#post so serious i had to use proper grammar

[princessgiggles333]

Shauna and Jackie’s cannibalistic dynamic is exceptionally special because rarely do you see female characters using the “eating each other as a form of our love” trope. The cannibalism metaphor is oftentimes implemented to replace the gentleness and kindness 2 characters lack in the relationship, and you mostly see this with 2 male characters (or female and male). This makes sense, because kind and soft dynamics aren’t something you would see frequently—especially in mainstream media—between men as they might not know how to express these types of feelings. Meanwhile, straight relationships don’t have that same connection that 2 girls would have because there is a lack of relatability the two would bond over. The fact that it’s between 2 women makes it even harsher. Female friendships are already viewed and displayed as the most tender relationship you can have, platonic or romantic, and so to put the cannibalism metaphor between Shauna and Jackie (two girls who are supposed to be long-term best friends going off to college together to become roommates and sequentially live the rest of their lives intertwined with one another) makes them such a devastating and gut-wrenching pair to place the cannibalism symbolism onto.

#yellowjackets #jackieshauna #shauna shipman #jackie taylor #idk if someone has said this already but #post so serious i had to use proper grammar

[midorihiyori]

u said ur not a proshipper and stuff but isnt soushin a proship tho.... abuser x victim>???? and shin saw midori like the older brother he didnt have../??? /gen

Originally I wasn't going to respond to this, I thought it was funny so I giggled at it with my friends and I thought that would be it. But I realized this is a wonderful opportunity to write a really long post disproving these theories that this fandom insists are canon. I’ll start by debunking some common arguments. I put a lot of effort into this and am actually using proper grammar IM SERIOUS GUYS!!! This is really long by the way

“Shin saw Midori like an older brother”

I’ll get this argument out of the way first because it’s weak, it’s a common trope in media where relationships are described as familial to show the closeness of the relationship. Even so, Shin probably said that because he looks up to Midori and respects him. If you just want to see them as having a brotherly relationship, that’s fine, but this argument doesn’t stand for calling Soushin proship.

“Midori groomed Shin”

I honestly have no idea where this theory even came from. Some people say that Midori preyed on Shin and that he was much older, while it’s more likely they are both in the same age range. Shin is canonically 21-22 years old while Midori’s age isn’t stated, but since they were in highschool together it can be assumed he wasn’t all that much older than him. Not saying you can’t headcanon that they aren’t, but you shouldn’t push your headcanons as canon to insist Soushin is proship. Midori changed to Shin’s school so that he could get his signature but he also became his friend in order to make the Shin AI. He could have easily just been a highschooler himself. Midori is an Asu-Naro agent and from what we know about them they have used underaged people for labor (eg. Kai, Sei, Hinako). If the common theory that the silhouette in Kai’s mini episode being Midori’s mom is true, it’s probable that he grew up similarly to Kai and Sei, being made to do Asu-Naro’s bidding as children. It’s not like you need the credentials of an adult to give out contracts. You could also make the argument that Midori must be older because he worked as a nurse and school counselor while trying to get participant signatures, but one could argue Asu-Naro has the connections to get him in such a position without schooling or even have higher levels of schooling to get the education in a shorter timespan. But I’m getting off topic. Many people who say Midori groomed Shin say that he groomed him into believing he had to leave himself behind and that is why he took on Midori’s persona in the death game when it’s clearly not the case in canon. It was Midori who wanted Shin to be the best version of himself.

“And you… should become the person you want to be, so you can meet them proudly.”

This dialogue is part of Shin’s lost memory, where they are talking about Shin’s wish to meet his lost sibling. It’s one of the only shown scenes of Shin and Midori pre-canon, and he’s clearly being supportive and wanting Shin to be happy with himself.

Here ‘???’ is the shadow version of himself, he is having an inner conflict of interest. Commonly referred to as Shadsou, is the actual reason Shin took on Midori’s persona. What Shadsou is exactly is ambiguous but generally it’s the personification of Shin’s devil's advocate. People often assume that Shadsou is another consequence of Midori’s impact on Shin, as if he isn’t his own character who can make his own decisions. This fandom often waters down his character and infantilizes him like this.

“Midori is Shin’s abuser”

Again, another headcanon people insist is canon. The reality is that Midori and Shin’s relationship is ambiguous and it hasn’t been explored much in canon. Soushin can be explored in many different ways because of how vague their relationship is. Saying that Midori abused Shin is an unsubstantiated claim so it’s just a headcanon, not saying you can’t have that but again, you can’t be claiming it’s fact.

This is the one cg we have of Midori and Shin pregame btw:

This is the cg where Midori is encouraging Shin to be someone he’s proud of. Not very abusive guys.

“But it’s implied to be abusive”

This is usually the evidence they use for the implication:

“He’s… a scary friend of mine…” 

Midori’s mannerisms are scary. It isn’t just Shin who thinks that he is, he’s one of the main antagonists of the game. Shin finding Midori to be scary doesn’t mean he abused him.

“Though I learned a lot of things at his house…”

It’s insane to me that people use this as evidence but, this is clearly about Midori teaching him how to code. People claim that it has deeper meaning but really it comes down to how you want to interpret it.

There are multiple points where Midori is shown to feel affection in strange ways. It’s possible he didn’t understand ordinary forms of affection, similarly to Kai who was deprived of affection growing up as an agent. Midori’s odd mannerisms towards Shin could just be how he shows his love. awww. isnt that so sad

Many people call Midori Shin’s abuser and claim Soushin is proship without proper canonical proof. A lot of people who kin Shin project onto their relationship and insist that it’s abusive because their bias rooted from their own trauma and experiences clouds their perception of Shin. This happens along with people infantilizing Shin and excusing all of his actions by blaming the supposed ‘grooming’ or ‘abuse’ he experienced from Midori. This is just a common problem with mischaracterization of Shin and Midori by the fandom. It’s gotten to the point where people like this dear anon believe these things to be true!

Then there's the people who ARE proshippers and insist that Soushin is abusive or pedophilic because they want it to be and are looking at them with that lens of thinking. These people greatly help spread the idea that Soushin is a proship, making it much harder to discern canon from fanon when much of the Soushin content is by these people, specifically outspoken adult western fans that praise proship and advocate out for Soushin being problematic, that's what the general fandom now sees it as even though it’s just not canonically happening.

At the time of posting this, Shin’s minisode has yet to come out. I’m sure that once it does it will give a much clearer view of their relationship, maybe I’ll have more to say then! For now, that is all I’ve got for you tumblr.

#had to get serious for this one im not messing around with you yttd fandom #most of what people think in this fandom is just sheep mentality about soushin so #i doubt this will change much of the fandom perception because i am simply dead midori shitpost blog but.... maybe a little #yttd #soushin #your turn to die #midori posting #anon ask #kimi ga shine #shin tsukimi #midori yttd #sou hiyori #yttd theory

[samantha-and-her-chaotic-desires]

BELOW THE SURFACE: CHAPTER ONE: A Petal's Decay:

A/N: Hello hello hello! Thank you to those who participated in the poll of if I should cross post: the most answers were for yes! So here we are...and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 200 FOLLOWERS!!! That is a HUGE HUGE HUGE blessing to me. Seriously, I cannot thank you enough for how happy this makes me feel. So now, as a thank you for your support through my rambunctious posts and chaotic DMs, I present to you...

Below the Surface: A 2023 Lackadaisy Fanfiction...now posted here, there, and NOW on Tumblr. Enjoy!

"His voice means to deceive you...my voice just wants to lead you...Below the Surface."

-🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹-

The smell of cigarettes was heavily sticking in the air. An overwhelming warmth accompanied it in the suite. The night was muggy, hence why she locked up all the windows. It was a warm Missouri night: yet Lacrimosa Ambrose was far from tired, despite how late it was. 

She was in her lavish flapper dress, consisting of pigments of indigo and black. She had toed off her shoes and let the feather boa around her slip down, softly and caressing her arms. Tonight was a rather eventful night for the jazz singer: she really brought the blues out in her sultry voice. She was fawned over by many men, and she adored the attention secretly: yet she never wanted anything serious with anyone, as she was a lone wolf in the relationship department. However…no one ever asked about her… side hustle, regarding her occupation in the Rose Brigade: she was the boss after all …

That’s good: if people became suspicious, she would end up shooting some people in the head with her Colt M1911 pistol…she’d thank her husband for that lovely gift…if he weren’t dead.

She got up off her couch, sauntering over to her phone as she spun the dial numbers slowly and deliberately, and she put the phone to her ear. She sighed sharply, her pointed ears perking downwards slightly, and she took another hit from her cigarette to calm herself down.

“Mei deliciae, this is getting old…I get you’re in Hotel Maribel, but at least speed up this process.” She told the other person on the phone.

“Of course, of course! I’ve just been…under the weather.” He reassured her: Silas Tueuse, a French actor visiting Missouri with his sister Raquelle, was far from innocent…just like Ms. Lacrimosa.

“If you mean you were busy being at a damn juice joint and getting sick from drinking too much giggle water , then you are surely a fool to think you can fool me with this excuse.” Lacrimosa chided, as if she was talking to a child: from her perspective, she might as well be. She was almost twice Silas’ and Raquelle’s age, and her beauty slowly dimmed as more wrinkles showed from stress.

“Ah, shucks,” Silas hissed a bit, snapping his fingers, “that trick never works, dunnit?”

“Use proper grammar in my presence, Tueuse. I will not ask you again.” Lacrimosa twirled with her pearled necklace with a finger, and her claw retracted. 

“What’s the problem with the way I speak, ma’am?”

“You and your sister come from wealthy parents, I highly expected some elegance from you.”

“Ma’am, I come from a French mother and an English father, as does my little sister: we have different ways of speaking: she’s like mother, I’m like father. So expect a bit of slip ups and slangs from us…~”

Lacrimosa internally cursed him. She sucked in a sharper breath, brandishing her cigarette. “Silas, do me a favor and get yourself in line…I won’t hesitate to lodge a bullet in your pretty little skull.” She glanced over towards an ebony desk, seeing a slightly rusted revolver, glinting a little in the soft lighting.

“...yes ma’am.”

“Are you about to go down from your room to…do the task?”

“In a few moments…after all, I am a good actor~” Silas pulled out a small vial of cyanide, playing with it. “After all, I could always slip it into a drink or two.”

“You remember the target?”

“Yes ma’am. I’ll get it done as soon as I can.”

“I want you to go immediately after we finish this call: is that clear?”

Silas grimaced: “Yes, that is crystal clear, Ms. Lacrimosa.” Oh lord, what was he going to do? His sister was conked out on the hotel bed in Hotel Maribel, after drinking too many dry martinis and throwing up on herself in a not–so elegant fashion. She had changed out into something much more comfortable to sleep in.

“Good: that’s my left hand man~” Lacrimosa teased, smiling with feigned sweetness. She then hung up abruptly, the smile drooping into a deep, frustrated frown. She rubbed at her temples, leaning against the table and sighing. Her tail thumped against the wood, and she walked over to the window, opening it. The smoke and smell of cigarettes wafted out of the apartment complex, and she pressed her elbows on the windowsill, hands under her chin. Her amber eyes dulled, watching the cars, the people, and everything else slowly drift by. She craved some form of entertainment, something different from the dullness. St. Louis was a hit or miss sometimes…but soon there will be a good story: a good dose of entertainment, all thanks to the French actor Silas Tueuse. She smiled, flicking off some ash and ember, and it landed on her rose plant…the flame ate at one of the petals, and it shriveled up: she didn’t feel too bad. The poor plant was dying anyway…

Her ears flicked at the sound of a violin. She sighed almost gently, shoulders dropping. She extinguished her cigarette onto the ashtray, put her shoes back on, and grabbed her feathered boa again, wrapping it around her: the violinist lived in the exact same apartment building as Lacrimosa, and boy did she love her like a daughter. She grabbed her keys and left her apartment, locking the door and leaving. She began treading down the hallway, tail slowly swishing in sync with the violin’s notes. She hummed along to the tune. She knocked on the door at the end of the hall, and the music stopped. There were footsteps, and the door opened. 

An older Sphynx with a left glass eye and scar marks stared at her, an eyebrow raised. Her cold, stern features softened slightly. Her ice blue eyes dulled, and she backed away, beckoning Lacrimosa to enter.

“Your playing is soothing, Mandisa. I enjoy it.” Lacrimosa walked into the darker apartment, and she put her arms at her sides. She gazed around with a bit of a sleepy–eyed look to her.

Mandisa smiled slightly: despite being wrinkly, she was still a bit in her youth: thirty–five was still rather young. “I’m doing it for the kids.” She told her.

“They’re asleep, yes?” Lacrimosa raised a brow.

“Both Cassandra and Malachi, yes.”

“...what about the other one?”

“Don’t you recall? He’s living with his father.” 

“My condolences.” 

“It’s quite alright.”

Their conversations were light, but filled with calmness and respect.

“I have another job for you, Silas, Raquelle and the others.” Lacrimosa fluffed up her boa.

“So soon?” Mandisa straightened herself up.

“Yes…Silas is already after the target. He’ll be done rather soon…but that’s not the point. We’re going after Marigold’s head honcho.”

“...really? Asa Sweet?”

“Bold, isn’t it?”

“A little tempting, but much more dangerous: don’t you remember his little shadow? James has that divot in his ear thanks to Heller’s bullet!”

“Damn…that’s right.” 

“Certainly, we can’t go head on.” 

Lacrimosa then grinned deviously. “Lure Heller away…as well as his little posse. We could also ruin some lives in the Little Daisy Cafe~”

Mandisa sat down, her tail curled next to her thigh. “This is…interesting.”

“In due time, everything will work out~” Lacrimosa grinned sharply, crossing one leg over the other. “Lure them all away…that way, we pluck away everything they love.”

…and this is the beginning of how things become twisted.

-🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹🌼🏵️🌹-

Aaaaand here's chapter one! I'm going to post a chapter or two on here a day, but once I really write more in the future, the posting process fic-wise might slow down. Either way, hope you enjoy!

#Below the Surface - Lacka-Fic #lackadaisy #fanfiction #original post #lackadaisy fanfiction #mordecai heller #serafine savoy #nicodeme savoy #rocky rickaby #ivy pepper #calvin freckle mcmurray #mandisa septhtis #lacrimosa ambrose #silas tueuse #raquelle tueuse #james monroe #celeste legerra-smitt #asa sweet #mitzi may #sedgewick sable #dorian zibowski #lackadaisy mordecai #lackadaisy serafine #lackadaisy nico #lackadaisy rocky #lackadaisy ivy #lackadaisy freckle #lackadaisy mandisa #lackadaisy lacrimosa #lackadaisy silas

[isnt-it-pretty]

any advice for someone who never wrote a fanfic before?

Writing is a skill like any other. You wouldn't expect to pick up a flute and know how to play, would you? So no matter what, just keep writing.

Beyond that, here's a few pieces of general writing advice:

- Make sure your dialogue formatting is correct. A new paragraph every time a new person speaks, proper quotation marks, etc.

- Remember your tense. If you're writing in past tense, make sure everything is in past tense. The same applies if you're writing in present tense. It's an easy mistake to make, but people will notice.

- Don't use physical descriptors in place of nouns. Like this:

"Dialogue dialogue," the raven haired man said.

It's one of the quickest ways to turn people off your work. Use pronouns or the character's name unless the reader doesn't know the character's name. Sometimes you can get away with character relationships, ("blah blah," his father said), but use them sparingly.

- In a similar vein, just use 'said.' Words like whispered, shouted, etc., should be used for emphasis, not for regular dialogue.

- Don't learn to write from reading fics. You can tell when somebody does because they use all the tropes common to fanfiction, but honestly, those aren't very good (we've had passionate debates in my discord server about whether "golden orbs" or "the bluette said" is a greater sin. There is still no agreement.)

- Run your work through Grammarly. Copy and paste it into Grammarly's word processor since that works better than their google docs extension. Even the free Grammarly will help you a lot with little grammar things you don't notice. I know it picks up typos and such for me all the time.

