buildings. He still had to watch himself, the rooftops were still pretty dark.
He ended up at the edge of the building, ready to move onto the next when he saw a shift in the shadows on the next roof over. He watched the spot like a hawk until he saw the faintest of movements. A figure darted between air conditioning units and paused on the ledge of a building, turning to face Ground Zero. A slight glint of metallic shined off a mask in the moonlight.
"He's here." Ground Zero smirked. "86th and 7th, heading east."
"Copy that. I'm close."
Ground Zero took off with a running start to jump over the huge gap separating their buildings. The figure didn't run, which he thought was strange. He only stood there, watching him as he landed in a roll. It was only after Ground Zero stood up and they locked eyes, well eyes to creepy Kabuki mask, that he finally took off.
Kabuki leaped off the ledge, down onto a smaller building below. Ground Zero was hot on his tail, practically flying off the building in his excitement.
"Oh no you don't!" He said still sailing down towards him using his explosions to control his flight. "Ha! Got you now!"
He slammed down towards him and almost managed to hit him. Kabuki was slicker than he thought and barely dodged. He jumped over Ground Zero as he stood back up and landed behind him. This guy was moving around with such agility that every time Ground Zero tried to swing around and clip him, he was already behind him again.
He growled and shot out a huge blast, using the momentum to spread it completely around him in a circle. No way someone could avoid an attack like that. When the smoke cleared, Kabuki was already on the next building.
Ground Zero narrowed his eyes and jumped after him. He landed on the slanted roof, almost slipping as some of the loose tiles gave way. He launched himself into the air again, scanning the rooftops in search for him. It was hard to find him when he was wearing all black in the dead of night. After a few tense seconds, he spotted movements a few buildings over. Damn, he was fast.
"He's headed your way, get ready!" He yelled into the earpiece.
"I'm ready." Red Riot answered. "I think I see him!"
Ground Zero boosted himself towards the villain, coming up fast. As Kabuki prepared to jump off the edge, a flash of red tackled him from below and pushed him back onto the building. Red Riot landed on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
Ground Zero quickly caught up and stood over the two. Kabuki struggled for a moment before deflating, choosing to turn his head and look up at Ground Zero.
"Katsuki Bakugo." Kabuki's voice was distorted with electronics. "What a pleasure to see you again."
Ground Zero reached for his cuffs and restrained his wrists.
"Why so silent?" Kabuki asked as he was hauled up. "Could it be that you’re afraid?"
He ground his teeth as he tightened the cuffs. "Shut the fuck up psycho."
Kabuki cocked his head. "Or is it that you're afraid to hear the truth?"
"I wouldn't keep talking if I were you." Red Riot said, grabbing one of Kabuki's arms.
"Oh, I'm not here for you." A spike shot out from the folds of his clothes, straight into Red Riot's stomach. Red Riot tumbled backwards, his hardening quirk the only thing saving him from being impaled. "I'm not here for either of you. "A second spike shot at Ground Zero who was quick enough to dodge it, but he had to let go.
Kabuki used the opportunity to escape, running towards the edge, hands still cuffed behind him. His fingers found the metal of the cuffs and in an instant, they seemed to melt right off him, drooping into a shiny puddle on the roof.
Red Riot was slow to stand while Ground Zero raced for Kabuki. He fired off a dozen mini blasts, all scattering around him until one found home, slamming into Kabuki's mask just as he turned to look back. He lost his balance and tumbled off the building.
"Shit." He hissed and ran to the edge.
Luckily, there was a building below that caught Kabuki. He landed hard, a small impact in the loose gravel around him showed that much. He turned over and pushed himself up to his knees.
"I don't think so!" Ground Zero hopped over the edge and fell on top of him, pushing him back into the ground.
Kabuki groaned, which sounded weird coming through the electronic mask. He stilled again as the knee guard drove into his back. Kabuki grasped at the gravel, trying to find a hold to squeeze out of his position.
"Let's see who's under that mask." He reached for the mask, but as soon as his fingers touched it, the mask sparked, sending a jolt of electricity up his arm, numbing it.
Kabuki pushed him off in his moment of weakness and rolled to his feet, pulling out a sharp metal spear from somewhere in his robes.
"Come on then," Ground Zero stood, flexing his hand. "Let's see what you got!"
Kabuki stepped towards him, the spear moved so fast, that he couldn't even see it in the dim light. The only thing that stopped the spear from smacking him in the side of the head was his arm brace. The brace took the brunt of the impact, almost cracking in half from the sheer force of the swing. The spear disappeared, only to reappear on his other side. He blocked again, but rolled with the blow this time, lessening the damage.
Red Riot jumped down to join the fight, running straight for the man. Kabuki reached into his robe and threw out a dozen little daggers. Red Riot easily batted them to the side and continued to charge. Or they should have been swatted aside, but when he looked down, he saw the daggers had melted down and wrapped around his arms and chest. He suddenly lurched backwards, almost loosing his footing, as the metal crawled up his skin, towards his face.
"What the-" Red Riot shook his arms, trying to scrap the warped metal off. The metal had a mind of its own and with sudden force, manipulated his arms, trying to pull them behind him in a makeshift cuff. It took all of his strength to counter the metal. It looked as though he was struggling with an invisible enemy.
Ground Zero focused back on Kabuki, firing an explosion at him. Kabuki used the spear to jump above the blast and drop behind him. The spear jabbed at his back, but he was quicker this time. He leaned to the side just as the spear was about to pierce him and wrapped his arms around it. He used the momentum to twist it around, throwing Kabuki off his feet.
Ground Zero gripped the spear, ready to use it against his opponent when the metal started melting. He wasn't an idiot, he'd seen exactly what would happen. He let go before it could crawl up his hand and blasted it away for good measure. So metal manipulation was his quirk.
He was too focused on the spear, he didn't catch the dagger Kabuki had thrown. It struck him in the shoulder and he stumbled back. It was small, but twisted around as if it had a life of its own. He grabbed his shoulder, gasping as the dagger dug deeper. His shoulder screamed in pain and blood gushed from the wound as the thing tried to burrow straight through.
To manipulate something so small and precise, that took a great deal of skill and training. He wasn't dealing with an ordinary drug runner, although that didn't surprise him all that much. A person who could eliminate an entire gang alone wasn't someone to piss off. But if Ground Zero had a specialty, it was pissing people off.
"What?" Kabuki dusted off his coat. "Is that all you got?"
Ground Zero dug his fingers into the wound, searching until he found the tiny hilt and pulled it out. The thing was stubborn and seemed to grow thorns locking it in place, but he managed to rip it out of his shoulder with a sharp groan.
Red Riot was in a dilemma of his own. The metal was trying to crawl its way up his arms and around his neck. The only thing he could do was keep scraping it off, but it was like glue.
Ground Zero charged again, but Kabuki only pointed to Red Riot. "Ah, ah." He wagged his finger. "I wouldn't move if I were you. It doesn't take much to break a neck you know."
He faltered, warily eyeing Red Riot, who had sunk to his knees. This metal wasn't like ordinary metal. The one that found a home in his shoulder was heavy, much heavier than metal should have been. He was betting it was stronger too, probably strong enough to break through Red Riot's quirk.
"Let's have a chat, shall we?" Kabuki put his hands on his waist. "Now, as I recall, you're only the number two hero. What happened to your dream of being number one?"
"What does it matter to you?" He spat out.
"It matters very much to me." Kabuki put a hand on his chest. "Your dreams were crushed as soon as he entered the playing field. What right did he have to take away something you worked so hard for, something that would help society as a whole!"
"The only thing that's gonna be crushed is your head."
"You know as well as I do that he shouldn't have been given that power." Kabuki growled. "He should have never become a hero!"
The metal on Red Riot had wrapped around his throat and he clawed at it, but even his quirk couldn't hold out for long against it.
"What do you have against him?" He asked. "what did he do to you?"
Kabuki waved his hands. "You're nothing like Midoriya, are you?" He took a step closer. "Always one step behind him. Always second place."
He had to mentally tell himself not to react. He wanted a reaction out of him and that would just put Red Riot in danger. He might also be able to get some answers out of this guy, if he kept calm enough.
"You know it's the truth." He went on. "But I can change that. I can help you change that."
"What are you on about?"
"I know all about you too, Mr. Bakugo." Kabuki casually crossed his arms. "I know what your life should have been like. We're very similar, you and I."
"Like hell we are." He barked.
Kabuki shrugged. "Think on it." He slipped out a gun and aimed it at Ground Zero, who tensed up. "In the meantime, I think this will be a suitable test run."
He released the metal that flew back and sunk beneath his robes. Red Riot gasped and fell forward, taking in heavy breaths. In a slight move, Kabuki redirected the gun and fired at Red Riot. The bullet struck the ground just beneath his hunched form and exploded into a cloud of blue dust.
Ground Zero charged him again, but Kabuki used the metal to springboard him off the roof. He was about to jump after him, but Red Riot gagged on the dust as he tried to move away from it. The blue powder seemed to cling to his skin, coating him. He waved it away from his face, choking on whatever substance it was supposed to be. It was a loosing battle and he crumbled back to his knees.
Ground Zero glanced back to where Kabuki had jumped off too. He put him in a bind. "Fuck!" He turned back to his friend who was struggling to breathe on the ground.
Red Riot's eyes were darting everywhere as panic overtook his senses. If blue powder wasn't already covering his face, Ground Zero was sure, he was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
He searched through his belt for something, anything, that might help. All he had was water. He gave it to Red Riot who tried to swallow the water, but only ended up gagging on that too. He fell forward, Ground Zero catching him before his head hit the ground.
"Hey Red Idiot," Ground Zero gently laid him down. "Keep fucking breathing!"
Shit, this was not how this was supposed to go. He'd let Kabuki escape and his teammate get hurt.
Red Riot suddenly lurched forward, throwing up all that blue dust that clogged his throat and rolled to the side with a groan. His fingers were twitching and his face was pale underneath the dust. He looked so out of it, eyes staring right through Ground Zero, as if he wasn't even there. Something was definitely wrong.
"Hey Eijiro," Ground Zero grabbed his shoulder. "Look at me."
With a low groan, he pushed himself off the ground, shaking his head. He was breathing heavy and his arms were trembling, but at least he was getting back up. That was good, right?
"Hey-" Ground Zero was cut off by the sudden punch to the jaw and fell backwards.
Stunned, he blinked in surprise as Red Riot tackled him with a ferocious growl. The two rolled in the gravel until Ground Zero caught up with what was going on. He shoved his friend off him and jumped to his feet.
"What the fuck man!" He yelled, but Red Riot wasn't listening and charged again.
Ground Zero grabbed his head and arm, twisting downward and out, flipping him onto his back. Red Riot's face was bent into a permanent growl as he lashed out, swiping at Ground Zero's legs. He blasted him before picking him up by his shoulder straps and bringing him face level. When he looked into Red Riot's eyes, he saw almost completely black. His pupils were blown, which meant it was definitely some sort of drug at play. He was just hoping it wasn't the long lasting, damaging type.
"What the hell is wrong with you," He shook him. "Snap out of it!"
Red Riot held up his arm, trying to harden it, but only half of it worked. Two of his fingers hardened and half his forearm. He swiped down, slamming it into Ground Zero. He let go, letting Red Riot stumble backwards. His balance was off, he could hardly stand straight, and it didn't look like the light was really on in the attic. That didn't stop him from coming back for more.
"That's it!" He waited for Red Riot to come to him. He was a few feet away before he hit him with a huge blast. "Time for a nap!" He grabbed his head and slammed it into his knee guard so hard that the guard bent.
Red Riot's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped down. Ground Zero laid him out and cuffed his hands in front of him, just in case. He didn't want either of them to get hurt while he was acting like this.
Ground Zero stood up and glanced around, trying to see if Kabuki had stayed to watch the show. No doubt he did, but it wasn't like he could run off now to try and find the villain. That would be irresponsible and he was slightly worried about his teammate. He requested an ambulance through his earpiece as he inspected the area. Whatever was in that bullet had done this. He searched the ground for the capsule while he made a another call. He was met with a groggy hello on the other end.
"We need to talk," he said as he picked up the fragment of the bullet.
Tag List @miriobaby @awilddreamerwrites @hmm-cats @thecindy @sailorstupidsblog @kehlaniwwe @kenmaskitten10 @slytherintothedms
...
Chapter 5
if you wanna be added to the tag list, let me know Loves!
#izuku x reader#pro hero Deku#mha#bnha#my hero academia#midoriya izuku#izuku midoria x reader#izuku x y/n#taken series#pro hero bakugo#pro hero kirishima#violence#language#blood#katsuki bakugo#Kirishima Eijirou#pro hero uraraka#pro hero momo#Inko Midoriya#boku no hero academia#kabuki#experimenting with dividers#i dont think I'll keep them hmm
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Always be Yours-6
Word Count: 3,105
Story Summary: Inspired by the 2 part I did of the same title. Follows Dean and reader through season 9 into season 10
Chapter Summary: Cas runs across a case so you and Dean go to check it out
Warnings: usual fighting and cursing. Mention of suicide
Kevin finally emerged from his room to say he’d had some big breakthrough with the angel tablet so you, Dean and Sam followed him into the library and watched as he unloaded his arm load of notes onto the tables. You stepped forward and picked up one of the sheets then glanced at Sam and held it out as Dean picked up a few sheets and looked them over as well “Kev, sweetie your big news is that you translated the tablet into doodles?”
“It’s cuneiform” he corrected and when neither of you seemed to understand what he meant he further explained “I hit a wall translating the tablet into english but I found an ancient codex linking the angel script to proto-elamite cuneiform and I was able to translate the tablet and the footnotes into elamite which is..” “Doodles?” Dean guessed and Kevin sighed “It’s extinct”
“Well can you read it?” Sam asked and you tried not to let the disappointment show on your face when Kevin’s answer was “No one can. Scholars have tried for centuries” “So it’s a dead end” you pushed as Dean sat down in the chair you’d been leaning on the back of but Kevin shook his head “Not quite. Now most proto-elamite is abstract but I was able to decipher one phrase from Metatron’s footnotes..falling angels” Dean looked over his shoulder at you then at Sam who said “Ok, so the footnotes refer to Metatron’s spell?” “Maybe?” Kevin shrugged and you let out a breath. Maybe didn’t get you any closer to a solution for Cas or anyone else for that matter.
Sam nodded then walked over to a shelf of books “Well maybe if we can decipher the footnotes then we can reverse the spell..” “and punt those winged dicks back to heaven” Dean finished and you shook your head at his choice of words but they were dicks for trying to hurt Cas for something he hadn’t really known would happen. “Well, where do we start?” you asked and Sam started handing out from the stack of books he’d plucked off the shelf “Research”
You took the book he offered you and pulled the chair out next to Dean “So we comb through the library, see if we can find anything else on elamite?” Sam nodded then sat down next to Kevin with two books. Dean cut his eyes at you then read the title of the book Sam had passed him “Zimmerman’s encyclopedia of extinct languages: volume one. Adai to atakapa.. How many volumes are there?” “Twenty four” Kevin replied and you tried to hide your laugh with a cough when Dean groaned at his answer.
You were flipping through volume three when Dean’s phone rang. You glanced up when he stood up and walked away from the table but when Sam looked your way you quickly turned your attention back to the book in your hands.
A few minutes passed before Dean walked back over and tapped his phone on the table to get all of your attention “Cas has a case in Rexford. Four missing, presumed dead. Strange substance at the scene. Sounds worth checking out” “Ok? So what flavor of weird is he thinking?” you asked but Dean shrugged “He didn’t say” “Who’s going because Kev needs help with the research” you spoke not glancing up until he said “Why don’t you? We worked pretty well in the hospital together against the angels and Sam's better at the research side anyways” you looked at him then at Sam for help but Sam bless his pretty little head simply shrugged.
------
You sat in the passenger side of the impala trying your best to act as if you weren’t alone with Dean. “Why can’t we see Cas?” you finally asked and he shook his head “He’s catnip for angels” “Yeah and we left Zeke at the bunker inside Sammy in case you forgot.. Hell we’re catnip for angels from what went down at the hospital and in Detroit. I want to at least check on him. Please?” You weren’t above begging and knew you struck a cord with Dean when you said please. He sighed “Fine. If we can find him, we’ll check on him. Ok?” “Thank you” you replied and reached over to turn up the radio.
------
Dean stopped a little way out of Rexford for you both to change into your fed suits. The most recent crime scene was a cabin so that’s where you headed first.
When you rolled on scene the entire place was still taped off and crawling with cops. You grabbed your ID then followed Dean since he was the one to call ahead and talk to the sheriff.
He met the two of you at the tape and waved a deputy off “This is Agent Ermey and Agent Speight” you and Dean both nodded to the deputy then followed the sheriff. “So four missing?” you asked but the sheriff clarified “Four dead. Just got confirmation” You looked towards Dean who asked “Any common threads you can think of?” “Well Joe in there had the suicide hotline on speed dial. The gal before him was a shut in, had enough antidepressants in her medicine cabinet to stock a pharmacy. The first victims were a married couple out of Sugar City, pretty much a walking billboard for no-fault divorce” “Were they all basket cases?” Dean asked with that bluntness of his you’d come to look for over the time you’d known him.
The sheriff glanced away “If you asked me to make a list of this county’s saddest sacks, these four would’ve been right on top” you nodded then spoke “All right so four unhappy people, one of them definitely suicidal, but you’ve ruled out suicide?” The sheriff looked from you to Dean then got some booties to cover your shoes and some gloves from one of the deputies “You’re going to want to out these on” You raised your eyebrows but leaned over to pull the booties on over the flats you wore with your fed suit then pulled the gloves onto your hands. Once you and Dean looked ready for surgery the sheriff lead the two of you inside.
The inside of the cabin absolutely reeked and it took you a moment to register just what exactly was covering every surface. “This look like suicide to you agents?” The sheriff asked and you swallowed hard as you looked at Dean. Just what in the hell had caused this?
You motioned to the substance that was everywhere “Correct me if I’m wrong sheriff but is this excuse the way I’m about to put this but is this everything? Like blood, meat, organs and skin?” The sheriff nodded “If the tests come back same as the others. Yes ma’am. Like these poor souls got run through the world’s finest wood chipper” “What about witnesses?” Dean questioned as you let your eyes skim across the walls and the remains of “Joe”
“Same as the rest. Neighbors reported some kind of pink flash, by the time we got here all that was left was this” the sheriff answered looking around. Dean thanked the sheriff and handed him a card before leading you back outside. You stripped the booties and gloves then tossed them into the bag the deputy at the door held.
When you finally made it back to baby you looked at Dean as he slid behind the wheel “What the hell did that?” He shrugged but was already dialing his phone “I’m going to call Sam and Kevin, see if they can find anything to point us in the right direction. Meantime you geared up good enough?” you nodded “Silver bullets with devils’ traps, holy water and an angel blade” he smirked “That’s my girl” then pulled the phone up to his ear as he backed out from Joe’s yard and pulled onto the road leading into town.
------
After finding out Sam and Kevin hadn’t gotten anywhere, Dean suggested they try getting Crowley to assist on the translation then you and him stopped to change back into civilian clothes,grabbed coffee and headed into the center of the town. So far you’d tried emf, looked for hex bags and sulfur to not avail. You had no clue what had happened to those four people.
You glanced out your window then hit Dean’s arm “STOP” “OW. What for?” you pointed to the Gas N Sip “CAS!”
------
You waited out at baby while Dean headed in to talk to Cas. He made him leave so he had to face him alone.
You were going through what lore you’d downloaded onto your laptop while Dean was in the store. You texted Sam to see how his luck had been with Crowley and weren’t too surprised when he sent back “What do you think?”
The driver’s door opening made you look up from where you’d been sitting with your legs stretched across the backseat and grinned when you saw Cas was with Dean “There’s my favorite set of blue eyes” Cas smiled softly at you “Hello Y/N” and climbed into the passenger seat. Dean updated you on the fact that there had been another killing at the local high school and that apparently Cas had a date later that night “Ooh the blonde? She’s hot” both of them looked back at you so you shrugged “What? I got to pick one type that I like?” Dean shook his head with a laugh and pulled out onto the road.
------
You flashed your badge at the deputy and nodded in Cas’ direction “He’s with us” the school ground was crawling with deputies and it made your stomach turn to know whatever was doing the killing had taken out someone this young.
Dean headed to talk to the deputy who had a witness but you noticed Cas stop to look at the bus that was covered in the same substance that Joe’s cabin had been covered in. “Cas, do you know what this is?” he nodded slowly “As a matter of fact, I do”
He looked back towards baby so you offered “Let’s walk away from it” he told you where he’d seen the substance before and the knot in your stomach grew with the information. You spotted Dean when he headed your way “You two ok?” you looked at Cas “He’s seen this before” “What, where?” Dean asked so Cas replied “In heaven”
“So an angel did this?” Dean questioned and you nodded even before Cas explained “It’s not ordinary angel. This is bad, this is very bad” just seeing Cas that worried scared the hell out of you.
-----
The Rit Zien was a special class of angel. Rit Zien was enochian for “Hands of mercy” They functioned like medics tending to the wounded, healing those that could be healed and putting down those who were past saving.
