#is she perfect? no. she's a regular teenager with faults

[starstaiined]

Jackie Taylor for character bingo

#no because if i see one more cold take about jackie being bitchy #WHERE #FUCKIN WHERE #is she perfect? no. she's a regular teenager with faults #but not once was she purposefully cruel #EVEN WHEN SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT SHAUNA AND JEFF AND THE LYING!!!! #SHE DOESNT LASH OUT AT SHAUNA!!! OR ANYONE ELSE!!! #she pushes for the truth with barbs bjt never flat out attacks until AFTER shauna almost killed travis #shes so kind to misty amidst a terrible depressive episode and when everyone else treated her like shit #like god miss me with that queen bee must be bitchy bullshit #that's my dumbass baby girl #thank you anon!! #yellowjackets #jackie taylor

[danikamariewrites]

Absolutely adore your work! Would you be able to write an angsty Cassian/reader fic with a happy ending? Thank youuu

Do You Still Love Me?

Cassian x reader

A/n: thank you anon. Umm I didn’t mean to write something this angsty but here we are. I promise I have fluff fics coming after this, apologies.

Warnings: ANGST LOTS OF ANGST (I might’ve taken this too far), violence and gore-ish, fluff at the end I swear

Cassian had been there for you since you were a teenager, and you were there for him. You had always been each other’s confidant, best friend, the shoulder you cry on, and the hand you hold.

You met through Rhys’s sister, you we’re her best friend. The day she died a piece of you went with her. Rhys was there for you during that dark time and you became the siblings you both lost. Your brother had died in the first war fighting in Rhys’s legion against Amarantha.

Rhys never forgave himself for your brothers death. No matter how many times you told him none of it was his fault. When Rhys went Under the Mountain you completely shut down. You became a recluse, barley leaving your room. You felt like you were going through the motions of losing a sibling and friend all over again.

It was Cassian who visited you and stayed with you well into the night during those dark first days. He got you into a routine. Early wake up, train, eat, work, eat, social time, getting outside. He made life feel normal for those long fifty years.

Just before Rhys came back you two had been out late at Rita’s one night. There had been a connection, something that felt like there was more than friendship the last few months between you two. You had felt that for much longer. In the last two centuries you’d found this immortal life was too short to not take risks.

You had slid your hand into Cassian’s large rough one while you walked back to the Town House. He squeezed your hand lovingly, a big smile shining on his face as he looked down at you. A blush had crept up your neck to your cheeks.

He walked you to your room that night, still holding your delicate hand in his. You stopped outside your door just staring at each other. The tension became too much and Cassian just leaned in and kissed you. It was the best kiss you’d ever experienced. It was soft, passionate, perfect. His lips were exactly as you dreamed they’d be since you were younger.

That night Cassian stayed with you, just holding you in his arms. You had a whirlwind romance after that. It was like all your worries melted away as you basked in Cassian’s attention. But three weeks later, Rhys came home. The reunion was beyond any emotion you had ever felt. Your brother was finally home.

When things became complicated and war was on the horizon you two took a break. You didn’t want to rush a relationship when there was a low chance of survival. That wouldn’t be fair to either of you. So you went back to your lonely nights and regular routine.

You had fallen deeply in love with Cassian before and even more so during those three weeks. Leaving your romance behind left a hole in your heart that you didn’t think any other male would be able to fill. But there wouldn’t be anyone else. There would only be Cassian for you.

The two of you hadn’t discussed how deep your feelings went. You just wanted to enjoy each other and see where the days took you. You regret not having that conversation with him now.

Months later, Hybern and his army finally arrived. The final battle was bloody and brutal. But it was over and you could finally breathe.

Cassian was leading the round-up of soldiers who surrendered on the battlefield. You were a few steps away from him when you noticed a soldier laying face down and shaking. The coward was playing dead. You pulled him to his knees by the back of his armor, forcing him to face you. Cassian watched with a smirk on his lips, knowing the fear you were about to instill in the male.

As you yelled his smirk quickly faded at the glint of the males short sword in his hand. Cassian tried to call your attention to it, it it was too late. The male struck you right in the stomach, shoving the blade in to the hilt. You clutched at your stomach as you fell to your knees. You struggled to breathe as the sound was sucked from the world leaving only a ringing in your ears.

You were in full panic mode. Your eyes wildly searching for Cassian. You had to tell him. You couldn’t leave this world with things unsaid.

As the male struck you Cassian let out a primal scream of rage. He charged at the male, lifting his sword he brought it down on the males neck. Separating his head from his body in one swift motion.

He threw his sword down, sliding to you on his knees. Cassian cradles you to his chest. “No. No, no, no, no. Y/n stay with me ok. You’re going to be ok baby.” He gently pulls your lolling head to face him, “hey, hey! Look at me. Focus on me.”

Cassian lifted you in his arms, flying you as fast as he can back to camp to get you to a healer. You we’re losing blood fast and he wasn’t going to give up on you. Landing, he stumbles a little and stars screaming for help. He pushes past Rhys who’s trying to calm him down trying to figure out what’s wrong with you.

Two healers guide Cassian to a bed for you. He watched as they ran around gathering supplies. His attention finally snapped back to you when you touched a cold hand to his cheek. You were trying to speak but only small gasps would pass your lips. Cassian noticed your breathing was shallow, your chest rising and falling slower than it should have been.

Cassian held your hand, bringing your knuckles to his lips. “They’re going to fix you, you’re going to be ok baby.” He smiled at you through his tears. Finally finding your voice you whisper out, “Cass?” He leaned in closer. “Yes baby?”

You let out another shaky gasp. You needed to get this out. You were holding on but you didn’t have much hope. “Do you still love me?” What looked like pity and shock flash across his face which you read as no. At least you knew the answer now. You were just a distraction for him and nothing more.

Your heart broke and you felt your hope slip a little more. Cassian was pulled away by Rhys. He fought his brother as your eyes closed and you felt the hands of the healers on you instantly.

A day after the healers fixed you, you were moved to your room on the House of Wind. He stayed with you the whole time. Slept on the floor at night and sat in an armchair next to your bed during the day. He talked to you, read to you, and hummed your favorite childhood lullabies.

By some miracle you had survived. The sword missed your vital organs and had stopped mere inches before your spine. Cassian saw it as the Cauldron handing out miracles that day. After all Amren came back to them.

Anything to make sure you heard him and stayed connected to this life. He felt your doubt after you asked him if he still loved you. His face wasn’t one of pity, it was a reaction to the mating bond snapping in his chest. He was shocked by the abysmal timing the Mother had for him.

He saw the look on your face as your eyes closed. You lost hope of him returning your feelings, he didn’t need the mating bond to know that.

But that wasn’t the true. Cassian fell in love with you the moment he met you. He thought you only wanted friendship from him and nothing more. It killed him to take a break after the best three weeks of his life with you. He had started planning your future together by day two.

It had been almost a week since the war ended. Cassian, and the rest of your friends, we’re starting to get worried that you weren’t awake yet.

As Cassian was thinking about finally bathing for the first time in three days, you began to stir. Your eyes fly open and you blink rapidly, trying to take in your surroundings.

Your heart was beating so fast Cassian could hear it clearly.

Your eyes land on his tired form. “Cass?” You croak out. He sits on the edge of your bed leaning in close, but not enough to overwhelm you. “Yes baby?” Silver lined his eyes. You were awake and breathing and speaking. That’s all he could ask for.

He smoothes out your hair and lean into his hand with all the strength you can muster. Cassian rests his forehead against yours. “I do, by the way.” Your brows scrunch in confusion. “You do what?”

“Love you. You asked me if I love you before they healed you. I’ve always loved you. From the moment I met you I knew I needed to be with you. I need you to know how much it pained me to put us on hold.”

You felt like you couldn’t breathe all over again but in the best way. Gods the time you two wasted. You weakly smiled at him, holding his hands with yours. Cassian noticed the warmth that’s finally come back to them.

“I heard you.” He let out a soft cry. “I held on because of you. You’re my hope Cassian.” You lightly push him back so you can sit up. He gently helps you, acting as an anchor for you. Cassian leans you against the pillows he propped up for you.

You gently rub your hand over the scar hidden by the oversized shirt you’re wearing. Pausing for a moment you notice there are two large holes in the back. It dawns on you that this is Cassian’s shirt and that’s when it snaps.

You feel the golden thread of the mating bond wrap itself around a rib and connecting to your heart. And then you feel his heart beating as you become one. As you winced at the pain Cassian tensed them relaxed as you tugged on the bond.

Looking up at him you ask, “When?” “The day you got hurt.” You let out a sigh and wrap your arms around his neck tightly. Your mind races with thoughts of your future. Your future with Cassian.

tags: @nyotamalfoy @auggiesolovey @bubybubsters @baybay123455 @msiecrane @aroseinvelaris @twsssmlmaa

#acotar #acotar fanfiction #acotar reader imagine #acotar reader fic #acotar imagine #cassian acotar #cassian x you #cassian x reader #cassian acotar x reader #cassian angst #cassian #cassian fanfic #cassian fluff

[lucky-bishova-42]

Rules

(oneshot takes place between chapters 6 and 7 in Malen'kiy Yastreb)

A few days after Kate moved in, Natasha began to notice somethings that were different in the way that Kate acted.

It was no secret that the teen was very respectful and well behaved. She was possibly the most polite teenager Natasha has ever met.

But it was almost to a fault.

There were a lot of things Kate would hesitate to do or remember to ask express permission for before she even thought about doing them. Things that, at least in Natasha's mind, didn't need such permission.

For example, Kate would always ask if she could take a shower or before using literally anything in the apartment.

And there were some other things that were lacking in her day to day life.

After her visit with Dr. Cho, Natasha wasn't shocked to find out that Kate was slightly malnourished and was underweight. The teen seemed to always feel guilty when asking for food outside of meal times, or had forgotten to eat meals entirely.

And don't even get Natasha started on the young archer's sleep schedule. It is a wonder that the kid is able to function at all.

Natasha was at a loss on how to help the poor kid.

No one should be living like this, let alone a young teen.

So, Natasha calls Laura for ideas. While talking, Laura brings up something that her and Clint used for Natasha when she was staying with them right after she defected from the Red Room and was still adjusting to regular life.

A rule list.

It wasn't your traditional rule list. It was more of a guideline of things that were okay to do, or things that were needed to do everyday to keep healthy.

It would be perfect for Kate.

Natasha thanks Laura, and heads to go to talk to Kate.

She walks into the living room, finding Kate on the couch petting a snuggly Lucky.

"Hey malen'kiy yastreb!"

"Hi Tasha!"

"I had an idea," Natasha starts right off the bat, knowing if she didn't Kate might get even more nervous, "I have noticed some things since you have moved in with me."

She watches Kate tense slightly.

"Its nothing bad," Natasha reassures, "I have just noticed that you have been, for a lack of a better term, overlooking some things in your day-to-day life. And hey, everyone does it."

"I'm sorry," Kate looks down at her hands.

"There is no need to apologize; it's okay dorogoy," Natasha gently lifts Kate's chin with one of her hands, "It is one of the things I struggled with when adjusting to living with Clint and Laura a while ago, too."

"Really?"

"Mhm," Natasha hums, "And Laura had a great idea to make a list of 'rules'. They aren't really 'rules' in the traditional sense, but they were things that really helped me. And I think it will really help you too."

Kate smiles softly at Natasha's thoughtfulness.

"What do you think, malen'kiy yastreb?" Natasha asks her gently and comforting, "Should we make one for you?"

Kate takes a minute to think before softly agreeing, "Yeah. Okay!"

Natasha pulls Kate into a hug and Kate melts into her embrace. Natasha smiles.

After all is said and done, the rule list is hung on the refrigerator with a magnetic. The list consists of 7 rules:

There is no need to ask when wanting to use the shower, kitchen appliances, washer/dryer, TV, etc. as long as no one else is using them

Swearing IS allowed (AT HOME)

Two full meals need to be eaten a day (unless sick)

All the food/snacks in the kitchen can be used/enjoyed by anyone at anytime

Bedtime is 12:30 at the latest

If leaving the Compound, Natasha must be informed as to where, when, how long, and with who.

Kate is NEVER bothering Natasha and can ask/talk with her whenever she needs/wants

The list evolves throughout the years. Things are added such as Wanda being added into rule number 6 and 7, and a rule stating that Kate must tell either Natasha or Wanda if she is sick or injured is added after Kate's unfortunate bout of the flu. But in times of struggle, the list is always there to help Kate get back on track.

#mama nat #mama spider #nat is kate's mom #natasha romanoff #kate bishop #missing scene fanfic #soft natasha romanoff #comfort #marvel #malen'kiy yastreb

[merlinsbudgiesmugglers]

Tonks family Headcanons

-Ted has lots of different nicknames for Dora: Little One, Sweetheart, Munchkin etc. Andromeda calls her Darling and is more likely to call her Nymphadora, despite the scowls she gets from her daughter for it.

-Ted does most of the cooking, but Andromeda has learned a few key dishes that she enjoys making. Andromeda is in charge of cleaning up.

-Ted and Andromeda rarely fight, they had disagreements and arguments, but a proper fight is very rare and usually fairly short lived.

-Dora is just as much like Andromeda as she is Ted. She is friendly and outgoing, but where Ted can't hide his feelings from anyone, Dora is more likely to use her outgoing personality to hide what she thinks from the world.

-Andromeda loves that her daughter is able to be herself without the expectation of perfection that she grew up with.

-After they married, Cygnus used his connections to have Ted fired from St Mungo's, and from the Mediwizard job he got with the Ministry, and every job he found in the wizarding world until he took a job working for a muggle construction company, something he used to do in the summer holidays to make money. While Andromeda hates that it's happened and feels like it's her fault (despite Ted reassuring her that he doesn't blame her at all), she can't help enjoying how fit he gets.

-Andromeda mostly stays home to raise and teach Dora while Ted works. They can't send her to a muggle school because of her abilities, and they can't afford any help to raise her. Andromeda still works, she makes and sells household potions.

-One day, while out for drinks with friends who have started having their own families, a discussion begins between some of the muggleborns about the judgement they get from taking their children to St Mungo's for seemingly small illnesses that they don't know how to fix because they had never been taught. Ted tells them to floo call him when it happens.