- Personally, I suggest checking out some nonfiction writing books too. I'm fond of Stein on Writing by Sol Stein, and The Story Graph by Shawn Coney, but most people never do that, and they write fic just fine.

- Depending on the topic you plan on writing, research. I'm serious; the number of stories I've read that just toss in a deaf character because the author likes the headcanon is insane. If you want to deal with topics like disability or social issues, you need to research.

- If you post on ao3, learn the tagging system and use it properly. For example, "/" is romantic, and "&" is platonic. In general, don't use both for the same two characters.

- This is an excellent master list of writing advice by tumblr user she-who-fights-and-writes. Not all of it will apply to fic writing, but the basics are the same.

None writing but still important things:

- You'll never be happy if you compare your work to others. You can look at your pieces all day and wonder why they don't sound right or feel right or why it isn't like your favourite fic author, and it won't to make a difference.

- Coming off that, jealousy is a natural part of being involved in a skill-based community, but don't let it sour your friendships or make you bitter. I've seen it happen, and it makes everybody involved feel shitty. Meet people with kindness and move on, even if you think they don't deserve their popularity.

- Make friends! Fandom is a community. Authors should make friends with each other and with their readers. They should participate in the community by leaving comments on fics, reblogging art on social media, etc. This is supposed to be fun, so let it be.

- It is illegal to earn money off fan works. Don't mention anything to do with money on ao3. Don't link a kofi, paypal, say a work was a commission, etc. It breaks the terms of service.

- Just be kind and have fun.

#asks #writing #i'm sorry if this isn't helpful #i'm not very good at giving advice

[study-coffee-chicago]

Brady and Burdens (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

These plotlines were requested from @beckaroo89 on wattpad and an anon here on Tumblr! I hope you enjoy!

Also, this is not proofread because I wanted to get this posted and then go to bed because I have classes in the morning, so that's why there might grammar/spelling errors. Finally, please remember to reblog and comment!

Enjoy!

When Jay walked into Brady, a home for troubled girls who had nowhere else to go, or the foster system had chewed them up and spit them back out, he just expected it to be a normal undercover case. No more, no less. He had been undercover many times, it was nothing new.

He was being shown around the place by his new "supervisor", Vince, when there was a call over the speaker.

"All staff report to a fight in the cafeteria immediately. Fight in the cafeteria. All staff please report."

Jay and Vince sprinted into the cafeteria.

It reminded Jay of a high school cafeteria. Normal. Except, two girls were fighting. Typically, at the high school he and Will had gone to, it was typically the boys who got in fistfights with each other. But, he knew that if girls were fighting, then the anger had been bubbling up for a while. Basically, it would take a lot to pull these two apart.

"You know restraints?" Vince asked.

So, Jay faked it. His background for this UC gig was that he used to work at his uncle's auto shop. You don't learn restraints there.

He scoffed. "No."

"Then improvise," Vince told him.

Luckily for Jay, he did know the way to properly restrain a minor. Because, if he didn't and a girl got hurt, he and Brady would face a mountain of lawsuits. And, if a girl got hurt very badly, something that resulted in her death or a very serious injury, Jay could face jail time.

But, he knew proper restraints, so it was okay.

"Bitch! You're a little bitch!" a girl yelled and spat--literally she spit--in your face.

"Go to hell!" you yelled.

All Jay could see was the back of a girl with jeans and a t-shirt, but he would know your voice anywhere.

And, at the moment, your back was to him so you had no idea that Jay was here. You knew they didn't give a damn about you. Whether that was because they told the social worker that or because the social worker didn't bother to contact either of them. Either way, Will and Jay had no idea that you were out of your dad's care.

"You're done!" Jay yelled as he pulled your arms behind you and hooked his arms through at the space where your elbows were. "You're done!"

"Ja--"

"Ryan! You got her?" Vince asked.

"Ryan?" you yelled above the noise of all the other girls yelling about the excitement of the fight. "What the hell are you--"

"I'm giving everyone three seconds to stop talking!" Vince yelled. He counted to three in his head. "Good. Next person who moves or yells is getting a level docked!" He lowered his voice and turned to Jay. "I'll take her to a room to go process, you take her?" Jay nodded. "She seems pretty calm at the moment, so just find an empty classroom. No need for a time-out room."

"Got it," Jay answered.

He released his hold on you, but kept on hand on your bicep, just like he would if he were leading a suspect to the backseat of his truck.

"J--"

"What did he just say?" Jay questioned. "Be quiet or you'll get a level docked. Last chance."

You shut your mouth. Maybe this was just Jay's doppelganger. But, he sounded like him, too. This was more like Jay's twin.

You were led into an empty classroom. The minute Jay closed the door, he dropped his "Ryan" facade.

"Y/N? What are you doing here?" he asked.

It was Jay. You thought you'd never see him again.

You started to get choked up. You were only fifteen, and this past month has been hell for you. All you wanted was for one of your brothers to come and break you out of here. But, after three weeks, you lost all hope of getting out of here. Your social worker was an asshole who hated his job, so the minute a placement opened up, he dumped you here. He didn't even try to get in contact with Jay or Will. You were pretty sure that was illegal or that he'd at least lose his license. When you had brought up your brothers when you were picked up by DCFS, he told you that you were just a kid. And, you just gave up after a few weeks. After all, you were a kid. What did you really know about how all this stuff worked.

"I- I..." But you just trailed off and instead threw yourself into his arms.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Jay reassured while he rubbed your back. "It's okay. But, I do need to know why you are here."

You pulled away and looked at him. You didn't want this to be the last time you hugged him, so you kept holding onto him. You didn't want this to be the last time you hugged him.

"They- he didn't- he didn't even listen to me! He didn't try to con- try to contact you."

"Who, Y/N? Who didn't try to contact me?"

"DCFS! He- He just brought me- brought me here."

"Y/N, we're gonna sit down, okay? That might be easier for you to calm down, okay?"

You nodded and followed him to the desks in the classroom. You sat in one of the chairs and Jay sat in another one and angled it toward you. You reached for his hand and he nodded his head and grabbed on to your outstretched hand.

Jay gave your hand a squeeze. "What about Dad?" Jay asked.

You scoffed. "Dad hasn't given a damn for years. I thought I was good at hiding it. Apparently not enough."

"Meaning?" Jay probed.

"Wearing the same clothes over and over, not having lunch, the bags under my eyes."

Jay told himself that he would've noticed. But, unlike your teachers, he wasn't seeing you five days a week. With his job and you being in high school, he was lucky if he saw you maybe once every two to three weeks. The same went for Will.

He heard a bell ring.

And, he assumed that Vince would come and find this soon. He needed to make this fast because he didn't know whether or not girls would be coming in here for a class.

"Listen, I'm on a UC gig right now. Just, call me Ryan when you see me."

"Why? Jay, please just get me out of here. I wanna- I wanna go home. With you. Please," you pleaded.

Jay felt his heart shatter. But, despite being a detective, he couldn't do anything at the moment.

"I know, I know you do. And we are gonna get you out of here and to me or Will. You just gotta give me 24 hours to figure out what the hell happened and to get through all that red tape. Can you do that for me?"

You nodded your head and bit your lip to hold back more tears.

"I promise I will find a way to get you out of here. But, for the next 24 hours, I'm not your brother, Jay. I'm just Ryan, the new staff member. I need you to remember that."

"Okay, I can do that."

***

"Jay, I understand you're upset, but we already put you under. We can pull you, but the whole case would go under. And, you did say you thought that Ellie knew something. You can't build trust in one shift and then ask her the pressing questions tomorrow morning," Voight told him.

"Don't you think I know that!" Jay yelled. "I know we can't get answers in one shift! I know that! But, she's my sister, and I don't even know why she's there!"

"Then, we'll figure something out. We'll figure out why she's there and figure out an alternative to get her out of there without your cover being blown. And, if you don't like the idea, then you can blow your cover. We'll work through the night and you can give me your answer before your next UC shift at Brady."

Next shift. His next shift at Brady was tomorrow at 8 am. It was currently 5 pm. Jay would need to stop working on this at 7 am tomorrow. They had fourteen hours to figure out an alternative to his cover being blown.

"I'll go notify the rest of the team about our change of plans," Voight said. "You need to go get your head on straight."

"Sarge--"

"Take ten minutes, Jay. You need your head on straight if you want to figure this out and get Y/N out of there."

Jay sighed. He didn't want to take that time, but he knew his boss was right. If he wanted to get you out of Brady, he couldn't be letting his adrenaline get the best of him.

So, he went to the locker room. He splashed some cold water on his face and then took some deep breaths, a skill he had learned since his girlfriend, Hailey, had convinced him to go to therapy.

Breathe in for four seconds...Hold for four seconds...Breathe out for four seconds...Breathe in for four seconds...Hold for four seconds...Breathe out for four seconds...

Jay lost count of how many times he had done the breathing exercise, but now he felt calmer, lighter. He took this time to go over what you had told him so far and get his thoughts in order before he had to tell them to the team.

A social worker didn't do his job...dirty clothes, being tired all the time, no lunch at school, which sounded to him like some of the textbook signs of child neglect--

"Hey."

Jay looked up at the sound of his girlfriend's voice.

"Uh, hey," Jay replied.

Hailey walked over to him and sat down next to him on the bench. "You doing okay?" she asked and placed a hand on his back and rubbed small circles on it, which was almost the same thing he had done earlier today when you had cried in that classroom at Brady.

"Yeah...all things considered," Jay answered. "I'm not about to run through a wall to kill anyone anymore."

"Well, I for one am glad about that. I don't need to be talking you off the ledge when you have bigger priorities to worry about."

"Yeah," Jay agreed.

Hailey kept pushing. "Anything you wanna talk about before we go back into the bullpen and you have to tell everyone the facts?"

Jay chuckled at that. "This sounds like a therapy session. No offense, Hails."

Hailey cracked a smile. "Your girlfriend and badass detective by day, but I do sometimes moonlight as a therapist at night. Guess I never told you that."

Jay smiled. "That was good." He closed his eyes and focused on what you had told him and his feeling surrounding what little he knew. "It's just that, I'm pissed at my dad. From what she told me, it sounds like textbook child neglect. I can't believe me or Will didn't notice and get her out of there. If one of us--"

"Jay, you can't blame yourself for this. It was your dad and your dad only."

"I know that. And, the fact that apparently, a social worker failed to notify me or Will. That makes my blood boil. We could've taken her in if he had done his damn job. I need you to promise me, that when we catch that guy, you won't let me talk to him. I'll lose it, Hails. I promise you I will."

"I can do that," she promised. "You ready to get out of here and get some work done. We can stay in here if you need more time or--"

"No," Jay cut her off. "Let's get back upstairs. We don't have much time."

***

"She wasn't lying about the neglect--" Adam started, but Jay cut him off.

"She wouldn't lie about things like that," Jay interjected.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Adam apologized. "But, according to the DCFS notes and the teacher she did show signs of neglect like she told you."

Adam told Jay everything that was in the report and Jay typed some into their case notes. For this case, he'd only be taking case notes while they were trying to figure everything out. So, he'd get everything from his team, but he wouldn't be the first one to find the information; essentially, he wouldn't be using his detective right now. Voight didn't want Jay to get an invoice for punching a computer or breaking something else in the bullpen, so he figured it would be best for Jay to just take the case notes on this one.

"Anything on the social worker?" Jay asked.

"Nothing yet," Adam explained. "He's got a clean record. Obviously. He wouldn't be in this job if something popped on his background check. But, we both know that assholes like him slip through the cracks."

Jay scoffed. He hated people like that. "Yeah."

"Jay, come here," Hailey said. "You're gonna want to see this."

He walked over to her computer. All she did was point to a paragraph and then to a signature below said paragraph.

"I can't fucking believe him," Jay muttered and then grabbed his coat.

"Where are you going?" Hailey asked, but she thought she already knew the answer.

"To my dad's. See why the hell he signed that."

And then, he was walking down the bullpen stairs, leaving everyone else but Hailey wondering what was on that computer screen.

"Why's he going to see his dad?" Adam asked.

"Because," Hailey sighed. She hoped her boyfriend wasn't about to do something stupid. "He signed away his parental rights to Y/N."

***

"I cannot believe you!" Jay yelled as he stormed into his childhood home after giving the front door two hard knocks. He hadn't even waited for his dad to answer the door after them, he just walked in.

"Jay?" Pat Halstead asked, abruptly standing up from a chair at the kitchen table where he had been eating dinner. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Jay asked rhetorically, taking more steps toward his dad. "What am I doing here? You'd think I'd never find out, didn't you? Think me and Will are so stupid we wouldn't figure out you signed away your parental rights?"

"I thought it was what was best for her!"

"Best for her?" Jay yelled. "You've gotta be kidding me. She's in a group. A group home!"

Pat Halstead furrowed his eyebrows and a look of confusion fell across his face. "A group home? But I thought..." he trailed off, not knowing how to explain that he didn't mean to do you any harm by signing away his parental rights.

"You thought what? That she'd be better in a group home?"

"No, I thought she'd be with you or Will."

At this, Jay's anger subsided just slightly. "What? Dad, what are you talking about? I thought Y/N was living with you until..." he trailed off. He couldn't exactly tell his dad what had happened since it was still an ongoing investigation. "Until I found out otherwise."

"What? No. Those Department of Children people told me that if I sign away my parental rights, it'll be easier for you or Will to take her. After all, I can't raise a daughter without her mother."

Jay wanted to point out that you were fifteen and were starting to gain independence, there wasn't much raising left to do. But he stayed silent about that part. "And you think me and Will could do much better? Last I checked, we're both men."

"I know that!" Pat took a deep breath to stop himself from yelling again. "I know that. But you and Will both have a lot of, uh, female friends." He didn't know if the women Jay and Will were working with had been girlfriends, they were sleeping with them, or if they were just coworkers, so he settled for female friends. "I figured one of you, with the help of a few of them, could be better role models for her. I've been working the same job for forty years now, Jay. Not much I've accomplished. And, I can't even remember to get her new clothes for school or turn down the damn tv so she can sleep at night. I figured you or Will would be better for her."

Jay thought he heard regret in his dad's voice, but he couldn't be sure. He wasn't a man who showed a lot of emotion to begin with.

"Tell me about the social worker," Jay probed. If you said that the social worker just dropped you off at Brady without contacting one of them, he had to have done it for a reason. Just like there had to have been a reason why he convinced your dad to give up his parental rights to you. After all, the system (though a system with lots of flaws) typically tried to work on parental reunification, family therapy, and eventually children (or teens) back in their home after treatment in a group home or foster home.

"Not much to tell," Pat began. "He came here with two police officers, explained what the teacher had said, the cops handed me a temporary removal order and told Y/N to go pack some of her stuff.

"While she was doing that, the social worker, I think his name was Jean, started talking to me. One officer had gone with Y/N and the other had gone outside to the cruiser, so it was just me and him. He told me what was going on, asked if I had any questions, and asked if there was any family she could go to. I told him to give you or Will a call.

"Then, he asked if I want to terminate my parental rights and I asked why. He then said that it would be easier for you or Will to take her in if I did so. So, I did. I thought it was for the best, Jay. I really did."

Jay nodded. So his dad actually wasn't in the wrong. He was trying to do what was best. Even though he hadn't contacted him, he had assumed that this Jean guy had. So, at this point, Jay didn't find anything that his dad did illegal or wrong. Maybe a little stupid (not questioning further, not going to court) but not wrong.

"Is she in trouble? Is that why you're here?" Pat asked.

"No," Jay answered. "No, she's not. I'm just trying to figure out what happened so that she can come home with me."

"Okay, good. I want her to be safe."

"She will be."

***

"Please tell me you have something on the social worker?" Jay asked when he walked into the bullpen.

"Not much yet," Kim answered. "What'd you get from your dad?"

"He said that the social worker, the name's Jean, said that if my dad signed over his parental rights, that me or Will would have an easier time getting custody of Y/N."

"That makes sense," Kim piped up. "No custody battle."