Cas explained to you and Dean that the Rit Zien honed in on pain like a beacon. So when this particular one fell to earth he heard the victims’ cries, their anguish same as he heard the angels in heaven. He was continuing his heavenly work down on earth.
Cas turned down going along to hunt down the angel and it was a shock to realize Cas was scared. “We got this” You assured him patting his shoulder so Dean added “Go on that date. Have a little bit of a normal life”
“I need a ride” Cas said and you smiled at him “Well you’re sitting in the sexiest ride this town currently has in it”
------
You were laid across the backseat of the impala using your jacket as a pillow when Dean pulled to a stop in front of Nora’s house so you sat up. “Nice place”
Cas started to get out with his work vest still on so Dean stopped him. “You can’t wear that” “This is all I have” you leaned up and took a good look at him “Take the vest off” he did as you asked and Dean nodded approvingly “Unbutton a few buttons” Cas did that also so you threw in “And untuck your shirt!” he did that then threw his hands up at you both “Good enough?” you shamelessly checked him out and saw a hint of a smile “She won’t know what hit her”
“Always open the door for her, ask a lot of questions they like that” you knew Dean was offering Cas help but you popped him lightly behind the head at that “They” comment. He cut his eyes at you in the mirror and added “If she says she’s happy to go dutch, she’s lying” and patted Cas on the chest “Go get em tiger” you leaned up and kissed Cas on the cheek “Be yourself. That’s enough” then he climbed out of the car.
------
You and Dean hadn’t got all the way across town when his phone rang from the sheriff. The analysis from the first crime scene came back. Only the wife’s dna was present. Meaning the husband was still out there making him the most likely to be the vessel.
The two of you headed straight for the sheriff’s office and there your thoughts were confirmed. The husband had found religion then gotten obsessed with Buddy Boyle’s podcast.You and Dean were going over the files the sheriff had on the couple when he stopped on one photo and showed you the truck “Is that the one that blocked us in?” he nodded “Excuse us sheriff, we got to go”
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The moment you made it into the door the angel sent you and Dean flying into a crumpled heap.You could hear the baby crying but considering you’d smacked your head going down and Dean’s weight was on your legs you couldn’t get up.
Dean slid his angel blade to Cas at the last moment and Cas buried it home. You pulled your legs out from under Dean and headed for the baby while Dean helped Cas to his feet.
You scooped her up and turned to look at the two of them “Everybody good?” they nodded and you let out a breath “Good”
------
You and Dean ended up staying with Cas until Nora got back from her date and between the three of you the baby finally calmed and went back to sleep. When Nora got there you and Dean headed outside to call Sam while Cas spoke to Nora.
The news from Sam was about the worst you could get. The spell Metatron did was irreversible. The angels couldn’t get back into heaven.
------
It hurt having to leave Cas yet again but he was safe from the angels and adapting. You knew it was for the best even if you wished more than anything he could come home to the bunker.
------
You were silent for the first couple hours of the ride back to Lebanon until Dean bumped your knee with his hand. “Want to stop and grab a bite to eat?” you rolled your head to look over at him “Sure, might as well”
When the two of you headed into the diner he slung his arm around your shoulders “Go to admit Y/N, you’re a natural with kids sweetheart” you rolled your eyes and said “You weren’t so bad yourself Dean” with a laugh.The older waitress that was at the counter smiled at the two of you when you walked in and headed for a corner booth.
When she came to take your order she looked between the two of you “Can I just say how cute it is to see a couple get along so well?” your mouth fell open in shock and you expected Dean to correct her but he just winked at her and motioned to you “Look at her. How could I not get along with her?” you shot him a look then when the waitress left to place your orders you looked back at him “What the hell was that?” and he shrugged “Sweetheart I’ve been accused of a lot worse than managing to get you as mine” you felt your cheeks warm but ducked your head to hide it and said “You’re a natural flirt Dean, you know that?” and when you glanced back up he smiled “Tell me to stop and I will never flirt with you again” you took a sip of the water in front of you and shrugged “I’ve still not seen any flirting worth being impressed over” his eyes widened at that “So is that the issue? I’m not convincing enough?”
A part of you still wondered if Charlie told him how you felt so you quickly threw back “I just know you don’t mean it” this time he looked a bit thrown but you could see the wheels turning in his head even when the waitress brought your food back over to the table.
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Dean was quiet throughout the two of you eating and even when you got back out to the impala. It wasn't until you were miles down the road that he finally spoke "Look Y/N, I know I'm a flirt. I like sex there's no shame in that but if I was to be with someone I'd be loyal to that person and I wouldn't say I wanted someone as a joke or a way to appease hurt feelings hell I'm too much of a jackass for that" you turned sideways in the seat and studied his profile for a moment considering he'd just poured his heart out without taking his eyes from the road.
"Are you trying to say something Dean?" You asked feeling your heart jump into your throat with the hope that maybe just maybe he was. That hope was squashed when he shook his head "Not really. I just don't want you thinking I'm one of those types of guys is all" "Oh, well don't worry about that Dean. We're good" you replied with a smile then straightened up in the seat pulling your jacket up on you as a blanket "Wake me when we get home or if you want me to drive some"
He cut his eyes at you with a smirk "Home it is"
Tags: @facadeformyrealblog @akshi8278
#spn fanfiction#supernatural fanfiction#dean winchester x reader#dean winchester fanfiction#dean winchester x female!reader#always be yours
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through the aching shell
Hello!!! After a practically two months without posting anything (not because I was feeling down or anything, school was just making me go crazy), I finally finished the thrid part of the shell series I’m writing with my mother and dear friend Dawn ( @honey-hippie-harper), where we explore the angsty and depressing parts of Hugh and Simon’s relationship, because we’re crazy and we like to make it everyone’s problem.
The last two parts (which you can find here and here, and should read in that order for you to understand this one) were from Simon’s POV, but this time I decided to take some creative liberties and write it from Hugh’s POV, since this is basically my own birthday present (yeah, people, I’m 18 years old now, I’m so grown up *emoji with cool glasses*) and I have a permit to do whatever I want (? so I decided to write about Adrian starting his criminal life (?), the Council fighting like my mental ilnesses do at 2AM, and how Georgie’s death affected her loved ones, but especially Hugh, since, like Dawn said, we firmly believe they were best friends and he didn’t grieve her in a healthy way:’)
This ended up being... a lot longer than I expected (literally 67 word pages). And also a lot more depressing. I want to give a pretty important trigger warning for suicidal ideation, especially for the last scenes. Please, if you read, proceed with caution and take care of yourself.
On other important news (?), I didn’t feel like killing people today, so I took this canon divergence post my moms did of how Callum and Winston survived the arena, and decided they were going to survive. I don’t think it’s super obvious because of how I wrote the scene, but I just wanted to let you know, so you can be happy with me about it.
And what else? Well, I think that’s it:’) thank, Dawnie, for letting me continue this, I feel honored you let me form part of it skldhfjksdjhskd and I’m tagging @healing-winston-pratt and @the-wee-woo-girl in this, because I know you really like the shell series and want to know what happens next! Thanks to you too for your nice comments, I love you so much, my friends <3 and I hope you love this part too as much as I love writing it.
It wasn't until several minutes passed after he heard Simon going upstairs that Hugh realized he had been sitting on the ground during all this time.
He held onto the kitchen counter and stood up with difficulty. As soon as he saw his own hand, he noticed it had small silver drops all over it, and they reminded him of the coffee sometimes they accidentally spilled when they grabbed their respective cups before heading out of the house.
They also reminded him of blood.
In fact, they were awfully similar to blood.
He passed his sleeve over it to clean it. Not only did that refuse to work, but now he also had a gray stain on his uniform
Fuck.
But before he could come up with something to do about it, Simon started walking downstairs, slower and clumsier than before, while struggling with some heavy object. He stayed completely still for a couple of seconds, deliberating about what he was supposed to do.
Should he go to see what was going on?
Should he go help him?
Should he go and ask him to stay for the last time?
He was fast enough to turn his back on Simon when he showed up on the kitchen door hiding the trail of chrome he had left with his body
During the ten seconds Simon stayed there, staring at him, Hugh kept his eyes on his hands, flatly refusing to look back at him because if he did, he would meet her eyes too.
And he wasn't willing to go through that again in front of Simon.
In front of anyone, really.
He should have never allowed his emotions to come out in such a grotesque and explosive way. He thought he had learned to keep his anger, but the last time he had snapped like that was as recent as Genissa's Clark threat, after he couldn't stand how the rest of the Renegades were looking at the Council—
How they were looking at him.
It had been a slip. A pretty serious slip and that should not have happened again. Much less in the magnitude with which it had just happened a few moments ago, with Simon.
Simon.
Of all people, it had been Simon.
The man who irradiated the the most powerful beam of kindness without even saying a single word. The one who was able to talk people out of their evil ways because he was convinced goodness was a crucial part of human nature and no one was beyond repair. The person he thought about each time the fire of his anger started to emerge in his throat, and whose smile, eyes, and voice were enough for Hugh to be able to control him.
But today it hadn’t.
It hadn't been enough.
Simon hadn't been able to make it better.
The fire had gotten out of his control, and now, there was nothing left but ashes.
Ashes of anger that now was reduced to shame.
When Hugh turned around, Simon was closing the door on his way out.
***
He stayed leaning against the kitchen bar for a good four hours before he received the first message asking him where he was.
It was from Tamaya.
She said they needed to talk.
About what? She didn’t specify. But it was probably about how they left her alone for hours when it was supposed to be just during their lunch break.
While he texted her he would be there in a minute, he couldn’t help but look at his sleeves, and immediately knew, he couldn’t go there wearing those clothes, so he went through the small closet where they kept their clean superhero suits in case they needed to change after a mission or something. When he opened the closet and realized it was empty, he remembered Simon had taken them to the Headquarters, because he thought it was better to keep them there, since it was where they were most of the time.
Hugh clenched his fists and, before he could make a hole through the wall or something, he sighed and decided to take a shower first.
Tamaya would be fine if he disappeared a couple of hours more.
Maybe Tamaya could bring him one…
But Tamaya was in charge of the Headquarters, so she was pretty busy at the moment. Evander would take hours to get there and ask for explanations he didn’t want to give him, and… to be honest, he wasn’t quite sure if he was in the right state of mind to ask Kasumi to do him a favor.
“If Adrian wants to see me—”
Then, he remembered Adrian.
He was still at the hospital with Max. And if his mental clock was correct, he needed to be with his team in exactly an hour so they could start patrolling.
After showering, he put on some civilian clothes and grabbed the keys he had left on the entrance table.
Simon’s keys weren’t there though.
He had taken his own car.
***
Adrian wasn’t at the waiting room like he had said he would, but that didn’t surprise Hugh. No, what actually surprised him was how empty the whole hospital looked. No nurse was attending the front desk, and the few doctors he could see were either running to get to the next patient or whispering something to their coworkers. When he started wandering through the hospital, looking for a familiar face he recognized from the ones who were involved in Max’s case to ask them if he had seen Adrian (and if he could pay a quick visit to Max to kiss him goodnight because he probably wouldn’t be able to go to the hospital again before his bedtime), he noticed a group of nurses consoling a crying one a couple of meters from there.
He didn’t recognize her from anywhere, so he didn’t even bother to ask her anything.
Also… what the hell, he could pay a quick visit to Max without asking for their permission first. He was Captain Chromium, even if he wasn’t wearing his uniform at that moment, but most importantly, he was Max’s dad. He wasn’t going to stay there and wait for them to get their shit together and start doing their job.
After taking the elevator to get to the floor where Max’s room was, he noticed two doctors standing right beside the door, arguing in a low voice. They didn’t even realize Hugh was there until he was right in front of them, about to ask them if they could move to let him enter the room.
One of them interrupted what the other was saying and immediately tried to stop Hugh.
“I’m sorry, sir, you cannot be here, it’s a quarantine—” when she made contact with him, she and the other doctor’s expressions changed completely.
He had seen the same face a thousand times after people realized who they were talking to.
In other circumstances, he would have tried to be nice about it, but at that moment, he didn’t have any energy left to tell them about his intentions.
He needed to kiss Max goodnight. And then, he needed to look for Adrian.
So when he carefully pushed them aside and walked into the room, he didn’t feel any guilt for acting like that.
What he did feel, was his blood freezing the instant his eyes laid on Max’s bed and saw it was completely empty.
The small smile he had just put on his face to greet his kid immediately disappeared.
“Where—”
“Your sons have left this hospital, Mr. Everhart,” the doctor blurted out. “Together.”
But that wasn’t what Hugh was going to ask.
“Doctor— Where’s my husband?”
I need to see my husband.
***
According to what the doctors told him while they took him to one of their offices, Adrian and Max had escaped the hospital forty minutes before Hugh arrived. They knew it had been that way since one of the nurses saw them and tried to stop them, but they somehow made her faint for a couple of minutes, and when she was able to turn on the alarm, they were already gone. The doctors who were in Max’s room when he arrived were the ones who found the note Adrian had left, a note where he assured Max was fine, with his brother, and that the Renegades had nothing to worry about.
But Hugh was worried. He was so worried he couldn’t even yell at the staff for being so negligent and letting a teenager and a kid— two kids, go under their noses. He was so worried, that when Simon barged into the office, also wearing his civilian clothes, he didn’t run to hug him like he had been craving all that time he had to sit down and think about the horrible things that may be happening to his sons in those instants, while he heard the doctors doing their absolute best not to look like complete idiots in front of him and failing miserably; instead, he stayed quiet and let him ask all the questions he wanted to ask, doing his best not to look at him, not even out of the corner of his eye.
The last straw for him was when, by accident, the crying nurse (who apparently worked in the maternity ward) entered, and broke again as soon as she saw them, assuring them that she would never let them get to the roof if she had known their true intentions.
He heard roof and he heard intentions. And he immediately came to the realization, that even though the doctors had told him the whole staff was looking for them everywhere, no one told him if they had already looked for them...
If they had already looked for them outside the building.
After murmuring some words to the nurse, Simon got out of there, running like a crazy man through the hospital, being followed by the two doctors, trying to stop him, so he wouldn’t make a scene in front of the other patients.
And Hugh, who immediately felt uncomfortable as soon as they left him alone with the sobbing woman, stood up and followed the sounds of the doctors' pleas.
He knew where Simon was going.
When he got there, Simon was leaning over the roof, while the doctors stayed under the door frame, with mortified faces.
Seconds later (which felt like hours), he stumbled back from the edge of the roof and sat down on the floor, sighing with relief.
It was more than enough for him to feel able to breathe normally again.
“Mr. Everhart—” the doctor said. “I think you should call your son.”
He agreed and let him know with a nod of his head. Then, he asked something about if they wanted to go to the office again, but Simon answered before him and told the doctor it was fine. Then, his co-worker grabbed him by the arm and told them they were going to give them their space. That time, none of them answered her. So they left without saying anything else.
It wasn’t like it mattered to him anyway. At that moment, the only one he wanted to hear was Simon’s voice.
Simon’s voice yelling at him. Crying. Cursing. It didn’t matter in what tone he was talking as long as he was able to hear him say his name.
Say something.
Anything.
Simon kept his head low but pointed at Hugh’s bracelet.
Call Adrian.
The bracelet rang on the other side of the line, and the more it did, and the more silent Simon stayed, the more Hugh’s worry started to vanish.
The wind took away the ashes of his anger, and let the fire start again.
As soon as Adrian picked up, he put him on speaker.
But he didn’t let him talk.
“Where is he?” he barked through the phone. “Adrian, what have you done?”
Simon slowly stood up, stumbling a little, and Adrian clicked his tongue. “So… you got the note?”
Oh, my—
“Yes, we got the note!” he yelled. “What’s going on? Where’s Max?”
“He’s somewhere safe,” Adrian responded immediately. “Trust me.”
He almost snorted. “Trust you? What does that even—”
Suddenly, Simon grabbed him by the arm and brought the bracelet closer to his face. “Adrian, we do trust you.” And he quickly added: “And we trust Max.”
Trust.
“But this is serious,” Simon continued. “We need to know where he is. You of all people should understand how dangerous it is for him to be alone out in the world.”
“He is not alone,” Adrian argued. “No other prodigies will be at risk, and he’s comfortable and secure, maybe even happy, which is more than we could ever say about putting him back in that quarantine.”
Simon opened his mouth but he couldn’t find any words to say. His grip started to get loose little by little until he let him go completely.
He couldn’t take his eyes away from Simon’s hands.
He wanted to hold them so bad.
“How did you even manage to get him out of the hospital?” Hugh asked Adrian. “Did you find the Vitality Charm?”
“No, Dad. But I— I borrowed one of the hazmat suits from HQ and put Max into it,” he explained. “The barrier protected me from his powers long enough to get him to where we needed to go.”
That was enough for Simon to come back to reality. Just that this time, he just got closer to the bracelet; he didn’t touch him at all. “A hazmat suit? And no one noticed a ten-year-old kid wandering down the corridors in a hazmat suit?” just after saying that sentence, he subtly gasped and groaned. “Invisibility. Right. You know, I forget that he has that one, too.”
For a second, Hugh thought he was talking to him. But when Adrian answered, he knew Simon was not. “You did give it to him, so technically, it’s kind of like you helped him escape.”
“Don’t get smart,” he snapped. “And he didn’t need to escape. He’s not a prisoner!”
“Wasn’t he?”
He didn’t wait for them to answer him. It was a rhetorical question.
Not like Hugh knew how he would answer that question.
“Look, I know you guys love him,” Adrian continued, “but I’m not letting you put him back in that quarantine, end of story. For now, he’s safe where he is until we find a more permanent solution.”
Simon turned away, covering his mouth with his hand, and looking at the sky.
Adrian— Adrian didn’t sound like his usual self. In fact, if he wanted to be completely honest with himself, the way his son was behaving reminded him a lot of a younger Adrian, who was just a little bit older than Max, entering into what would soon become his teen years, and liked to think all his parents did was making his life a living hell. Like when he asked Hugh to let him go to that Renegades Camp that was supposed to be only for the kids who were living in orphanages funded by the Council, or when he wanted Simon to get him a couple of new sneakers; in both situations, he received no for an answer, and proceeded to make a huge deal out of it, asking them why were they always trying to isolate him from other kids, or if they were poor again and would have to share a piece of bread between the three of them, like when they lived at Simon’s house.
Both of those situations were tantrums that Hugh could let slide. He let Adrian go to the camp that year (after a lot of consideration) and bought him the sneakers he wanted as his birthday present, even getting a little mad at Simon for not getting them when Adrian asked him to since it wasn’t like they didn’t have the money or something.
Even he could understand those situations were… things all kids went through at that age. It was a phase that Adrian outgrew.
But that— that was not a phase.
That was not even a tantrum.
It was reckless and stupid, and dangerous.
And he was putting Max in danger. He was making Simon as worried as he had never seen him worried before.
And it was something Hugh could not let slide.
Not this time.
“No, Adrian,” Hugh said, “you are going to tell us where he is right this minute, so we can get him back to the hospital and make sure—”
But Adrian knew how to play that game too.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he interrupted. “For now, I’m late for a team meeting. Okay, guys? Love you, bye!”
And he hanged up.
And he didn't give them a chance to tell him they love him too.
But even if he had, Hugh knew he wouldn't say it back.
Just like that morning when they visited Nova at Cragmoor.
Before Hugh could even move, Simon left the roof, leaving him alone with those words echoing inside his head.
Trust me.
Hugh remembered he had trusted her. And, in a way, she had trusted him too.
And that was when everything started going downhill.
***
There was nothing Hugh could do at the hospital anymore. He encountered the doctors that had been informing them about the whole situation, and when he started telling them everything was fine and that they were able to locate their kids, they told them Mr. Westwood had already been there and notified them. They also promised everyone in the hospital was going to keep Max’s condition a secret and assure him no information was going to be leaked to the media to keep him safe. Hugh thanked them, but honestly, it was the least they could do.
When he went to the hospital’s parking lot, he looked for Simon’s car. Since he didn’t find it, he assumed he had gone to Kasumi’s house.
Hugh was going to return to Headquarters. To distract himself.
He entered through one of the back doors, so no one from the patrol units or the janitorial team saw him in his civilian clothes. He was lucky not to walk into someone while going through the corridors, but he didn’t feel safe until he entered his office and closed the door behind him.
And that feeling lasted… five seconds.
Because when he turned on the lights, Tamaya was sitting on top of his desk, with her legs crossed and drumming her fingers against the dark wood.
“Shit, Tamaya, why are you in my office?” he asked her with a hand on his chest.
She didn’t seem a little ashamed when she heard him scream. She didn’t even flinch.
“Shit, Hugh, why are you not in your office?” she asked him back.
She knew he didn’t like when people copied his exact words.
“Get off my desk,” he ordered her while walking towards it and sitting in his swivel leather chair. “You look super creepy waiting for me in the dark. Next time send a text”
Tamaya acted like she didn’t hear him. “I did,” she growled. “I did and you told me you were going to be here in a matter of minutes. What the hell happened there? What the hell was so important it made you think it was appropriate to leave me hanging here?”
Hugh opened one of the drawers (the bigger one) and found his uniform inside a plastic bag. It had a purple sticky note, and in permanent black sharpie, Simon had written his name with his wonderful, horrible calligraphy and drawn small hearts around it.