-He starts to get a bit of a reputation, people who don't want to go to St Mungo's, older witches and wizards who need help but don't want to leave their homes start to reach out to him for assistance.

-Eventually, he has enough regular patients to be able to stop his construction work and open his own healing practice. Andromeda makes him the potions he needs and manages the books.

-When Dora goes to school, Andromeda goes back to St Mungo's part-time, the house feels too empty without her daughter, and she enjoys being challenged again. She only goes back part-time so she can keep helping Ted with his practice.

-Andromeda and Dora have a fantastic relationship. Though they are different they love each other dearly. Of course they have the usual teenage mother/daughter arguments, and Andromeda worries about Dora becoming an Auror, but their fights never last very long.

-When Dora is in labor, there's a moment when Remus has gone to get more hot water when she and Andromeda are alone, Dora breaks into tears, saying that she wants her dad. Andromeda does her best to be strong, gripping her daughters hand and saying that she wants him too.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure I have many more floating around up there

#tonks family #andromeda tonks #ted tonks #nymphadora tonks

[fruit-salad-ship]

How about the BNHA!au trio visiting their country’s version of the UA sports festival because nothing says team bonding like seeing a bunch of teenagers beat the crap out of each other!

They usually just catch it on TV, too busy to go, but this year they’ve rocketed through their local hero ranks (thanks to plum) and are offered tickets. Plums gifted them in the office, and goes to tell the others, catching Grey first, who’s initially excited, but soon becomes apprehensive.

“‘well. I’ll go with you, but good luck getting Peach to show. She uh…she’s got beef with that festival from way back.” Plum can’t fathom why she’d not enjoy it? Surely it’s a perfect thing for her, using her quirk to its fullest? Didn’t she partake once too?

Of course she confronts her, brings up the tickets, and watches peach huff, waving it off. The reason? She DESPERATELY wanted to take part when she was in school, it did look very fun, but her quirk was so volatile and she had such a temper, it was dangerous for others, and she was unable to be part of it at all, watching from the side lines while her class, Grey included, had a lot of fun. Even worse, her chances of being hired or even helped by big time hero’s was slashed because she just wasn’t able to play the role wanted. No one wanted to work with a dangerous angry teenager.

Plum did eventually push all the right buttons to get her to go, but she drags her heels the whole trip there, and is quiet about it all.

The trip turns into a good weekend out, they stay in the city, and through the events Peach cheers up. Grey is happy to socialise without cameras around, and networks with other hero’s, plums being a typical socialite, taking time to try local snacks. The two who got to partake in their younger years recall it fondly, it definitely brings plum and grey closer being able to discuss it, and peach don’t mind, not their fault she missed out, it was entirely her own.

They aren’t looking for side kicks, and their work is always more dangerous than children should be handling, they’re who the law calls when regular hero’s fail to do their job, so they don’t look to doing any training, but certainly see the new and upcoming talent. If nothing else it was a nice city break weekend, and there’s a lot of chances for them to kick back and enjoy for once. No work on the brain.

#BNHA au #fruit salad

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

It's the underdog/victim complex. They think they're being oppressed/harassed/attacked by everyone else for liking their fave when no one really cares. Plus purity culture sorta screwed the fandom perceptions where now you apparently can't like a character or be a fan of them if they do bad/problematic things. This isn't just a FE thing either, there was an article that basically said that people can enjoy villains for being villains and requested everyone to not woobify or justify their actions. Guess what happened? People got salty over it and started attacking the article. And yeah it's not just a bunch of teenagers sadly, there are people in their 30s doing this kind of nonsense behavior and it's really sad and pathetic. And fwiw I'm not implying nor intending that people 30 or above can't be in fandoms or anything like that, it's just..you expect them to know or be better than to act like they're half their age with this nonsense.

Yeah, that's so wild to me when they do exactly that - attack others for their faves (especially Dimitri). Like yeah, I hate their fave but I don't go out of my way to attack them for liking her.

Purity culture really, REALLY pisses me off. Not only do people who like EdeIgard erase her wrongdoings, but they only like the version of her they created and not her canon self (i.e. the self that did wrong, but they can't handle the concept of that and their waifu has to be perfect and have her hands clean). Following that, they get aggressive toward Dimitri and his fans for liking him because uwu he did so many bad things. Like, yes, we are aware of that and he actively addresses that fact on a regular basis. He doesn't hide behind "uwu I did it for Fodlan", he doesn't make excuses, and his fans accept his faults for what they are. For some reason the stans seem to think we're just like them and that we erase any faults of our fave and pretend he's a perfect, clean handed individual.

I remember hearing or seeing once in this old Tumblr RP group that they banned Miklan from even being selected as a written character. Like bruh, if you're gonna write roleplays, don't you... want conflict? When I write I find it boring when there's no conflict whatsoever. Even in my dmcl writing, there's still a sort of internal conflict, like Dimitri having doubts about himself and thinking he's not worth being with someone he loves. No matter what I write, I prefer to have some sort of conflict because it helps to strengthen the positive result.

It's funny, too, because these are always the same people who like Hopes Claude more but yet don't think doing anything wrong is okay. They defend his actions instead like with their waifu because it's okay to invade a country and murder its people!

Reminds me of the stan that showed up in my inbox once trying to defend Claude, saying "what innocents did Claude even kill, he only killed soldiers" as if to say soldiers automatically lose all their innocence and rights as human beings for signing up to defend their country. That anon should probably stop and think about what they said and how that applies to real life, because they basically told me my sister deserves to die because she used to serve in the military. Oh no, how dare she be a soldier! She's no longer innocent and it's okay if she dies! Forget the fact that she has three children at home who are very young and need their mother! Forget that her parents and sisters are still alive and would grieve for her! She's a soldier, so it's fine if she dies!

That anon needs a real good look in the mirror and a smack in the face by reality. These people say a whole lot of shit to defend their fictional pixelated waifu without considering how that reflects on them in real life and the fact that what they say does have a reflection on their real life values. Anyone who tells me it would've been okay if my sister died simply because she was in the military is trash and I wish on them what they would wish on her.

I heard about that article! It's pathetic. There is literally nothing wrong with enjoying media and concepts. I have a section I decided to put at the end of this ask explaining how I feel about particular antagonists (Ashnard, Zelgius, Sephiran and Miklan), but since it's a biiiit off course here I wanted to avoid it splitting up my more direct reply to this ask.

Yeah, I know it's not only teenagers and that's also pathetic. While I wouldn't say I just forgive teenagers for being like that (they're old enough and there's no excuse imo, as I mentioned before), it's a lot more understandable that they might be like that and just eventually grow out of it. The fact there are people my age or older acting like angry babies who had their binky taken away is honestly so ridiculous that the term "pathetic" is not even strong enough to explain how ridiculous it is. They act like they're a little kid who had their favorite sticker stolen by some random kid in their class. These are people who should be looking for or having a job, being at least somewhat damn mature online and being a reasonable, mature person.

I was hoping "karens" would die out with the older generations (let's face it, a good chunk of today's karens are bored, angry old/older people with nothing to do and are just miserable people), but evidently we're never getting rid of that lot! It's okay to invade a country and murder its people, just like it's okay to harass and bully people off of social media, didn't you know?! 🙄🙄🙄 Really, how did some of these people get like this? And no, I'm not asking for their uwu backstories to redeem them LOL.

Some of these people are so insufferable that it's disgusting.

Regarding the villain discussion:

It's like I always say and you're about to hear it again: I love Ashnard as a villain because he's a villain, and he's a villain who fully embraces his actions and behavior. He doesn't think he's morally just. He's fighting for the world he believes in. He believes the strong should be on top and should rule the weak. However, he's extremely fair about that viewpoint and if he's defeated by someone because they were stronger than him, that is fair to him and he accepts his defeat. Since he believes the strong should be on top, he believes he should be on top... until someone comes along who can slay him, in which he believes they do deserve to be on top. If he's bested, he no longer deserves to be on top. He's a fantastic villain who never makes excuses and doesn't go back on what he says he believes. There's no "the strong should be on top but only as long as I'm the strongest and will be ruling". Plain and simple, the strongest should be on top whether it's him or not, and he's not, I guess you could say, "fake" about it.

Then you have Hopes Miklan who turns out to be a better person than people gave him credit for. He's someone I always had headcanons about based on Dimitri's take on him being disowned. I felt that he could've been a better person if pointed in the right direction and being told and shown that he was capable as a person even without a crest and that having a crest doesn't dictate whether he's useful or not. Dimitri put him in charge of a massively important, and arguably the most important, area of defense in the entire country. He proved he believed that Miklan had the strength to handle that and proved that he believed if Miklan had a better life and situation in front of him that he wouldn't resort to banditry. The thing is, he was right. Miklan not only started becoming a better person, but he even gets a line where he basically says he liked helping the people in a place that got destroyed in the war. He liked helping them rebuild.

Both of those are fantastic stories and characters. One of them had a redemption arc while nobody ever let any bullshit slide. He wasn't allowed to slip up or get away with any tiny "mistakes". It was literally do or die, but being forced into that situation did genuinely make him a better person. Even if he had to be forced to help them, it's not like he didn't come out on the other side and be better for it. Being forced to do those things didn't mean it just stayed that way and that he was hateful and angry that entire time.

Then one of them is just... a villain. A perfectly written villain who lived and died as a villain. Nobody made excuses for him and he didn't make excuses for himself. There's a reason I don't like Zelgius, and it's not that I think his character itself is terribly written, but it's the forced redemption that he didn't earn that makes me not enjoy his final arc. In contrast, what does Sephiran get? No redemption allowed from Ike until he gets up and proves he's willing to redeem himself. Zelgius could've easily been a character made to earn his redemption, such as being a playable character and having supports to flesh out his new arc, or even just being a story only character who protects and saves the main characters (besides Just Micaiah tee em) and maybe even guides them safely to the Tower of Guidance (no pun intended). Instead he just gets to say he admired his teacher and had a sad backstory so suddenly... nobody is mad anymore. Certainly not Tibarn, who had like 50+ percent of his nation wiped out, that being any able bodied man who could fight besides the ones who were lucky enough to be with Tibarn's fighting force at the time all that happened. 🙄

#DCB Ask

[diana-bookfairchild]

@flufftober Day 23: POV Outsider

5+1 Times Someone Thought Harry Potter’s Family Situation Was Suspect

1.

Sally didn’t want to be a single mother at 20.

That’s the thing none of her family understands: she had sex, of course she did, she’s a teenager. How is it her fault she’s part of the miniscule percentage for whom birth control fails?

And now she’s stuck in this godawful place where literally everything is identical. Little Whinging is a very accurate summarization of what its people – particularly the housewives – tend to do all day.

She thinks her parents sent her here just to see the oh-so-perfect families gracing the place.

Annoyed, she slammed the door and leaned against, taking in the chaos she’d made of the perfect house.

She noticed yelling outside – shouts of freak and cruel laughter. Huh. So maybe this place wasn’t as shiny as it seemed. After all, pretty houses often contained ugly people.

She peered out of the window. One of the boys – the one with the face like a rat, she observed unkindly – had the black-haired boy’s arms behind his back while the other blond was punching him. Sally considered interfering, but she doubted that would make a difference long-term. In fact, it might make it worse for the kid.

As she weighed regular beatings vs someone interfering and them getting worse, the black-haired boy twisted away after stomping on his captor’s foot. He launched a kick at one of them and punched the other – though not the one punching him, Sally noted frowning – and ran off.Resourceful kid. That would serve him well.

She thought for a moment.

“Hey kids,” She said. “Off the lawn.” She nodded at the black-haired boy, the one being punched. “You, stay back.”

Likely assuming that he was in trouble, the others smirked and ran off without a protest.

The boy scowled. His eyes are beautiful, Sally couldn’t help noticing.

“Yes Ma’am?” He asked politely.

Sally studied him. “Come on in,” She said. “I have ice for your nose.” She could feel the boy’s surprise as he followed her. “I didn’t want to interfere,” She said. “Should I have?”

“No,” The boy said with certainty. “That would’ve made it worse.”

She gave him an iced pack of peas. He flinched like he knew what was coming, and held it to his nose with a long suffering look. He was clearly used to it.

“You should tell your parents about this,” Sally noted mildly. She knew kids like that didn’t take to stuff like that well.

The boy gave her a deeply amused look. “My parents are dead,” He said without hesitation. “But thanks for the concern.”

Sally felt a deep shock. She knew orphans existed, of course. But they always seemed like something other, never something that affected her. She was so used to complaining about her parents –“Well, what about your guardians?” She said.

The boy considered her. “You saw the one who was punching me?” He asked. “The fat blond one with the face of a pig?”

Sally had to stifle a laugh. “Sure. Why?”

“He’s their son. And they’re more likely to reward him than punish him for this.” He gestured at all of himself. “Thanks for the ice Miss--?”

“Hopper.” Sally said, unable to understand all the implications of that at that moment. “Sally Hopper.”

The boy smiled. “Thanks, Miss Hopper. I’ll see you around.”

Then he ran away with the swiftness of someone used to running away from dangerous people and situations.

Sally blinked. She sat down heavily and patted her stomach. “I don’t know, kiddo.” She told it. “There’s something. . . really odd about that family. The way that boy talked, how used he was to it, what he said about his guardians. . .” She shook her head, disturbed. “Wish I could help,” She sighed. “But he won’t let me. . . . I’ll see what I can do,” She promised. “And I’ll never let anything like that happen to you.”

2.

“How is he?” Hermione asked.

“No change,” Her friend replied gloomily, throwing himself into the chair sulkily. “And Madam Pomfrey still won’t let us see him!”

“It is her job,” Hermione pointed out sensibly. “And. . . . . Still no reply?”

At that, Ron’s face became serious. He shook his head. “I don’t think they’re coming.”

Hermione considered that. She thought about how Harry ate, how he always packed food from the table that Ron reported he kept under the stasis charm in their room, and how he talked about his family.

“I don’t think his relatives treat him very well,” Ron said soberly.

“Maybe.” Hermione said. “His robes don’t have nametags, you know that?”

