#i might still customize her but ill be selling her and looking for the right face for fahari im that picky | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goodday-goodmorn · 10 months

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Todays work is of @ghouljams Cowboy141 au! Featuring the nasty boy himself- König! Told from the lovely perspective of Murphys (an OC of Ghouls for those who don’t know) granddaughter!! Go check out Ghoul they have some amazing COD stuff over there (the demon darling AU is one of my fav’s but they’re known for their fae and cowboy stuff!- odd niches i know-)

You had been thinking about this day for months now. Today would finally be the day you earned your honorary, ‘I sold cookies to Birdie’ badge.

And of course, all good plans begin with a pack of markers, paper, and a whiteboard that you borrowed from the back of your pappy's shop. (He wouldn't miss it, besides if he got grumpy you would just pull out the puppy dog eyes until he relented.)

Using some magnets you pin various torn out notebook papers to the whiteboard. It isn't quite like the movies where they use push pins and red sting but well- that would be inconvenient for your purposes anyway.

Face furrowed in deep concentration you stare at the board as if doing so for long enough would solve all your problems.

“Are you still planning?” A familiar voice rings out beside you, your fellow girl scout and current best friend, Alexis. She sits on a beanbag, sipping on soda as she stares at your mess of plans. You frown, clearly she wouldnt understand the intricacies of how important this was. After all, she already had her Birbe badge.

A perk she got of being the one to make the things, meant that the first year they were implemented, she got to sell to Birdie with no competition.

(You remember standing on the sidelines and watching her turn and hand Birde a box of peanut butter patties with a smug look on her face. It had been painful to have to stand there with your fellow troop members.)

The rewards were worth the sacrifice however, because now there's more at stake than the bragging rights of selling to everyone's favorite teacher. Now, you get an unofficial badge for it, made every year by the crafty hands of Alexis.

This year’s is sitting just over there on the coffee table, nearly finished. All it's missing is the border around the bird in the center, mostly because Alexis ran out of the thread she needed and has yet to ask her grandmother for more.

You sigh, grumbling out something as you continue to stare at the board.

She shakes her head and goes back to playing Minecraft on her older cousin's well loved Xbox. Trying not to die by the hands of a spider, she says, “Look- if you’re so serious about it why not just find a way through Goose?” You frown more, shaking your head. As much as you do get along well with your pappy’s favorite customer…

“Nope, not possible. Birdie’s friends are banned ever since Moon started complain’ bout it… Plus after Jordans stunt last year of getting in the good graces of Birdie’s momma- we aren't allowed to do stuff like that.” You explain, using a marker to scribble out more ideas and add to your current map of where Birdie might be when you all get access to the cookies.

She tends to be out during it, likely to make it harder for people to earn their badge by camping out on her front porch.

How she knew when you all got the first cookie shipments, you weren't sure. Probaby Moon. Yeah- definitely Moon.

“Besides,” you continue, switching your marker to a purple color, “Even if I did- that wouldn't be me selling to Birdie- it would be me selling to Goose. So it don’t count.”

She hums, “Tough luck.” You sigh dejectedly, nodding. She finally kills the spider and then turns to you, from the depths of her very filled pockets she fishes out a lollipop. She offers it to you like she's offering you a hit after a stressful day at your 9 to 5.

Gratefully, you take it, green apple, nice.

“Well, I wish ya the best of luck. If you fail, offers open to go selling with me later.” You nod, waving her off, “Mhm… i reckon ill get it this year though.”

She shrugs, pointing to the nearly finished badge which sits a few feet away. “Well, if you do, then that badge is as good as yours.”

You stare at it longingly, vowing to yourself that this year you would finally-

———————————————

“You didn't do it did you?”

You frown, a sour look on your face as you try and fix your now messed up braids. Alexis sits beside you, the two of you back in her grandmother's basement. She's got a bag of frozen peas against your jaw, trying to prevent the bruise you know is coming. You say nothing, instead just sitting there with a pout, normally you wouldn't be this upset but…

“So who did manage it this year?” She asks, leaving you to hold the peas while she goes to grab the first aid kit under the coffee table.

“Susie May.”

Alexis bumps her head on the table as she pops up, looking surprised. “Again?” She sounds as incredulous as you are upset.

“Yeah!” You cry angrily, throwing your free hand up.

She whistles, walking over to you and tending to your scraped up knees. It's something that happens so often you don't really feel it, but both you and Alexis know that if your parents, or her grandma, sees you all banged up and bruised, they won't be happy. “How’d she manage that?” She inquires, cleaning your scrapes and pulling out bandages.

“Playing fuckin’ dirty thats how.” You parents would also not be very happy with your use of swears but it's just Alexis and you right now. Plus you are rather pissed off at the manner in which Susie happened to win the race this year.

“Yeah I can see that…” Alexis mumbles, taking in your dusty clothes, frazzled hair, and scraped up knees. You decide to make it worse by opening your mouth and showing how your tooth is now loose and barely hanging on by a thread. It's a baby tooth, luckily, but still.

Alexis blinks, “How in the hell-?”

“She pulled on my braids just as I was about to get there. I tried to not fall but sending all my weight forward meant when she let go-”

“-You fell flat on your face?”

You nod, grumbling under your breath. The reason you're so upset is because well- Susie May already has her badge. And she was also the one to sell cookies to Birdie last year. Which means this is her third time selling.

The general polite thing to do after getting your badge is to either A) back out of the race to sell entirely, or B) if you’re gonna participate, give it a year or two after you earned your badge, then continue with much less vigor.

Alexis seems rather irritated herself, grumbling about how she's not gonna make a badge for someone who already has one.

There wouldn't be a point, plus it's such a waste of her time and supplies. And because Birdie only buys a box from the first girl scout to reach her- that means no one gets a badge this year.

Safe to say the troop is not gonna be happy about this. Not one bit. And you are eagerly awaiting the next time you all meet up and Alexis gets to break to everyone that the reason no one gets a badge this year is thanks to Susie.

After Alexis has finished patching you up, you huff, resting your chin in your hands as you drop the pea bag.

“Well- that was a bust.” Alexis says with a sympathetic shrug, flashing the Birdie badge, “Guess you’ll get it next year.”

You groan, flopping over to lay on the beanbag. She in turn, grabs her own girl scout sash and uniform, “Well since you failed-” You glare at the reminder to which she puts her hands up in surrender- “Since you…didn't get it. You wanna go with me to try and outsell her?”

You think it over but it really isn’t a hard decision, “Alright. But we’re stoping at pappy’s place, i need to fix my braids.”

“Cant you just do it yourself?”

“Yeah but he can do it with ribbons and considering Susie's got the Cherry with her, we’re gonna need some extra charm.”

Alexis pulls a face, “Since when does Cherry hang out with Susie May of all people?”

You shrug, waiting for your friend to finish getting ready. “Dunno. Though, I'm kinda hoping Cherry finds out what happened and punches her.” Out of your little trio of friends, Cherry could hit the hardest. She was smaller and shorter than both you and Alexis, and looked like a little angel, (hence why you and Alexis used her to make a bunch of sells), but you both knew she was a proper troublemaker.

Course- none of the adults did, which made things very useful for both her, you, and Alexis whenever you three decided to get into trouble.

Alexis grumbles, a bit upset by the news, understandable, she didn't have many friends other than you and Cherry so she probably wasn't taking the news that Cherry was hanging out with someone else very well. You decided to make it your mission to cheer both yourself and her up.

“It's alright, I reckon we can handle it without her.”

———————————————

“You sure we’ll even find anyone out here?” Alexis asks, skeptical. Fair,

considering the two of you have been riding your bikes for a while now.

You nod, reaffirming for what feels like the hundredth time, “Mhm! Look I'm telling ya- I saw some newcomers at Pappys shop a few days ago! And they certainly ain't in town, which means they gotta be out here somewhere.”

She frowns, “This doesn't feel worth it though.”

You shrug, “Well we already got everyone in town that we could for now, and they aren't gonna want any more cookies till at least a week so…”

She makes a face, knowing you’re right. “Fineeee. But once we find a house and sell we’re leaving. If we don't then we might not be back before dark.”

She glances up at the sky and you scoff, “You’re such a worry wart. We’ll be fineeee.”

She raises her eyebrow, “That's what you said last time and we ended up having to race home.”

You pull your lips into a thin line, and before she can say anything else, you see a ranch in view. “Oh look! A place let's go-!” You say quickly, racing ahead and leaving her to quickly pedal after you.

You stop on the road and hop off your bike, tugging your basket of girl scout cookies off the backseat. Alexis does the same, unclipping her helmet and letting it hang on her bike handle. “Huh, those horses are big as hell.” She comments, making you turn your head to see the draft horses.

You are overtaken with the urge to ride one of them, if only to be able to see how high up you would be.

Alexis cuts you off before you can even consider, “Don't even think about it. Your momma would be pissed if you tried.”

You huff, of course you weren't gonna try. That would just be a plain stupid idea, you have no idea what temperament those horses have. Still would be cool if you could though. “Whatever, let's go!” You run off towards the house, leaving your friend to scramble after you.

In the process you accidentally trip over something, but as per usual you simply get up and keep going. When Alexis does finally catch up to you, shes huffing and holding up something small and light in her free hand. The other is gripping onto her cookie basket. She calls your name and then suddenly stops, looking past you at…

Huh. That guy’s nearly as big as his horses. Once more you are overcome with a similar urge to ride on his shoulders. He kinda looks familiar actually…

Alexis comes up to your side, fussing over you and you quickly realize why. There's blood in your mouth, and that's when you realize the thing she's holding just so happens to be one of your front two teeth.

The big man seems even more concerned by the sight of blood, he slings the shotgun he was holding over his back and awkwardly bends down to you speaking in what you assume is german. “Geht es dir gut, Kleiner?” He talks weirdly soft for such a big fella.

At the absolute blank look you give him he blinks, and then translates, “Are you alright?”

“Oh uhhhhh” You ponder the question, are you? Yeah, mostly anyway. You can't feel any pain, but the taste of blood isn't exactly something you enjoy and its quickly overtaking your mouth. You spit to the side, smile, then give him a thumbs up with your free hand. However, when you’re missing a tooth and your teeth are stained with blood- it doesn't serve to reassure him.

Alexis takes hold of your shoulders and pries your mouth open, (in the process temporarily setting down her cookies), looking at the gap in your teeth intently to make sure you’re alright.

She frowns and turns to the big fellow- (who oddly enough seems more nervous of her than she is of him, he stiffens) -with a scowl. She isn't meaning too, you know, she just happens to have a resting bitch face, but the man doesn't know that. “Can we borrow your sink?”

The man seems to clearly have questions, namely why the hell you’re here, until he notices your sashes. “Pfadfinderinnen...?” He mumbles to himself, then upon being blankly stared at by the unwavering gaze of Alexis he nods, guiding the two of you to the house.

Not by leading you there, but rather by standing behind you and ushering the two of you forward like you were little mice. Mice that bite apparently, because despite ushering you forward he keeps a wide berth, as if scared to get too close and frighten you.

(Which you thought was strange considering out of you and Alexis, he was the more nervous one.)

Normally you wouldn't care too much about your missing tooth. Cause well- now you could get some extra pocket money from the tooth fairy! But right now, you do wanna go inside and rinse out your mouth. As much as you could suck up the taste of your own blood- you would rather not pedal all the way home with it. Also you wanna get a good look at where your tooth is missing. Plus maybe you could pull sympathy points and get this guy to buy a bunch a’ cookies, considering you tripped on his property, It was worth a shot.

He seems so weirdly familiar, that you can't help but stare. Oddly enough, this only makes him even more awkward. Does he recognize you? Once the three of you are inside, before Alexis can shove you off to the bathroom mirror and sink, you bluntly say, “Do I know you? You’re weirdly familiar…”

You frown, trying to figure out where you've seen him before. He stiffens but before he can respond, Alexis is pulling you into his restroom. Predictably, the counters are built for him and therefore tall as fuck, so she has to help you climb up there so you can comfortably rinse your mouth out without struggle. Now sitting on the countertop, blood washed down the drain, you inspect your mouth.

“Hahah! Alexis look- look-!” You say excitedly, pointing to the gap to which she just sighs. You turn on her, leaning forward excitedly, “Wait-! Wait wait wait- did you get my tooth?”

She looks at you blankly, saying your name.

“...Yeah?”

“Of course I picked up the tooth, why wouldn't i?” She fishes it out of her pocket, accidentally pulling out various random strings and threads it was tangled in. In the process, pulling out a few pebbles and other assorted nicknacks. They clatter to the ground but she pays them no mind.

You hold both your hands out for her to place the tooth in your open palms. It's covered in blood, dirt, and pocket lint.

“Its beautiful.” You say with a large grin to which she nods seriously, “How much you think I'll get for it???” There's excitement in your tone.

She ponders for a moment, “Well- for my first one I got 15 dollars. My first front one was worth a pretty penny too… I heard that Maxie got 20 for his first tooth.” She shrugs, you both grin, matching smiles that say, ‘Oh we are so going to the candy shop later.’

You hop off the counter and then the two of you are speaking to each other in hushed but excited tones, leaning into each other and swinging your baskets. When you walk back into the living room, you find the man awkwardly standing there. It's then you nudge Alexis.

(Mostly because she doesn't get to make sales often, she never was very good at talking to people. Some could say her personality was an acquired taste, she was blunt and awkward, however, luckily for her, the man in front of you both seemed even more awkward.)

(Typically cherry made all the sales, and if not her, than you. So- you wanted to give Alexis a chance to shine.)

“Oh yeah.” She blinks and then turns to the man.

“Uh- Hey mister.” She looks him directly in his eyes, he seems uncomfortable at the direct attention. “You want cookies?”

He blinks.

She blinks.

“...Cookies?”

“Yup.”

…The man is silent after that. So is Alexis. They both just stare at each other awkwardly. Well, you were proud of her for trying and that's all that mattered-! “Sure.” Wait what? That worked?

Alexis blinks, seemingly just as surprised as you. She shuffles with her cookie basket, “Okay.” She says, and then more silence ensues. You nudge her gently and she kickstarts again, “Uh- what flavor do you want?”

“What is good?” He inquires, tilting his head slightly to which Alexis looks at you at the same time you look at her. The two of you share a glance with meaning behind it. And then you’re pulling out boxes and doing what you did best: talking.

With your sales pitch, combined with the genuine occasional comments of Alexis, you end up talking for a whole 20 minutes. By the time you are finished, the man now has an armful of different cookie boxes. Everytime he would so much as make any sort of positive comment, or hum or “I see…” Alexis would silently bring him that flavor and hold it up to him. Too awkward to refuse, he simply took each box.

“Uh- kleines Mädchen- you gave me two of this one…” He says almost timidly at Alexis while you ramble about Trefoils. She stares up at him, unblinking.

“That ones my favorite.” She says simply, as if that explains everything. Konig can't find himself to protest against her absolute deadpan as she settles the box of Adventurfuls in his arms with the rest.

At some point he sat down in his armchair, making it much easier for Alexis to slowly yet surely add to the growing pile of cookies he holds.

“-It's a classic, these are based off of the original girl scout cookie recipe! You just gotta try em Mister- i mean the texture is just to die for-” You let Alexis take the Trefoils from your hands and replace it with a box of thin mints. She slowly and calmly goes to add the Trefoils to the pile.

“Oh! Now this one- lemme tell ya Mister- this is like the girl scout cookie, everyone loves a good thin mint!”

You don't even have to say more about that one before Alexis takes it and puts in his arms, patting the top of the box gently. Then she walks back over to you and holds her basket in both her hands, silent. She's pulling out a sheet of paper from her basket, and a pencil from her pocket, scribbling away as you finish your spiel.

“-And that concludes all the flavors!” He blinks, looking relieved to finally be free, alas you continue, “-Lets see for all that, that’a be…”

You turn towards Alexis who was calculating on her paper and cuts in with a casual, “372 dollars and 46 cents.”

To your delight, he simply shuffles, careful not to let any of the boxes fall as he dejectedly gets his wallet. He pulls out four 100 dollar bills and softly tells you to keep the change, you and Alexis’s eyes are wide as you stare at the money now in your hands. The two of you share a glance and then with your sweetest (now gap toothed) smile, you thank him.

Then with hardly any more words you and Alexis book it out of there, waving goodbye and leaving him stunned. Alexis is just staring at the money with wide, amazed eyes and you are excitedly chatting her ear off.

“Look at that! I can't believe you managed to get such a good sale- oh my god Cherry is gonna flip! You probably got us halfway to our quota already-!”

“I… I did that?” She says in slight amazement, technically you both did, but you'll let your friend have the win on this one.

“Yeah!”

“Yeah…” She says, a small smile growing on her face as you playfully shove her.

“See- i told you this would be worth it.”

She blinks and then looks very concerned all of a sudden. She says your name with a growing horror. You tilt your head, urging her to continue. She gestures to the sun which is starting to fade. Shit. And then the two of you end up frantically pedaling back to town, panickedly laughing all the way. It isn't until you are home and in bed that you remember why the large fellow was so familiar.

He's the guy you threatened to ban from your Pappy's shop a month ago!

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slothgiirl · 1 year

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the trashpile: dympna devers

reader runs into dymphna while picking up some groceries. is cleaning out her dead alcoholic fathers place (who probs did drugs too,,mb?). she gets annoyed and snaps at him and he thinks its hot bc everyone else just does what he wants them too

reader takes a walk pretty late because shes sad that her dad died and even tho they had no relationship its like now theres no way he’ll get better and be a dad, hes just gone. dymphna pulls up in his car, tells her to get in, he’ll drive her back. she doesnt want to. he gets out of the car, leaving it running and talks her into taking a ride with her. (he was trying to be friendly in his own obnoxious grandiose way) they end up parking and drinking together and then they fuck. he complains shes prissy bc uni. reader comments uni is just fucking and going to class for exams. “maybe i shouldve gone to uni then?”

reader starts taking her dads stuff to donation centers. breaks apart the table and tries to figure out if she should just leave it on the curb or take it all the way there. takes a break outside, trying to work through the complicated emotions she has over his death. dymphna spots her and is like i can call arm to help u and shes all like oh why dont u just help urself, thinking hes sort of spoiled in the same way the posh girls at her boarding school were even though hes a pretty trashy wanna be gangster. hes all “id help with the right incentive” she tells him to fuck off but ends up blowing him (and getting him to help).

dymphna takes reader to bar. they play pool and he messes with her. reader notices ppl r looking at her and the way they treat him and she wasnt born yesterday like she knows what it means to be a devers but idk shes into his confident aggression. they have drinks and dymphna ditches arm to go fuck the reader back at his. readers like um dont ditch ur friend? but lets it go quick. wakes up alone and his sisters r like “u came out of nowhere” being bitchy and sussing reader out

reader runs into arm and his family. is not surprised his son is on the spectrum and offers to have her mom write a letter of recommendation so she can get the job at the school in Cork. “ur dymphna’s woman.” “hardly, think i'd remember agreeing to that”

dymphna shows up at her house late at night and makes a fuss until she opens up. they fuck and he learns she handles customer complaints for some websites (compsci major) reader tries to make appointment to sell house but ends up delaying (still mourning her loss). dymphna takes her out for breakfast.

reader wakes up at his house. this time dymphna is there and reader complains about the mold in the bathroom. they all give her shit for it and dymphna tells arm to figure that out but readers all no dont- charlie asks if its true she went to uni and reader says yeah, it was a bitch but i finished as dymphna pulls her onto his lap to watch tv. she means to get up and leave but feels comfortable and realizes she has a lot of feelings for him

theres a party at the devers and reader and charlie find a corner and nurse a beer while charlie wonders if she might go to uni. reader goes to get another drink and sees dymphna and his uncle doing coke. reader passes on the coke (not stupid). dymphna makes introductions and his uncle comments its probably best she doesnt do coke (look at ursula) reader snaps that its not anyones fault and his uncle is like uve got lip (control ur woman) and dymphna tells her to shut the fuck up yeah babe? reader gets annoyed and goes to bed (when she should just leave)

reluctantly cleans the bathroom bc fuck shes not using anything when she can see mold and grime built up (scale i think its called on tile?). complains to dymphna that hes a big fish small pond but still takes his uncles shit and dymphna yells at her getting pissed off that she doesnt understand how business is done. throw things at each other and fuck. after he talks about family and stuff (heavy implication he wants her to be his wife) ill take care of u. reader: i make 80k i dont need anyone

theres some party where ppl get pissed drunk. reader doesnt like dymphna getting high and drunk. it reminds her of her father only her dad got comatose and dymphna gets short tempered and somehow even more wild. charlie and reader hide out in her room. charlie mentions sooner or later he’ll come looking for her and readers like ill kick his arse. charlie laughs and asks if reader will help her with her schoolwork. totally. charlie: i thought u were leaving tho reader: idk anymore. finnigan stumbles in and reader tells charlie to go and throws a bottle at the man but misses. he pins her down on the bed but she manages to grab the lamp and smash it on his head. reader is shaking when dymphna comes in to see what the fuck is going on. reader is like “help me take care of this” he agrees. (shes way more hardcore and cool than he is)

reader has arm and dymphna make it look like finnigan was drunk and drove himself off a cliff. arm drives them back into town. dymphna holds reader close. “we take care of each other” “yeah”

notes: charlie goes to uni and breaks the cycle. reader and dymphna have their weird toxic codependent relationship and reader eventually takes over the family business

#dympna devers #dympna x reader #the trashpile #i love writing a weird toxic relationship that isnt like AbusiveTM #barry keoghan imagine

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thessalian · 1 year

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Thess vs Shopping Trips

Once again, ill-advised trip to Peckham for sundries. Didn’t help that the bus stop near my house was closed. Still, I needed some bits and pieces that I can’t get in this area on the weekend, and yesterday was bus strike, so...

Two separate pharmacies got a visit. One of the chain pharmacies in the area is cheaper than the other, but the cheaper one doesn’t have a pharmacy counter, so I couldn’t get mallet-meds there. So to the cheaper one for cold meds (I have a cold and it is doing my sinuses a misery), face wash, and something to deal with the insect bites that seem to have cropped up on my right middle finger. It was crowded, and people were not paying attention to how they were blocking aisles, and it was kind of miserable. The other pharmacy for mallet-meds was worse; the queue was awful and they only had one guy working the checkout, so ... yeah. Still, at least I got everything I needed.

Then, local grocery store. I’ve been looking up easy fudge recipes - ones that don’t require constant stirring and a candy thermometer - and picked out a couple for making over the next few days. This mostly because I figure I would be in zero shape to do the regular fudge-making when I got home from today’s excursion. Thing is, first thing I found when walking into big grocery store was ... you know those hugely oversized fleecy hoodies that are basically like wearing a fleece blanket? I’ve wanted one since the weather got overly cold but all the ones I were seeing were mega-expensive. But right at the front of the shop was a rack of particularly warm sweaters and ... some of those hugely oversized fleecy hoodies that are basically like wearing a fleece blanket. At a reasonable price. Fine, the quality isn’t going to be as good, but needs must, y’know?

(Note: it says something about the situation about heating bills in this country when shops known for selling cheap essentials are putting heavy sweaters and fleecy-blanket hoodies right up front. Not particularly a good something, either.)

Anyway, shopping really only involved the fleecy-blanket hoodie, two different kinds of chocolate, some espresso powder, and strawberry preserves, which I will turn into sauce for the making of strawberry fudge. Which made a fairly interesting bundle to take to the checkout. (I would have done the self-checkout but clothing item, wanted to ensure the security tag was taken off.) Thankfully I found a till with minimal queue, and amusingly, when I looked at the lady at the till ... she bore a nametag with the same name that turns up on my official paperwork. Y’know, the one my parentals use, which isn’t generally the one I use these days. Still, rough-looking very busy day, not much heating in the supermarket, I figured it might be nice to flag up that we share a given name, skipping over the fact that I don’t generally use it much. She was very amused by that, so it was a nice transaction for both of us, and that mood seemed to have carried over to her interaction with the next customer, so go, me!

