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ms-a-z-u-l · 4 years

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The Alley (Dabi x Reader)

Summary- You meet Dabi in an alley on a regular basis until he tells you that seeing each other will no longer be possible. The only question left is: why?

Categories- Angst, romance if you squint

Warnings- Only cursing

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A/N: This one was actually already here but I accidentally deleted it. Also, for some reason Tumblr is not showing my posts with the tags and I have no idea how to fix that :,) I’m still uploading in the case some day it does and for those who can see it, thank you for reading!

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“Go back, squirt”

“Why?”

With a sigh, Dabi turned around to look at you. You had barely gotten to your recent go-to place: a secluded alley, sure to keep away any lingering and curious eyes that could see you meeting with a villain nonetheless. Since the particular day you happened to be innocent bait (that’s what they thought you were) in order to rile up the new heroes, recently graduated from U.A with the respective names Shoto and Deku (they have been around the news a lot lately along with a certain explosion hero you couldn’t quite remember his name). Their plan ended up going wrong, nonetheless. As soon as the one grabbing you got distracted, you gave him in the shin as well as harsh bite to the arm and sprinted out of there.

However, you ended up stumbling into someone, and because luck was not on your side that day, it was not a hero but one of the villains at the site. You put up your decent fight and insults you could give (he particularly remembers the one regarding how he never learned how to use a stapler) and the name of “Charcoal” you gave him throughout that day.

Regardless, after the commotion ended and everyone escaped, you were let go by him in an alleyway without saying a word. It was odd. He didn’t say a word, but looking at his eyes, you could tell he might’ve wanted to say something, so out of curiosity you kept coming back to that alley in hopes he would be there.

And now here you were. You stopped counting the times you met in that place, it was a silent agreement when to meet that overtime you could just look at his eyes and know when he’ll be there. Today was different, though, today he was more serious and hadn’t thrown any half ass comment your way that made you tick. He hadn’t made eye contact and had his back toward you.

When he had finally looked at you though, you saw it. It was something seen usually in his eyes, but it was there. Resignation, but for what it was the question.

“I won’t come here anymore, so you should stop coming here too, maybe even pretend like none of this happened”

You silently stared for a moment before opening your mouth, “But why? Did something happen? Did I do something? If you’re beginning to take my picking at you seriously, I’ll stop really, no worries” you said hurriedly trying to make sense why he wouldn’t want to see you anymore. However, you stopped talking when you saw his face harden as jumbles of words came out of your mouth. “It’s not any of that, stop babbling” he sighed again and continues, “It’s no use doing this. You sneaking in here just to talk to me, I don’t see the case anymore, besides you know it’s dangerous associating with me. You’re wasting your time and I’m wasting mine coming all the way here just to indulge you in conversations that can be forgotten as soon as we both go our separate ways.” With that, he started walking away. But of course, being you we’re talking about, you wouldn’t have that half-assed information that sounded like a way to get you to go away.

“I won’t take that shitty excuse from you. You never looked like you hated it and besides, if you were just wasting your time, then you would have never come in the first place when I first looked for you here, or the next or the next and all the times you came” you started grabbing onto his sleeve, pulling him to at least look at you, show any sign he was listening. Suddenly, you flinched. You started feeling a burning in your hand, and it was getting painfully hotter. When it got unbearable in a matter of seconds, you tried to quickly pull away, but Dabi grabbed you by the wrist and faced you. He had a cold expression, as if wanting to truly frighten you and drive you away. “I don’t give a damn what you thought all of this was. Just accept I got bored and tired of doing this and entertaining you. It’s not my fault you started getting any ideas and believe this could be one of those beautiful disgusting friendships you see on shows. This is real life, doll, and it disappoints you so bad that eventually you get tired of the shit that it pulls you to.”

All you could do was stare in shock. You didn’t want to believe any words that came out of his mouth. It couldn’t be right, he wouldn’t have stuck around for so long, he wouldn’t have actually shown even the tiniest trace of genuine interest to what you both talked about and the mirth toward your antics. It was simply unacceptable, he was actually a part you began to look forward too. And now he himself wanted to take it away. “Then I don’t care either” you said confidently, however he misunderstood. “Good, this is easier on me now, see ya never I guess-“

“I don’t care what you said. Because i don’t believe it. Even if you say you got tired and bored, I’ll still come the next day, and the day after that one, until you really get tired of it and disappear completely. And if its about me being in danger, well if was that situation that got us to meet, so I don’t care either” you stopped talking with eyes closed, but a felt a presence. Slowly, you lifted your head and he was right there with an honestly unreadable expression.

“Um, ahh- well what I mean exactly is that I don’t believe your bullshit and I still want to stick around here and see you as weird as it may sound, don’ttakeittheotherwayplease-” among your nervous muttering and gradually fast talking, he lifted both of his hand. You didn’t flinch, to his surprise (he didn’t show it however) but rather waited for his next move. It wasn’t a harsh gesture, far from it, it was gentle. He was really cupping your cheeks and caressing the skin, his eyes finally changing, the only way to know how he felt cause he would damn himself if he said the feelings he held, whatever they may be.

“ You’re impossible.. and irritating.. and sarcastic as hell”

You huffed and rolled your eyes lightheartedly, “I got the point, as if you’re all roses and charm”

He lightly chuckled and continued, “If something happens, I only want you to remember the times we were here. Not a bloodied corse in the pavement, because let’s be honest here, this life I’m leading here only ends there, and I don’t want you getting involved in that and end up hurting you along the way, that’s why I want to stop it now, stop seeing me and getting more damn attached, is no good sticking with me-“

“But-“

“No, you listen to me, doll. You’re gonna go back home, go to sleep, and the next day when you wake up you go about your day as always and after you get out of your last class, go home and repeat, simple as that”

At this, your tears started to fall and you choked out, “No, no, I cant do that, you can’t ask me that!” You shook your head repeatedly, “Please, Dabi, don’t ask that of me, I can’t just up and leave and pretend you were never there. I know I don’t say it but I care about you”

“Doll, doll, hey look at me, common, you’re not hiding that pretty face from me are you” he said, squishing your cheeks.

“Dabii!” You exclaimed, not in the mood for any flattery.

“Ok, ok I’ll stop, but look at me” raising your head, and grabbing onto his arms, you waited for him to keep talking. “I’m not doing this it of malice as unbelievable as it may sound. I’m doing this cause, now that we’re letting it all out here, fuck it, I care about you too, and the least I want is getting you into a world that will only let you know of suffering. For the same reason that I care about you, Y/N, is why I want you to go back and have a nice life, and that means is gonna have to be without me.”

After a moment, heard you in a small voice, “But for me, a nice life means you’re in it”

As cliche as it sounded, your words actually touched Dabi. He knew it was dumb, considering what he wanted to do was to let you go, but you just so damn persistent, and he figured it might do for a proper goodbye. Witch that, he leaned down and left a single peek in your right cheek. It lingered more than he wanted to, but it was the first and last time he could feel you like that. All you could was blink out of shock. His lips were not soft like you read in books, they were rough, but somehow the fact that it was him made you care less about those ideal descriptions. Before fully pulling away, you heard him whispered, “Maybe in another life we get, doll”

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You couldn’t change his mind, is what you learned the next day waking up in your room. Both of you stayed siting in that alley talking for the last time until you fell asleep.

You knew you couldn’t change his mind when the next days he made good on his promise of not showing up at all.