To them, that was quite possibly the hardest proof. The rest could be coincidences – but the nametags thing? That wasn’t just abuse, it was lack of thought. Lack of any affection.

Hermione’s parents had been able to talk to her through a ‘floo call’. Which was still so cool! How did the fireplace thing even work? What were the enchantments on the floo powder? Did it make the fire unable to hurt people? But then how did the transport--?

She cut herself off.

And Ron’s parents had come in to see him because his injuries were more severe. They’d come within hours of the owl.

And Harry’s relatives hadn’t answered nearly two days after the owl.

Some of Hermione’s favourite stories and books featured abuse, but she’d never thought she’d meet, let alone befriend someone who had been in a less than supportive and unstable environment.

“I noticed,” Ron looked uncomfortable.

Something was Not Right about Harry Potter’s family.

But.

“He has us,” Ron continued softly.

“Right,” Hermione agreed, not knowing the magnitude of what she was saying, but meaning it with all her heart. “He does.”

3.

Florean Fortescue had been a witness to quite a few spectacular events.

He’d scored fairly well on his NEWTs, but he hadn’t been content with the thought of becoming a Ministry stooge. He wanted a peaceful job, but one where he would still wake up looking forward to the day and to something exciting.

The ice cream parlour was perfect.

He’d survived Voldemort’s first war, to see the dull streets blossom back to what they had been. He’d had the famous Harry Potter’s parents here on a date, when only two years before his mother’d dumped a cone on a grinning James Potter’s head. The parlour had been the place Miranda Goshawk had agonized over her first book. Where he’d driven out the Mulciber and Travers heirs for calling someone a mudblood. Which had fallen apart during the famous Diagon Alley strike after the war.

And now host to Harry Potter’s summer of teenage angst and History of Magic homework.

Florean liked the young man. Polite but cheeky, with bright green eyes and untameable black hair, smart and sincere but bored by academics, loving stories of the ancient times, and a clear talent and adoration for quidditch, he was a beautiful mix of his parents with a lovely added flavour of his own.

But he was thin. Painfully so. Florean fed him free ice creams everyday because he wasn’t sure what else he could do. And he’d run away, the rumours of the Alley said. Diagon Alley had a wonderful gossip network, which, unlike others, was rarely wrong. He didn’t talk about his relatives, at all. And he had a natural instinct for survival – he always picked a table by the wall from where he could see others clearly. And had ducked a flying plate easily without any interference or even seeing it.

Florean was certain Harry’s family wasn’t what it seemed – pleasant muggle relatives who let their foster son wander out to his leisure but with proper strictures in place.

He’d seen these signs before. He knew what they pointed to. He knew there was something worrying about Harry's family.

But he didn’t know if he was right. He didn’t know what to do.

4.

Mark hadn’t meant to piss Dudley Dursley off.

It just happened.

And now he was lying on the street, completely beaten down.

Dursley’s such a coward, he thought sullenly. You’d think he’d at least leave his bloody goons behind. At least he didn’t bring his criminal cousin.

“Easy there,” A voice came. There was a boy with a narrow face, a few years older than Mark himself, with black hair, a lithe body, and what his sister would call ‘striking eyes’. “You get up too quickly, you’ll risk worsening those.” He nodded at Mark’s injuries.

He helped him up, and it was clear that the thin frame held more strength than it looked like it did. “Where do you live?”

“Er – Wisteria Walk. Number Thirteen.”

“Right,” The boy said briskly. “Dudley and his mates should have gone to the park by now, so if we take the long route we shouldn’t run into them.”

“I could take them,” Mark said defensively.

“If you say so,” The boy said, clearly not believing him for a moment. “But you certainly can’t with those lovely bruises. Come on.”

He began walking, matching his pace with Mark’s. Unable to stand the silence, Mark said, “I’m Mark Evans.”

The boy’s eyebrows rose. “Huh. Probably a coincidence,” He muttered to himself.

“What?”

“Nothing. Nice to meet you, kid. What did you do to get Duddykins on your trail?”

Mark had to snicker at the nickname. “Nothing, really. Doesn’t take much to rile him up.”

At that, the boy smirked. “Doesn’t, does it? His temper hasn’t improved at Smeltings.”

Mark groaned. “God, my mum’s going to kill me. I’m probably going to have to miss school, and Smeltings wants a near perfect record.”

“Can’t be helped,” The boy said, though his voice was sympathetic. “D’you think your mum’s going to toss a frying pan at your head? Threaten to whip you to every inch of your life? Starve you?”

Mark stared in horror. “What? No!”

The boy relaxed. Mark hadn’t noticed, but he’d apparently tensed sometime. “Then I wouldn’t really say she’s going to kill you,”

“I didn’t meant that, well, literally,” Mark said. He sounded ridiculously stupid. The boy shrugged. “I guess it could be worse.”

His gaze grew distant. “Pretty much everything could be.” He agreed. “Except when your friend gets murdered in front of you and your parents’ killer comes back to life,” He muttered under his breath.

Mark blinked. “What?”

“Nothing. Just said that your situation could be worse too.”

“Yeah, Dursley could’ve got his delinquent cousin too,” Mark changed the subject and noticed the boy’s eyebrows rise.

“Really?”

“It’s said he goes to St. Brutus’, where he trains to be in a gang,” Mark whispered excitedly, feeling important to be the one to impart such crucial information. “The Dursleys did everything they could for him, but he’s really, really dangerous. Criminally insane. They call him crazy cousin Harry.”

“Hmm.” The boy hummed. “Sounds … interesting.” He nodded at the signpost for Wisteria Walk. Mark hadn’t noticed they’d already reached. The boy was a pretty good conversation partner. “You reckon you can make it to Thirteen without being caught up in more trouble?”

Mark’s chest puffed indignantly. “Can too!”

“Okay,” The boy said, sounding amused. “See you around, Mark Evans.”

“Hey!” Mark called. “What’s your name?”

The boy looked even more amused. “Harry. Harry Potter. Or crazy cousin Harry, you called me, I think?”

Mark blinked, unable to comprehend.

The boy laughed and then turned around and walked off, whistling.

As his mum scolded and fussed over him, Mark couldn’t help but wonder.

The utter derision Harry had had towards his relatives, the brisk kindness he’d shown Mark, the mocking familiarity he’d talked about Dudley with – and most of all, the questions he’d asked about his mum.

He couldn’t help an uneasy feeling that something was very wrong there.

5.

Sirius Black was losing his mind.

He hated being back here, his childhood prison. He hated everything about the place.

Harry being here and helped, mostly, in the summer, and in December before Christmas, but now. . . .

He didn’t know. He liked locking himself in with Buckbeak. Buckbeak liked food, sleep, respect, freedom and him, Hagrid and maybe Harry. Completely uncomplicated.

Better than the memories that rose with every step he took in this godforsaken house. His mother’s ghost wasn’t limited to the portrait – her shrieks at him and Regulus echoed through his mind, replaying over and over from his childhood. Bella’s insanity. Cissy’s whininess. Father’s coldness. The beatings. The expectations. The suffocation. The pain. And Reg, a combination of all of those. Weak, stupid, clever, incredible Reg, who’d gone and gotten himself killed by the Death Eaters.

Sirius loved Harry. He’d loved him with all his heart since the moment Lily had put him in his arms, even before James had declared he was godfather.

But Harry’s eyes and jaw and face and laugh were ghosts that didn’t belong in this house. Ghosts he couldn’t bear to see.

And his manner, it brought back ghosts it had no business bringing. Abuse left its marks. Sirius had no doubt theirs was different, but there were somethings all abuses wrought.

And Sirius didn’t like it. Not one bit.

He wanted to drag Harry out of the stupid Dursleys’ house. He wanted to hex them if Harry would let him. He wanted to live with Harry in one of the Potter properties. He wanted to get custody – or at least get someone else, anyone other than his current ones, as his guardian. He wanted to show Harry the world.

He wanted to give Harry everything Sirius had been denied at his age.

But he couldn’t.

Sirius wasn’t free. Either his soul would be sucked out or he would be killed in an instant if he went outside. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

And the prophecy. The Merlin damned prophecy, which Harry still didn’t know about.

James and Lily would have killed him.

Sirius wanted so badly to have given Harry a childhood. But he hadn’t. To prove that his suspicions regarding Harry’s guardians were incorrect. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to believe that Dumbledore had let this be done to his godson. But he had to. And he couldn’t.

And so he couldn’t bear to admit that Harry’s family was one of the very worst things that could happen to anyone, let alone a child, on the planet.

+ 1.

Malantha had been living in the small town for a long time.

She liked it. Remote, closer to a village than a city, yet more developed, it had next to no dangerous things there, but still the once-in-a-while interesting occurrence.

She’d witnessed some amazing things in her long life.

Then the Potters came along.

They seemed like a normal family. Happy. The three children – four, sometimes, Teddy, Jamie, Al and Lily Lu – tumbled over one another, laughing and mischievous. Their myriad of relatives who came once in a blue moon for parties were headache inducing. The adults, Harry and Ginny, were kind, if a bit aloof.

But Malantha could feel it down to her bones. Something was up with this family.

The way the kids sometimes stumbled over their words. How they didn’t know some very obvious things. How they made up unbelievable, tall stories. How isolated the family was.

All the symptoms pointed to a very grim picture.

Malantha tried to be subtle, but that wasn’t really in her nature. Her inquiries had clearly made their way to Harry and Ginny. She tried not to be mortified, but it was hard. She set her jaw. It was needed. No child would go through anything like what she had on her watch.

“I’m sorry for my assumption,” She said after a long conversation.

“I’m glad you’re looking out for children,” Harry admitted. “And that you actually took some action. That something like – well. That won’t happen.”

The darkness in his eyes. Malantha recognized that. They locked eyes, and for a moment, they understood one another: one abused broken child becoming a functional loving adult to another.

“The signs. . . . .” She shook her head, sighing. “Maybe I was seeing things. You. . . You understand.” She didn’t say that lightly.

Harry smiled, his hand coming up to move over the strange scar over his forehead. “I do. But I wouldn’t say you were seeing things. There may be somethings off about my family, but not like that. Not anymore.”

Malantha smiled softly. “I’m glad.”

#flufftober #flufftober2022 #day 23 #harry potter #original characters #golden trio friendship #implied/referenced canonical child abuse #implied hinny at the end #canon compliant #fanfiction #fanfic #pov outsider

[witch-and-her-witcher]

not another teen fic, part one

“Here we are, Aretuza Academy.”

Ciri brushes her ashen blond fringe from her eyes. Taking in the massive, brick campus sprawling in the middle of Oxenfurt in front of her, her heart catches in her throat. The wrought iron gates at the entrance seem to be the harbingers of her new life as a regular high school student and all that implies to a teenager.

She turns back to her parents. They’ve just accepted research positions at the University of Oxenfurt, finally hitting big with the work they’ve been toiling away in Ofier the last decade to accomplish.

Yennefer, regal even when she was constantly sweat drenched and donning a boonie hat, looks perfectly in her element within a city with her designer scarf stylishly poking out of her black peacoat and thigh-high black leather boots elongating her frame.

Always her mother’s perfect opposite, Ciri’s dad, Geralt, hasn’t changed from his edgy, casual professor attire he maintains in any temperature. Shoulder length white hair pulled half up, wire rimmed glasses endearingly slightly crooked, unbuttoned top layer of a flannel rolled up to his elbows to reveal the large, snarling wolf’s head tattoo on one forearm and a beautiful raven holding a purple lilac in its beak on the other.

“Try not to reveal right away just how well you’ve been educated by your parents up ‘til now, hm?” Yennefer says with a wink, taking her daughter’s hands in her own and giving a gentle squeeze. More nervous for the separation than Ciri herself.

Geralt doesn’t hesitate to pull her into a bear hug. “Don’t listen to your mother. Blow them away, kid.”

“Ugh, Dad! Someone will see,” Ciri says, feigning embarrassment and pushing away to restraighten her uniform.

There is a steady stream of similarly uniformed students milling in the front courtyard of the school and entering through the gates. Ciri can feel the prickle of their curious gazes. Drink it up, she can’t help but think in challenge. Neither parent has raised her to back down from a new experience, no matter how active the butterflies in her stomach.

“So dashing,” Yennefer comments. They were both supportive of Ciri opting for the trouser uniform bottom instead of the strongly suggested skirt for female students.

Geralt’s gaze narrows on a few of the groups of students. “Are these kids really highschoolers? They look like grown adults.”

“Oh, hush, it’s just selective breeding and mummy and daddy’s lush bank accounts giving them the appearance of maturity." Yennefer hooks her arm in Geralt’s before he’s tempted to question a few of the closer, unsuspecting youths. “We should be off to our first day as well, dear.”

Ciri grins. “Don’t let the big kids pick on you!”

“Don’t do drugs,” Geralt calls back as her mother drags him away. Yennefer knows she must rip the band aid.

Smiling after her doting parents, Ciri takes a moment to breathe deeply, before placing her hands securely on either strap of her backpack and turning to face the gates again. Taking her first steps into Aretuza Academy, Ciri reminds herself she’s a nobody transfer student and not everything is as dramatic as a teen movie.

And then the most beautiful, well sculpted teenager she’s ever laid eyes upon steps into her path. Jet black hair tucked behind a pointed ear, sharp green eyes looking her up and down in cool assessment, and perfectly white, straight teeth shining in a half smile (maybe a snarl?).

“You must be the new girl we’ve heard so much about.”

-----

this is all @something-more‘s fault XD

#not another teen fic but actually it is #self indulgent mini series #witcher fan fic #high school AU #ciri #geralt #yennefer #my writing

[mostly-mundane-atla]

why are you writing targaryen level stuff for the fire nation royalty within your headcanons? even if its subtle, isnt that a magnet for controversy?

