#Ryukyu x reader

[randoimago]

You've been exhausted lately and they've noticed and have been preparing something special. You get home and they have you follow them to the bath. The tub is filled with bubble bath, your favorite scents are in the air and it's already so relaxing. They help you strip and they do the same.

Your back is to their chest with their legs spread out around yours as they hold you close and just cuddle in the hot water. It's soft, sweet, and a moment they hope you cherish.

Genshin Impact :: Thoma, Diluc, Ganyu, Kujou Sara || My Hero Academia :: Twice (mask stays on), Ryukyu, Gang Orca, Rock Lock, Mandalay, Fat Gum, Gentle Criminal || Haikyuu (time skip) :: Suga, Asahi, Yamaguchi, Akaashi, Kita, Atsumu, Kiyoko, Yachi || JoJo's :: Jonathan, Caesar, Bruno, Abbacchio, Holy, Susie Q.

Bonuses:

Yachi + Twice - makes sure there's a rubber duck

Susie Q. + Holy + Suga - 100% splashes you playfully

Atsumu + Abbacchio - said he prepped the bath for himself but you came home too early so he's sharing so you don't complain (liar)

Caesar + Akaashi - gives you lots of neck and shoulder kisses

Asahi + Gang Orca + Fat Gum + Jonathan - Too big for the tub, pouts as water gets on the floor (promises to clean it up)

#my hero academia x reader #jjba x reader #genshin impact x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #diluc x reader #kujou sara x reader #sugawara koushi x reader #asahi azumane x reader #thoma x reader #miya atsumu x reader #jonathan joestar x reader #caesar zeppeli x reader #suzie q x reader #holy kujo x reader #twice x reader #fat gum x reader #mandalay x reader #gang orca x reader #ganyu x reader #ryukyu x reader #rock lock x reader #gentle criminal x reader #yamaguchi x reader #kiyoko shimizu x reader #yachi x reader #kita x reader #akaashi x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #leone abbachio x reader

[frickingnerd]

ryukyu with a sidekick who overworks themselves

pairing: ryuko tatsuma / ryukyu x gn!reader

tags: mentions of death, food and lack of sleep, stubborn reader

as ryukyu's sidekick, you didn't want to disappoint your boss

many people would kill to have the position you had, so you had to make sure that you were worthy of your spot next to the pro hero! 

every day you had to prove to the world and yourself that you deserved to be where you were right now

and every day you wanted to beat your numbers from the prior day. save more people. catch more villains. just do better.

it earned you all the praise and made you ryukyu's number one sidekick, but you couldn't continue like this forever

eventually, it became clear that you were working yourself to death, getting less sleep, eating too little and never resting

as soon as ryukyu noticed it, she knew what to do, even if you wouldn't like it

she called you into her office and while you were expecting praise or a promotion, she instead forced you to take a vacation

when you complained and asked why she'd want you, her best sidekick, to stop working, she just sighed and got up from her chair

"if you continue working like this, you'll end up being killed by a villain, too exhausted to defend yourself anymore. and i'd be responsible for it, because i was ignoring the signs and continued to let you work. i can not afford to lose you–"

"then allow me to continue working for you! i don't need a break i just need to continue working for you!" you tried to argue with ryukyu, but she shook her head

"i'd rather lose you for a few weeks than forever! as long as you don't understand that, i have to force you to take some time off!" 

you sighed defeated and nodded

perhaps ryukyu had a point. it wouldn't be worth dying by the hands of some everyday criminal just because you were pushing yourself too hard…

#ryukyu x reader #ryuko tatsuma x reader #ryuko tatsuma #ryuko x reader #tatsuma x reader #ryuko #tatsuma #ryukyu #x reader #headcanons #angst #hurt/comfort #fluff #tatsuma ryuko x reader #tatsuma ryuko #mha #mha x reader #bnha x reader #bnha #my hero academia #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia #x you #x y/n #x gn reader

[abellaheart-blog]

My Hero Academia Various Female Pro Heroes x Reader

Receiving Gifts From Their Significant Other

Author Note: Reader is Gender Neutral. These are headcanons with their reactions to variations of gifts. Reblogs are appreciated as are comments, have a wonderful day.

Midnight 🖤🌫Nemuri Kayama

Chocolate or Sweet Treat

This woman loves chocolates, her favorite is dark chocolate. Her favorite treat would be chocolate covered strawberries

She’s so grateful receiving chocolates of any sort from you.