...And then on my way out, someone not looking where they were going bashed past me and kicked my cane out from under me in the process. I managed to keep my balance, though that was painful, and the guy kind of looked over but with a very annoyed look and no apology whatsoever. The world may not be entirely made of jackass, but the jackasses are really disruptive.

Finally made it home, and now there are a bunch of kids stomping around in the corridor while I have a massive sinus headache. But I am in the warm fleecy-blanket hoodie and two pairs of socks, so that’s helpful. I also have some really good sherpa fleece slipper socks coming soon, as a sort of a Yule present, since while my shark slippers are cute, the soles are crap and have twisted in really uncomfortable ways. Still, fleecy slipper socks will make all things better when they get here.

I just wish the kids would stop...

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peninkwrites · 2 years

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The First Night - Ch 4 of 9

Tubbo celebrates his birthday. An ending and a new beginning all at once.

crossposted to ao3

Ch 1

Ch 3

Ch 5

Mafia AU masterpost

~ Tubbo ~

Tubbo leaves home easily enough not long after dark, heading back toward Niki’s bakery. Its front windows are dark and the closed sign is pressed to the door, but Tubbo still sees the rye at the top of the display case. He heads around the back to a narrow staircase. There, he knocks 3 times and then once more. The door opens a hair.

“Rye.”

“Tubbo!” Ranboo throws open the door and pulls him inside.

Tubbo isn’t used to this much positive attention. Niki and Ranboo have decorated the speakeasy with balloons and multicolored streamers. The basement of the bakery is much longer than the actual building, more than large enough to house a dozen wooden tables, a few booths, a long bar taking up the far wall, and a small stage beside it. The neon sign glowing out The Secret City is accompanied by a happy birthday banner.

“Happy birthday!” Niki says excitedly, abandoning her two current patrons to greet him with a hug.

“You already said happy birthday,” Tubbo says, a bit startled by the fanfare.

“And I’m saying it again! Come on– Jack is here already, still waiting on the others,” Niki nods over to the booth nearest to the bar.

“Hey Jack,” Tubbo gives him a nod.

“Happy birthday! You had your first drink yet?” Jack drums excitedly on the table.

“No, I haven’t. Not especially psyched for that part.”

“What part are you, then? Gonna get registered to vote?” Jack scoffs.

Tubbo shrugs, sitting across from him. “I just love democracy, man.”

“Ranboo! Go sit with your friends,” Niki calls scoldingly to her little brother. “If someone hears a knock, just get the door,” she says vaguely to the patrons nearest to it.

“Fine, fine,” Ranboo slides into the booth beside Tubbo. He’s not wearing his mask anymore, instead there’s an unsure smile and a jagged, violent scar through his left cheek. “So. How was your birthday?”

“Uh. Highlight was helping Tommy pickpocket some tourists. So. Nothing special,” Tubbo shrugs. “I asked Big Q to come, though! I think he will.”

Three knocks, followed by a fourth. An unsure customer answering it and letting in a grumpy looking Tommy.

“Sorry I’m late! Had to find a way down from a fucking rooftop. How come only some buildings have roof access and others don’t?” Tommy complains loudly before sitting next to Jack, who already looks irritated. “Hello, Jack. How have you been?” Tommy grins, before feigning sharp worry. “Oooh, you been stressed recently? Your hair is starting to fall out!”

“Tommy,” Tubbo says scoldingly. “We said play nice.”

“I am being nice.”

“Yeah, you’re right– How about you, Tommy? Been sleeping well, lately?” Jack feigns the same worry, annoyance ill contained.

Tommy scowled. “You might think I’m above breaking locks but I most definitely am not! You should’ve kept the old ones, save you the property damage.”

Jack sours at this. “When I lose my fucking job I’m going to kill you, chop you up, and sell your pieces on the black market to pay rent.”

“No, you’re going to come work security for me here. Ranboo is not going to be my doorman forever,” Niki says pointedly from the bar.

“Are we all just gonna stroll on past this man threatening my life?” Tommy whines.

“We’re not ignoring it, Niki just offered an alternative. Problem solved,” Ranboo points out.

Tommy grumbles at this. “Oh! Yeah, reminds me–” Tommy rummage through his many pockets. “Eryn couldn’t make it, busy working,” Tommy rolls his eyes at the thought, “but he sends his best and… this!” He slaps a mess of crumpled bills on the table. “Wish he gave me money for my birthday… last year all I got was ice from your shitty ice machine,” Tommy glares at Jack like that was personally his fault.

“He– For the love of god tell me you don’t wander the halls as well,” Jack looks panicked by the thought.

“No. We’re not stupid. That’s what made it a present. Eryn had to sneak down there to get it. It was a one time thing,” Tommy nods wisely.

“I still don’t see why you don’t move in here,” Ranboo says. “Niki said the couch is yours if you want it.”

“I’m not gonna break your fuckin’ couch,” Tommy scoffs. “I would much rather sleep in a real bed.”

“Right, you rest easy knowing some poor person could check into their room late and find a filthy child staying there instead?” Jack snaps.

“Oh yeah. I like living on the edge. I like the challenge too. Keep changing the locks, Manifold. I’ll just break ‘em,” Tommy leans back, arms behind his head.

Tommy’s life is saved from Jack’s wrath by the arrival of cake.

Tubbo is starting to think Quackity isn’t coming. It’s inching closer to midnight, Tubbo has had his first drink– a sweet thing, mostly a honey soda with a splash of rum, just to say he’d tried it. That’s fine by him. Quackity didn’t have to come. Tubbo is fine in the company of his friends. Tubbo is managing to survive getting gifts, even if he always feels like it’s too much. Niki and Ranboo had provided the cake, and Jack’s offer of spending a few days out of the city and going fishing with him at some relative’s cabin is thoughtful even if Tubbo can’t afford to take him up on it.

“We’ll match!” Tommy says excitedly as he passes over a green bandana with a bow on top.

“Uh, no. It would match if it was red. Yours is red,” Jack points out.

“Shut up, Jack Manifold.”

“Thanks, Tommy,” Tubbo takes it. He grows more delighted. “There’s a price tag on it! Did you buy it?! Or,” he grows more suspicious. “Did you shoplift?”

“I bought it. With money,” Tommy says proudly.

Tubbo wipes an imaginary tear. “I’m touched.”

“Where’d you get the money?”

“Shut up, Jack Manifold.”

There’s another knock at the door, Tubbo doesn’t think much of it, patrons had been coming and going all evening, but then a familiar face in a suit comes to the table.

“Sorry I’m late. Hope I didn’t miss all the fun,” Quackity hesitates, unsure of where to sit, both sides of the booth occupied.

“Pull up a chair,” Tubbo nods to the surrounding tables.

“Better have a good excuse, Big Q!” Tommy scolds him. “It’s the man’s birthday.”

“Sorry, sorry. Had to help Karl with some stuff. Oh– speaking of,” Quackity slides a golden box across the table. “Happy birthday.”

Tubbo opens it to find a beautiful golden watch that was probably worth way too much money. Not that Quackity had to spend any to get it. “Ah, give my thanks to Karl too, then. Oh! The little spinny thing on the side is a tiny bee! Oh my god that is so cool.”

“Thought you’d like it,” Quackity tries to sound cocky, but it’s clear he’s pleased.

“Thank you all, really. This was… too kind. I don’t really know what to say,” Tubbo doesn’t know what to do with all of this caring. He is loved. He doesn’t know if that fact is what will make the rest of this night easier or so much harder.

“I wouldn’t say it was too kind,” Ranboo pulls him from his train of thought. “Maybe just kind enough. You’re a good friend, Tubbo. Could at least let us return the favor.”

Tubbo nods. “How about the last round is on me?” He shoves forward the cash Eryn had left him, letting the cheers and mindless chatter around the room wash over him.

Eventually the night must end. The Secret City closes and those remaining are asked to leave in small groups. Tubbo’s party leaves together in good spirits even as a drizzle has started over the cold city streets.

“Tommy, you better be going off to find a couch to crash on!” Jack says warningly.

“You’re not even there tonight! What do you care?” Tommy teases back. “Right, good night then, bossman. I’ve got a hotel to break into,” he says with a wink.

Tubbo makes it halfway down the block, trying to hold onto the joy of the night even as his destination looms closer, when he’s startled by company.

“Hey!” Quackity calls, jogging to catch up to him. “Want me to walk you home?”

Tubbo rolls his eyes. “You don’t need to do that, Big Q. I’ve walked back from Niki’s alone a hundred times.”

“Yeah, well, I worry. Humor me,” Quackity shrugs. He pauses, walking beside him with his hands in his pockets. “Sorry I got all… defensive earlier. Guess you just took me by surprise a bit.”

Tubbo manages a stiff nod. “It’s okay. I pushed. Wasn’t right of me either.”

“Has… has something happened, Tubbo? Lately, you’ve been… well, kind of acting like you don’t give a fuck anymore. If that makes sense,” Quackity isn’t sure how else to say it.

“I’m just tired,” Tubbo keeps his tone mild.

“Yeah? Tired of what?”

“You heard what I said earlier. I stand by it,” Tubbo heads up to his front door, Quackity follows. “You gonna come inside to read me a bedtime story as well?” He says dryly.

Quackity laughs. “Nah, actually. Just gotta pick up some shit from Schlatt’s office.”

Tubbo pauses at this, clearly unhappy with this. “Right. Got it.”

Quackity follows him inside, giving a nod to the sleepy lackey tasked with guarding the house. Tubbo heads upstairs. He turns left instead of right at the landing.

“Where’re you going?” Quackity asks, making no move to go to Schlatt’s office.

Tubbo pauses, looking back to Quackity with perfect calm. “...Just going to say goodnight to my dad. Tell him I got home safe.”

“Okay,” Quackity doesn’t follow Tubbo upstairs. He doesn’t go down the hall to Schlatt’s office. He turns around, sits on the steps, and waits.

#my writing #mafia au #dsmp ensemble #don't want to clog character tags when they're not central but many others #/roleplay #c!Tubbo #Tubbo

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nikki-with-a-pen · 1 month

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Miette Steelheart character backstory

Rogue with a heart of joy and vengeance. She’s gay and steals bread.

Miette and her family lived in a mossy house, deep in the woods, in a small commune, away from all the dangers of the invading kingdom and the less tolerant folk. A wondrous natural alcove in a cliffside, not far from a stream, full of bright faces of the ill, malformed or otherwise outcast.

Miette, the colonies firstborn, spread much joy throughout the settlement, but she still had to contribute like everyone else. One day, while playing near the creek with her sister, when suddenly her mother stormed in with a chore that she forgot to do yesterday, selling knives in the nearest market village. Miette had the soul of a wanderer and got lost in her thoughts pretty often. Sweeping her tail slowly, she reminisced about the larger world, yet understood the need for their secrecy. Not too long ago a tiefling got caught at the markets and never came back, so the colony had to be more careful. Each week, a seller and a buyer would be elected as to not attract attention.

Miette rushed back to the cabin to be greeted by the warm face of her father Mael, the local blacksmith. A late man, tired out yet accomplished by his job. Miette picked up the dozen blades in a rolled up leather sheath, too made by a friend, and started packing her backpack.

“Miette?” “Yeah dad?” “Ever thought of getting into carving wood? Or butchering a boar?” “Never really crossed my mind, no.” “You might be a little too young for that anyways.” Miette looked at her mother, sarcastically rolling her eyes.“ Ah, I keep forgetting. Regardless, there’s something I’d like you to have.”

Miette’s eyes perked up and Mael opened a drawer next to his workbench and handed Mie a pristine leather package, smooth like silk to the touch and stitched with a thread of the finest purple. The small pouch unrolled in her hands to reveal a shiny blade. A damascus steel knife with a varnished dark oak, bearing the commune’s insignia in a metal she didn’t want to believe was gold. Her father was obviously very proud of this piece, and Miette knew he’d never smelt the family’s gold.

“Take good care of it and It’ll take good care of you Mia.” Mia nodded, put on her backpack, and started hopping along the trail, but not before being patted on the head.

Eventually wandering into town, she was stunned both by its beauty and its rot. A beautiful monument, sure, but no one seemed to care about anyone but themselves. Mia had suspected this, but finally had her beliefs cemented. People ought to care, she thought. She set up a small stand she managed to unfold from her seemingly endless backpack, seeming weightless on the girl’s back when compared to her size.

She unfolded the sheath and started bargaining with customers, as everyone else did, though it didn’t seem right to her. By dusk, she had earned far more than needed and decided to go home. The commune buyer had arrived too, and so she threw the sick man her pouch of gold.

By the town gate she saw a garden path, leading to a beautiful mansion, next to which was a lake in which glittery fish swam, reflecting the moon. Mia got sidetracked again. Realizing this, she rushed back home to not worry her parents.

The commune was dark and quiet, as it should be at night, but not during the full moon. Deciding to investigate, she spotted a fire, moving away. Mia made her way home and opened the door to find her house awfully quiet. She tried to grab a candle.

Thump, a suit of armor before her stomped down loudly, with no care for the life in front of him. Eeek, startled Mia ran as fast as she could, and faster than that after spotting red flags. A whistle went right by her ear, an arrow. Her run turned into a four legged sprint for her life as she dodged and weaved between bolts, some of fire, which she took as a torch. The guards could track her, but they could not outrun her.

Mia tried to catch her breath for a while, even during the full moon she was a mouse, not a race horse. She stood up and tucked her tail in her dress and walked, still gasping, toward the distant embers. She reaches a torch and sees lone evil, a guard in black and red crouched down. Her view turned the corner, hiding behind trees. She started watching. The guard is skinning a corpse. She’s calm and collected now and her breaths are masked by the breeze. The moon stopped covering behind a cloud and shined down on them. Mia, The Guard, and her lifeless mother.

A panic rushes over her and Mia is paralyzed. Her body wanted to maul that bastard alive, but when she tried to make a step or a sound, a cry, she flinched back. She could barely see, or even feel through her tears. She had to stay calm, and collected. Calm, and collected, safe, a human girl makes the first step forward. Then the second. Then Goliath fell onto his severed Achilles heel.

“AArgh! You little bitch!” “W-why? D-did she hurt you?” “Fuck you, jesus christ, god, fuck” Mia moved her knife to the grounded waste of life and screamed: “DID SHE HURT YOU OR NOT?” Mia’s voice crackled. “She’s a fucking monster, oh fuck,, she, she’s my prey if that’s what you want, you psycho.” Miettes eyes widened, then dulled.“Where are the others?” “Paying taxes now, we don’t tolerate freeloaders and we sure as FUCK don’t tol-” A single act of greed can ruin everything we’ve built up.

A gurgling starts and stops and the deafening sound of silence sets in. Mia moves to the corpse and with eyes shut, she crawls into an embrace. With each passing eternity, the grief grows larger and the only there to comfort her is the horrifying dullness she felt disappear. She hears footsteps somewhere else. She hears a shout, a stampede, somewhere else. She feels metal on her skins and jumps forward, running far away from more shouts, far, far into the unknown woods.

In the nearest city, in a small flat, a note in a breadbox reads “Hah, sorry! Get better locks.” along with a sewing kit, pocket lint, spare change and a whisker.

#nikki-writes

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goth-girlfriend · 3 years

Note

Just wondering and no pressure here! Are you ever gonna finish the Endeavor fic? Love ur works bby and stay safe out there! <3

Yes yes yes 😤😭 Anything for you sweetheart and especially anything for Enji. Take care of yourself ❤️❤️

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“What?” I yawned out loud to myself pushing myself up. My arm was sore from sleeping on it, I looked around and blinked at the light that had made itself known. I tried to push to sit up being held down by a familiar weight. I yawned again, before rolling over under Enji’s arm. I pressed my back against his warm side resting on my arm that wasn’t sore. I pulled his arm around my waist to feel like I was being held in place.

“Ah, security.” I sighed using his shoulder and bicep as a pillow, “Not soft at all.” I snuggled against the firm muscle until I heard a throaty chuckle. His chest shook lightly and I looked up at him he was awake. His eyes lidded from sleep still fighting against consciousness, I watched a faint smile pull at the corners of his lips, I couldn’t fight the most likely idiotic looking grin that surfaced. I laughed and shook my head as quietly as I could. I turned in his arm and hugged his chest. I watched as he moved his free arm behind his head, his bicep bulged at the unintentional flexing.

“Good morning.” I smiled and let my head fall against his shoulder while I looked up at him. It felt perfect, this moment. The morning sun filtered by the beige curtains lighting the room in gold with a few thin slits of white sunlight breaking through. The white duvet stopping at waist, open sleeping shirt, messy hair, pressed into his side sighing content. The rumble of the AC filling the silence, soft breathing, its perfect. In this moment, in this place, there is no history, there is no future, its us in this moment. With nothing to ruin the moment I sighed and closed my eyes feeling the faint heat of his rising chest.

“Good morning.” He finally answered, voice deeper than usual, I felt him shuffle, before I felt his lips pressed onto the top of my head. I felt my eyes flutter involuntary, and my heart swelling. I smiled closing my eyes enjoying the closeness, perfect, this is perfect.

“DDAAAAAAADD!!” I blinked a few times remembering where we were, I watched as he groaned rubbing his face with his hand and sitting up leaving me behind.

“Yes, Fuyumi?” He called starting to stand up doing a few basic stretches.

”Y/N IS GONE DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING THIS MORNING MAYBE SHE LEFT TO GET BREAKFAST?!” She screamed through the door, I watched the door handle jiggle, thanking God I locked it last night.

“Yes, I heard someone moving this morning. It could have been (L/N), why don’t you go look around down stairs, I need to shower and get ready.” He yawned before he stood popping his back.

“Mmm...” there was a pause and some shuffling.

I heard Sho’s faint voice “Fuyumi, look y/n sent me message this morning saying she was going to a nearby convinience store to buy some things she had forgotten. She’ll be back soon.” I sighed thanking God once again that I had told Shoto my password all those weeks ago.

“Alright, DON’T MIND DAD!” She screamed before I heard them walk away, Great, now how am I supposed to leave? I looked around, “Does that window open?” I asked pointing to the window in the room. “It‘s a balcony.” Enji pulled back the curtains revealing an pretty good sized balcony with fancy railing. I was wearing sleeping shorts and a long sleeve shirt with some socks, I‘ll fly down, and just walk back in... but I went to the store.... so I need to come back with something. “Can I have ten dollars?” I smiled sheepishly looking at Enji.“

He sighed before turning to the dresser and pulled out a bill out of his wallet. I grinned and thanked him, “I’ll be back in, five or ten minutes.” I shrugged and opened the Balcony window. Taking eagle form, I dived down into an alley way barrel rolling and lading back on human feet. I walked out and stopped outside a tourist shop. The shop owner was placing out a box of mini hero figures, the same figures from that night we patrolled. These were a new release with the change to get Gold or Silver All Might, Endeavour or Hawks. I got excited and rushed in, I “went to the store”, but I never said what for. the packs were on sale, 2 for $5.00. And lucky for me, I had managed to get a $50. Each box comes with 12 lucky bags each bag has 3 mini figures, there are only 10 Pro hero’s currently released in this line. I have a ten percent chance of getting Endeavour, All Might or Hawks, if you add the 6 new figures to the line thats 16 characters in total. Meaning there are three possible Endeavor, All Might and Hawks,,, But, the chances of getting a special edition, would be 2 of 16 which should be 12.5 out of 100. If I multiply by three that raises the chance 37.5 of 100. So out of all 36 Figures that means I have to at least get 1 limited edition Per box, bu counting in these are the first boxes to pull in customers, they overload the limited ones to make it look easy so people will be convinced to buy them because it’s “easy” to find a limited figure... meaning... “ill give you $50 even for both boxes.”

I turned to look at the cashier guy who seemed unimpressed but nodded, “I usually sell boxes for $30 dollars each but I feel generous 25 each plus taxes.”

“How about $20 plus taxes.” I counter offered. He squinted at me before he made another offer, we went at this until we were back at my original offer. “Alright, this is my last offer,” he huffed and stared at me hard, “$50 dollars cash, no taxes, and IF you become a Pro Hero you do advertising free for my shop.”

I laughed and nodded, “Deal.” He packed the boxes and I paid him before we parted ways. By the time I made it back to the hotel Fuyumi rushed to me with a look of worry. “Where were yOU I WAS WORRIED?!”

I smiled, “I was in the middle of a very serious conversation about some very serious things.”

“A toy store, that bag says you were at a toy store.” Shoto said sounding very unimpressed.

I smiled and let out a sheepish laugh, “well...” I looked down and hid the bag behind me, “I never said I went to buy anything important.”

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“Ow......ow.......nooooo stop.” I whined feeling one more tug at my hair and finally it fell down.

“There, we’re done.” Fuyumi fluffed my hair a bit before smoothing it out again, “Now lets go, before Natsuo starts causing a fuss.” She ushered me to move and I did leading our way to the elevator.

“Alright,“ I sighed slouching a little... “....Wanna see something cool?” I asked standing back up, Fuyumi cocked a brow by smiled a little, “Alright, I do actually.”

I dug into my pocket and pulled out a gold endeavor figure, “Boom, its your dad.“ I took her hand and placed it in her palm, “You can have that, I have another one.” I smiled when she let out a slight laugh. “Thank you, I’ll keep him with my keys.” We stood in a comfortable silence until the doors opened and we started to move out I asked, “Soooo, what are we doing after this award ceremony?” I asked tilting my head in curiosity.”

“I don’t know, she said he lips pulling to the side in a displeased way, “They didn’t let me plan out this trip so its a surprise for the both of us.” My only answer was to nod while I smiled down at the ground, “Sounds Fun.”

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”Aren’t those kids from UA?” The voices of photographers were loud with there questions as flashes went of left and right, “Why are they with Pro Hero Endeavor?” “I don’t know but these kids could pull in the views!”

“Todoroki! A question if you Will!” “Hey Midoriya Over here!” “L/N! Can you pose for a few photos!” “Todoroki look over here!” Midoriya whats it like to learn from Pro Hero All Might??” “L/N! L/N! Are you affiliated with Todoroki or Midoriya?”

As much as I love getting my photo taken, I knew sticking around for pictures and questions in this scenario is probably the last thing I should do. So instead I stayed close to Natsuo almost sandwiched between him and Fuyumi. I stayed betwen them as we kept moving, Sho and Deku were behind us not rushing, Sho seemed unaffected and Deku was looking down red faced and embarrassed. It was kinda cute. I looked back ahead watching Enji ignore everyone moving forward with purpose and carrying himself with pride. I smiled watching him I know not everyone can see him or respect him as the number one hero but, to me, He can be so much more if only people would give him a chance. I know he’s not the most kind person in public, but with the right sidekick or partner that could change easy. When Hawks was with him those brief days, his like ability actually raised. So I know all it takes is someone pushing him to be more interactive with his fans, he knows now there are some that like him, bit i also understand why it’s so hard for him to accept it...

“Alright, were in, lets go find some seats.”