I appreciate your concern, but if anyone tries to twist my words for the sake of starting drama, I block them and let them be someone else's problem. I'm pretty open about this, as well as my policy of willingly tagging for any specific content that isn't thematically significant in the show. Topics like rape and incest i've tagged from the beginning without any input because I know how sensitive people can be toward them and wanted them to be easily avoidable. I typically keep posts with those and other, less family friendly topics, off the main tag. If that one jinko blogger i had to block for her immature behavior found my post headcanon'ing her favorite character as a sex worker in a neutral tone, it wasn't my fault she found it. I deliberately kept it off the main tag and tagged the post with a content warning. She wanted to be a brat about it, so she got blocked. So did the blogger who yelled at me for wanting Ursa to be a "perfect victim" because i liked the character written in a way they didn't like. So did the one who claimed i hated autistic people because i called Zuko unpleasant by Inupiaq standards. With any luck i blocked all the little cretins who would want to throw a bitch fit over my posts.

Also, i'm not actually writing Targaryen level stuff for Fire Nation Royalty, and if you came here expecting that, i'm sorry to disappoint. I've written the Fire Nation royal family having a few first cousin marriages, spousal and child abuse that status as royalty allows, and an occasional addiction; nothing about siblings going at it, cheating on each other with other siblings, executing prisoners by mass immolation, cheating on siblings with cousins, brutally raping sibling spouses, being consumed by religious fanaticism [yet, perhaps in the future], slitting their wrists on the throne (allegedly), and especially not girlbossifying colonialism at the hands of teenagers. Someone's probably writing it if that's what you're into, but that someone isn't me.

I don't even write regular smut because i find detailed sex scenes kinda boring. The most you're gonna get here is like, light petting and vague descriptions of sensation and emotional reaction between non-related persons. Sometimes one partner is pushy, sometimes money is involved. Spring Awakening level stuff. I think the spiciest thing i posted was Mai leading Zuko (both written as adults) on a leash and stopping the scene when he got triggered and was too out of it to say his safeword and then helping him through the trauma response. I think he was mentioned to not be wearing a shirt and she covered him up so servants bringing tea wouldn't see him topless because he's a prude like that. Nothing really Targaryen level.

#response #rape mention #incest mention #suicide mention

[roseunspindle]

The New Gods

Zues goes too far, his incessant need to ignore everything until almost too late, his “I make the rules, even when I don’t but am not going to abide by them myself”. It comes to a head, when many new children at both camps, often the unclaimed ones, but even some who are, start making offerings to Percy. It’s slow of course but increases over time. Percy complains to Grover first, about the weird buzzing in his head...and sometimes he ends up going to help out a nymph or naiad or demigod that he doesn’t know how he knows about.

It’s Annabeth who sees it though during a study/make-out session and freaks out. His veins have begun to glow. They do a cut test (via literally just cutting Percy) first attempting it with a regular knife (just to check) and when that won’t work they use a celestial bronze dagger. There is a little red still in his blood, but the golden ichor is fast taking over.

A very, very panicked call (Iris takes it at lightning speed) to his father and then a very fast pick-up via shadow travel courtesy of Nico has Percy at camp half-blood, being stared at much to closely by Mr. D.

“Hmmm”. Is the wine gods first (unhelpful) statement. (turns out yep, percy is becoming a god, via his own power and the prayers and sacrifices of the ones to whom he has already become who they pray to) 

Apollo, who had come down to visit his kids admits that he had slightly gotten used to sending some “thoughts” to Percy during his human time and may have continued later, partly a “what would percy do” and also “percy what do I do” which the universe had apparently opted to also interpret as prayers. 

Hestia is next, appearing in the hearth and warns that Zeus has found out.

A war does not come, but a dethronement does, as Zeus has faded greatly in pretty much everyone’s eyes, his children were dead or dedicated to another god, he could barely remember them, his ignoring of all, Hera’s kidnapping and memory erasing and her “family values” had also stunted her, and prevented people from praying to her.

(annabeth does not want to be an immortal and so she and percy sadly part)

Percy banishes Zues (now the god of infidelity and broken oaths and faith) to the same island Heracles is on.  Hera simply retreats, now the goddess of “traditional marriage and perfect family” it does not make her happy.

Percy makes it a rule now, that each god will serve a summer as camp director at each camp, himself included.

Camp-halfblood is nervous at first, particularly Ares and Athena as what will happen to their cabins? Turns out all it is, is that they move to the end with the newer minor gods cabins as space empties for the new cabins of new gods. Zues and Hera’s cabins aren’t destroyed, again just moved, though they become much smaller and zues’s has a lot more beds in it now. Ready for the large flood of demigods sure to come. 

As powers rose and settled, a new order came. 

King of the Gods (Lord of the Sky (every time he flies, he thinks of Jason)) god of demigods, god of loyalty, god of divine oaths, riptides, fault lines, compassion, responsibility) - Percy (you can’t be the king of the gods and still be “percy”... “watch me”

Queen of the Gods - Hestia, Goddess of the hearth and home, hope, family and marriage (it is a new dawn and home and hearth are important things now, and Hestia is done with being an eternal celibate)

God of the Underworld - Hades (Hades is, pleased by this change as Percy sees no reason to not let him have a place and say on the council and doesn’t look down on him, it’s annoying that it’s a literal teenager who take the throne but you can’t have everything)

God of the Sea - Poseidon (look, he hadn’t been sure his kid would live past 12, now he gets to enjoy his domain, enjoy at least being the father of the king of the gods)

God of Wine and Madness - Dionysus (it is entirely possible he will actually call Percy by his correct name now. Maybe.)

God of the Sun (etc.) - Apollo (pouted that he didn’t get to be percy’s “queen” to which percy had to roll his eyes a lot.

Goddess of the Moon - Artemis (she’s happy as percy made going after he huntresses and actual olympus level crime, (well going after anyone who said no)

Messenger God - Hermes

God of War - Frank (his extra power gave him a boost to deification, and the overall thought of war had changed from Ares bloody minded self important violence, to a “I will fight if I must, I will kill if I must, but there is no glory in it” Ares still was a god of (his kind) of war but he’s not THE god of war anymore. Frank is a bit upset as he tried to point out he was roman, and percy was like “dude I really don’t think it matters”

Smith God - Hephastus

Goddess of Love - Aphrodite (aphrodite thinks this is a new an exciting chapter in percy’s love story and hestia is part of it, delightful!) Also Ares has more time to spend with her now that he’s been demoted.

Goddess of Wisdom - Reyna (Athena abdicated her throne, feeling she belonged to Zues’s era of the council) (Athena had thought another goddess or something would gain her domains, only instead the instant she renounced her role, Reyna got to go zipping into abrupt goddess hood to her shock and annoyance)

Goddess of the Harvest - Demeter (she brarely reacted to the change, now ranting at percy about humans instead of Zues. She is happier though, as Percy has actually begun to do something, not wipe them all out, but at least he actually listens to her (even if he doesn’t get enough grains)

God of the Wild - Grover (he gets a power boost via Percy’s ascension and becomes a genuine god of the wild and percy just opts to add a 14th throne to olympus to Grovers embarrassed delight and horror) 

Goddess of Wealth and Magic - Hades gives Hazel his more roman domain, so as to prevent her from being separated from Frank and Hecate, still smarting from being defeated in the titan war, looses her place as goddess of magic to Hazel) (percy added the 15th throne so that they could always hope have a tie breaker vote (his)

#new gods #percy jackson #kind fic thing #fanfic

[cockatrice-writers-guild]

There’s Always Bigger Fish

Warnings: swearing, animal death, blood, an injury that’s somewhat detailed

Everything had been so great before it all went wrong.

He could still remember the scene vividly. It had been a wonderful day and he was out near the surface, a rare delight, swimming with his family. The sun shone through the water, creating patterns of light that danced over them all as they swam. He remembered finding the scene beautiful; his family members calling to one another playfully, some even jumping out of the water to show off to others. He had been tempted to join them but then he was content with just watching too.

It had been perfect.

And then he saw it. In the distance, a vessel. He heard the humans call it a ‘boat’ once. He wasn’t alarmed by this. He knew that humans sometimes liked coming out on the ocean to watch his family for awhile before moving on. He also knew the effect he happened to have on humans so he figured it would be best to stay out of their way until they left. He warned his family of the boat before moving just out of sight.

The boat approached as usual and stopped near his family as usual. But something was off. He didn’t know what at first but then it hit him. Usually, when the human’s boat was so close to them, he could hear their voices, joyous and excited and loud, travelling easily through the water. Voices that weren’t present now. Just a few low tones speaking solemnly to each other.

But then, almost as if to make up for the lack of noise, a bang sounded. Loud. Much louder than the usual excited voices of the humans.

And he caught a glimpse of something. Something that caught the rays of the sun as it flew. Shiny. Fast and true. Toward his family. And then

Red.

-

Eito Ichikawa loved his daughter. Really he did. She was smart and had done reasonably well in school considering how much time she spent who knows where doing who knows what. She was independent and could handle herself in most situations. She never went through much of a rebellious phase as a teenager, though she did eventually dye her hair. She did her chores without him asking her to most of the time and she never even got swept up in the dating craze he’d been dreading since the day she’d been born.

Or at least that’s what he thought. Now though, he had to reconsider. A few weeks ago, Machiko had been fired from her job as a marine biologist for constantly destroying equipment. And when he’d asked her about this, she’d said it had not been her fault at all, but that of ‘those damn fairies’.

Fairies.

Which brought up the other thing about his daughter. Though he loved her and she was the best kid a single father like him could ask for, even he had to admit that she was a bit…eccentric.

From a very young age, Machiko was stubbornly insistent about one thing and one thing only; that mythical creatures not only existed, but she saw them on a regular basis, a belief that she’d unfortunately carried well into her adulthood.

He had never really been sure how to deal with it. He tried humouring her at first, but it only seemed to frustrate her whenever a piece of evidence she wanted to show him ‘magically’ disappeared. Later, he tried correcting her, telling her that myths were just that. Myths. But that only seemed to strengthen her resolve. Eventually, he just grew indifferent to it, hoping one day she’d just grow out of it. That had evidently backfired, as Machiko was now 23 and still had a habit of rambling about creatures in longwinded conversations Eito could barely keep up with.

Sometimes he wondered if he had made the right choice. Machiko never seemed to have any friends, perfectly content with going out on her own for hours on end. Was he a bad father? He wasn’t sure. Machiko seemed to still like and respect him so surely he was doing something right. Right?

Returning to the point though, ever since Machiko had been fired from her job, she’d been spending way more time out of the house than usual, and that was disregarding the hours she already put into her new job. Sometimes, she even came back home smelling like she’d just stepped out the wrong end of a fish market.

Now, for better or worse, Machiko had always been, in her own way, painfully honest with him. But he couldn’t help but think she was hiding something from him. And naturally, his mind immediately went to the worst possibility: she was dating someone in secret.

Did she not trust him? Or was the person she was dating some no good punk that would drag his precious baby down the path of evil?

He had to find out for himself. Which was why when he was typing up an email to a client and heard footsteps make their way down the stairs, he couldn’t help but tense up.

“Dad? I’m going out,” a voice called from behind him. Machiko. No doubt on her way to go visit that no good-

“Going out? But it’s Saturday,” Eito replied nonchalantly. “I thought you get the weekends off?”

She regarded him passively. “I do, dad. I’m going to go hang out with Taro for the day. I’ll be back before dinner.” He swore she was testing him.

Eito tapped his fingers on the desk before turning his chair around to face her. “Remind me, please. Who is Taro again?” He asked tentatively.

Machiko put a hand on her hip, the other one already occupied with a tote bag. Her expression turned tired. “He’s a mermaid…merman? Well, I personally think he’s really more of an extremely rare subspecies of mer. I’ve never seen anything like him before and yadda yadda yadda.” She said all this in a surprisingly monotone voice, having already repeated more or less the same thing to him every time he asked. She made her way to the kitchen, pulling out a container of leftovers from the fridge. “Dad, we’ve already been over this. Several times. Can I please just go now?”

Don’t you even get tired of this? Eito wrung his hands nervously. “It’s just that…look, you know you don’t have to hide anything from me right? That I’ll always love you no matter what?”

“Oookay.” She stuffed the container into her tote bag along with some cutlery. “I’ll keep that in mind in case I murder someone, I guess.” Then she caught herself with a sigh. “…I appreciate the sentiment, though.”

Eito knew it was probably a bad idea to push any further. And yet…. “…it’s just that if, say hypothetically you’ve been hiding something from me this whole time, like say for example…dating someone without my knowledge or permission, I just wanted you to know that I wouldn’t get m-”

He stopped at the face Machiko pulled. ”You seriously think I’m dating Taro? Dad, I already told you I’m not into that kinda stuff. Plus, he’s a mer…folk? I’m not sure he even knows what dating is. …do mer…people date? I guess I could ask him later….” She mumbled that last part more to herself than to him as she made her way over to the door and slipped on some shoes. “I understand your concern, Dad, really I do. But thanks to your refusal to ‘encourage my delusions’ or whatever, you’re just going to have to trust me on this, okay? Have I ever lied to you?”

“That’s debatable,” Eito couldn’t help but mutter.

Machiko let out a dry laugh before opening the door. “I’ll see you at dinner, then.”

“Mm.”

And the door closed behind her.

Eito sighed, a small pang of guilt in his chest in anticipation of what he was about to do. He waited until her heard Machiko’s bike leave before pulling out his phone. If she wasn’t going to be honest with him, then he was going to have to uncover the truth for himself.

-

To his surprise, Machiko had seemed to stop at a beach. He thought for sure she’d go to someone’s house or even, God forbid, the red light district. He parked his car a little ways off from the area, to not alert her of his presence, before quietly making his way over by foot.

He supposed it made sense when he thought about it. A nice quiet lunch on the beach sounded like a perfect dating idea, if not a bit stereotypical. He just didn’t know why she chose this beach in particular. From what he’d seen on the drive over, it wasn’t a very pretty location. It was small and it’s dirty sand was covered in all manner of sharp rocks and other debris. It was also sandwiched between two mountains so he could only imagine what the lighting of such a place was like. From the pictures he’d seen, not that great.

But finally, after just a few minutes, Eito found the edge of his daughters destination. The pictures really hadn’t lied about the state of the place. If anything, they barely did justice to the true squalor of it. It was lined with a myriad of dead plants, which he quickly hid himself behind as he surveyed the dump. The sand near him was almost grey and littered with assorted driftwood, rocks and slimy old kelp. It was unsightly. It smelled of dead fish. The place just radiated non-life. Far from the ideal place to have a picnic, which was what Machiko appeared to be setting up, seemingly as close to the water as she could get. She appeared to be completely alone, which ruled out the possibility of gangs…hopefully.