"Which would be the case," Jay started, "if that Jean bastard actually bothered to contact me or Will!"

"My issue is how'd he get away with that?" Kevin asked. "When I got Jordan and Vanessa, there was a lot of paperwork, lots of people checkin' stuff. It wasn't just the social worker. The social worker's boss checks over stuff when they choose a placement to make sure it's good and then they can be placed there."

"You're saying you think there's more people involved besides this Jean guy?" Voight asked.

"Wouldn't be shocked," Kim said.

"Well, dig into the social worker." Voight paused. "Halstead, my office."

This time, Jay knew he did nothing wrong or was gonna get benched when he followed his boss into his office and closed the door behind him.

"Will's on his way," Voight said. "I had Trudy notify him."

"Why? I could've gotten her out just fine," Jay argued.

"I know, Jay. But, I want you to stay under at Brady. So, if Y/N gets out of there tomorrow, she'll have to go somewhere. And Will's your other option."

Jay nodded. "Okay. He's pissed?"

"Trudy didn't say. But, I will say, you should go down there now so he doesn't blow up on patrol."

"Probably a good idea."

Jay walked downstairs just in time to see Will entering the building. He opened his mouth, but Jay stopped him.

"I'm right here, so don't yell."

"She's in a group home? And you didn't care to call me right when you knew?" Will yelled anyway.

"What did I just say? I'll explain in a second. Just, c'mon."

Jay gave Trudy an apologetic look, silently apologizing for his brother's yelling, and then walked up the steps and buzzed himself and Will into Intelligence.

Then, they went into the coffee room and Jay explained everything he knew so far.

***

"How'd it go?" Hailey asked an hour and a half later.

"As well as it could go," Jay answered. Jay had explained everything to Will and then after that, Voight came in and handed a piece of paper to Will and told him that it was one of the best custody lawyers in the city and that he owed Voight a favor which he was cashing in now. So, Will went home to contact the lawyer to fast-track your leaving Brady. "Please tell me we got something when I was in there."

"We did," Hailey said. "Voight and Adam are having a chat with Jean McCloud at his house right now."

"Adam and Voight. Not people I want knocking on my door in the middle of the night. What'd you find out?"

"Corruption."

"About?"

"A judge and that Vince guy from Brady."

"Shit. And, you still need me under, right? To get Vince to confess to whatever it is?"

"Yeah, no judge is gonna sign off a search warrant against another judge based off a few online claims I found. Nobody even arrested or talked to this judge. There's not enough to make a case."

"So, what did he do?" Jay asked.

"Well, there's a lot of moving parts," Hailey began. "For the past half hour we've been trying to figure it out for the past half hour...hence why Kim and Kevin aren't there because they're talking to some lawyers who know the judge."

"Bad idea to talk to the judge upfront?"

"Probably. We need to get more information on this before we go straight for the jugular."

Jay laughed. He never thought he'd hear his girlfriend say a phrase like that. "So, what's the working theory?"

"The working theory is... a little complicated." She walked over to the board and Jay turned towards it and crossed his arms over his chest. "You know about Jean McCloud. Social worker. Nothing popped on background checks or other criminal history. You know Vince, the worker at Brady. And this is Judge Calhoun."

"How are the three connected?"

"That's where it gets tricky. What we think is that Judge Calhoun signs off on the warrants to send girls to Brady. McCloud picks them up and, since he already has a placement set and a judge's order, he just drops them off at Brady. Then, we have Vince, and that's where we get stuck."

"Stuck how?"

"Well, by scouring basically the entire internet, we found a claim of Judge Calhoun saying that he'd have sex with a woman who had a court case and he'd grant her custody. But that's all we found and that never went anywhere. We even checked his financials to see if he paid this woman off, and there was nothing. So, our theory is that she was just pissed she lost custody of her child. She's also in prison for drug charges, so it's believable.

"So we have him giving the go-ahead for placements at Brady to McCloud. McCloud had a sexual assault charge at age fifteen against a twelve year-old-girl, but since he was a minor, it was sealed when he turned eighteen," Hailey explained.

"Which is why no employer would be able to get it for a background check. Because once it's sealed, we're the only ones who are able to access it," Jay said.

"Exactly."

"So, we've got a judge with sexual coercion and a social worker with a sealed sexual assault charge from fifteen years ago. What about Vince?"

"That's the tricky part. We think he might be running girls, but we have no evidence."

"And you came to that conclusion how?" Jay asked.

"Remember right after you walked out of that classroom with Y/N and Vince caught you?"

"Yeah." That felt like a lifetime ago now after everything that had happened today. It seemed like the easiest part of his day if he was being honest.

"Well, from the cam, you just nodded. Do, you remember what he actually said?"

"No. I was thinking of Y/N. My head probably wasn't on straight and I figured it was something to do with training."

"We could tell you had no idea what he said."

"What? How?"

Hailey walked back over to her computer and clicked some buttons. She turned the monitor so that Jay could see.

"This is what he said." Then, Hailey pushed play.

"Look, have your fun," Vince began on the video. "Life's already ruined these girls. But just because they're throwaways, doesn't mean you can't go to jail. So shut your mouth."

Jay was horrified when he heard his response.

"Got it. Yeah, I, yeah, I got it."

Jay put a hand to his forehead and shook his head. If he wouldn't have been thinking about you and that whole situation, he could've pushed Vince further. But he didn't.

"Fuck," Jay muttered.

"It's okay," Hailey said. "You have tomorrow to get some info. Today wasn't your last chance to get this guy to crack, okay? And, maybe Y/N can tell you something once we get her out."

"Yeah, hopefully, something will happen."

Because if he just made a billion-dollar mistake by not focusing and someone was abusing those girls, he'd never forgive himself.

***

Three hours later, it was 2 am. And Jay's phone rang as he was chewing a bit of pizza. He quickly swallowed and then saw was calling and answered his phone.

"What'd the lawyer say?" Jay asked Will.

"Everything's good, except me or you would have to go to court to file a petition of guardianship and then have the home checks and everything," Will answered.

"So...she has to stay in Brady."

"Yeah, unless we know of a foster family. Then he said that he could push it through so that she could go to them for the week given the circumstances."

"We don't know any--" But then Jay cut himself off. He remembered years ago when Antonio was here and Casey and Gabby were trying to adopt a little boy. Sometimes, Antonio would go over there in the morning to help with him when both Casey and Gabby needed to sleep after a shift. "Casey," he whispered to himself.

"What? Jay, I can't hear you."

"Casey, he was a foster parent for that kid he and Gabby tried to adopt years ago."

"You think he'd help out?" Will asked. Honestly, he didn't expect it. It was a random ask and a big ask, even if it was just for a week.

"It's worth a shot," Jay said. You had met Kelly a handful of times, but had only met Casey twice at the firefighter cookouts in the summer.

"Okay, I can go run over to the firehouse right now. Do you want to try his house so we don't waste time?"

"Yeah, I'm basically useless here unless I get some more coffee in me...and I'm sick of district coffee."

Will chuckled. "Call me if you find him before I do."

"I will." Then, Jay hung up.

"What was that about?" Hailey asked. "Something about, Casey and a foster kid?"

"Yeah. About six years ago, Casey and Gabby--his ex-wife and Antonio's sister--tried to adopt this little boy, but it didn't work out. If Casey's still a licensed foster parent, he might be able to take Y/N in for a week while me and Will get through all the paperwork and court and all that. I'm gonna go run to his house right now."

***

Jay pounded on Mat's front door when Will called him and said he struck out at the firehouse.

Mat opened the door.

"Jay? What are you doing here?" he asked. He was in pajama pants and a t-shirt. Jay had no doubt woken him up.

"Listen, I know it's the middle of the night, but I have a huge favor to ask you. Can I come in? It needs some explanation."

"Yeah, of course."

Casey stepped out of the way and Jay walked into his house. Casey led him to his kitchen where he turned on a light and opened the fridge.

"You want a beer?" Casey asked.

"Nah, thanks. But I'm still technically working."

Casey sat down at the table across from Jay. "Alright, so what's this huge favor you needed e for in the middle of the night?"

"You remember my little sister, Y/N?"

"Yeah, she always liked to try and beat the boys at push-ups at the firefighter cookouts. Why?"

"Well, we've got a bit of a situation. To make it quick, my dad was neglecting her, DCFS picked her up, didn't contact me or Will, and now she's in a group home. We can get her out, we just need to get through court and lots of paperwork. But, the lawyer, well he owes Voight a favor, so he said that if we knew of anyone who was a foster parent, he could get her out of Brady, which is the group home, and to them tomorrow morning," Jay explained.

"So, you're wondering if I'm still a licensed foster parent?" Casey asked.

"Yeah. Are you? I don't know. It's been so long since you and Gabby--"

"I get it renewed every time I have to," Casey answered. "I just felt that there was a reason I needed to. And this is it. I'll do it."

"You will?" Jay asked and his eyes grew wide. He honestly wasn't expecting Casey to say yes.

Casey's face broke out into a huge smile. "Yeah, I'll do it! Just tell me who I have to call."

"Okay, okay." Jay paused. He knew he had to get back to work, so he couldn't stay here. "I'll give Will a call and have him come over here because he was the one who talked to the lawyer. I gotta get back to work. We have an active case along with all this Y/N stuff."

"I get it. Stay safe out there."

***

Hours later; Jay's back on shift at Brady

"Hey, I need to talk to you and then we need to go to the office," Jay said to you. He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a different color flannel than yesterday.

"Why?" you asked.

"The office?" You nodded. "I dunno. Your guess is as good as mine." But, he threw in a wink, so you knew he was lying; he just had to play the part because he was undercover.

The two of you walked into an empty classroom again and you sat down next to him.

"So, what's going on? Are you getting me out of here? Please tell me you're getting me out of here?" you asked. Despite this being Jay, you were still nervous that you wouldn't be able to leave.

"Well, we're getting you out of here. But first I need to ask you a couple of questions and then I'll explain what's going on, okay?" You nodded. "Okay. Have you seen Vince do anything weird here?"

"Define weird."

"I dunno, uh..." He really didn't want to mention sex trafficking to you because that was the working theory back at Intelligence. "Him doing weird stuff. Maybe him exiting rooms with girls, sneaking around at night, stuff like that."

"So sex." Jay almost choked, but he nodded. "Oh, yeah. One girl told me to stay away from him, and this resident named Tonya, but I haven't seen anything. Except for him and Tonya leaving classrooms together a few times. Oh, and I did see this girl named Ellie go into Tonya's room with Vince. And, Vince was the only one to come out."

"When did you see this?" Jay asked.

"Maybe a week ago?" you guessed.

"And you know this happened because...?"

"The little curtains we have in front of the windows on our doors on the inside that we put down when we're changing, well I leave mine open at night so I get a bit of light from the hallway and so I can see what's going on."

"So that Vince doesn't come into your room?"

"Yeah," you whispered.

"Hey, we'll get him. Don't worry. That's why I'm here," Jay reassured you.

"Okay. But, what's gonna happen to me?"

"Do you remember Mat Casey? The firefighter you met at the cookouts who's really good friends with Kelly?"

"Yeah. Why?" You furrowed your eyebrows and cocked your head to the side, a trait Jay swore you had picked up from your mom when she was still alive. You had no idea what a firefighter would have to do with you getting out of this place.

"Well, he's a licensed foster parent. And since me and Will can't get guardianship of you until at the earliest next week--"

"You're just dropping me off with him?" You didn't think your brother would just dump you on someone else like your dad did.

"No, not like that," Jay quickly reassured. "It's just for a week while me and Will get through all the paperwork. I promise. And, Will and me will come visit whenever we're off shift. Case- Mat even took a week and a half of furlough so that you won't be by yourself. If I didn't think that this was 110% safe, I wouldn't let you stay with him. You get that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. You and Will promise you'll come back for me once everything's sorted out?"

"We promise." Jay stood up. "Now, let's get you to the office. Will and Matt are waiting there along with a judge who signed the order to get you out of here. And then we can go get your stuff."

***

God, your hand was hurting from all the stuff you had carried earlier today. But, that was normal when you had to do a lot of pressing and grabbing with your dominant hand. A year ago, you had tripped in the snow and caught yourself, but now your hand hurt whenever you did certain movements. You had brought it up to your dad, but you could move it, so he said you were fine. You didn't bother arguing with him because you had bigger problems to worry about, like what you were going to eat for lunch the next day at school. And, a few weeks later, it felt fine except for when you did certain movements, like push-ups in gym class or pushing yourself up from a sitting position.

Maybe I should tell Will, you thought to yourself as you sat at Mat Casey's kitchen table with Will next to you and Mat across from you. All three of you were eating pizza for lunch after you had gotten all settled. No, he'll think it's stupid and not want to pay for it like Dad did...even though I know it was just because we didn't have the money for it. And, Will put himself through med school. He probably doesn't have money to spend on your hand right now anyway. And Jay's busy with his job and this case, so just deal with it.

"So, what do you say we go to Navy Pier since everything's settled?" casey suggested, snapping you out of your thoughts. "And, Jay can even meet us for dinner or something else over there, too after he's done working."

"Y/N, what do you think?" Will asked.

"You'll come, too?" you asked. "You don't have to work."

"Nope. I don't have to work until tomorrow, so I'll be with you the whole day."

You agreed. You hadn't been to Navy Pier in ages.

***

A Week Later

"Y/N, how about you go pack your stuff while I talk to Jay," Casey suggested.

"Okay!" You raced to what had been your room for the past week and started packing your things.

Back out in the kitchen, Casey and Jay were talking.

"How'd court go?" Casey asked.

This morning, Jay and Will had both gone to court to finalize guardianship. Jay was your primary guardian and Will was your secondary one in case anything happened to Jay. So, you would be living with Jay. This made sense because Will was still living in a small one-bedroom apartment near the hospital because that man could not seem to pay off his med school loans.

Jay hadn't stopped smiling since court let out. And, even though Will had to be at work at noon so he couldn't be here with Jay, Jay knew that he would be in an all-around better mood than he had been at the hospital than other times in this past week.

"Court went great. We had the same judge that you talked to at Brady when you came to pick Y/N up and, let's just say, others are getting prosecuted for what happened."

"You're saying her social worker and the judge before committed a crime?" Casey asked. He knew this was messy and there was a case, but he didn't think it was this serious.

"Let's just say, they'll be in prison for a long time."

Turns out, Judge Calhoun was signing off these warrants to Brady and Jean McCloud would convince parents to sign away their rights when he picked a girl up. Then, he'd bring them to Brady and Vince would run the girls. They'd leave through a small door in Tonya's room, since she was also helping run other girls, like the girl Ellie you had mentioned. Then, they'd keep all the money...and Judge Calhoun and Jean McCloud would receive sexual favors.

Jay was just glad he found you in time before they started running you, too.

God, the system was fucked.

He just tried to do his best to make it a little bit safer.

Casey nodded. "And, has Y/N had any issues? Any surgeries or injuries to her right hand?" Casey asked.

Jay shook his head. "Not that I know of. Why?"

"Sometimes, when she's pressing her hand down like this--" He put his arm and straight and pushed down with his hand "--in an extended position like this, she'll wince. I asked her about it, but she said she was fine. Just keep an eye out."

"Will do, thank you."

***

A few days later, you were re-enrolled in your old school. And, you had only been gone for about a month, so you and your brothers came up with the excuse that you had to get your appendix taken out and there were complications with the surgery, so you had been in the hospital for a while, which was why you had missed school.

Everything was fine until you had to do the push-up test for gym class. You were in so much pain. You thought you were over this.

But, you couldn't let either of your brothers know, so you played it off. You took the bus home like normal and then ate a snack and took some ibuprofen. And, when Jay asked you why you were taking it, you claimed you had a headache.

"Oh, so you don't want to go ice skating tonight?" Jay asked.

"Ice skating? We're going ice skating?" This was the first you were hearing of that.

"Yeah. I thought since it's mine and my girlfriend, Hailey's, regular day off and Will just worked three days in a row, so it's his day off too, that we could all go ice skating and grab some dinner after. But, if you have a headache, we can stay home."