“My sweetie is treating their girl today. How sweet..” She purrs in your ears.

Assorted chocolates and candy bars are nice, she doesn’t get to eat them much since she watches what she eats

However if you gift her chocolate dipped strawberries she knows your exact intentions. She’s flirting it up with you, kissing your neck, giving love bites, nipping your ears. She’s dragging you away somewhere private for some fun

Flowers

Midnight adores roses. She’s a particular fan of black and red roses

She will look beyond happy seeing you with a bouquet or vase of her favorite flowers. She’ll begin blushing since it’s so thoughtful

She’ll kiss your cheek in gratitude

“So sweet. Thank you, thank you!” She’ll say between her kisses for you. She ends it with a little smooch on your lips.

Bracelets or Rings

You’re gifting her jewelry and this is one fire way to earn more flirting affections from her. She’ll sit on your lap and kindly thank you with a hidden seductive tone. If you’re not sitting she’ll pull you by the collar and give you a kiss

She adores bracelets since she loves wearing them with dresses. Nemuri likes to accessorize so it’s a nice gift.

Rings are also a thoughtful gift since she adores them as well. She likes any type of ring. She’ll proudly wear it when she’s not doing hero work.

“It’s so pretty I love it!”

Handcuffs & Whips

These gifts require you to present them to her privately. She’s a teacher/pro hero after all.

Upon opening the gift, her signature seductive smile is given to you

Nemuri loves punishing her pet. She’ll want to try the gift on you immediately.

Handcuffs will lead to her straddling your hips or her handcuffing you to the nearest bedposts or chair.

Nana Shimura 💙💥

Chocolate or Sweet Treat

Another chocolate lover and of sweets in general. She loves milk chocolate. Her favorite is her childhood candy bar or a slice of cake (Funfetti, Chocolate, Caramel, Vanilla, or Strawberry Shortcake)

She has a strict diet but she’ll treat herself once in a while. When you surprise her with her favorite candy bar from her childhood she is elated

She will kiss your forehead or cheek and give you the cutest smile

“For me? You’re so thoughtful! Thank you, honey.”

If you gift her a slice of cake she’s ever so grateful because she had a long day of hero work or she’ll save it for later after she’s done with work for the day.

She will enjoy every bite and promises you so. She’ll ask you on a date and hopes your schedule is free since she wants to spend time with you. She’s hoping for cuddles too

“I absolutely love cake, thank you! Would you like to eat out at a café sometime this week?”

Flowers

She adores flowers. Her favorites are daisies, sunflowers, and poppies

A bouquet or vase of her favorite flowers give you the biggest smile you’ll ever see. Her eyes light up and she’s blushing

She’ll give you a kiss in gratitude

“They’re... beautiful. Thank you for the flowers I’ll take good care of them.”

Earrings

She’s not one for jewelry but she does enjoy earrings

When you give her earrings she is beaming since she can’t wait to show them off

She won’t be able to wear earrings that are long or hang since she is often busy working but she will try to wear them as often as she can

“You got me earrings?! These are super cute!”

Exercise Equipment

This woman is big on fitness. She spends time exercising in the morning after breakfast.

When you gift her fitness equipment she’s very excited. She can’t wait to try it out. She’s always finding different ways to incorporate them to her routine.

Shimura will immediately try it, unless it’s too big and needs time to set it up. It will get good use and she’s forever grateful.

You’re given a big strong bear hug from her

“This was so thoughtful I’ll be sure to use it as much as possible! I can’t wait to exercise later!”

Mirko 🖤🐰 Rumi Usagiyama

Chocolate or Sweet Treat

She doesn’t mind chocolates but they’re not her favorite (she eats a lot of chocolate protein shakes). If she had to choose, sweetened dark chocolate would be most favorable. She’ll be grateful to any treat you decide to buy her but her favorite would be frozen yogurt or carrot cake

Chocolates given to her will earn you head pats from her and a flirting comment. She’s very amused and wants to give you affection

“I didn’t realize I’d get chocolate from my sweetheart, I’ll have to give you something else in return.” She’ll wink, pulling you toward her.

If you get her frozen yogurt she’s very happy about it. The larger the serving, the better. She’s got a big appetite.