Eventually, you did what he asked, going about the day with the exception of going to that secluded alley. You made few friends along the way who managed to distract you from time to time after lectures, hang outs at any place they stumbled upon. After an invite to a cafe, you said your goodbyes to them and started walking home. Somehow, it felt odd. You thought it was your mind, but you kept feeling a certain way. You started looking around but saw nothing. Just when you gave up and started looking down, you saw a figure in the building across form the cafe, with widened eyes, you could see it, the coat slightly flowing behind him.

With a newfound small smile, you started walking again, witch the newfound knowledge that he never really left.

“Yeah, I guess we can meet each other in another alley, you asshole”

#mha #mha dabi #dabi my hero academia #dabi x y/n #dabi x reader #mha x reader #fanfic #oneshot #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #reader #writing #boku no hero x reader

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electrickoushi · 3 years

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denki kaminari has lost his sister

a/n: happy new year! this fic was for one of my other friend’s xmas presents which is just a bit late. i hope you enjoy it!

pairing: kaminari denki x shinsou hitoshi tags: fluff, lifeguard au, they are equally whipped, pre-relationship, crush at first sight wc: 5.8k

Denki is ready for vacation. He’s ready to hit the beach, eat a ridiculous amount of hamburgers, and maybe even get a tan to show off to his friends back in Japan. He is significantly less prepared to chase after a lost sister (multiple times) and talk to a surprisingly cute lifeguard that manages to stumble upon Denki in his time of need.

Denki’s cheap slides slapped against the ground as he and his family stepped off the airplane.

He swung his backpack over his shoulder and looked around. Large windows surrounded them, allowing sunlight to flood in. Potted plants sat on the tiled floor and lined the walls. People tripped over one another as they all eagerly ran to security to start their vacations.

Denki’s family took their sweet time retrieving their luggage. They walked at the pace of a snail despite the boy’s wish for them to hurry up. For some reason, they decided to stand still on all of the walkways (which had the word walk in them, Denki pointed out) and gawk at all the foreign stores.

They arrived at the tram station that would take them directly to their hotel, just to find out that they had missed it by only a few minutes. The woman working at the desk for the tram told them that it would be another twenty minutes until the next one came. Denki’s mom just thanked the woman and waved it off, not understanding that she was wasting the precious minutes of vacation Denki had calculated on the plane. 10,283 minutes of relaxing time in which he didn’t have to deal with Katsuki’s terrible behavior, Mr. Aizawa’s dull grumbling, or Ms. Midnight’s provocative... um, homework.

Twenty minutes later (10,223 minutes left), the tram screeched to a halt, and the Kaminaris walked out to board.

Smiling widely, Denki’s sister Yuki took his right hand as she glanced around to explore the new country they would be living in for the next week. Once they got seated, Yuki let go so she could turn and look out the window.

“So how’s Hawaii so far?” he asked his little sister, flicking one of her pigtails.

He was scared that the foreign land and language and people might be too overwhelming for a five-year-old, but she was clearly enjoying every moment so far. He saw her wide eyes in the reflection as she took in all the scenery.

“Wonderful! Do you see the ocean? It’s so blue.” She pressed her finger against the window. Wonder and amazement flashed in her eyes and Denki laughed. It’s like she forgot they also lived on an island surrounded by an ocean.

They both watched the exotic flora pass by while the driver spewed out facts about Hawaii that would entertain the tourists. They flew over his mom’s, dad’s, and sister’s heads since Denki was the only one with strong enough English to understand the fast, muffled speech of the driver.

The tram stopped in front of their hotel, and the brother and sister stood up to follow their parents out to collect their suitcases. They rolled them up the brick pathway, careful not to bump into other guests.

A cold burst of air conditioning greeted them when they walked into the building. Warm, earthy tones decorated the lobby, giving it an overall oriental feel, which was probably why his parents chose this hotel in the first place. Guests were drawn toward the main novelty of the lobby: the small waterfall in the middle of the room. The water cascaded over a wooden wall and emptied into a small koi pond where kids could throw in small pellets of food.

His parents walked straight past the wall and towards the check-in desk with the assumption that their kids were trailing right behind them. Denki hurried after them (only 10,206 minutes remaining), but suddenly saw a small flash of bright blonde hair dip into the gift shop. He groaned and ran after Yuki.

Denki found her next to the souvenir t-shirts with sayings like “Aloha” and “Welcome to Hawaii” on them. She was tugging on a hot pink one that was five times too large for her.

“Yuki, you can’t run off like this.” He grabbed her arm that was clinging to the fabric and made her let go of it.

She whined, sticking out her tongue at her older brother. Denki rolled his eyes at the childish behavior but was secretly thankful that she didn’t start throwing a temper tantrum. Those meltdowns could last for hours on end, and he wasn’t prepared to deal with one of those in public.

Denki had just managed to get Yuki to leave the gift store when their parents walked up to them, glaring.

His mother started the attack before Denki could even try to defend himself. “Denki, I thought you were more responsible than this. After we got our keycards, we turned around just to find you gone.”

Denki wanted to scream at their ignorant, illogical thinking. He held back his sigh and tried to explain. “You don’t understand, I was coming to get her and-”

“Stop making excuses. You also left your suitcase in the middle of the lobby. You should be glad no one stole it.” His dad thrust the handle of his suitcase towards Denki.

I’m sorry that you can’t keep track of your own child, so your poor son had to do it for you, just to get in trouble for running off, Denki bitterly thought as he watched his parents spin around and march off. Naturally, they expected their children to follow them.

It had been less than an hour since they landed and they were already mad at him. He rolled his eyes and huffed. What a great family trip this was going to be.

Even Yuki must have sensed the tension since her usual, endless babbling had subsided while they walked behind their parents to the elevators.

The elevator ride was quiet.

The doors slid open and Denki was the first to escape the cold atmosphere. He reached their room first but had to wait for his mother with the keycard. She swiped it, the green light switching on to signal that it was unlocked. He quickly pushed the door open and entered the room.

There were two beds, which meant he would be sharing one with his sister unless he wanted to sleep on the couch or the floor. That would also mean that she would get an entire bed to herself, and that was utterly unacceptable.

He tucked his suitcase between the wall and the bedframe before checking out the rest of the hotel room. They had a giant TV on top of a dresser placed in front of the beds. There was a nightstand between them with a clock, lamp, and phone on top. Pictures of various plants and landscapes adorned the walls.

Skinny French doors opened to a smaller room with a living area. There was a green couch facing another TV, and a desk situated in the corner. Denki found a small kitchenette and a door leading to the bathroom.

He returned to the earlier room and pulled back the beige curtains to reveal a sliding glass doorwall leading to a balcony. They had a great view of the strip of beach that the hotel owned.

His parents sat on their bed and talked in hushed whispers.

Probably about me, Denki thought as he flopped on his bed face-down. If only he could escape for a while to give them time to cool off.

He unzipped his suitcase to dig out his Switch when he saw his swim trunks. He looked out the doorwall again.

“Mom, Dad, can I go to the beach?” he asked, forgetting all about his game and pulling out the hideous shorts instead.

“I don’t know, can we trust you?” his father retorted.

Denki bit back a tart response. “I’ll be okay. I’ll take my phone and stuff.” “I want to swim!” Yuki popped her head in out of nowhere. She seemed to have returned to her normal, hyperactive self.

His mom clapped her hands together. “Perfect! Denki, you take your sister to the beach and your father and I can have some alone time here.”