The ceremony went by slowly, I was bored listening to a bunch of speeches but at least made it look like I was paying attention. I couldn’t even sit by Enji because Fuyumi took my place, and then I managed to get stuck between Natsuo and Sho and they kept talking and we had to refrain from laughing to loud at a few things. Midoriya was so interested in everything that was happening and i started to pay attention when they actually started calling name, Sho and Natsuo stopped after Fuyumi told them to shut up. Which I appreciated now that things were getting interesting. I listened to the awards leaning forward more and more as more hero’s showed up collecting awards and moving on with speeches each with their own rounds of applause. I got this twisted feeling about Eniji going so I whispered to Sho who voiced the idea of us cheering for their dad and Fuyumi praised him for caring about their dad and he took the praise. So when Enji was called for an award of Achievement and a few other things the crowd applauded but how it normaly had so I stood up pulling Sho and Natsuo with me which caused Fuyumi and Midoriya to stand we clapped louder and cheered “For the new Number one Hero!” I screamed and then the five of us cheered more as others started to stand and clap louder. I looked at Fuyumi who smiled back and nodded. After the crowd calmed down and sat he gave a short speech, almost another thirty minutes of closing speech we finally got to leave.

“Finally! I’m free!” I cheered running straigh into Natsuo’s back as he stopped out of nowhere. “My face.” I groaned pushing away from him, it was in that moment I realized how big he actually was, “Wow, you’re actually tall.” I leaned to use his head to block the sun.

He looked back over his shoulder at me, “huh? Did you say something down there?” He... he just... he just bullied me for my height... “I-...” I look esta him and swallowed, “IM TELLING FUYUMI YOURE BULLYING ME!”

I watched his eyes widen and turned to rush to Fuyumi and he screamed, “wait...NO”

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“Natsuuoooooo?” I poked his cheek as he sat pouting arms crossed, “Nat...Suo? Nat... pssst hey Nat, you still mad?” I poked his cheek again and smiled watching him force back a smile. “Come one, you cant be mad.” I poked his cheek causing him to smile briefly before he forced it back again, so I quickly summoned a feather and poked his cheek distracting him before using it to tickle his other side causing him to laugh.

“Alright fine fine, I’m not mad anymore.” He wheezed as I pulled my feather away, plucking it from the air. “A hero’s work is never done.” I gave an exaggerated sigh and he a single laugh kinda like a scoff, “Some hero you are, you get innocent pedestrians hurt to save them.” he crossed his arms and snapped his head the other way, unamused I felt me brows go up, “Innocent? Pedestrian? You?” I paused when he gave me an offended look. “I don’t think so.”

“Natsuo-“ We turned to look at Shoto, the two of having been sitting outside on a stone bench after Fuyumi scolded him strongly and I pulled into it.

“Yes?” He asked standing up and popping his back.

“Our father, asked if you could head back with Fuyumi to the hotel to pick up her bag of clothes. She left it when she was rushing out. Well meet for lunch before we do anything else.” Shoto said leaning his head to the side slightly.

“Oh,” he looked at me and then over his shoulder at the doors we had both just sulked out of, “yeah, well take a Taxi. I’ll get Fuyumi and we’ll leave.” He nodded and turned to leave.

I moved to stand by Sho, “So?” I asked elbowing him slightly, “how was last night?” “Well, I could ask you the same.” He side eyed me, “Take your phone with you next time you jump out a window.” I didn’t miss the amusement in his eyes, “Right,” I nodded and he closed his eyes a small smile on his lips. “Now, where are we going for lunch?”

“Oh! I read about this American style fondue place! It’s supposed to be really good! So I kinda wanted to try it and I was going to suggest it but, it’s pricey so, eheh, ya know.” I shrugged and Shoto’s brief look of amusement came back, you want what Kaminari told me is a Glucose Guardian, someone who pays for what you want.” I choked, “Sugar daddy.”

“What?”

“What. Nothing, so, lunch? I’m hungry? Also I’m riding in front move.” I rushed past him jumping into the passenger seat before he followed after Deku had met him. I was buzzing in my seat and the took Enji’s hand the moment he was sat and started driving, I squeezed his hand staring out the window, watching the building and cars pass. It felt so nostalgic, but how could it be nostalgic?

“Where are we eating?” I turned to Enji at his question, before looking at Sho through the mirror, “There’s this place Y/n was talking about.” I felt a squeeze to my hand meeting Enji’s stare as he looked at me briefly before looking at the road, “Where is it?”

I smiled and used my free hand to grab my phone, “it’s not to far from here, we should be able to make it in ten minutes if traffic is good.” I clicked away typing the address, “Yup, go straight, take a right at the light, and it should be a large glass building on the corner! It’s a fondue place, more American style!” I tried to talk and explain while squeezing Enji’s hand at the excitement I was feeling. Upon getting to the restaurant we waited a while, having sent Fuyumi and Natsuo the address we waited at least half an hour until we got a call.

“Dad, I don’t think we’ll be able to do lunch today, a really bad wreck caused a traffic jam on this side of the city, it’s an estimated two hour wait until we can move, well find a place to eat once we get closer if you all want to go ahead and eat we’ll be fine.” Before he could answer Shoto spoke “Thank you for your sacrifice.”

“We should go then?” I questioned looking around the car.

“Yes.” Enji said turning the key and opening his door to get out.

After we all got out the car, we started our way towards the restaurant. I awed at it, we made it in met with a nice man, “Welcome to The Melting Hot Pot! How many will be in your party?”

We all looked up at Enji, “Four.” We all nodded, it felt as if we were judging him.

“Would you like a private room or to be seated in our public seating area.”

“Private.” He nodded and the host nodded, “You can follow me this way.”

“Will this be you’re first time dining with us?” We all slid into seats in the large luxurious looking booth, it’s was in a room with a sliding screen door for privacy.

“Yes it will.”

“Great! I’ll give you the crash course before you’re waiter comes to attend to your table.”

After about seven minutes and looking at a menu the Host left and we started to talk about what sounded good.

“Wisconsin cheddar cheese?” Shoto asked.

“Flaming turtle... sounds painful...” Midoriya was staring at the opposite side of the menu.

“Maybe... we should start with a salad? Before we start looking at the fondue, there’s.. Wisconsin Wedge... California... Caesar... and a house, so, what sounds good?”

We tried to talk it out but no luck, we ended up right where we started, until Midoriya looked at Enji, “Mr.Endeavor sir,” I held back a laugh.

He hummed staring at Deku, his face didn’t change making him seem angry or annoyed, “What?”

Midoriya flinched.

“Maybe you.... you have more experience with this than we do, do you have a-any... advice?”

Enji nodded, “Get a California Salad, you’re allowed two cheeses, well get the Wisconsin Cheddar and Quattro Formaggio, for entree you’ll get a classic plate that comes with Pork, shrimp, chicken and steak cooked in a Mojo style broth, and for two desserts you’ll get a flaming turtle and Yin & Yang mix.”

We all stared at him, “Have you been here before?” I asked interested.

“No,” he held up a rectangular piece of plastic lined paper, “It’s a recommended course.”

“That’s very convenient.” I mumbled and we all looked as our waiter slid the door open finally entering.

“Hello, sorry for being late, what can I bring you to drink.”

“A tea, please.” Shoto and Midoriya spoke at the same time.

“Alright, two sweet iced teas,” and for you, she turned to me, “A spirit free watermelon cooler.”

“Good choice, and for you sir?” She turned to Enji who was looking at the menu, “A Billionaire’s Coffee.” He didn’t even look at her.

“Alright,” she looked at us, “I’ll get your drinks and be right back to take your order.”

She left and we casually just sat there looking around at the decor.

“I like the low lights, it’s nice kinda cosy.” I talked out loud to no one, before I looked at Midoriya locking eyes contact, “perfect place for a date.”

He chocked on air and brought his arm to his face blushing stuttering out things I didn’t understand. I laughed a bit, enjoying the show before he calmed down when the waiter appeared.

“Alright, what are we getting?” She looked at us and all I did was look up at Enji, he sighed, “We’d like to try the Complete Fondue experience for four.” He tapped the plastic with his finger and she noted it, “in that exact order.”

She nodded again, “An exact copy of the full experience, now before I head out, does anyone want to add a lobster tail or any extra meats to their plates?”

“No,”

“No thank you.”

“No, I’m good.”

“No.”

“Alright then, I’ll be turning on the burners, they will get hot, please do not touch them.” She pulled out a small metal stand with a promotional flyer and placed it on the burners before she left.

“I’m excited.” I reached over under the table and took Enji’s hand and brought it back to my lap squeezing his bigger hand between mine.

His hand squeezed mine, I smiled up at him before looking down at his hand, callused, warm. Scars were present but hardly noticeable, I ran my thumb over his knuckles, losing myself in the patterns I began to draw, feeling myself fall into a feeling of nostalgia.

“Y/n,” I looked up at the sound, “Hm?” I hummed in response looking around.

“Are you fine?” Shoto asked his voice soft but his brows were furrowed.

“Yeah, just thinking about school and the internships.” I shrugged, “We’ve been through a lot with everything that’s happened, it’s hard to believe we’re just first year.”

“Hm.” Shoto nodded and I pulled a hand up and lates it palm up on the table.

“Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I see and the more we do, it kinda scares me,” I looked at a scar it ran from the side of my wrist to the back of my hand, it was a deep wound from my Internship, “But seeing everything also makes me realize,” I balled my fist up smiling, “There’s so much space for new hero’s to rise and it excites me knowing one day I’ll be out there fighting for a chance to be number one.”

“Ambitious.” I flinched at the waiters voice who slid the door closed as she entered, “You must be in a hero school then.”

“I, yes, I am.” I nodded and looked away.

“I’ve never heard of you, you must not be that well known. Everyone however would be able to notice our lovely new number one hero Endeavor.” She smiled and patted Enji who just gave her a side eye and she quickly pulled her hand away.

I let out a mix of a scoff and a laugh, “You must live under a rock, or be uncultured, I’m from UA, were our sports festival is streamed publicly almost everywhere throughout the prefecture and surrounding cities, not to mention I was in the news quite a few times with Endeavor and Pro Hero Hawks, I was on headlines and on front page covers of newspapers and magazines, if you can’t recognize me it really goes to show what kind of woman you are.” I made a face and she made a face back.

Before we started a stare down another person walked in, “Alright, here comes a hot pot, everyone be careful.”

As the second waiter was setting up the meal I couldn’t help but mumble to myself, “Bite me, it’s what rabid dogs do anyways.”

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

After eating and Midoriya and I burning ourselves multiple times on hot cheese fondue we finished our desserts and started to head out.

We stepped out into the dark, the afternoon sun had set and the cities night life was crawling out into the streets, lights lit up outside patios, rooftops had flames lit lighting tables, tinted windows were lit up showing the chandeliers that hide during the day. Ladies in fancy dresses and men in suits and flashy attire. It was in that moment I realized how wrong our relationship is, I’m in UA, I’m only 16, sure the consent age is lower then that but, I, this is morally wrong in some eyes... I could ruin Enji’s career if anyone ever found out... I felt a sense of worry fill me. No one knew, I didn’t care before. So what scares me now?

“So! What are we doing tomorrow?” I looked at Enji and Shoto as we walked, Midoriya was unintentionally hidden by Shoto.

“It’s a surprise.” Shoto answered very bluntly and I squinted at him, “Very helpful.”

“How are Fuyumi and....” I paused the name leaving me and looked down, embarrassed, thinking, his name just couldn’t be Naruto because it’s pretty close to that anyways, “Natsuo! Heh! I remembered.”

“Fuyumi messaged me, they tried a curry at an Indian restaurant near the hotel, Natsuo also now holds the title for eating a plate of the spiciest curry in under an hour.” Shoto said flashing us his phone which had a very red smiling Natsuo holding a certificate and a $200 dollar check.

“That’s... impressive.” I was impressed, but it seemed like a painful thing.

I felt my phone buzz, I answered if, “Hello?”

“Hey y/n! It’s Fuyumi, I’d you don’t mind when you get to the hotel can you stop by the hotel shop and pick up something for indigestion or upset stomach, maybe heart burn?”

“Oh,” I smiled, “Yeah, I can do that, we’re on the way back about to get in the car, the streets are empty so we should be there soon, so, I’ll get it for you.”

“Thank you, sorry for the burden but I feel bad for leaving Natsuo while his stomach is hurting this much.”

“Don’t worry! I’m a hero, it’s what I do.” I smiled getting into the car as we reached it.

“Still, thank you y/n.” She sounds like she was smiling, I could feel it, in that moment how much she really cared for her family. It kinda warmed my heart in a way I can’t describe.

“Alright, see you then.” I ended the call and explained everything on the way over, Enji sighed and rubbed his forehead before pinching the bridge of his knows shaking his head. I smiled, noticing the edge of his lips twitch upwards a bit before he forced it down mumbling out Natsuo’s name and something I couldn’t hear.

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Tag list

@waffleees-world @daedaep69 @gabrielislovegabrielislife @sabrinakishi @mae3solo

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thewhitefluffyhat · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Deltarune Chapter 2

I wasn't even intending to write a Deltarune post, but here we are!

Have some extended ramblings/theorizing about Undertale, Deltarune, and the role of the "Player" vs character agency.

[Warning: full spoilers for ALL routes in both Undertale and Deltarune!]

Frisk’s Agency in Undertale

So I'm not sure how common this is nowadays (I haven't been following Undertale theories for a while), but I personally prefer the interpretation that there is no "Player" as an in-universe force in Undertale. I think it's a far more elegant story if the fourth wall isn't broken.

I'm also fond of the Narrator Chara and "Chara isn't pure evil until Murder Route teaches them to be" interpretations too.

And, of course, the third plank bridging those two is that I don't see Frisk as a just a pure, innocent cinnamon roll.

Because I like the story best when it's Frisk who chooses mercy or murder. It gives Frisk a much more complex character, if they are allowed to have the capacity for both immense kindness and immense cruelty. It even gives them an interesting implied character arc, if you take the natural progression path of True Pacifist > Murder Fun Times > Soulless Pacifist.

Just like Flowey, Frisk first tried to use their powers of Determination for good, but eventually they also grew curious and began to see the world as a game. And then they went too far and ultimately regretted it. Regretted it so much, in fact, that they were willing to sell their soul for just a chance to fix it.

After all, it's not you, the "Player," whose SOUL Chara wants. It's you, Frisk.

I also dislike the idea of an in-universe "Player" because that implies that "Frisk" is nothing but an empty shell - on ALL routes. All of those heartwarming moments in the True Pacifist route? All of the silly Flirt actions? Yeah, that's not Frisk, that's just as much the "Player" puppeting some poor kid's body as the events of the Bad Times.

Who knows what Frisk is truly like if their every action - good or ill - is controlled by some unseen, eldritch force? Now Frisk no longer has any characterization.

And given that said force overrides Frisk's agency, then isn't the "Player" evil no matter which route you take? It's become a story where they only "moral" choice is never to pick up the game at all. Hrm.

Anyway, but that's all Undertale. Which brings me to...

What the heck is going on in Deltarune?

Unlike Frisk=the Red SOUL in Undertale, we don't seem to control Kris=the Red SOUL in Deltarune. The game repeatedly underlines that the player only controls the Red SOUL, not Kris.

(Though, with stuff like the sound of the bathroom faucet only being audible when Kris's actual body is nearby - it seems like even when separated, the Red SOUL may still be perceiving through Kris's other senses besides sight...?)

With Spamton's dialogue and Kris's reaction after the non-Weird NEO fight, there's also a lot more emphasis in Deltarune of Kris (and the rest of the party!) being puppeted by some other force. And that's on top of all the stuff in the first chapter highlighting Kris/the Red SOUL's lack of agency.

Because of all those hints, Deltarune seems to be much more explicitly pointing toward that dark interpretation of Undertale - that the "Player"/Red SOUL is removing Kris's agency, regardless of route.

Indeed, I'm somewhat intrigued by the possibility that we/the Red SOUL might be forcing Kris to act nice just as much as we force them to act cruel. The way that Kris deliberately removes the Red SOUL in order to do some very suspicious actions might support that. As do some comments in Chapter 1, like characters in the post-Dark World walkaround noting how Kris is being less weird and more inquisitive than usual. Maybe Kris is the Knight and the Red SOUL is possessing them to undo their evil actions. Maybe the real Kris doesn't want to be friends with Susie and Ralsei at all!

But taking that interpretation to such an extreme also doesn't quite fit. Why does Kris slash the tires on Toriel's car? The only reason I can think of is that they want to keep Susie at their house. And why does Kris create the Dark World in their house? Is Kris creating the fountains because they want to have fun with friends? Especially right after the chapter emphasized how great the Dark World adventures were, that seems very likely.

There are also some smaller details too, of Kris interpreting the Red SOUL's input with their own spin (like saying things sarcastically), or of Kris chatting in a friendly way with Ralsei which the player/SOUL can't influence.

So, I'm pretty sure that even outside of the Red SOUL's control, Kris genuinely does like their friends.

Meanwhile, there were a lot of hints this chapter that Something Bad happened to Kris, Noelle, Dess, and Asriel when they went exploring in the forest by the graveyard. Most likely, they went into that ominous bunker south of the town. Is that incident related to Kris’s current strangeness?

And then, and THEN, there's the Snow Mercy route. That route seems to imply that the Red SOUL is both evil, and very much not Kris. Noelle says Kris isn't like themself, that their voice changes strangely, and she can still hear the creepy voice even when Kris is downed.

How to make sense of this all?

A Theory on Kris and the Red SOUL

One idea is that as scary and zombie-like as Kris looks without the SOUL, they're probably a nice, if lonely kid who desperately wants friends after their big brother went to college. (And possibly after something traumatic happened to them/their neighbor.) They're creating the Dark Worlds for the sake of fun and escapism.

But the Red SOUL puts an end to Kris's happy fantasies. Indeed, if the Red SOUL gives up, "the world is covered in darkness." So without the Red SOUL, would Kris simply keep creating fountains...? (What ARE the fountains, why can Kris and theoretically any Lightener create them?)

Maybe in the normal route, the Red SOUL is trying to gently help Kris move on and accept reality in some way. At the very least, I suspect Ralsei is working toward this goal.

But in that case... that's a pretty strange way for the Red SOUL to go about it, forcibly taking control of Kris to the point that the kid notices and seems to greatly resent it.

But what if the Red SOUL didn't have a choice about this arrangement either?

After all, the Red SOUL's customized vessel was discarded at the start of Chapter 1... and it was placed into Kris instead.

Here's a question: will Kris die if they're without a SOUL for too long?

Because there are an awful lot of moments in these games where characters break free of something they are bound to, but it doesn't end well: -Spamton collapses when his strings are cut. -The Darkeners can move freely outside their origin world for a while, but eventually turn to statues if they stay in another world. -Regardless of whether Berdly removes the Queen’s wires himself, he's exhausted and unable to fight any more after being under her control. -And when Kris takes the Red SOUL out of their body, their movements become slow and clumsy. Like it's a struggle for them to move at all.

Meanwhile in Undertale, post-Pacifist Asriel could maintain his form to say goodbye, but without SOUL(s), he inevitably returns to being Flowey.

So here's a theory: Kris died and/or lost their original soul. Perhaps due to some action/inaction on Noelle's part in the exploration incident. And as a last-ditch resort to keep them alive, the Red SOUL was somehow implanted in Kris.

(Also maybe Dess died/went missing at the same time...?)

And now, the Red SOUL the only thing keeping Kris around.

But just like in Undertale, it seems like Deltarune SOULs have wills of their own.

Which means Kris's current state is similar to the Chara-Asriel fusion, or Omega Flowey, or even Frisk-Chara. Control of the body is shared. The difference is that instead of the SOUL we play representing the original owner/will of the body, this time the SOUL we're playing as is the intruder.

Essentially, this time around we are playing the role of the Chara-equivalent instead of the Frisk-equivalent!

(Though whether Kris themself is more of Chara or Frisk I’ll leave to other theorists...)

Anyway, while Kris likely wishes to be rid of the SOUL and dislikes this whole body sharing arrangement, they know they can't survive without it. And perhaps Kris being in a partially soulless state might explain why they do questionable stuff like creating Dark Worlds and slashing their mom's car tires in order to play with their friends. (Again, see also: Asriel/Flowey.)

But when the Red SOUL and Kris are in alignment, things go okay. The Red SOUL suggests commands, but Kris is willing to follow and seems to enjoy being with Susie and Ralsei.

Let’s Talk About Snow Mercy

It's when the Red SOUL and Kris aren't in alignment... well. That seems to be what's happening in the Snow Mercy route. That kind of situation sure didn't go so hot with Frisk and Chara in Undertale, so I doubt this will end nicely for Kris and the Red SOUL either. At the very least, Kris seems to have been visibly upset after what happened with Noelle in this route.

(By the way, there are two other moments in Chapter 2 when Susie asks if Kris is okay - first after the normal Spamton NEO fight and subsequent discussion of what it meant and second after she and Kris approach the bunker.

Three different moments, but Kris appears to react similarly. Are all of these things related? The bunker, Kris being puppeted, and the events of the Snow Mercy route?)

Meanwhile, here’s a contrast. Undertale's Murder Route seemed to exist for the sake of curiosity and power - either the "Player" or Frisk's desires, whichever interpretation you subscribe to. And the changes to the world were all logical consequences of that - because of the Fallen Child's rampage, friendly NPCs disappear, major characters fight you more seriously, etc.

But the actions in Snow Mercy are... weirdly specific, weirdly unpredictable. It doesn't come across as a simple power trip. Instead, Snow Mercy is a bunch of really bizarre actions that feel even more mysterious to the player as they are to Noelle and Kris. I sure wouldn't have guessed that backtracking to the trash heap and freezing a bunch of enemies would lead to new items spontaneously appearing and then giving Noelle access to a scary new spell. It's like something straight out of a creepypasta!

The overall tone that comes across to me is that the Red SOUL seems to know what it's doing, even while the player is kept in the dark. And given Noelle's responses, it almost seems like the SOUL is trying to remind her of events/actions from her past, events which are obviously unknown to the player. All of which leads me to think that the Red SOUL has motives and goals of its own... so just like Undertale, this probably isn't a situation of the "Player" being a fourth wall-breaking force either.

The Red SOUL is its own character.

And I'm certainly curious to find out more about them!

#undertale #deltarune #deltarune chapter 2 #frisk #kris #chara #noelle #the red soul #no separate player #undertale analysis #deltarune analysis #my ramblings #read more #is this my first ever deltarune/undertale analysis post?#huh I think it is!#haha I guess I've always just been a reader until now

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mldrgrl · 3 years

Text

Broken Things 1/24

by: mldrgrl Rating: varies by chapter, rated R overall Summary: The year is 1886, William Mulder owns a horse ranch in northern Texas. The widow of a neighboring landowner has something he wants. Notes: Please be aware that this fic will contain ‘off-camera’ references to violence and abuse of various kinds. I will not be tagging individual TWs on the chapters.

Prologue

Many years from now, when he tells the tales of his younger days, he will claim that this is the day that changed his life forever. If that horse hadn’t thrown a shoe, well then. His wife will roll her eyes at this, tell him that any number of events prior to that day had already changed his life forever. The decision to leave Massachusetts for the open prairie, for example, had changed his life forever. The fact that his father had sent him to live with his aunt in the countryside instead of keeping him in the city had changed his life forever. The pony he received for his birthday when he was a child had clearly changed his life forever.

All of that will hindsight one day. Right now, it’s just an ordinary Thursday, the 9th of September, 1886. The weather is mild, almost cool compared to the heat wave that had hit in the latter half of August. And William Mulder’s horse has thrown a shoe.

Chapter 1

Normally, Mulder (only his family ever called him William) sends his ranch hand, Melvin, to take care of small errands and menial tasks, but he hasn’t been to town in almost a month and he could use a change of pace. He hitches one of his more reliable horses to his wagon and takes one of the ones in training as well, one he’s just broken in, to see how he handles on the hour-long ride. Their first stop is Gray’s Blacksmith.

After tying the horses to the post, Mulder gives them both a good scratching about the neck for a job well done and receives a snort and whinny of appreciation. “Well done, boys,” he says. “Carrots and apples at home for both of you if you keep up the good work.”