"No!" you yelled. Jay looked surprised at your raised voice. "I mean, it's not too bad. Once the ibuprofen kicks in, I should be fine."

"Okay. We'll leave in half an hour. I'll put some ibuprofen in my truck just in case."

"Okay." You started to walk to your room but turned around when you realized something. "I can't skate."

"What? Of course, you can. We used to take you skating all the time," Jay said.

"I don't have skates, so I can't skate."

Jay smiled. "We can just rent you skates. It's not a big deal. Now, go get changed and work on some of the homework you have before we leave."

***

Jay finished tying his skates and then he sat on the ground and spread his legs slightly. "Foot," he said. You kicked your right foot out slightly. You had your skate on but still hadn't mastered the art of tying hockey skates. Jay maneuvered your skate-clad foot between his legs and worked on tying your skates.

"You know," Will started, "I could've tied her skates if you wanted to tie Hailey's."

"Um, last I checked I can tie my own skates, Will," Hailey sassed.

"See? That's why I didn't offer because I know she can do it by herself."

"It's a lot faster if I tie my own, too," Hailey said.

Will shrugged. "Can't argue with that logic."

Jay finished tying your skates and then the four of you walked on the rubber mats and out to the ice.

"You remember how to skate? Or do you need one of those learning things that you grab on and push around to stay balanced?" Will joked.

You rolled your eyes. "I remember how to skate."

Will stepped onto the ice, and then you did.

You started to skate and stuck your arms out. "Whoa."

Jay quickly grabbed onto your bicep. "You got it?" he asked, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Yeah. I think I'm just gonna stay close to the boards on the first one or two laps just to get used to it."

"It's fresh ice too because the Zamboni was just out," Jay said. "You'll be good in a few laps."

"Hopefully. I don't think I could've lost ten years of skating with you and Will in two years."

"It's just like riding a bike," Hailey said once she got on the ice. "You'll be fine. I'll skate with you for the first two laps if you want?"

You smiled. "Sure." Despite only knowing Hailey (well, you had met her once or twice before but only as your brother's partner at work, so you didn't really "know" her) for only a few days, you already looked at her like a big sister.

***

Everything was going fine until you got high on some confidence and decided to race both Will and Jay at the same time with Hailey as the judge.

So, the three of you stood on one end of the rink at the goal line and Hailey stood across the rink at the other goal line. You were glad that the other family that was here just got off the ice because you didn't want to crash into anyone by accident.

Hailey dropped her hand as if there was a racing flag in it and the three of you were off.

Jay had no shame in winning, so he passed your right away. Will, on the other hand, you thought he wanted to make this more of a race so he skated slowly until the red line at center ice. Then, he sped up so he was just a few inches ahead of you. So, you sped up.

You were skating as fast as you possibly could. Long strides, arms moving at your side to pick up the pace...

But then, you caught an edge.

You fell super fast and managed to catch yourself before you smacked your head on the ice. But you had stuck your right hand out, just like you had a year ago when you had tripped walking home and smacked it down hard on the ice.

For anybody else, this wouldn't have been a big deal, but you hit it hard and it had already been hurting.

You winced.

You heard someone slamming on the brakes and then two seconds later, Will was crouched down next to you.

"Are you okay?" Will asked. "Where does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt," you argued as you stood back up.

"Oh bullshit," Jay said. "We all saw you wince."

"Jay, let Will do his job," Hailey said gently. "How about we get off the ice and take a break?" she suggested.

You nodded and then skated slowly off the ice. Will was behind you and was scrutinizing your every move. He noticed that when you pushed the door open, you clenched your other fist.

Yeah, he was going to check out your hand no matter what you said.

Jay, Hailey, and Will started to take off their skates and you sat down and bent over to start untying yours.

"Don't you dare move that hand before I look at it," Will ordered.

You huffed but stopped untying your skates anyway.

After Jay took your skates off, Will suggested that the four of you go to his house just because he had his medical stuff there.

"Dude, it's a hockey arena," Jay pointed out. "I'm sure they have medical stuff here."

You shook your head. You didn't want Will looking at your hand in public. What if you screamed when he did something to see what was wrong? You didn't want all that attention.

Will cocked his head so that Jay looked at your scared face.

"Fine," Jay relented. "We'll go back to your apartment."

***

You sat on a barstool while Will stayed standing and took your right hand into his.

"Where does it hurt?"

"It doesn--" But, you cut yourself off. They wouldn't tell you nothing was wrong like your dad had done. "It hurts in my forearm when I push down and right here when I push down." You touched the area of the back of your hand right below your middle finger and your ring finger.

"Okay. I'm going to move your hand and fingers around. Tell me if it hurts."

You nodded and Will started moving your fingers around. It hurt when he moved your middle finger and your ring finger a certain way, but you gasped when he moved your thumb a certain way.

"The pain go up your forearm?" Will questioned.

"Yeah," you confirmed.

"Okay. I think you have tendonitis in your extensor tendon." He held his arm in front of him so he could show you. "That tendon goes from the thumb, up the side of your forearm," he explained as he dragged his finger over his arm. "And then, it loops around halfway and goes down the middle of your forearm, so that's why you have pain there, too. But, tendonitis is typically an overuse injury, so it's weird that it happened just now when you fell. I think I might take you in for some x-rays to see if there's something else because--"

"No!" you cut him off. You didn't want to waste time at the hospital. "I, uh, I hurt it a year ago."

"Is that why you've been taking ibuprofen?" Jay asked. Your eyes widened. You didn't think noticed. "Y/N, I'm a detective. I notice things."

"Did you get it checked out? How'd it happen?" Will asked.

"I tripped when I was walking home from school and I  caught myself on my hand. I thought it was fine because the pain went away in a few weeks and it only hurt when I pushed down on it. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone. It's just that hospitals are expensive and I didn't want to be a burden."

"Did someone tell you that you're a burden?" Jay asked.

You shook your head. "No, but I barely had enough food to eat at dad's so I just kind of assumed."

"Y/N, I promise you that you are not a burden," Will said.

"You're sure?" you questioned.

"We're sure," Jay promised.

There was a long pause while you just mulled this over in your brain.

It was broken by Will. "But, I do need to go get you a brace from the hospital. And, while I'm there, I want you to ice your hand. I'll pick up Arby's on the way home too, so everyone text me your orders."

You thought you were going to cry at this point. You weren't a burden anymore. You weren't at Brady anymore. You felt like you had a home again.

You went and sat on the couch next to Hailey the minute Will left. Jay was grabbing ice from the freezer for your hand.

"Now, what do you say we get on Will's Netflix and watch High School Musical and not change it when Jay complains?" Hailey asked as she grabbed the remote.

You smiled and nodded.

Oh, and in this process, you had gained a pseudo big sister.

Even though everything that happened at Brady was shady, you were glad it was your brother who had been undercover or you wouldn't be watching High School Musical with Hailey in Will's apartment right now.

And you just knew, that this time, this family was forever.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for almost 84k reads! Again, please remember to reblog and comment! And, if you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you!

Taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88 @glitterquadricorn​

#jay halstead #will halstead #imagine #fanfic #fanfiction #chicago pd #chicago med #hailey upton #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead fanfiction #jay halstead fanfic #will halstead imagine #will halstead fanfic #will halstead fanfiction #chicago pd imagine #chicago pd fanfic #chicago med fanfic #chicago med imagine #chicago pd fanfiction #chicago med fanfiction #user.sky #writer #writing #my writing

[mirai-studies-languages]

What I wish I had done when I started learning Japanese

Hi! I’m still a beginner in Japanese, but I’ve finally started making some real progress in the language, when compared to my pretty awful methods from before. Here is how I wish I had gone about learning Japanese right at the beginning.

I wish I’d started learning Kanji straight away. My main problem, even now, is that I just didn’t know enough Kanji. They are basically the building blocks of Japanese, so it is important to have a good bank of Kanji to return to. I’d say the best tools for this are Kanji Garden (free) and WaniKani (not free, but I’m pretty sure there is a free anki version of it somewhere).

I wish I had chosen a textbook and committed to it. I wasted so much time dithering about when it came to textbooks, since I felt like it took too long to work through them. Well, it does take a while, but it is so worth it. It is important to have a solid base in a language, and textbooks are perfect for creating this base. Use them! Genki is probably the best for this, and the natural follow up for that is an integrated approach to intermediate Japanese. Learn all the vocabulary (anki is good for this!) and do all of the exercises.

I wish I hadn’t just stuck to apps at the beginning. Apps are useful, but they should not be your only resource. Focus more on immersion and textbooks. If you do use an app, then use Lingodeer.

I wish I had stayed away from native material. This might work in other languages like French or German, but when it comes to Japanese.....no, just save yourself the bother. Native material in Japanese is on a whole other level. The amount of vocabulary and grammar needed is on a whole other level, especially when you add Kanji to the mix. At the beginner stage, native material is just too difficult, and won’t offer anything meaningful. Maybe you’ll learn a few words and expressions from watching anime, which is fine, but don’t focus any serious study time to native material.

I wish I had worked more on my pronunciation. There are a lot of different ways in which you can do this, but the best is probably shadowing (use learners material at first). Also, make sure that you find a guide to the different shapes your mouth has to make when making certain sounds. Keep on practicing, and over time you will improve!

I wish I had properly learnt the stroke order for hiragana and katakana. This is more of a pet peeve. Just write them over and over again until you have the stroke orders committed to memory. 

I wish I had made a solid plan, and had a proper routine. This is more of a dubious one, because people have different circumstances. I’d say the best thing to do is to just squeeze Japanese learning into free time (only if you have the energy though) and make sure you have some solid goals. If you have time to make a plan, then include all of the skills (vocab, grammar, reading, listening, speaking and writing) and adjust your plan depending on your level.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it was somewhat useful for you! If any advanced/intermediate learners disagree with my points, then I will defer to them since they know more.

#studyblr #langblr #japaneseblr #japanese language #language learning #study tips #studyspo #study motivation

[otome-on-the-side]

Obey Me! Language HCs

uhhh I was talking to some friends over on discord about angels and thought “Oh I have angel and demon head canons I wanna post!” but then as I wrote them down, it was entirely about angelic and infernal language and how the characters of OM would relate to that so uh. more under the cut 

starting out strong with the idea that MC had some spell work cast on them to better survive and be able to do school work at R.A.D., as well as being able to communicate with everyone involved in the program; thus anything they read or hear is translated into their native language.  

Lucifer is the one that crafted and casted this spell on MC.   

Both Angels and Demons have their own languages, but both are convoluted as hell and would take multiple human lifetimes to learn 

This means that the brothers aren’t monolingual, as most of them were originally angels*. I couldn’t tell you how many human languages they’ve bothered to learn- (Leviathan is deeply interested in translations due to being a self proclaimed otaku, Satan loves dramas & mysteries ((which are genres that can pop up in any language)), Mammon seems like the type to pop up ANYWHERE and be down to gamble, i could go on)  But I can say with confidence they Definitely Know Some**.  *Satan is the obvious exception to this rule, but I feel like he would either learn it from his brothers, or, as an angstier option: the trauma of fall would cause the brothers to never teach satan, though when his siblings slip into celestial (something very rare, and only done when tempers are high and they’re flinging war trauma at each other), which leads him to feel even more hollow and an outsider within his own family  ** I can say with 100% confidence Belphie and Beel Do Not speak english and just use magic to understand most human language post fall. Belphie was probably really interested in the idea pre-fall, but those feelings soured quickly post the fact. Neither of the twins really have much business in the human realm other than to cause havoc. or

Hell (I like to think of the Devildom as the capital of the entire realm, rather than the whole) and all of its levels technically have one language but uhhh. man does it have a large amount of regional variants. It’s like that Italian map of variants of the word pussy down there

you can throw a couple of demons together and they can shoot the breeze (argue) about language semantics for aaaages 

It’s for the best that the majority of the demons MC speaks to are: - the brothers (infernal is their second language ((aside from satan, but i feel like he learned along with his brothers))) or - Diavolo (Who probably had Proper Grammar pressed onto him & a speech tutor growing up) and - Barbatos (Who unnervingly always sounds unaccented, neutral, and polite no matter who he speaks to)  It makes it easier on the translation spell MC has and keeps any confusion over slang minimal. 

The brothers first language is definitely celestial 

Mammon’s the one, out of all the brothers, that spends the most time with “lesser” demons due to his vice of gambling- this means that he’s picked up the most ““improper”” infernal out of anyone in the main cast. Thus, due to MC’s translation spell, he has the most discernable accent. There is no one “demonic accent” but his use of slang is clear even though a spell filtering his speech. It still clings to him even when he speaks human languages, but when he’s serious or upset his angelic accent creeps in [i.e. becoming notably more Proper TM as a result of caster bias: aka Lucifer]  

since they’ve fallen, the language has drifted a little; it’s hardly noticeable to the angels, but it gets a little comical when Luke talks in celestial to Simeone and the brothers are like “[squinting] What are you even Talking About??” 

Luke initially wasn’t even remotely interested in learning infernal when he first joined the exchange program. He’s slowly warming to the idea as time goes on, however. 

Simeon knew a smattering of infernal- you can only pick up so much when you’re only able to visit here and there and actively reside in the celestial realm- but as the exchange program goes on, he gets the hang of it faster and faster. Phone menus where especially hard for him at first though :< 

Out of the purgatory hall, Solomon knows infernal best, thanks to his long standing pacts with multiple demons, and the fact that he enjoys spending time in the devildom, and with both Asmodeus and Barbatos. Though, occasionally he’ll say something that Sounds right to MC and their translation spell, but in infernal, its weirdly phrased enough to make Asmodeus snort with laughter. 

#obey me! #obey me #obey me! shall we date? #obey me hcs #I love readmores bc i can space this shit out as much as i would like #Im so glad I physically wrote these down first or else these would be far more disjointed #anyway this was written by someone who speaks only english but by no means am i assuming thats the case for every character or every player #orz man i need a nap

[nubie-imber]

Introduction Things!

Hey there! Welcome aboard this ship, we’re heading straight down :) 

So, lemme explain- About a year or two ago I had noticed I became less... Alone, up in my head. It wasn’t just me anymore! Now I had a few companions, and man, it was confusing. I felt weird, out of place, I’d never heard anyone talk about having a similar experience before. Having entirely seperate people up in my brain wasn’t something I’d ever really experienced before, and before I knew it more and more started to show up, and now we’re one big dysfunctional family! But still, up in my head. 

The entire reason we created this account was to try to figure out things, try to figure out what we are, because we’re having trouble fitting under any labels- And we’re not in the current position to talk to a doctor or a therapist. So, next best thing, strangers online!.. If you consider that the next best thing. We’re just figuring things out, so I hope you have fun coming along for the ride with us.

But enough about that, lemme introduce everyone! Only the ones who want to be introduced, of course, not everyone really wants to be contributing to this little account of ours. Anyways, here we go!