“But I wanted to-”

“You wanted to what?” his dad asked, arching an eyebrow to give him The Look.

“... Talk to girls,” he sheepishly admitted. And guys too, which is what I would say if I was actually out to you two.

“This is a family vacation. If you want to go to the beach, take your sister along with you. Besides, you speak English well, so if your sister gets lost, she’ll be fine.”

He held back another aggravated scream. “Fine. Yuki, go get your swimsuit on.”

Denki grabbed his pair of hideous yellow swim trunks with black lightning bolts on them. They were so outrageously horrible, which is exactly why he bought them in the first place.

Walking into the bathroom, he quickly changed into them and applied sunscreen to his face.

He packed a bag to take with him while his sister changed. In it were his phone, three towels (one for him, one for his sister, and one to sit on), and one of the keycards.

“Okay, here’s her floaties, and some money for snacks.” His mom handed the objects to him. He tucked the cash into the outside pocket of his drawstring. The floaties wouldn’t fit, so he would just have to carry them.

“Carrying transparent pink and blue floaties with flowers on them is truly the epitome of hotness,” he muttered to himself as he blew a strand of hair out of his face. “Come on, Yuki.”

“Have a great time, you two!” his mother beamed as if she wasn’t mad at him only a few minutes earlier.

“Will do.” he said, shutting the door behind him.

His sister darted down the hallway and Denki couldn’t help but groan.

They found a shady spot underneath a palm tree that was pretty close to the beach, the optimal location. From here, Denki could watch Yuki if she wanted to go swim or play by herself. They could also build sandcastles more easily since they wouldn’t have to haul ass to get wet sand. Finding the spot wasn’t too difficult since the beach wasn’t packed either. It was the middle of a Tuesday after all.

Denki rolled out the striped towel and set the bag on top to weigh it down. He dropped the floaties with a dejected sigh before sitting down and peeling off his shirt. Despite the warmth of the sun and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, he still felt agitated from the altercation earlier.

He pulled Yuki into his lap, twisting one of her pigtails around his finger. Her arms were already sticky from sweat and her feet were coated with sand. More granules of sand transferred to the towel and Denki’s legs the longer she sat.

“You’re not mad at me too, are you?” he asked, picking her small body up to reposition her to face him.

She shook her head, placing her small, sticky hands onto Denki’s bare shoulders. “I love you, Denki!” She kissed him on the cheek and giggled.

He couldn’t help but smile and pull her into a hug. She may be a brat sometimes, but if anyone was on his side, it was her. “I love you too, Yuki.”

“Can we get ice cream?” she asked while hugging him back. Her hair tickled his ear as the slight breeze swung it back and forth.

Ice cream was a great option to battle the heat, second only to jumping into the ocean. Plus they hadn’t eaten anything since the plane ride, so he was starving. He wanted a real meal, preferably a hamburger with a large side of fries, but they wouldn’t be having dinner for a few more hours. The pool bar was open, but he had no clue what they sold or how much it was. Frankly, he wasn’t feeling up to the task of talking to people either.

“Of course,” he replied, bringing joy to his sister’s eyes. He eyed at the crowd swarming the ice cream truck. There were so many people, all shoving to get their popsicles and ice cream sandwiches, and he didn’t want her to get hurt or lost.

“Um…” Crap, he had no clue what to do. “Yuki, I’m going to go get us ice cream, okay? Listen, you have to promise me that you won’t leave this spot. Can you promise me that?”

“I promise!”

Denki nodded and set her down on the towel. She fell square on her butt, digging both her hands into the damp sand. She looks occupied enough, he decided as he dug the money out of his bag and told her goodbye.

Halfway to the truck, he turned around to check if Yuki was still sitting on the towel. Thankfully she was, easing his fears slightly.

He waited in line for a bit, bought two ice cream sandwiches, and made his way back to the large palm tree. The sandwiches seemed to be melting in his hand by the second, so he took up a quick jog. He watched his path, trying not to step on anyone or anything while the sand burned his feet.

When he reached their resting place, he expected sticky fingers grabbing at the sandwich in his hand. Instead, Yuki was gone.

He dropped the two wrapped sandwiches and frantically swiveled his head around in search of those blonde pigtails and purple swimsuit.

He had really done it now. What if she got kidnapped? What if she got into the water and drowned? His parents would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself. Of course he shouldn’t have left her there.

“God, why am I so stupid?” He felt like crying and screaming and kicking something. This vacation just kept getting worse and worse.

“Hey, are you okay?” a deep voice said in English.

Denki looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun to find a purple-haired boy staring at him with concern. The boy’s lips were set in a firm line and the bags under his eyes were quite profound. He may not have been found objectively attractive by the common person, but Denki couldn’t help but find a certain kind of beauty in the orderly unkemptness of the boy.

Now is not the time to think about that though, Denki thought, chiding himself for his behavior.

“I mean, you just look… distressed,” the boy said when Denki didn’t reply.

Denki was distressed. So much so, that he didn’t notice when he started cussing in Japanese, which is what brought the boy over in the first place.

“Oh. I’m fine. I’m good besides the fact that I literally lost my sister and when I go back to the hotel, I will get decapitated by my parents after being awarded ‘Worst Brother of the Year.’” Denki slapped his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes of any stray tears.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. Do you want help looking for her?” he asked, squatting down and prying Denki’s hands off his face.

Denki looked up and into the purple eyes of his new savior. “Yes. Please, yeah, thanks.”

The boy stood up and offered his hand out to the blonde. Denki took it and smiled. Somehow, his hand wasn’t as sweaty as everyone else’s. It’s like his body had adjusted to the almost unbearable heat. That or he was just too pretty to sweat. He wasn’t sure.

“What does she look like?” the purplet asked, placing his hands on his hips and cracking his back then his neck.

Denki was not staring at his back muscles nor at his crazy hair that must have been at least sort of soft.

Cracking his knuckles, the boy looked at the blonde expectantly and waited for his response.

“Oh, right,” Denki cleared his throat. “Well, she is five, and she is kind of short. She has blonde hair too, but it’s lighter than mine and in pigtails, and she has a purple swimsuit on, kind of like the color of your hair, and yeah.”

“Okay. Don’t worry we will find her.” He took in the long expanse of sand and people ahead of them. His sunglasses would have been nice.

Denki rubbed the nape of his neck. He felt guilty that he was wasting someone else’s time, but he needed all the help he could get. This vacation was already a complete shitshow and a lost sister on his watch would make it an Oscar-winning shit-performance or whatever the step up from shitshow was. “My name is Denki, by the way. Uh, thanks for helping me.”

“I’m Hitoshi, one of the lifeguards here. So it’s really no problem. It’s my job to save everyone.”

Somehow that made Denki feel a little better.

“Okay, Denki, do you have any idea where she could be?”

Denki shook his head.

“Okay, let’s just ask around then?” Hitoshi suggested.

They started their trek, Denki with his slides on and Hitoshi barefoot. The heat had made Denki’s hair start to frizz, and he tried to discreetly pat it down. He didn’t put any gel in it this morning since he thought he would be swimming, not talking to a hot guy while looking for his sister.

They approached the nearest person, a middle-aged woman with a big, floppy hat and large sunglasses who was reading a magazine and tanning. Clad in a skimpy pink bikini, she laid on one of those beach chairs, long legs stretched out. Her giant boobs spilled out of her halter top, drawing the attention of many males around, which seemed to be one of her objectives of the day, along with tanning and reading about the top seven diets that are taking the world by storm.