It was almost a sorry sight to see and Eito felt a pang watching his daughter spread a blanket over a small patch of greyish sand that had appeared to have been cleared out only moments before. She was whistling an almost painfully happy tune as she worked, the song echoing loudly off the sheer cliffs on either side of her in the relative silence of the place. Her pink coat, an almost jarring splash of colour in the otherwise bleak landscape, blew gently in the breeze and when she turned, he caught a glimpse of a wide smile on her face.

He almost felt like intervening right there and then, leaving his hiding spot among the dead brambles and proclaiming how horrible a father he must have been, leaving his only daughter on her own for so long and asking if he could join her on the blanket.

But that would have to wait. What mattered right now was his daughter’s safety. Though, if someone did turn up and it did turn out to be one of those good for nothing types, Eito was going to kick their ass.

Ten minutes passed and Eito was starting to get a bit restless. Machiko had just about finished setting up the picnic and still not a single other person had shown up. Eito was conflicted on whether to feel rage, relief or sorrow. No one had shown up. Which could only mean one of two things; either the person was a no show and Eito would have no choice but to rain hellfire upon them if they ever got the opportunity to meet or Machiko had never been dating anyone to begin with. He didn’t really know which one he preferred, honestly. His heart felt heavy in his chest but before he could convince himself to reveal himself to her and pull her into the bearhug of the century, something happened.

Machiko, after getting back up and dusting some sand off her shorts, examined her picnic. She gave it a nod before turning her attention to the vast ocean that lay just a few feet from her blanket. She watched it in silence for a few seconds before cupping her hands over her mouth, taking a deep breath and then proceeding to yell at the top of her lungs, “TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.” Seemingly satisfied with that, his daughter took a seat on the blanket and started digging into her food.

Eito must have been a horrible father. Terrible. Maybe Chouko should have won custody of their daughter. Not him. Maybe then Machiko would have been happy. And not eating alone on a filthy beach and doing whatever strange ritual this was. He had failed his precious daughter.

He watched, now beyond heartbroken as Machiko continued eating, stopping every few minutes to yell that name into the dead, silent, unforgiving depths of the sea. He was nearly in tears now. He just wanted his little girl to be happy. Where had he gone wrong?

Wallowing as he was, Eito tried to tune out his daughter’s vain cries as he started to come up with a plan to get her life back on track. Chouko had already long since cut contact with him, so the rest of his daughter’s life rested solely in his incapable hands, after all. Eventually though, Eito was exposed to a single flaw in his plan. See, his daughter had been calling into the abyss for minutes on end now. But he hadn’t anticipated the slight chance that maybe, just maybe, the ocean might call back.

And so as he was going into the financial details of a fishing trip he could take Machiko on, since she seemed to like the ocean so much, and Machiko herself had just released yet another pointless scream into the water, Eito felt no less than his heart skipping a beat when, out of nowhere, a cry was returned.

Eito felt his skin pale. The cry had been loud. It had carried effortlessly over the quiet waves and over to Machiko, bouncing off the walls of the mountains just as his daughter’s song had only a few minutes prior. It had been high pitched and was far from human. It almost sounded like something resembling whale song in a way. But with an almost unearthly tone to it. And as the last of it finished echoing off the walls, Eito found himself too scared to even move.

Evidently, the call did not have the same effect on his daughter. She had been beaming before she stood up and turned towards the ocean. She even began waving both her arms at it. “TARO!” She sounded excited now. And that blood freezing call sounded again. Like it was responding to her.

And to make matters worse, Eito saw movement from the ocean. Far from the shore, though he couldn’t gauge how far, something surfaced. If he didn’t know any better, Eito would have almost mistaken the shape for a human head.

And then, almost as if to prove some kind of cosmic point to him, as the head shaped thing started approaching, Eito started to realize just how far away it must have been when it first surfaced.

Because that thing was massive.

It wasn’t even halfway to the beach yet and, as it revealed more of itself from the water, it was already starting to tower over Machiko. And the closer it got, the more of it he could see. What appeared to be a very human, if not gigantic, torso. Dark purple skin. Slimy black hair. Strange fin-like ears. Fangs so long they were sticking out of its mouth. But its eyes were by far the worst. An almost electric blue with slit black pupils. The whites of its eyes weren't even white. They were black. And both were fixed solely on his baby as it approached. His daughter. It was approaching his daughter. That realization alone was more than enough to override his fear. He could start making up for being a shitty father now. By saving her from the cold hands of this monster she’d somehow managed to attract the attention of. If he could just manage that then…maybe he wasn’t such a bad father after all.  

Not even taking a moment to dwell on what he was about to do, Eito charged through the dead branches and sprinted for his daughter. The beast hadn’t reached the shore yet and hopefully it couldn’t follow them onto the land. His feet caught on branches as he ran. Tripped over rocks. His heart pounding and his legs beating into the dirt. The monster getting closer with each and every step. His gaze focused on his daughter and his daughter alone.

And he’d rather die than let her fall into the clutches of that monstrosity.

His approach evidently hadn’t been subtle because when he was just a few steps away, Machiko suddenly turned to him.

And a smile dropped from her face. “Wha- Dad?”

Eito figured she was probably in shock so he grabbed her by the hand and pulled, only to be met with resistance.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” She sounded confused, almost exasperated as she stood her ground. As the massive beast drew nearer and nearer.

He pulled a little harder but his daughter wouldn’t budge, stubborn as always. “Machiko, please. We have to get out of here! That…that thing is going to be here soon and-”

“Dad,” she interrupted, her voice even. “Calm down, okay? Look, I know what this looks like but please just trust me. Please.” She studied his face before pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand and letting out a huff. “Annnnnnnnd you’re terrified! Uh, why’d you have to pick today of all days to spy on me? I could have eased you into all of this but…” she dropped her hand with a sigh, “I guess now’s as good a time as any.”

Having said that, she turned back to the monster that was now looming over them both. Or at least, she tried to with Eito’s death grip still on her hand. A sharp panic started to overwhelm him as his eyes travelled up and up and up the wall of deep purple to see the monster’s eyes now fixed on him.

Eito found he was having a hard time breathing.

Machiko wasn’t safe. Not here.

“Okay.” Machiko began speaking nonchalantly, as if they weren’t seconds away from death. “So, Dad…this i-”

Not willing to take for granted the time the monster had wasted simply watching them, Eito cut Machiko off, pulling her away from the beast with a terrified new burst of strength and breaking into a run. Mercifully, he felt her tow along with him this time and ignored all her protests. He could get an earful of it later, when they were both safe.

But the sense of victory that had risen within him when he saw how close they were to the edge of the beach quickly diminished when, with a jolt, he heard Machiko cry out in pain. A cry that, just a few seconds later was easily drowned out by a new cry, one that was most definitely a roar; a hissing screech that was so loud Eito felt his bones rattle. Turning, he saw his daughter sprawled out on the ground. Tears in her eyes. And a chunk of rock now embedded in her leg. Blood was already starting to pool around the gash, trickling down the side of her calf and into the sand below.

Behind her, the monster had lowered its head to the ground, baring its fangs, its eyes looking furious. The scent of blood seemed to have excited the sick creature and the sight of it was beyond terrifying. As he watched, the monster reared up and slammed one of its clawed hands into the ground, shaking the earth and almost knocking him over before letting out another ear piercing shriek. Everything inside him was screaming to run. That they needed to get out of there now.

Machiko, having already wiped the tears out of her eyes, was simply watching the beast. “This isn’t going well,” was all she could say, her voice just as level as it had been before. Eito was now fully convinced that she probably couldn’t even begin to process what was happening. Which left it to him to save them both. Eito stepped forward and pulled her to her feet before she could do anything drastic. He slipped her arm over his shoulder and tried to walk forward only to be met with resistance yet again.

Thinking that maybe Machiko’s legs got caught on more debris, he turned and saw, to his absolute horror, that she was instead fully suspended in the air. Somehow, somehow, the beast had managed to grab hold of one of her legs. It was trying to take her from him.

Eito pulled with all his might, hands slick with sweat already starting to lose their grip on her. He dug his feet into the ground, tightened his grip and pulled even harder. Desperately. “LET GO OF HER!” was all he could think to yell at the creature in his hysteria. But he might as well have been yelling at a brick wall because, with a quick jerk of its hand, Machiko was cleanly pulled from his grasp, leaving her hanging upside down in the air, dangling like a ragdoll between two of the monsters fingers. This gave him the opportunity to get a good look at her face, which was somehow more perplexed than anything else, before the monster carried her upwards.

Eito watched, tears starting to well in his eyes, as the beast carried his baby up to its eyes and looked her over, probably examining its new prize. Eito found he was running out of options far too fast. Still, there was one thing he hadn’t tried yet. There was no guarantee it would work but…he sucked in a breath.

“Please,” he begged, all ferocity in his voice gone, hoping against hope that deep down the beast would have some shred of sympathy, “please, she’s my daughter. My daughter, do you hear me? She’s all I have. She…” An idea came to him and he balled his hands into fists. “T-take me instead. If it’s a human you want, then take me instead of her. Just please, please let her go.”

For a moment, the beast simply glared at him in silence as if conflicted and for a second, Eito felt just the faintest flicker of hope.

He slowly held out a hand, almost as if beckoning it. “Please.”

But as luck would have it, the monster simply let out another noise, this one long and low and guttural, almost like a warning, before turning sharply and diving back into the ocean. He could just make out his daughter’s voice as she quickly plummeted towards the water.

“WAITWAITWAIT! TA-”

And then the beast was gone, dragging his daughter down with it.

-

-

-

The boat had long since left after the display he’d put on, leaving him and his family alone yet again. But it was far too late by then. He had pulled out the shiny thing that had pierced one of his sisters but that had only served to increase the flow of red. He didn’t know what to do.

The rest of his family, now quiet, crowded around his…he wasn’t sure what the appendages were called. In them lay his sister. And though just a few minutes ago, she’d been alive and well, playing and chattering on and on just like the rest of them

She wasn’t moving anymore.

-

Machiko found herself pinned to the chest of a giant mer…just mer as he rocketed through the ocean so fast she had to wonder if it was possible to get underwater windburn. Her eyes were stinging. Her leg was screaming. Her lungs were crying. The previously mentioned mer’s heart was hammering against her, fast and hard in her ears. Overall, it was just kinda loud. And painful, of course.

…still by far not the worst experience she’d ever had.

Taro had been terrified back there on the beach. It had been easy enough for her to tell. The wide eyes. The way his pupils had narrowed to slits. The ears pressed against his head.

The tears.

Add to that the roaring and the stamping and the making himself look big and you had yourself a textbook threat display right there. Being on the receiving end of his aggression when he was usually so passive had been an…interesting experience to say the least. But while even she had to admit it had been impressive, she simply refused to be scared by someone she’d once witnessed follow a stray beach ball around for nearly two hours before accidentally inhaling it, effectively spooking him so bad she didn’t see him anywhere near the surface for the rest of the week.

Plus, the man was a sweetheart through and through. Even when he’d grabbed her, he’d been careful not to touch her injured leg. Which was why his behavior back there confused her. She’d never seen him get so worked up before. What had he been so afraid of?

And back to her current dilemma, she’d been hoping that once Taro had calmed down enough, he would remember that his passenger didn’t have gills and take them both up but as her head started to ache, she realized that unfortunately wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. She pounded on his chest, the only thing she could think to do to gain Taro’s attention in his panicked state. Luckily, he came to a stop a few seconds later and, upon seeing her pointing frantically to her nose, changed his course. They broke the surface and Machiko collapsed into his palm, taking in huge gulps of air and coughing.

Once she’d managed to compose herself just a bit more, she flipped onto her back and tried to assess her current situation. Good news first, obviously. First of all, somehow, even after all of that, her glasses were still on her face. And her jacket, which she’d left on the blanket back at the beach still had her phone tucked away safely, so that was fine too.

Next, neutral stuff. Well, by the looks of it, they were probably somewhere in the dead middle of the ocean. She had also been completely drenched. Had. She found that the constant blasts of hot air hitting her point blank were more than enough to almost completely dry her off in seconds.

Finally, bad news. For starters, that stupid rock was still in her leg. Her dad probably thought she’d just been kidnapped which…honestly fair on his part. And to add to all that, the source of the blasts of air hitting her at a near constant rate turned out to be Taro who, now that she was looking at him, appeared to be hyperventilating.

It was a sorry sight. His eyes, wide and swimming in tears and starting to glaze over, were locked on her. His mouth was partially hanging open. His ears were noticeably much droopier than they had been before. And every once in a while his breath hitched, causing his arm, and consequentially her, to jolt with the movement. Machiko felt a pang of sympathy just looking at him.

She had no idea what had upset him so much but she knew she had to do something. And while she wasn’t the best at comfort, she at least knew a thing or two about hyperventilating. She was pretty sure he needed to introduce more carbon dioxide into his system. Unfortunately, until they started making paper bags his size, she was going to have to improvise. Something big enough to cover both the nose and the mouth like…maybe a hand?

Except, he was carrying her which meant he only had one hand available. She put a hand over her own face and took a few experimental breaths. It would have to do.

“Taro!” she called up to him. Sure, he was already looking at her but he was also panicking and if this was going to work, she needed his full attention. A few calls and some frantic waving later, the mer’s brows creased just slightly. It was enough for her. “Taro! Do this!” She showed him what to do, demonstrating a few more times for good measure. Eventually, he got the message and brought a free hand up to his face as well before breathing into it as Machiko instructed him, timing his breaths with her calls until finally, his breathing returned to a relatively normal speed.

“You feelin’ any better?”

Taro closed his mouth and blinked. Then he nodded.

Machiko heaved a sigh of relief. Taro still looked like a wreak and a half but hopefully the worst of it was over. More than anything, the big guy just kinda looked like he needed a hug or something.

She managed to pull herself up and onto her feet, hissing in pain when she put weight on her injured leg. She was about to start walking towards him to attempt to give him said hug or something but stopped when out of nowhere, Taro let out a whine, leaned forward and gently pushed her over again with his nose.