The familiar sound of clanking and hammering and the crackle of fire greets Mulder as he steps into the open door of the blacksmith’s. He tips his hat to the striker, who nods a greeting. The blacksmith turns and nods as well.

“Mr. Gray,” Mulder says.

“Mr. Mulder,” the blacksmith answers, passing his tongs to his assistant and then removing his gloves to shake hands. “What can I do for ya?”

“Faithful Jenny’s thrown a shoe. Melvin’s fixing her up, but I figured it was a good time to pick up a crate of nails and shoes.”

“Come on back and take a look then. How’s business?”

“Doing well. We’re training up a half dozen draft horses for the postal service right now.”

“Is the rumor you pulled in a mustang a few weeks ago true?”

“Afraid so.”

“You ain’t got a broken neck far as I can tell, so you must be faring alright with him then.”

“You can see him for yourself when I take this cart out to the wagon.”

“You brung him with ya?”

“I did.”

“I’ll be.”

Mulder feels a surge of pride when the blacksmith comes out to admire the horse. He slides the crate of shoes and nails into the back of the wagon and then shows off his friendship with the four-legged beast by rubbing his belly. The horse scratches the ground with his front hoof and shakes his head.

“You sure got a way, Mr. Mulder,” Mr. Gray says. “If you got any stock you’re looking to sell I heard there’s a new homesteader a ways south that was interested.”

“I’m on my way to the mercantile. I’ll be sure to ask John.”

The two men shake hands once again before Mulder gets back in his wagon. He smiles to himself when the blacksmith watches him leave. He’s made a name for himself in the short while he’s been here breaking and training up horses. Folks in the area have said time and again that there isn’t a horse he can’t tame, that it’s almost downright spooky the way he seems to be able to talk to them.

There’s a man being waited on in the mercantile that Mulder doesn’t recognize, probably someone just passing through. He waits for John Byers to finish with the customer, browsing the Montgomery Ward & Co. catalog at the end of the counter.

“Mulder,” John says after ringing the man up at the till. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too, John.” He pulls a shopping list from his pocket and unfolds it. “I’m sure you’re better at translating Melvin’s chicken scratches than me at this point.”

“I believe I can manage.” John chuckles and takes the shopping list. He pulls a crate down and begins to collect items off the shelves and William goes back to the catalogue, thumbing past the illustrations of ladies’ garments to find menswear.

“If I put in an order for denim trousers for me and the boys you think they’ll be in by winter?”

“I’d say it’s likely.”

“Mr. Gray mentioned there were some new homesteaders interested in horses.”

“He must mean Mr. Campbell. It’s oxen he’s after, I believe.”

“If you hear otherwise, send him my way.”

“I’ll do that. I suppose you heard about your neighbor?”

“What neighbor is that?”

“Jack Willis.”

“Haven’t heard a thing. What about him?”

“He spent all of Saturday night at the saloon in a poker game and was found dead in a ditch just outside of town on Sunday morning.”

“Robbed?”

“I should actually say he spent all Saturday night losing in a poker game and downing whiskey like water. I heard he stumbled his way into that ditch of his own accord and met an untimely demise.”

“I only met him the once, but that doesn’t surprise me much. Far be it for me to speak ill of the dead, but the man had a disagreeable disposition. He seemed like the type to get himself into trouble.”

“Well, the bank is soon to be after his widow. I’ve heard he’s in arrears. I’m actually surprised the Sheriff didn’t stop on at your place on his way out there to tell her about her husband’s death.”

“Didn’t know he had a widow. And you know Sheriff Doggett, he’s all business.”

“My Susannah saw them together, he and his wife, the day they passed through looking for land, and you know Susannah, she was beside herself at the notion of another woman come to town, but then no one’s seen hide nor hair of her since.”

“I still regret having been back east when Old Man Goodwin passed. I’ve had my eye on that land for quite some time.”

“Maybe she’ll sell it to you.”

Mulder rubs at his chin in thought. “You say the bank is about to repossess?”

“That’s the rumor. I don’t think Mr. Skinner would relish evicting a new widow, but there probably isn’t much he can do if the mortgage is late.”

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt to take a ride out to pay my respects and assess the situation. Thank you, John.”

Byers nods and gestures to the items laid out on the counter. “I’ll have John Jr. load the cart for you. Would you like this on your account?”

“I’ll square up everything now, but go ahead and order those trousers.”

The hour ride back home gives Mulder time to think. He’s in a position to offer the Willis widow a handsome sum for his neighboring acres. The one and only time he’d met Jack Willis he was immediately soured on trying to form any kind of friendship with him. The man had been downright surly and abrasive and he sure hopes the widow is more neighborly.

Melvin takes over the wagon when Mulder arrives home and shows him the new shoe on Faithful Jenny. The older man is at least a foot closer to the ground than Mulder and proudly displays a life-long love of hearty biscuits around his middle, but there’s no better right-hand man that Mulder could ask for. He’s foreman and farrier, counselor and cook. There isn’t anything Mulder doesn’t trust him with. As they unload the wagon together, he tells him about what he heard from John Byers.

“Well, there’s no harm in asking,” Melvin offers as advice. “If’n the bank really is after her, she might be grateful for the offer. You should probably get out there as soon as possible in case anyone else might be sniffin’ around for them acres.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“You know if’n I’d heard about Bob Goodwin any sooner I’d have snatched up them acres for you before I could even send a wire.”

“I know, it’s not your fault. Do me a favor, old man, tack up Blondie while I try to make myself presentable.”

“That could take hours. Days even.”

“Decades, in your case. If it’s even possible.”

The two men laugh over their gentle ribbing of each other and Mulder claps Melvin on the shoulder. He parts from his friend to go wash his face, comb his hair, and put on a fresh shirt. His horse is saddled and ready to go when he comes back out.

“Good luck,” Melvin tells him.

A narrow, slow-moving creek divides Mulder’s property from the Willis widow’s land. It’s one he’s crossed many times when Old Man Goodwin was his neighbor. He knows where the shallowest spot is to lead the horse and where the shrubs are too thick and have to be avoided. He tries not to daydream about what he’ll do with an expansion, but he passes the spot he’d like to clear out for a better corral and where he’d like to add another stable and it’s hard not to hope.

The old sod house that Old Man Goodwin had slapped together is still standing, though it looks to have seen better days. The roof needs patching and the walls are crumbling in spots. He dismounts Blondie when he’s still a few yards away and leads the horse over to the post he knows is at the side of the house. The nearby trough which is usually full of water is empty. The chickens that were usually clucking and underfoot are nowhere to be seen.

Mulder knocks lightly on the clapboard door and moments later a woman with the reddest hair and the bluest eyes he’s ever seen answers.

↭

Katherine is expecting the knock when it comes, though it’s sooner than she thought it would be. In the days since her husband’s death, she’s racked her brain for a solution to her current predicament, but has come up empty handed. She doesn’t delay in answering the door. She may be on the verge of being destitute and homeless, but she’ll face it with dignity.

“Uh, Mrs. Willis, I presume?” the man asks. He stammers a bit but he has an easy, congenial smile that catches her a little off guard. She’d been expecting the Sheriff she’d met on Sunday, but perhaps the bank manager in this town takes care of evictions.

“Mr. Skinner, I presume?” she finally replies.

The man chuckles and removes his hat. “Ah, no Ma’am,” he says, running his hand through his hair. “I’m afraid I have a bit more hair than our dear Mr. bank manager.”

“Oh.” She should have known. The bank managers she’s had dealings with in the past were stuffy and pinched. This man is far too rugged and handsome to be a bank manager.

“William Mulder.” He holds out his hand to her and when she gives him hers, he bows slightly and brings it to his mouth, brushing his lips lightly across her knuckles. Embarrassed, she pulls her hand back and closes it into a fist to hide her dirty and calloused palms from him.

“Is there something I can help you with?” she asks.

“I know we haven’t met before, but I happen to be your neighbor just to the south. I heard about your husband and I’ve come to pay my respects.”

“I see. Would you...care to come in, then?”

“Thank you.”

He has to bend to step through the low-frame of the door. She has no candles, but there’s enough light from the open door and the unpatched holes in the walls that it’s unnecessary. She watches him look the place over and she can tell he’s not impressed by the shabbiness of it all.

“I’m sorry I don’t have anything to offer you,” she says.

He smiles politely. “That’s alright, Ma’am. I came to be neighborly, but there is also a matter I wanted to discuss regarding this land.”

“Oh?” Fear grips her suddenly. He may not be the bank man, and he may not be the sheriff, but he could be another kind of lawman. Even if he was telling the truth that he was her neighbor, he could still be there to turn her out, or worse yet, remove her to debtor’s prison. Unconsciously, she begins to tremble.

“Mrs. Willis?” he asks. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she answers, pulling the tattered shawl draped over her shoulders a little tighter across her chest. “A chill is all.”

He looks around again. “You’ve no chair to sit on?”

“No.”

“Would you like to come back outside? Perhaps it will be warmer. You could sit on my horse.”

The absurdity of the offer makes her laugh and eases her anxiety somewhat. He bites his lower lip almost shyly and tips his chin down as he turns the hat over in his hands again. She stares at his mouth, thinking about how the slight overbite he has seems to suit him well. She notes other things too, in the silence. Like how his beard is well-trimmed and his nails are clean. He presents himself as a cowboy, but she knows a city man when she sees one.

“Um, Mrs. Willis, I…”

She flinches at the name. “Katherine,” she says.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’d prefer you call me Katherine.”

He cocks his head a little to the side and smiles. “Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,” he murmurs.

She can’t help but lift her right eyebrow. It used to irritate her husband immensely when she pulled faces, as he called it. “Rather Kate the Curst,” she replies.

His eyes widen and seem to brighten. “You know Shakespeare?”

“You look surprised.”

“No, no, it’s just...I haven’t had much opportunity to discuss the Bard out here. Apologies for the Taming of the Shrew reference, but whenever I come across a Katherine, I can’t help but make the association. Especially when it’s not altogether untrue.”

She feels the heat rise to her cheeks with the compliment that she knows is entirely unwarranted. She was never very pretty. Her mother used to complain about how wild and curly her hair was when she was a child, not to mention the dreadful freckles across her nose and cheeks. It may have been quite some time since she’s been in the presence of a looking glass, but she doesn’t need one to know that her appearance is lacking.

“I suppose I could have just as easily been a Viola or an Ophelia,” she says, avoiding his flattery.

“Hopefully not a Lady MacBeth.”

“No.” The conversation stalls momentarily, but then she wets her lips and tightens her shawl again. “You said there was something you came to speak with me about?”

“I was away on some business when Old Man...ah, that is, when Mr. Goodwin, the previous owner of your land, passed on. I’d been eyeing this parcel for some time and had been planning to offer Mr. Goodwin a sum to sell it to me. I’d like to make you that same offer.”

“Ah.” She closes her eyes and chuckles mirthlessly for a brief moment. “I’m afraid I can’t take that offer.”

“Have you sold to someone else?”

“No, but I’m not in a position to sell. My husband leased this land and I have every reason to doubt he ever made good on the rent. He drank most of the money and gambled what was left of that.”

“I see.”

“I’m just biding my time now until the bank comes to collect and turn me out.”

“Do you have people back...wherever it is that you're from?”

“Virginia.”

“It’s not but a few days ride to Fort Worth, I could send a wire to someone for you.”

“You would do that?”

“Of course.”

“No.” She shakes her head slowly and sighs. “There’s no one back home, but thank you.”

He shifts his feet and tries to speak, but he says nothing. He looks dumbfounded in a way that almost makes her feel sorry for him.

“Was that all?” she asks.

“Ma’am,” he stammers. “Mrs. Willis...Katherine...I can’t...I can’t…”

She doesn’t know what compels her to do it, but she reaches out and puts her hand over his where it grips the brim of his hat. He falls silent and stops his fidgeting. She squeezes his hand lightly and lets her fingers rest against his wrist for a few moments before she takes it away.

“Since you seem familiar with the bank man,” she says. “I’m sure you’ll get your wish soon enough.”

“But…”

“Good day to you, Mr. Mulder. Thank you for coming.”

#i wrote this #broken things #chapter 1 #AU #MSR

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sproutsgcrden · 3 years

Text

sentinel of naruhata | chapter two

mr. nice guy

warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, one short scene implying sexual harassment (non-graphic), manga spoilers for my hero academia: vigilantes

word count: 3383

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If someone had told Koichi that he would get jumped, well, he may have believed them. That’s not too uncommon, especially around Naruhata. And it really wouldn’t be odd if it happened to him specifically. He just had that kind of luck. However, if they had also mentioned that a nine-year old would jump in and save him, he’d be a bit skeptical.

He honestly didn’t know if he quite believed what he had witnessed. One moment he was about to get hit by a guy he had managed to piss off earlier in the day, and the next some kid had shown up seemingly out of nowhere, threatening to steal his attacker’s quirk. Koichi didn’t think that was possible. Sure, there had been copying quirks, and erasure quirks were rare, but a quirk that allowed a person to take another quirk? That didn’t seem right, at least, it didn’t seem too entirely possible. A quirk is an integral, unique part of each individual- there’s no way somebody can take that, right? He could be wrong, it wasn’t like he was studying quirk theory.

As soon as the kid hightailed it out of the store with his strange assortment of items, Koichi knew he’d been in for it. He had already been late to work today because of the whole fiasco from earlier. He didn’t mean to run into Spiky Dude- it had just happened! Yeah, maybe he shouldn’t have been using his quirk in public, but he was running late! And then, of course, Spiky Dude just had to show up at the same convenience store Koichi worked at, and had to rough him up on the same day he was late. His manager was already absolutely pissed, and Koichi really didn’t want to stick around any longer than he had to in fear of a lecture, or something worse.

Luckily for him, he was nearing the end of his shift by the time Spiky Dude had entered the store, and the kid had helped him waste a lot of time due to the insane amount of items he was purchasing. All he had to do was clock out and sneak out of the door, which should be fairly easy. After punching out on the system and closing the register, Koichi grabbed his bag and began to get ready to leave.

“Haimiwari.” Koichi closed his eyes in disappointment, sighing before turning around with a fake grin.

“What can I do for you, sir?”

The angry tapping of the shoe really should have been enough warning, in hindsight.

------

The streets of Naruhata were busy for the late hour, not too unusual but it was something that Koichi didn’t want to bother with after the night he had. Of course that stunt had gotten him fired. Perfect. It wasn’t like it was his fault! He was the victim in all of this! What, did his boss really think that he wanted to get dragged into an alleyway and get beat up? Koichi grunted as he walked around a slow-placed couple. He would have to find another job and fast. Rent was coming up, and he still had payments due on his tuition. His left hand adjusted the strap of his backpack while his right passed over his face. This was too stressful to think about right now.

There was something he knew he could to help take his mind off of things for a while. Koichi’s eyes narrowed in determined concentration. Yeah, tonight was a good night for that.

------

The wind rushed through Izuku’s loose hair, tousling it beyond fixing. It felt wonderful, racing across the rooftops of an unknown city in the dead of the night. He was barely let out of his room and the training hall on good days- he could never hope to leave the confines of Kurogiri’s watchful eye. Which, unfortunately, meant that it was a rare opportunity to go outside… ever.

Izuku let out a harsh giggle, letting it echo in the air with a wide smile. He had never felt so free.

Slowing to catch his breath, Izuku pulled a wrinkled, old notebook out of his bag. Skimming through the pages, he stopped on the last entry he made. When researching Eraserhead, it wasn’t that hard to find out that the underground hero mainly patrolled in the Narahata Ward. However, it was a bit more difficult to find out specific times and locations of his daily patrols. He assumed that it changed quite frequently due to Eraserhead’s cryptid-like nature, but it was still frustrating to not know exactly where to find the hero. Especially since he wasn’t aware how much time he had before Tomura caught on to where he was.

However, Izuku did have a few locations that seemed to be promising. Most of them were hidden back alley’s, which made perfect sense. A majority of petty crimes took place during the day- they were a beacon to spotlight heroes, those who lived off the praise and popularity from civilians. But the nasty, evil villains? Oh, Izuku knew from experience that the worst of the worst were always found in the dead of night. Underground heroes always had to be on their toes, and it spoke volumes to Eraserhead’s vigilance that he’s remained pretty much untouchable and unnoticeable to those who wished ill intent.

Pulling up the map on his outdated phone, he inputted the first location he had written in his notebook. The specific alley was only about three blocks away. With a manic grin, Izuku pulled up the hood of his jacket and let Enhance swim through his veins once more.

------

The discs of air underneath Koichi’s palms lit up with a familiar burst of light, making the nineteen gleefully chuckle. The feeling of his signature All Might hoodie snugged tight over his torso provided him with an unexplainable comfort, as did the plain black mask covering the lower half of his face.

Koichi was inexplicably known for his plain nature at college (save for the rumors that said he was some creep that tried to lure girls into abandoned buildings. He really was just trying to make friends!), so it wasn’t like anyone would expect him to be the vigilante that ran around Naruhata at night.

Well, he supposed the word “vigilante” was a bit of an exaggeration. It wasn’t like he sought out and fought criminals, he just used his quirk to get around a bit faster and help out the common man. Koichi lost out on his chance of being a hero a long time ago, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t help people when he had a bit of free time. As Mr. Nice Guy, he was able to get a glimpse of what he had dreamed about being his entire life.

Koichi zoomed through the lit up streets of Naruhata, providing directions to the lost, helping find missing items, and picking up bits of random trash. Everytime he received a “thank you” his eyes lit up- it was nice to be appreciated sometimes. The chorus of grateful civilians echoed within his mind as he continued to do good deeds throughout the night. After a few hours, he found himself moseying down a side road in hopes of heading home.

“All that do-gooding sure does make a guy thirsty.” He slipped down his mask, mumbling mostly to himself as he readjusted the straps of his bag.

A water bottle was thrust in front of him, followed by a peppy voice. “Here ya go!”

Koichi took the water bottle without thanking, shouting a quick “thank you” to whoever handed him the drink. And then, once he realized what had just happened, immediately did a double-take. Wide eyes looked over to the side of the road, only to see a young girl with pink, puffy pigtails staring at him with a bemused smirk.

“Pop Step?!” Koichi straightened his posture. “What are you doing here?!”

Ignoring his question, she began to walk out in front of him, hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket. “So… you’re the guy picking up trash around town?” Her hand went to frame her cheek in wonder. “What’s your name again? Cockroach Guy?”

Wide, admiring eyes became downtrodden in an instant, an annoyed glare taking their place. “It’s Nice Guy!”

“Whatever! You’re the one who alerted me to the fuzz during my show, right? I wanted to say thanks, somehow!”

Koichi was the one who let her know the police were coming when she was performing her illegal street show earlier in the day. He didn’t care much for her music, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see her get arrested. Either way, he wasn’t sure why that provided an excuse to essentially stalk him. “So, you’ve been tailing me all day, huh?”

“Yup! I saw you almost get pummeled by those customers while you were working at that convenience store! I probably wouldn’t have stepped in either way, but wow! You were lucky when that little kid showed up, huh? Gotta admit, Cockroach Guy, that was pretty lame!”

“I don’t do well with violence, okay!” Koichi felt his eye twitch in annoyance; it was probably time to get out of this conversation before he lost his temper.

Pop Step’s face twisted with confusion. “Isn’t that dweeby hoodie supposed to be an All Might cosplay? And yet, you suck at fighting? That totally makes sense…”

“Sure, I look up to the guy. I wanna be useful to society however I can, just like he is! It’s got nothing to do with fighting! And the hoodie isn’t dweeby! It’s cool!”

“However you can?” Pop Step giggled, using her quirk to jump ust high enough to appear a little taller than Koichi. “So you know your place, at least!”

Koichi clenched his teeth in frustration, stepping around Pop Step to try and speed around her. “Stop getting hung up on the details! Knowing your place is important! If you keep playing at being some sort of pop idol, the cops will catch you sooner than later.”

Pop’s face scrunched up with a flash of anger, and if Koichi hadn’t had the night he had, he may have even been terrified. “Hey! I’m not ‘playing’ at anything! I’m the real deal!” She sped up, stopping in front of him as she pointed a perfectly manicured finger in his face. “You’ll just have to keep an eye out for the police! Also, I’ll need you to usher in my fans, set up the venues, and sell some merchandise!”

“Are you pissed off or hiring me for a job?!”

“Don’t you need one? Wouldn’t be surprised if you got fired after what happened!” Pop didn’t even take a moment to notice Koichi’s crestfallen glance towards the wall. “Anyways! If anyone can help me, it’s you- Know Your Place Guy!”

“Ugh. It’s Nice Guy!”

“Oh whatever!” Pop Step turned away from Koichi in order to run further down the alley, sparing him a glance backwards as she made her getaway. “I went through all of this trouble to express some gratitude… I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal, asking a ‘Nice Guy’ like you to do a little work to help a girl out!”

Koichi, good mood effectively ruined once again, went to bite back with a response. That was, until a familiar group popped into his view. He flinched as he saw Pop Step run straight into the leader, none other than the Spiky Dude who threatened to pummel Koichi into the ground just hours before. He could do nothing but stare as the group cornered Pop Step up against the wall, no doubt making her uncomfortable. Probably much more so than he was when he was in her position.

Now, if Koichi were a hero, this is when he would pull out all of the stops. He would crouch low to the ground, speeding to the men terrorizing the young girl and knocking them all on their asses. He would make sure he sped Pop Step to a safe location before coming back to make sure those bozos got arrested like they deserved. But, Koichi wasn’t a hero. And he would never be one. What could he do? His quirk was essentially useless in a fight. The only thing he was good at was running away.

But didn’t he have a duty to try and help? After all, if he couldn’t find the strength to help a young girl in this kind of situation, how could he try to help anyone else? With shaky legs and a determined glint in his eyes, Koichi bent low to the ground. The familiar pulse of his quirk activating below him provided little comfort, but he knew he had to push through this fear and go.

Mask pulled up, Koichi flew against the dirty pavement, locking eyes onto one of Spiky Dude’s lackeys. Now, if he could just get by unnoticed this time, he could knock this guy off his game and get Pop out of there. But of course, things never go Koichi’s way. That’s his luck.

The man caught him, large physique towering over him. The small tuft of flame acting as his hair cast an eerie shadow against the ground. “Well, well, well… look who we have here! Hey, boss! It’s the cockroach from earlier!” Still holding onto the back of Koichi’s hoodie, the large criminal threw him against the wall.

The pain of his head hitting against the rough edges of brick didn’t compare to the spikes slashing against his cheek.

“That annoying brat ain’t here to save you this time.” Spiky Dude’s eyes seem to glow in the dark night, and Koichi couldn’t ignore the sinister feeling pooling in his gut. “You ain’t getting away with just a small beating this time. I’m going to crush you. And I’m gonna enjoy it.”

The spiky criminal stalked closer to him; Koichi’s eyes immediately latched onto the blood dripping from the thick barbs protruding from the knuckles of his enemy. Shit. Shit. What could he do?! He really was going to die. Koichi shut his eyes in gruesome anticipation, hoping that at least Pop Step was using this opportunity to get away. A rush of air flew past his nose, and he blinked slowly. Looking up, Koichi locked eyes with Spiky Dude. The skewers had vanished from his knuckles, and the same, pale look of absolute petrification the criminal wore earlier in the night was on his face once more.

“Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t going to warn you next time?” The familiar voice of the kid that had stepped in during Koichi’s earlier encounter with this group echoed through the street, venom and animosity clear as day in his tone. Even Koichi shrunk into himself in fear. His wandering eyes latched onto a figure leaning down from the rooftop above, All Might hoodie bright against the black of night.