Nubie/Nebula- Main person! The begininning of all this! Any pronouns, neos are  Chaos/Slaughter/Vanilla/Void/Cloud

Apricot- (Lovingly nicknamed Appy) The scrunkly. The scrimbo. A babey. Life of the party, when she wants to be! Very loved and protected by everyone. She has a typing quirk, by the way, every s is replaced with a z when she’s typing things. She/He (High preference for she/her)

Toxi- A (somewhat loveable) dumbass. His entire humour comprises of “your mom” /hj. He’s almost never serious, everything is a joke to him unless it’s a dire situation. In a relationship with Einan! He/Him

Einan-  Pissed off and angry constantly, extremely grumpy. He never really looks at anything in a positive or optimistic light, and is pratically disappointed in everyone’s actions. We don’t really know how hiss ended up in a relationship with Toxi, but here we are! He/They/Hiss

Jasper-  A father figure to everyone. He’s fairly quiet, only really active when someone needs him. Strives for proper grammar and sentence structure, and they’re pretty good at giving lectures. He/They

Paint Bucket- Pretty quiet as well, doesn’t really talk all that much, prefers to stay in the background but shows up occasionally to make a point or two, gets jealous fairly easily. They/Them

Rosemary-  Mother figure! Not in any sort of relationship with Jasper or anything, but they do co-parent sometimes. She’s very sweet, very quick to try to cheer up anyone who’s sad. She/Her 

XD-  Very... Similar to her name. Similar to Toxi she doesn’t really take anything seriously, and they love making quotes and references to vines and memes. She/They

There’s more of us but nobody else really wants to contribute to this little account at all. That’s alright, their loss :) Thanks for reading! We hope you stick around. Oh, and, we’ll try to indicate who’s making what post in the tags! So keep an eye out for those, so things are clearer! Have a lovely day now, byebye <3

#nubie post real #nubie rants #we dont know what to tag lmao #insert tag here #ranting? #intro post #introduction things #seriously we don't know what to tag #this is confusing #lmao #JKHSAKJHDSAK

[thecoffeenebula]

New job - Part one

It took a while but I wrote the rest of new job. While I was doing so I thought it would be fun to make different parts of it. Again thank you so much for liking the preview. I hope you enjoy the story as well :)

My writing might not be that good as I wrote most of it at night. Haven’t done a proper check up on my grammar (etc) yet. I was too excited about posting it sooo yeah...  I promise I will update the story if/when needed :) 

The part of the preview will still be in here, I rewrote a couple of parts of it so you might want to take a look at it again. 

Marcus Moreno x Reader

warnings: none

 It's First day at your new job. You have been working so hard to get a position at mission control. Finally that day came. You finally got that promotion. Happy and proud to be there you walked into the office.

Everything seemed so new and strange. Everyone around you seemed very busy with whatever they were doing. Nobody seemed to notice you, except for Ms. Granada.

“Ah there you are.” She walked alongside you.

“I have a very important job for you. Our satellite sensors have gone down. We need someone who can redirect remaining power to those sensors so we can use the satellites again”

“Yes, Ma’am”

She directed you toward a computer, with a big smile.

“Welcome to the team and if you would like something to drink, the kitchen is right there.” she pointed down the hallway. You weren't quite sure to which room she was pointing but you would figure it out.

“Thank you” Ms. Granada left you to it. You started up the programm and started to decipher the codes in front of you.

You granduated from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. Getting the sensors back up again shouldn't be that big of a problem but It was. The satellite didn't seem to respond. It puzzled you. That moment made you realise it would be a long day. If this wasn't going to work out one of the Heroics would have to go up there and fix it.

During the day you thought it would be nice to get acquainted with your colleagues. From what you have seen, your colleague’s seemed nice. They only didn't  seem that social.

You tried starting up a conversation with the women next to you but she just gave you a nasty glare.

After all the troubles the satellite gave you,  you decided you needed a cup of coffee.

One of the other workers at mission control was a step ahead. Marcus Moreno, who just got himself a cup of coffee bumped into you. Spilling his coffee all over you.

You jumped away out of reflexes. “Shit”

“I didn’t mean to… I am so sorry….” Marcus stood there in shock.

“It’s okay. Really”

He was looking all around to see if he could find a towel or some paper.

He studied you. He never saw you before. So you must me the new girl that Ms. Granada told him about.

“You must be the new girl?” He asked smiling at you.

You looked at him, realizing he was cute. It made you blush.

“Yes. That is me. Great start of the first day, am I right?”

You stared at your soaking wet, coffee stained blouse and laughed.

“Perfect”

“I am so sorry” Marcus repeated. He felt so guilty. He didn’t mean to ruin your day. He pouted at the sight of the stain.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just go freshen up in the bathroom”

“I really didn’t mean to ruin your first day” he said. He hesitated for a moment “how can I make this up to you?”

“You don’t have to. It could happen to anybody.” You said. Focused on the stain on your shirt.

Marcus smiled. He thought you were charming and adorable and you seemed like you needed a friend.

“What if I want to make it up? Couldn’t hurt to make some friends around here”

You smiled at him. You did need a friend, as no one else seemed to want to have a conversation with you.

“Okay. Seems fair. Not like anyone else reached out to me today.” You both looked around to all the faces staring at their computers. Marcus’ smile grew wider. This happened to him as well the first day in the office. He thought he would be welcomed, mostly because he was part of the heroes. No one looked up when he first arrived at his desk. It took a while to get a conversation out of them. It was all too recognizable for him. He was glad he reached out to you. He definitely wanted to give you a better experience than he had and besides all that, you were cute.

“Don’t mind them. They are practically computers. They don’t concern themselves with socializing as long as they can do their job.”

“ah” you nod your head as you let a little smile appear creating dimples. It made you look more beautifu. It brightened up Marcus' day. Marcus realized what he could do. He put his hand his pocket pulling out a piece of paper that looked like some sort of business card. He handed it to you.

“This is my number. Whenever you feel like it, just give me a call.”

You gave him another one of your bright smiles as you took the piece of paper from him. You felt your cheeks go red. Mostly because you were embarrassed by the stains. Which were made by the nicest and most handsome coworker around.

“I sure will. Maybe we could go out for coffee. You know. Seems perfect for the situation” you said pointing at your clothes.

Marcus laughed “Coffee it is”

 ------- -------- -------- --------

Marcus came home from his long day of work. He was smiling from ear to ear.

“Hello, Missy. How was your day?” He gave her a kiss on the head. Missy noticed the mood change in her dad. She hadn’t seen him this happy in quite a long time.

“you’re in a good mood”

“Am I not allowed to be happy?”

“I didn’t say that but you usually are not like this”

Marcus just chuckled at his daughter's observant comment.

"No, usually I am as miserable as you" he teased.

Missy sticked out her tongue, schronching her nose. It was adorable when she did so. It reminded Marcus of his wife. Missy looked like her, a lot. Especially when she made those faces. The thought of her captured him in a moment of sadness. He missed her so much. He was still even wearing his wedding ring. He hadn't dared to take it off. It didn't feel right. At least not yet. Marcus got so caught up in his daydream that Missy had to snap him out of it.

"Dad?"

Marcus turned his head toward her still absent, lost in thought.

"Why are you so happy? Did you meet someone? Are they from work? What is her name? Is she pretty?" Marcus chuckled at Missy's never ending questions

"Missy…. Missy.. please, sweetie. I just had a good day at work. Yes I met a new colleague but it is nothing like that, she is a friend"

Missy started smiling as bright as the sun. She hadn't seen her father this happy in quite a long time. Of course she didn't want anyone to replace her mother but no one could and her father deserved love. Even she knew that it would be what her mother would have wanted. This women he met, this could be his match.

"So, you did meet someone!" Her excitement couldn't be concealed.

Marcus tried to avoid the topic at all cost.

"What are we going to eat? I am starving and I am in the mood for some pizza" he said with a forced smile.

"Don't avoid the topic. Tell me about her. I want to know if she is right for you"

Marcus shook his head. "My little guardian angel" he said as he planted another kiss on her head. "I have better plan. I order some Pizza and you go make your homework in the meantime"

"only if you tell me about your work 'friend'"

"Missy" Marcus gave her a serious warning look.

Missy sighed "alright ,alright"

She stood up from the kitchen chair and walked to her room. Marcus started dialing the number so he could order the pizza.

"Hello, I would like to place a order for a…" Marcus couldn't even finish his sentence before Missy's head appeared around the corner shouting "with extra cheese!".

Marcus gave her a thumbs up. "I would like to order a pizza with extra cheese, please"

Within the hour the pizza was delivered. They ate their pizza in front of their TV watching a movie they both agreed watching. Even though it was their favourite movie to watch they both were somewhere is with their thoughts. Missy daydreaming about Marcus and this mystery women. She wondered how she could open up her dad.

And well Marcus was thinking about you…. Still smiling at your meeting earlier that they. You were cute and pretty, even with a coffee stain on your shirt. He liked you but he wasn't ready yet to get into a relationship. At least he thought he wasn't. It all felt too soon after what happened with his wife. He didn't think that love would come back to him… that he was capable of loving again. No, it felt wrong. It would be like cheating he thought. A friendship with you seemed innocent enough for the time being. He'll see where it will go from there.

He just couldn't think of romance just yet. The good thing about this situation was that Missy was excited about something again. It hurt his heart to see his little girl unhappy.

---------- ----------- ------------

That Friday

Marcus was fidigting with his wedding ring, he hadn’t dared to take it off.

He was actually quite nervous.

You texted him that night, the same day he gave you the number.

Missy fell asleep on the couch while they were watching the movie. Missy should've gone to bed earlier because it was a school night but they had a cheat day from time to time where she could stay up later. Marcus lifted Missy up from the couch and carried her toward her bed, tucking her in. Marcus felt the muscles in his back tighten up as he did so. He wasn’t as young as he used to be, carrying her wasn’t as good of an idea than he thought it would be. He watched her sleep for a while. She looked so peaceful and she was smiling. He wondered what she was dreaming about. He thought it would be best to leave her be. He gave her a kiss on the head and left the room.

He let out a big sigh as he returned to the living room, seeing the mess in front of him that he still had to clean up. He remembered a time when he didn't just have to do this on his own. Having his wife help him clean up at night before they went to bed. He really missed that time.

As he returned the dirty dishes to the kitchen he noticed his phone light up that was lying on the kitchen table. Instead of keeping up with his chores he decided to see who was sending him messages. It was an unknown number. Part of him was hoping it was you. He opened his phone and clicked on the messages. He was right. It was you. He smiled. He sat himself down at the table reading your text messages and responding to them. He texted with you for hours until he realized the time. It was almost 2 am in the morning. He looked at the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. He decided he would do them in the morning. Just that moment when he looked down at his phone again he noticed you asked if he wanted to go out and grab coffee this Friday. He mentioned it was his day off in one of his texts. So it was yours. Marcus agreed to meet up with you. There was a great coffee place around the corner of where he lived. He knew it would be a great place to meet up.

He brought Missy to school that morning and went straight up to the coffee shop. He was early so you weren't there yet. He decided to grab a table to wait for you.

--------

tag:

@mrschiltoncat​ here is part one of new job. I hope you like it :)

#marcus moreno #we can be heroes #marcus moreno x reader #fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #marcus moreno fanfiction

[sunnydeviant]

Headcanon: Connor and Nines's texting styles

OKAY SO HEAR ME OUT

Connor would use emoticons in the most positive, genuine way. They make his messages radiate positive energy and sweet vibes and everyone always smiles at his adorable usage of them. He would text with proper spelling and capitalization, but not proper punctuation (at least most of the time). He's a super bright texter, somehow making people feel light and positive after texting. With a really good social module, he has the natural tendency of trying to bring positive vibes when the DPD generally seems "tired" or out-of-touch for the day. Being naturally sociable, his texting style comes super naturally to him.

Example: "Good morning Nines! I put some thirium on your desk since I had noticed that you were running low on it :)"

*there is actually a cool pouch of thirium with a little post-it note from Connor when Nines gets to his desk*

He ABSOLUTELY uses all the "extra" emoticons, like T-T, :D, >:(, and :o.

Nines is kinda the opposite: he uses proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar. His texts are typically serious and only sent for serious matters, like asking for information on cases. However, he does use emoticons. On the other hand, he likes using emoticons to fuck with people (mostly his closest circle of friends, as they are the only people he would text for unimportant matters or for fun). For example, he would write something (jokingly) ominous and end it with a smiley emoticon.

Example: "Detective Reed, I would not suggest that you do that unless you like surprises. :)"

*proceeds to only serve him decaf coffee for the next week*

Although, only when messaging Connor he would text like him. Nines likes being sarcastic or scary through text sometimes because it's pretty funny, but he can't help but be super sweet to Connor. The energy is infectious. He only uses all the extra emoticons around Connor, but around everyone else he uses the ones with ":" as the eyes like the following: :(, :), :,|, and :\.

#rk900 #rk800 #dbh connor #dbh nines #headcanon #detroit become human #detroit: become human

[blossom-hwa]

3racha cafe au ps? bc the one w the dancers was so funny

KASJDHG I’M GLAD YOU FOUND MY MEDIOCRE ATTEMPTS AT HUMOR FUNNY ANON <3 <3 ANYWAY I LIVE FOR 3RACHA BEING IDIOTS SO THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS IN, I HOPE YOU LAUGH AT IT!!!!

3-year anniversary drabble game: send me an NCT/WAYV/Stray Kids/The Boyz member + a prompt (check out the post for ideas) and  I’ll write a drabble for you!

I’M SO SORRY I HIT POST ON ACCIDENT WHEN I WASN’T DONE SO I HAD TO PRIVATE THIS SO I COULD FINISH IT HHHHHH

~

Title: Cafe Shenanigans

Pairing: no pairings, just 3racha being dumb

Triggers: a lot of cursing, suicidal jokes (purely jokes, if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please do not read this - it’s along the lines of like ‘pls kill me now’ but yeah)

~

quick clarification:

better than tony: chan

chingban: changbin

gremlin: jisung 

~

better than tony: changbin what have I told you about swearing in front of customers

chingban: not to do it

better than tony: then why did I hear you say shit when you knocked your head against the counter

gremlin: HOW DID CHANGBIN KNOCK HIS HEAD AGAINST THE OUCNTER EVEN HE’S NOT /THAT/ SHORT

chingban: I don’t exist for anything but pain

chingban: when will I stop being clowned for no reason

chingban: also I stooped down to get more syrup okay I wasn’t standing when I fucking hit my head

better than tony: you will stop being clowned when you learn the meaning of professionalism

gremlin: didn’t you lock yourself in the bathroom one time to send cat memes to minho

better than tony: THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT

chingban: pls let it go chan the guy just laughed okay

chingban: no harm done

chingban: well my dignity is in pieces

gremlin: can’t break something that never existed

chingban: watch me pour hot coffee down your throat while you scream in pain tiny sucker

gremlin: who’s calling me tiny

better than tony: kids please

chingban: ONE FUCKING CENTIMETER

better than tony: I'm the manager and they still won’t listen to me

better than tony: I'm giving up on life

gremlin: we’re right here you know

better than tony: did I say something wrong?

chingban: ooooo breaking out the punctuation

chingban: he’s serious today

better than tony: I'm always serious

gremlin: your cat memes say otherwise

better than tony: WILL YOU LET THAT GO

~

gremlin: if another bitch asks for a complicated-ass order, fucking soy latte with no foam or whatever the fuck

gremlin: I'm going to slit my throat in front of the cameras

gremlin: and my ghost will haunt this fucking cafe for the rest of time

chingban: aren’t there better things to do after you’re dead

chingban: like

better than tony: rejoice in the fact that you are no longer alive?

chingban: ^^

gremlin: no I just want to make sure I'm a pain in your asses even beyond the grave

chingban: a little bitch even in death, I see

gremlin: you got me !

better than tony: why do you have an extra space between your last word and the exclamation mark

gremlin: extra chaos

better than tony: as if your existence wasn’t chaotic enough already

chingban: just a suggestion

chingban: if you want to haunt us beyond the grave

chingban: team up with that little dude ji changmin across the mall at build a bear

gremlin: omg yes thank you for this lovely piece of advice

better than tony: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

better than tony: N O

better than tony: CHANGBIN WHY WOULD YOU GIVE HIM IDEAS

chingban: I need entertainment

chingban: and you getting scared shitless is entertainment

chingban: additionally if I'm the one providing the advice by the transitive property I'm not the one who gets pranked

gremlin: <3

better than tony: I should honestly fire both of you

better than tony: all you do is text at work

better than tony: swear in front of customers

better than tony: and leAVE HAIRPINS IN THE FUCKING SINK

gremlin: I APOLOGIZED FOR THAT

chingban: felix says minho threatens to fire him and hyunjin at least once every shift

better than tony: I should do the same

gremlin: nah you’re too soft for that

chingban: ^^

better than tony: I want to argue but I can’t and I hate it

gremlin: <3

chingban: <3

better than tony: maybe I'll be the one who slits his throat in front of the cameras

gremlin: no you won’t you’re too soft to haunt us beyond the grave

better than tony: you’re right I won’t haunt you

better than tony: I'll just enjoy being dead and not fucking alive and having to deal with you

chingban: ngl that sounds like a pretty sweet deal

gremlin: but haunting

chingban: no

gremlin: :(

better than tony: changbin look you’ve made him sad

chingban: I-

chingban: YOU STARTED IT

better than tony: <3

chingban: breaking news chan has the capacity for evil and I don’t like it

~

gremlin: in my defense I was left alone

better than tony: that doesn’t explAIN THE FUCKING FIRE IN THE R E F R I G E R A TO R

better than tony: HOW DO YOU EVEN SET FIRE TO A FUCKING REFRIGERATOR

chingban: I honestly wonder why chan hasn’t fired us yet

chingban: mostly jisung but also me

better than tony: A R E F R I G E R A T O R

gremlin: chan

gremlin: listen

gremlin: was this worse than ‘wow’

better than tony: .... 