“Taro.” She exclaimed, exasperated. She tried to get up again but quickly met with the same end. She shook her head at him. “Really man, what’s gotten into you lately? What’s wrong?”

The mer just watched her in silence. Machiko almost thought he wasn’t going to respond when his eyes flicked down just a bit. Surprised, Machiko followed his gaze.

Her leg. He was looking at her leg.

She pointed at the offending appendage questionably and Taro nodded before his breath hitched again.

“Oh,” was all she could think to say. All this over such a small injur…well now that she was looking at it, she could see that it wasn’t really all that small. The rock had cut quite a large gash into her calf. She figured it would be wise not to remove it for now. It was the only thing holding back the flow after all and she didn’t think bleeding out into Taro’s hand was the best move for either of them at the moment.

“…so,” she looked up to meet Taro’s eyes again, connecting the dots. “You tried to scare my dad off because…you thought he was hurting me?”

This time he cocked his head to the side and emitted song that ended on a high note, like he was asking a question.

“Which part confused you?”

Taro held up his free hand, his fingers folded so only the thumb and pinky were sticking up. Machiko counted the words of her previous sentence on her own fingers until she got to the sixth one.

“Dad?”

Taro nodded and Machiko made an educated guess.

“Yeah, that was my dad. He…I don’t know. I guess he followed me to the beach. He was rambling about dating or some-,” she paused, “…wait do you know what dating is?”

Taro blinked and shook his head.

Suck it, Dad. “Oooooh boy. Um…so…it’s kinda like…when…see, when people fall…fall in lo-” she frowned. “…actually I’ll get back to you on that. What were we talking about again…? Oh right, so anyway, he followed me to the beach and I guess when you showed up he freaked out or something. Tried to drag me away but, well you know what the place looks like. I could barely keep up with him and I wasn’t really looking where I was going and…yeah. Cracked my leg open like a damn watermelon.” She cringed a bit at the analogy. “And then you started freaking out and you scared the tits off my dad and you…,” she frowned, “…you really did all that because you thought I was in danger?”

Taro nodded.

Machiko was a bit conflicted. On one hand, the fact that Taro had gone apeshit just to get her out of what he thought was a life or death situation was downright heartwarming, honestly. He really cared about her. But on the other hand, she could only imagine what kind of hoops she’d have to jump through when they got back to convince her dad to let her keep seeing him. Or really just let her leave the house ever again.

Still, she smiled at him. “Thank you, Taro. I really really appreciate what you did back there but…it wasn’t my dad’s fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, really. It was just an accident, you know? He hadn’t meant to hurt me. It’s liiiiike…oh! Like that time you accidently destroyed my submarine! You hadn’t meant to do that either. Stuff just happens sometimes.” She paused. “…thanks for bringing me back to the shore that day, by the way.”

Taro let out a long, low song.

“Ah, don’t feel bad about that. That was on the fairies. But you get what I’m trying to say?”

He nodded but didn’t seem any less tense than before.

“The leg?”

He looked away.

Machiko sighed. Standing clearly wasn’t an option here but neither was not closing the distance between her and Taro. After some thought, she began dragging herself towards his looming face using her non injured leg and hands. This caught Taro’s attention and he watched her curiously until she reached the edge of his palm and dangled both legs over the side. Then, she beckoned for him.

He hesitated but, seeing that her injury was out of the way, eventually brought himself closer. As soon as his face was within reach, Machiko reached out and started stroking the bridge of his nose.

“Taro, I’ll be fine,” she murmured softly. “You don’t have to worry about me.” Then she smiled. “I mean come on! It’ll take more than some unwanted leg piercing to put Machiko Ichikawa out of commission!” She flexed one of her arms for effect. “A stupid rock is not going to do me in. I’m wayyyy tougher than that! ...so don’t worry about me, okay?”

Taro bumped into her affectionately and let out a short burst of high pitched song.

“Yeah see, that’s the spirit!” She wrapped both her arms around his nose and rubbed her cheek against it.

And as they stayed there, Taro eventually starting to purr from the physical contact, the actual severity of the situation slowly started to dawn on Machiko.

“…shit, what if he calls the cops or something?” she muttered, face still pressed to the now vibrating colossus. “And when he finds out this whole thing was just a huge misunderstanding…oooooh Dad’s gonna kill me.”

Taro let out another whine and pressed into her.

“It’s a figure of speech!”

-

Eito was a little overwhelmed, to say the least. Having just gone through the grief of losing his one and only daughter to forces far beyond his control or even his understanding, getting ridiculed by the very authorities he’d tried to ask for help, and then getting hit by the stark realization that he was now truly alone in this world, the scene that had unfolded before him was just too much.

For as he’d stood, frozen, the very monster that had heartlessly stolen his baby had returned from the depths, deposited his still alive and well daughter back onto the picnic blanket, emitted a long string of off-whale noises and was currently face down on the beach in front of him.

Machiko, alive and well, watched the scene calmly from her spot on the blanket. “Taro says he’s sorry for scaring the shit out of you,” she stated nonchalantly, digging into her half finished meal. “He’s being a little dramatic about it though.”

Eito Ichikawa, master of none, respected businessman and father of one, fainted.

#writeblr #original writing #original story #Machiko and Taro #ocs #the rooster crows

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Idea: Taking out the trash.

sO - inko runs a contract cleaning business, specializing in quirk mishaps, but does anything they get paid for. izuku has been helping forever and is why it specializes in quirk mishaps

Inko was on a job and she’d brought Izuku with her, and the was having a quiet freak out about how to get all the quirk goop off the floor because it turned into a rock whenever she poked it and Izuku was just like “Mum, its a non-Newtonian fluid, either water it down or dry it up” and Inko was like Oh! i smell a niche market. Inko’s business is the only group that specializes in that area, and thats the reason she has employees now rather than it just being her and Izuku 

Among er regular staff she has two very nice down on their luck older teenagers that no one else would employ. It’s not Dabi’s fault he’s all scarred up! Nor is it Toga’s that her stare is a little intense. Really, the discrimination these days!

but, they take advantage of the fact that no one pays any attention to cleaners. 

thats right! inko runs a crime group that are also janitors

you need them to steal something? sure. you need them to clean up something 'messy'? sure! you need info from a high-security building? izuku or toga will grab a mop and go get it for you

Inko's sense of morality is. Fluid. She married and had a child with All for One knowing the man was a villain - but then she found out about the Child Nomu and well - she hadn’t really had to have an opinion on killing kids before because she’d never been asked to. but now, with her little boy? she was Very Very Against It. She beat the shit out of her husband with a frying pan straight off the stove and moved to mustutafu with her 6-month-old baby. 

All for One has never been more in love. 

The cleaning gig started off perfectly legit! Inko needed work, and because Izuku was a quiet baby no one minded her bringing him along in a little baby sling. Then the wife of one of her clients asked her to nic her husband’s hard drive because she was pretty sure the man was cheating on her and the proof would be in his emails, and Inko was more than happy to help! And then the woman paid her a cut of her divorce settlement and Inko was like Huh. Crime really does pay.

she’d dabbled in crime a little when she was younger, her quirk was perfect for a little theft, or just. violently hurting creeps.

just because she's very nice doesn’t mean she won't steal all ur shit, shes only loyal to family and friends! she would commit so many crimes for family and friends though. 

anyway, izuku grows up not knowing about the side gig, until he gets an idea of it when he's 10 and sees his mum washing a truly intimidating amount of bloody linens. He compiles proof and confronts his mother, expecting - well. he doesn’t really know what he’s expecting. 

he’s not expecting her to burst into tears and hug him saying “your mama is so proud of her genius son! what a smart boy! just like your father!”

and Izuku is like. Huh. Well. 

and he says he wants in, and hes just so cute inko cant say no! her baby boy is growing up!

Izuku is unofficially the brains of the whole operation - he vets their ‘extra’ jobs and only takes the one’s he thinks are fair enough. No killing kids, no killing heroes, no killing legit great people. If you suck or you just aren’t anything special, sorry pal, you’re fair game. they do work for underground heroes as well, along with just actual villains.

they do. a fair bit of murder. and some body hiding. and crime scene cleaning. but it’s mostly theft of information. 

extras: 

Nezu has hired them multiple times, both to clean up quirk accidents at UA in above-board work, and also before he became principal to hide what he did to the labs that held him captive. 

Aizawa is aware of the crime group but he, along with everyone else, think the janitorial stuff is just a cover, and that they don’t actually do it, because what kind of criminal making bank would ‘lower’ themselves to clean bathrooms? trick question aizawa it’s not lowering yourself 

Izuku has broken into many hero offices. He wont kill them but like. He’ll steal from the dodgy ones. He’s still a hero fanboy, but some of them really suck. On that note - Endeavour’s accountants are frantically trying to work out who keeps syphoning money from their accounts. Also, someone messed with the sprinkler system and now it goes off literally every time Endeavour turns on his beard. 

Night Eye has hired them to get him info - they might be villains, but they do good work. He is. Unaware of the murder. 

All Might is just internally cheering for them. He grew up without much money and knows how badly people in jobs like cleaners or retail are treated. Like “dont do murder but also! stick it to the corporations!!!” 

Izuku still goes to UA. He’s in gen ed. All Might is eyeing him for his successor. 

#inspired by the terrible security at the place i work at #you guys are stressing me out #something will happen and then all the cleaners will be blamed #even tho we were screaming 'I TOLD YOU SO' #ANYWAY #bnha au #taking out the trash au #bnha #please grammerly correct my spelling i know its terrible

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

So do you guys remember my post about Jedi meeting their birth families and being chill with it? 

I’ve been thinking a bit - a lot, for like a year - about all the headcanons around Jedi’s biological people, and there are really only two possible cases that seem to get explored: the pure of heart, flawed but loving, desperate parents who ‘had’ to give up their precious child to the Jedi and didn’t feel they had a choice (most commonly seen from the more Jedi critical parts of the fandom, but not always), and the horribly abusive no good parents at all who gladly dumped their baby onto the Order (which appears to be the way of some Jedi fans to ‘justify’ the adoption into the Order as legitimate, which really shouldn’t be the point because adoptions are just as legitimate without abuse factoring in).

What’s kinda sad is how little we’re willing to explore all the possibilities, maybe because we don’t want to be perceived as on the wrong side of the fandom by our own pals. We all deal with just so much bad faith discourse that we smooth out any sort of human drama and nuance to try and have clear cut narratives that are so black and white that they must prevent bad faith interpretations. Jedi have to be perfect pure angels that have never done anything wrong to be recognized as good, because we’re afraid that if we write them in an interesting way people will jump on the opportunity to accuse them of all sorts of stuff.

Well, I’m tired of vanilla fics and good guys vs bad guys when dealing with purely human everyday stuff. Bad guys are for the galactic battles, the epic clash of eternal forces. When dealing with how Jedi younglings come to the Order, we can have plenty of amazing, heart-wrenching drama and warm, happy moments where all sorts of good and regular people have different goals and meet and clash without anyone being at ‘fault’ or being to blame for it. I want to see (*sigh* to write) complex, difficult situations that can’t be perfectly resolved but where people do try and everyone feels like a *person*.

With that out of the way, what about:

- the unanimously proud communities, so honored that their daughter will represent their people and traditions among the Order, wear their clothing and bear their name

- the desperate mother with proud relatives, who doesn’t want to give away her child, but feels pressured into it by well-meaning relatives. The Master feels her reluctance and tries to reassure her, but she insists that it’s fine - and it is, she wants it to be, she wants to believe it’s for the best but it’s just so hard...

- Stass Allie’s parents, who saw their niece Adi GAllia go to the Order a few years prior. Their two families are influential on Coruscant, but with Adi already in the Order, do they need to send Stass too? Will people think they’re making a grab for power? Will Stass be better off over there, with her cousin? 

- Tiplar and Tiplee’s parents. How many children do they have, besides their twins? Is it easier to let your children go when you know they will be together? Did they make the Master promise they wouldn’t be separated no matter what? Did they dress them in matching outfits, or were the Jedi the ones to come up with that?

- the teenaged single mom who cries tears of relief when she realizes her baby will have a good life

- the single dad who can’t bring himself to let his daughter go, because she’s his whole world. The Master presses, not fully understanding, because she would would give up everything for the good of her Padawan, including her relationship with him if need be. The dad still says no.

- the struggling addict parent who is glad to dump that kid (but who still wakes up at night crying, cursing the Jedi, cursing themselves - who get their life back on track for their next kid, maybe? Who meets more Jedi and is thankful after all, or who never does and stays bitter, but better...)

- the family using the adoption for clout, and the consequences for the Order PR-wise, with the younger Jedi having to let go of the bitterness and the anger

- the communities with their own customs surrounding the Force that the young Knight or the wise Master’s inexperienced Padawan struggle to grasp and accept

- the happy parents who are mildly Force-sensitive themselves but didn’t know (or did know, and expected some of their children to be sensitive too), with the Master or the Knight pondering what their own life would look like as a civilian, maybe a parent themselves, maybe giving their own child to the Order like those are doing now. Would they do it? If they could met that hypothetical version of themselves, what would they say about the life they have? 

- the superstitious, incredulous or religious parents who are just glad to get a real explanation for the floating rocks, instead of all the theories and the judging and the gossip

- the ones who are desperately poor, and so very grateful, and the younger Jedi struggling with this, wondering if that’s why they were given to the Order as well. Struggling not to judge, because they wouldn’t be happy to give up their own younglings no matter what, right? Learning to be grateful, and understanding, and compassionate. 

- the parents who decide to give their child away against the community’s pressure, finding comfort in the Jedi’s genuine desire to support them

- the siblings struggling not to feel betrayed by their parents’ choice - and the jealous ones, the proud ones, the amazed ones, the ones who were just toddlers and spend their life holding onto faded memories

And on the flipside to all of that, what about:

- the Jedi who find a baby among dead bodies, like Mace and Depa, and are so thankful they could save this one tiny light

- the Knights filled to burst with warmth and pride as the three of them get this little toddler to giggle on the way home

- the baby who has been screaming in the Force for weeks, wanting to go home, and who finally gets to feel a presence caressing his mind gently, telling him someone is coming

- the Masters who hold the little ones at night, when those who miss their old home feel lonely or sad, rocking them and singing to them

- the Jedi who have their niece, nephew, cousin, or sibling arrive in the Creche, who call their birth family to reassure them that it’ll all be okay, and yes, ‘the child will know who I am, don’t worry, we keep our names. I’ll help them along the way, I’ll keep an eye on them.’