“I was looking for Eraserhead, but maybe I can do his job for him tonight and knock you fucker’s out.” Holy shit, what was up with this kid?

Koichi had noticed earlier that the kid had bright green eyes, but they seemed almost electrified, bright green sparks lighting off in his pupils as his glare deepened. He jumped off the roof, floating just above the ground before he hit it at full speed. His hand was held out, and Koichi glanced at the numerous scars stretching against the palored skin.

While Spiky Dude was distracted, Koichi took the opportunity to get back on his hands and feet, and forced himself to crash into the lizard looking man that was still holding onto Pop Step. She used the momentum from Koichi along with her quirk to jump out of the way and out of the alley. In his happiness of the fact that Pop was able to make a getaway, he wasn’t able to stop his momentum. Koichi ended up crashing straight into the other wall, the force of it knocking out the criminal he held tight in his grip.

“There’s no need for that!” A deep, grudd voice echoed from the other side of the street, and before anyone could react, a large fist connected straight into Spiky Dude’s nose. “The name’s Knuckleduster. And it’s my job to take out the trash like you.” Koichi barely even blinked, and the next moment the other tone was conked out right beside the leader.

What the fuck was happening?!

------

Izuku sighed in relief as he felt the rubber band snap against the quirk he held in his grasp, sending it back to its original owner as some random old man knocked him out. He didn’t want to steal a quirk, but that dude really wasn’t going to give him any choice. Luckily some geezer showed up before he could make good on his threat. He watched the man with a careful stare, seeing as he checked each of the criminal’s tongues before standing back up. His red sneakers crunched against the pavement as he lowered himself back to the ground; he walked towards the cashier he met earlier and held his hand out for him to take.

The man sitting across from him scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner, choosing to take Izuku’s hand in order to get back up. “Uh, suppose that’s twice you’ve saved me, huh kid? We really have to stop meeting like this.”

Izuku chuckled, nodding his head in agreement. A cough sounded behind the two of them, and they both turned around to find the old man staring straight into their souls. Knuckleduster’s bandana covered his entire head, including the top half of his face, only leaving holes to see out of. His black trench coat was grimy, not to mention ripped on the hemlines. Everything about this screamed “homeless old man”, even down to the gritty way the man seemed to fight.

Izuku couldn’t help but think the man seemed familiar.

“You take quirks or something, kid?” The man’s eyes narrowed, his already gruff voice deepened.

“No! I don’t take quirks! I was just playing a bluff, really!” Technically, Izuku wasn’t lying. He hadn’t ever willingly taken a quirk before. “I have an erasure quirk! That’s why I’ve been looking for Eraserhead. I’m hoping he’s willing to train me.” Now, there’s the lie.

“Hmph.” Knuckleduster’s eyes stayed on Izuku a little while longer, tense silence following before he shrugged it off. “You both show promise. Gotta admit, when I heard about Naruhata’s newest vigilante, I wasn’t expecting him to have a sidekick.”

Both Izuku and Koichi stared at him in shock, making the old man laugh. It was a hearty laugh, scratchy and sarcastic. “People are gonna make that sort of assumption when you’ve got two kids helping fight crime in the exact same hoodie.” The two boys flushed, causing Koichi to shake his head.

“We just met today.”

“So? Doesn’t mean the two of ya don’t work well together. I almost didn’t need to come down here. If it weren’t for the threat of Trigger I probably wouldn’t have. Don’t know if it’s luck or not, but these thugs didn’t have a trace of the drug on ‘em.”

“Trigger?” Izuku knew what he was talking about. His father was one of the main benefactors of the production and distribution of the drug. Or well, he was before he got forced into a coma. He had originally thought the distribution would slow after the underworld had found out about All for One’s current medical status, but it seems that wasn’t the case.

Knuckleduster waved it away. “I can explain that later. After you two accept my offer.”

Koichi paled, backing away from the crazy old man. “What offer?”

A sinister grin formed its way onto Knuckleduster’s face, making the duo in front of him back away even further. “Let me teach you kids what it takes to do hero work, and how great it feels to pound some villains!”

Koichi thought this man was absolutely insane and would only lead him to more trouble.

Izuku thought that he had enough training from the villains themselves.

They met each other’s gaze before turning back to Knuckleduster.

“We refuse your offer.”

#bnha vigilantes fanfic #bnha vigilantes #koichi haimawari #kazuho haneyama #midoriya izuku #afo is hisashi midoriya #midoriya has a quirk #midoriya has all for one #midoriya fanfic #deku fanfic #deku au #bnha au #bnha fanfic

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thetomorrowshow · 3 years

Text

unless you take your army back, ch. 6

First - Previous - Read on AO3!

college life go brrrrrrrr

cw: description of injuries, ptsd flashbacks, paranoia

Three more days, Katherine had told him. Three more days of resting with intermittent periods of stretching, then walking the length of the room. The first few times, the room expanded out endlessly before him. Even with Jack to steady him, it was a challenge that sent him straight to sleep afterwards, vision hazy from the exercise and lack of food. By the second day, though, it became easier and easier, until he could slowly make it from the bed to the door barely out of breath. Jack wasn’t exactly pleased with his progress, but Crutchie refused to stay at home a day longer. So, when the bell rang on the fourth morning, Crutchie roused himself with everyone else and slipped his vest on, excited to finally be back among his brothers.

The plan was fairly simple to follow. Jack and Tommy Boy would walk him to get a cup of coffee from the nuns, then they would loiter there and rest for a good fifteen minutes, until Davey and Les turned up with some papers for them to sell. Tommy Boy would go his own way, and the four of them would make the walk to Crutchie’s normal selling spot (“It’s a bit of a walk, Crutch.” “No. This is non-negotiable, Jack. I’m sellin’. At my spot.”), where Jack and Les would break off down the street and Davey would stick with Crutchie.

It seemed simple, at least. In practice?

It was still simple. Easy, even. There was no screwing this up. Which was why, after an exhausting hike, Crutchie found himself at his normal corner, ten papers in his bag and Davey shouting a headline.

The wind was strong today, strong enough that Crutchie’s hat nearly blew off and some dirt got kicked up into his face almost as soon as he stopped on the corner he usually sold at. Crutchie himself would’ve been blown over if he hadn’t been leaning against a wall, still trying to catch his breath from the walk. It was nicer than the scorching heat of earlier in the week, though. At least with the wind he wasn’t sweating through his bandages.

Crutchie limped forward to join Davey closer to the street, digging through his bag to pull out a pape. There wasn’t much of a way to wave it around, not with one arm holding onto his crutch and the other in a sling, but he could at least hold on to it to make for an easier transaction.

“Paper!” he called. “Paper! Man gets--uh, murder! Just last night, murder of . . . a child! You heard it here!”

Davey threw him a disbelieving look. “That isn’t what it says at all.”

Crutchie shrugged. “I didn’t read it.”

Davey sighed, showed him the headline. Something about the governor giving a speech. Boring. “Is there anythin’ better in there?” Crutchie asked hopefully. Davey nodded, flipping open the paper to an article about a fire at the carnival the night before. That was useful.

“Three children, stranded on the ferris wheel for hours!” Crutchie shouted, not bothering to read the rest of the article. Davey burst out laughing, but made a call of his own.

“Fairgrounds on fire, parents abandoning their own children to escape! Read the story here!”

Soon enough, Davey had a customer, then Crutchie did as well. An older gentleman, one who looked at him as if he was diseased. Crutchie tried to smile, but couldn’t make his mouth muscles work. Right, his face was still quite the sight. Not to mention the way he leaned heavily on his crutch, or his immobilized right arm. Still, the man dropped a penny in his left hand (briefly removed from the handle of his crutch) and yanked the paper away from him before hurrying off. Crutchie tucked the coin into his pocket. Only nine more to sell.

Why did nine papers weigh his bag down so much?

Next was the woman he’d seen Buttons selling to the previous week, and she greeted Crutchie with enthusiasm, going so far as to hug him (Crutchie gripped his crutch as tightly as his bruised fingers would allow to keep from making a noise). When she pulled back, her smile froze, truly taking him in.

“Why, Crutchie! Was this all from that children’s strike?” she asked, clearly shocked.

Crutchie didn’t know quite what to say. The hug had startled him, jostled his healing ribs, and he couldn’t quite get words to form. “Uh, no, Miss,” he stuttered, offering a paper. “Got unjustly arrested an’ the like.”

She gasped, leaning closer instead of taking it from him. “Did the police--?”

“Not exactly, ma’am,” Crutchie said. He stepped back to put a little distance between them. “But I’s all right now, it’s good ta see ya again--”

“It was that Snyder, with his children’s jail, wasn’t it?” she asked, and Crutchie’s heart skipped a beat. Mentioning Snyder was not good, not at all, never. In fact, the hairs on the back of Crutchie’s neck rose as he realized--Snyder could be on this very street, he could be anywhere--Crutchie looked around, searching for that bowler hat, those hands always ready to grab--

“Whatever happened, it is so good to see you again, Crutchie,” the lady was saying. She handed him a coin and gently pried the paper from his grip. Crutchie managed to nod at her, still checking everyone on the street. He was here, somewhere, he could feel it. Snyder was one of these people, hurrying by on their way to work or wherever they were headed, and he would spot him if he moved and drag him back there--

“Crutchie? You doing all right?”

Crutchie ignored David, doing his best to examine everyone while also not moving at all. His legs ached, but his back was screaming to not lean against the wall again. Knowing that Snyder was near seemed to be aggravating it, the memories of being whipped so near to his mind.

“Crutchie, if you pass out, Jack is going to kill me.”

“I’m fine,” Crutchie forced himself to say. It came out as a hoarse whisper, almost silent. He cleared his throat and turned to Davey, who was watching him with a considerable amount of concern. “I’m good,” he said louder, every nerve of his body jangling in alarm. He ignored it. “Jus’ . . . got distracted. Is all.”

Davey nodded slowly, brows furrowed. “If you say so,” he said. “But if somethin’ happens, I’m telling Jack it was your fault.”

Crutchie forced himself to laugh, knowing he wasn’t even smiling. Luckily, Davey seemed satisfied and went back to his business. Crutchie looked down to slip the coin into his pocket--a quarter?

A whole quarter?

He stared at it, mouth falling open slightly. The most he’d ever gotten for one pape, on the best day, was a dime.

“Dave--” but Davey was busy, interacting with a customer. Crutchie swallowed, then dropped the quarter in his pocket. It added a strange weight, clearly separate from the penny already there. Even at his most pitiful, he’d never gotten a quarter for a single pape!

He must look pretty bad, then.

Crutchie sold four more papers, three of them to regulars who sought him out. Each of those three gave him more than the penny price, leaving Crutchie almost wishing that he had bargained with Jack for more than ten papes. He was making bank today.

After the eighth paper was sold for a nickel, though, Crutchie realized he wasn’t going to be standing for much longer. His body pulsed painfully with each pump of his heart, he was emotionally exhausted from his constant scans for Snyder--he knew he was here, somewhere, just out of sight, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce--and although it hurt his pride something awful, he knew it was time to tell Davey he needed to go. If he could stay, he would, but Jack would tie him down to his bed to keep him from going out tomorrow if he worked himself too hard today. He couldn’t risk it.

Crutchie waited patiently as Davey finished up a sale, then nudged his shoulder. All it took was one glance at Crutchie’s face for Davey to nod.

“You need to get back in bed,” he said, before Crutchie could even say anything. “Let me go tell Jack we’re heading back. Sit down, okay?”

Davey helped Crutchie lower himself to the curb, then looked around for a few seconds before heading off in a random direction. Crutchie tried not to freak out too much--not having Davey here didn’t make him much of an easier target, right?

It did, actually. So did sitting down. Not selling did as well, made him less noticeable to everyone around. He couldn’t--he was going to vanish, just like so many others, just like Albert that one time, but unlike Albert he couldn’t run away. If Snyder dragged him away right now, he wasn’t even sure that he’d be able to scream for help.

“You sellin’ today’s paper, boy?” A rough voice from above asked.

Crutchie looked up (how long had he been staring at his shoes?) to see a construction worker, holding out a penny. Crutchie nodded wordlessly, struggled with his bag for a few long moments, finally extracted a newspaper to hand to the man. The man coughed into the paper, dropped the penny into Crutchie’s open hand, then hauled off.

Crutchie vaguely hoped he didn’t get sick. He always seemed so much more likely to pick up any illness on the street than the other boys--something to do with his bad leg, probably. In his current weakened state, a bad cold might be enough to push him over the edge.

He still had one paper left--right? He could sell it while Davey was gone. No, wait, he had to save one for Mr. Myers, at the bakery. And one for Dr. Ellis, over at his office a few blocks away. He only had one, though--how was he supposed to get one for both of them? He couldn’t choose between them, they were both his loyal customers and now that he was out here he had to sell to them or else they might think he was ignoring them. What should he do? What could he do?

Crutchie glimpsed a bowler hat before it passed into an alley, bobbing out of view. He froze, even stopped breathing. If he didn’t move, maybe Snyder wouldn’t notice him. He wanted that, right? But maybe if he made a sound, maybe if he was noticeable enough, Snyder would open the door to the closet and let him see some light again, maybe even give him some water if he was feeling kind, maybe even let him out.

But was the risk of being stomped into the floor worth it? That was more likely to happen, what happened any time he got too loud. Sure, it broke up the monotony, gave him a point to focus on, but every attack brought him closer to the end. Was that what he wanted?

Was it?

It didn’t matter right now. Instinct kicked in and Crutchie huddled in closer around himself, protecting the most vulnerable parts of his body. He could stay safe if he was quiet and small, that had always worked. Back when he’d been a beggar on the streets, he’d avoided the bulls by making himself as unnoticeable as possible, tucked into the corner of an alley, mixed in the middle of a crowd of tall folk. It was a tactic that had always worked, it had to be of some use here.

Crutchie didn’t know how long he sat on the curb, head tucked into his knees and arms wrapped around himself. All he knew is that the world grew muted, the sound becoming as empty as the darkness of his closed eyes. His heart seemed to pound in his throat, blocking it and effectively silencing him. There was nothing but himself, his heartbeat, and Snyder--lurking nearby, waiting for him to make the first move and condemn himself.

He was crying, Crutchie realized distantly--only because his nose had begun to block up. He couldn’t open his mouth, couldn’t risk the sound--but he couldn’t breathe, not with his nose blocked, but he couldn’t open his mouth--

A hand--no, no, no--landed on his shoulder, fingers burning into him with a vicious pain, and Crutchie rolled away as well as he could--head knocking into something hard, bad arm and leg twinging as they got caught under his weight--knowing he was in trouble. He was in trouble for not breathing, for trying to escape, for existing--

Blood thrummed in his ears, growing louder and louder and louder as Crutchie coughed, choking on dust, and hands grabbed him again--so rough, just to drag him back to face more abuse--and yanked him by the back of his shirt, his legs kicking out desperately.

They let him go almost immediately, though, and Crutchie cringed, waiting--waiting . . . waiting for nothing? He drew in a shallow breath, ribs aching slightly, and forced his eyes open.

For a moment, the dim figure of one of Snyder’s thugs stood above him, rubbing his hands together, but Crutchie flinched and there was Jack, his face starkly pale, eyes rimmed with red.

“What was you thinkin’?” Jack yelled, breaking the muffled silence. Crutchie’s hand came up involuntarily to cover his ears--Jack speaking was like a dam bursting, and the cacophony of noise from his environment caught up all at once. “Rollin’ out into the road like that, ya nearly got yourself killed!”

Crutchie stared up at Jack, confused. He didn’t really . . . know where he was. Somewhere loud, unbearably loud, but unknown. As he came to that fact, Crutchie’s breath caught in his throat. Why didn’t he know where he was? He sniffled, trying to not cry even more. He didn’t know where he was and he was sure Snyder was nearby and Jack was mad at him, all of which was wrong in every sort of way. What was happening?

Crutchie noticed Davey behind Jack, holding Les’s hand and looking more scared than Crutchie had ever seen him. Why was he scared? Was Snyder behind him?

He glanced over his shoulder, heart racing, eyes scanning compulsively for a sign of the man. Nothing. Maybe--no, nothing. Well, not nothing, but no him. There were plenty of people, which explained why it was so loud.

“It’s okay, Crutch,” Jack said, and Crutchie looked back up at him. He seemed sad, now, less angry. “Sorry I yelled. But you gotta stay outta the road, okay? You was almost ran over.”

A tear slipped out of the corner of Crutchie’s eye, despite his best efforts to hold it back. He didn’t know what Jack was talking about. None of this made sense and he just wanted to go home. When could he go home?

“Can I touch ya, ta help you up?” Jack asked, crouching down. Crutchie nodded, wiping his eyes on his sling. Even with the warning, Crutchie shuddered when Jack reached under his arms to help him stand. Les handed him his crutch--why did Les have it?--and then he was stumbling off, Jack at his side.

Crutchie was shaking so much that he could barely stay upright, not helped by the fact that Jack had a hand on his back. All it did was put him on edge, anticipating a push to the ground. He knew Jack would never, but he couldn’t help but believe it would happen.

He wasn’t quite sure where they were going, but he hoped it was home. Everything was so loud and unfamiliar and overwhelming right now, and he just wanted to go to sleep.

“Ain’t all here, are ya?” Jack huffed. Crutchie nodded, then shook his head, confused as to what Jack was asking. Yes, he wasn’t exactly present; or no, he wasn’t exactly present? He didn’t know which answer made more sense.

They were moving slowly--Crutchie’s bad leg was seizing, his right wobbly. His back and ribs burned with every movement, leaving him gasping for breath in a matter of minutes. Something that was digging uncomfortably into his right shoulder slipped and fell, his belated efforts to catch it inhibited by the sling pressing his arm to his chest.

They halted for a moment, Jack picking up the thing--his bag, Crutchie registered--and swinging it over his own shoulder before wrapping his arm around Crutchie’s lower back, supporting him under his arms. Crutchie gasped as adrenaline pumped through his body, but tried to shake it off. This was Jack. Jack wouldn’t hurt him. Knowing that didn’t help clear his head, though, nor did it keep him from trembling.

“It’s okay, you’s okay,” Jack muttered, helping him along the moderately busy sidewalk. “Just keep movin’. We’s goin’ home, okay?”

Crutchie said nothing, just focused on walking. His head really hurt, but he tried to process what had happened. Something about . . . Davey? And selling papes, and . . . he had a decent bit of money, didn’t he? “Jack. . . .”

“Yeah?”

Crutchie bit his lip. “I . . . can afford a bed tonight,” he offered. Jack chuckled tightly.

“Don’t talk about it here, all right?”

What else had happened? Crutchie knew he was missing so much, everything was so cloudy and exhausting and difficult. Something . . . something like. . . .

He caught a whiff of a new scent in the air, one that grew stronger with every step. Bread, freshly baked. It smelled incredible, yet Crutchie felt his stomach turn. It reminded him--

“Jack, Mr. Myers,” he said, looking around until he spotted the bakery, across the street and a few buildings down. “I gotta--I bring him a pape--”

“I’ll get it to ‘im later, all right?” Jack said soothingly. “Don’ worry about it. Right as soon as we got you in bed, I’ll head over.”

Crutchie wanted to do it himself, but he was too tired to argue. Instead, he nodded, and gave more of his weight to Jack.

When they finally reached the lodging house, Crutchie drenched in sweat and panting, Jack not doing much better (in the last leg of the journey, Jack had had to practically carry the boy), Jack let them in and helped Crutchie up the stairs, slowly, laboriously. With care, he laid him in the single bed by the window, where he had spent so many days already.

“I need ya ta sleep now, yeah?” Jack murmured, pulling the curtains closed. Crutchie nodded blearily. It was so warm in here that he couldn’t help but start to nod off already. Maybe everything would make more sense when he woke.

Jack fell into the chair that he usually did as soon as Crutchie’s breathing evened out. It hadn’t been too rough of a day selling, at least for the half hour that he managed before Davey had come to find him. He’d gotten about twenty papes sold, which was surprisingly good for any day. It must have been the cool wind, breaking the heat wave that had been dragging on for days. Now that it wasn’t absolutely sweltering, more people were going places, more people wanted to know what was going on, more people were buying what he was selling.

He needed to get back out there, hawk those headlines, take whatever papes Crutchie didn’t sell and sneak the coins from it into the kid’s pocket later, but he couldn’t make himself leave his side. Jack looked down at Crutchie, the yellowing bruises still marring his young face, and swallowed down a lump in his throat. It was okay, he reminded himself. Crutchie was getting better. Soon the ring of bruises around his neck would fade completely and his ribs would knit themselves back together.

Jack didn’t know much of the extent of Crutchie’s injuries. He knew that both of his legs hurt something awful--his bad leg was expected, but both was . . . unnerving. Distressing. Not being able to walk at all sounded like a nightmare. He knew also that Crutchie had some cracked ribs and fingers along with his broken arm, all of which made Jack grind his teeth angrily. There was something up with his back (whippings, Jack assumed, or maybe Snyder had gotten out that cane) and Jack had seen blood staining the bandage on his chest when his shirt fell open enough, so some sort of cut there as well. But what sent Jack over the edge every time was the sheer amount of bruising on his face and throat.

Sure, the broken nose was tradition, but that had been set well and had almost completely healed by now. Usually Snyder had the guards go a bit easy on the face, though, in case of government inspections. A bloody nose, a bad cut, a couple of bruises--all of those were routine. This painful mural splashed across Crutchie’s face? Entirely out of the ordinary.

There were several identifiable reasons, if one thought about it (which Jack had spent a lot of time doing). The strike, for one--it must've rankled Snyder, to nab only one of the boys responsible, and particularly to miss Jack, even though he had not only been present but leading. And it was also clear that Crutchie was close to Jack, if who he had cried out for had been any sort of evidence. Jack bit his lip as he remembered how near he was, how he could have helped, how he could have been taken in his brother's place. A part of him felt the guilt, the shame that threatened to choke him at the idea of leaving Crutchie there alone. Another part of him, though, felt a sick sense of relief. The combined hate Snyder and Pulitzer held for the union leader would have ended in Jack's death, dragged out and painful, with the strike left in ruins behind him. It couldn't have been him to be taken.

Thinking those thoughts put a bad taste in Jack's mouth. He wasn't any better than any of these boys, deserved the Refuge just as much--and even more--than all of them. Davey would've continued the strike, just as he had when Jack had given up, both times. Katherine had come up with the plan to advertise a childrens' strike. She and Davey, as well as Spot Conlon, would have found a press. Crutchie would've been a decent leader as well, would have kept the boys in line and organized the protesting, while Davey worked things out with Medda to get Roosevelt. The four kids would've made it to Pulitzer's office the same way Jack, Davey, and Conlon had; Crutchie would've made proper deals with the man, Davey and Katherine would've shut down the Refuge, Spot and Crutchie would've called off the strike. And what would happen to Jack, stuck in the Refuge?

Maybe he would've died. Maybe he'd exit as weak as Crutchie had, not even conscious, taking weeks to get back on his feet while life continued around him. Maybe he would walk out, not hurt too badly but skittish and haunted, not fit to lead any longer.

Not that Jack, a two-time traitor, considered himself worthy to lead now.

He needed to tell Crutchie, tell him that he'd scabbed twice. It didn't matter that both times it had been for him, an attempt to protect his brother. Crutchie didn't want that. Jack knew Crutchie like the back of his hand, and the kid would go through all the torture and loneliness and despair again if it guaranteed success for the strike. It was that self-sacrificing quality that made Crutchie so much of a better person. When faced with a threat of possible death, Crutchie would go proudly. Jack would turn tail and run.

"Stupid," Jack muttered, dragging a hand across his face. He didn't know if he was talking about himself or the sleeping boy before him.