Hitoshi promptly ignored the lady’s more than concerning fashion choices and led the conversation. “Excuse me, ma’am, have you seen a little five-year-old girl anywhere? She has blonde pigtails and a purple swimsuit on.” He held his hand near his waist to illustrate her height.

She pulled her sunglasses off with an exaggerated snap of her wrist and glanced up at the boys. “Did you lose a child? Aren’t you supposed to be a lifeguard?” She flicked the whistle hanging from Hitoshi’s neck and turned back towards her magazine.

Denki was shocked, first by her ginormous, unshielded tits, but now by her sharp words. Hitoshi was just trying to help him search for his sister. Why was she being so rude?

Hitoshi started to speak, but Denki stepped forward. “Look, lady. You have no right to speak to my friend this way. Have you seen my sister or not?”

The lady narrowed her eyes at the blonde. “I have not,” she said, snapping open her magazine and turning away. “Brats.”

Denki stomped away from the woman. Once they were out of earshot, he started grumbling. “Despite your strong milf status, you’re a complete bitch.”

Hitoshi softly laughed at the strange yet comical remark.

The joyful sound was unexpected as it landed on Denki’s ears. Hitoshi had a deep, almost gravelly voice (one that Denki found undeniably hot) that seemed to never fluctuate in tone or timbre. It was calm and stable, so the warm, sweet sound made Denki’s heart skip a few beats and made his mouth malfunction for a few seconds.

“You have a nice laugh,” he blurted out. His cheeks went red with embarrassment once he realized what he said. “Er, I-”

Hitoshi just laughed more at the blonde’s candor. “Thanks.”

Denki decided to stop talking, stop looking at the purple-haired boy altogether before he said another stupid thing.

The two boys walked around, going from person to person and asking if they had seen Yuki. Everyone shook their heads and returned to their activity, clearly uninterested in finding the lost child. So far the bitchy milf was the worst of the worst, but no one else was that much better.

Each time they got out of earshot, Denki had some underhanded comment that made Hitoshi laugh.

As they walked around, Denki and Hitoshi made small talk, discovering different things about each other. (Denki had lost track of exactly how many minutes of vacation were left a while ago, as he was just a bit too preoccupied with something, or someone, else.)

Hitoshi worked as a lifeguard during the summer, weekends, and school breaks along with his two friends, Eijirou and Mina. His purple hair always stuck up like crazy, even though it got wet all the time. Oh, he also loved cats and liked to go biking when he had some free time.

Denki had come to Hawaii for a vacation with his family, but they were sort of fighting right now. The black lighting bolt in his hair was natural, even though no one really believed him. Oh, he also loved hamburgers and liked to hang out with cute guys who liked cats when he had some free time.

Hitoshi smiled at his last comment. Sometimes he had a hard time discerning whether someone was just being very friendly or if they were trying to flirt with him. It was seven times harder when it came to boys. But by now, he was ninety-nine percent sure Denki was flirting with him. He just called him cute for goodness sake.

They walked around for a few more minutes with no luck. Hitoshi was frustrated at the lack of care from the guests while Denki was about to go berserk. It had been twenty minutes and still no luck. How were they ever going to find her?

Hitoshi was very worried about the blonde. He could sense the spiraling about to occur, but his break was ending right now.

“Hey, Eijirou!” He shouted, waving both arms above his head to get the attention of the other lifeguard. The red-haired boy turned around and squinted at the pair. Was Hitoshi actually talking to another human?

Hitoshi grabbed the blonde’s hand and ran towards the tower. Denki started thinking about how nicely the lifeguard’s hand fit in his.

“Hitoshi, what’s up bro? Who’s this?” He climbed down from the tower and stuck his hands on his hips, looking back and forth between the two boys. His eyes followed their arms that met in a handhold, and Eijirou couldn’t help but smirk. Listening to Hitoshi while very obviously staring at their interlocked hands, he shook his leg to get the sand off before slipping his foot into a red croc.

“This is Denki, and we are looking for his sister. So can you just cover my post for a little bit more?”

They were not getting the hint. He watched Hitoshi very slowly slip his thumb out to stroke the side of Denki’s hand. Eijirou watched the blonde’s breath hitch as he stared straight ahead, trying not to pass away.

The redhead just gave them a cheeky grin. “Yeah, no problem! What does she look like?”

“Well, she’s five and has blonde pigtails and a purple swimsuit,” Denki described, motioning with his free hand.

Eijirou considered the description, squinting, until something finally clicked. “Oh, you mean her?” He jabbed a thumb in the direction of his lifeguard tower.

The three watched as Yuki popped out behind the white wood of his lifeguard chair. Eijirou smiled, Hitoshi gasped, and Denki felt his soul ascend. He would live to see another day.

He tore away from Hitoshi and ran over to his sister, kneeling down so they were eye level. “Yuki, why did you leave when you promised me you wouldn’t?”

She shrugged, playing with her skirt and wiggling around. The sand must have been terribly interesting because she refused to make eye contact with her brother. Maybe she was finally feeling guilty about all the trouble she’s caused today. Denki pouted in return and furrowed his eyebrows.

Watching the blonde’s cute expression, Hitoshi could swear he fell in love just a little more.

Yuki dashed away, kicking up sand and dodging Denki’s arms. “Not again,” he whined, bowing his head in defeat before standing up to go chase after his sister.

She ran right past Hitoshi who scooped her up before she could escape.

“You should have listened to your big brother, Yuki. He’s been spending all this time looking for you,” Hitoshi said in perfect Japanese. He was still standing next to Eijirou, far enough away that Denki couldn't hear him.

She frowned and flashed him big puppy dog eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” he said, glancing over at Denki. He set her down and she ran back to him, hugging his leg. “Sorry, Denki.”

He sighed and sat down on his butt. “It’s okay, just please don’t run away again.”

Yuki giggled and crawled into his arms, burying her face in his neck and blowing a raspberry.

“Yuki…” He cracked a smile and started tickling her, seeming to forget about the harrowing experience she just put him through.

While the siblings made up, Eijirou left, clapping Hitoshi on the back and wishing him good luck, both with the second half of the shift and his newfound crush.

Hitoshi climbed back up on his chair, leaning against the back of it and sighing. In the past twenty minutes, he saw a swearing Japanese boy on the verge of a breakdown, asked said boy what was wrong, helped said boy find his sister, and developed quite the crush on said boy.

The sun beat down on Hitoshi as he watched the brother and sister duo with a smile on his face. He rested his arms on his knees, holding up his face with two curled fists. Sitting down and watching people enjoy their lives was very boring compared to the adventure he took with Denki.

“Ooooh, who are you staring at ‘Toshi?”

Hitoshi almost fell out of his chair, which would have been quite the sight to see. “What?”

“You haven’t blinked for a full minute. Who are you watching?” Mina asked, surveying the ocean in search of the individual who managed to steal Hitoshi’s heart.

“No one,” Hitoshi said, blinking aggressively. His eyes did feel very dry all of a sudden.

Very unconvincing. “Mhm…” she mused.

“Don’t you have work to be doing?” teased Hitoshi as he dragged his eyes away from Denki and placed them on the waitress.

She stuck her tongue out at him and tucked her hands in the back pockets of her jean shorts. Hitoshi just stared at her silently. After a few seconds, Mina just scoffed and ran a hand through her pink hair.

“You’re so boring. I’ll find out who you were staring at though, Mr. Heart Eyes, just you wait!” Mina ran towards the other tower. “Eijirou! You’ll never guess what happened to Hitoshi!”