chingban: nothing could be worse than wow

chingban: his gc name is proof

better than tony: FUCK

gremlin: okay cool thank you for agreeing 

gremlin: now

gremlin is typing...

chingban: the fuck are you typing 

chingban: a whole ass essay??

gremlin: if setting a fire in a refrigerator is still a less horrible mess than wow was, that means that chan can no longer yell at me for setting a fire in a refrigerator because he was one of the main contributors to the mess that wow was, meaning because he contributed to a bigger mess than the refrigerator fire, he is unable to yell at me because to do so would be hypocrisy because he committed a worse crime than I did

chingban: did that... did that really just fucking make sense

chingban: quick chan use your lawyering skills to find some loophole in this there’s no way jisung can be making sense

gremlin: okay fuck you

better than tony: your argument is invalid because you also contributed to wow

chingban: ROASTED

gremlin: fuck I really thought I had chan beat there for a moment

chingban: fat chance 

better than tony: OKAY AS PUNISHMENT

better than tony: NO MORE TEXTING GET BACK TO WORK

gremlin: yes papi

better than tony: oh my god I hate it here

~

gremlin: question

gremlin: if cookie monster entered the cafe and pointed a gun at me and told me to give him all of the cookies in the display case and the oven

gremlin: what should I do

better than tony: I 

better than tony: I don’t even know how to respond to this

chingban: give him the cookies wtf

chingban: where’s your sense of self-preservation

gremlin: flew away the first time I jumped out of a two-story window to avoid becoming ‘it’ in a game of tag in third grade

better than tony: that

better than tony: that explains so much

chingban: I feel like I should be surprised but I'm really not

chingban: that’s the most jisung thing I've ever heard of

gremlin: <3

gremlin: but back to my question

gremlin: what should I do

chingban: I literally said to give him the fucking cookies

better than tony: I agree with changbin

gremlin: but what if he gets greedy and asks for the cheesecake too

gremlin: and it’s my day to take home the leftover cake

better than tony: would you die for cheesecake???????????

gremlin: without a moment’s hesitation

chingban: the amount of brain cells I lost throughout this conversation

chingban: unfathomable

better than tony: I'm quitting my job

gremlin: no pls don’t who else will changbin and I bother during breaks

chingban: you say that kind of bullshit about cookie monster and cheesecake and then you go and say ‘changbin and I’ instead of ‘me and changbin’ like normal people?????????

gremlin: look you may have had a crusty ass English teacher but my English teacher was LIT and I'll have you know I would take a bullet for her

gremlin: the least I can do use proper grammar when it comes to common mistakes

gremlin: mistakes that plebs like you make

better than tony: this conversation has gone off the rails

chingban: a train wreck

gremlin: more like 15 train wrecks mashed into one

better than tony: just. pls get back to work

gremlin: not unless you promise not to fire yourself

better than tony: it’s?? not?? possible?? for?? me?? to?? fire?? myself??

chingban: he means quit

better than tony: oh

chingban: I speak fluent jisung

better than tony: pls shut up 

better than tony: fine I promise

better than tony: please get back to work

better than tony: preferably without burning any refrigerators

gremlin: no promises

better than tony: I'll take what I can get

#inkidz #starryktown #stray kids #skz #stray kids scenarios #skz scenarios #stray kids oneshots #stray kids imagines #stray kids fake texts #stray kids incorrect #stray kids chan #stray kids changbin #stray kids jisung #stray kids han #stray kids chan scenarios #stray kids jisung scenarios #stray kids changbin scenarios #chan #changbin #han #han jisung #fluff #drabble #texting!au #university!au #cafe shenanigans #3 year anniversary drabble game #lina answers #scriptura-delirus

[fluorescencefuture]

Homestuck^2: How I’d write the Omega Kids (and the Candy timeline villains)

I haven't reread Homestuck nor the epilogues in a while so correct me if I'm wrong with anything here. This was all in one go, too, so I probably missed something here or there. I'm also not a native English speaker so pardon some grammar errors.

In General

I’d give them a five-letter name scheme. Names of a group being the same length was a big deal in original HS (human first names had four letters, troll names had six, Ancestors had eight-letter titles, Cherubs had eight letters too, etc.), so it’s odd seeing this new group have names of varying length

I’d also give them all shirt symbols. It’s odd that something so iconic to Homestuck isn’t present in the new kids, either.

I'll write for both the canon post-canon with evil Jane and for my own version with different villains. Evil Jane happens because a highblood troll who hears of the old ways of Alternia attempts to kill her and take her crown, as she's technically the heiress. Jane wins, but she starts to see trolls and Alternian culture in a different light from then on. At first she was only trying to prevent the worst parts of Alternian culture from coming back, but over time grew to despise trolls, and ended up trying to force human culture onto Alternians.

The other Candy villains are a dangerous terrorist rebel group that wants to overthrow the creators and destroy them. They say the creators made the people, abandoned the people for years, then suddenly came back and decided they control the people. The group is made of humans, trolls, carapacians, and even consorts. The mysterious shadowed leader claims to be doing this for the people, but really, all they want is to have control for themselves, and they don't care if any innocents get in the way.

Harry Anderson

Has nothing to fix, he’s perfect as is

Okay but seriously, the guy is the kid with the least questionable things around him. He has no baggage from sharing the same name as an established character (ICP Harry Anderson doesn’t count), and he didn’t come from infidelity.

He also has actual color to his personality. He likes musicals and sewing. He has a good relationship with his dad. Like many kids with divorced parents, he wishes his parents were together again. What do the others have? Vrissy is just a slightly less aggressive Vriska. Tavros is just OG Tavros and Jake combined. Yiffy’s thing is being a dog girl named Yiffany Longstocking. The others could be fleshed out eventually, but with the slow pace and meandering plot we have right now, I doubt it.

If Jane's the villain, things would mostly go the same way. If Jane isn't the villain, it goes two ways: he decides to join Vrissy's guerilla anti-anti-creator group and fight because he wants to protect his parents, or he's just very anti-conflict and avoids the fight because he doesn't think he's up to it. He's frequently threatened but doesn't tell his parents about the threats. Eventually, he gets convinced to join and fight.

Vrissy

So Vrissy’s in relationships with guys who are technically her cousins. At first I was like “well, they’re not biologically related nor were they raised as family so it’s not weird”. But then Tavros called Kanaya “Aunt Kanaya” and now I’m thinking “oh god, that’s really weird”.

Now she’s just a troll girl from school. She's just close to Kanaya and Rose, but isn’t their kid. She isn’t related to anyone. Anyone except Vriska, who she was named after. Vrissy’s new nickname is just Vriss.

Alternatively, her name is something completely different. Honestly, it just seemed like a way to shoehorn in a Vriska for the story. Only for actual Vriska to come back anyway.

Uhh, Eshtha (from Jyeshtha, a Hindu nakshatra Scorpius is associated with)? Oriona (from Orion, the myth where Scorpius is mostly attributed to)? Naiaka (from Manaiakalani, as Hawaiians saw Scorpius as the demigod Maui’s fishhook)? Oh wait, I’ll have to make nicknames for those names too. Uh, Eshty, Riona, and Naiah.

Maybe have her have a personality that’s rather opposite to Vriska’s than have her as Vriska 2. She's more a perky goth, more cheerful and sweet. More "I knew you could do it!" than "So you can do something after all." A beast in battle, of course. She doesn't like to use her mind control powers, because she finds them disturbing.

If Vriska had to come back, the conflict would come from their conflicting personalities. Vriska would pretty much act the same way she did to (Vriska), but this time, Vriss doesn't take any of it and stands her ground.

Whether the villain is Jane or not, she's the one who decides to fight back, and she gets her friends and others to join her. The creators have been nothing but good to her, and she cares about them a lot, especially Rose and Kanaya. Not to mention they're also her friends' parents.

Tavros

Yeah, we’re gonna have to rename that kid. It never made sense to me why Jake and Jane named their kid after some guy they don’t know that well. I don’t remember everything from the Epilogues, but I’ll assume the reason was Gamzee or something. Also weird that Jane, who’s supposed to be racist to trolls, would just...let her kid be named after one.

Something old-ish would work. Flynn? Silas? Avery? Clyde? Niles? Louie?

He's moirails with this Vriss instead of kismeses. The Vrissy/Tavros kismesis also felt like re-hashing the kismesis that Vriska and OG Tavros kinda had.

If we went post-canon villain Jane, he'd be reluctant to join the rebellion and is more of a pacifist who would rather try to talk his mom out of it.

Alternatively, Jane and Jake are separated (but not divorced) and he lives with Jake. Because Jane was never terrible to him and Jake doesn't tell him how bad she's gotten, he disagrees with her but still tries to justify and rationalize that Jane's really doing it from a place of good intentions.

If the villain isn't Jane, then Jane and Jake have been hiding him away, and his friends can only see him when they visit him at his swanky home. You might say he's...housetrapped. He joins because his friends are in it, and doesn't quite grasp how serious things are until the rebels try to kill Jane (the rebels try to kill Jane first because you always kill the healer first).

He's in contact with a mysterious guide who's kinda spacy and a little terrifying at times. His friends think the guide might just be some creepy predator. It's revealed to be Candy Gamzee, out of the fridge and legitimately harmless, but untraceable and doing mysterious things behind the black. Again.

Come to think of it, Dirk's missing too...

Yiffany Longstocking

Yiffy is now the ectokid of Dave and Jade. She looks more like a DaveJade kid than JadeRose, really. Dave and Jade are also either happily married or coming close to an amicable divorce. Yeah, the toxic shit Jade did and the erasure of Dave's bisexuality also don't exist here. Jade, Dave, Karkat, and Terezi are backing Vrissy's anti-anti-creator group.

Her new name is something unisex. Riley? Logan? Robin? Sloan? Salem?

She spends a lot of time outside doing sports and doesn't talk much. She's not very close to the other three kids, but she's surprisingly pretty close to her Aunt Rose.

While Jade and Dave are out on a mission for Karkat (this is the mission Candy Dave dies), she gets kidnapped by the opposing force (Jane/the terrorists). She gets a shock collar forced on her, then is hidden away in a Boarding School for Inconvenient Girls, enrolled under the name "Yiffany Longstocking". Jade comes home to find that her family's been taken from her. Again.

Yiffy almost escapes, but she gets knocked out and taken back to base, where they lock her in a cage and treat her like a dog. She's still defiant to the end.

If Jane's the villain, Jake is inspired by Yiffy's defiance, grows some balls, exposes Yiffy's treatment to the press, and sets her free. She beats up the guards trying to stop her. Jake gets surrounded by more guards. In response, he pulls out his pistols and a one-liner, and bam, cliffhanger.

If it's the terrorist group, Terezi picks up on Yiffy's scent when they're in a base, and she's saved by the other three kids, where she immediately turns around and beats the crap out of the guards. They become proper friends from there.

The reunion panel still happens and this time it's her reuniting with her loving mother and aunt instead of...y'know.

BONUS: Sadstuck

Harry gets his own “im not a hero” speech after trying and “failing” to be the hero that John was

Vriss is eventually forced to use her mind control powers. It’s either a “Katara using bloodbending" situation, or she forces her friends to leave her behind when they want to stick by her.

Tavros finally witnesses his mother’s true nature when Jake defeats all the guards, but is stabbed from behind by Jane and killed. In the other version, it seems Jane is finally safe and able to come home to her son. Then she’s killed right in front of him.

After the big hug with Jade and Rose, Yiffy pulls away. She smiles, looks around behind them, and asks “Where’s Dad?”

So, please tell me what you think!

#Homestuck 2 #HS2 #hs^2 #vrissy maryam lalonde #harry anderson egbert #tavros english #yiffany longstocking lalonde harley #yiffany lalonde harley #my writing

[bleachellie]

reading thru some of my old forum posts from 2006-2010 is So funny tho, they’re the weirdest mix of preteen me trying 2 act Serious + Adult and using Proper Grammar, but also using mid 2000s l33t sp34k and emoticons like ^_^ and >D

..i had Completely forgotten abt >D can we please bring it back?? 🥺 it’s a kinda evil and mischeivous one, u kno for when ur like.. >D

[alvsstudies]

Tranquil’s Study & Self-Care Challenge | Day 1

Man oh man, I’m a sucker for community stuff! I’ve wanted to do one of these challenges ever since I started up my studyblr but I haven’t gotten around to it. So hey! Why not give it a go! While it’s true that I’m currently the most inconsistent I’ve ever been... why not? If I end up answering some questions and not others, having a crazily irregular posting schedule, or if I just answer the first two questions - cool! Let’s not get so hung up on perfection and consistency, people. Let’s embrace half-finished challenges, rushed posts, and kind of sloppily written answers in the spirit of chaotic academia! As long as you're creating something, writing something, and have fun doing it, there’s merit in it ⭐️

Today I chose productivity in the name of mental and physical health.

Today, my goals were to exercise, cook a healthy meal, and get some reading done for my social psychology course. Busy busy! 🐜

*

Day One: Tell us a little bit about yourself! What classes are you currently taking, if any? If not, what are you currently studying or what is your current long term productive projects or goals?

In September 2020 I officially began my university journey as I signed up for introductory courses in psychology and philosophy, each consisting of four smaller courses: introductory psychology, neurology, personality psychology, social psychology & history of philosophy, ethics, logical thinking, metaphysics.

I’m currently studying social psychology and metaphysics. I love love love social psychology, and it came as a shock to me that I ended up being more passionate about this branch of psychology than the personality one, but as soon as I started learning more about social psychology it all just made sense. Something clicked in my brain and I regained a passion for learning I haven’t felt in far too long. As for metaphysics... we have a love-hate relationship, to say the least. One day I’m absolutely thrilled that I can write simple sentences using first order predicate logic, or that I can discuss theories about the existence of race, or time, or free will with my course mates, while the next I look at my course literature with pure contempt, wondering why oh why I’m putting myself through this. 

As for long-term goals psychology and philosophy wise... Understanding the memes would be nice, haha. On a more serious note though: I’m not sure. I’m still experimenting with my likes and dislikes, interests and, well, not interests. I have considered seriously pursuing both subjects and applying for programs spanning over a couple of years rather than the small-batches-of-courses approach I currently have, but at this point in my life I don’t really like the prospect of a commitment that big. Especially not until I’ve had my chance to travel and explore the world (and myself!) But then again, this morning I caught myself reading abstracts of psychological articles on PubMed for fun (major geek warning - and I love it!), so maybe there is a little scientist in me after all.

A blurry picture of me taking notes on my phone. You’re welcome.

What I’m going to study this autumn - if anything - and at what university is yet to be decided. I’ve applied for a few on-campus courses this time around (so far all my uni courses have been distance-based/online), among which we find goodies such as aesthetics, egyptology (yup, that one was a spontaneous impulse), and Latin. We’ll see how that works out for me (or if I decide to do something else). 