Specs knew where Jack was going to be without even looking for him--which worked out, because he didn't have the time to search the streets of Manhattan. A bad fight had been on the verge of breaking out when he’d left Romeo and Albert, and Jack was needed as soon as possible.

As expected, Jack was slumped in his usual chair beside a sleeping Crutchie (Specs made a mental note to ask Davey how selling had gone later). He looked up when Specs entered.

“Hey,” Jack said sleepily. He rubbed his eyes, then sat up straighter. “Whaddya need?”

Instead of answering, Specs nodded toward Crutchie. “He all right?”

Jack shrugged. “He didn’ really know where he was,” he said, affecting a tone of unconcern. “Thought he oughtta get back ta bed.”

Specs had never spent time in the Refuge, but he’d helped plenty of newsies recover from their time there. If Jack was having a bad day, he usually shut himself up on the rooftop until he felt in control enough that he wouldn’t seem weak around the others. Others, like Race, would push themselves to work until they ended up so tired they had waking-dreams that they were back there. Based on how Jack was acting, something like that had likely happened to Crutchie. Poor kid.

“Specs, was you gonna ask me somethin’?”

Right. Urgent need and all that. “Uh, yeah,” Specs said. He adjusted his spectacles as casually as possible. “Queens ain’t all that happy with somethin’, they wanna see you.”

Jack glanced at Crutchie, then back at Specs, biting his lip. Jack was nervous, Specs realized with a bit of a jolt, something that Jack wasn’t very often. Never before the strike had Jack ever shown that sort of weakness. Not to him, at least. Certainly not to most of the other boys. Not until Crutchie had been taken, Romeo smashed into the ground, Specs himself slammed so hard into a fire escape that his poor head was spinning. They’d never taken that bad of a beating, and it had shaken Jack badly--Specs had noticed it right away, when he found him at the theater.

“Can it wait?” asked Jack, once again looking at Crutchie. The boy was sleeping peacefully, but Specs didn’t let his eyes linger on his face for long. The still-fading bruises made him feel sick in his bones.

“Uh, not really?” Specs said cautiously. “They looked about ready to soak Al and Romeo, so it’s a bit needing-you.”

Jack groaned, running a hand along his cheek. There was stubble there, Specs noticed. Not for the first time, he wondered who would take over when Jack aged out. It might even be sooner than expected, given his scabbing tendencies. “Can I send you in my place?”

“They sent me ta get you, so. . . .”

Jack dropped his face into his hands, letting out a long breath. Specs shifted nervously. He really didn’t want to see Jack cry, not again. Not to mention, they really didn’t have time. The fight was definitely picked by a couple of boys from Queens, but they had a pretty fair claim that Romeo had instigated it, and Albert had made it worse by coming to his defense. The Queens boys had agreed to make a truce with Jack, and Jack alone--and even then, they had terms to declare. Because of course they did. Because of course one of the boys who had taken offense to Romeo stepping onto their turf had been the leader of Queens.

Jack mumbled something. Specs leaned closer, waited, then had just made up his mind to ask what he’d said when Jack sat up, staring out the window and into the sky.

“No, he’s so new ta this still, he ain’t gonna know how ta settle this,” Jack said, his voice sounding almost raw.

“They did sp’fically ask for ya,” Specs added helpfully. “They ain’t gonna sort this out with anyone else.”

Jack didn’t answer for a long time, so long that Specs started to wonder if he hadn’t heard. When he did, though, his voice was quiet, trembling. “I--I can’t leave him.”

As if sensing he was being spoken about, Crutchie inhaled sharply in his sleep, then shifted a little. Jack froze, watching him carefully. Crutchie, however, did not wake, just sighed quietly and lay still once again.

Specs hopped from foot to foot, curling his toes in his new (to him) pair of shoes. Every minute spent was another that could be a fight breaking out, a punch being thrown, a newsie being shoved to the ground. He hated fights these days, hated to hear of his friends being in danger. They didn't have the time for Jack's comfort.

"I saw Buttons on my way in, maybe I can ask him ta sell right on the door?" he suggested. Jack continued to stare at Crutchie. Whatever he was thinking about, it didn't show on his face.

"And ya know what, I can prolly find Tommy Boy and ask him ta sell with Buttons, that way you gets some muscle by the door. Sounds good? Ready ta go?"

"I don' want 'im ta wake up alone," Jack whispered pitifully. Specs resisted the urge to groan. Jack had always been protective of all of them, but right now he was acting all soft in the head. Refuge or no, Crutchie could take care of himself, and always had. It was common knowledge that Jack and Crutchie were closer than most of the others, the closeness of Mike and Ike without the rivalry. Other than Race a few times (when he was fresh from the Refuge), Crutchie was the only one to sleep on the rooftop with Jack.

Some of the boys had thought that maybe something was going on between them, Specs included. Race had assured him it was untrue, but there hadn't been much in the way of proof to the contrary. Even now, now that Jack was maybe Katherine's beau, Specs wasn't sure that he and Crutchie hadn't been misbehaving together. Maybe he should ask one of them, something that for whatever reason had never been an option before. Probably not Jack, seeing how he seemed to be falling apart lately. Crutchie might welcome conversation not focusing on his injuries.

"Okay. Show me where they are, get Buttons and Tommy, then get back ta work, yeah?"

Specs snapped out of his thoughts to see Jack standing, slinging his bag over his shoulder. He’d have to find time when Jack wasn’t with Crutchie to talk to him, but right now he needed to help Jack break up a fight.

#newsies #livesies #newsies live #crutchie morris #jack kelly #newsies specs #newsies fanfiction #newsies fanfic #angst #yall how do these chapters just keep getting longer #not me posting fanfic during work study #holy cow i'm so tired #anyway thoughts?#can't wait for crutchie to be like: recently a darkness has begun to grow within me #don't you get tired of being nice???#angry crutchie is the best decision i've made for this fic #one sec let me look at the next chapter #OH HE FLIES OFF THE HANDLE NEXT CHAPTER #YESSSSS #i currently have eleven chapters written and i'm starting to wrap it up #it's following three characters rn and one of their storylines has resolved #the second one will hopefully happen with two more chapters of focus on them #and the third will end the fic hopefully with only two more chapters #so expect like fifteen chapters total?#love making an outline and then lot following it #love you guys

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noethicalconsumptionunderdisney · 3 years

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Hogwarts Sorting Profile: Max Russo

So, confession time: Initially, I wasn’t actually planning on writing one of these for him. I’m sorry! I love Max, but he’s often in the background of Wizards of Waverly Place and just has these really random plots thrown in his direction, rather than interesting character-exploration-type shit like the main sibs. (Which, to be fair, is probably why some of y’all might be curious what I’m going to say about him.)

But I was thinking about what makes Max so odd as a character, and specifically I was thinking about him in comparison to other characters of his archetype in the Disney Channel-verse. Because we’ve seen the messy, funny, underachieving brother character a lot, but they come in very different flavors. Part of that for Max is that he shares some of those traits with Alex in contrast to the overachieving, overly serious Justin, but part of that is… Max often seems to be in his own little world, incomprehensible to mortals and wizards alike, and generally takes in the “real-world” around him with a shrug. He still cares about the “real-world” when it suits him, but he’s often kind of divorced from it, and that discovery fascinated me. Furthermore, it made his Sorting “click.”

We’ll start off easy: what does Max do? The answer is… he’ll do pretty much anything. He’s not a Burned Secondary, though, he just doesn’t give a fuck. Max is every bit the Slytherin Secondary that Alex is, we just don’t usually notice because he spends most of his time in his Neutral State.

The Slytherin Secondary’s Neutral State is blunt, rough, and often unphased by stepping on people’s toes. It’s easy to mistake this for a Gryffindor Secondary’s honesty, but it comes from a different place: comfort, relaxation, and/or apathy. It doesn’t inspire or motivate so much as sit back and do as it pleases, and the Neutral State’s honesty is there for convenience rather than necessity— if a different tactic will work better, a Slytherin Secondary can ditch their honesty and change direction far more easily than a Gryffindor Secondary.

Max isn’t exactly shy about saying what’s on his mind, even if it’s usually dismissed as nonsense. He also does seem to charge into situations without a care sometimes, but that’s the thing: he’s able to charge into those situations because he doesn’t care. When he tests out the zombies’ No-Fear Ring, it doesn’t work on him because he’s already fearless. So while some Slytherin Secondaries are nervous about showing their honesty to others and only show their Neutral State when they’re home safe with people they’re comfortable with, Max lives in his honest Neutral State because he feels comfortable and safe most of the time… even in situations where he really, really shouldn’t.

Curiously, one situation where he doesn’t feel comfortable or safe has very little to do with actual danger, but about personal identity: when he’s turned into Maxine. And in Maxine’s body, he’s a lot more manipulative.

“You know, I can’t help it if people think I’m cute. Watch how I make it work for me.”

As Maxine, he uses his cuteness to get out of chores, to get revenge on Alex and Justin in karate, to guilt dishonest customers out of cheating his parents, and comes up with a plan to talk his “boy self” up to a girl he likes as Maxine so that she’ll like him when he changes back. Yeah, can’t imagine why Maxine reminded Jerry and Theresa so much of Alex…

But there are Slytherin Secondary indications from Max in his usual form as well.

He has no qualms about outright lying — inventing a fake illness to get out of P.E., pretending to be “Tom Sawyer” so he wouldn’t be embarrassed by/compared to his family — but he prefers obfuscation, aka confusing people with his “Max-ness.”

“How do you get your brother to say what’s really on his mind?”

“Oh, I use randomness.”

“What?”

“Well, I just say random things and while people are trying to figure it out, they say stuff that’s on their mind.”

One example of this tactic being employed successfully is with the Genie. While Alex fails to outsmart the Genie using her quick wits, as the Genie is every bit as cunning as her, Max figures out a way to piss off the Genie enough to blackmail her, then talks circles around her and confuses her until she reveals a way for them to undo her wishes. Alex calls it “outdumbing” her, but in any case, he succeeded where she failed, and showed that he’s more capable than often assumed.

We get another rare moment of clarity from Max during “Alex Tells The World.”

“Alex, you know you can’t reveal magic!”

“Oh, even I know that. That’s why I just make people think I’m dumb so if I slip up, ehh, they figure, the kid’s an idiot. And I slip up all the time, so. Who’s dumb now?”

Max’s admission that he “slips up all the time” isn’t exactly reassuring, but it is telling that he’s the only one who doesn’t reveal magic during both the Season 4 Premiere and the Season 3 Finale. Perhaps it was dumb luck that got him there, but I think there’s more to it than that. There’s a method to his madness. There’s a logic to it, even if Max’s logic often doesn’t follow all the way through.

Which leads me to his Primary— Ravenclaw. (LOOK I KNOW. HEAR ME OUT.)

Yes, Max is often seen as “the dumb one.” Yes, Ravenclaws are perceived as “the smart house.” And while I’ve just demonstrated that there’s a brain under all the Max weirdness, I’m not about to argue that he’s secretly a genius. He misses the mark more often than he hits it, and oftentimes when he hits it, it’s through coincidence or dumb luck or Insane Troll Logic that’s impossible for anyone but Max to follow. But I do believe he operates on logic, just his own wacky version of it.

The thing about Max is that he’s neither as dumb as most people think he is, nor is he as smart as he thinks he is. He’s somewhere in between, and the fact that people never quite know where exactly he falls on that scale is kind of the point.

In fact, part of the reason I struggled with Max was because I was trying to figure out where exactly he did fit in:

He can be selfish enough at times to argue Slytherin Primary, the stereotypically “selfish” House, but he’s missing Justin’s protective streak. He doesn’t feel that same sense of duty towards his family that Justin does; when Mason breaks Alex’s heart in “Wizards vs. Werewolves,” Justin turns on him instantly because he Hurt His Little Sister And Is Therefore Bad, while Max is the one most willing to give Mason a chance, because he has his own reasons for wanting Mason in his life. Yet, he still clearly cares enough about his family to rule out the possibility that they don’t factor into his morality at all, not to mention how easy it is for them to influence him.

His more humble ending of inheriting his father’s sub shop might make people think Hufflepuff Primary, but there’s even less justification for such a sorting upon scrutiny. As I’ve touched on above, the staunch loyalty to community isn’t all that important to him, and he’s also not all that into traditions. There’s no compulsion to help strangers, he doesn’t really make enemies but he kind of just ignores people he doesn’t like (or shatters them in a million pieces on accident), and let’s not forget that he unleashed countless monsters in New York City that killed all the Monster Hunters just to win the competition… even if he did do it when his Conscience was separate from the rest of him. Not exactly behavior you’d expect from the morality system of “a person’s a person no matter how small.”

Speaking of Conscience, it’s notable that he argues with it, rather than accepting his advice. I’m still a little unclear as to how much this matters (there’s definitely room to argue that most of his brain went into Conscience as well, and that whole plotline was… weird), but even with his Conscience inside his body, he seems to lack that moral drive Alex has. Gryffindor Primaries have this embedded sense of justice deep within their characters. Even when it’s hidden most of the time, like in Alex’s case, or when it becomes twisted into something dark and dangerous, or becomes Stripped of its certainty, there’s still this sense that there is Right and Wrong in this world, that trusting your gut should lead you to the right conclusion, and that it’s wrong to ignore it. I have a hard time remembering if there’s really any situation where Max gets that gut feeling of Something Being Wrong at all, much less acting on it with a Heroic Plan… at least, not without convincing.

But Max can be convinced, and that’s key. Alex often takes advantage of this to manipulate him for her own selfish ends, such as talking him into paying her for handing out fliers to her zombie prom, but more often it’s his parents that act as his voice of reason, whether it’s convincing him to go after the “deli robber,” convincing him to give his siblings a fair shot at the Wizard Competition, or convincing him to tell his girlfriend the truth… and then unconvincing him of that when he takes it too literally and tells her he’s a wizard.

Actually, Max is prone to misinterpreting advice in this way while trying to follow it to the letter— he does this when he tries to sell fountain water with a puppy, as well, because his mom told him to “add something to it.” I think he is, to an extent, aware of his own intellectual limits. He knows he misses the mark a lot of the time, so he’s often willing to trust other people’s judgment over his own, so long as they can get it through to him in a way that he thinks makes sense.

But beyond that, he’s often willing to question “common knowledge” in a way the other characters don’t. When Justin tries to tell him he can’t make life out of the stuff from his room, he simply replies, “Where’s it say that?” In season 4, when there’s a distinct possibility that he’ll win the competition, he expands the sub shop business by making the Wizard Portal into a Drive-Thru, which genuinely worked as a business plan until Jerry took it too far. Later that season, he saves his siblings by creating a black hole and then jumping through it to pull them to safety from the black hole in Alex’s apartment. Like, that was his idea. He came up with that. It was weird, it was risky, it was unconventional, it could’ve been incredibly stupid… and it worked.

And that’s what I keep coming back to with this Ravenclaw Primary sorting— that sense of ingenuity, curiosity, and the willingness to experiment. On one hand, you have your System Claws, who are dedicated to The Rules because they’ve been convinced that living by them is The Best Way To Live, and on the other hand, you have those that are willing to challenge conventional wisdom and try new things. It’s this willingness to question that I personally attribute to a Ravenclaw mentality, rather than inherent intellectual ability or a large knowledgebase. While Max may not have the latter, he has the former in spades, and that, more than anything, is really what told me that he truly belongs here.

Conclusion:

Max Russo is a Ravenclaw Primary and a Slytherin Secondary.

As a Slytherin Secondary, Max often likes to confuse and obfuscate to get what he wants, is flexible in his methods, and can even be manipulative when he wants to be. He’s also relatively comfortable with himself, thus he often lives in a Neutral State where he says whatever’s on his mind without thinking much about danger or whether he’ll be understood.

His Ravenclaw Primary is as curious as it is undefined, and operates on a logic that only Max truly understands. While this leads him astray more often than not, this also allows him to break from tradition and try new things, and this unconventional thinking can sometimes lead to better solutions than anyone else could’ve come up with. However, it also comes with a set of brakes in the form of taking input from others. It’s not always easy to get through to Max, but he can be reasoned with, which in his case, is probably for the best.

In this combination, we find a character who truly dances to the beat of his own drum. As the most flexible Secondary and Primary, respectively, Max is a conundrum to most who meet him, confusing even to those who know him best. That said, being the Russo who “goes with the flow” the most often, he’s also probably the Russo that has the most fun. He’s certainly more fun to write about than I was expecting him to be! I’m glad I did, and it’s good to be back.

#sortinghatchats #max russo #wizards of waverly place #house sorting #hogwarts houses #wowp analysis #character analysis #sorting profiles #this one's kinda long but i think it might actually be a little shorter than the alex one #so not too bad #might be about the same; not sure #in any case:#long post #(very very)#harry potter #(sorta)

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storiesforallfandoms · 5 years

Text

not part of the deal ~ thomas shelby; peaky blinders

word count: 1645

request?: no

description: a potential peaky blinders business partner ruins his chances by making some off remarks about the boss’ girl

pairing: thomas shelby x female!reader

warnings: swearing, violence, hints of smut

When you first met Thomas Shelby, you received a warning from nearly everyone you knew: be careful of that man. He was dangerous, he had more power than one man should, whatever he wanted he got it, that included whatever he wanted from women.

You weren’t scared of him. In fact, quite the opposite. The first time he made an off colour comment towards you, you returned it with one of your own. You were with your friend at the time, who gave you such a look you were sure it could’ve killed you. Thomas, on the other hand, merely laughed at your comeback, impressed with your lack of fear for him.

It was safe to say you made an impression on Tommy, as just months after you first met he was asking you to marry him, and just days after that you were wed. He always said he was too afraid of losing a good woman to wait any longer.

When you were both wed, he made it clear that you weren’t just his wife, you were now a Shelby as well. Any business anyone wanted to talk about, they could talk with you as well. You weren’t to be harmed by anyone, unless they wanted to feel the truth wrath of Thomas Shelby. And everyone complied to this, nobody wanted to fuck with Thomas Shelby.

You woke up one morning after Tommy, as per usual. He was pulling on his clothes, to which you whined in protest to. Tommy turned to look at you and smiled.

“Good morning, love,” he said. “Or rather good afternoon. We’ve nearly slept the day away.”

“Well, if the day is already half over, why don’t we just lay in bed all day?” you suggested.

Tommy leaned over to kiss you. “I wish I could, love, but we have a meeting today. Possibly important new business partners, if we miss the meeting what would they say about us?”

“Nothing, they’d be too afraid.”

Tommy chuckled and kissed you again. “You’re too smart for your own good, love.”

You smiled and groaned upon realizing you had to get up. “Meeting at the bar, I’d assume?” Tommy nodded. “You go on ahead, love, I’ll catch up with you.”

With one last kiss, he did as you said. You buried your head in the pillow again, letting out a groan before finally pulling yourself out of bed. You got dressed in a pair of trousers and one of Tommy’s white button up shirts, leaving the top few buttons undone just enough to reveal some cleavage, something that drove Tommy wild.

One thing you never got used to was the reaction of people in the streets when they saw you coming. Huddles of people would clear the way for you, parents would pull their children out of the way for you, everyone greeted you as you walked past. You felt like you had such power, and all you really did to get it was marry into the Shelby family.

The boys were in their usual meeting spot in the bar when you arrived. You entered without knocking, nodding to John and Arthur before turning to Tommy. He had a cigarette raised to his lips. He blew out a puff of smoke and gave you a once over.

“Hello, love,” he said. “Take a seat, you’re right on time.”

The “seat” you decided to take was upon Tommy’s lap. He wrapped an arm around you, holding you to him. He leaned close to your ear to whisper, “You’re always such a fucking tease, aren’t you?”

“I have to keep you on your toes some how, love,” you responded before turning to the guests in question.

It was two men, very professional looking in their suits with their hair slicked back. They didn't look familiar to you, but you knew they were someone of importance if they were meeting with the Peaky Blinders. Or were striving to be, and were looking for protection.

“Gentleman, meet my wife,” Tommy said. “She joins us in all our meetings. Whatever needs to be said, you can say it in front of her.”

One of the men eyed you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable. He had some balls to make eyes at Tommy’s girl that way.

“We’re just looking for some protection,” his partner said. “We’ve just opened our own shop, nothing too scandalous, we’re just a butcher’s shop. But we’ve been prone to robberies lately, people breaking in just to beat up our shop, roughing the place up, scaring our customers away. We know about your protection, that no one fucks with a place protected under the Peaky Blinders.”

“What else do you lot sell?” you ask them. They look at you with confusion. “No offense, gentlemen, but why would people break into a butchers shop? I understand meat can be expensive, but it ain’t expensive enough to rough up a butchers shop over.”

The man who initially spoke sighed and lowered his head, as if ashamed to admit. “We...we sell...we sell cocaine on the side. The only thing that will pay for the building, and for us to keep living.”

Arthur laughed. “A butchers shop as a cover up for drugs? I think that’s the best one I’ve heard.”

“We’ll give you a share if you want,” the man spoke again. “Of the money, or of the drugs.”

“We don’t want your drugs,” you told them. “They says cocaine fucks with your head, and these idiots here are already missing enough brain cells. They lose anymore and I’ll be the one running the business.”

Both Arthur and John made comments of disapproval while Tommy merely laughed. You shocked him more and more everyday with how natural you were at these meetings.

“We’ll take a share of your profits,” Tommy told them. “Give us half of what you make in a week and you’ll have the Peaky Blinders protection.”

“Half of our earnings?” the other man spoke. “For what? Just to say that you’re protecting us?”

“Louis,” his partner hissed.

"It’s real protection,” Arthur said. “If anyone tries to fuck with you, you call the Peaky Blinders and we’ll handle the situation, but we can’t do that shit for free.”

“Are you implying you want something more?” Tommy questioned.

Louis’ eyes wandered to you. “I want a night with the girl.”

The entire room went silent. Even Louis’ partner looked shocked at the request. Tommy’s grip on you tightened, protectively. You noticed the muscles in his jaw clenching. If looks could kill, Louis would be dead twice over.

“She’s not part of the deal,” his said between clenched teeth. Louis scoffed. Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Am I laughing?”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Louis said. “I’ve heard stories of you, offering up your girls to seal the deal if that’s what it takes. What makes this bitch any different?”

Tommy shifted you in his arms, placing you to sit on a chair as he rose from his seat. Louis’ partner shrank back in his own, and you could see the fear in Louis’ eyes, realizing what he had done.

“I said,” Tommy hissed, “she is not part of the deal. In fact, there is no deal. Both of you, get the fuck out of my bar before I throw you out.”

“Please,” Louis’ partner begged, “he does not speak for us. If anything, he’ll definitely be fired after this. Please, our shop needs protection, without you we’ll be ruined.”

“Scudboat,” Tommy called. The Peaky Blinder’s henchman appeared at the door. “Take this man here and show him exactly what we do to people that like to speak ill of a Shelby to their face.”

Scudboat took hold of Louis, yanking him up from his seat. The man kicked and screamed, fighting against Scudboat, who was easily twice his side. The door to the pub opened and closed and the screams became muffled. You had never felt less sympathy for someone as you had for that man.

Tommy turned his glare on the remaining partner, who seemed to be on the brink of tears.

“Get out of my bar,” Tommy hissed, “before I have the cops looking into your butcher shop.”

The man got up from his seat and rushed out of the bar. Arthur and John both sighed, almost bored with the whole meeting.

“Well this was a waste,” John sighed. “I could’ve been home fucking my lovely wife.”

“Run back to her now, Johnny, you still have plenty of time,” you told him, pinching his cheek as if he were a boy. He batted your hand away.

“She’ll be driven crazy with the kids,” he sighed. “I might as well go back and help her with them.”

As he left, Arthur stood as well. “I reckon I should leave the happy couple alone as well. I get sick being around the two of you, you’re too lovey.”