- the Knight who shows up somewhere and experience a supersonic boom because that’s the one, this little one will be his Padawan, he knows it

- the Knight awkwardly trying to comfort the parents, but she can see that they can see that the baby has already latched onto her, and she senses their turmoil

- the Master feeling that the child won’t be suited for the life of a Jedi, and saying that, even as it’s so hard to turn away from those sparkling baby eyes and that little mental tug 

- the Padawan balancing babbling triplets on his shoulders, because they’re from a species that makes a lot of babies

- the Master-Padawan pair visiting a child a lot during the transition period, and bonding with the other siblings as well

... Just... a mess of relationships and love on all parts, with understandings being reached, people finding peace and joy, and the opposite of all that, all acknowledging that there are no bad guys here, just complicated circumstances.

#headcanons #writing ideas #jedi positivity #jedi order #jedi culture #jedi younglings #long post #very long post #meta #(ish) #sw talk

[a-sour-nectarine]

Reverse Robins AU

New au! A standard reverse au, but spicy. Here's a guide/timeline of all of their arrivals and inductions into the team!

We start with Duke! Duke Thomas, wanting revenge on Joker for driving his parents insane, talks a young Bruce Wayne into letting him join. He does have powers, though. His meta status is the only reason Bruce lets him out in the field. He is jokingly referred to as "The Bat's Signal," as his appearance means that Batman isn't far behind.

Damian is next. Sent by his mother to assassinate the possible competition for his father's inheritance and legacy, ten-year-old Damian attacks a 16-year-old Duke. That doesn't work out so well.

Damian becomes Shadow. Where The Signal heralds Batman's arrival, Shadow follows behind, tying up loose ends.

Following Damian's arrival by three years is Cass. Her story is very similar to what it is in canon, except, she shows up in Wayne Manor as an 8-year-old. She runs straight there, basically.

Cass's brothers adore her. She's probably the only reason Duke visits anymore.

Then Damian dies. And Bruce breaks.

Batman is alone. No Signal, no Shadow.

Then along comes a precocious 13-year-old by the name of Timothy Drake.

Tim forces his way into the Shadow mantle in a desperate attempt to keep Bruce afloat. It works. But Tim doesn't come alone. A girl, who Bruce has fought with before, seems to be a part of the Tim Drake package.

Spoiler joins the team. She and Tim are frighteningly competent, a perfect pair. Bruce jokes that they barely even need him.

(Bruce also wonders when he decided he would allow regular teenagers into this life.)

Stephanie, eager to get out of the shadow her father has held over her, takes on the name of Batgirl. Tim thinks the name is stupid. Bruce absolutely does not cry.

Then Damian returns. He returns from Hell to a house full of laughter and two new siblings.

(He's not entirely mad about it)

He takes the name of Nightwing.

Duke has already claimed Tim, so Damian's favorite sibling is automatically Stephanie. They aren't so different.

He's gone when she's murdered. Blown to bits by the Joker after a bond-tearing fight with Tim pushed her from Gotham. Damian can't make himself attend the funeral, but the Joker doesn't live much longer. He visits her grave only when the blood on his hands has dried.

Tim is wrecked. His best friend is dead and it's his fault. He runs. It isn't the first time. It won't be the last. Duke chases after him.

When they come back, Duke is crippled. He lost one leg at the hip and the other below the knee. Prosthetics can only do so much. He doesn't interact with his family for months.

Until a masked Spoiler-Copy ambushes him in his apartment, demanding to know who killed the Joker.

He says Nightwing did. Now there are three people who know that truth. The fake Spoiler seems incredibly angry.

Duke panics and calls Tim. Damian went dark months ago, but Tim can find anyone at any time. He will know how to alert Damian. But he doesn't. Someone is running around, leaving a trail of blood, tainting Stephanie's memory. He confronts the imposter.

It's not an imposter. It is Stephanie. And she is directing all her Lazarus-Pit-Rage at the person who drove her away in the first place. Tim himself.

Damian comes back to Gotham to try and calm his little sister.

It doesn't work, but at least she isn't trying to kill Tim anymore.

Duke becomes Oracle, unable to completely leave the team behind. They don't know how they survived without him before.

Damian finds a tiny Jason Todd, stealing the tires off the Batmobile. Jason fills the void of The Shadow left by Tim's graduation to Crimson Shade.

Then Bruce dies.

Jason doesn't believe it. The only person who agrees is Tim. They set off to find someone who can help them. That person is Ra's al Ghul.

In anger over the Tim's refusal to become the next Demon's head, Ra's kills him. Jason convinces Talia to help him, and she resurrects him with the pit. Tim returns to life with two goals: protect Jason and retrieve Bruce. Ra's al Ghul is the path to both of those things.

Jason is afraid. As soon as they have enough information to find Bruce in the timestream, he sends a copy to the JLA and deletes the original.

Tim is a little broken. His two objectives clash. He rises up in the League, until he is high-profile enough for Damian to find him.

Damian has been searching for a year. He is Batman. He's adopted a child. An acrobat's son. Steph has passed the mantle of Batgirl on to a 14-year-old Cass.

Damian confronts his mother. She is romantically involved with his 18-year-old brother. That's where Damian draws the line.

Tim, Jason, and Damian return to Gotham. Bruce has been brought back, Dick becoming his Shadow. Damian is furious with Bruce and Duke for letting that happen, he leaves.

He goes to Stephanie. Stephanie exists in the only part of the world the Bats will not touch. If they acknowledge her, they have to acknowledge that she is a criminal, a crime boss, sitting on top of an empire.

Damian joins her. It's a family business. Spoiler and The Prince of Gotham are names whispered in the alleys, criminals who hunt criminals. They use Talia's connections for their own gain. She is a terrible mother, but she is their terrible mother.

Damian balances Steph out, and she calms him down. Their existence is still ignored by the larger family.

Dick is inconsolable after Damian leaves. Bruce sets him up on a playdate with the commissioner's daughter, Barbara. They get along well, despite the three year age gap.

Barbara is smart. She notices things about Dick, and she notices things about the new Shadow.

Cass trains her and passes the name of Batgirl down, as Steph had done before.

Years later, Dick understands the implications of being a Shadow. He becomes Robin. Barbara, painting herself a comedian, counters with her own name of Sparrow.

She doesn't want to admit it, but Batgirl comes with too much baggage of it's own. It's easier to make it a joke.

#dc #dc comics #batfamily #batfam #bruce wayne #duke thomas #damian wayne #cassandra cain #tim drake #stephanie brown #jason todd #dick grayson #batman #spoiler #robin #red robin #the signal #the clone wars #nightwing #barbara gordon #talia al ghul #batkids #reverse robin au #reverse robins #oracle #ras al ghul #papayas aus

[bakugohoex]

“you come here often then?” “well considering i work here, yes”

pairing: satoru gojo x female reader

cw: fluff and language

word count: 2100+

information: the great conjunction collab masterlist by @suna-reversed

a/n: ugh yeah have fun reading this, it’s probably crap because i waffled a bit and made gojo become an idiot

summary: in which gojo can’t help but have an infatuation with you as soon as he sees you through the glass window of a restaurant, now finally meeting you he can’t help but become an unaware teenager in front of you

↞ back to jujutsu kaisen masterlist

Gojo would hate to admit it but seeing the way you swerved past the customers at the restaurant was a dance in his eyes. The way you easily carried three plates on your arms and still had a calm and collected face. Even if he was a powerful jujutsu sorcerer the ability you had to still chat to people even when you were on your knees picking up the glass one of the customers happened to drop infatuated the man.

It wasn’t like he was busy, Yuji, Nobara and Megumi had decided to go out into the city and being the responsible adult he was he tagged along. Even if he had no idea where the three had gone, he had better things to watch as he stared through the window, any person inside would have noticed him. He was almost gawking but the way they either dismissed his wide mouth or genuinely couldn’t see him was an issue they could handle.

He continued watching you speak to the customers, the black blouse hugging your form as you took another order. The restaurant seemed busy, even if it was the lunch rush, the way you easily handled it with that perfect pretty smile. How could Gojo not stare at you, with those bright eyes that filled him with a passion he hadn’t felt in a long time. Maybe it was stupid to go in, to ask for your number, he was a Jujutsu Sorcerer for one thing but the fact he didn’t even know your name would make it seem creepy.

He stook to watching through the window, occasionally going on his phone to not cause any disruption with his clear blue gaze at your form. He looked up watching how you continued to skim past customers, talk to the customers, even cooing at the babies.

Hearing a loud crash behind him, he turned to be met with the three delinquents, the three-looking confused at why Gojo had been standing all doe eyed. “What’s wrong with him?” Megumi muttered.

“He always looks like that?” Yuji was barely concentrating as some shop nearby had caught his eye.

Nobara understood where he had been looking, could see that he had seen something he wanted. Her eyes went to the restaurant seeing your form taking plates away from an empty table. “He has a crush.” Her voice was loud as the two boys whipped their heads to give a confused look, Nobara pointed through the window as both her and Yuji went straight up to the glass staring right at you.

“Get away from the window.” Gojo spoke, grabbing their collars as he pulled them away from the window. “I don’t have a crush, that’s not my thing.”

“Sure, sure.” Yuji laughed as Gojo was clearly flushed from the way his ears became red and how his voice cracked as he tried to form words.

Megumi rolled his eyes as he spoke out loud, “leave him alone, even if he did have a crush that’s not our business, and it’s not like anybody would go for him.”

Gojo turned to face Megumi with his eyebrows raised, Megumi’s tone had been calm and without any malice but the way Nobara and Yuji laughed at the comment made Gojo roll his eyes. “I liked it when you weren't here.”

They dismissed his comment as they decided to head back home, Gojo gave one more look back through the wide window. The way you move your finger to brush your hair behind your head talked with the customers. You’d just be another woman who he had never gotten the chance to speak to, another woman who probably had a life that didn’t need the disruption of sorcerers and curses.

Turning back around he walked behind them, hands in his pocket as they all hurried back to the Jujutsu High.

It had been a week since he had seen you through the window of the restaurant, the three had been sent on a mission on their own as Gojo had found himself stuck inside after the incidents had occurred. Finding boredom through texting Nanami irritable messages, he got a reply he never expected from the blond, a meeting place for lunch.

It was highly unusual for Nanami to ask for something but whatever the issue was Gojo would be there without a second question. His eyes fixated on the address which sounded so familiar, he didn’t realise where he was until he stared directly at the restaurant. The restaurant you worked out, it had to be a coincidence. It couldn’t be that Nanami knew from Nobara or the others clearly wanted to have a conversation with you.

But just as he walked through the doors, the gold bell ringing, your head beamed from the doors of the kitchen watching to see who it was. The restaurant was empty as the lunch rush had finished and the only one’s left were regulars or the mysterious white-haired man.

He walked straight to one of your tables as he went to the blond, “Y/n, I don’t pay you to talk all day.” The manager said as you rolled your eyes laughing, you shook your head as you grabbed your apron staring at the two men.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” You muttered as he shook his head, even if you brought in a lot of customers and got the highest paid tips he questioned how you had gotten the job in the first place.

You walked straight to the table, a happy smile on your face as you undid your pen and flipped the notepad open. “Hi, I’m Y/n, I’ll be your server today, can I get you any drinks to start off with?”

Gojo eyes stayed fixated on your form as you gave the two men a happy look, “coffee.” Nanami spoke as the two of you turned to face the white-haired man.

“Not…nothing.” You nodded as Gojo had paused at how close you were to him, you stared back at them as you wrote the single drink down.

“And can I get you any starters?”

You barely looked up at them as Nanami spoke out some food items Gojo couldn’t comprehend, after scribbling it down you looked up. “Always the hungry one aren’t we Nanami.”

Gojo’s face fell as he stared at Nanami who rolled his eyes, you giving a chuckle as Nanami rolled his eyes at your antics. “Gojo meet Y/n Y/l/n, Y/n meet Satoru Gojo, she’s a friend and he…”

“Was the guy staring at me last week through the window.” You interrupted as Gojo didn’t look up through his sunglasses, you could see a spec of blue come through and he looked different from last week but still the handsome guy your customers had noticed gawking at you.

“You were doing what?” Nanami questioned as you laughed at the blond staring daggers at his friend.

Gojo leaned back on his chair as he tried to replace his embarrassment with another emotion, “I wasn’t staring.”

“My customers called it gawking.” You laughed once more before beginning the walk back to get the two men food.

Gojo’s eyes stayed fixated on your form as you left to grab the food, Nanami clicking his fingers in front of the man's face. He couldn’t help but stare at your form, how pretty you looked in full view, how you laughed off his clear gawking at you and how he knew you had a pretty name to match your pretty face.

“How do you know her?” Gojo spoke after you had gone into the kitchen, Nanami raising an eyebrow before replying.

“Before I became a Jujutsu Sorcerer again, I met her here and we became friends…I do have friends, Gojo.” He muttered as he stared at the menu and what he wanted to eat.

Gojo didn’t bother staring at the menu as all he wanted to do was become friends with you, he thought you were perfect. The way you laughed was even perfect but most importantly if you could handle Nanami he would be able to get along with you easily.

“She gets people handing her numbers every day, you can’t just give her your number.” Nanami hinted as he did want to see you happy and if it meant a date with Gojo then who was he to judge.

Nanami had only picked this place after you had spoken of the weird white-haired man who had been surrounded by three teenagers wearing blue uniforms. In an instant Nanami knew who you were talking about he couldn’t help but see how Gojo would react to seeing you once again.

You came back with the food as Nanami leant back grabbing the food as he wanted to see how Gojo would ask for your number. Gojo had one thing in his mind, and it was how pretty you looked, he barely even knew you but the urge to get to know you succumbed him.