Hitoshi chuckled at the black girl’s behavior. His eyes wandered for a bit before finding the blonde boy again in the water. Denki was splashing around in the water with his sister, his smile so bright that it stood out against the sunlit ocean.

A flash of red dove into the water, momentarily drawing Hitoshi’s attention away. A few seconds later, Eijirou’s head popped out of the water, wet hair clinging to his face and over his white headband. He looked over in Hitoshi’s direction and gave him a thumbs up. Hitoshi gave him one back, unable to hear the complaints that came from Eijirou’s mouth. This was the third time he had to save someone in Hitoshi’s zone since he was too distracted by a certain blonde boy.

Hitoshi did a once over of the sand and water before inevitably being drawn back to Denki and his sister. She was in a yellow inner tube and Denki spun her around in place, causing her to shriek out of joy. His hair was completely wet and fell down to his shoulders in nice waves. Hitoshi admitted that his swim trunks were objectively ugly, but he somehow pulled them off. It could have been the toned abs but Hitoshi was definitely not studying the muscles that looked extremely nice when Denki would emerge from the water.

He started staring into space, dreaming about the boy, when he heard screaming. The blonde’s voice carried across the ocean as he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “Yuki, where are you?”

Hitoshi looked at the inner tube, unsurprised to find empty air where a person should be. She was quite the handful it seemed. A few seconds passed before Hitoshi stood up and dove into the water to search for the lost girl.

The saltwater stung his eyes slightly while he swam around to find her signature pigtails. He spotted her among the various legs of people and grabbed her arm, pushing her up to the surface of the water before him.

Once he sprung up, he was met with an angry glare fixed on the small girl’s face who was back in her innertube with Denki in front of her. His back was to Hitoshi when Yuki started yelling at the purple-haired boy.

“You ruined our game! You’re no fun,” she snipped.

“Yuki, don’t talk to him like that. He was just making sure you’re safe,” Denki reprimanded in Japanese.

Denki turned around to apologize to Hitoshi for his sister’s attitude, just to find that his brain had malfunctioned and refused to communicate with his mouth. He must have forgotten how to tread too, because he accidentally plunged down into the water, curing him of his original shock.

Why were men so attractive? More specifically, purple-haired lifeguards who just came out of the water after saving his sister who didn’t need saving.

Saltwater filled his mouth and burned his nose as he flailed in the water for a second before propelling himself upward. Choking and sputtering, he grabbed onto Yuki’s tube to stabilize himself while he was in the process of dying.

Hitoshi watched on with concern. “Are you okay?”

Denki kept coughing but nodded regardless. “Sorry, I, um, well, we were just-”

His face was bright red, possibly from his near-death experience, possibly from the hot male in front of him.

Hitoshi would bet it was the latter.

He found that flustered Denki was somehow even cuter than beach boy Denki, and the strong desire to fluster him crept up further. He smirked to himself for a split second before swimming closer to Denki and tapping him on the shoulder. He shot a deadly smile at the coughing boy. “Hey, I’m Shinsou Hitoshi, lifeguard on duty right now,” he said in Japanese.

“I know, you told me before,” Denki reflexively replied in his first language, still recovering from the past five minutes of his life. His eyes widened. “You just spoke perfect Japanese?”

“I did. I was born in Japan and moved here just a few years ago.” Hitoshi looked smug at the fact that he succeeded in rattling the blonde.

Denki stared at him, trying to remember if he said anything stupid in Japanese while in the presence of the lifeguard. He didn’t think so, but he could never be sure. His coughing fit had finally stopped, and they stared at each other in silence.

“Your English is really good, Denki,” Hitoshi said, watching a small blush spread on Denki’s cheeks again.

“Thanks.”

Did he always have freckles? Hitoshi wondered as he swam closer.

The romantic moment abruptly ended when Yuki splashed water in both of their faces.

Hitoshi shook his head to get rid of as much water as possible while Denki just growled at his sister, restraining his desire to splash her back twice as hard. The purple-haired boy noticed this and tugged on the other’s arm. Denki paused his murderous rage to look at Hitoshi.

“Why don’t I show you around after my shift? Are you in the hotel up there?” Hitoshi asked as he pointed at the large building that loomed over the beach.

“Yeah, yes I am. Um, sure, what time is that?” Denki stuttered out, cringing at his voice. Now was not the time to be majorly awkward, he scolded himself. He glanced back to see if Yuki was listening. Thankfully, she wasn’t or she just didn’t care. That would be quite a long conversation with his parents, one he definitely preferred not to have soon.

Hitoshi cracked a smile at the way Denki stumbled over his words. “Around six. I can take you out to dinner at the beach restaurant.”

“That’s perfect. I’ll meet you here again, yeah?”

“Sure.”

Denki turned towards his sister who was entertaining herself by spinning in tiny circles. He could never be too careful when it came to boys. “If Mom and Dad ask where I go tonight, you just tell them that I made a new friend, okay?”

“Okay. Can we go back to swimming now?” she asked, looking up to find the pair laughing at her uninterested tone.

Denki nodded through giggles while Hitoshi waved goodbye to Yuki. She’d warm up to him later if he had anything to say about it.

Hitoshi swam to shore and walked back to his lifeguard chair. Sand stuck to his wet feet and legs. He tried brushing it off as best he could, but the curse of sand clung to his body like, well, wet sand. He dried his hair and torso off before settling back into his chair.

Once again, his eyes found Denki whose head was sticking just above the water. He managed to position his sister so that she was sitting on his shoulders. Once she was properly situated, he stood up, boosting her into the warm air. Squeals and shouts came from her mouth as she grabbed onto his hair while Denki spun around.

He stopped spinning, facing Hitoshi and making eye contact with him across the ocean. Denki grinned and offered a flirty wink before thrusting himself backward and falling into the water with a large splash. They surfaced a few seconds later, laughing and chasing each other around.

Hitoshi smiled at the boy’s antics and tried to calm his racing heart.

Someone knocked on his chair leg, pulling Hitoshi out of his thoughts about his future date. It was Eijirou who had come over to notify Hitoshi that he was taking his break now. Hitoshi nodded and watched the other lifeguard walk towards the bar to go talk to Mina.

“Hey, Eijirou?” Arching his eyebrow in curiosity, the red-haired boy turned around and motioned for his friend to continue. “Do you think I can get off early tonight?”

“Got a date with a cute blonde?” Eijirou teased.

“Yeah, something like that,” the lifeguard replied with an uncharacteristically large smile on his face.

Eijirou had never seen anything like it before.

#elliewrites #fluff #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #kaminari denki #shinsou hitoshi #shinsou x kaminari #shinkami #bnha oneshot

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angelofthequeers · 4 years

Text

Minty Fresh, Strawberry Sweet, Cinnamon Spice: chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

@trainflavor tagged as requested :) And @zenniaphoenix, here’s the completed fic!

Chapter 3 | AO3 link

As soon as he detransforms, Adrien takes off running back to where he’d left Marinette and Kagami in his haste to turn into Chat Noir. But neither of them is there; the only sign that they’d been on that street at all is the melted ice cream that he’d dropped when Heart Hunter had found their street.

His heart leaps into his throat. Are the girls okay? If anything’s happened to them, he won’t forgive himself, even though Chat Noir has a duty to Paris and transforming to take down Heart Hunter had rationally been the best way to keep them safe – but maybe he could have made sure that they were safe and hidden before running off –

“Adrien!”