Hugh turned it into a small ball and threw it in the trash.
“Evander was here,” he reminded her as if she didn’t already know it. “I didn’t leave you hanging.”
“Evander doesn’t count. He’s asleep right now, actually.”
In Headquarters, they had a couple of rooms filled with beds, in case the patrol units needed to rest after a particularly long shift or wanted to take a nap before patrolling. For some reason, Evander liked to rest there, and if no one else was there, he even locked the door so no one was able to come in. Hugh thought it was very selfish of him to do that, but Evander assured him it was actually pretty comfortable (as if that was the problem he had with it) and Simon always told Hugh to let it go since it was something Evander only did after he finished his shift or was about to be up all night, just like the patrol units.
But he wasn’t going to let it go now. He decided that after putting on his uniform, he was going to kick the door down, grab him by the ankles, and throw him out of the bed.
Hugh closed the drawer. “Hey, I’m going to change my clothes, so—”
His lips sealed just as Tamaya put a hand on his shoulder.
Not like “I’m with you”.
More like…
“Move and I’m going to kick your ass.”
Hugh didn’t want to get his ass kicked that day.
“Answer. My. Question.” And she said it again. “What the fuck was so important it made you think it was appropriate to leave me hanging here?”
He tried to think of an excuse not to tell Tamaya the truth.
But, honestly, there wasn’t one. She was going to know all about it sooner or later.
“Max disappeared from the hospital.”
Tamaya let go of his shoulder and gasped. “What?—”
“Don’t worry,” he quickly added, “he’s fine, Adrian took him. Can I change now?” She sighed and then, she nodded. “Thanks. Hold the fort.”
Tamaya walked to the door and locked it, just to make sure no one was going to enter and see Captain Chromium, their boss, just wearing his underwear and trying to get into those tight leggings everyone had told him looked ridiculous since the moment he turned them into a crucial part of his superhero gear (and personality), but he kept wearing and will keep wearing until the day he died.
Hugh was going to hold on to that small piece of dignity he had left as if his life depended on it, because, maybe, just maybe, it kind of did.
So… one way to do it, was to make sure no one entered while he changed his clothes.
Tamaya could stay though. It would be stupid to put on an act of false modesty when Tamaya had seen all of them naked at some point in their lifes. However, the main difference between her and Evander, who had also seen everyone naked, was that Tamaya just remained quiet and closed the door almost as soon as she had opened it, while Evander started screaming so loud, that if they had had neighbors, they would have heard him say he had seen boobies (or a pee-pee, depending on the case) (he also hated the word pee pee thanks to that.)
Tamaya, respectful as she was, kept her eyes fixated on the ceiling. “So that’s why you were dressed up like that,” she mumbled. “I wouldn't change my clothes if my son went missing, either.”
That hadn’t exactly been the line of events, but what Tamaya didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. “How dare you. I have an incredibly good sense of fashion.”
Hugh was wearing a t-shirt, a hoodie, and ratty jeans.
In his defense, he hadn't done laundry that week.
That wasn’t a great defense, but still.
“Yeah, sure,” she scoffed. “When you entered, I thought you were an intruder and was about to get all defensive and shit.”
“Well, you’re not the only one—” he put his civilian clothes in the plastic bag “—When I went to the hospital, no one really recognized me at first either.”
Tamaya slightly smiled and then crossed her arms against her chest. “What do you mean Adrian took him?” she asked.
He stopped what he was doing for a couple of seconds. “I mean that,” he finally said. “He took him. Adrian got Max out of the hospital, took him somewhere else, and refused to tell us where he is.”
“And where’s Adrian now?”
“Patrolling with his team.”
Patrolling with his team.
As if he hadn’t kidnapped his brother and put in danger dozens of prodigies in the process.
As if he hadn’t worried them as if he had done before, because apparently, he was still too young and immature to comprehend that Max’s situation was something neither of them wished for, but at the same time, was a lot more complicated than he thought it was.
As if nothing had happened.
Tamaya stayed in complete silence until he sat down and remembered, he didn’t bring the boots that he wore with the superhero suit.
Great.
Those shoes didn’t even match the leggings.
“And what did you tell him?”
“Nothing. He didn’t give me the chance.”
Maybe if he stayed behind his desk until he finished his responsibilities of the day, no one would notice. And he could always exit through the backdoor.
“That kid. He wasn’t like that— Adrian had never done something like this before. I’m— I’m honestly shocked by his behavior.”
“You tell me.”
But he didn’t want to. Yet. He didn’t want to go to his house.
Not like that.
Not alone.
“What are you going to tell Adrian?”
And Adrian.
Alone, and with Adrian.
“What am I going to tell him?”
Tamaya nodded, and a wave of possible answers flooded his head.
Adrian, you’re in big trouble.
Adrian, you’re grounded for the rest of your life.
Adrian, please tell me where Max is, I’m begging you.
Adrian, grow up.
Adrian, your dad is not coming back for a very long time.
Adrian.
Adrian.
Your mom—
“Nothing.”
Because there is nothing that could be said.
Tamaya raised her eyebrows. “Nothing?” she doubtfully asked.
“Nothing.”
“You can’t say nothing to him,” she objected, incredulous. “That’s just not healthy.”
Hugh pretended he was going through the pages of a document someone had left for him on his desk. As if he could read those tiny letters without his glasses.
As if he couldn’t go years without talking to people.
Or about them.
“Hugh. Hugh, are you lis—”
“What did you want to talk about?”
“Huh?”
When he realized he was rolling his eyes, it was too late to stop. He just kept talking and hoped Tamaya didn’t gouge them out. “You told me before you needed to talk to me,” he explained.
“No, I said we needed to talk,” she corrected him pointing at him with a finger. She was wearing black nail polish.
You see? You remember perfectly.
“Well, in case you were wondering—” he opened the document and started reading it “—I’m listening. What’s the situation?”
Tamaya didn’t have time to react to his words. If she was going to scream, start talking about what she (she, because Hugh didn’t want to), or genuinely gouge his eyes out, no one, probably not even Tamaya herself, would ever know.
A loud banging, stifled voices, and a very familiar yell interrupted them all of the sudden.
“DAD!”
Hugh grasped tightly the pages of the document, while Tamaya grunted loudly and opened the door, her wings extended and bristly.
“WHAT?!”
The loud banging and stifled voices went silent. But the familiar yell didn’t fear Tamaya.
Because he was that reckless.
“Dad.”
Tamaya’s wings relaxed and she moved aside, letting Hugh see Adrian, still in his Renegade uniform, a little bit sweaty and dirty, like every time he came back from patrol. His team was sweaty and dirty too, but none of them had the same expression Adrian’s face had.
He seemed weird. Different.
He would dare to say he looked hopeful.
And the moments where they just stayed staring at each other, probably waiting for the other to make the first move, Hugh couldn’t figure out the reason why.
***
Innocent.
She was innocent.
According to the Renegades, Nova Jean McLain was innocent.
They came to that resolution an hour and a half later.
When Adrian first told him Nova was innocent, he couldn’t understand what he was talking about, but Tamaya took control of the situation and immediately told Hugh to wake Evander up at the same time she told Adrian’s team to follow her.
Hugh didn’t kick the door down, but he did grab him by the ankles and made him wake up screaming.
Evander walked beside him, wearing a Blacklight t-shirt people sold at Cosmopolis Park and asking him questions about what was going on, but Hugh insisted he waited until the rest of them arrived because it was a delicate situation.
Extremely delicate.
So delicate, Hugh thought it would break like a roof made of glass and the sharp pieces would rain all over their heads, cutting their bodies like a piece of rotten fruit.
At the meeting room, Tamaya was talking to Kasumi over the phone they kept there in case of an emergency, and Adrian was gathered with his team. He was the only one who had bothered to pretend that he wasn’t worried at all because Oscar Silva and Ruby Tucker couldn’t stop throwing glances at each other, and Danna Bell shook her head every once in a while, saying something that sounded like “You’re making a mistake. You all are making a mistake.”
Oddly enough, he hoped she was right. He hoped Adrian and everyone who believed him was just making a mistake, so things wouldn’t get more complicated than they already were.
That was not going to look good for them.
Kasumi and Simon arrived ten minutes after Tamaya hung up the phone. Neither of them were wearing their uniforms or bothering to look at Hugh. Actually, Kasumi walked directly towards Tamaya to apparently ask her something (and Evander followed her because he was Evander), while Simon immediately went over Adrian, turned around the spinning chair he was sitting on, and hugged him, without caring a single bit about embarrassing in front of his team.
Adrian hugged him back. But then, he pulled him away to tell him he knew for a fact Nightmare was not Nova, but instead, Narcissa Cronin, Gene Cronin’s granddaughter.
Simon remained calm, and rubbing Adrian’s arms, told him that was a pretty serious accusation.
“But tell us all about it.”
And Adrian did. He and his team told them all about it.
Mostly him though.
He told them about them encountering Narcissa Cronin and that she explained her evil plans to them, in extreme detail. She planted evidence to make Nova seem guilty because, after the parade, she wanted to get the Renegades off her back, and Nova was the perfect person to incriminate for her crimes. She considered it her revenge against the Renegades for not doing anything when Ingrid Thompson shot the only family she had left, but after hearing a rumor of her execution, she realized she didn’t want Nova to die in the hands of the Renegades.
Not because she cared about her. She just had principles.
Or those were the words Adrian used, that made him question himself if he wanted to see her dead.
Because even when he gave Frostbite— or, Genissa Clark, permission to be the one to execute her, he still didn’t know if he did because he was sure it was the right thing…
Or because he was scared.
Which still— didn’t answer his question.
Do you really want to see Nova McLain dead?
He wasn’t sure about it.
Tamaya, on the other hand, was.
She didn’t want to see Nova McLain dead.
And apparently, neither did Kasumi and Simon, because as soon as Adrian finished telling his side of the story, they immediately started talking about removing all charges that had been filed against her to get her out of Cragmoor as soon as possible. Evander tried to interrupt them and insisted that maybe they needed to hear the rest of the team (who had barely spoken through the entire conversation), as well as to go to the scene to look for clues. Danna Bell agreed with him and tried to take the word, but Tamaya stated they didn’t need to hear anything else, because the more they stayed there, listening, the more time an innocent girl stayed in prison. When Evander tried to argue again, Tamaya looked at Hugh, silently asking him to support her.
The five members of the Council knew the glass roof they had been standing under for God knows how much time, had shattered completely.
The least Hugh could do was use his entire body to try to protect them from it.
So he agreed with Tamaya, and said, out loud, that Nova McLain was free of all charges.
Tucker and Silva smiled as soon as they heard him say that, and Bell just sighed. Adrian let out a “Yes!” under his breath and turned around to say, “Thank you.”
Evander just rolled his eyes and started playing with a pencil he found there, but Tamaya and Kasumi smiled at him, and Simon said, “No, Adrian, thank you.”
Before leaving the room with the rest of his team, Adrian cast a glance at Hugh.
But Hugh pretended he didn’t realize until Danna Bell told Adrian to keep going and he obeyed.
***
The Council stayed in the meeting room for a little while, to put all the cards on the table and make sure they understood each of the steps they had to take to get Nova McLain out of Cragmoor. Evander and Hugh were the only ones who didn’t participate in the conversation at all, but while Evander was doing it because he knew anything he had to say was going to be completely ignored and was mad about it, Hugh didn’t do it because he couldn’t take his eyes away from Simon.
Even if Simon wasn’t looking at him at all.
He talked with his hands. A lot. When they were teens, he remembered Simon constantly kept his hands in his pockets, especially when they were in public, so he wouldn’t draw any kind of attention to himself, and only dared to do it when he was at his house or very excited or sad about something. But now that he was an adult, he gesticulated even more, even during the most serious of conversations, with no shame at all. Hugh always had thought it was an adorable quirk of his, and being able to see him grow and embrace that part of himself (and get emotional when Kasumi pointed out Adrian was starting to talk with his hands too) felt like something very personal to him.
Every single thing that had to do with Simon felt so personal to him.
He wasn’t his other half. Hugh had once said that to him, and Simon confessed he found that “compliment” pretty problematic, and he couldn’t help but agree to him.
Simon was more than that. It was something so much more important, so much, that the way he scratched his beard, raised his eyebrows, and looked at the ceiling to try to remember the word he wanted to say, made him realize how much he missed him already.
He missed him already; and he was right there, inches away from him.
Home.
Simon was his home.
And his house wouldn’t feel like it if he arrived there without him.
So when Tamaya dismissed all of them, he decided to make something about it.
That night, he would go back to his house with Simon— or he was not going back at all.
Adrian was leaning against the wall, waiting for them while playing with his keys. His team was nowhere to be seen, which was completely understandable considering how late it was. As soon as he saw them walking through the door, he started to walk towards them, almost ignoring how Evander accidentally pushed him while trying to get out of there as soon as possible.
Then, he asked, “Are we going home now?”
And even if he was looking at Hugh when he said that, Hugh, instead of answering him, turned to see Simon. Not only because he knew that if he opened his mouth, the only thing that would come out of it would be… something not very nice about what he thought about Adrian’s behavior over the last hours; but also because, at that point, it all depended on what Simon had to say about it.
Even if he didn’t know it.
Simon.
Are we going home now, Simon?
But instead of answering the question, Simon smiled at him, and rubbing Adrian’s arms, told him, “I think Tamaya’s going to drop you at the house. You could do that, right?”
Tamaya and Kasumi were standing behind them. “Yeah, of course, I can.”
“Are you going to carry me in your arms and take me for a flight?”
“Funny. What about if you carry me, huh?”
“I can.”
“I cannot allow it though. It wouldn’t be very feminist of me.” Adrian laughed at her joke, and she pretended to act all cocky about it, brushing off her shoulders and trying not to smile. “Let’s go. Kasumi—”
“It’s all right. I arrived with Simon, my car’s here.”
Tamaya told her it was all right and then pointed at the elevator to tell Adrian they needed to get going. Both women started walking beside him, being slowly, but closely followed by Simon, letting Hugh standing where he was, probably waiting for him to follow them or—
Or maybe not.
But Hugh didn’t want to follow them.
He just wanted him.
“Simon—”
Adrian didn’t stop; the adults, however, did.
He was so happy, so relieved to see Simon turn around when he called his name, he didn’t even care that Tamaya and Kasumi also did it, with an expression on their faces he couldn’t tell what they meant.
That was enough for him to blur out his question.
“Can we talk?”
Simon slightly opened his mouth, but before saying anything, he turned to see his friends, for a reason Hugh didn’t understand (and didn’t bother to think about it).
Adrian called for the elevator, and realized, everyone was literally just standing there, without moving, and all their eyes were fixated on Simon. “Um… guys?”
Tamaya was the first one to come back to reality. “Wait for me in the car, Adrian, I’ll be there in a minute.”
He didn’t give it too much thought and nodded.
Simon still hadn’t said anything when Adrian left in the elevator. But now that his presence was gone, Hugh felt enough courage and serenity to— beg, he guessed.
“Please. Can we talk?”
Please. Please, please, please—
“Yes,” Simon said. “Yes, we can talk.”
He smiled. Just a little bit. Because Simon didn’t move towards him after he accepted. Instead, he stayed right where he was, as if he was in a line to get something from a store and if he moved, he was going to lose his place and the thing he had been waiting for hours to get.
After waiting for a good ten awkward seconds for Kasumi and Tamaya to keep walking, he realized they had no intention of doing so. And also, he realized that he didn’t want to talk with them either. Not at that moment.
At that moment, the only thing, the only person that mattered, was Simon.
“Could we… maybe go somewhere else more private?” he mumbled while scratching his eyebrow and trying not to make eye contact with any of the girls.
Simon clicked his tongue and glanced at Tamaya and Kasumi. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Or not.
The few instants they were walking towards the meeting room, Hugh looked at Simon’s hands, wondering when it would be the right moment to sneakily touch them, like he did when he was in love with him but still didn’t know it.
But Simon had his hands deep inside his pockets.
The only light that came into the room was the light of the few lightbulbs that illuminated the corridor; they turned off the majority of them during the night, not only because there weren't that many people around, but also to save electricity. Hugh entered first and Simon didn’t completely close the door behind him, only enough for no one to be able to see what they were doing in case some other Renegade was around there and walked past the room.
After that, Simon closed his eyes, grabbed tons of air, and then let it all go with a sigh. When he finally looked him in the eyes, Hugh realized it was the first time he did that after their fight in the kitchen.
And he realized all of that had happened in one day.
What a day. He bet they would remember it for the rest of their lives.
He hoped they wouldn’t. He hoped, and he hoped, even if his rational part told him it was not going to happen because memories didn’t work that way at all, but he kept hoping anyway, and started searching for the correct combination of words he needed for Simon to also forget about that day.
Hugh was willing to ignore everything they had gone through during that day. He would take Simon’s silence, words, and indifference, put it all inside a box, and then throw it at the back of his memories and never be opened again, if Simon was willing to do the same for Hugh’s cries, screams, and feelings.
He was even willing to let Simon stay mad at him for the rest of the night if that was what he needed. Yes, he could handle a night like that. He could be the one to stare at Simon’s back, for Simon to take a break from staring at his almost all the time they got into bed. He would do anything for him.
And he just wanted him to do one thing: to ignore everything that had just happened.
Forever.
While his mind was still trying to come up with how he was going to put all those thoughts into words, he caressed Simon’s cheek to buy himself a couple of extra seconds. But when Simon tensed and clenched his jaw, instead of tilting his head a little bit and putting his own hand over his, like he did every time Hugh touched his face like that, he knew there was nothing he couldn’t let more time go by.
Suddenly, his eyes were fixated on Simon’s lips. The same small, bitten, and dry lips he had contemplated for so many years, they felt like his own, and tasted like peppermint, a little bit of coffee, and sometimes even lavender.
When Simon opened them to speak, Hugh went from having absolutely no clue of what to do, to being absolutely sure of what he needed to do.
So he just did it.
He just placed his lips on top of Simon’s and kissed him.
At first, Simon didn't break the kiss. Instead, he went with the flow and kissed him back, as if he had been craving that kiss for months.
And he probably did. It was just that Hugh, suddenly, didn't.
Like. He thought he had. But now that he was there, with one hand holding Simon's head, and Simon's about to touch his hips, he started to feel like there was something very wrong with that situation.
But he was desperate. He wanted him back. He wanted him back and if that meant kissing him when he didn't feel like it, he was going to do it.
He would do everything for Simon.
He would never give up on him.
He just really wanted him to know that.
And really wanted to know if Simon hadn't given up on him either.
Simon kissed him one last time, raised his hands, put them on Hugh’s chest—
And pushed him away.
He pushed him away so suddenly, he tripped on his own feet and hit his head against the wall.
It didn't hurt though.
Still, the only thing he could answer to that, with Simon staring at him, realization dawning on his face, was a really fake:
“Ouch.”
Suddenly, Simon snapped. “What the fuck was that? Hugh, what the fuck was that?” he insisted. “Did you— do you really think that treating me as if I were a— a fucking animal, you're going to get something from me? Where do you think I have my brain? Huh? Where!?”
Hugh didn't respond. And Simon wasn't taking it. “Where?! Answer me! Where, where, where—”
Simon raised his hands above his head, and started pulling his own hair, hid his face with his arms, and just— broke down.
In a million pieces.
That was enough to make him flinch.
He preferred he pushed him again. Hell, Simon could slap him for kissing him without telling him he was going to do it first, and it would be much better than watching him suffer like that.
“Where, where—” he cried “—Stars, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for pushing you, it was— are you— I'm so sorry, lo—” and let out a loud sob.
Hugh kept gazing at his crying husband for a while.
“Do you really think that low of me?”
And kept pulling his hair. And his face remained hidden. His cries only became louder and louder, and Hugh didn't dare to move, much less to touch him, because even if he wanted with all his might to hold him and grabbed him by the wrists so he didn't continue hurting himself, he knew it would be useless.
Everything was useless.
“Stop that,” he finally dared to say.
He didn't say “No, I don't.”
He didn't say “Of course I don't think badly of you.”
He didn't even say he loved him.
He told him to stop.
Stop what?
“No, you stop!” Simon shrieked. “Stop whatever the hell you're doing, stop it. You're hurting me.”
Hurting.
You're hurting me.
He looked at his hands. Fortunately, they were completely dry and have not a single drop of chromium coming out of them.
But they felt as if they were on fire. And heavy.
Is that how they were supposed to feel when they were hurting someone?
And if they felt this heavy, and this hot, and this horrible, in how much heavy, hot, horrible pain could the other person be?
No, really: in how much?
How could you explain pain to someone who couldn't feel it?
“Why?”
And like an idiot, he asked back, “Why what?”
Simon removed his arms from his face and looked him dead in the eye for what he knew would be the last in time.
“Why do you have to make everything worse, Hugh?”
Hugh didn’t answer his question, and Simon didn’t answer his either.
A question he never got the chance to ask but was at the back of his mind.
Have you given up on me yet?
***
Hugh didn't come out of the meeting room until he was sure no one else was around. Until the elevator had gone and came back four times, and until his head felt so dizzy, he would faint if he didn't sit down.
He looked around, making sure nobody saw him, went to his office, and put a lock in the door. Hugh didn't want anyone to interrupt him. He had a lot of paperwork to do if he wanted to get Nova out of Cragmoor as soon as the sun came out.