You’ll be treated like royalty by her. She’s praising you and wanting to pamper you

If you give her carrot cake she is especially happy. She hums with delight at every bite. Her ears twitch happily.

She’s thanking you and holding your hand while she eats the cake

“You cutie! I’ve been wanting carrot cake this week too! You know me so well.”

Flowers

She thinks flowers are a sweet gift. She’s never been given flowers aside from her parents. She thinks it’s cute of you to buy them for her.

Her favorites are lily’s, primroses or snapdragons. They remind her of meadows and the smells are very relaxing

Rumi lifts you up and smashes her lips on yours in thanks

“I know it’s what you wanted.” She’ll chuckle giving you flirting red eyes.

Necklaces or Chokers

Rumi will only wear necklaces or choker necklaces with some of her outfits. She’s not girly but she’ll accessorize when she’s feeling up for it

She’ll treat your necklaces like treasures. They’re taken care of more so than her other property

Chokers go well with a lot of her looks and necklaces are nice for the times she isn’t feeling sweat pants or gym clothes

Rumi admires all the necklaces you’ve given her and every time she tells you how thankful she is. Her ears twitch joyously as she observes the jewelry you gift her.

Kitchen Supplies

She loves cooking and trying new healthy meals. Since she has a ridiculously strict diet she’s always finding new recipes to try. It’s a nice pass time of hers to cook.

It doesn’t matter what type of cooking equipment you give her. She’ll gladly put it to use.

She realizes how well you know her from the gift. She laughs and now she’d like to cook with you or cook you a meal

She’ll plant kisses all over your face

“I shouldn’t be surprised you thought to buy this for me, thank you very much, cutie pie."

Ms. Joke 🧡🤡 Emi Fukukado 

Chocolate or Sweet Treat

She adores chocolate but her favorite would have to be white chocolates. Her favorite sweet treat would have to be pie. Chocolate, cherry, and any cream pie are her favorites.

If you give her a candy bar or assorted white chocolates she'll thank you and make a joke about you proposing to her next

If you give her a whole pie she might use the opportunity to prank someone with it for a laugh

When you get her a slice of pie she'll get some of the cream on your nose or forehead. She is very grateful for the pie, she'll crack a joke and flirt with you.

"If I didn't know any better you're wanting brownie points. You sure you don't plan to propose? ..Ha! I'm joking! So want to kiss?"

Flowers

Her favorite flowers are daffodils and tulips. She loves receiving flowers from you. Its a wonderful gift

She enjoys smelling them then making a pick up line

"So does this mean we are going steady because I'm thinking we must if we already weren't"

Pendants or Earrings

She admires your jewelry related gifts with a huge smile. She'll be surprised by it and thank you very much. She's squeezing you in a hug and kissing your cheek

She thinks pendants look amazing and will compliment your taste

Ms. Joke thinks any type of earrings you give her are nice. She's a particular fan of studs and any goofy kinds

"You're so thoughtful and generous. Thanks, baby!"

Whoopie Cushions or Prankster Books

It doesn't come as a surprise she has endless books about pranks or jokes. She finds them very amusing and would like trying them on others especially Eraser head.

She doesn't mind other items for pranks but a good whoopie cushion is a classic in her book. She'll use them on students and children alike, they're put into good use.

"For me..? Thank you! Wanna make out?... Kidding! Unless you'd like to later that is." She giggles loving how she can make you blush or smile

Ryukyu ❤️🐲 Ryuko Tatsuma

Chocolate or Sweet Treat

She loves tiramisu or macaroons. She doesn't mind chocolate but prefers dark chocolate. Chocolate bars or assorted chocolates are appreciated.

When you present her with tiramisu she's delighted. She'll kiss your forehead for such a thoughtful gift.

"Trust me when I say I need this."

Gifting her Macaroons is yet another thoughtful gift. She will give you a beautiful smile and a thank you. She'll kiss your cheek in appreciation.

"Delicious I look forward to eating these later. I'll be sure to think of you." Later on you'll receive messages of love and appreciation from her.

Flowers

Her favorites are jasmines and orchids. She'll think you gifting her flowers is a bit romantic.