Adrien’s shoulders slump in sheer relief when Kagami rounds the corner, catches sight of him, and runs up to him, her short hair and red skirt billowing. He opens his arms to catch her but he’s not expecting her to throw her arms around his neck and practically suffocate him.

“I’m okay,” he chokes. When he takes a deep breath, the faint smell of her sports deodorant fills his nostrils; so different to Marinette’s scent of vanilla and strawberries, yet just as warm and comforting because of who it belongs to. “I found Chat Noir – he got me somewhere safe –”

“Well, you shouldn’t have left us in the first place!” Kagami lets go and steps back to cross her arms and scowl at him. “You just left me and Marinette there. You put yourself in danger. If you hadn’t found Chat Noir…”

How can he reassure her that he wasn’t in any danger as Adrien? He can’t; not without revealing himself as Chat Noir. Instead, he just takes her hands and looks her in the eyes. Cinnamon, is the first word that pops into his mind. He and Marinette really had been correct about her ice cream flavour.

“I’m sorry I made you worry, Kagami,” Adrien says. “But I – Marinette!”

Kagami whips around as Adrien waves at the pink figure that’s just skidded around the same corner, and a small smile crosses her lips at the sight of Marinette bolting down the street, cheeks red and black hair falling out of her pigtails. God, she’s so gorgeous. How had Adrien never noticed before? Sure, he’s always been aware that Marinette’s pretty, and he’s called her their everyday Ladybug, but he’s never noticed just how…radiant her soul is. She’s loud where Kagami is quiet, soft where Kagami is abrasive, poetic where Kagami is direct, and the sudden realisation that he loves both these girls so much and just as much as each other makes Adrien’s head spin.

“…hope you found a good place to hide,” Kagami’s saying when Adrien manages to pull himself out of his lovesick daze. “I couldn’t find Adrien, but Ladybug encountered me and helped me hide properly.”

“Of course!” Marinette says with a breathless laugh, scratching the back of her head. “I’m a pro at hiding from akumas. Between getting mummified by Pharaoh and knighted by Darkblade and hit by Reflekta both times, I kind of try not to be anywhere near them if I can help it.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Marinette,” Adrien says in a slightly hoarse voice. Marinette’s cheeks pinken and she lets out an odd giggle and by god, again, how has he never noticed just how gorgeous she is?

“Tou yoo – you too!” Marinette babbles. She groans and facepalms. “Excuse my stuttering. You make me nervous. In the best way! Not in a bad way!”

Adrien lets a small grin slide across his face as he slips an arm around Marinette, whose cheeks darken to the colour of Ladybug’s suit. It’s not the first time he’s associated her with Ladybug but, well…she’d been Multimouse. He’d seen her with Ladybug. There’s no way they can be the same girl, not unless she’d somehow pulled off some epic trick, but he can’t think of how she could have possibly done so. And besides, it’s not fair to associate Marinette with Ladybug. Ladybug had rejected him once and for all and he’s moving on; moving on to Marinette and Kagami. A part of him will always love Ladybug, that much is true, but no way in hell is he going to hurt these two amazing girls.

He’s made his choice. He’s committed. Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Kagami Tsurugi are the girls he picks. And it’s not like he’s losing Ladybug; as she’d said, he’s still one of her best friends and he’s irreplaceable.

“I always wondered why you stuttered around me,” Adrien says. “I don’t think you’re a freak for it or anything, by the way. You can’t exactly help it.”

Marinette lets out an explosive breath. “Oh, thank god. One of my nightmares was of you laughing at me and – well, I don’t think you’d laugh at me! No way! I just tend to get into anxiety spirals and catastrophise like mad.”

“Ah. Anxiety.” Kagami tilts her head. “I hadn’t considered that that could be a reason for your hesitance. I’m sorry for judging you unfairly, Marinette.”

“Well, you’ve got enough ‘no hesitation’ energy for both of us,” Marinette says with a nervous little laugh. Kagami smiles at her.

“Yes, I do. And you –” She turns and jabs a finger at Adrien, “– were in the middle of apologising to me for making me worry.”

“Oh!” Marinette’s eyes widen. “Did you – Adrien, were you okay?”

“Yeah! Chat Noir hid me,” Adrien says. “Anyway, as I was saying to Kagami…I’m sorry for making you girls worry. I thought I was helping by finding Chat Noir, but I didn’t think that I’d be worrying you. I guess…well, I guess I’m just not used to people genuinely worrying about me like that. My father worries about me, yeah, but his worry’s more of a ‘my perfect son is two seconds late, this is unacceptable!’ kind.”

Marinette and Kagami’s mouths droop after Adrien’s apology. In the blink of an eye, he’s got both girls clinging to him, and their arms also snake around each other but neither seems to mind. If anything, they seem to lean into each other as well.

“We’ll always care about you, Adrien,” Marinette says.

“And we accept your apology,” Kagami says. Adrien squeezes them both.

“Thanks, Marinette, Kagami. And…” He takes a deep breath. No going back now. “I ran into Ladybug just before she turned back, and I got to talk to her.” For some reason, Marinette stiffens in his embrace. “She was pretty cool about my crush, but she did pretty firmly tell me that it couldn’t happen. And I know I’m not going to get over her overnight but, well…I choose you. Both of you. I’m committing. Just feel free to slap me if I mess up and hurt either of you –”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of slapping you,” Kagami says. “I’ll just make you dread every fencing session of ours.”

“And I’ll make you paranoid of all the treats I bring you,” Marinette says into his shirt, her muffled voice slightly higher than usual. Adrien shudders, because Kagami is already a terrifying opponent when she’s not angry, and Marinette must be super angry to meddle with pastries.

“Okay, yeah, that’s fair,” he says. “Just tell me, at least? I don’t want to mess up and hurt you two without knowing what I did.”

“Deal,” Marinette and Kagami say before releasing him and stepping back. They exchange a look, and Adrien’s suddenly wondering if it’s too late to run, because there’s no way he’ll survive when both these girls team up against him.

“Uh, why do I feel like I’m going to be eaten alive?” he says.

“You go first,” Kagami says. “He’s full of nervous energy, just like you. I’d like him relatively calm before I try.”

Marinette pokes her tongue out at Kagami in return. Before Adrien can ask what the hell’s going on, Marinette’s reaching over to clasp his hands, lacing their fingers together, and she gives him a nervous little smile while biting her lip.

“I was, um, well…hoping you could kiss us. Only if it’s okay with you…” she says. Adrien’s stomach lurches, but not in a bad way; it’s much more of an oh god, I have two amazing girls to kiss way instead.

“Y-Yeah!” Adrien squeezes his hand. “It’ll probably be awful, though. Sorry, I’m just…you know, wrapping my head around the fact that I’m allowed to be with both of you. And the thought of being with you both is doing something to my insides. Not in a bad way, and I do want to kiss you, I just don’t want to let you down, because I know you must have been dreaming of it if you’ve been crushing on me for this long and I know Kagami’s got high standards and I –”

He’s cut off by a pair of warm, soft lips pressing against his own as Marinette stands on her tiptoes to kiss him. It’s not hard, not forceful, not demanding more than he wants to give; instead, it’s hesitant and light, inviting him to make the next move, to take it as far as he wants, with nothing more expected of him. And as he kisses back, trying to channel all his late-night air kissing practice while Plagg teases him mercilessly, it’s almost impossible to come to terms with just how much he loves it.