***
It wasn’t the first time he had slept at his office. It had never been because he wanted to, but because he absolutely had to. Somedays, he would have so many responsibilities, that his normal working hours were not enough for him to finish them all. It was a little uncomfortable since the desk wasn’t the best place one could sleep on, and sometimes he didn’t have the energy to get up and go to Max’s quarantine room, to at least have the opportunity to sleep on a bed and an excuse to have a little more time with him.
Those nights, when he had to put his head on the desk and use his arms as a pillow, he would wake up and realized someone had put a blanket over his shoulders. And he always knew that someone had been Simon because the blanket smelled a little bit like him.
Even if Max’s quarantine area hadn’t been destroyed and he could go there to sleep, he wouldn’t have done it. Max wouldn’t be there. It wouldn’t be the same with him moving like he was possessed by a demon and kicking him in his sleep.
Which was something also Simon did.
The day Nova was released from prison, Simon stayed at Kasumi’s house. She didn’t comment anything about it and Tamaya had been the one who told him that the reason he didn’t come to work was that he had a headache. Hugh never asked her about it, but she informed him anyways. For some reason, he pretended not to be very concerned about it and just mumbled he hoped he felt better tomorrow.
When he woke up, after his second night of sleeping on his desk, he considered the crazy idea Kasumi and Evander had told him of getting sofas for each one of his offices; idea that he had brushed off because he thought they would only waste space, but now regretted he hadn’t listened to.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have an extra uniform for that day, so he just prayed the one he was wearing was clean enough for nobody to notice he hadn’t changed his clothes that morning, put on a lot of deodorant and cologne to hide the fact he hadn’t showered, and went out through one of the back doors, just to enter again a couple of minutes later through the front door, pretending he had just arrived from home and hadn’t stayed there all night.
As soon as he entered, he told Sampson if he could please notify him when Nova arrived at Headquarters. He didn’t ask for an explanation as to why he wanted that, but accepted anyway, clearly excited for having her back with them.
Hugh wasn’t… excited. Or happy, for that matter. Not that he wasn’t happy that she wasn't locked up anymore— of course he was happy she wasn’t locked up anymore.
What he was feeling reminded him more of when Simon, Evander, and he were playing a game they liked to call “Tag, you’re straight”, that consisted of the three of them throwing balls against a random wall at the same time, and then doing their best to dodge them while pushing the others so they get hit. Then, whoever got hit, would be smacked on the back of his head, and the other two would yell “Tag, you’re straight!”. It was a game he really liked and they kept playing even when they weren’t teens anymore, since in their family, bullying Evander was a great bonding activity, and “Tag, you’re straight” was the perfect opportunity to do so, especially because, as far as everyone knew, Evander was, in fact, straight, so that made everything ten times funnier when he got hit by a ball and got mad about it.
And yes, everything was fun and laughs, until Hugh broke a window, and a very angry Tamaya practically kicked the door down to ask them what the fuck had happened, yelling at the three of them for a good two or five minutes.
Even if Hugh had been the one who broke the window, everyone (even Kasumi, who was in the bathroom when the whole thing happened) helped clean up the mess and got cardboard to cover what now would be considered a hole in the wall, so the cold wind and dust wouldn't get in the house. It seemed like Tamaya had gotten a lot out of her system after yelling at them, because she chuckled at the jokes Evander and Simon made about the situation, saying that Hugh’s new power was turning straight everyone (and everything) he touched and that now the window was “one of them”. Hugh wanted to laugh too, but at the same time, he could only ask himself how she was going to react when she arrived home and realized what he had done.
And of course he wanted her to come home, as he always wanted every time she got out, to make sure she was still safe and sound, and so they could tell each other about their day and what they had done while the other wasn’t around. But now, he was also worried. And ashamed.
It was a combination of happiness, expectation, worry, and shame.
And he didn’t like it one bit.
So when Sampson let him know, after a while, Nova McLain was there, what he really heard, was Simon’s voice telling him she had arrived.
He knew it wasn’t the same person. But it felt pretty similar.
He made sure he didn’t look like a dead body before going to the first floor while making mental notes of what he was going to say to Nova.
Her situation had always been one that was pretty delicate, but now it had taken a new turn. A simple “I’m sorry”, with only those words, wouldn’t be enough for her, because it wouldn’t be enough for him either. He knew how Cragmoor was.
Hugh wanted— needed her to feel as if she belonged to the Renegades. Because, yeah, she did, but he knew that when she was back in her cell, she probably didn’t feel that way, and if he let this one slide, it would become a problem sooner or later.
Probably much more sooner than later.
It wasn’t like he was going to lie to her face or something; he just was going to point in the right direction. For her.
When the elevator doors finally opened, he spotted Nova surrounded by Adrian’s team (but no Adrian in sight). Silva and Tucker were smiling at her and touching her, but Bell, who was used to keep her hands to herself when it came to physical touch, just stayed there, watching her friends greet her without actually participating in the conversation that was happening in front of her. Actually, she was the first one to leave Nova alone after Silva said something about going out to eat (and Hugh could clearly listen to him because Silva didn’t know how to keep his voice down, so when he went to their house, he could hear everything he said to Adrian, even the most embarrassing parts), an invitation Nova rejected, even after they insisted her to got with them. Hugh decided to take that as an opportunity to talk to her.
Nova was a Renegade.
And the Renegades didn’t turn their backs on each other.
The feeling that he had just thought something pretty hypocrite started to creep at the back of his mind, when someone very small bumped against his chest, and before he could mumble a mechanic apology and keep walking, he realized that very small someone was Nova.
He had to think fast.
“Oops, sorry, Nova.”
He could call her Nova, right? Insomnia felt way too formal. And McLain seemed a little bit aggressive. Plus, she was Adrian’s girlfriend— or that was the last thing he had known about the topic. If they had broken up, Hugh would have probably received a memo or something. He didn't have Max or Simon with him to ask them about what they knew about it. They probably would tell him to go ask Adrian directly though, and that was something Hugh was not willing to do because he was still not talking to Adrian.
“Uh… hi,” Nova stammered.
Then, being completely aware he could break her hand’s bones if he grabbed her too hard, gave her a handshake as carefully as he could.
But still solid enough to show her he was being serious.
“I asked Sampson to let me know when you came in. I wanted to be one of the first to welcome you back to the team.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
He released her hand and stopped smiling.
The conversation couldn’t die there. He needed more.
“And I wanted to offer you a formal apology for this abysmal misunderstanding,” he added. “I’m ashamed to think how we treated you, as one of our own, when your loyalty and dedication has been so unwavering. It’s just…” What was the word? “all this turmoil that’s been going on lately, you know? The parade, Cosmopolis Park, the attack on headquarters, Ace Anarchy… sometimes I feel like we’re jumping through hoops set on fire, and every one of them is a little bit smaller. If we don’t keep ahead of all the threats and dangers, then one of these days, the whole thing will go up in flames.”
That was a good analogy. And he had just come up with that one.
Apparently, Nova thought it had been a good analogy too, because she chuckled and said, “Well, good thing you’re invincible, at least.”
“Yeah, I might be,” he shrugged, “but there are people I care about that don’t have that luxury, and I’m just doing what I can to protect them. I hope you understand that we did what we had to do, given the circumstances.”
The circumstances, he thought.
Nova had people she loved. Adrian had mentioned she had an uncle before, as far as he could remember. She had proved to be pretty passionate about the things she cared about, and he bet that she would do anything to protect the only family she had left.
The circumstances didn’t matter. They never mattered as long as the people one loved were safe.
She would understand.
She had to understand.
And fortunately, she did.
“Of course,” Nova answered, with a smile on her lips.
“Good.” Good. Everything was working out as he wanted to. “Because you are a part of the Renegades family now,” and he added, feeling a little too inspired, “and it’s important to me and all the Council that everyone here feels like they’re being treated fairly. That they are part of this team.”
You’re a Renegade, Nova.
And the Renegades don’t turn their backs on each other.
And as if Nova had listened to his thoughts, she lifted her chin and said, “I don’t blame you and the Council for what happened. You were given information and you had to act on it. I understand why you did what you did. But—”
Hugh had to use all his might not to growl or roll his eyes as soon as he heard that word.
He couldn’t appear too relieved because something was always going to get in the way.
“—I was surprised by the whole execution thing.”
Me too.
Honestly, me too.
“Yes…” he agreed, “it’s unfortunate that we… Well, I hate to think about what you went through.” Then, just to make sure the point was cleared, he quickly said, “But I am so glad it’s all worked out.”
Isn't it?
“Yes, it worked out for me, thankfully,” she answered, putting a lot of emphasis on “for me”, by slowing her voice “But I have to admit that I’d always wanted to believe the Renegades were, well, above capital punishment. To end someone’s life, giving them no possible chance for restitution, and to do it without even offering a fair trial, it seems—” she frowned and put her index finger in the space between her nose and her lips “—how do I say this? A little villainous.”
As soon as Hugh heard that, he chuckled.
Because telling her to stop talking back to him and go to her room was not an option, and he didn’t know what else to do.
“To be fair,” he mentioned, “we did believe you were Nightmare, and Nightmare did try to kill me.”
But most importantly, she tried to kill Max. And should probably go for Adrian and Simon next, if they didn’t stop her soon. Something he should be making sure they did, but couldn’t leave the conversation, because Nova still had a lot to say about the matter.
“I’m aware of that,” Nova agreed “but… don’t you think she would at least deserve another chance?”
During the whole conversation, he had tried to stay as impassive as possible, only showing the right amount of emotion on his features for him to be able to get his point across. However, he didn’t do a good job on that specific moment, because Nova’s tone quickly changed.
“Or, maybe not Nightmare, specifically,” she withdrew. “But think about it. I was in that prison—wrongfully, yes—but it still gave me time to think about my life and my choices, and to decide that, if I ever got out of there, I would do things differently. The Renegades have to be willing to look beyond the mistakes of the past and understand that people can change.” Nova shook her head. “And I’m not talking about the execution, either. I know you’ll never forgive Ace Anarchy for what he did, and maybe you’ll never forgive Nightmare, either—”
At least we can agree on that.
And the only reason they could agree on that, was because Hugh was hearing her words as if she were talking to him underwater, and instead of focusing on what she was saying, he could only focus on her gestures, her hands, and, for some reason, her eyes.
But weirdly enough, he only did it when she wasn’t looking in his.
“—But there are dozens of prodigies on that island, some who have been there for more than a decade. And yet—” she raised her finger “—we have no systems in place to see if they really are as dangerous as we think they are. To see if they deserve the punishment they’re receiving. Maybe some of them want to become useful citizens in this world;” she shrugged, “maybe some of them deserve that. But you want to strip their powers from them, without even giving them a chance to explain why they did the things they did or how they’ve changed in the years since. Many of them are still being persecuted for crimes they committed in the Age of Anarchy…” Nova clicked her tongue before asking, “I mean, didn’t you do anything during that time that you’re not proud of?”
Nova asking him something so directly made him realize his jaw had been clenched during the whole conversation with no apparent reason at all. Then, a lot of things he wasn’t proud of doing during the Age of Anarchy started to come to his mind, and he had to stop his brain from doing that, because if the memories kept running, they were going to get to a point of no return, and no one would like what they were going to see.
Because when he first did, something broke inside of him.
No. It didn’t break.
It died.
Something died.
“We did what we had to do to stop the villain gangs, to bring order and peace,” he answered. “We would do it again if we had to.”
He would do it again. Most of it.
Only most of it.
She arched an eyebrow. “Even if that meant doing things that you wouldn’t allow today as part of the Code Authority?”
He clenched his jaw again and pinched his lips, only that this time, he knew exactly why he had done it.
“Maybe some of those prisoners did things that were… justified, in some way,” Nova continued. “Maybe they stole things because there were no jobs back then. Maybe they fought against authority because authority abused and ostracized people like them. Maybe they would choose differently now, if we only gave them a chance.”
Give them another chance. Chances.
Nova seemed to be really interested in chances. But Hugh had learned that the world didn’t always give second chances to people, not even to those who deserve it the most, and the sooner Nova learned that, the less the world would hurt her.
He had to stop her right there before realization hit her in the face.
When his kids were little and did something wrong, he (or Simon) would kneel in front of them and make it clear why their behavior was wrong, so they knew exactly the reason they were being grounded. Now, Nova was not his kid, and especially, she wasn't exactly a kid anymore. But she was still young, and if he could do something to protect her, he would do it.
He couldn’t apply the same technique he applied with Adrian and Max. However, he could definitely show her the right path and hope she knew, it was for her own good.
And, again, she would understand.
She had to understand.
“Nova… I can tell you’re passionate about this,” he started, and clearly noticed how her jaw tensed too, “but… you have to understand that the people in that prison aren’t like you. You were innocent. You shouldn’t have been there in the first place. While they are criminals and villains, practically savages some of them.”
But to his surprise—
Nova didn’t.
“How do you know?” she spatted. “How many of them have you talked to recently? Or for that matter, how many of them ever received a fair trial?”
Hugh sighed and took a look at his surroundings. There were a lot of Renegades around them, pretending to be on their own thing, but clearly listening to the entire conversation for who knows how long.
He couldn't scream at them. Not again.
Nova, on the other hand, was also looking around but didn't appear as angry as Hugh was.
Maybe because she couldn't understand the severity of the conversation they were having.
“What are you suggesting?” he asked her, lowering his voice. Nova returned his attention to him. “That we postpone the Agent N reveal until we can… what, interview them?” then, he added, scoffing, “Or should we devote our resources to gathering evidence from ten years ago, all so we can prove what we already know? They are villains,” Hugh reminded her.
And in response, she reminded him, “I’m not a villain. But that wasn’t going to stop you from executing me.”
Hugh didn't doubt Nova's innocence. At least, not anymore. But, when she said it that way, she sounded so convincing and so sure of her words, that he wondered why he had thought she was Nightmare in the first place.
“And no,” Nova continued, “I’m not suggesting you postpone the reveal for a while, I’m suggesting you postpone it indefinitely.”
He stepped back, feeling shocked by the determination in her voice.
And her audacity.
That audacity.
Simon always said that one shouldn't be quick to judge other people's actions because there was always a reason why they were acting like that. Within those words (and Simon, always Simon) in mind, Hugh thought that there had to be a reason behind her audacity, and it couldn't be the one he was starting to think it was.
Nova didn't flinch at his reaction and continued to talk as confidently as before. “In fact, I think you should destroy Agent N. All of it. Along with any possibility that it could ever be re-created.”
Maybe it was resentment.
Maybe those were her ideas about good and bad.
Maybe it was that she was scared of losing her powers herself.
So he went with that, and recited the exact words he had been thinking about since Genissa Clark had been neutralized, and that he had been saying to each Renegade that expressed that very same concern. “If this is about what happened to Frostbite and her team, it’s important for everyone to know that we are working to ensure the safety of all Renegades—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Nova interrupted him violently. “This isn’t about the patrol units or figuring out how to defend ourselves more efficiently or any of that” she clenched her fist, closed her eyes, and exclaimed, “The world doesn’t revolve around the Renegades!”
Suddenly, a shadow rose and turned into the familiar silhouette of the man who had used the exact same words years before Nova entered into his life.
Hugh (and the rest of the world) would’ve been able to recognize his face on any occasion. At first, the only thing that made him less afraid of him was the knowledge that, at least, he didn't know how his face looked like, because he always hid it behind a mask and that made him have something to use against him that couldn't be used against Hugh.
Now, he knew how his face looked.
Now they could be… considered equals.
Even if Hugh had promised himself he would never let the power corrupt him the same way it had corrupted him.
He was better than him.
He would always be better than him.
But since no one could be better than him, Ace Anarchy's silhouette looked at him, raised an eyebrow, and echoed, “The world doesn’t revolve around the Renegades. And the sooner Captain Chromium learns that, the less the world is going to hurt him and his cause.”
She shook her hands a little, but her eyes didn't open, and the shadow didn't disappear. “Isn’t it our responsibility to bridge the gaps between people?” she asked, more calmly than before. “To recognize that we all have to live in this world together? We need to start seeing other prodigies, not as villains, but as—” she blinked twice “—well, other human beings, who maybe aren’t so different from us after all. I want to believe that we can close this divide between us, but… Agent N isn’t the answer.”
Ace out his hands over Nova's shoulders.
“But that’s all the Anarchists have to say about the matter.”
And when their gazes locked, it hit him.
Someone was looking at him through Nova's eyes, and he immediately knew who it was because he recognized the feeling from when he looked at Adrian's and for those seconds he dared to do it, he didn't see his son, but her.
Through her eyes, he could see, for the split of a second, the man who had tried to stop Ace Anarchy even before they knew exactly how to do it. He saw the man who felt as if he had been a coward during all those years for staying by the Anarchist’s side, but in reality, was one of the best ones out of the bunch, because in the end, he had been able to have the courage to do what was right.
And she said that one cannot be brave who has no fear.
He wanted to get close to her. He wanted to kneel, grab her by the shoulders, and take a closer look at her, just to be completely sure he wasn't going crazy, because it for sure sounded crazy and maybe Hugh was indeed a little bit crazy, but he was also desperate enough to do all of those things he was thinking about just to get an answer once and for all.
But Ace's hands were still on her shoulders.
And she seemed so far.
And he feared it would happen again. Like when he saw Adrian's eyes, looking for her, just to realize she wasn't really there.
The Artino girl wasn't there either.
All the Artinos had been killed during that same night and nothing was going to bring them back.
“I know this is coming from a place of good intentions,” he stated. “I don’t expect you to understand the challenges facing our world of the difficult decision we’ve had to make, but I can assure you that none of our decisions have been made lightly.”
None of them.
Not a single one.
“I know that, but—”
“Everything the Council has done these past years has been in service to the people of this world who need our help, for protection and justice. I’m afraid this isn’t up for debate, Nova. Our decision regarding Agent N, and the fate of those villains, has already been decided.” But before Nova McLain could object, he sentenced, “And our decision is final.”
He turned his back on her before she could do it, and pretended he didn't notice she kept following him with her eyes until the elevator doors closed, and he leaned his back against the wall, doing his best not to start hyperventilating.
She didn't turn your back on you.
She didn't fail you.
She died.
She just died.
***
He stayed the rest of the morning inside his office after that, without (luckily) no one entering his office to ask him about anything. Not even Evander did it, and he had this horrible habit of just bursting into their offices to pretend he needed to seriously talk about something to ignore his own responsibilities. Hugh hated when he did that, so when he heard someone knocking on his door, he was ready to yell at Evander to get the hell out of his office, as if he were a seventeen-years-old teenager again, saying, “EVANDER, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” (only that this time, Evander wouldn’t be able to answer him with “WE SHARE THE ROOM, YOU CAPTAIN CU-”)
But Hugh didn’t have to yell anything, because it wasn’t Evander. It was Tamaya.
And whoever dared to yell at Tamaya could consider themselves a dead man.
“I’m going to get some take out for lunch,” she said, leaning against the door frame, “you want me to bring you something?”
Tamaya was the one who went out to get the others lunch each time they needed because she was able to fly to the coffee shop and get there a lot faster than any of them could. She didn’t seem to have a problem with it, even though she did have a lot of problems with a lot of things, and people taking advantage of her powers were one of them.
Maybe she liked to feel useful. Or maybe something she just needed to get out of there every once in a while.
“No, I’m fine,” he answered her.
“Oh, you brought something to eat then.”
“Of course.”
Tamaya wasn’t convinced by that answer.
“What did you bring?” she asked.
Without hesitation, Hugh opened one of his desk’s drawers. Fortunately, there was a can of soda that he didn’t know how had arrived there, but he was glad it did.
He took it out and showed it to her, pretending to be super proud of himself or something, and Tamaya rolled her eyes. “Well— if you don’t want anything, I won’t bring you anything.”
“That’s literally how things are supposed to work.”
She was about to leave when she remembered something. “Oh, by the way— Kasumi wants us to have lunch together.”
Hugh couldn’t help but growl. “Why?”
“Because she says so,” she answered him. “So take your… soda, and meet us at the dining room in half an hour.”
Hugh just went back to what he was doing and told her he was going to be there. Tamaya didn’t say anything else.
The Council didn’t eat at the cafeteria with the rest of the staff. They had a private dining room on the same floor their offices were. The cleaning staff never went there, because the six of them took turns to mop and sweep, and the main unspoken rule was “If you spill it, you clean it”. It was like when they lived all together in one house and had to work as a team to keep it clean, which Kasumi said was nice and brought her nice memories, but most of the time, Hugh thought it was a pain in the ass, since, obviously, sometimes people didn’t respect the unspoken rule, probably because they knew that someone else would be the one who would clean it anyways.
Just like when they lived together.
Only that, now, that someone was Hugh.
The dining room was mainly used by him and Simon. Sometimes Adrian went there to have lunch with them, but lately, he preferred to do it with his team. It wasn’t very common for the Council to eat together, because each one had their own schedule. He didn’t know why Kasumi suddenly wanted to do it and he thought it was a little bit annoying she didn’t take into consideration that maybe the rest of them had other things to do, but at the same time, couldn’t find a good reason for him to say no.
When the half an hour Tamaya said went by, he walked to the dining room and saw Kasumi for the first time that day.