She'll be stunned at first but she's loving it

Gifting her, her favorite flowers make her blush

"For me? They're nice.. I'm speechless." She's smiling

Armlets or Anklets

She adores jewelry and wears them whenever she's not on hero duty. She's a particular fan of anklets and armlets. They go well with her dresses

Her eyes light up when you gift her jewelry, she'll immediately thank you

Giving her anklets and armlets automatically earns you a kiss from her

"Thank you, darling." She's smiling ear to ear.

#midnight x reader #miruko x reader #ms joke x reader #nana shimura x reader #ryuko tatsuma #ryukyu x reader #gender neutral reader #gender neutral s/o #my hero x reader #mha x you #mha x reader #rumi usagiyama x reader #dividers not mine #emi fukukado x reader #nemuri kayama x reader #mha headcanons

[beestriker015]

Yandere Ryukyu x younger male pro hero s/o

Despite being only 21 years old, s/o has already caught the attention of a few of his fellow pro heroes, one of which being the number 10 hero herself.

Ryuku first saw s/o on television when he made his debut and was quite impressed with his abilities as well as his relatively shy and kind demeanor.

However, Ryukyu also felt something peculiar when she saw s/o on the screen, something that worked up her dragon side.

“W-what is this I’m feeling? My heart is beating so fast. This new hero…why do I feel so drawn to him?”

As time passed, Ryukyu became obsessed with s/o and kept a close tab on him until one day when she couldn’t take it anymore and finally decided to meet the object of her obsession in person.

“Hello s/o, my name is Ryuko Tatsuma, but I prefer to go by my hero name Ryukyu. I’ve heard much about you, and it’s a pleasure for us to finally meet.”

“Likewise. It’s a huge honor to meet an amazing hero like you!”

S/o says with a smile that almost causes Ryukyu to lose her calm composure.

“T-thank you s/o, that’s very kind of you to say. Since you’re still relatively new to being a pro hero, may I offer you some help and advice on things you need to know?”

“Really? I’d greatly appreciate that Ryukyu! Thank you so much!”

“No problem, we can talk more over lunch at a cafe nearby. Don’t worry about paying though, it’s my treat.”

Since that day, s/o and Ryukyu have grown close to each other, leading to s/o developing romantic feelings for the 26 year old dragon hero.

When s/o eventually confesses his feelings for her, Ryukyu smiled widely and happily told him she felt the same way before pulling him close and roughly kisses him on the neck, leaving behind a very noticeable red mark.

“There. I apologize if I was too rough darling, but I had to mark you. Now everyone will know that you are mine, and no one will take you from me.”

She says with a smile and a glint in her eyes that makes s/o slightly unnerved for a brief moment.

Despite being a yandere, Ryukyu is still a genuinely good person and would never hurt anyone without a reason to.

As a girlfriend, Ryukyu is extremely affectionate with s/o when they’re alone, but won’t do much more than brief kisses and holding hands when in public or during hero work due to her professionalism.

Ryukyu is extremely possessive over s/o because of her dragon side, and will glare at anyone who flirts with her boyfriend as she holds onto him protectively while letting out a low growl, which s/o admittedly finds kind of adorable.

S/o and Ryukyu try to spend as much time together as they can despite their busy schedules as pro heroes.

Almost everyday, s/o takes time out of his day to visit Ryukyu’s agency to drop off a bagged lunch he made for her and to give her a quick kiss before she goes out on patrol, which Nejire and Ryukyu’s first year interns find really really sweet.

Speaking of Nejire, she is a huge supporter of Ryukyu and s/o’s relationship and to quote her when she met s/o for the first time “totally ships them”, which caused s/o to blush a little and chuckle as Ryukyu looked at the two in confusion due to having no idea what shipping is.

Knowing how insecure his girlfriend can be, s/o will passive aggressively defend Ryukyu if anyone were to say anything negative about her quirk or appearance.

“My Ryukyu is the most beautiful woman in the world, and her quirk has saved so many lives! You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. So either apologize to her now, or keep your ignorant comments to yourself!”

Hearing him defend her only makes Ryukyu fall in love with s/o even more.

When they get back to their shared apartment (because Ryukyu insisted on s/o moving in with her shortly after getting together), Ryukyu hugs her boyfriend and gives him a thankful smile.

“Thank you darling, I appreciate you coming to my defense, please know that I love you dearly.”

Despite her protective and possessive tendencies, Ryukyu would never kill anyone, as that goes against her beliefs and status as a hero.