It’s far from his first kiss, or even his second. He owes those both to Ladybug, even if he can’t remember them. But kissing Marinette is right, like coming home after a long, hard day – home, not the cold, empty mansion in which he currently lives – to warm food and laughter and love. After a moment, Marinette lowers herself back down, and she squeaks and flushes bright scarlet as Adrien tries to recapture the brain cells that are leaking out of his ears.

“W-Wow,” Marinette says in a voice so high that every dog in Paris has probably been alerted. “That was – oh my gosh – I kissed Adrien –”

“Just remember to breathe,” Kagami says with an amused little smile. “If you pass out, Adrien and I will be so worried about you that I won’t get my turn.”

Marinette gulps and nods. Meanwhile, Adrien’s finally managed to scoop back his liquefied brain, although he’s got a sneaking suspicion that it’s just going to melt again after he kisses Kagami.

“Go for it!” Marinette makes a vague hand gesture. “I’ll just try not to freaking die over here.”

“If you’re sure?” Kagami says, still smiling like this is the funniest joke she’s ever seen. Marinette nods rapidly, so Kagami steps up to Adrien, who’s starting to wonder if he’s even going to make it out of this alive. His question is answered as soon as Kagami wraps her arms around his neck in a loose embrace and guides their lips together: no, he’s not going to survive this, not if he gets to kiss Marinette and Kagami.

Where Marinette had been soft and let him control the pace, Kagami easily takes the lead, awkwardly working her mouth against his but not uncomfortably; more in a way that makes it blatantly obvious that this is her first kiss, despite her self-assuredness. But, as commanding as she is, Kagami is never once forceful and demanding in her kiss, as one might have suspected from her personality. Instead, it’s like she’s taking his hand and pulling him along, leading and guiding but giving him more than enough room to object and slow down if need be.

It’s nothing like the time Lila had wrenched him in for that cheek kiss; she’d been overpowering and dominating, but Kagami’s force is far gentler and much more respectful. It’s like the whirlwind of their fencing matches, of their rebellions and escapes from their overbearing parents, and although Adrien’s thought this far too often today, he can’t deny it: it’s so different to Marinette’s kiss, yet equally amazing in the best possible ways. Maybe that’s why he’s so drawn to both Marinette and Kagami.

Adrien couldn’t say if Kagami’s kiss lasted longer than Marinette’s. All he knows is that when Kagami finally steps away to give him the space to process what had just happened, he’s not even sure if it’s the same year.

“Wow,” is all his mouth will say once he’s got some semblance of higher brainpower back. “Wow. Both of you. Just…wow.”

Marinette and Kagami laugh and grin at each other.

“I think we broke him,” Marinette says.

“I guess we’ll just have to fix him, then,” Kagami says.

“Oh my god.” Adrien nearly faints on the spot. “Stop it. I can’t handle both of you.”

The girls exchange another grin.

“I think you were right, Kagami,” Marinette says. “Sharing him is the best idea I’ve heard all day. It’s so satisfying to watch you break him.”

“It’s exactly the same for me,” Kagami says. “Maybe one day, I can break you too.”

Marinette whimpers and flushes scarlet again. Her face is so red that Adrien blurts out, “You’re utterly adorable, ma fraise,” before he can help himself, and Marinette blinks owlishly at him.

“Your strawberry?” she says.

“Um…yeah?” Adrien scratches the nape of his neck. “Because your flavour is strawberry? And your face is red like one right now?”

“Hey!” Marinette shoves him playfully, still blushing. “Don’t mock me!”

“Shall I defend your honour?” Kagami says. “I’m sure I could find another ladle.”

Adrien snickers and takes a step towards Kagami, who stands her ground with an amused eyebrow-raise. He leans in, brushes some of her dark hair away from her ear, and murmurs, “Challenge accepted, ma cannelle.”

He’s going to get absolutely murdered later. But oh, it’s so worth it to see how pink floods Kagami’s face when he steps away, because when does he ever manage to get one over her?

“G-Get me a ladle too,” Marinette babbles. “I’ll yefend dour – defend your honour too!”

The slow smile that spreads across Kagami’s face confirms Adrien’s suspicion from just moments before: he’s dead. But honestly? Death by two terrifyingly tough girlfriends doesn’t sound like the worst way to go.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #aotq fic #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #kagami tsurugi #adrigaminette #kisses #heart hunter #loveater #yeah it's just adrigaminette fluff #i think i got a cavity #adrien's not used to people caring about him #all the love for adrien

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redcrossroads · 4 years

Text

With You I'll Stay As You Allow Me To Remain

Summary: Mana’s suffering from nightmares. Allen decides to do something about it because the man’s misery is contagious.

Nightmares are a common occurrence. A constant companion of Mana’s much like Red—Allen, he’s Allen now, he reminds himself, hoping it will stick soon—himself is. Every other night ends up with Mana whimpering and crying. Stricken beyond belief from something that isn’t even real or at least nothing but a mere memory.

It pisses Allen off.

Like a bad reminder of the time he spent in that hellhole of a circus, he finds himself scowling and frowning more often as days pass. He recalls going out at night to catch the man sitting by himself in the cold, curled into a ball so small and full of misery even Red couldn’t help the tug of pity inside his chest.

Unlike then, he can’t justify ignoring the obvious anguish of the man with the excuse of him being a stranger.

As convenient as it would have been to be in denial, Allen isn’t a liar, no matter what that Bastard Cosimo insisted upon, so there’s no point in denying the inevitable. Seeing Mana upset makes his insides twist into a tangled heap which makes him lose all appetite.

Allen loved eating more than anything, yet remembering Mana’s shaking, the wideness of his eyes, the haunted expression on his white face turns his stomach inside out and he finds the thought of eating whatever they decided to eat on that day revolting.

He blames it all on Mana’s weirdness. The way he smiles like a lunatic most days, trying to think of new tricks to practice and babbling on about things Allen pretends to listen to even if he understands nothing of what is said. How he would try to keep his hold on Allen’s hand, ignoring the bristling and the curses while swinging their joined hands with the joy of a kid on Christmas morning. It was all so irritating, Mana’s patience, the kind words he had to spare for everybody. But the man took him in despite the rough edges and foul language he so dislikes and Allen still finds it hard to believe he’d gotten to tag along at all, much less to find the man trying to take care of him.

So, it’s unacceptable for Mana to be sad and try to hide it when Allen can do something about it.

“You can’t stay up all night long, Allen!”

“Watch me.” Allen says with a snarl, because even half blind, the dark circles underneath Mana’s eyes would have been visible like bright bold letters written across his forehead. Not a stranger of exhaustion, Allen doubts he’s ever felt tired like Mana had these past few days.

“It’s not healthy.” Mana chides, voice soft and in the dim-light of their fire, he looks so old. Wrinkles prominent in his face, lips pursed into a weak parody of a half-assed smile, he looks into the fire with unseeing eyes.

“It’s not like I could sleep with all the ruckus ya make while yer sleep.”

Allen wrinkles his nose, giving the man a dirty look as he crosses one arm over his chest. Mana blinks, startled if the sudden alertness of his gaze means anything and he actually turns to look at Allen now, instead of dozing off inside that head of his.

“Pardon?”

“Don’t act all innocent,” Allen glares, because the ache in his chest burns when he thinks back to the tremors wrecking Mana’s body in the night and how long it had taken him to calm down after shaking him awake. He’s no fan of waking up to terrified screams.