She didn’t greet him or anything. Evander was with her, chattering about something that he didn’t comprehend, and didn’t want to know about, so he sat down on one of the chairs and completely ignored their conversation until Tamaya appeared uncomfortably sitting down in the chair beside him.
She didn’t bring him anything. Anything at all.
And, well… yes, Hugh had told her he didn’t want anything; but he always told her he didn’t want anything and she brought him something anyway. When one of them forgot their lunch, Tamaya bought them a sandwich or a sushi roll and basically stayed there until they finished the whole thing, and since Hugh was the one who forgot about his basic human needs the most, he had a lot of recent memories of Tamaya watching him eat, like a mother making sure her kid eat all his vegetables (which turned even more accurate when Hugh informed her he didn’t like green peppers and she told him to grow the fuck up and eat the damn thing.)
The next thing he knew, was that everyone was sitting at the table, eating their respective lunch in complete silence. Tamaya had bought a gyro, Kasumi was having a bowl of rice and pasta salad she had brought from home and was drinking a white milky beverage that Evander got for her when he went to the taco stand Oscar Silva and Adrian had told him about.
“You know how many calories are on those things?” Hugh asked Evander.
Evander looked at him and pointed at the soda he was drinking. “Is that all you’re having for lunch?”
He remained silenced for a little. “No…”
Tamaya rolled her eyes and Evander scoffed. “Evander, chips and soda do not count as lunch, eat grapes, grapes are the chips of nature,” he said in a ridiculous voice that intended to sound like Hugh’s (and didn’t). Kasumi snorted and tried to hide it by drinking some of her weird water/milk, but wasn’t able to. “Come on, Kasumi, make the Hugh voice,” Evander told her.
Don’t you dare.
Kasumi didn’t dare.
“Maybe later, Vandy,” she said, with a serious face. “Maybe later.”
“Come on!” he insisted, after taking a sip of his drink (the same he brought Kasumi). “Zoomie, you make a pretty good imitation of Hugh.”
Tamaya nodded. It was true; Kasumi was pretty good at imitating voices. He just wasn’t in the mood to hear them make fun of him.
Luckily, Kasumi wasn’t in the mood for that either. “Evander, I said no.”
Her voice was so severe and chilling, that Evander understood immediately. Tamaya asked him for a napkin, and the whole dining room fell silent again.
And it was also like when they lived together.
It hadn’t always been like that though.
“You know, this is the first time in, like, five years, I don't have any paperwork to fill,” Evander announced.
Literally nobody asked.
“Well, I do have tons of paperwork waiting for me on my desk,” Tamaya said, “I wouldn’t mind sharing it with you.”
“That’s low, dude, I’m telling—” he frowned and looked around “—Wait… where’s Simon?”
And with that simple question, the room’s silence turned into a completely different type of silence.
One that he could not only feel, but also touch. One that made his vision blurry, a lump in his throat, and his eyes water. One that it was more like a fog than silence.
One that he could tell came from an imaginary fire that was so dangerous, he always shared a look with someone to make sure they were also aware of the situation they were in.
Only that this time, he didn’t share a look with anyone.
Tamaya and Kasumi did though.
And then, they turned to see Hugh.
But he didn’t turn to see them back.
“He wasn’t feeling well,” Kasumi said. “So… he stayed home.”
Evander arched his eyebrows. “Huh. Again?—” he turned to see Hugh “—Does he have a cold?”
“Evander—” Tamaya said.
“What? Dude, I’m literally just asking.”
“Well, don’t ask,” Hugh blurted out. “It’s not of your business.”
“But—”
“Not of your business,” then, he echoed, mockingly, “Dude.”
It’s not of anyone’s business.
He pretended he finished his soda and threw it in the can that was beside the water cooler close to the door. Even though the rest of them had just started eating, he saw no point in staying there longer than he already had. He had done enough by just being there for a while.
And he had other things to do.
Hugh excused himself and stood up. Neither Kasumi nor Tamaya said anything to him and just kept eating their lunches, probably because they already knew there was nothing that could be said.
But Evander didn’t know that.
So, before Hugh walked through the door, he said loud and clear:
“Someone didn’t get it last night.”
Kasumi got all pale and Tamaya started choking with her gyro. When they were able to recover from the initial shock, they cast an expecting and preoccupied glance at Hugh, waiting for his reaction for what felt like hours, and not seconds.
It took him a lot of time to process those words. He considered himself someone who reacted pretty quickly to everything, but the words Evander said to him were like freezing water, or a blow to the face, or…
Those things that would never be able to hurt him, but for some reason, if they were cold or powerful enough, would disorient him for a couple of seconds, before he would be able to get back up again and do something about it.
So at that moment, the only way he could react was asking him:
“What did you say to me?”
Evander raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I said you didn’t get it. You know”
But everyone pretended to not know what he was talking about.
Seeing they didn't react the way he expected them to, he frowned and clicked his tongue. “You didn’t tap that ass. You didn’t do the PP. He didn’t rub your silver spe—”
Kasumi got all red. “Evander—”
“I’m explaining it to him, I’m explaining it to him,” he told her as if trying to calm her down. “Let me finish the last one, I’ve been wanting to say that joke for months.”
Tamaya left her gyro on the plate and massaged her temple. “Evander, seriously, shut the fu—”
“Wait, no, I got this—” he chuckled, put his elbows on the table, closed his eyes “—Your hubby didn’t make love to you last night?” And then, after opening his eyes again, he added, “Darling.”
And with that, Hugh lost his head.
He went there.
He really went there, and the worst part was, he probably didn't even realize that.
He closed the door violently and screamed, “THAT'S IT.”
He threw himself at Evander before he could process what was happening. But Tamaya and Kasumi were a lot faster than him, and swiftly got in between the two of them, Tamaya grabbing Hugh by the shoulders and pulling him back, and Kasumi pushing Evander out of his way.
“BRO, WHAT THE—”
“I SAID IT’S NOT OF YOUR BUSINESS,” he yelled. “IT’S NOT OF ANYONE’S BUSINESS”
Tamaya and Kasumi finally managed to put them behind each of them, creating a weird barrier between the two. And even if they were almost as tall as the two of them were, they still weren't tall enough to completely block each other from the other's view. Hugh could perfectly see Evander paralyzed by his reaction, almost tripping with his own feet because of how much Kasumi kept pushing him and having to hold all of his weight on a chair to not fall backward.
But that still wasn't enough to stop him from shitting on him.
“WHAT’S YOUR DAMAGE!? DID YOU FALL OFF THE BED!? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.”
“Evander, lower your voice,” Kasumi urged him, “people will hear you.”
“Tell him to lower his voice!” he answered pointing at Hugh with the palm of his hand. “He started it! HE’S THE ONE WHO'S ACTING LIKE A FUCKING LUNATIC!”
Kasumi didn't agree with him directly. Instead, she turned around, looked at him from head to toe, slightly closing her eyes and pressing her lips, and before she even opened her mouth, he already knew he didn't want to listen to anything she had to say.
She hadn't listened to him first.
But now she was going to.
Everyone there was going to hear him.
“Hugh, I think—”
“Why did you tell him?” he asked.
Evander frowned even more. “Huh? Tell me what?”
But Kasumi barely moved.
“Why did you have to run to Evander and tell him about my personal life?” he kept asking her. “No, the real question is,” he scoffed, “why do you feel the necessity to get in my personal life, Kasumi?!”
Now it was Evander the one who carefully pushed Kasumi aside and put her behind him, but before he could scream at him or punch him in the face, knowing perfectly well that wouldn't do anything, Tamaya put his whole arm in front of him, giving him a deathly look, and Kasumi slightly touched his shoulder, completely poker-faced.
And for some reason that made him even angrier.
She had no right to act like she was the sane one in the situation.
“It’s not only your personal life,” she explained to him in a calm voice. “It’s also Simon’s. And I’m not getting into your personal life, he was the one who told us what was going on.”
“Us,” he echoed.
Tamaya let her arms down to her sides. “Yeah. Us. He told us everything.”
Evander didn't take her distraction as an opportunity to punch Hugh. “Everything?” he asked instead.
“Everything,” Hugh repeated.
But he wasn't answering Evander's question.
“Yeah, that’s great,” he said, faking a smile. “That’s fucking great. He went with you and talked shit about me behind my back.” The words were coming out of his mouth before he could question them, “What a great fucking husband he—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Kasumi ordered him, giving a step forward. “He wasn’t talking shit about you, he was worried. Simon was worried sick about you. He is worried sick about you.”
“Why— why is he worried about him?”
Everyone ignored him one more time.
Hugh crossed his arms. “Well, he doesn’t seem like it.”
Tamaya massaged her temple one more time and sighed. “Maybe if you—”
“Maybe if I do what?” he interrupted. “Should I make the first move? I already tried it, and it didn’t work.” He tried to scoff one more time, but what came out of him sounded more like a growl. “You should know; Simon must have told you.”
“When—”
“Yes, he did,” Kasumi answered, shameless. She crossed her arms too and frowned. “That wasn’t right, Hugh.”
What do you know?
You weren’t there.
No one was there.
“No, everything was going fine.” He clenched his fists. “Look, I don’t know what Simon made you think, but we were fine.”
“Not kissing your husband for weeks and then trying to do it just to avoid talking with him about the issue doesn’t sound fine to me.”
Evander gasped. “Wait, you actually haven’t been getting it—”
Hugh laughed out loud, and even he could notice he sounded like an absolute maniac. “You too? You too are going to pull that card on me?” he questioned her. “I do kiss him, and I do hug him, and we do have sex, and I shouldn’t be telling you any of these things, because these are private details of my life you shouldn’t know about! My private life is completely okay.”
Tamaya took him by surprise.
“But are you okay?”
Her voice sounded so soft, so calm, and so genuinely concerned, that he didn’t dare to lie to her, or to even look at her when he answered:
“Again. Not of your business.”
After that, Tamaya was herself again. “Hugh, listen—”
And Hugh managed to get the courage to lift his face. “No, you lis—”
The entire room went dark before Hugh could finish talking. A pair of blinding white lights started shining right in front of him, and, even with his eyes slightly closed, he could tell they were coming out of Evander’s fists.
The spotlight wasn’t on him at that moment. So he decided to steal it.
Classic Blacklight.
Classic Evander Wade throwing a fucking fit when the world dared not to revolve around him for a minute.
After making sure he had grabbed everyone's attention, he opened his hands again and the tiny balls of lights returned to their light bulbs. But his face was still clouded by a strange darkness that even made Kasumi flinch and move backward towards Tamaya.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked, clenching his teeth and glaring at the three of them. “What the hell are you even talking about?—” and then, he turned to see him “—Why does everyone seem to know what the fucking problem is except me!?”
“…and she left me here!
ME!”
Him.
It was always him.
It hadn’t been enough for Evander that their lives practically had to revolve around him during all his childhood and teenage years. He now wanted them to stop their discussion and tell him what was going on as if they couldn’t have their own problems without him feeling he was entitled to know every single detail about it.
And hadn’t that been how that whole fight had started in the first place?
He hadn’t been able to control Tamaya and Kasumi finding out about what was going on because Simon had told him. But Hugh wasn’t Simon, and he was sure as hell he didn’t feel comfortable at all sharing that part of his life with him.
He wouldn’t understand. He would pretend he did for a couple of minutes, and then would use it against him on the first opportunity he had that would benefit him one way or another.
He knew Evander. He knew he was capable of that, and more.
“I think you should leave,” he told him.
His expression hardened. “I think you should answer my question.”
“I told you to leave!”
Hugh raised his arm to point at the door—
And Evander grabbed him by the wrist.
Kasumi’s eyes widened and Tamaya’s face contorted while her wings bristled, alerting her of the danger.
Hugh knew Evander was taller than him. At first, all of them made a lot of jokes about how it was Hugh’s worst fear and that he wasn’t allowed to stand beside him at any moment so nobody noticed it. But every one of those comments stayed like that.
Jokes.
Not only because, well, they were. But also because, inside his head, Hugh always saw Evander as shorter than him, probably because he had gotten used to the idea of things being that way, and he wasn’t in the mood for other detail of his life changing again, it didn’t matter how small it may seem.
Yet, now he couldn’t keep pretending he didn’t see what was right in front of him.
He could tell his hands were getting warmer and warmer, to a point that if he had normal skin and his suit wasn’t covering his arm, he would start to feel as if they were burning him, and Evander didn’t appear to have any intentions of letting him go.
As if he wanted to burn him to death.
He kept staring at each other, with a vein popping out of his neck. The corners of his lips curved up, but before it could turn into a grin, it disappeared, and instead of laughing, he ordered, “Don’t you talk to me like that.”
“Me.
She left me here, guys.
She left.”
“Evander, that’s enough,” Tamaya said, with a calm, but terrifying tone. “Let him go.”
But Evander only grasped him tighter.
Her fingers shone with the electricity they carried. “Let. Him. Go.”
He glanced at Tamaya, then at Kasumi, and finally, he returned his attention to Hugh, waiting.
Waiting for him to say it.
“She left.”
“Let me go.”
Evander pressed his lips together and lost his grip until his arm fell, and he sat down again.
“And for the record—” Kasumi’s voice said, “—Don’t talk to any of us like that.”
Hugh turned his back at them and took off one of his gloves as fast and discreetly as he could. He heard Kasumi asking something to Evander but she said it in such a low voice that the only thing he could actually listen was Evander’s childhood nickname, which Kasumi always used and Hugh didn’t because it felt so personal to both of them he didn’t dare to interfere with that.
His hands were dry. And he forced his eyes to stay that way too because he could sense them getting wet at the thought of Evander really believing Hugh was going to hit him.
He heard Tamaya’s footsteps getting closer to him, and he rapidly put his glove back on and turned to see them again, scoffing. “So, that’s what today is about? You collectively decided all you were going to do was contradict me?”
Tamaya stepped back the steps she took and scoffed too. “Sounds familiar?” she asked. Hugh couldn’t ask her at first what she was talking about. “You can’t ask us to blindly follow you b and get mad when we decide not to do it. Especially when the things you’re doing are—” she looked for the right words “—not right.”
Kasumi straightened her back and nodded, agreeing with Tamaya. Evander tilted his head to one side while raising one eyebrow, and Hugh fought the impulse of doing it too.
“What?” he asked instead. “Tamaya, what are—”
“I’m talking about the fucking execution of Nova McLain,” she blurred out. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Evander growled and put his feet on the table, leaning in the chair he was sat on. He was so confused by Tamaya’s reaction he didn’t even bother to take the time to tell Evander to sit like an adult for once in his life.
“What does that have anything to do with what we’re discussing right now?” he exclaimed.
“It has everything to do with what we’re discussing right now!” she answered. “You, and you—” she pointed at Evander, and Evander pointed at himself, confused “—decided that, since you were too afraid of a spoiled girl ‘ruining’—” she made quotes in the air “—our reputation we were going to let her kill, in front the entire city, a child. A child, guys! A child who probably had parents who worried about her, just like you, Hugh, worry about your kids, or you, Evander, will worry about yours when they are born. Would you like them to be publicly executed without a proper trial just because the adults that were supposed to protect them, acted as the children in the situation?”
But before Hugh could tell her his kids would never act like Nightmare, more than comfortable with the idea of pretending as if the whole Max and Adrian situation hadn't happened, he heard it again.
But this time it was not a quiet chuckle.
This time, Evander was shamelessly chucking so loud, it almost sounded like a burst of laughter.
Tamaya was talking about Nova McLain’s situation and Evander was chuckling.
“Child?” he asked, trying to contain his laughs. “Nightmare is not a child. Children do not do the things she did. Children don’t try to overthrow—” he turned his hands into fists and glanced up to the ceiling for a couple of seconds, and then added, to no one in particular “—Children do not try to kill other children. She wouldn’t have tried to kill Max, or Adrian, or his team if she were truly a child because she would see herself in them. That’s just how things work.”
Inside his head, maybe.
But Evander had a lot of things inside his head and most of them were so twisted Hugh couldn’t tell what he truly believed and what he did not.
“Genissa Clark is nineteen,” Tamaya reminded him. “And Nightmare, as far as we know, it’s sixteen. They’re still children.”
Evander rolled his eyes, smirking for a microsecond. “Age doesn’t matter. What matters is this—” he tapped his temple “—the head.”
Out twisted and merciless heads.
“If they act like adults, they deserve to be treated as adults.”
“No,” Kasumi said, playing with her fingers. “No, they don’t deserve that. They don’t deserve anything that happened to them. Children…” she raised her head “children are never to blame.”
But, instead of looking back at her, Evander rolled his eyes once more and crossed his arms.
Like the child he still was even if he always acted he was not.
“They may not be kids anymore, but, stars, you’re acting like one,” Hugh quipped.
He immediately put his feet on the floor and his jaw clenched. “I’m no longer nine years old, Hugh.”
Yes.
Yes, you are.
You’ve done nothing to prove me wrong.
Hugh didn’t have the opportunity to say anything though, because Kasumi put herself between Hugh and Evander once again, with her hands in her hips, and clearly said, “I wasn’t going to attend the execution.”
He froze. “You what?”
“Neither was I,” seconded Tamaya.
Hugh gazed at them, without being able to recognize their faces behind that proud expression they had all over them. “Why the fuck not?”
Kasumi scowled and rubbed the fingers of her right hand as if she wanted to snap them but didn’t, closing her eyes and keeping her head low. Tamaya instantly noticed that, and after throwing a quick attentive glance at her, her eyes bared into him.
“Because it was a monstrous and villainous thing to do,” she answered, barely opening her lips. “And the Renegades are not that.” She put her hand on her chest. “I’m not a villain, and I’m sure as hell I’m not a monster either. And I’ve spent too much time hating myself to let you or anyone allow those toxic thoughts to win.”
He looked over Tamaya’s shoulder to have a clearer vision of Kasumi. “And you? You agree with this?”
“Leave her her alo—”
“Yes, I agree,” Kasumi answered, without opening her eyes.
That was enough for him.
“So— are you insinuating I am a monster and a villain?” and he put his hand on his chest, the same way Tamaya had just done.
Kasumi stopped rubbing her fingers and saw him out of the corner of her eye.
“Take it as you want to take it,” Tamaya declared, crossing her arms. “I’m not surprised you’re trying to make it about yourself.”
“You know what? Yes!” he barked. “This is about me! I’m the one who's getting totally dragged right now, I’m the one you're criticizing, and I’m the one who’s getting attacked by all of you!” and he pointed at the three of them. “So yeah, this is about me, Tamaya, not about you!”
As soon as he said it, he knew what was coming next. He knew what Tamaya was going to do. She was going to spread her wings, close her fists, and get a lighting bolt for her to throw at him. Then, she would get so close to him, he would see the anger glowing in her eyes, and she would proceed to yell at Hugh for five minutes nonstop, and when Kasumi or Evander was able to make her keep quiet for an instant, he would start yelling back at her, and they would get trapped in an endless cycle, where neither of them knew when to shut their mouths and give up.
And he knew it because there had been times where the only thing the two of them did was fight, and yell, and try to silence the other by making sure one’s screams were louder than the other’s.
However, Tamaya didn’t do any of that.
Tamaya’s mouth fell open and was unable to say a single word while she stepped back, and leaned against the table because she wasn’t able to sit in a chair without feeling extremely uncomfortable.
Her silence was worse than her screaming.
He needed to fill the silence in one way or another.
“Why won’t you listen to me anymore?” he asked the rest. “Why don't you respect me, or my privacy, or my decisions? Do you think it’s easy? Do you think it’s easy to have this weight on my shoulders?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “No, it’s not. But I man up, I shut my mouth, and do it, you know why? Because we stopped playing superheroes a long time ago, and now we’re governors, and I don’t want us to fail, which is something the Anarchists would love to see—” he extended his arms, like pointing at the rest of the world, when in reality, he was just pointing at the small room that seemed even smaller than before “—Tell me, do you want us to fail?”
This time, he did want an answer. He did give them the time to respond, but they didn’t take it. Tamaya stayed in complete silence, Kasumi started rubbing her fingers again, and Evander just turned redder and redder with each word he said.
“Do you want us to fail?!” he insisted. “DO YOU?!”
Still, no answers.
“You don’t, do you?! YOU DON’T!”
Silence.
Silence and Kasumi covering her ear with her fists.
“YOU DON’T! So—” he pointed at Evander, “—man up—” at Tamaya, “shut your mouth—” at Kasumi, “and listen to me!” And finally, at himself. “Because I am your leader! I AM YOUR CAPTAIN! AND YOU’LL DO AS I SAY!”
His yelling immediately was cut short by the sound of the tap of the water turning on savagely and the screeching sound of Kasumi asking:
“WELL, WHO MADE YOU CAPTAIN?!”
The water in the room started to go crazy. Not only the taps had opened, but also her drink was spilled all over the floor, small drops started to float around them, and the water inside the cooler became a strange swirl, that with each passing second just turned faster and faster.
And Kasumi was crying.
Or something like that.
It was water. They seemed like tears, but they were actually water that was coming out of her eyes, without any emotions in them. Her face, which at this point was soaked, didn’t change at all, as if it had changed if she were really crying.
Still, Hugh felt it like a slap across his face.