All he had to ask was for your number, that was ask for your number and he could start something with you. But the words that formed out of his mouth was not what either Nanami or you expected.

“You come here often then?”

You let out a laugh as Gojo couldn’t dare look at you, he felt like a child in front of you and Nanami was enjoying all of it. “Well considering I work here, yes.”

Gojo knew he had lost his chance as you laughed once more before walking away to go to your other tables. “That was unexpected.”

“This is your fault; I would’ve never said it if you hadn’t told me she rejects every guy who asks her out.”

“I never said that.” Nanami spoke nonchalantly as he continued to play with the food.

It seemed like the rest of the lunch was going to be awkward as you hurriedly passed their main meal before going to another table. Nanami spoke of Yuji’s progress as Gojo was barely listening, staring off into the distance. It seemed like he had ruined any chance to ever get to know you, rolling his eyes as the two of them finished their meals.

“If there’s anything else you two need just ask, but i'll bring you the receipt.” You smiled at the two before leaving once more, never to chat or make conversation just making simple cordial comments before hurrying away to grab drinks for another table.

Nanami stood up as he stretched sorting his tie out as he looked at Gojo, “It’s on you.”

He didn’t say anything else as he walked out of the restaurant giving a nod goodbye to you as you had turned to see Gojo on his own. You couldn’t help but laugh at the way Gojo’s mouth had turned downwards in anger as you passed the receipt to him.

He was cute enough and funny from what you had gathered from Nanami. His awkwardness or most likely staleness from not flirting in a while had been cute. You bit your lip questioning if you should do it, but you grabbed your notepad as you wrote down a time and place on it. Slipping it inside you walked over placing it to the side of Gojo as you gave a smile before leaving.

His eyes went down as he opened the booklet, grabbing the receipt and seeing the cost, already cursing out Nanami. Grabbing some cash he slipped it inside before he noticed the note, seeing a time and place, he turned to see you staring at him from the register.

“Really?” He mouthed as you chuckled at him.

Walking closer as you wanted to talk to him properly, “really? I can’t let an attractive guy who can’t help stare at me, walk away from me?”

He chuckled lightly as he leaned back, glasses on the bridge of his nose as you saw his crystal blue eyes. The passion and lust felt through his warm gaze as he smiled at you, “you saying I’m attractive.”

You lean forward having taken Nanami’s seat, “I guess I am.” He leans forward himself, faces a mere inch from each other as you give a light chuckle. Feeling your warm breath fan against his face, “if you’re even a second late then I will get Nanami to beat you up.”

“You wound me.” He laughs as you roll your eyes at his comment, “I would never be late for a pretty girl.”

You give one last smile before standing up with a happy glee, he watches you take the money as he takes the note. He couldn’t help but not stare at your form as he stood outside the window once more, the way you worked with customers with such love for them all. You noticed him staring as you turned to the window smiling once more.

You had acknowledged him and that was all that he had ever wanted since last week. Waving a goodbye, you waved back as he finally walked away from the store. Ready for a whole new world with you at the centre of it.

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#satoru gojo x y/n #satoru gojo #satoru gojo x reader #satoru gojo fluff #fluff #gojo satoru #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x y/n #gojo satoru fluff #jujustu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x y/n #jjk #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen fluff #sorcery fight #sorcery fight x reader #satoru x reader #gojo x reader

[mikimagines]

within summer blooms. (which taunt you.)

nagito k. / fem ghost! reader.

tags: angst, no happy ending, right person wrong time, major character death, hurt no comfort (kinda).

writting is not checked: we die like ghost! reader.

(reader is the former ultimate gardener, yes…it’s important to the story.)

small inspirations from animes you might know! (or not.) ; tbhk (mitsuba/kou and…tsukasa) and madoka magica. …mostly tbhk.

this was requested by @adelia-chan ! ☆ thank you!

—

nagito always had horrible luck.

no matter where he went, it would end in ways that nobody has seen before. it was a shame to be unlucky, but with the ways of luck, things never change, not even for the victims of despair…

yet, trapped inside of hope’s peak academy was a strange yet non surprising way he got trapped. summer break was coming sooner than expected, so most students rush to do something to celebrate on their finale exams; college exams. leaving lesser students to do all of the cleaning, which nagito was one of them. . .

and when nagito was finishing up his duties it was only him left, and everyone always forgets about him so the school was left to close for the afternoon. it was stupidly his luck, that left him in this way and staying over night might get him in trouble, so finding a way to get out would be the most important.

and to his disappointment, every door was sealed shut. not even with any of his tricks it wouldn’t work. although he did remember when he did knock down a door accidentally, due to his luck. so the student council has to make all of the doors: “nagito-proof” it makes him a weridly thankful that they could name something out of something he did.

which during his entire rant, on how thankful he is to be part of such a delight indeed, a ghost, who was actually in the middle of going to her (old) garden saw the pale-haired boy infront of the door.

you weren’t really into the fact that he was rambling into something, you just had to make sure he was ok. yet, you forgot that people have known to be afraid of ghost…which you are.

“hey, are you ok?” you replied to the boys, thoughts of respect.

and yet, you were scared.

if he gets scared like the people, who you simply need to know if that they remember correctly that it was you, their friend.

…

and if they don’t, it wouldn’t end that much well for you. especially with the stupidly naive deal you made to see everyone again, family, friends. it was your only chance, so taking it would be a final way to say goodbye.

correct?

—

it was a silent pause into nagitos thoughts. it was extremely his bad luck knowing that he is stuck inside his school, know with a ghost who is in front of him, with concern in their eyes.

“hey…hey! are you ok? the more you stare at me the more my flowers are going to wilt!” you snarled at the boy, not knowing what to do.

it was only a few minutes anyways and he finally spoke even with all the questions his head.

seeing ghosts face to face are a thing that nobody has truly seen.

yet to him, he has seen one. not only is that “unlucky.” it is truly lucky. maybe he can learn more about death more. he’s not afraid of it, maybe.

you facepalm at the boy, currently you were going to get to your garden, and now your stuck with a person who isn’t even afraid of you.

he was just shocked. your smirked for a little, taking that way, since nagito has wasted 30 minutes of your time. it would be better to do the same, yes?

and to your shock as well, he agreed to you taking him to your “garden”, unlike any other average student, example: your very own friend, they think your “garden” is truly where you are going to drag them into the same fate as you.

so they leave…well run away from you, leaving you alone, once again. is this just your loneliness, maybe just a eternal curse you will have until you truly pass on.

and for nagito, he just…agrees like a lost puppy dog that wants to know everything about you. this is a rare time that nagito has now seen in his life. which was you, a finally seen not as a scary illusion from guilt. but as a new friend.

ah, you couldn’t think that much about him, it was only your first time seeing him, and you barely had any time.

being the anniversary of your death soon and soon enough the time you truly have to go, any finally rest for another life.

finally, you went to your small garden. it was blooming more than normal, as the suns blesses with its shine and “love.” it was a easy job. it was your garden obviously, a place full of memories, a place where you could be happy with everyone.

and with nagito with you and him listening to every word your saying, it gives you happy memories. the things you truly wanted to do one last time with everyone, wouldn’t it just be so great?

“hmm…are these roses?” nagito asked during your rambling while watering your bonsai.

you put down your watering can and got ready to ramble about the flowers and the meaning of them.

until you saw nagitos bleeding finger, and was getting on your precious daisy’s, which wasn’t exceptional to you as you scolded the laughing man like a mother.

time passed fastly after that, faster than you can imagine, also you promised to get him out of the school so he can get to his apartment before his classmates start a search party.

yes, even if the barely care for him. it was still needed. no matter what. you sighed, once more you took him to the opened door from a security’s guard (which you accidentally scared.)

and waved goodbye.

—

after that fateful afternoon it was a shock to see nagito stay a little more while at the school, most thought he was up to something big, while the class just took it off as him finally getting “a touch of grass” — hiyoko.

also you both actually introduced yourselves, although you were seemingly confused on how he’s the ultimate “luck�� he didn’t seem that much lucky to you. and for you, introducing yourself as the (former) ultimate gardener was easy to figure out due to context clues.

it was slightly embarrassingly, only for you… yet nagito just clapped it off as you still being a symbol of hope.

ah, anyways…

—

it’s been about 2 weeks since the fateful day you meant with nagito. (and more importantly, the day you have to go soon.)

he was almost like a close friend, honestly. every time after-school he would come and visit you and your garden and even learned much about how plants have meanings.

yet, you were on the clock. you had been trying for months just to actually get your friends to remember you, yet it didn’t work. all you did was hurt your friends more and more with just being a ghost.

why?

because of guilt.

once someone goes, you can’t see them again, nor can’t say your true feelings or even be with them, not even a hug or a laugh.

they just, disappear. and so with you being a ghost, they think it’s their mind taunting them for not saying goodbye.

or the feeling of self guilt; like it’s their fault.

yet for nagito, he’s just so confusing never scared of anything and you know much about him even when he shows his true personality.

and yet, harm can come in many ways. horrible ways that you can’t say it. you can feel it. so why not just say your true feelings?

…

it’s that easy! right…?

—

exorcists are dangerous to ghosts.

they bring harm and fear to the ghosts and with no mercy in some ways. which brings terror and puts the ghost in ways that they are not ready to say goodbye yet;

or truly pass on,yet some are kind and want to help the ghosts. but flowers aren’t truly that perfect. no matter how kind they look.

take a example, roses. they look pretty, and yet so dangerous that it would harm the ones who dare to touch it.

it was actually the same with you and the ultimate exorcist. as she has had complaints about you in the past, an extremely confused ghost.

yet she gave you time to truly say goodbye to your friends, and of course you accepted the final days you can see everyone and try to talk to friends and family.

most would see this as a blessing, yet to your friends they truly thought you were just there to give them more grief to your death.

(they didn’t know it was truly you, so it gives them a point or two. but they are actually a little stupid..so take off a point.)

and that stupid exorcist, she knows. she knew that you were going to fail anyways and is a entire master at gaslighting you.

and today, you weren’t going to fail. one more time, just one more time!

but you failed.

again, and again.

no matter how hard or how kind you look. it never works. even when nagito tries to calm you down and even tried to talk to them, they would just find him even more scary to the experiences of seeing you.

and today.

the final day you can try to talk to them.

you failed.

you…failed.

like shattered glass, it was giving you more despair, and it gets more shattered everytime until the sunlight, the memories taunt you.

the car crash, the everything.

why…how.

it was just all over your mind, no one was their to be with you anymore, since nagito went home for the day, which will be the last day he will truly see you.

…

why?

I’ll recommend asking the exorcist.

—

note: this will be a little, uncomfortable(?) and it’s not that important to the story at least. so if it does, please skip.

it was truly a painful experience.

you couldn’t do anything about it, because she was just too fast.

all you could do was scream for no one, the exorcist had you by the heart. it was unavoidable. you couldn’t say your true feelings yet, you couldn’t say anything.

maybe, if you weren’t such a idiot and went to the flower shop that day. maybe this wouldn’t happened. maybe, you could of confessed your true feelings to nagito.

but it was way to late, way to late. like the day another person confessed to your crush the day you were going to confess and they accept the other persons confession.

they have a life together, and all you can do was sit back to watch, you could never have a happy life or do regular teenagers things anymore.

you were a ghost, after all. so maybe, it should be your turn to go. forever.

those were the words that came out of your head and the exorcists mouth while taunting you.

and yet,, soon enough.

you were finally going to rest. (not) peacefully.

the exorcist smirked at the work she has done, and left. hopefully you can finally rest.

it was only fate.

after all.

a fate, you can truly. never change, which will taunt you all the way to your final grave.

—

nagito was worried, he hasn’t seen you in a while. not in the garden or the koi pond. you just, left.

he thought for a second: we’re you truly sick of him? I mean, he does ramble a lot and he does say a lot of stupid things.

but you always listened, so why would you leave? he had so many questions that had to be answered. maybe it was his luck? or maybe just him? he has no clue.

his top priority is to find you, I mean who else is going to show him your garden and ramble about all of the flowers you have and their meaning.

he had to figure out quickly, although. maybe your old friends or maybe that exorcist you were scared of said has something to say.

he was just truly, worried. so he had to figure out, quickly. in the name of hope! (and flowers.)

—

one by one, your friends talked about you, how you were just, a sweetheart. even if you were so tough with them. you had your ways of making friends especially in that one garden you had.

the way you died was…messy to say the least, from nagitos research of you most of your friends looked near to crying.

it was a painful way to go, any you were just looking for something so innocent.

roses.

from the garden shop. but to your horrible luck, you got ran over badly by a speeding cars. (nearby people even said you looked both ways.)

and your death was something that they couldn’t change at all. it still gives them pain to that day, especially because you had a closed casket…

after the entire exchange was over, they were pretty worried out on how some random guy from a nearby class asked them such random questions.

yet nagito moved on. to that ultimate exorcist.

—

it was a small yet big talk for him, not only because the exorcist just said that they killed you, the exorcist just treated it like a simple case of a average ghost.

I would say it pissed him off, but he’s always just so calm, putting his true personality would lead to things like him being put out of school (again.)

but for you, you were truly just gone.

not a person nor a ghost.

just a concept they never existed. like, never existed, only the things you loved and liked were still their.

you truly just disappeared, you couldn’t even say anything yet for him, not even he could say anything for you as well.

—

all he can do is just stare at that one bonsai tree you have to him, it was actually your “confession” he was just too confused.

and once again, I think he would just feel deep, sadness. not that he could see you or hear you talk about plants and koi fish again.

but that you couldn’t say your true feelings.

—

nagito always has bad luck. it was something, he couldn’t stop and once again.

he has lost someone important again.

—

extra:

you gave nagito a small bonsai tree, it was truly your favorite in the entire world. you always had it with you and was your first priority. but, you gave it to nagito, it always gave you good luck when you were alive.

maybe it will give good luck to him, he deserves it more than you.

he did ask why it has roses with it.

you just laughed at him, maybe it could be something like to remember you by. if you ever go. of course.

—

authors note:

I apologize for things like not being accurate to the nagito’s character or maybe it being too boring??? I mean this took me about a hour or two.

you guys own me a reroll account/hj

- mod mikan.

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