Aside from my official university business I’m a language lover. My target language is Japanese, but aside from that I have some slightly-more-than-basic Spanish knowledge. Oh, and Swedish is my native language by the way, so there’s that too. I also impulsively study whatever happens to catch my fancy at any given moment or whatever language seems to be in line with one of my momentarily relevant grand master plans that I often end up shelving. I don’t have any structured study schedule or specific goals or anything as I see language learning purely as a hobby. If I feel like learning some grammar, some kanji, or attempt to read or write a little story, then I do. But I’m rarely able to force myself to adhere to a structure “just because” (and I’m still sort of coming to terms with whether that’s a good or a bad thing).

Now, knowing myself, I could probably turn this into a proper essay and write several additional paragraphs, but I think I prefer using that time to take a little walk. Sorry! (or “you’re welcome”?) This has been a really lovely break and I’m super excited for Day 2! Thank you @tranquilstudy​ for making this challenge :) I’m looking forward to getting to know some fellow study lovers!

Do you want to join in on the fun? Take on a challenge? Get to know some new people? Become a fellow #tranquilstudybuddy! ⭐️ 

#okay yes technically this is from yesterday #but I was tired and didn't feel like I had the energy to sit down and relay my thoughts properly #see? #mess! #but that's okay - I'm still very much enjoying this :) #embrace the chaos friends! #or if getting a kick from being consistent is more of your thing then hey go for that #I'll cheer you on either way :) #tranquilstudybuddies #tranquil's study & self-care challenge #studyblr #studyspo #study inspiration #study motivation #p.s. I also do yoga with Adrienne #she's lovely! :) #03/05/2021

[helena-thessaloniki]

the non-author’s note.

the rambling thoughts that won’t make it into an author’s note for anyone reading beyond the walls

- i’m not saying the last chapter will be sad, but I am saying I didn’t start writing certain scenes until I found the perfect melancholic song to listen to on repeat for the last several hours (it’s drift by daughter if you’re curious) 

- if I had any fucking clue that there would be more than ten people who cared about this story, I would have spent more than sixty seconds deciding on a title ahah

- who are the OG readers who tolerated all my typos and mistakes?? bless you.

- why did none of you tell me I suddenly used the em dash ahundredmilliontimes in chapter five when I was so skillfully conservative with it in prior chapters?? i thought we were friends. :| 

- jk we are friends i really am so appreciative of you all. 🖤

- I thoroughly enjoy painting, but I’m so terrible at it and it’s frustrating to me that I can visualize something and not be able to create it the way it is in my head. that’s how I feel with writing this chapter. I’ve never cried while writing my own work, but I’ve cried twice at two different scenes and how on earth am I supposed to be good enough to evoke half of that for you all? i’m not being humble i’m just sure it isn’t possible. so anyway, i still paint all the time, so i guess i’m still gonna try my best here, too.  

- don’t worry, spoiler alert, the Ao3 tags have said Angst with a Happy Ending since the beginning 

- i purposefully don’t write tumblr posts with proper grammar or capitalization so we can all be on the “don’t take Lena seriously, she doesn’t take herself serious either” page

- my friends call me Lena. if you’ve read this far I think it’s safe to say you can call me Lena. 

- sincerely grateful for you all and for this journey. 

- I started writing this fic as an anime-only fan so I have barely read any rivamika fics because I was worried about spoilers. now that i’m caught up to date on the manga, I’m finishing this multi-chap and avoiding rivamika fics again as to avoid comparing myself/judging myself or accidentally lifting ideas off anyone. so needless to say my primary motivation to finish writing this fic is to pause on writing rivamika and READ everyone else’s works. can’t fucking wait. 

#beyond the walls fic #rivamika beyond the walls #my thoughts

[thathopelessromantic]

Reckless Good (6/?)

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia Fic Rating: Explicit Chapter Rating: Teen+ Pairing: Todoroki Shouto/Midoriya Izuku Note: Thanks again for your amazing support so far! I really appreciate all of you and your comments have been making my weeks since posting <3 This fic will be going on a short hiatus...I'm not sure how long it will be but July has been shockingly busy this year and has only continued to get crazier so I need a little more time to write more of this fic 

Todoroki Shouto had accepted his fate as a public figure when he became a pro-hero, but there are some parts of his private life he would like to stay private. When he gets invited to be a speaker in a college lecture series, he goes to the meeting with one goal: to give the coordinator a piece of his mind and finally put an end to people hounding him for information about his family.

The last thing he expects is the curious, and quirkless, hero- and quirk-study professor, Midoriya Izuku, who has no interest in his family’s history, and, somehow, even more ties to the hero industry than Shouto. Intrigued by the professor, Shouto tentatively agrees to the lecture series, unknowingly intertwining their futures.

But the more Todoroki sees of Midoriya, the more questions he has. When a villain attack leaves them living together until the culprits are apprehended, maybe he’ll finally get some answers.

AO3: (x) Beginning/Chapter One: (x) Previous Chapter: (X) TDDKBB2021 Companion Art: (X)

It’s been three days since the debriefing, and Shouto hasn’t been able to think about much else besides the weirdness of everything that happened in the meeting. Even now, standing under the scalding spray of his shower, he’s going through the motions, but his mind is in the hallway outside the conference room with Ingenium.

“I’m sorry about lying to you regarding Architect,” Ingenium had said solemnly. They’ve grown and their costumes had both changed since then, but without his helmet on, head bent to discuss something quietly, Shouto was reminded of the in-class exercises they used to do in high school. Off to the side in a hallway, as if creating a strategy. Somehow adult-Ingenium had gotten even more serious than his high school counterpart. “I know it was wrong to mislead you, but I knew he meant no harm. I knew he could help with Kou.”

“How?” Shouto had asked, but even then he had a feeling he knew the answer.

“…I’ve worked with him before,” Ingenium admitted. “I know the law, but he…he just wants to help people. And he does good hero work.”

Ingenium couldn’t say afterwards if he thought Architect would still somehow help the case. He knew he would want to, but with more people involved, and more people who knew he had been there before, it would be harder. Shouto can’t articulate exactly why, but somehow knowing he might be what brings more scrutiny towards Architect makes him feel…guilty? It’s not his fault that he didn’t know, nor is it his fault Architect is technically doing something illegal, but he feels guilty anyways.

Shouto’s phone chimes just as he steps out of the shower. Even before he checks it, he knows it’s a new text from Midoriya. While Shouto has thought of little else but the weirdness that had transpired at the debriefing for the last three days, Midoriya has acted as if it never happened. He had been quiet the rest of the day afterwards, but the next day Midoriya had picked up their text chat where they had left off as if nothing had happened. The few times Shouto tried to broach the topic of Midoriya’s behavior at the debriefing, his contacts with heroes, the vigilante Architect, anything from the debriefing, all he got was an abrupt subject change or radio silence for a few hours. After a day and a half of the back and forth, Shouto gave up pushing the subject. For now.

Shouto slings a towel around his hips and grabs his phone off the counter. There’s a new picture attached to the message. Midoriya’s scarred hand holds a large navy book out in front of the camera. The sidewalk serving as a background and the blurred edges of the image suggests he was walking somewhere as he took the picture.

I found a copy of the book!! The text underneath reads.

Shouto can’t make out any title in the picture, but he knows what book it is anyways. There was only one they had really discussed in-depth that would warrant such an excited text. It was an early study of dual quirks. Apparently, according to Midoriya, some of the information and conclusions they came to is now outdated but it is still considered one of the best introductory texts for understanding how dual quirks come about with inheritance. He had been suggesting it to Shouto practically since they had started their text conversation.

Another text comes in before Shouto can come up with a reply.

I can keep this copy in my office, if you would like to come by for it sometime.

Shouto wouldn’t mind going by the professor’s office again. It wasn’t that far out of his way, and it would be a good excuse to see him and talk to him some more – either about quirks, or whatever the hell was going on at the debriefing in an environment he can’t escape so easily. But as he mentally goes through his schedule thinking of a time he might be able to get there, it would be at least another week, if not two.

Shouto grimaces, running a hand over his face.

between normal wrk nd this new case itll be a while…

Of course I understand you’re busy! Oh unless you wanted to read it sooner

Shouto glances at the time. He still has almost two and a half hours before his next shift starts. It would be enough time. Probably. Depending on how long it takes to get Midoriya to agree. He has an idea but he knows Midoriya isn’t going to like it.

are u in musutafu now?

Yes. Of course! I could drop it off at your agency!

i was thinking just my apartment

Shouto puts his phone down to find something to wear. He doesn’t usually wear normal clothes under his uniform, but he figures he has a little while before he needs to change into it. He expects to get a flurry of messages protesting his suggestion as he finds and pulls on a pair of sweatpants, but a full three minutes pass before his phone chimes with another message. It just reads: what, lacking even Midoriya’s usual proper grammar and capitalization.

Shouto snorts. He knew he wasn’t going to like it.

im at the hospital on guard today and ill be out of the office the next few days. it would be quicker

That does set off the flurry of texts he expected the first time, Midoriya insisting that wasn’t necessary and he didn’t need to read it that quickly and a few that just said no a few times. The texts are still coming in, the notification that he’s typing still lit up on the screen, when Shouto presses the phone icon next to his name and starts a call.

The phone starts to ring. And then continues to ring for so long, Shouto thinks he’s going to go to voicemail, when Midoriya suddenly answers. There’s a shuffle on the other line for a moment.

“Entro-er, Todoro…hello?” Midoriya says.

“Hello, Midoriya,” Shouto replies.

Shouto’s simple greeting seems to knock Midoriya out of his stupor, because he immediately jumps back into his protests, picking right back up where he left off in his texts. Shouto waits until he has to stop to take a breath.

“I figured you would really frown upon me texting you my address, so I thought I’d call. Do you have something to write with?”

Midoriya sputters for a moment before he sighs. “You…yeah, go ahead.”

Shouto blinks in surprise. He really expected more of a protest than that. Still, he rattles off the address before Midoriya comes to his senses and changes his mind. Midoriya has him repeat it once, just to be sure he copied everything down correctly.

“Okay. I guess I will see you in a few minutes,” Midoriya says, sounding resigned.

Shouto almost laughs at the tone. “You don’t actually have to bring it to me if it’s any trouble. I can get it from the office eventually.”

“No, I don’t mind and it’s not that far out of the way actually,” Midoriya admits. “I’m a little concerned by your complete disregard for privacy or self-preservation but otherwise, it’s no trouble.”

“‘A lack of self-preservation and privacy’ is pretty much in my job description.”

Midoriya sighs. There’s some quiet mumbling Shouto can’t make out through the phone before Midoriya seems to give up on arguing the point for the moment and says his goodbye.

Shouto plugs his phone in by the bed to charge until he has to leave. Monarch and Momo still haven’t let go of the last time his phone died while he was on duty and he’s sure even being away from the agency for the next few days won’t save him from their ire if it happens again.

Shouto is still toweling off his hair when there’s a knock on his door. He glances at the clock on his wall, but even without the visual confirmation, he knows it has only been a few minutes since his call with Midoriya had ended. It was unlikely he found his apartment that quickly. He throws the towel over the bar in the bathroom and grabs a t-shirt on his way out of his room.

He opens the front door, expecting to see one of his neighbors in the hall. Instead, it is Midoriya staring at him from the other side of the door. He looks almost the exact same as the first time they had met with his thin, crooked wire frame glasses and oversized leather satchel hanging at his side. Though he had replaced his ill-fitting cardigan with a Froppy sweatshirt and a jean jacket over a button-up. Midoriya’s eyes scan over him quickly, pausing briefly at his middle before jumping back to his face and then to the space next to his head.

“Hello,” Midoriya manages quietly.

Shouto tugs the bottom of his shirt the rest of the way down.

“Hello. I…wasn’t expecting you to find the place so quickly,” he replies simply.

“Um, yes, it was closer than I realized too,” Midoriya finally looks him in the eye again, only to look away a moment later to bow his head. “I’m sorry, I should have announced myself somehow.”

“It’s fine, Midoriya. I’m glad you didn’t have to go too far out of your way.”

They stand in an awkward silence for a moment before they both seem to remember themselves and try to speak again.

Midoriya fumbles with the leather bag at his side, searching for the book. “Right, I’m sure you need to finish getting ready for work-” he starts to say.

At the same time, Shouto steps back, opening his door further. “Would you like to come in?”

Midoriya stares at him in surprise for a moment before his gaze jumps to something behind Shouto, brow furrowing.

“Todoroki, do you live alone?”

“Um, yes?” Shouto glances over his shoulder but doesn’t see whatever it was that Midoriya must have seen.

He turns back around, but Midoriya is still staring hard at something in the distance.

“Midoriya, what did-"

A loud crash of breaking glass cuts off the rest of Shouto’s question. Midoriya reacts a second before him, grabbing Shouto’s arm and throwing them both down the hall, away from his door as flames erupt in the apartment behind him.

They tumble to the ground. Shouto lands hard on his back as they roll for a moment, the floor below him and Midoriya landing heavily on top of him knocking the air from his lungs. One of Midoriya’s hands cushioned his head in the fall, but he pulls it back quickly as if Shouto burned him.

Midoriya quickly lifts himself up, carefully checking Shouto over. “Are you alright?”

Shouto nods, not yet ready to try speaking again. The sound of a vicious fire cracks behind them and the smell of smoke is already starting to fill the hallway. Whatever was thrown has a fast-moving fire and Shouto can feel the heat even from a few feet away.

“Will your fire alarm alert the authorities?”

Shouto pushes himself to a sitting position . “Don’t have a fire alarm,” he chokes out. They really need to move. “They go off too easily.”

Midoriya stares at him for a moment like he’s lost his mind before realization dawns. “Right your quirk would probably make that a pain. Okay, I’ll call for help. But we need to get as many people out as we can before they get here.”

Shouto climbs to his feet, using the wall to hold himself up for the moment. Everything seems to feel okay, so he doesn’t think he’s injured, just winded. Midoriya looks worried but he still scrambles to his feet a moment later.

“I can get my upstairs neighbors out,” Shouto says.

“I’ll help everyone below evacuate,” Midoriya offers before Shouto has barely finished speaking. He takes off for the stairwell, glancing back at the last second. “Be careful, Todoroki.”

Shouto stares after him for a moment, incredulous. ‘I’m the pro in this situation,’ he wants to remind Midoriya. ‘And probably marginally more fire-resistant than you.’ “You too,” is all he manages instead as the stairwell door swings shut behind Midoriya. Faintly, Shouto remembers another time he watched a civilian run head-long into trouble, but he brushes off the otherwise long-forgotten memory. It was so long ago, he’s not sure what dredged up the old memory, but dwelling on it won’t help anyone right now.

Shouto forces himself away from the door and his desire to go after the apparently reckless, mysterious, crazy-overachieving civilian he just let run into danger and heads for his closest neighbor. There are only three apartments on each floor. The one next to him has been empty for months, and usually both of the Fukudas were at work during this time of day, but he pounds on the door just to be safe, calling for them both. Smoke is finally beginning to fill the hallway and he knows it will only be another minute or two before the fire itself begins to crawl its way out of the apartment too.

Shouto breaks through the door, calling for either of the Fukudas to answer as he darts through the handful of rooms laid out in a mirror of his own familiar apartment. Satisfied that it is empty, he goes back to the hall heading for the stairs. He can feel his right side rapidly growing colder as his quirk tries to regulate his body temperature. The overheated air burns his already sore chest as he runs.

Shouto is already shouting as he reaches the next floor, hoping to alert as many of his neighbors as he can. One door opens as he throws himself down the hall, an older woman looking at him suspiciously through the crack in her door. For once he’s thankful for his unique appearance because he sees recognition dawn on her a moment later, even without his hero suit.

“A fire started on the floor below, I’m trying to evacuate everyone on this floor and the next, if you have anyone home with you, get them!”

The woman nods in understanding, throwing her door open and running back into the apartment calling for someone. Shouto goes to the next closest apartment, banging on the door and calling for anyone who might be inside. The door to the apartment next door opens and a man looks out.

“What is all the racket about? They went to their parents for the week, no one is in there.”

“The apartment is empty right now?”