Evander was the first one to react. “Kasumi—”
“WHO MADE YOU OUR LEADER?!” she rasped. “WHO, HUGH?” and she grabbed him by the shoulders “WHO?”
The floor started to flood. Tamaya got on the table and moved her eyes from one side of the room to the other, trying to process what was going on in front of her, while Evander stood up in the chair he was sitting on. “Kasumi Hasegawa—”
“IT WAS US!” she answered, letting go of him and stepping back. “IT WAS US AND WE CAN TAKE YOU OFF THAT POSITION AS EASY AS WE PUT YOU THERE! SO CUT. THE. CRAP!”
“Zoomie!”
The cooler felt down on its side. If Tamaya hadn’t moved slightly to the left, it would have hit one of her wings. The sound of the heavy metallic object crashing against the floor was enough to make everyone in the room go quiet, and their eyes fixated on the water that was coming out of it.
Like blood in an open wound.
He was the last one to come back to reality, after the water started to disappear right in front of his eyes, and realized Kasumi was manipulating it to form a small wave that she dropped in the sink.
She closed the taps and sighed.
“You’re… you’re not acting like a leader right now,” she mumbled, leaning against the sink without looking at him. “You’re… you’re acting like… like—”
“Like what?” he asked.
As if he wanted to hear the answer to it.
“I don’t know— You’re just…” Kasumi turned around and the water running down her face was actual tears this time. There was no sadness clouding her features that was able to hide that fact. “You’re just not my friend.”
She looked at her own feet while walking towards her the things that remained on the floor. Tamaya grabbed the plastic cup of water she had been drinking from, and even though she took it (because Kasumi liked to reuse those things) she didn’t say thank you or acknowledge her gesture, and instead, kept talking to Hugh.
“We’re not your sidekicks. We’re not even your coworkers or your employees. We are your family. We are all a family. But somehow— you forgot it.”
She grabbed her small fabric bag and started to put all her things in there, with the rest of them quietly watching her, without daring to get close.
“I’m going to ask the three of you, but especially you, Hugh, to leave me alone.”
Before Kasumi left the room, Evander got down from the chair and rushed to her. She stopped in her tracks and pressed her bag against her chest. A small tear started to come out of the corner of her eye and her lower lip trembled. He extended his hand to wipe away her tears, and Hugh suddenly felt the urge to look away.
Until Kasumi stepped back, rubbed her eyes with one hand, and mumbled: “I said the three of you. Please, respect my decision, Evander.”
Kasumi walked out of the room, without closing the door behind her. Evander followed her, but stopped right under the door frame, grabbing to it. He glanced at Tamaya, and she, almost imperceptibly, shook her head saying no to something he was silently asking her.
His eyes didn’t well up. Instead, after a blink, they turned to see Hugh, burning and glimmering an emotion he could not describe as something else but hate.
His eyes were burning and glimmering with hate.
And his words too.
“This is all your fault.”
He walked in the opposite direction Kasumi went.
I know.
This is all my fault.
“Kasumi was right, you know?”
Tamaya was the only one remaining.
“You have acted like the biggest idiot that has ever existed,” she continued. “I don’t know how you’re going to fix this and I don’t know how you’re going to fix yourself.” Her expression dulled and she slightly bent down to try to look him in the eye. “But we are your family. And you are ours.”
Hugh ignored her attempts to make eye contact and felt his hands getting moist and hot under his gloves.
But he couldn’t decide if tell her or not, because Tamaya sighed, grabbed the rest of her lunch, and without turning to see him, sentenced:
“Talk to us when you start acting like it.”
And just like that, Hugh was left alone in an empty room, again.
***
Everything had started two months ago.
It wasn’t like there weren’t somedays where they didn’t have sex. After all, they were part of the Renegades Council. The days were long, and there were occasions when they just arrived at the house and went directly to bed, without eating dinner or anything.
Despite that, they had managed to keep a certain schedule. And if he wanted to be completely honest, those days when he could have a little time alone with Simon were the best.
Until they weren’t.
“What’s going on?” Simon asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
“What’s going on?” Simon asked again.
He wasn’t mad at all. He was genuinely concerned.
It was… adorable. So Simon.
“Everything all right?”
Hugh knew something was wrong. But he felt a little bit embarrassed about backing down with something he had started.
Which was… weird.
Because nothing was embarrassing with Simon.
“Hugh—”
“I think I’m no longer in the mood to keep going,” he blurred out.
Simon’s eyes widened. He licked his lips, like he did every time he was analyzing a situation, and smirked. “You aren’t in the mood? You? You, Hugh Everhart, aren't in the mood for sex?”
Hugh couldn’t laugh at the stupid face he had made. “No.”
Luckily, Simon noticed that. “Oh. All right. Well, don’t worry, love. It’s okay.”
“I’m so—”
“No, don’t be sorry,” he interrupted him, using the same tone Hugh used all the time when they were younger to tell Simon not to be sorry. “There’s no need to apologize.” He ran his hand through his hair and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “I’m just— going to the bathroom—” he grabbed the pile of clothes he had left on the nightstand “—I won’t take long.”
Hugh couldn’t tell if he took long or not. He just put on his clothes again too and got under the covers. He didn’t even turn around when Simon asked him, “Do you wanna be the little spoon tonight?”
He was never the little spoon. But he accepted anyway.
There were a lot of other nights that ended up that way. Nights that Hugh started something just to follow the schedule, things that they never finished because Simon always noticed something was wrong and said they should stop. Then, he kissed him, told him there was nothing to be sorry about, went to the bathroom to change, and went back to be the big spoon.
Until one day, Hugh fell asleep in a position that didn’t allow Simon to cuddle with him. Or at least he pretended to fall asleep to avoid any questions as if why he didn’t want to cuddle that night.
He couldn’t avoid any questions the next morning though.
When he went downstairs to have breakfast, Simon was waiting for him in the kitchen.
“Glad you’re here so early,” Simon said. “We need to talk.”
It was Saturday. Simon was wearing his cotton rob and had prepared an avocado toast and a cup of coffee.
Just the mere fact of him drinking coffee, plus the “We need to talk” phrase, was a bad sign. Not only because Simon got really anxious when he didn’t control how much coffee he drank, but also because the last time he had told him they needed to talk, was when he found some not very family-friendly videos on the family’s computer and thought that it would be better if he asked Hugh if they were his first because he didn’t want to accidentally introduce Adrian to that kind of… audiovisuals.
Stars…
That day had been one of the worst days of his life. And Hugh had fought a civil war. The bar for “bad days” was pretty high, but Adrian still managed to go higher than that.
“What did he do now?”
“Oh, God, no— Adrian’s clean. He’s still sleeping, actually,” Simon responded, completely aware of what Hugh was talking about. “But that’s why I want to talk to you before he comes.”
Hugh felt a little bit less tense. A little bit.
He took the coffee pot and started pouring it on the first cup he found. “What do you wanna talk about?”
Simon drummed the fingers of his right hand on the bar and scratched his beard with his left hand, staring at his unfinished breakfast. “Love… are you having problems?”
“Problems?” he scoffed. “What kind of problems?”
“Oh, you know… problems… down there.”
He lost focus and he poured the coffee on his hand. “Shit—”
“Look, it’s just that I think it’s kind… strange what has been going on these last days,” Simon said without noticing the whole coffee situation. “We— we had a schedule, and now we don’t, and I’m not mad at all, I just want to know if there’s something more to it.”
Hugh left the coffee pot where it belonged and Simon kept talking.
“You should— we should go to see a doctor,” he whispered. “I know you have never had an appointment with a doctor before, but we could… I don’t know, ask around, until you find one that makes you feel comfortable.”
And he would have probably kept talking if he hadn’t interrupted.
“It’s more common than you may think, you know,” he assured him. “And there’s nothing wrong with it. Everyone once in a while has— you know, some kind difficulties, or it hurts, or—”
“No.”
Simon suddenly went silent. “No what?”
“Nothing hurts,” he answered. “I literally cannot feel pain, remember?”
“Oh, no, I mean, of course I remember,” Simon mumbled. “It was— it was just an expression.”
Hugh frowned. “I’ve never heard that expression before.”
Neither of them said anything for an uncomfortable amount of time, while Hugh stirred his coffee with a plastic spoon and Simon pretended he was really focused on his breakfast.
“You didn’t answer my question though,” he said after a while. “Are you having any kind of problems?”
Hugh gave him the same answer. “No.”
“All right. I believe you. And I trust you. You know I’ll always trust you, don’t you?”
When Simon said he trusted him, Hugh usually responded to him saying he trusted him back. But this time, he said, “As you should.”
At that moment, Adrian walked into the dining room, letting them know their conversation had come to an end.
Hurting.
What a strange word.
He couldn’t comprehend it. And he’d never liked things that he couldn’t comprehend.
Nevertheless, even if he had lived his whole life hating things he couldn’t comprehend, now he didn’t understand why he felt so attacked by the way Simon formulated his question. The rational part of him knew he had no intention of making him angry, but his emotional side got angry at him anyway. He got so angry, he dedicated the rest of the day to ignore him.
And things didn’t change after that conversation. They just got worse.
So much worse.
Hugh didn’t even bother anymore to make the first move. He slept turning his back on Simon, so he could make clear he didn’t want to be touched at that moment. But sometimes, Simon didn’t understand (or pretended he didn’t understand) his signals, and asked him in a thousand different ways if that was going to be the night everything was going back to normal.
“How are you feeling, love? Are you better now?”
“How about we try something new today?”
“Hugh, are you awake?”
“Hugh, love, please… answer me”
But Hugh never answered him. Not with anything else but “Fine”, “Other day”, “No”, or just silence. Because sometimes silence counted as an answer.
And sometimes it was the loudest of sounds.
He was already ready for bed. He had brushed his teeth, had put on his pajamas, and had gone downstairs to make sure Adrian was still breathing, being especially careful not to wake him up.
Fifteen minutes had passed since that, and he was still standing up next to the bed, without feeling like getting in yet.
Then, he realized they hadn’t made the bed since the day of the fight. The coverlet was almost touching the ground and the pillows were everywhere except where they were supposed to be. He felt a strange energy going through his body, that ordered him to get closer and start making the bed.
No one liked to sleep on an unmade bed anyways.
However, the moment he started doing that, he made the mistake of graving Simon’s pillow. And Simon’s pillow made the mistake of smelling just like him, and the smell of mint, fabric softener, hit and the citrus body lotion he used was so intense, it made him feel, even if it was for a couple of seconds as if Simon were there.
That feeling lasted, at least, five seconds. And when he tried to smile, he started crying.
Because that pillow wasn’t Simon. Because Simon was not there.
Because Simon had left. He really left.
Without letting go of the pillow, he sat on the cold and hard floor. His elbows accidentally hit the nightstand he had next to his side of the bed, making the lamp and the couple of glasses he never returned to the kitchen tremble a little, but he wouldn’t have cared less if they fell to the floor and broken.
It wasn’t like they could cut him or anything.
He smelled the pillow one more time, and it was more than enough to make Simon’s ghost appear a couple of feet away from him, with empty eyes and a serious face, asking the same questions over and over again.
Why don’t you ever touch me anymore?
Why am I always invisible to you, even when I’m not?
Why are you so fucking cold all the time?
Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?!
“Because I don't even know what is wrong with me,” he finally answered.
Simon’s ghost didn’t ask what he meant. After all, even if he did and Hugh answered him, he wouldn’t have understood.
In fact, he knew Simon hoped he never would.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t attracted to Simon anymore. No, it was not that. For him, Simon was the most perfect man he had ever seen in his whole life. He loved his voice, soft like velvet. He loved his hands touching his skin. He loved his eyes that looked at him with adoration, and he loved his body, toned and covered in body hair, that used to make Simon feel self-conscious, but that Hugh had always found really appealing and he made sure to remind him that in every opportunity he had.
Simon had not a single flaw because he was perfect for him.
But when the darkness filled the room and he stretched out his hand to touch him…
It was like something fell upon him. Something so heavy and so big, he couldn’t get rid of it, not even using his powers at their maximum capacities. It didn’t let him move, it didn’t let him speak, and the only thing he could do was to soldier on, praying to a God he wasn’t sure it existed, asking him to please take that weight off him when the sun came out because if he didn’t do it, Hugh would have been capable of staying there for the rest of his days.
Completely still. Without any strength to move his head or change into a more comfortable position. Letting his body get all dusty as if he were part of one of those sets of furniture that they kept in the guest’s rooms that were never used because no one visited them, other than the rest of the Council.
Now, he didn’t know if it was God the one that took that weight off him, but he did know that as soon as the sun started to come out, the weight became lighter and lighter until it finally disappeared and Hugh was able to move again. He dusted off his whole body, prepared to go to the Headquarters, and put on his best face to convince others (and himself) that he wasn’t tired at all.
It had been a long time since the last time Hugh was able to sleep comfortably. He would say it was something that affected him even before his whole… situation with Simon. It had been going on for years. Adrian was still a kid when it all started.
“You should pop some pills or something,” Evander told Hugh when he dared to look a little bit more tired than normal. “You know— to help you sleep.” He clicked his tongue. “After the Day of Triumph, I began to take some sleeping pills, and they helped me a lot.” But before Hugh could ask him why he needed to take sleeping pills, Evander grabbed the folder where the documents he had asked him for and walked to the door, not without patting him on the shoulder first. “Maybe they can help you too.”
There was no need to say Hugh didn’t listen to him. Not only because Evander’s advice wasn’t always the best advice someone could receive, but also because there was something about taking pills he didn’t like at all.
Besides that, it wasn’t like Hugh could take any pill he wanted. They needed to have a strong effect or he would have to take more than one at a time. And Simon already needed to take pills to help him control his anxiety and went to therapy every two weeks.
He hated to say it, but it was a lot of money. It was not worthy. Simon had it worse than him, he needed those pills and those therapy sessions.
Hugh didn’t.
So, yeah, he didn’t listen to Evander. Neither did he listen to Kasumi when she gave him the same recommendation, and couldn’t contain his laugh when she suggested he should do some yoga. He also got into a big fight with Tamaya when she pointed out something was wrong with him, even though the reason that made her think that was that Hugh had broken one of the cupboard doors and was going around looking for something to eat without noticing at all he had destroyed his perfectly designed kitchen.
As time went by, going to sleep became like playing Russian roulette. He never knew if that night he was going to be able to go to sleep or not, but it wasn't like sleeping made a huge difference because each morning he woke up feeling tired anyway.
Probably, the only difference between sleeping or not, was that when he didn’t, when he stayed up all night, all he could see were ghosts.
During his childhood years, Adrian developed a huge fear of ghosts. Adrian was afraid of so many things Hugh couldn’t name each and every one of them, but he did know ghosts were very high on the list. He woke up in the middle of the night all the time, and the most common excuse he gave for his behavior, was that he was afraid the ghosts of the people who were murdered in that house would suddenly start hunting him.
Hugh didn’t believe in ghosts and he didn’t think Adrian should do it either. But when he started to see his own ghosts, he stopped complaining each time Adrian woke him up, asking him, “Daddy, can I sleep in your bed tonight?”
Of course, he didn’t see the same ghosts Adrian thought he saw. Hugh’s ghosts were completely different.
Sometimes, it was a man, who despite his young age, he appeared to have lived a thousand years. He had deep circles under his blue eyes and the saddest smile it had ever existed. Occasionally, he was accompanied by a woman, with long and dark hair, who carried in her arms a chubby and loud baby that cried each time she felt her mom wasn’t close enough to her. And most of the times, they also brought with them a little girl, that got between the sheets at the same time Adrian did, and that each time he got closer to Hugh to ask him if he could cuddle him until he fell asleep, he felt as if he were hugging the dead body of that tormented soul, asking him why he didn’t arrive on time.
Hugh didn’t like other people’s kids. Especially if those kids liked to meddle in his business.
So one of those nights, he locked the door. That way, no ghost was going to enter his room.
And neither would Adrian.
That night, he was starting to kind of fall asleep, after spending hours looking at the window, when he heard a couple of small hands trying to open the bedroom’s door. For a second, they stopped, trying to process why it wasn’t opening as it should. Then, they tried again. When they failed a third time, Adrian started bawling.
Simon woke up immediately.
But Hugh wasn't surprised at all.
“Adrian…” he mumbled. “Adrian, hold on, I’m coming!”
He removed the covers so quickly, he punched Hugh on the face, waking him up completely. He tried to open the door the same way Adrian previously did, but the panic he was feeling at that moment didn’t allow him to process why the door wasn’t opening, and just made his anxiety levels go to the roof.
“Hugh… Hugh, the door,” he mumbled. “The door’s— the door’s not opening, help.”
But he didn’t help.
Not because he didn’t want to. He wanted to help him. He wanted to tell him to calm down, and that the door was just locked.
But there was something on the sound of Adrian’s cries and the way Simon called his name that made the weight on his chest start to choke him.
Really choke him.
“Hugh! The door, please.”
“DADDY! DADDY, LET ME IN, DADDY, LET ME IN!”
“Aren’t you listening to me?! Wake up! Wake up and help me, Hugh!”
“LET ME IN, DADDY, PLEASE!”
“Hold on just a second, darling,” Simon squeezed. “Hold on just a second— HUGH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE, COME HERE AND HELP ME!”
“DA— DADDY, PLE— AAAAH!”
First, he heard something getting violently hit. Then, complete silence. And finally, Adrian started crying again.
When Simon turned on the lights, Hugh was able to turn around to see what was happening.
Apparently, Simon had kicked the door down, and Adrian had been fast enough to get away from it before it punched him in the face...
Bit he still got hit on the forehead pretty hard.
“Oh, Adrian, dar—”
“DADDY! POPS HIT ME! HE HIT ME!”
“DARLING, I SWEAR IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, FORGIVE ME!”
Hugh rubbed his eyes, annoyed at the sudden change of light in the room. He noticed Adrian was wearing the blue pajamas Kasumi had brought him during his ninth birthday and was holding the Baby Indomitable blanket.
The blanket she had made for him.
Simon kneeled in front of Adrian and grabbed him by the cheeks. “We need to take him to the hospital,” he said. His eyes were all watery and his voice broke. “We need to take him to the hospital,” he repeated with more emphasis. When Hugh didn’t respond, his worried expression turned into one of pure angriness. “Fuck, Hugh, why did you lock the door? WHY DID YOU LOCK THE FUCKING DOOR, HUH? WHY?”
For some reason, the weight that was suffocating him decided that was a good moment to let go of his throat for a second, just for him to give Simon a reason why. And the only thing that came out of his mouth was:
“Adrian is too old to be sleeping with us every night.”
Adrian started bawling again, and Simon realized going to the hospital was going to take too much time, so he took his son in his arms, and went downstairs to call Tamaya’s husband, Owen, the only doctor they truly trusted.
When Simon got out of the room, he didn’t turn off the lights. Hugh got up to do that, but in the end, decided it would be more appropriate to go with his husband and kid, in case they needed anything.
In the kitchen, Simon was holding Adrian with one arm and holding the phone next to his ear with the other. After a long wait, he hung up, ready to start yelling and punching the first thing (or person) he saw.
Luckily, the first one who noticed Hugh was there, was Adrian.
He had a big bump on his forehead.
“Give him to me,” Hugh whispered. Simon (who was dialing the phone one more time) doubted for a second but finally accepted. “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts,” Adrian whispered.
There it was again. That word.
He sat him on the kitchen bar. “Of course it does, buddy. Do you want some juice?”
Adrian nodded. “Can I have apple juice?” he shyly asked.
Hugh looked for it inside the fridge. “We only have strawberry juice,” he said.
“I like strawberry juice too.”
“Good.”
He took two strawberry juice cartons and gave him one. At that moment, Simon pointed at the phone with a hopeful and scared expression, and said, “Tamaya, I almost ripped Adrian’s head off, I need your husband.”
While a really confused Tamaya asked Simon what the hell did he mean with almost ripping Adrian’s head off, Hugh sat down on one of the stools, right in front of his son. He had his legs crossed and was drinking his juice, moving his head as if he were listening to a happy melody.
“... and accidently hit him with the door,” Simon said to the phone. For his change of tone, Hugh could tell he was talking to Owen too (he knew Tamaya well enough to know she was still listening to everything that was going on after putting the phone on speaker). “No, he didn’t lose consciousness, he just… cried a lot… he’s—um, actually kind of hungry right now. Yeah, he’s… he’s drinking some juice. Um… let’s see— Adrian, darling.” Adrian turned around to see him. “Do you know what day it is?”
“Um… Sunday.”
“Great job—” he returned his attention to the call “—He doesn't seem disoriented either.”
Hugh paid a little bit more attention to the nasty bump Adrian had on his head. He didn’t dare to touch it for fear of hurting him more, but a part of him remembered having seen someone wrapping a bag of frozen peas on an old cloth and putting it on the injured area.
So he did that too. He just changed the bag of frozen peas with the strawberry juice carton.
“Can I drink that one too?” Adrian asked, chuckling slightly.
Hugh smiled at him. “No, you can’t. Too much sugar.”
And when Adrian laughed again, he remembered where he had learned that piece of medical advice.
And he stopped smiling.