“You’re havin’ trouble sleeping. With all your turning and yelling it’s not like I can sleep either, so I might as well be useful if I have to stay up all night.”

He expects Mana to brush the issues off with a joke, to say it’s no problem, silly Allen, he’s being harassed by bed bugs lately, he has no reason to worry but it’s cute he does in that cooing voice of his, which never fails to make Allen flush to the shade of his hair as he hurls one insult after another at the man for daring to embarrass him.

The reaction he anticipates isn’t the one he gets.

Mana laughs, a sudden sound full of amusement and warmth, and it makes the shadows disappear on his face like sunlight chasing away rainy clouds. Shoulders shaking and eyes twinkling as his lips quirk up Allen gapes for a moment, speechless at the turns of events before he explodes.

“What the hell is so funny, stupid Clown!? Are ya laughing at me?”

Jaw and fist clenching as his heart sinks to the bottom of his ribs, heavy as lead and dropping like a stone, he glowers at the man sitting opposite to him.

Stupid! So, stupid. I should’ve known caring would bring me nothing.

“Stop laughing! It ain’t funny!”

He’s ready to throw a rock at the man, when he stops and gets his chuckling under control. Mana directs a soft gaze at him and the smile spreading across his face is genuine and gentle.

The suffocating rage crawling up his neck fizzles out like a matchstick fire in the downpouring rain, leaving behind the smell of burnt wood and smoke drifting off into the air. Wavering in the face of such a loving expression, Allen twists his face into a scowl, kicking out at the burning wood of their fire place.

“I wasn’t laughing at you, Allen.”

“Huh uh.” Giving the man the cold shoulder, he mourns the absence of a stick for poking the flames.

“But I wasn’t!”

Mana insists and Allen may be stubborn, but Mana’s persistence combined with his begging was on a whole other level of thick-headedness. Knowing when to cut his losses, but still sulking Allen squints at the man from beneath his bangs.

Seeing he’s caught Allen’s attention, Mana perks up on his seat, arms resting on his knees, he leans forward, his face gaining a healthy dose of color from the glow of the fire. It brings out the gold in his eyes, another one of Mana’s odd features, and instead of shrinking away from the tall figure looming over him or pushing out his shoulders to seem bigger, Allen sighs, raising a brow to complete his picture of a reluctant listener and leans back.

“What?”

He asks, when the silence continues to drag on. Mana’s habit of staring isn’t as creepy as it used to be but still unusual enough to make him squirm and dig his heels into the floor.

“Nothing! It’s just…I’m happy you care so much.”

Continuing, like Allen isn’t spluttering on his protests, Mana hums, eyes crinkling at the corners as he slaps a hand over his heart.

“Allen used to snap at me quite a lot, always so mean and grouchy, but now you’re being so kind to me, worrying over me it truly warms my heart! I’m so happy I could cry.”

“Don’t even start with that!”

Allen makes a face, because Mana’s dramatic antics are a sign, he’s feeling better, but it’s late and having to deal with them when he knows there’s a good chance Mana could be crying later sets his nerves on edge.

“Listen, if I stay up, I can wake you if you start getting uncomfortable sleeping. There’s not much else I can do to get you to sleep better.”

Mana gives the idea some thought, scratching at his chin and Allen knows from the gesture alone, the man is only doing it to humor him. He ends up being right when Mana shakes his head.

“Thank you for your kind offer, but I couldn’t possible accept this generosity my boy. If you watch over me while I sleep, you’ll not get the sleep you need to grow.”

Oh, bloody hell—

“Well, what am I supposed to do then!? Either you sleep or I won’t.”

He regrets those words leaving his mouth as soon as they’re out because Mana snaps his fingers, grin stretching from ear to ear like he’s got the best idea and Allen knows from last time, the next thing Mana will suggest is going to be utter nonsense.

He’s still holding a grudge over the man forcing him into that stupid clown costume and forcing him onto the walking globe for a show. Falling from that height had hurt.

“Allen could sing me a lullaby!”

“No way.” Short and merciless, he rejects the idea without batting an eye. Not to mention there might be a chance he’ll end up crying if Mana gets him to hum that familiar melody, he’d taught him. Which would happen over Allen’s dead body.

Head falling at the harsh refusal Mana sighs. “I guess you’re still too shy, but we’ll work on that. I’m afraid then there’s nothing you can do.”

Bullshit. Allen thinks, but doesn’t say. There must be something he can do! If he has to take another day of Mana clinging to his blanket like a scared child afraid of the horrors of the dark, he’ll end up pulling out all his hair or he’ll starve to death at this rate.

He’s come too far to give up, so he tries to come up with a way to get Mana to sleep.

Absently rubbing at his eyes, he watches Mana put out the fire to get them ready for their beds. They’re camping inside an abandoned run-down house which is more of a ruin than an actual house with the half-broken roof, but it shields them from the cold and keeps what little warmth they manage to create inside long enough for them to fall asleep comfortably.

Throwing the man, who rolls out their sleeping matts with care a glance, Allen chews on his bottom lip.

“It’s time for bed, Allen~.”

“Alright, stop nagging me already.”

Standing up, Allen kicks of his shoes and pulls off his jacket. The rustling of clothing tells him Mana’s doing the same, of course, neater and actually folding his clothes to put them aside. Risking another glance between his sleeping matt and Mana’s, Allen comes to a decision.

Oh, to hell with this.

Reaching down to lift his sleeping matt, he drags it over to Mana’s, dumping it right beside him before getting his blanket. The stare drilling into his skull is uncomfortable and makes his ears burn. Sitting down on his matt to arrange his blanket, he pulls it up to his shoulder and rolls onto his side, daring the man to comment with a sharp look thrown over his shoulder, he waits for Mana to settle down next to him.

“Isn’t this a nice surprise—”

“Don’t make this weird!”

Allen bursts out as Mana lays down next to him, his shoulder and side brushing against Allen’s back and he knows he’ll regret this in the morning because Mana seems like a person who cuddles like a leech but if this gets him a night of undisturbed sleep it’s going to be worth the mortification. Trying to relax now that Mana’s laying down next to him, knowing he wouldn’t have been sent away hadn’t put a rest to the feeling of anxiety crawling up his spine, Allen closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep.

“If you roll on top of me, I’ll suffocate ya with a pillow.”

“Of course,” Mana’s hushed voice is soothing in the night. The smell of burnt wood, smoke and paint helping him get comfortable in the chilly room. The heat the man emits like a furnace helps to keep himself warm and cozy. “Sweet dreams, Allen.”

“Night.” He mumbles, feeling the edges of sleep drawing him in. He hears Mana’s steady breathing, feels the phantom caress of a hand stroking his hair and the gentle hum of a melody and lets himself fall into embrace of sleep.

The next morning, he wakes up to Mana’s quiet snoring, an arm thrown over his waist resting on his back with his cheek pressed to the man’s clothed chest, his head carefully tugged underneath the man’s chin. It’s a lose but comfortable embrace Allen hesitates to pull himself out of. He decides to let Mana sleep a few extra minutes and denies any snuggling having taken place with vigor.

Mana’s nightmares don’t stop, but they do lessen, so Allen keeps their sleeping arrangement and is thankful for what rest Mana manages to get during the night.

At least, he can enjoy his food again, now that Mana’s nightmares have become manageable.

#red!allen #allen walker #mana d campbell #dgm fanfic #d gray man #fanfiction #my writing #platonic relationships matter

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