You chuckled and shook your head. Arthur nodded farewell to you both and left as well. Tommy closed the door, leaving you two completely alone. He turned to you and in a flash was kissing you deeply and passionately. He pushed you so you were laid down in the boothed section of the private room, moving from kissing your lips to kissing your neck and then moving down lower.

“Someone should proposition me more often,” you teased. “You’re very sexy when you’re angry.”

When he looked up at you, his eyes were still blazing with anger. He kissed you roughly again. “I won’t let anybody even think of my wife that way. If anyone else even looks at you the way that bastard was, I’ll cut their dicks off and shove them down their throats.”

You giggled and pulled Tommy in for a kiss. “I’ve never felt more safe in my life.”

#Thomas shelby #Thomas Shelby imagine #Thomas Shelby x reader #tommy shelby #tommy Shelby x reader #tommy Shelby imagine #cillian murphy #cillian murphy x reader #cillian murphy imagine #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #peaky fookin blinders #imagine #one shot

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some-cookie-crumbz · 3 years

Note

Hello 👋🏼, sorry if I’m bothering u but ever since the recent chapters of BNHA I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the Todoroki family. Not many of my friends are into this anime and I just couldn’t stop myself from sharing this with you because I need to let this out.

[SPOILER ALERT 🚨!!! IF U DONT READ THE MANGA THEN U CAN JUST IGNORE THIS]

First of all:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!

(I’m still screaming as I write because the backstories RUINED me.)

Poor Touya having this horrible obsession over heroics and having his father acknowledge him but ever since his quirk started reacting against his body the whole family got negatively affected by it.

Rei and Enji wanted to stop at two kids but with Touya’s sudden disadvantage and the latter’s craving for power, Natsuo and later on Shouto was born (the youngest getting titled as the perfect heir from the moment he was born). I got torn seeing Touya’s eyes succumb to absolute madness at the birth of his younger brothers.

What scared me the most was how when it was just Touya and Fuyumi, the two hardly interacted despite being only a year apart in age. Touya claimed that ‘girls just don’t get it’ this small foreshadowing was later brought to light in the most recent chapter where he once again rejects Fuyumi’s company in favour of ranting to only Natsuo and where he disregards his own mother— another ‘girl’ that doesn’t understand his obsession passion for surpassing All Might and someone who plays along to the acts of those stronger than them. Touya saw his mother as a weak person who had no choice but to marry for the sake of her family and have custom children. Little Touya firmly believed his very existence depended on getting acknowledged my his father and defeating All Might but it sadly didn’t come true😭😭

Also..... LOOK AT THE BABIES!!!! They’re all so CUTE!!!

Chubby Fuyumi!!!

Natsuo with a running nose

And Baby Shouto with a meme like face since the day he was born🤣🤣🤣🤣

So ADORABLE!

And another thing. FUYUMI WAS EVEN YOUNGER THAN I THOUGHT TO HAVE STARTED ACTING LIKE A SECOND MOTHER TO HER BROTHERS!! Look at the way she defended Natsuo when Touya went on a rampage and tried to attack Touya! And during moments when Enji and Rei fought the two most notable heroes were Shouto and Fuyumi; the former fighting on the frontlines to face his father while the latter stood behind to once again care for her remaining family that though weren’t involved in the fight, they still needed emotional support to get through it.😭

I AM SO SORRY TO BE GETTING TO THIS SO LATE ANON BUT I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY!!!

TW: Spoilers, Brief Mention of Child Abuse (Physical, Emotional and Mental), General Fandom Wank

So, like, SO MUCH HAPPENED in those chapters and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALMOST ALL OF IT! There’s obviously all the things you mentioned above that were just amazing to see and learn! I know that a majority of the fandom has been absolutely livid about the reveals involving Touya being drastically different than what fandom thought they were all this time, but I think it honestly highlights how smart Horikoshi’s writing really is.

In Shoto, we see the effects of physical and mental abuse on a child, and how easily he could have ended up going down a troubling road much like Touya. Shoto’s saving grace is facing off against Deku in the Sports Festival, giving him an outside perspective and makes him realize that he can choose to be better, but that doesn’t just magically fix all of Shoto’s problems. Shoto still struggles with his feelings towards his Father and how he is perceived by simply being Endeavor’s son. We see that in the Provisional License Arc, where Shoto is so thoroughly rattled by Inasa. It’s even further pushed through how Shoto struggles with his feelings about Endeavor trying to better and whether or not he should forgive him. I feel like Shoto’s arc is incredibly strong and that his struggles are very realistic, which is why people love him so much. This whole concept is another thing I could rant about but I’m going to leave it here.

Meanwhile, with Touya, we see the effects of mental and emotional abuse on a child and how it can completely destroy them. I think people that act like Horokoshi “down played” and “ret-conned” Endeavor as a character to make him more sympathetic/ redeemable or that he’s simply writing Touya as “always being a bad seed” are missing the mark. This is, admittedly, something you see a lot when it comes to victims of abuse in the real world as well; the idea that if you weren’t physically or sexually abused on top of emotional or mental abuse, your abuse is somehow less “valid.” Now I’ve seen more voices speaking out against this mentality - which is relieving and positive - but it’s still a problem. The way Touya was abused is no less valid or scarring to himself as a person as what Shoto has been through was. Touya and Enji clearly had a deep bond as father and son. Hell, the fact that Enji is sobbing and saying he “can’t fight his own son” in regards to Touya, but clearly had less issue training Shoto until he got ill or passed out says a lot.

Touya was put on an incredibly high pedestal by Enji’s constant praise and attention. He was the apple of his father’s eye until the limitations of his Quirk were discovered. Enji had filled his head with promises and goals for what his future would be, essentially selling him what turned out to be a lie. We see Rei herself tell Enji that Touya “knows you expect something out of the kids.” Touya’s whole life up until that point was being told of all the great he would someday accomplish, and equating that to being deserving of his Father’s love, attention and affection.

And then he couldn’t live up to that expectation. And then his parents had two more kids following that revelation. The idea that Touya doesn’t realize that Natsuo and Shoto were meant to be his replacements - unbroken models that “deserved” Enji’s love - is clearly not missed by him. It’s evident in the way he looks at Natsuo after he’s born. He sees this as a sign that he is no longer deserving - no longer worthy - of love or support from the parent he absolutely adores.

We see this mostly from Enji and Rei’s perspectives, so we know the reasons they did it, but it’s clear they didn’t stop to think about the way this would be interpreted by Touya himself. This whole matter is only worsened by the fact that Enji refuses to make sacrifices for the sake of his oldest son. He pushes Touya to live a life outside of Pro Heroics while Enji himself refuses to do the same, thus setting a positive example and showing solidarity with his son. He instead pushes him away and distances himself, loses himself in focusing on Natuso and, once his Quirk turns out to not be what he wants, Shoto. Touya continues to push himself despite his limits in a desperate bid for Enji to look at him the way he used to; with pride and love.

What caused the fire that “killed” Touya? His anguish over being neglected and abandoned - left unloved - by his father yet again. It’s clear that Touya’s mental health is in need of some real focus that he has never gotten - due to both his parents negligence as well as the fact that mental health is highly stigmatized in Japanese society - and pairing that with the emotional and mental abuse he suffered at Enji’s hands broke him.

So many people are claiming Horikoshi is trying to make Enji “more redeemable”, but how do you get that? Enji abused Rei, his own wife, physically and emotionally and mentally until she had a psychotic breakdown, hurt their youngest child, and then robbed her the right to mother her children further by having her locked up in a psych ward for the next decade or so; built their oldest son, Touya, up only to then emotionally and mentally abuse him to the point he damn near killed himself in a frantic bid to garner Enji’s support only to return years later completely unhinged and looking to murder his entire family out of spite; neglected Fuyumi and Natsuo to the care of each other and hired help; alienated Shoto, his youngest son, from his siblings for his entire formative years, physically and mentally and emotionally abused him, groomed him to accomplish a task he never wanted, put him through such extensive physical training that Shoto would get sick or pass out.

Enji was a shitty father. He has a long ass road to continue walking if he ever wants redemption. The fact he didn't physically hit Touya doesn’t mean that Enji didn’t abuse his son and it doesn’t make Touya any less of a victim.

* End TodoFam Rant*

On a slightly lighter note, I also like all the information with Hawks’ past and all the parallels we’re seeing develop!

I’ve rambled briefly about this in other places the Huwumi discord but I want to expound upon this a bit more here.

I feel like Touya/ Dabi and Keigo/ Hawks are meant to be parallels to one another.

Back to back, we had proper name claims by these two characters. We had Dabi reveal his true identity as Todoroki Touya and then we have Hawks choosing to abandon his hero name to instead step up to fight as Takami Keigo.

I feel like “Dabi” was always a mask, of sorts. Dabi is typically pretty calm, cool, composed with the occasional bites of snark and cruelty. Meanwhile, we see Touya emoting and moving in a manner more akin to himself as a child, dancing about in manic delight over revealing his true identity and intentions. The pair of them are two drastically different people when you stop and look at it. “Dabi” was the mask he wore to gain ground to enact his revenge, and now that he is there? Now Touya can burn everything tethered to it down to ground.

Meanwhile, we have "Hawks” as he was forced to become as per the Hero Public Safety Commission. We had it revealed quite a while back that Hawks was a man of many faces, jumping from laid-back and chill to serious and focused quite frequently. “Hawks” is the presentation for the public and the Commission, groomed to be the perfect little canary in the mine that was Pro Heroics. The reveal of his true heritage, however, is not the killing blow Touya wanted it to be. Instead, it allows Keigo, the one who wanted to be a Hero to help people, the chance to truly dedicate himself to that. In being freed from the cage of “Hawks”, he is given the change to really soar as Keigo.

Now, I feel that “Dabi” and “Hawks” are most certainly parts of Touya and Keigo as well, respectively. Even though those titles were masks, they were masks made from parts of the men who wear them. I think what we’ll see going forward is the true elements of those masks bleeding back into the whole, and seeing the truest forms of each character.

For better or for worse.

#crumbles grumbles #half baked headcanons #Wow I haven't busted that tag out in fuckin forever #Might have to do more headcanon posts about BNHA #If any of yall wanna read me ramble about that stuff?#BNHA Spoilers

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rafecameron · 4 years

Text

A Fall From Grace (2)

Summary: When Rafe loses everything he’s ever known he doesn’t know what to do with himself. With no home, no family and no money he finds himself wandering the cut, lost and desperate. He has to start fresh, get a job of his own and find somewhere to live. He’s determined to make it big, show his dad what he’s made of. Does he get his old life back? Or does he find something along the way that means a lot more than a large bank balance and a mansion.

Pairing: rafe cameron x female!oc <- find out about her!

Warnings: hurt, angst, slight depression, smut, swearing, drinking

Word Count: 2.8K

A/N: I’m so sorry it took me so long to update guys I kind of got distracted with other things but it’s here!

Icarus

Allie hoped that the rest of the week wouldn’t be nearly as draining but Rafe did everything in his power to make sure it was. Considering he told her how much he needed this job he sure was doing his best to lose it.

“Rafe, what are you doing?” She sighs, arms crossed as she watched the boy lean against the counter, his back to the front door as he scrolled across his phone and bit into a chocolate bar.

“Watching the desk.” Rafe replies with a mouthful, his eyes not leaving the screen of his phone.

“You have your back to the door and please, stop eating the stock.” Allie runs her hands through her hair, the stress of trying to control the wayward boy getting too much.

“No one’s here, it’s fine.” Rafe replies nonchalantly.

“It’s not fine!” She raises her voice, finally snapping, Rafe slowly looks up from his phone and over to her in shock, “It’s not fine at all! I hired you so I would have less work to do but I ended up with more work because now I’m a babysitter too! You don’t take his job seriously, you’re always on your phone and complaining and eating things off the shelf! You’re wasting my time and money!” Her shoulders drop and she shakes her head, “Just… turn around at least.” She groans before heading into the back and into her office.

Allie slumps down into her chair, her head falling into her hands, her elbows propped up on the desk as she let out a frustrated groan. Three days. That’s all it had been and she was already at her breaking point. She didn’t know how much longer she could put up with the boy, never one to deal with stress very well. She almost expected him to follow her into the back and argue with her but she was thankful he didn’t.

For the past three days he had done nothing but complain and eat her stock, without asking her she might add. He hadn’t even been serving the customers, too engrossed in his phone to even realise they were waiting to pay, so she’d had to take over from him. She knew what she had to do, she’d have to let him go. Even going back to running this place on her own was better than making herself ill trying to manage the kook. So it was decided, after his shift she’d pay him what she owed him for the week and tell him not to come back. A part of her almost felt bad but she reminded herself that he didn’t really need this job so she had no reason to feel bad for firing him.

---

Allie stayed hidden away for the remaining two hours of the day, stringing seashells on thin wire into necklaces to put in the shop. She had always made things to sell ever since she was younger. Shell jewellery, little wooden knick knacks, it was something she did to relax and they were the kind of things tourists loved so they sold well. At ten to five she finally left the sanctuary of her office and went back into the shop, glad to see Rafe hadn’t destroyed the place while she was hidden away.

“Rafe.” She calls, the boy turning around to look at her as he ran a cloth over the glass counter, “I don’t think this is working.”

Rafe’s mouth opens slightly then closes again as he thinks of what to say, “But...What? Are you firing me?”

Allie nods her head, “Yes, I’ll get the money I owe you and then that’s it, I can’t keep you here it’s too much work.”

“No, please.” Rafe drops the cloth and hurries over to her, “Please I really need this job, don’t fire me.”

“You don’t act like you need it! I’m sorry but I’ve made up my mind, you’ll be fine it’s not like you actually need the money.” She sighs moving around him to the cash register to get his wages out.

“I do! I do need the money, please.” He grabs her arm and turns her towards him and she doesn’t fail to notice the fear in his eyes, “My dad he - uh, well he wants me to pay rent. Be more responsible I guess. You’re the only place that was hiring.”

She looks him over and he can tell she’s still debating with herself, “Please.” He says again, his hand still holding onto her arm, “I’ll try better, I promise. I won't even bring my phone in tomorrow.”

Allie studies him for a moment before letting out a sigh and shutting the register, “Your last chance. I swear Rafe, one more thing and you’re out.”

When Allie had first told him if he didn’t behave she would fire him he hadn’t believed her, but now he knew she was serious and the thought of losing this job was more than enough to scare him into trying harder. The boy was finding it almost impossible to get out of the mentality that he could do anything he wanted. He never realised it could be so hard to change aspects of yourself like that. So he stuck to his word and left his phone in the motel room the next day, knowing that if he had it in his pocket he wouldn’t be able to control himself from going on it.

---

Allie hadn’t spoken more than a couple of words to him the whole morning and he pretended not to care. He didn’t want to admit that she was the only person he spoke to now. His friends all but abandoned him the moment his dad kicked him out. Now he spent his time on social media watching them doing the things he wanted to do. He found it was true what they say, that money can’t buy friends. Now he understood that no one on figure eight was truly friends with each other, all they cared about was money and status. He longed to have that back. He didn’t care if no one really liked him. He wanted his fake friends, his yacht, his vacations in the Bahamas and his golfing days. He wanted it all back more than anything and he felt the bitterness growing inside any time he saw someone from the other side of the island. He imagined this is how the pogues felt and almost felt bad for all the times he’d beat on them. Almost.

---

That evening he was feeling even more sorry for himself than usual, the panic of almost losing his job the day before helping him to realise just how desperate he was right now. He also never realised how much he liked talking, not talking to anyone besides telling customers how much they owed made him feel lonelier than ever. He sat in the worn out chair in the corner of his motel room, his eyes not leaving the peeling yellow wallpaper as he stewed in self pity. He hadn’t eaten today, he should have been hungry but he wasn’t. He knew he was losing weight and that he should take care of himself better but he couldn’t be bothered. The enthusiasm he’d had to be a self made success had dwindled away in a matter of days. Now all that was left was emptiness. He had no motivation. He didn’t want to eat or sleep. He definitely didn’t want to go back to work on monday.

Even on his lowest days on figure eight, the days where he thought his life was shit and wanted nothing more than to run away, they held nothing against what he felt now. His life really was shit and he felt like a selfish bastard for taking everything for granted before. If he could have it all back he would be a better person. He’d be nicer to his sisters and stop arguing with his step mom. But it wasn’t going to happen.

---

He spent the weekend in his room, laying in his bed motionless, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling trying to will himself to get up and do something. Anything. But he couldn’t. By the time Monday rolled back around he was nothing but an empty shell. He hadn’t found the energy to wash his clothes - or himself - so Allie was more than a little surprised with the sight she saw waiting for her outside the store.

“Rafe?” She asks, keys in her hand ready to open up but she pauses in front of the disheveled boy, “Are you...okay?”

Rafe’s eyes meet hers, his usual vibrant blue more of a dull grey, any happiness that had been there before long gone, “I’m fine.” He answers, his voice quiet and tired, “A rough weekend.” He attempts a smile but Allie thinks it looks more like a grimace.

“I’ll make you a coffee.” She tells him as she finally pushes her key into the door. She wanted to push further, knowing he was far from fine. But Allie knew that Rafe Cameron was not the kind of person you should push at so for now she left it.

She set the mug of coffee in front of the boy in the break room, sitting down across from him with her own. They sat in silence, Allie studying the boy across from her. Physically Rafe was here, but she could tell that’s as far as his presence went. He was staring down at the mug in his hands, the coffee left to go cold untouched. She sat with him for an hour, well past her usual opening time, waiting to see if he would talk. But he didn’t, so she left him in the break room and went to open up.

Once Rafe emerged from the back she sent him to restock shelves seeing as he was in no fit state to run the front counter. He looked a mess. His hair was greasy and his clothes hadn’t been washed. She couldn’t help but watch him the whole day, wondering what was going on inside his head while he quietly stacked shelves.

She never thought she would feel sorry for someone like Rafe, but she’d also never seen someone who looked so broken. She didn’t like it. She may not have liked Rafe but no one deserves to be in that state. She wanted him to smirk at her, call her a pogue and tell her she's a waste of space, but he didn’t. He just gave her another attempt at a smile and told her he’d see her tomorrow.

---

When the boy turned up the next day looking no better than the day before Allie knew she had to say something. She sat him down in the back, making sure he drank his coffee this time before she began to try and figure out what was going on with him.

“Have you showered, Rafe?” She asks quietly.

Rafe lifts his shoulders in the smallest shrug she’d ever seen, “I don’t remember.” He admits.

Allie could tell the truth just by looking at him. “Have you slept?” She tried, though again the dark bags beneath his tired eyes told her all she needed to know, “Eaten?” She prodded.

Rafe looks up at her, no words leaving his mouth. He watched the girl in front of him, he’d never seen someone look at him with so much pity in their eyes, usually it would make him angry, but today it just broke him more. He only realised the tears were falling down his face when Allie wiped them away with a tissue, he hadn’t even noticed her get up.

“Rafe.” The girl sighs, sitting on the table in front of him, his head in her hands as her own eyes filled with tears at the sight, “Please talk to me. This is not like you, something is really wrong and it helps to talk.”

Rafe shook his head, wiping harshly at the tears on his cheeks, “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.” Allie whispers, “You haven’t showered, haven’t slept, probably haven’t eaten. You haven’t called me a pogue in two days so I know somethings wrong.”

Allie pulls his head against her chest and lets him cry on her, his tears wetting through her shirt but she didn’t care. She held him for as long as he needed, only speaking when the tears had finally subsided.

“Is it something happening at home?” She asks, Rafe nods against her chest. “C’mon.” Allie pulls herself out of Rafe’s grasp and hops off the table.

“What?” Rafe asks, his voice hoarse from the crying.

“We’re going back to mine. You can shower and I’ll make us some lunch.” She tells him as she throws her bag over her shoulder.

“Lunch? We haven’t even opened yet.” Rafe stays seated at the table, confusion clearly written across his face.

“It’s almost twelve.” Allie tells him, Rafe hadn’t realised he’d been crying for so long and felt embarrassment wash over his body, “The shop can stay closed until tomorrow. Perks of owning it.” She smiles and moves forward, tugging on his hand.

As much as Rafe wants to complain out of embarrassment at her feeling sorry for him he doesn’t, he’s glad to be going somewhere other than this shop or his shitty motel room. Allie walks to and from work everyday, seeing as she only lives about ten minutes away. She talks on the walk, chatting away about mind numbing things to fill the silence, she doesn’t mind that Rafe doesn’t respond.

---

“Here’s a towel.” She holds it out to him as she opens the door to the bathroom, “I can wash your clothes for you, if you want? But you will have to sit in your towel until the dryers done.”

Rafe chucks his clothes out to her and she balls them up, crinkling her nose as she holds them out in front of her. She stuffs them into the washing machine, putting them on a quick wash. She leans her back against the kitchen counter, running her fingers through her hair as she tries to figure out what to do. She knew Rafe wasn’t going to openly admit what his problem was and she should just let him shower, eat and then send him on his way. But that just felt...wrong.

She wasn’t sure what it was, but something was telling her she needed to help him. Whether it was a sixth sense or just her kind nature she wasn’t sure, but she knew she couldn’t let him walk out of her house before she had a chance to help fix whatever had happened.

Allie was sure she would feel awkward with Rafe in her house but she didn’t. Even with him sat at her kitchen table with nothing but a towel around his waist tucking into a large bowl of pasta she didn’t feel awkward. “Are you still hungry?” She asks after he’d finished his food in record time, he quickly shook his head.

The girl quirked a brow at him and grabbed his bowl, putting some more pasta into it before setting it down again. He smiled gratefully at her and tucked in.

“Your clothes shouldn’t be too long, I put them on the quickest settings.” Allie tells him as she places her bowl in the sink, leaving it to be washed up later.

“Thank you. I-I appreciate it.” Rafe mumbles, eyes downcast as he thanks her.

“Rafe. I know we’re not exactly friends and don’t even really like each other but, if you want to talk about anything-“ Allie stops talking when Rafe quickly shakes his head.

“I’ll be fine. I don’t even know what that was.” Rafe, he waves his hand around referring to his little episode earlier, he smiles at her hoping he looks convincing but he didn’t in the slightest, “It’s just home things.” He sighs.

“Well...you can stay here tonight, if you want? I can make the couch up for you, so you don’t have to go home?” She offers. She’s not entirely sure why she offered. She was sure if it really was bad enough he’d go spend the night at one of his friends, but I still felt like the right thing to do.

“You’d let me?” Rafe asks more than a little surprised. When Allie nods her head he agrees to stay the night, thanking her and offering to do the washing up.

Allie is the last person Rafe wanted to tell about his situation, he didn’t want her finding out that he was living in a motel room. He could barely cope with her pity as it was let alone if she actually found out the truth.

That evening Rafe settled down on the small couch, and even though it was lumpy and hard he had the best night sleep in weeks.

tags: @royalmerchant @solllaris @rudyypankow @softstarkey @outerbankslut @butgilinsky @stfukie @stargazingstarkey @bohemianobx @obxmermaid @popeheywards @kindahavefeelingskindaheartless @skiesofthesketchy @rekrappeter @perkeusjackson @bricksatanakinswindow @cordeliascrown @aaleksmorozova @starlightstarkey @rafej-cambanks @joshy-obx

#rafe cameron x oc #rafe cameron fic #rafe cameron imagine #outer banks fic #outer banks imagine #outer banks x oc #my writing #a fall from grace fic

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mmos-s · 4 years

Text

HIRAETH CH. 2

Summary: stupid waterbending girl captures even stupider firebending boy

CH.1 CH.2 CH.3 CH.4 CH.5

“What do you mean Zuko’s gone!?” Katara yelled.