That used to be the case, until one day during an intense operation to take down a large villain group, s/o was brought to the brink of death by the leader of the villains.

“You and the other heroes were fools to come onto our turf and interfere with my plans boy! I’m going to enjoy killing you in the most excruciating way possible. It’s game over for you hero!”

Upon seeing her s/o at the mercy of the villain leader, Ryukyu’s eyes glaze over in pure draconic rage as she transforms into her dragon form and rushes at the villain as she begins mercilessly tearing him apart, much to the shock and horror of any onlookers.

With the villain leader dead, his subordinates are quickly apprehended by the other heroes and sent to Tartarus, with s/o taken to a nearby hospital for his injuries.

No one dared speak to s/o of what happened to the villain leader when he came to after falling unconscious during his transport to the hospital, both out of fear of angering Ryukyu and a little understanding of the lengths dragons will go to protect their mates.

When he wakes up, s/o is warmly embraced by his teary eyed girlfriend, unaware of the grisly murder she committed.

“I missed you so much darling! Are you in pain at all?”

“I’m ok now Ryuko, just a little sore. Hey babe, what happened during the mission? I don’t remember anything after almost getting killed by the leader.”

“…that villainous scum has been taken care of.”

“What do you mean ‘taken care of’?”

“D-don’t worry about that darling, he and the other criminals working for him were all taken to Tartarus and imprisoned.”

She lied to him as she continues to hug her boyfriend with a dark smirk on her face.

“He will never hurt you again darling, as he is now burning in hell where he belongs for hurting you. I promise that I’ll protect you no matter what, and whoever dares lay a finger on you won’t live long enough to regret it!”

Ryukyu thinks to herself before breaking from their embrace and kisses s/o on the lips with a loving smile on her face.

“I love you so much s/o.”

“I love you too, my beautiful dragon.”

He says while returning her smile as they proceed to share another kiss.

Meanwhile in the criminal underworld, word spreads around about the villain leader’s gruesome death thanks to one of his henchmen managing to escape from the heroes, leading to many growing an intense fear of the tenth ranked hero.

And if any of them intend on doing anything to Ryukyu’s darling…

They should be afraid…

#my hero academia #ryukyu #ryukyu x reader #ryuko tatsuma #ryuko tatsuma x reader #my hero academia x reader #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere my hero academia #male reader #ryukyu x male reader #ryuko tatsuma x male reader #mha x male reader

[thehusbandoden]

Hi!

If you are currently taking requests, could you do Ryukyu coming home to her husband reader after a day of hero work and getting affectionate with him (not smut, just general cuddles and fluff)?

A/n: of course you can! I've never written for her before so I hope it's not unbearable lol. Oh and don't be afraid to request again! I don't care how many you send in they won't be a bother <3

I ended up finishing it last night so it's a bit early (for some reason cuddle requests inspire me more than others.. I'm not sure why lol).

Welcome Home -Wife!Tatsuma Ryuko (Ryukyu) x Husband! Reader

General information:

Genre: fluff \\ wc: 570 \\ posted: 12/5/2023 \\ requested

You were pulled out of your thoughts by the sound of the front door opening. Smiling, you head downstairs to greet your beloved wife.

As you reach the entrance you see Ryuko taking her boots and head piece off. Wrapping your arms around her waist you kiss her sweetly. "Welcome home Gorgeous." You murmur, causing her to smile.

"Thanks handsome. I missed you."

Humming, you hold her in a long embrace. You kissed her forehead a few times and both of you complimented eachother back and forth.

After a few sweet minutes you kiss her again before pulling away.

"Why don't you go wash up? I'll get the couch set up for some cuddles." You gently kiss her cheek, causing her smile to widen.

"That sounds lovely.. I'll be right back, dear."

Ryuko kissed your cheek once more before heading upstairs.

~

She came back down about half an hour later. her soft hair was still wet from the shower, and she had a towel wrapped around her neck. She was wearing your shirt and a pair of your sweatpants. She smiled at you, her golden eyes sparkling ever so slightly.

"Do you mind drying my hair?" She asked softly, sitting in front of you.

"Of course not." You grin, grabbing the towel and gently drying her blonde hair. After a few minutes it was dry and you pressed a kiss to her temple. "Get comfy, I'm gonna go hang this up." You murmur, standing up.

Ryukyo nodded, moving to sit on the couch.