“Ice? Just… just ice?” Simon asked Owen, incredulous. His gaze met Hugh’s. “It seems like… Hugh already did that. Are you sure that’s all he needs? And can he go to sleep? Sure? He’s not gonna— no, but… Tamaya, please, let the doctor speak— ok, there’s no need to talk to me like that, I’m sensitive, all right? When you hit your kid with a door, you'll understand my concern.”
After Owen and Tamaya were able to calm Simon down, he hung up the phone. “Well, Adrian, Owen says you’re fine,” he said a little bit less shaken up than before. “And Tamaya is not invited to next week’s party.” Adrian chuckled again. “Let’s get you to bed.”
Simon carried Adrian all the way to his room. Hugh followed them closely, and stayed at the door, listening to his son asking his dad if they could sleep with him that night.
“You’re not too old to sleep with me anyways,” he assured.
Simon looked at Hugh, but he was so far away, he couldn’t tell what he was trying to communicate with his eyes.
If he was trying to communicate anything at all.
There was nothing Simon could say though; it still didn’t seem right for him to sleep in the same bed as Adrian that night.
After all, he had been the one that locked him out of his room when he needed him the most. Adrian was asking for his dad (or “daddy”, like he called him at that age), and he had not reacted immediately after hearing his first cries.
And to make matters worse, he hadn't bought apple juice, even if he knew it was Adrian’s favorite.
Hugh felt like the worst parent on the planet.
Simon was the one who stayed with Adrian that night. Hugh told him the three of them wouldn’t fit in the same bed anyway. Adrian wasn’t that convinced by that answer, but as soon as Simon kissed the top of his head, he seemed a lot happier than before.
He wasn’t able to sleep that night. Not because it was the first time in forever he slept on a bed all by himself, not at all.
It was actually the opposite.
Because from that moment on, two things happened: first, each time Adrian woke up in the middle of the night and went to their bedroom, Simon grabbed him by the hand and together went back to Adrian’s room, where Simon slept on the same bed as his son, and Adrian cried until he fell asleep. And second, after that night, a new ghost joined in. It was no longer the man with blue eyes, or the mother and her loud baby, nor it was the little girl who made too many questions for her own good.
It was her, whose smile could light up the darkest of rooms. Her, whose laugh he heard everywhere, without actually hearing it. Her, who sometimes made him think was seeing her through their son’s eyes, and her who, when no one else was there for him, hugged him from behind and assured him everything was going to work out at the end of the day because there was no force on the universe that was able to take down Lady Indomitable and Captain Chromium.
But she had been wrong.
Like the night after that mission.
It probably had been an unimportant mission, because Hugh could no longer remember what it was about. He just remembered he had planned it and it had failed. They were not able to get what they wanted and the bad guys won. Also, all the members of the team had gotten hurt in some way or another. For example, Simon was left temporarily deaf on one ear after a big explosion and his right hand had first degree burns. Kasumi had been able to avoid getting burned by using her powers to make a kind of water dome around her, but she still got her knees all scraped when she tried to run and fell, and when he said scraped, he meant really scraped. Tamaya wanted to electrocute one of those guys by herself when they tried to take Evander by grabbing him by the leg in a way she didn’t like at all, and even if she did leave all of them unconscious, both still got deep cuts on their hands and arms.
When they arrived, the house became a hospital, where she was the one and the only doctor, because she didn’t get hurt that much and was able to move around without bleeding to death or something.
Hugh also helped her take care of everyone’s injuries (and to calm down Simon when he started panicking about the whole “I CANNOT LIVE MY LIFE ONLY HEARING WITH ONE EAR” thing.) But he wasn’t as good as a doctor as she was, even if he was the designated nurse when one of them got sick of something that may be contagious. That’s why he limited himself to passing her the bandages, towels, and anything she needed, without complaining or giving his unsolicited advice like he constantly did with everyone except her.
After they were finished attending everyone, they decided to go to sleep. Hugh didn’t feel like sleeping that night though, so he went to the roof, thinking he was probably going to stay there until the morning came, to be able to get in bed again and pretend like he had been there the whole night.
However, someone did notice he was gone.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
She was flying a couple of inches above the ground and was wearing her pajamas and a little blanket as a cape, to cover herself from the cold wind.
With one hand, she was holding a bag of frozen peas wrapped in an old rag and put it on the small bump she had got when she got hit during that night’s mission.
Hugh just nodded, and she sat beside him, sighing.
They stayed in complete silence, and when he was about to ask her if he could help her with anything, she asked him:
“Where does it hurt, Hugh?”
“What?”
“Where does it hurt?” she asked again.
“No, I heard you the first time,” he answered. “It’s just—”
Just what?
But Georgie didn’t ask him that.
“I know it may not… physically hurt,” she explained herself after realizing he was not going to finish that sentence, leaving the bag of frozen peas on her lap. “But I also know there are a lot of ways someone can be hurting, and those wounds that are on the inside, are as important as the wounds we can see on the outside—” she grabbed his hand, and gently took him by the cheek to make sure he saw her in the eyes.
He would recognize those eyes everywhere.
“Why does it matter?” he asked her softly.
“Because… you’re very strong, Hugh,” she answered caressing his cheek. “Very, very strong. But maybe, if you tell me exactly what’s going on inside your head, we can find a way to cure your pain together. Because we’re in this together. You don’t have to do it alone. Not again. Not ever again.”
She closed her eyes, and he pressed his forehead against hers, looking at their hands, holding each other like their life depended on it.
“So tell me… where does it hurt?”
He didn’t answer the question; but he remembered it was the first time in forever he cried in front of someone who wasn’t Simon. He wasn’t even sure why he was crying and his memories about that moment were blurry as if it had been a dream. What he did remember very vividly was that she didn’t judge him at all or made him like his feelings didn’t matter. On the contrary, she stayed there as long as he needed, crying with him, until he was able to calm down again, and asked her if she wanted to go back inside. She didn’t think twice and accepted. After returning the frozen peas to the freezer, they pushed together the two couches they had in the living room, covered themselves with the small blanket she had brought with her and cuddled until they fell asleep.
From that moment on, it became more common for them to cuddle together. She was always cuddling with everyone, even with Tamaya and Simon, who were the ones with more difficulties accepting physical affection from others. But not even them could refuse her hugs, and her kisses, and her not so uncommon tickles, which Evander and Kasumi loved. Hugh couldn’t help but notice though, he was the one she hugged, kissed and tickled the most, even after she had Adrian and had to share her love with one person more, that probably needed it more than him.
And he loved to be her favorite.
Well— her second favorite. Adrian went first.
He just wished he had hugged her, kissed her, and tickled her more. She was always the one who looked for him, but he rarely looked for her to show her physical affection.
Hugh didn’t look for her at all. Not even when she disappeared.
He didn’t even know why.
He didn’t know anything.
But he did know that she had been wrong when she told him he was strong.
If he were truly strong, he would have protected her, like he had promised her he would do thousands and thousands of times.
If he were truly strong, he would have been the one that was there when the Artinos needed the Renegades, and he would have stopped the hitman Ace Anarchy sent to end them.
If he were truly strong and death had come after him the same way it came after her, he would have survived the fall.
Because he always did.
Because it was not possible for him to get hurt.
It was not her fault she hadn’t survived though. She wasn’t built that way. While Hugh was made mostly of chromium, Georgia Rawles was made of flesh, bones, blood, but mainly, she was made of love, and sometimes, love could be indestructible, but other times, it could also be fragile.
Very fragile.
It didn’t matter how strong she was.
Oh, because she was strong. She was really strong. She had the kind of strength his superpowers couldn’t give him, and that was the one that was going to change the world they lived in.
Georgia Rawles was so strong, she kept her cool when things were going to hell.
Georgia Rawles was so strong, she raised a child in the middle of a world ruled by anarchy, and was the best mother that child could ask for.
Georgia Rawles was so strong, she became the face people saw when they thought about hope, and didn’t let her beautiful heart to be changed by the obstacles life threw at her, no matter how horrible they were.
And it hadn’t been her fault she died. She didn’t fail anyone, not even the Artinos.
No. The one who had failed the Artinos, the one who had failed her, had been Hugh.
He should have been the one who died that night. He should be dead and buried, and she should be there, alive, with her son and her family, living in the world she had made a better place.
A world he didn’t feel he deserved.
Suddenly, a couple of familiar white boots appeared a couple of inches in front of him. He tried to convince himself not to look up, but his curiosity was bigger than his fear, even if he already knew who it was because she appeared every night after the door incident. It was Georgie’s ghost, just that this time, she was holding Simon’s hand. Her golden cape had not a single drop of blood and looked like new. She was wearing her whole superhero uniform but without her mask, so he had a clear view of her whole face. She let go of Simon for a second, and tried to walk towards Hugh, without taking her eyes away from him.
She didn’t even have to talk to let him know what she was trying to say.
Georgie was trying to remember him the good things his world had. He had raised two brilliant and kind sons who were his pride and joy, even when they weren’t in their best behavior. He had a friend who felt like an older sister, that fiercely loved him and the rest and had always done even when she was still learning how to love herself for the good, chaotic, intelligent, and beautiful person she was. He had another friend who, on the other hand, felt like a younger sister, and whose gestures, voice, and movements were like the calm before the storm, but when it came the time to defend others or defend herself, she became the storm itself, ready to drown whoever dare to treat her in a way that didn’t fit the respect she deserved. He also had a friend, who felt like a little brother, that he had seen grow up since he was a kid that had to get on his tiptoes to high five him, and the memory of his smile, his laugh, and his jokes that sometimes seemed to be hidden behind that strange villainous mask he wore was enough for him not to hate him, even if he hated Hugh.
He had… or had had a husband too. A husband that made him feel like he was at home each time he saw him. A husband who laughed at all his jokes, even when they weren’t that funny, and made him fall in love with him all over again each time he opened that smart mouth of his. A husband whose personality, humor, and body perfectly fit his, because if Hugh had been made for someone, it had been for him. A husband who always chose him, above anything else, but when it came to the point Hugh had failed him so many times, he had no other option but to choose himself.
And it wasn’t like Hugh could blame him. Simon deserved to be happy. Simon deserved each and all of the good things that this world had to offer to him, even if one of those things wasn’t Hugh.
Suddenly, Georgie extended her hand towards him, but when she was about to touch him, an invisible and polarized wall suddenly got in her way.
It was the first time Hugh actually saw it.
It was something grey, hollow, and invisible, that was coming out of him like the chrome that was dripping from his fingers at that very moment.
But Georgie, being Georgie, didn't flinch when she saw that wall. Instead, she flew over his head to try to get in that way. Hugh was following her with his gaze and realized at the same time as her, that thing was not a simple wall that had the sole purpose of making him get away from the people he loved.
That thing, that grey, hollow, and invisible thing, was a shell that impeded the people he loved to get closer to Hugh.
And Georgie was stubborn. Probably as much or more stubborn that Hugh was, even if she constantly was acting as if she weren’t. First, she proved her luck by kicking the shell into letting her in. Then, she used all the force in her body to try to crack it open. She got so desperate that started using her fists, punching and screaming his name, calling him “darling”, and imploring him to hold on a little longer.
The thing was… the thing was he didn’t want her to do that.
He didn’t know what she was feeling, but each time she kicked, she punched and she screamed, Hugh felt like his body was hurting. Not from the outside in, like he had heard physical pain felt, but from inside out; it was a pain that didn’t limit itself to his chest area, and went through all his body. He felt it in his legs, his face, and his arms, and gave him the sudden need to scratch it away. However, the aching shell was pretty similar to the real world, in the sense that when he did it, when he scratched his body in order to make the pain stop some way or another, his skin, and therefore his pain, didn’t react to it. It was as if he hadn’t even moved or made the most minimal effort to help himself.
Please, Georgie.
Please stop.
Please, please...
Please.
Just give up.
So Georgie fell to her knees, leaving bloody marks of her hands all over the shell. The small body of a girl grabbed her by the arm as if she wanted to hug her the same way Adrian hugged Hugh when he had a nightmare. A woman put her hand on her shoulder and quickly soothed her baby before she even started crying. Then, the man of the family wrapped his arms around the four of them, with a fearful but determined expression, that only brave people like him had.
She had heard him. She had given up on him.
The same way Simon, who didn’t stop watching the whole scene, had.
The same way he himself had.
Georgie tried to make him understand one last time.
You live in a beautiful world.
But she was wrong again.
Not about the part of the world being beautiful; it was about the part of her thinking Hugh didn’t already know that.
He did know the world he lived in was beautiful because the people who were part of it made it that way.
However, each time a happy moment occurred or a tragedy knocked at the door, it was as if Hugh wasn’t able to experience the happiness or the sadness that he was supposed to feel. When they cried, they laughed, or they yelled at him, their sobs, their smiles, and their screams felt real, but when he tried to imitate them, he felt like something that had come out from another planet pretending to be a human. Even those tears he was crying now, were more of a way his mind had found to fill the hole he had on his chest, while it waited for that weight to come and take its place.
Not like it was going to matter though. When the sun came up, all those imaginary ghosts will disappear. All the tears he had cried will dry, and all the aching he had felt will turn into the deepest of numbness.
He laid his head on the floor and grasped Simon's pillow tightly.
The next morning, he would feel no pain, in the same way, he would feel no comfort because that was part of being born with the powers he had.
But was there any point in living if you couldn’t feel anything?
***
The answer to that question was about to come to him when he was standing in the Arena, actually tearing up, after both sides of the battle had suddenly ceased fire.
He wasn’t able to see his family in the middle of the chaos, but for some reason, that didn’t scare him at all. The five of them were competent and strong, and they probably were also looking for him, so it was a matter of time and keep looking for them.
Also, this chaos— this chaos was nothing compared to what the Age of Anarchy had been.
He had been alive during the Age of Anarchy. He had experienced on first hand the horrors and the violence of it and had felt like there was no alternative but to roll with it, even if it was painful, horrible, and made him feel hopeless and small.
But then, he met them.
He met them, and the five of them were so full of light that they turned him into light too. The six got together and were able to bring hope into a world that had already given up on people like them, and constantly told them to do the same.
But what they didn’t know was that their secret was not to give up on each other.
They never gave up on each other, not even when one of those lights was gone.
Maybe she never really went anywhere. Maybe she had always been there. Maybe she was on their monthly dinners, in the internal jokes they still shared after all these years, and in the small gestures that reminded them they still love each other and they were still all in this together.
And she would have loved to see them like that.
She had been right about him being strong. But that wasn’t going to be the reason why he was going to be able to end with this chaos and why the Renegades were going to win in the end one more time. He was going to win because she was right when she said he was not only strong, but he was also vibrant, wonderful, valid, and most importantly, he was right. He was right that this world was worth protecting because life was full of moments and people that he would have never met if he weren’t alive to do it in the first place.
Hugh was alive. He was alive and he still could do something about it, to fix what was in his power to fix, and one of those things was himself and the mistakes he had made. There was nothing wrong with accepting what he had done wrong and in becoming a better person, not for others, but for himself.
There was nothing wrong with being alive.
He asked himself again.
Is there any point in living if you can’t feel anything?
But the answer slipped through his fingers. Because he was about to say it out loud, when something grabbed him and dragged him out of that dream, woke him up, and made him realize he was trapped inside a nightmare.
The helmet fell off Callum Treadwell's hands, and he fell on his back, covering his wound and trying to stop the hemorrhage.
He didn’t even bother to try to stop them when they grabbed Ace Anarchy’s helmet. He also didn’t tremble when they assured all of them had fought bravely, but now it was time for them to know fear, and he barely moved as he saw them turned into a phantom creature and soared like a bird of prey while he made his way to his master to give him the key to gaining back all the power he had previously lost.
Instead, he looked at Wonder, who now was with Nightmare, and then looked at his own boots, who also had the blood of numerous people he probably didn’t know.
Or he did.
Maybe it was his family’s blood.
With the thought in mind, he started searching for their faces in a crowd full of people looking for their loved ones while trying not to get killed in the process. He didn’t have a lot of time to do it though, because as soon as he thought he had seen Simon, the sound of shackles springing loudly reached his ears, followed by the same voice saying:
“Master of Anarchy, rise again, and let us watch them fall.”
As soon as Ace Anarchy started to float upward, the arena began to shake. His powers grabbed each piece of the structure they could find and were used against the few Renegades who were still trying to fight back. The stand he had been gazing at was yanked up from the floor, and Ace Anarchy hurled it at where he was standing.
He threw himself on the ground to dodge it, and then, he turned to see Ace, who was already gazing at him with a condescending grin on his face.
He hadn’t tried to kill him. But he hoped he had.
Actually, he hoped Ace Anarchy killed him right there, and that he did it fast.
Because that would be a lot much easier than whatever the hell he was supposed to do at that moment.
A pair of white boots tripped with Hugh’s body. He had to blink twice to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t a hallucination brought on by stress before turning to look at them and recognize Evander’s black superhero suit. At first, he thought he was going to say something like “Get up!” or “The fuck you’re doing on the ground?!” or a mixture of both, but instead, he just kicked the silver spear in his direction.
Hugh instantly grasped it. Evander gave him a small nod with the head before running towards Ace, and watching him getting closer and closer to him made something inside of Hugh move, giving him the strength he needed to get on his feet again and follow him.
As soon as he saw him throw a blinding strobe into Ace’s face, he knew what Evander wanted him to do.
Hugh took advantage of those few instants Ace gave them when he ducked his head and hurled his weapon at him.
Ace dodged it. Just for a few inches.
Hugh made eye contact with him.
Kill me.
Please.
Please.
Kill me. Right now.
And as if he had heard him, a grin appeared on his lips.
He directed the chains that had been used to contain the prisoners at what he thought it was him, and his whole body shriveled at the idea of their cold touch of the metal being the last thing his skin touched.
But Hugh had been wrong, and the chains wrapped Evander's torso and gagged his mouth.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to get on his knees and beg him to spare Evander's life. He wanted to go feral, throw himself at him, and kill him in a way that made sure he dragged both of them directly to the hell he had been told by Ace he was going to when he died, just to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone else when he was no longer there to protect ones who were left. He wouldn't care that it wasn't heroic of him to ask his worst enemy to end his life on the verge of tears and with a broken voice because it would be even less heroic of him to let the younger member of his family die this way.
He couldn't bear to let another person die instead of him. He couldn't.
He wouldn't be able to take it.
He wasn't strong enough.
Hugh glanced at Evander one last time, to let him know everything would be fine and that he was going to be the one who took his place. But when he realized Evander hadn't taken his eyes away from him, and terror had overtaken his entire face, the words, the begging, and the crying stayed in his throat, now completely unable to come out.
Ace flicked his fingers.
And in a blink, Evander wasn't looking at him anymore.
His scream didn't sound like him. It made his throat hurt and his entire body feel cold.
No.
No, no, no, no.
It was supposed to be him.
He was the one who should be dead right now.
And why wasn't he dead then?
Why were Evander and Georgie dead— and Hugh wasn't?
A pair of knees fell to the ground beside him. He turned around, mechanically, and he saw Kasumi, whose mouth was slightly open and her face had grown pale. Suddenly, instead of breaking down and crying like he thought she was about to do, she made her hands into fists, her jaw clenched, and after a blink, her eyes had turned into the bluest of blues he had ever seen.
Her scream was so guttural and so full of pain, she didn’t sound like her. Kasumi had never been able to make a wave that big out of nowhere in just one second and she had never used her powers with so much hate drawn all over her face full of tears that she didn’t seem to realize she was crying.
But with a simple flick of his wrist, Ace flipped the entire platform and created a barrier that protected him from the wave, breaking it and flooding the arena. Kasumi quickly tried to control the water to protect Evander’s corpse; he took advantage of that distraction to throw the platform at her.
And the only thing Kasumi could do was cry out and raise her arms to defend herself from the crushing weight that now was on top of her.
She didn’t even try to move or to run away. But he didn’t know if it was because it all happened so fast she didn’t have the time to do it—
Or because she simply didn’t want to.
Hugh looked up to the sky, searching for Tamaya. He expected to find her flying, keeping her distance, throwing bolts at her enemies, and when they were able to make eye contact, he would yell her name and ask her for help.
Not for him though.
For them. For Kasumi and Evander. Because each second that passed with Kasumi still under that platform, paralyzed and alone, and with Evander still at the mercy of whoever that passed and that could trip with him or kicked him, was a second that they were being—
Hurt.
But Hugh didn’t see her. She wasn’t anywhere he expected to find her, and he did his best to scan the whole sky, even if the little smoke that still remained in the area made it difficult for him to see.
Then, a dark thought clouded his mind.
Tamaya wasn’t reckless. Not anymore. She wouldn’t risk her life by staying on the ground, and she would know that the best way she would be able to help the rest of them was if she flew and got closer only in case they needed her help.
If she had stayed in the sky, she would have been able to see Evander blinding Ace with his powers. She would have seen Kasumi breaking down and her wave would have touched her wings. She would have known they needed her help long before Hugh did.
Then why wasn’t she there?
Why couldn’t he bring himself to lower his head and look for her in the ground?
Why was he so… numb?
Suddenly, Ace’s roar filled his ears. The villain had a knife buried on his left side, and when he tried to hit whoever had stabbed him, he wasn’t able to find them.
It wasn’t possible that someone had thrown a knife at him since the attack had clearly been from behind. And no one would be fast enough to get out of Ace’s reach and disappear before he realized he had been hurt.
Disappear.