Sokka had this dumb look on his face, it was like half concern and half panic. He honestly didn’t know what he was saying either. One second Zuko was right by his side and the next he was just gone. Like he’d disappeared into thin air. Everyone at the marketplace looked so normal, he must have let his guard down subconsciously. Then again, Zuko would have never gone down without a fight so how come he hadn’t noticed anything until he was long gone? Sokka thought about the fact that it was a little loud, he’d find himself yelling over people to get his attention from time to time, maybe Zuko had called for help but Sokka just didn’t hear. It was his only guess so far. Someone in that village must have taken him. Sokka tried to recall anyone that might have been following them.

“Katara, I don’t know! He was right by me the entire time,” He replied.

“Did you see anyone that looked weird? Maybe someone from the Fire Nation took him,” Aang suggested.

No, it couldn’t have been that either because if it was a Fire Nation soldier they would have stood out.

“He couldn’t have just disappeared, Sokka. Try to think of anyone that might have stood out,” Suki said.

There were so many people in that marketplace that all the faces seemed blurred. He did remember all the merchants he’d tried to haggle with but none struck him as the kidnapping type. For such a small village there were a lot of people out that day, he wondered why. Most were older, like the elderly, he doubted anyone walking around with a cain would be able to pull something like this. Maybe there was a face he kept seeing but never realized it.

That’s when it hit him.

“Oh wait!” He exclaimed.

Sokka remembered two girls that were at a booth next to the one he and Zuko were at, they sold mirrors or something. He remembered them whispering a lot and one of them kept looking over at the two. He’d overheard the word ‘cute’ and teased Zuko about him finally being able to get some action. He didn’t realize it until now, but he kept seeing the girl that wasn’t managing the booth later on. At other booths, talking to merchants near the ones they were talking to, or just close behind. Either way they were always near them.

“There were these two girls and one of them might have been following us,” Sokka said.

The group looked at him dumbfounded, well everyone except for Toph, cause you know.

“That’s it?” Suki asked. She crossed her arms and raised a brow.

“Hey, it’s something!”

Katara sighed, “We need to get him back. I mean, Aang still needs to master firebending--”

“And!” Aang interrupted her. “Zuko is our friend. If one of us got taken he wouldn’t leave us behind.”

Suki and Toph both agreed. So did Katara, though more reluctantly. Sokka had a feeling she’d forgiven him but that he still got on her nerves.

“Alright, then we need to head back to that marketplace. It’s the only lead we’ve got so far.” Sokka climbed on top of Appa and everyone else followed.

He’d felt like he’d failed again somehow. He knew Zuko could handle himself as well as anybody else, but he felt like he failed as a friend. Friend’s are supposed to be there for each other, not to mention Zuko didn’t even want to go shopping with him that day. Yet, Sokka decided to be selfish and drag him there anyway. Maybe if he hadn’t brought Zuko with him none of this would have happened. Sokka couldn’t stop thinking about how easily he’d let someone he cared about slip away, again, there wasn’t even a fight or anything. There was nothing he could have done to prevent it from happening. He was there and the next second he wasn’t.

Sokka was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Suki’s hand rest on his shoulder.

“We’ll find him,” She said.

“I know.”

Suki gave him a reassuring smile, and he felt better for a few seconds. Only a few tho.

Yao had to be having the worst night of her life. Scratch that, the worst month. She had to deal with annoying old customers the entire day and the only break she got was when Y/N had come over to chat, which would be once in a blue moon.

She swore people were getting dumber by the day. One man had continuously asked her if the mirrors her father made warded off evil spirits. When she’d told him she couldn’t answer that question he’d accused her of being one of them. Once an elderly woman dropped off crows in front of her shop and told her she’d trade them for the most expensive mirror Yao had. When she refused to accept crow currency, the woman squawked at Yao and then ran away. On the bright side, Yao now has 3 pet crows.

She was just glad to be able to go back home and finally relax--

“Um excuse me?”

Oh for fuck’s sake. What was it this time?

“Yes, hi, hello. Would you like a mirror?” Yao turned towards the front of the booth while giving her usual greeting to customers. “Oh.”

She was met with the boy she and Y/N were talking about earlier in the afternoon. His friend with the scar wasn’t with him though. This time he was with three others that she’d never seen before, and some weird looking animal. If they were going to try and sell that thing to her for a mirror Yao was going to lose her shit.

“Hi, my name’s Sokka and I wanted to ask about the friend that was with you earlier.” He spoke. “You know, like this tall, (e/c) eyes and (h/c) hair.”

Y/N? Why did they want to know about her?

“Why do you want to know about her?” She asked.

As soon as she had a girl with blue eyes stepped forward.

“We think the girl you were talking to might have our friend,” She said.

Yao blinked. “By have do you mean . . . like taken?”

The girl’s face dropped as she nodded and the rest mirrored her.

Yao stood there wide-eyed. She couldn’t think of one reason why Y/N would even think of doing something like that. The few times she’d come to visit her she’d been one of the nicest people Yao had ever met. Though the more she thought about it, she didn’t really know anything about Y/N to begin with. The things she did know weren’t that important. She knew Y/N was a traveler, which was why she’d only see her once in a while, she knew she traveled alone, that she had a pet polar bear named ‘Ro’ and that her birthday was during spring. Yao knew she was one of the only people Y/N actually talked to in the entire village, that she was around her age, and that she was considerate enough to bring Yao something from where she’d traveled last everytime she came back.

She didn’t know what Y/N was like beyond 10-minute talks.

“Well, she’s a traveler. But, she comes back here every couple of weeks cause she’s got a place south of here.” Yao took a deep breath and let her eyebrows crease. She couldn’t believe this.

The girl smiled and thanked her, so did the rest of them.

“Hey, wait!” She waved them back before they could all leave. “I’m sure this is all some misunderstanding, ok? It’s just--I mean if she does have your friend . . .” Yao looked down and wrung her hands.

“She’s a good person is what I mean,” She finally said.

None of them said anything, which was understandable. She would find it hard to believe herself too if she was in their shoes. But she really did mean it, Y/N was a good person, Yao would even go as far as to say she was one of the best. Even if she didn’t know every little thing about her, it doesn’t take a genius to see the good in someone.

The group only left with another ‘thank you’ and a ‘goodbye’. When they were gone Yao didn’t felt like she couldn’t feel relieved to go home anymore, this was news she could have gone without hearing.

She opened the door to her house and set all of her things down, though it still felt like weight was on her shoulders.

Recently, the habit of checking up on her dad as soon as she was home was something Yao had wired into her brain. When she walked into his room, he greeted her with a smile and asked her about her day.

“How’s that friend of yours? What was her name again, Y/N?” Was the first thing he asked. When Yao was little she swore her father was a mind reader, he always seemed to know what was wrong or what people were thinking about. This just proved her point.

“She came back today.” She dipped a dry towel into a bucket of water and set it on his forehead.

“She’s not in any trouble lately, right? I still remember how distressed she looked when I’d first met her,” He said. Once again, he somehow knew what was going on, maybe her 9 year old self was right.

“No, she’s been doing fine,”

Yao could only hope what she had said was in fact true.

Y/N convinced herself she was dying of a horrible, terrible, horrendous illness. She felt her life wilting away at the tip of her fingertips. Memories of her criminally boring and short life kept replaying in her head, she had so much she hadn’t achieved yet. Was this really the end for her? Was she seriously going to die in the middle of a random tundra on a sled? Y/N felt her head start to get fuzzy. This was it.

Y/N had finally succumbed to awkwardness.

No words had been spoken ever since her and the Prince had gotten onto the sled Ro was dragging along the ice. Usually these sort of rides were pleasant for Y/N, there was something comforting about the cold air hitting her face and then being able to warm up at her usual checkpoint. Nostalgia decided to slap her in the face and remind her of all the times she’d take long rides like this with all her friends, there’d be laughing and banter. They’d try and come up with as many games you can come up with while in the middle of a tundra, like whoever could spot the first otter penguin got all the best food. On the way back home there would only be comfortable silence and a few people whispering, not wanting to wake anyone else up. It’d be dark and sometimes the stars seemed almost too pretty, like people weren’t really meant to see them. Her friends would try and make out constellations or just make up their own.

A wave of sadness came right after nostalgia and decked her right in the face. She would never be able to go back to that. Everyone was gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone.

THEY’RE GONE AND YOU DID NOTHING.

Zuko’s knee bumped into her’s and she shot him a glare.

“Sorry,” He said.

“Whatever, just stay on your side will you?”

Those were the first words they’d spoken for hours and Y/N can’t decide if it was a blessing or a curse. Silence settled back in and Y/N can’t hear anything but the Prince’s breathing.

“Stop,” She demanded.

Zuko looked over at her confused, which she understood, he hadn’t done anything yet, something about him pissed her off. Before she’d planned on hunting him down and brought other people to General Lee, they wouldn't be riding next to her. Let alone in the same sled. There'd be a long rope behind her with an even smaller sled attached and that’s where they would ride. But, ever since Ro had gotten injured he couldn’t bear(HAHAHAHA POLAR BEAR)all the weight. Y/N blamed herself for that too.

“You. . . you breathe weird,” She said. Y/N didn’t think about how much of an embarrassing thing that is to get annoyed about. But she was too full of herself to admit at the moment. She’d somehow convinced herself that the painful ride was completely his fault.

Zuko gave her a look that told her she was the dumbest person alive. She knew she deserved it but it still offended her.

“It’s to keep me warm,” He replied defensively, he was acting like she’d insulted his whole family.

This was something that had piqued Y/N’s interest though. How was he keeping warm with only his breath? Was it a form of firebending? She’d never really heard of anything like that.

“Oh. . . how?” She asked sheepishly. She realized how contradictory her actions were. Before she’d continuously told him to shut up and not ask questions, maybe it was the boredom setting in. It might also be the fact that this guy was the same age as her allowing some sort of unwelcome comfort between the two. Y/N didn’t have many people her age that she could talk to anymore.

“What?” Zuko looked less surprised about her question and more surprised that she was trying to make conversation.

“Like--like how do you do it?”

Zuko paused like he wasn’t sure if he should answer or not. He must have thought it was some sort of trap or something.

“My uncle taught it to me, I’m not exactly sure how to explain it.” The mention of his uncle seemed to have made him uncomfortable so Y/N didn’t push any further. Which meant they’d both have to go back to silence. It seemed less awkward now that they’d exchanged a few words. The sled kept moving forward and Y/N found herself actually being able to relax for a few seconds, everything was going according to plan.

The Prince surprisingly hadn’t pulled any escape attempts, so she even found herself letting her guard down around him at times. An example would before they’d left. The sun was a few hours from rising and she’d offered him tea, it wasn’t like she was a monster or anything, she only planned on keeping him downstairs for a few hours to scare him. He’d accepted and sat down at the table. While he drank Y/N leaned against a wall and tried to keep an eye on him. But, she’d been up for so long she found herself dozing off.

It was only for a minute, maybe five but it didn’t matter. When she’d woken up she panicked. She’d really fucked up this time, he wasn’t there. His tea cup was empty and set back onto the table. She’d run outside first, no sign of him. Y/N ran back inside and went down the staircase, she doubted he would head back here but there was no other place. She was right.

There he was, sitting at your desk and shifting through your notes and letters. Y/N was so confused more than anything else. Why would he . . .

Not only that but he was weirdly compliant, besides the occasional stupid question and vocal frustration about being in chains he was more bearable than she’d expected. He hadn’t even tried to escape once. At first, Y/N had thought Zuko just wasn’t threatened by her. But if that had been true wouldn’t he had attacked her by now? She’d find him staring at her on multiple occasions, at first thinking that it was out of hate, but she never saw anything but annoyance or slight irritation. Which is just below normal for someone who's been kidnapped and taken somewhere against their will by a stranger.

He looked like he was trying to figure her out and she didn’t like it. Y/N couldn’t deny she’d been doing the same thing to him though, trying to figure out why he was acting so strange for someone in his position.

A lone otter penguin caught Y/N’s eye and dragged her out of her thoughts. It was gliding along the ice and approached the sled the two were riding on.

“That’s weird,” She mumbled.

Zuko turned his head and looked at the animal then back at her.

“What’s wrong? It’s just an otter penguin,” Zuko dismissed.

Y/N shook her head and turned back toward him. “They’re usually in packs, it’s odd to see one by itself--”

CRACK!

The sled tipped over but she couldn’t register what was happening quickly enough to do anything about it. She manages to catch a glimpse of what caused it before landing flat on her back.

An ice eel. Well really it mostly resembled a huge leopard sea lion mixed with eel, but that was what Yao’s father would call it. She’d always gotten so lucky with avoiding it, why now? Of all the other times she’d cross over this water why did it happen this time?

Y/N felt her breath being slammed out of her. Cold ice hit her back and her vision was engulfed in darkness when the sled landed on top of her. It had also landed on her arm, but she chose to ignore that detail for now, doing that obviously helped when she managed to push the thing off of her.

Her first thought was whether or not the Prince was injured. She looked over to her right to see him face first on the ground struggling to get up. Okay good, at least the cargo was safe. Y/N didn’t have any more time to gather her thoughts when she felt the ice beneath her start to rumble again. She struggled to get up on her feet and ran over to Zuko, grabbing his arm and pulling him upward.

“Come on, get up!” She exclaimed.

He groaned and yanked his arm away from her hand, which is something she would’ve taken as an insult if she hadn’t noticed Ro dangerously close to being devoured. The polar bear was running towards the two with the eel close behind.

Y/N left Zuko’s side with swiftness, ignoring his protest. Bringing her hand up to her waterskin, she bended water out and used it to slash at the eel's face. It hissed and slowed it’s pace making a big enough gap for Ro to get away.

The monster doesn’t stay shocked for long, it dove into the ice and another crash could be heard. At first, she’d thought it had given up, surely having to chase for food for this long was too much. Y/N was too smart to believe that though. She could feel the eel circling around her under ice. She thrust her hands towards the floor and waited.

“What are you doing!?” Zuko yelled.

“Not now!” She replied rather angrily.

“Unchain me and I can help--”

Zuko didn’t get to finish his sentence when the rumbling of ice started again.

There.

The eel burst through the air again to Y/N’s right, a little closer to Ro and Zuko than she’d like but she’d have to make it work.

Y/N pulled her hands up and propelled all the water she could into the air. She then threw her hands to its direction and the water followed. She turned it to ice when the large serpent was hit and watched while it got encased. It wasn’t enough.

The eel thrashed it’s body around violently, shaking off the ice like it was just some winter coat.

Suddenly the eel threw itself at her headfirst. They both collided and Y/N was thrown backwards into the water.

For some reason Y/N’s first reaction was to try and breath in, you know, cause she’s a dumbass. To be fair she did get the wind knocked out of her five seconds ago.

It felt like her body was having a huge brain freeze, but she didn’t have too much time to think about how cold it was. She was losing her breath but the eel just kept on pushing her down. This was when panic was starting to set in.

How far down were they already? How much breath did she have left? Was Ro going to be ok?

She managed to fight the current and punched the animal in the nose, at least what she’d thought to be a nose, eels don’t really have noticeable noses. It’s eyes narrowed and it let out this sort of awful scream.

Y/N bended as much water as she could and pushed it towards it, trying to get as much space between them as possible. The water slowly started to circle around it and started to pick up pace, the eel couldn’t get past the strong currents and would only get pushed back. The water turns into ice and it ceases to move.

Y/N pushed herself to the surface and crawled out of the water, she rolled onto her back and tried to breathe. She could feel her whole body going numb, the air was somehow colder than the water now and she was starting to think that in comparison the water was more of a hot tub. Maybe she should just crawl back in.

Once the dots in her eyes and the ringing in her ears disappeared she noticed someone had been yelling. She rolled over and if her lungs didn’t feel like they had exploded and been grounded to mush she would’ve laughed. He was still there.

Zuko was frantically trying to get the ice shackles she’d made for him off of his hands by firebending and banging them onto the side of the sled. Ro was across from him at another hole the eel had made, he must have mistaken it for the one she had gotten pushed into. She swore he was looking into the water and was on the brink of tears, who knew polar bears had so much emotion

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! I’m trying!” Zuko yelled at Ro while continuously slamming the shackles onto the sled, quickly getting more violent.

Y/N reached out and tugged on his shirt.

Zuko ceased what he was doing and yanked his head towards her direction. Y/N shakily brought her hand up and waved towards Ro’s direction. He ran towards her and sat by her side, he wasn’t whining anymore, what a drama queen. She patted his head and reminded herself to give him a treat later.

Y/N brought her attention back to Zuko and furrowed her eyebrows.

“What are you still doing here?” She asked.

Zuko pulled a face, like she was the stupid one.

“What?”

“You could’ve run away, you could even leave now! I’m practically half dead.” She tried getting up but ended just falling down again, proving her point. “For a prince you’re kind of dumb.”

Zuko grimaced, like she had just slapped him in the face. Something else seemed to cross his mind too, like he was fighting with himself. She guessed it must have crossed his mind, leaving her behind and escaping, but for some reason he hadn’t. Y/N couldn’t stop thinking about what kept him from doing it. What was with him?

“I wouldn’t get very far anyway,” Was his only answer. She knew it was a shit excuse but was too tired to interrogate.

Zuko extended both of his arms towards her, expecting you to accept him wanting to help you up.

“You piss me off,” Y/N muttered.

Zuko’s face turned into one of bafflement. “I piss you off?” His eyes narrowed and he threw his hands into the air in frustration. “If you’d just gotten rid of these stupid chains, I could have helped! And last time I checked you’re not the one being held captive!”

“See, that’s what pisses me off about you.” She said. “You’re not supposed to be helping me, we’re not on equal ground here!”

“What?” Zuko’s face fell and for half a second Y/N thought she’d hurt his feelings.

Y/N finally got it. What Zuko had been pulling wasn’t kindness, it was pity. He pitied her. Why else would he have made things so easy for her? Why else would he have been so compliant? What other reason could there have been for him to not escape during the two chances he had been given. Everyone from the Fire Nation was the same. She’d seen the same look Zuko would give her on General Lee’s face when he’d destroyed her home. She begged and begged for him to spare her and bring back her family. And that day she saw something cross his face. Pity. He pitied her.

And she was thankful for it. Could you believe it? She was thankful. At the time she thought he had handed her mercy, but overtime she realized she was getting toyed with. He knew the task he’d given her was impossible. Yet, Y/N did it. And for once, when she comes and delivers this pain in the ass to the other pain in the ass, he’d be the last person to ever give her that expression again.

“Look.” Y/N begins. “We are NOT friends and we never will be. So quit getting in my way and trying to act like you actually care.”

“How do you know I don’t?” He asked.

“You’re from the Fire Nation, aren’t you?”

“I mean yes, but--”

“Then that just proves it.”

“Sokka, this is getting us nowhere,” Toph said for the billionth.

They’d been flying towards the south with Appa for hours now and hadn't seen anything and by nothing at all he meant nothing. It was just all snow. It sort of reminded Sokka of home but if it was completely barren. Everyone was starting to get tired, which was understandable. They’d been up all night and the rising sun was there to prove it. The cold really didn’t help either. Everyone was a shivering mess except for Aang.

“This makes no sense.” Sokka held up a map he’d bought from the village from earlier. “Stuff is supposed to be here, you know like buildings. There’s even supposed to be another village a few hours away too.”

He swore that if this wasn’t a literal tundra a tumbleweed would be seen.

“Well I can’t see anything. Literally,” Toph said sarcastically.

Sokka was starting to think that the map he’d bought was some kind of rip off or something. There was nothing here but snow and ice. He was starting to lose hope about being able to find Zuko quickly. Things weren’t looking too good.

“Hey look.” Suki pointed towards the ground and at first Sokka couldn’t see what he was trying to point out, but when he took a closer look he saw it.

“Aang, get Appa to land there,” Katara said.

“Yip, yip!”

Sokka was the first to get off and investigate. It was an igloo, sort of like the ones back home. Something was odd though. There were always multiple, making up one whole village or tribe. This one stood alone, Sokka would go as far as to say it looked sad. Half of it looked poorly rebuilt too, like someone haphazardly built it back up themself, which was in great contrast to the well made part of the igloo.

“I think this is somebody’s house,” Sokka said.

“Yeah, like the ones back at home.” Katara put her hand up to the igloo in an almost homesick demeanor.

“Guys,” Toph had her hands on the ground. “The snow and ice might be messing me up but, I feel something hollow underneath that thing.”

“Is it really okay for us to go in there?” Aang asked.

Toph got up from her position and walked right in.

“Guess that answers it then.” Aang and Katara walked in after her.

Sokka turned towards Suki before walking inside.

“I’m gonna check out more of what’s out here,” She said.

Sokka nodded and told her to be careful.

The interior of the igloo was almost . . . homey. There were lots of shelves with books towering all the way to the top, pretty mirrors that looked awfully similar to the ones the girl he and everyone talked to sold filled a part of the wall, lots of rugs decorated the floor all of them looked like they had different styles, but somehow they all worked together. Herbs and medicinal notes sat on a tea table next to tea cups. There was a sleeping bag on the floor that looked recently folded. Sokka couldn’t place it, but something felt wrong. Even though the room looked complete, things looked like they were missing somehow.

“Toph, didn’t you say you felt something underground? I don’t see any doors leading to it,” Aang said.

Toph pointed to a wall, “There.”

Katara motioned her hands towards the wall and took it down. Behind it was a small flight of stairs.

“Okayyyy this has officially weirded me out,” Sokka said.

Aang grabbed some of the paper off of the wall and observed them.

“Whoever did this was planning for a long time,” He said.

“Yeah but why?” Sokka asked.

He walked up to the small desk in the corner of the room. There were basic desk things like ink, writing brushes, and paper, but Sokka noticed something that looked completely out of place. On the desk, nothing looked out of place and everything was neat, yet the room was messy and unkempt. So the crumpled up piece of paper on the desk really stood out. Sokka picked it up and read it.

“He’s acting like a detective again,” Katara joked.

Aang and Toph snickered. Sokka ignored them.

“Dear fuckass General Lee,

I’ll be on my way soon to bring someone new,

so don’t flake out on me.

I’m not kidding, I'll gouge your eyes out and boil them like eggs and feed them to my pet polar bear.

Anyway, I get to pick where we meet this time since you fucked me over the last.

The waterfall.

You’re not that dunce so I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

Have a shitty evening you Fire Nation pussy.”

Sokka could now see why she might have crumpled the letter up and started over.

“They’ve given him to a Fire Nation general,” Sokka said.

He waved the letter around and let them read it. At least they sorta had a lead now, he’d need to take another look at any of the maps he had and mark down any waterfalls.

“This is bad,” Aang said.

Sokka nodded and there was a pause of silence. If they didn’t find Zuko before Y/N turned him in, things were going to get a lot more complicated, that’s what he guessed that was on everyone’s mind. They had to find him soon.

One thing that confused Sokka was why someone that obviously wasn’t from the Fire Nation was helping a General. From the looks of it, this was someone who was from a Water Tribe, so why would they be helping someone completely against them? Brainwashing? Blackmail? Mutual hate for the Prince of the Fire Nation?

Sokka pondered on the last one, it was the most convincing. He had a feeling Zuko had angered a lot of people before joining their group. He’d even say after.

“Guys!”

Everyone turned their heads when they heard Suki’s voice. She was waiting for them in front of the door leading to the staircase.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“There are tracks behind the igloo. If I’m guessing right that’ll lead us right to him,” She said.

Sokka finally felt hope rise up in his chest. Maybe things would go smoother than he’d thought.

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tag list: @eridanuswave @royahllty

#suki #sokka #aang #katara #zuko #zukoxreader #zuko x reader #xreader #toph #avatar: tla #avatar the last airbender #atla fanfic #atla

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