The man glares at him, but Shouto pushes on before he can start an argument with him. The first woman comes out of her apartment with her grandson and a small dog in tow. “Sir, there is a fire on the floor below. We’re evacuating everyone.”

The man still looks like he wants to argue, but a moment later the sound of sirens grows louder as help arrives on the scene and that seems to be enough to convince him to cooperate. The three tenants follow him up the stairs to the last floor. Two of the three doors are already open, the tenants looking out obviously wondering what all the noise is about. The woman and her grandson greet one of the two women, immediately filling them in on what’s going on. Shouto goes to the last door.

“She’s at work,” one of the women calls to him. “She lives alone. Except for a cat.”

Shouto nods his thanks for the information. “I’ll go in to get the cat. Do either of you have a window that faces the front of the building?”

The other woman raises her hand. “I do!”

“Please take everyone into your apartment, clear a space in front of the window if necessary and I’ll be there in just a moment.” Shouto instructs. He waits just a moment to make sure everyone is complying before he forces the last door open. The cat in question makes itself known immediately, rushing to the door crying for attention before it realizes he is not their owner. The cat turns tail and darts deeper into the apartment.

Cursing, Shouto uses ice to create a small blockade in the hall that leads to the bedroom and bathroom, limiting the cat’s escape routes as he darts after it, sliding across the hardwood floor leading into the hallway. He catches himself on the wall just as the cat skids to a halt before the ice, trying to turn quickly but the floor is more slippery than its accustomed to and Shouto manages to grab it as it struggles to find its footing. He gets a few heavy scratches across his arms for his trouble, and the cat does its best to escape his hold, but he manages to get it out of the apartment. He wishes he had his tool belt on him, where he might have something that could contain the cat better, and make it easier to transport, but even if the fire-resistant fabric had lasted this long, it wasn’t worth it to try and get back into his apartment for it.

He rejoins his neighbors in the other apartment. Along with the three from the first floor, there are the two women from this floor, one of whom clutches a still-sleeping baby to her chest. From the window he can see the ambulance and two fire engines that have already arrived. And based on the sounds in the distance, the police and at least one more ambulance would not be far behind. Someone offers to take the disgruntled cat from him as he throws open the window.

Smoke is billowing from a window on a lower floor, obscuring his line of sight for a moment as the winds shift. Shouto swears under his breath, he can feel his neighbors growing anxious behind him, but he knows he needs a clear shot of the ground for this to work. It takes a few minutes for the view to clear enough for him to see a good landing place. By then a few people from the lower floors have started to evacuate, and he can see the first responders meeting them as they come out. He can’t tell from here if Midoriya is with them yet, though he has a feeling the answer is no.

Pushing his concerns aside for the moment, Shouto takes a deep breath to focus. Even after all these years of playing catch up, he still has a much better control of his right side than his left, but the overheated air is already putting a strain on his right side as it keeps his body cool. He creates an ice ramp, or perhaps more accurately a slide, from the window to the ground besides one of the fire engines. It’s as far as he dares to go to keep the slide from being too steep without also becoming too thin. He reinforces the part connected to the building and as much of the underside as he can from where he is to keep the fire from melting it down.

He turns back to his gathered neighbors. The adults gathered look unsure at best, if not down right afraid, but the young boy looks excited.

“It’ll be cold going down, but you should be perfectly safe,” Shouto promises. “Who’s first?”

Shouto helps the first woman up to the window. Once she is down safe, the woman with her baby goes, climbing up by herself first before Shouto hands the infant off to her. The young boy volunteers next before his grandmother can stop him, scrambling up to the window and then asking Shouto to hand the dog up to him. The older woman goes next, clutching the terrified cat tightly to her chest as she disappears down the slide.

Shouto waits until the older man safely reaches the bottom after her before he prepares to go down himself. Taking one last look back before he drops, he sees the smoke begin to curl around the edges of the apartment door.

 The fire chief stops Shouto first once he’s down, thanking him for his help evacuating the civilians and asking about the conditions inside. Shouto gives as much information as he can about the fire and where it started. He ignores the concerned expression the chief gives him as he explains how it began. He knows it seems like an attack, and a targeted attack at that, but he doesn’t want to focus on it just yet. Eventually, the chief figures he’s gotten as much as from Shouto as he’s going to for the moment and sends him off towards the paramedics.

Shouto dodges them for the moment, finding the neighbors he helped down first to make sure everyone actually made it down unharmed. Everyone seems okay, the baby somehow still blissfully asleep and the young boy excitedly asks Shouto if he can go down his ice slide again some other time. One of the first responders found a carrying case for the cat until they could get ahold of its actual owner. He recognizes a few of the other neighbors gathered around from the lower floors. A few have shock blankets on and one person is perched in an ambulance with a paramedic attached to an oxygen machine, but there don’t seem to be any major injuries.

Midoriya is arguing with a paramedic, insisting someone else is in more pressing need of care when Shouto finally approaches one of the ambulances.

“What’s that saying about doctors being the worst patients?” Shouto asks.

Midoriya jumps, startled by his arrival, though he quick recovers from his shock to glare at Shouto.

The paramedic throws his hands up. “Entropy, please try and talk some sense into him. This is the fourth time he’s refused care.” The paramedic turns back to Midoriya and waves a warning finger at him. “I’m running out of other patients to look at.” He warns before storming off.

“Are you alright? What happened?” Shouto asks once they’re alone. Midoriya mostly looks okay, his glasses are missing and he’s a little sooty and disheveled, but Shouto figures everyone probably looks about the same in that regard.

“Nothing,” Midoriya starts to say as someone nearby loudly clears their throat over him. Midoriya scowls. “I think I might have landed on my hand funny earlier, but it’s fine, probably just sore.”

Shouto frowns. “You should at least have someone look at it, just in case.”

Midoriya opens his mouth to argue but a ringing phone cuts him off. He fumbles with his phone for a moment, struggling to pull it out of a pocket with his opposite hand. He winces as he finally pulls it out.

“Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s a video call.” Midoriya doesn’t elaborate anymore. He shifts around before he answers, holding the phone up at an angle that keeps his arm and the ambulance mostly out of the camera. He pastes on a bright smile. “Hi, Eri.”

“Oh Izuku, are you okay? I heard you were involved in a fire. Are you injured? What happened?” Dr. Aizawa asks in a rush, her worried face fills the screen. Red eyes move quickly, obviously taking note of Midoriya’s disheveled apperance.

“I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. We’re not sure exactly how it started yet,” he lies. “But no one was hurt.”

“Where are you? I’ll go-”

“No,” Midoriya cuts her off. “I’m fine and I’ll come by the hospital later so you can check me over yourself if you’re really that worried, but I’m fine. And I want to make sure someone is keeping an eye out for Kou.”

“You think this has to do with her?” Dr. Aizawa asks, surprised.

“I’m not sure yet, I would just feel better if I knew there was extra security around her.”

Dr. Aizawa nods. “Okay, Izuku. I’ll make sure someone has an eye on her at all times. I’ll call you later to check up on you.” She says. “And I’ll know if you don’t let the paramedics check on you so don’t even try it this time.” The call ends before Midoriya can refute her last statement.

“I’m supposed to be taking the next shift on the hospital,” Shouto realizes. “I still had another two hours before my shift began when you arrived, but I should let someone know.”

Midoriya offers Shouto his phone. Before Shouto can step away, the paramedic returns with his arms crossed.

“Ready to cooperate?”

Midoriya looks miserably over his shoulder at Shouto but lets the paramedic force him into a seat.

Shouto calls Momo on her private number.

“This is Creati.” Momo answers stiffly after a single ring.

“Momo, it’s Shouto. My phone is…I don’t have my phone right now. There was just a fire-”

“At your apartment building. I know I just got the alert. Are you okay? You were still home, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m fine. No one was injured, but they’re still putting out the fire and I’m pretty sure my apartment is gone. It started there.”

Momo takes a long time to reply. “Your quirk?” She finally asks, but she sounds like she already knows the answer.

“No. I think…It seems crazy, but…” Shouto hesitates. He lives on the third floor, but crazier things have probably happened to him. “I think someone threw something through my window to start it.”

Momo curses under her breath. “I was afraid of that. You haven’t heard from anyone else, yet, have you? There was another attack, across town. Not a fire, but a building came down. A few civilians were hurt, and…”

Shouto tries not to lose his patience with Momo as she hesitates.

Finally she sighs. “The latest report from the police just came over the radio. Mr. Smith was one of the only heroes in the area. He was severely injured while helping trapped civilians. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital a few minutes ago. No one’s sure of his status yet.”

“Fuck.” Midoriya was right. “This is about Kou. The girl from before you have to-”

“I know your schedule, Shouto.” Momo interrupts. “As soon as I got the alert I let them know you might have been targeted. Someone has already been assigned to your guard shift and they’ve added extra security to the hospital.”

Shouto feels himself relax for the first time since the fire began. If there’s one thing he can count on, it’s Momo to be on top of things. “Thank you.”

Momo replies with a quiet hum of acknowledgement. “Is there anything else I can do for you right now? Do you need anyone else at the scene?”

“No, everything seems pretty well in hand for now. But if you could let my mother and sister know, that would help. They’ll see it on the news eventually, but even if my phone survived the fire it will probably be a while before I can get it to contact them myself.”

“Of course, I’ll make sure they know you’re alright. Can I contact you on this number again?”

Shouto glances back at Midoriya. He’s, miraculously, still sitting in the ambulance doors letting the paramedic wrap his hand, but he also managed to call over one of the firefighters to discuss something about the attack. “Yeah, you can use this number again.”

“Let me know when you learn something more.”

“I will.”

“I’m really glad you’re okay, Shouto.” Momo says just before she ends the call.

Me too, Shouto thinks, looking around at all the people gathered in front of the apartment. He and Midoriya had managed to get everyone out, but if Shouto had been alone he might not have been quick enough. Hell, if he hadn’t been answering the door at just the right time, he might not have been able to save anyone at all. He would probably be right beside Mr. Smith in the hospital. I just wish it could be said for everyone.

Shouto returns to the ambulance, passing the cell back to Midoriya. Midoriya takes one look at his face and knows.

“You heard about Mr. Smith too?”

Shouto nods. “Creati already sent word to the hospital for extra security and for someone to cover my shift watching Kou.”

Midoriya cracks a small smile. Other than the one he wore to briefly pacify Dr. Aizawa, it’s the first smile Shouto thinks he’s seen from him all day. And bizarrely, it puts him at ease for a moment, lifting some of the weight of the attack.

“Remind me to send her a huge thank you gift when we finally get out of here,” Midoriya says, and even though Momo is just doing her job in her own efficient, overachiever way, he knows Midoriya is serious.

Midoriya moves over, offering the extra space for Shouto to sit down. Another paramedic almost immediately descends on them, finally checking Shouto over for shock, smoke inhalation, over-extended quirk usage, and other injuries. Other than the handful of cat scratches that they clean and bandage, he comes out with a clean bill of health. Midoriya is comparing their injuries, complaining that his “bruised wrist” didn’t need more bandaging than Shouto’s cuts, but while his tone is light, his eyes keep focusing on something in the distance, his attention obviously not on their conversation. Shouto can practically hear the wheels turning in his head as he thinks.

The fire chief eventually joins them as the fire dies down and more of the firefighters exit the building for the last time. “Thank you again, Entropy, for your help evacuating tenants before we arrived. And…Midoriya, was it?”

“Dr. Midoriya,” Shouto corrects when Midoriya simply nods. Midoriya elbows him in the side, but Shouto ignores the jab.

“Dr. Midoriya, thank you for your help as well. That was very brave of you. A number of the tenants I’ve spoken with were extremely grateful for your assistance.”

Midoriya shrugs a shoulder, as if he had truly done nothing of note. “I’m just glad I was in the right place to help, at the right time.”

“Do we know anything else about the fire yet? Or the building?” Shouto asks.

“The fire is mostly out, we just have a few more people inside checking for any hidden fires or areas that weren’t extinguished completely the first time. As for the building…it will take a little while longer to properly assess all the damage but the third floor where it started, and the second and fourth floors, took the most damage. At the very least it will be a day or two before it’s safe for the tenants to move between the floors to get their things.” The chief explains.

Shouto expected about as much, honestly he was prepared to hear worse, but it doesn’t make it easier. “Thank you for letting us know.”

The chief nods. “Of course.”

Shouto turns back to Midoriya as the chief walks away. “Can I borrow your phone one more time?”

Midoriya politely, but unnecessarily, turns away as Shouto crafts a text to Momo.

the tenants will b displaced for at least a few days. can we do smthing abt accommodations for them?

It only takes Momo a few seconds to reply.

Of course. Send me the number of people and their contact information and I’ll take care of everything.

A second text comes in almost immediately.

Will you need something too? You could always stay with me and Kyouka. Or I’m sure your mother would be happy to have you for a few days.

Shouto stares at the message for a moment. “Shit.” He hadn’t been thinking about himself. Obviously he couldn’t stay in his apartment. But he wouldn’t want to be housed anywhere near his neighbors, in case whoever attacked tried again. But that would put his friends, or family, in the same line of risk.

“What’s wrong?” Midoriya finally turns back, looking over Shouto’s shoulder. “Was there another attack?”

Shouto shakes his head. “No, sorry to worry you. Momo just reminded me I’ll need a place to stay for a while. I don’t want to risk a hotel or some public housing, if they try to attack again…”

Midoriya doesn’t need him to finish his thought before he nods in understanding. “And you don’t want to stay with your friends or family for the same reason. There’s too much of a risk they will try to target you again.”

Shouto groans, running a hand over his face. Maybe Midoriya was onto something with all his concerns about ‘privacy and self-preservation.’

“Stay with me.”

Shouto’s head shoots up. He thinks he had to have misheard, but the serious expression on Midoriya’s face suggests otherwise.

“What?”

“You can stay with me. No, you should stay with me.”

Shouto feels like he was just transported to a parallel universe. He was actually fairly confident his role as the only one to suggest ridiculous things in this newly-started relationship was already established.

“I-No. I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“You’re not asking, I’m insisting.”

Shouto ignores him. “I can stay in the dorms at the agency.”

Midoriya rolls his eyes. “That’s an extremely short term solution, at best. And a huge risk. If these villains have kept close enough tabs on you to find your personal apartment and attack it, it would be child’s play to figure out you were staying in your office, with a publicly available address, and target it too.”

“You would still be at risk,” Shouto says, baffled as to how Midoriya somehow managed to miss that very important fact. “The same way Momo and Kyouka or my family would be, I can’t put you in that position.”

“Todoroki,” Midoriya says, deadly serious. “You are not a very social hero. It is common knowledge who you are close enough with to consider a friend. And your family has been in the spotlight for years. Staying with any of them is an obvious and dangerous choice. I’m a nobody. No one knows me, no one knows you know me. Also my house is…private, secluded. Even if someone does eventually figure out you’re there, it will take much longer than any of the other places. Enough time that we can come up with another plan.”

Midoriya reaches over and takes the cell out of his hands. “Now, unless you have a more convincing argument, I will text…” he looks at the phone for a long moment as he trails off. Shouto has no idea how he can casually insist on Shouto staying with him and in the same breath be visibly uncomfortable texting a different hero. “I will text…Creati and tell her you have a place to stay. You should go collect everyone else’s information for her.”

Shouto stares at Midoriya in disbelief while he pointedly ignores him and struggles to craft a text to Momo. He only finally moves when Midoriya all but shoves him off the ambulance step, claiming to be unable to type while he was being watched.

“I…can’t make sense of you,” Shouto finally admits. Midoriya has baffled him basically since the moment they met and he’s beginning to think he might never fully understand him.

Midoriya looks up from his phone with a curious expression, as if surprised by Shouto’s admission, before it transforms into a smile Shouto has never seen before, but that he wants to pull from him again and again.

“I like to think that’s just a part of my charm.”

#bnha #mha #tddk #tododeku #tododeku big bang 2021 #midoriya izuku #todorki shouto #fic #rita writes #7.16.21 #fic: reckless good