And it was as if he could see him again. He was able to see him standing behind Ace, piercing him with his gaze, ready to push him, made him hit his face against the ground, and kill him himself. He could see his face—the face he had kissed thousands of times— contorted in anger even before his presence was revealed by Honey Harper, who screeched almost as if asking for his husband’s head, and sent every one of the creatures she had control over in his direction.
Simon cried in pain and, after flickering a couple of seconds, he curled into a ball, to protect his body from the bee’s dangerous stings.
An eerie beam of light flew over his head and made Honey Harper fall into a row of plastic chairs. Her bees suddenly lost interest in Simon and flew towards her, hearing their queen calling for someone’s name. When he looked around for whoever had attacked her, he recognized the Sentinel’s armor and noticed how he slowly lowered his arm, as if he couldn’t believe he had just shot someone right in the chest from that distance.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Leroy Flinn tossing a couple of Renegades who were about to attack him and running towards his ally to check on her as if he were one more of her bees who blindly followed her command. Ace watched the scene as the same time Hugh did, but instead of asking Cyanide if she was fine, or even trying to pretend he cared for her, he used his powers to pull his back out of his knife.
He pulled the knife out of his back, probably because he was too full of himself to realize that he could bleed to death if he did that.
Simon knew that. He would have done it himself if he only had time.
Simon knew a lot of things.
And Hugh saw in his eyes that he knew Ace was aiming at his throat when he threw his own weapon at him.
But before the knife touched any inch of Simon’s skin, a swarm of monarch butterflies covered him and Danna Bell used her forearm to knock it from the air.
The Renegades who were still on condition to fight started using their powers at maximum capacity to try to stop Ace Anarchy. Hugh began to walk around with his head low, looking for his weapon because that was the only thing the dark fog that made his body feel dizzy and his thoughts fuzzy allowed him to do.
Look for it.
Look for it, grab it, get up, and fight.
The spear was nowhere to be found. And Hugh didn’t feel like fighting anymore.
He wanted to lay on the floor. He wanted to lay on the floor with Tamaya, with Kasumi, and with Evander, close his eyes, and try to remember how he felt when they were kids and all of them slept together in the same giant bed. He would try to imagine the sound of their breaths and suffocate the yelling, the crying, and the screeching, to at least feel like he was falling asleep before someone came and finished the job for —not for Ace— but for him.
And if no one did, at least Hugh knew what he was going to do next.
His knees began to tremble and his feet refused to keep going. He saw the Silver Spear a couple of meters behind Ace. Maybe if he was able to get across those barriers Ace had built around him with his powers, he could use it.
He had never tried to use it to see if it could physically hurt him in a way that could potentially kill him.
But he could try.
Immediately after that, he noticed someone’s gaze was fixated on him. He looked at Ace but just at that moment, he was struck by a bolt of smoke, distracting himself by his own coughing.
Two hands covered with black gloves slightly touched his weapon and made it move towards him.
The same hands he had been wanting to hold for so long.
The same hands that belonged to the same person who hadn’t stopped looking at him after all this time.
Simon probably didn’t even notice what he did. When Hugh looked back at him, he wasn’t paying attention to him anymore; instead, he was trying his best not to keep slipping on the muddy ground while he stumbled his way out of there.
Simon was slipping through his fingers once again.
The difference was that this time when the Sentinel landed beside a kneeling Simon, hurt and full with stings on his face and neck, he knew he couldn’t let watching him go away be the last thing he did in his life.
Hugh didn’t like running after people when they decided to go because he would never want anyone to do it if it were him.
After all, leaving took a lot of strength. Someone following him would only make it so much harder.
And being the one who followed and was rejected at the end, was even worse.
But some people were worth following. Just one time. Just to make sure they really wanted to leave, or if they wanted to stay just as hard as one wanted them to.
Just so each other knew they haven’t given up on each other yet.
Because he would never give up on Simon; not even when Hugh had already given up on himself.
When he kneeled beside him, he just threw a glance at the Sentinel to try to figure out his intentions, but immediately centered all his attention on Simon.
The hell with the Sentinel.
“Simon, what happened?” he asked him, with his voice trembling as much as the ground did. “What’s wrong?”
And Simon—
Simon answered him.
“At least one of those hornets must have had Agent N���” their gazes met “—I’ve been neutralized.”
He bit his lips and lowered his head, almost as if he were apologizing for something.
But Hugh didn’t want him to apologize. He wasn’t the one who needed to do it.
That Simon was still his Simon. With or without powers.
Hugh put his arm around Simon. “We need to get you out of here. Can you stand?”
He expected Simon to flinch at his touch and ask him to get away from him as soon as he touched. What he didn’t expect was for him to completely ignore his question and his arm around him, and instead, ask him, “Have you seen Adrian?”
Hugh immediately tried to remember if he had seen him during the fight. But, to his horror, the last time he had seen Adrian had been the night he and his team discovered Nightmare’s true identity because he had been avoiding him during the last days.
Those things now seemed insignificant and petty compared with what was happening now.
First, he only shook his head, and while he helped him to get up, Simon’s eyes started to fill with tears. “We’ll find him,” he assured him. “He’s strong. He has to be fine.”
And it was a threat to the universe.
Simon tried to give a step, but his legs couldn’t hold the weight of his body, and he almost fell again. Hugh instinctively held him tighter. “I’m okay,” Simon quickly said, waving his hand. “It’s just…”
It’s just—
Hugh wanted to ask him: “It’s just what?”
But she hadn’t asked him that question. So he didn’t ask Simon either.
He did want an answer though.
And Simon was so good, he gave it to him.
“My whole body feels like it’s burning up from the inside out. Whatever venom those wasps have—”
Simon groaned and Hugh heard his words echoing in his mind.
Feeling.
At least you’re feeling.
You’re feeling, and that’s what matters.
Hugh tried to speak, but the Sentinel interrupted him before he could even say a word.
“Here, let me take him.” He frowned, and the Sentinel added, “You need to stop Ace Anarchy.”
He contemplated the Sentinel's armor, about to tell him to move and let him take his husband out of there.
Hugh didn't need to do anything.
The only thing he needed to do was to get Simon away from danger as quickly as possible.
But he would be lying.
Because deep in his heart, he knew he had to stop Ace Anarchy before he did anything else.
Not because he wanted to. It was because he had to.
That was the way it had always been.
He would like to hate the Sentinel for making that remark, but as soon as his eyes met with his helmet, he realized he had become one of those insignificant and petty things he couldn't believe had taken so much of his time.
And he had also saved Max.
Without him, Adrian wouldn't have had a little brother to kidnap, Hugh wouldn't have had two sons to worry about, and probably, a husband for the Anarchist to hurt.
“Thank you.”
He meant it.
He really meant it.
If the Sentinel smiled or felt something when he heard those words, he didn't show it. He moved towards them to help Simon put his weight on him, but as soon as he got close, he flinched and held Hugh tighter.
A lot more tighter.
With all his might.
Hugh looked him dead in the eye, and Simon did it too.
He would never forget how soft, yet determined, his voice sounded when he said those three words to him.
It was a plea and it was an order.
It was a question and it was an answer.
They were full of vulnerability and they were full of strength.
It was the first words he had really said to him in a long time but might as well become the last ones.
Simon said, “Don't get killed.”
Two realizations came to him at the same time.
The first one was that Simon's lips were slightly open after he said that.
And the second one was that he couldn't die yet.
Not because of the world. Not even because he was sure he wanted to keep living.
He needed to live because he had to find Tamaya to tell her he was sorry, even if he had to look for her on the ground. Because he needed to help Kasumi, ask her to forgive him too, and assure her she had been right all along. Because he needed to fulfill the silent promise he had made to Evander since the day he appeared on their life's door and protect him one last time.
He needed to see Max, hug him, and get him ready for bed.
He needed to talk to Adrian again and tell him he loved him, without him having to be the first one to do so.
And he needed to hold, touch, but above all, kiss the love of his life one more time, and make sure he would never again think Hugh didn't love him until his last breath, and that his last thoughts were all about him.
So he not only needed to live.
He had to live.
Just one last time, he had to live.
He had done it before; he would do it again.
“I'd like to see him try.”
***
The last thing Hugh saw before falling, was Adrian’s face.
And he looked small. Very small. And completely terrified.
He looked so terrified, that the few seconds he was falling, he could only think about all the horrible things Adrian and Max must be feeling, and not actually about what he was feeling.
But as soon as he realized that, he hit the ground.
At first, he did his best not to give up and stay awake for as long as possible. But he started wondering what Georgie felt when she fell from the sky. If she had looked like a shooting star. And he wondered if it was really her the one who appeared in front of him, wearing a golden cape. If it was really her when she held his face in her hands, caressing his cheeks without saying a single word, and kissed his forehead before getting up again and starting flying, and flying until he couldn’t see her anymore.
He also wondered if she would have been woken up by the pain had she survived the fall, just like he eventually did. If she would have also felt the instant relief everyone felt when they came to the realization that they were alive, just to immediately be followed up by guilt. Or what Georgie would have thought if she had stayed a little longer, just to ask him that one last time.
Where does it hurt?
Hugh would have told her the truth. Because of course he would have told her the truth. He would never lie to her. Not even when all he had done for the last ten years, had been lying to himself.
Everywhere.
It hurts everywhere.
She didn’t ask him anything though.
Not that he was mad at her for not doing so.
He just wondered what she would have thought.
#renegades#archenemies#supernova#renegades trilogy#humon#hugh everhart#simon westwood#should i tag the rest of the council?#let's do it jaja#georgia rawles#tamaya rae#kasumi hasegawa#evander wade#pinche evander cómo te odio en este fic eres la peor escoria del mundo aaaah#adrian everhart#pinche adrian también tú chinga tu madre#nova artino#nova tú estás bien a ti sí te quiero
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II: Blood and Ghosts
(Batgirl/Red Hood)
Description: Reader tries getting a clue. part one
“Typically, they steer clear of the Village, but that doesn’t appear to be the case as of recent. Oracle found out about an operation out of a Hadley’s Deli there- standard money laundering, but it also could’ve been linked to the shipment of cocaine that we found at the Yacht Basin.”
“Right. So what changed?”
“A better question would be what didn’t?”
A beat. The contrasting silence that followed jarred me from my thoughts as I glanced over and realized that Bruce was prompting me for an answer. Tim looked expectant and inquisitive, but that was sort of his default expression.
“Oh. Sorry. What?” I said apologetically.
“Maroni.” He said simply. Nothing came to mind. He didn’t express verbal disappointment as he turned back to Tim, but I knew it was there.
“Red Hood has been operating out of The Bowery. Maroni and Falcone are stubborn, but they’re losing. He’s pushing them north.”
“So moving to the Village isn’t expansion. It’s desperation.” Tim muttered thoughtfully.
“I believe so.”
“May I be excused?” I asked. Bruce glanced back to me, studying a moment. Scrutinizing every detail; not deciding whether or not to let me leave- rather, deciding why I wanted to. Then, he nodded. Seems he wasn’t in the mood to ask.
I swept up my laptop and phone, and ascended the stairs from the cave to the manor quickly, trying to escape the eyes boring into my back. Only when the cool, lemon-scented air of the manor filled my lungs did I breathe a sigh of relief. Alone. All I needed was few minutes alone. I scaled the marble steps to my room and shut the door.
I hadn’t told anyone that I saw him three nights ago. That I watched him murder a man in retribution for me. My alter ego, anyway. I don’t know why. Maybe because it would mean having to tell them I snuck away. Having to walk through every detail again; sights, sounds, smells. What Red Hood was wearing and what he sounded like, what gun he was holding and how he held it, what prompted him to fire, how many shots and how he acted when he did.
But if ever there was a time to be high-strung and anxious, it was when you were keeping secrets from Batman. And Oracle. And Nightwing. And Red Robin. And Robin. Damian in particular could smell a lie like blood in the water, and he wasn’t too polite to hold your gaze until he was certain you weren’t hiding anything. That, and the art of solidarity was still foreign to him- even if I did tell him in confidence, he would take it right to Bruce. Possibly the police. Maybe a news outlet or two just because it soothed his vindictive nature. I’d been avoiding him.
Evening bled into night, and I was barred from masked business on school nights, so I couldn’t even patrol to ease the anxious energy. Still, that meant less opportunity for Bruce to analyze my musculoskeletal ticks or whatever the hell he did to tell when I was nervous, so I decided it was a worthy trade-off and resigned myself to independent research.
Who the hell was Red Hood, anyway? Half of Gotham was looking for him, the other half was running from him. I opened my laptop.
His debut was The Viper House, a strip club in Little Italy that also functioned as a human trafficking hub when the owner, Renaldo, needed to buy his wife (or handful of mistresses) a new Blue Nile diamond. By the end, the building had to be gutted. There’s only so much crime scene clean-up can do with carpet.
Next came the kingpins. Blowing open a trafficking operation had a short grace period if you didn’t cut out the source. Italian mobsters, the Romani families, the crews that had built empires on drug and sex trade dropped like flies until they found that their numbers dwindled for the first time since Joker finally bit it. The dozens of loyal men on their payroll decided that empty pockets were better than a full grave, and when it came to the business of death, Red Hood was very persuasive. It went on like that for six months; he amassed men, power, weapons, and tech. Most importantly, a potent reputation. This was due in no small part to his creative footwork; he liked to send messages. One file covered an incident where Alphonso Kuznetsov decided to write Gotham’s new player an open letter in the evening column suggesting that if he decided to bring his business to Port Adams, he might find himself in a ‘watery grave’. Kuznetsov was found a week later when a fishing vessel drug an entire coffin from the bottom of the harbor, padlocked and full of water. He was bound, drowned, and gagged with a copy of the very paper that featured his message. Red Hood must have been in touch with his artistic sensibilities; it was all very Shakespearean.
Of course, these were all just words. Rumors and hearsay. All I knew of the Red Hood from my intimate encounter was that he had a quick hand, an incendiary temper, and he didn’t fucking like creeps. All the makings of vigilante, if you chose to see it like that.
I sighed. Two hours and none of my research gave me any indication of why me. Why the hell should Red 57-kill-count Hood care if some goon told me he like the way I looked in my suit? I may has well have been the veiled threats of Kuznetsov’s evening column for all my inconsequence to him.
But it all kept running through my mind. Backwards and forwards. The vitriol in his voice preluding the barbarity of his reprimand. The way he said little Batgirl, like the crime was that I’d been engaged at all. More than the memory, something was telling me to keep digging. Something dragging me back to Crime Alley with the current of the running blood through Little Italy’s gutters.
I had to do something. And if that something wasn’t going to Bruce, then school tomorrow would have to wait.
The morning went along as per usual. I woke up at six, dawned my Gotham Academy uniform, grabbed a muffin and coffee, completed a complicated and well-practiced secret handshake with Tim (that Dick was secretly jealous of), and was out the door at 6:30, keys jingling in Alfred’s hand.
He dropped me off outside the ornate gothic academy, and I waved goodbye as I skipped backward along the cobblestone walkway. Once his black Mercedes was a pinpoint on the horizon, I promptly turned heel from the front doors, heading East toward the Narrows. Catching the subway there would take me as far as the Knight’s Stadium, and from there it was a short distance to the Alley. I wasn’t exactly inconspicuous in my academy uniform- anyone who gave a shit could pretty confidently deduce that school was in session at 8am on a Tuesday, and no student native to the Alley could afford a private education, so I was bound to draw eyes. I hadn’t packed an extra outfit incase Tim or Alfred got suspicious- that was paranoia puppeteering. I wasn’t used to skipping school. I’d have to make due.
Crime Alley in broad daylight was a brand new experience. At night, at least the smoke unfurling from the sewer grates hit the flickering streetlights and offered an unconventional charm. During the day, it was like shedding light on a foul sin. I was starkly out of place, and even the lapdog-sized rats seemed to know it, scurrying back across gritty concrete when I passed by. I looked for familiar things I’d seen the other night- a run-down apartment complex, a gated liquor shop, a meager but menacing corner-store, busy with glaring laymen reluctantly dragging out their wallets for a pack of cigarettes. I caught the eye of a woman sitting on the curb with a paper-bag bottle for company, and she scowled.
Spurned by the rats, and now by the people, I was running out of options. Sticking close to the buildings that perimetered the square, I moved in tandem with the motion of the locals, so as not to draw any eyes by looking lost. It was an unnerving scape; too quiet for my liking, but just empty enough to feel safely underseen. I made my way past familiar landmarks until I finally stood before the warehouse where I’d been.
I listened; no sound from inside. Even henchmen have day jobs. Jimmying the rusty padlock was just a matter of brandishing a bobby-pin from my hair, and the heavy metal door swung open without much resistance. I cautiously picked my way around crates and boxes, unsure of what I was looking for. Clues, maybe. Proof that he was here and dropped a body in my name, amen.
There was a dark, daunting stain on the floor where Hoffman’s body was. A phantom gunshot echoed in my ears, along with a nauseating sound of flat-back weight slapping concrete.
“Ain’t school in session?” I spun on my heel, meeting the red helm of a towering man draped in leather and armor. My mouth went dry. My right foot slipped back into a fighting stance before I remembered I was in cashmere and plaid, not kevlar. Not that I even stood a chance either way; but at least he seemed to harbor good will toward Batgirl. Wordlessly, I took a few steps back until I was standing over the blood and ghosts of Hoffman’s demise.
“P-please. Don’t- don’t hurt me.” I rasped.
I could play the rebellious, morose teenager and come up with something like it was a dare, or I could offer no explanation and simply cry.
Red Hood’s head tipped one way. His hands were empty- for now. Two heavy-looking glocks hung on his waist. I didn’t want to die on top of Hoffman’s blood stain. There was a level of symbolism there I was deeply unprepared to spend my final moments analyzing.
“Lookin’ for something, darlin’?” I swallowed- unable to say you.
“Wh-What do you want?” I asked.
He laughed, but it was humorless. Lacking whatever key component made laughs so appealing. As though the sound rung off the gravestones of uncanny valley before reaching my ears. “I think we’re both asking stupid questions.” He said. I was fucked. He outweighed me by a hundred pounds, and could out-draw me even if I had a weapon. I had no explanation for my being here that suited a civilian, and my phone was in my bag, meaning help was a world away.
But just as soon as he advanced a few paces, he stopped, and gestured to the crimson beneath my feet.
“Enjoy the show the other night?” He asked, before pulling something out of his jacket pocket and twirling it between his fingers with practiced ease. A batarang.
“You forgot somethin’.”
Cold, knife-like fear erupted in my spine, driven to the hilt. He knew. How did he know? What the hell was I supposed to do? My terror must have shown on my face, because he stopped fidgeting.
“It’s okay, babydoll. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“H-how-“
He moved again, slow, lazy strides until he was no more than an inch from me.
“Who are you?” I asked, figuring if I was gonna die, I should at least know that much.
His hands grabbed mine. The leather of his gloves was cool on my skin, but it barely registered for the closeness of him. I stared at the red bat symbol on his chest, jagged and angry looking. I blinked and looked down slowly as he closed my fingers around the cold metal of the batarang.
“Go home, little bird.” It was a cold, seething demand, his voice snagging on the scrambler to make it sound like a low growl.
“Tell Batman when he’s ready to stop sending his toy soldiers,” His hand went under my chin, tilting my head upward. My breath shook as I drew it, hitching, even though the man before me was faceless. Clean, red monochrome, glinting in the light.
“I’m getting impatient.”
*
I walked through the manor door in a daze, the cold steel batarang searing my palm.
Bruce and Damian were in the living room, each invested in their own reading material. The grandfather clock ticked his steady tempo, and I inconspicuously adjusted the bag on my shoulder. Bruce had a steaming cup of coffee on the glass side table beside his leather chair.
“How was school?” He asked, not looking up. My paranoia convinced me it sounded rhetorical, but I shrugged anyway.
“Same old.” A glance, to see if my lie had landed.
Damian was the spitting image of his father. He, along with Tim, operated in the wake of being an only child, so he never did care about how I did in school, or much of anything else in my orbit. If at any point he did, he never thought to ask. Father and son looked like a matching set of dolls sitting there, cross-legged, with dark hair and gaunt eyes, both leanly muscular, and habitually poised; a consequence of being from the upper echelon of each of their respective backgrounds.
“Hey, um, are you going out tonight?” I asked.
“I am.”
“Can I come?”
“Are you certain you want to?” He still didn’t look up.
I blinked. “Um… yeah. Why?”
“You’ve been distracted since the last outing.”
Damian visibly tuned in.
“Oh. Sorry. I had a big paper I was worried about for school, but I turned it in today, so I’m good to go.” I threw him a thumbs up, even though he wasn’t looking.
A beat.
“Very well, then. Nine o’clock.”
I nodded, and headed toward the stairs.
“Y/N,” I stopped, and turned around. He was looking at me now, eyes blue and steady.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think you did well?”
“…”
“On the paper.”
I threw him a smile. “The best.”
#batfam#batman#batman daughter#batsister#batsis x batfamily#batsis x bruce wayne#batfamily#jason todd x reader#jason todd x y/n#jason todd#batsis x jason todd#red hood#red hood x y/n#red hood x reader#red robin#tim drake#batman and robin#dc comics#batsis x dick grayson#dick grayson#damian wayne#damian al ghul
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