After hanging the towel up in the bathroom you move back to the couch, crawling next to your beloved. As you laid down Ryukyo wrapped her arms around your torso, pulling herself against your warm chest.

Humming in approval, she closed her eyes. "Comfy?" You chuckle, gently playing with her hair.

"Very.." she smiled, relaxing her tense shoulders.

"How was work?" You murmur, gently scratching her back.

"It was fine. There were a few villains that gave me a few bruises, but besides that I'm unharmed."

"Good."

A comfortable silence enveloped the two of you as you cuddled.

Your head was resting against a pillow laying on the armrest, while Ruykyuo had her head resting against your chest. Her arms were wrapped around your torso, and your wrapped around her waist as you gently rubbed/scratched eachother's backs.

"I love you." Ryukyuo murmured, rubbing her cheek against your collarbone.

"I love you more." You whisper, moving your legs to intertwine with hers.

"Debatable." She smirked, leaning up to peck your lips. You returned her kiss, making it sweeter and longer. After a few long moments you pull away again, whispering in her ear.

"I love you more than words can express.. there's no way you can love me more."

She smirked, kissing you again. "Oh but I can."

"Oh yeah?" You chuckle.

"Oh yeah."

You chuckled again, leaning in for another kiss. Rykyo returned your kiss lovingly. After several moments she pulled away.

"I'm going to take a nap.. and you're going to be my pillow." She smirked, leaning her head back against your chest.

Laughing, you kiss her forehead. "Of course, my queen."

After a few more minutes she was getting sleepy. She started to nod off, her head still resting against your chest. "Love you.." she murmured sleepily.

"And I love you." You whisper, kissing her forehead again. "Get some good rest, my angel."

~~~~~

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Reblogs and feedback are greatly appreciated <33

~~~~~

Do not copy, repost, nor plagiarize my work. Ask before you translate or use my work in any way -minus reblogging.

#mha #bnha #mha fanfiction #mha x reader #bnha x reader #thehusbandoden #mha fluff #fluff #ryukyu #mha ryukyu #ryuko tatsuma #tatsuma ryuko #ryuko x reader #ryukyu x reader fluff #mha x reader fluff #bnha x reader fluff #requested #requests

[amphibiahawks321]

Nejire : So who wears the pants in the relationship? Nejire ask very curiously

M!Reader covered in bites : .......Wanna take a guess?

#ryukyu #my hero academia x reader #reader x my hero academia #Male reader

[handsometheo]

My Hero Academia Masterlist

Characters I write for:

Keigo Takami (Hawks)

Rumi Usagiyama (Mirko)

Shota Aizawa (Eraser Head)

Nemuri Kayama (Midnight)

Shinya Kamihara (Edgeshot)

Oboro Shirakumo (Ms. Joke)

Ryuko Tatsuma (Ryukyu)

Taishiro Toyomitsu (Fat Gum)

Yu Takeyama (Mt. Lady)

Dabi (Touya Todoroki)

Tomura Shigaraki (Tenko Shimura)

Twice (Jin Bubaigawara)

Mr Compress (Atsuhiro Sako)

Headcanons only will be posted here, Full fics will be posted on Ko-fi.

FLUFF

ANGST

(SMUT will also be Ko-fi only, I don't want under 18s to have immediate access yk, too dangerous they usually find away but this at least puts a barrier here.)

HURT/COMFORT

IMAGINES

FULL FICS (Ko-fi Only)

#Keigo Takami (Hawks) #Rumi Usagiyama (Mirko) #Shota Aizawa (Eraser Head) #Nemuri Kayama (Midnight) #Shinya Kamihara (Edgeshot) #Oboro Shirakumo (Ms. Joke) #Ryuko Tatsuma (Ryukyu) #Taishiro Toyomitsu (Fat Gum) #Yu Takeyama (Mt. Lady) #Dabi (Touya Todoroki) #Tomura Shigaraki (Tenko Shimura) #Twice (Jin Bubaigawara) #Mr Compress (Atsuhiro Sako) #x reader #my hero academia #mha angst #Mha Fluff #Mha smut #Mha fanfic #mha x reader #The Library

[faesdreaming]

Yandere Platonic Ryukyu with Quirkless Child Reader

a/n: for @k1ngm1nt

tw: yandere themes, child neglect, child abuse, reader is like seven, canon-typical quirk-based discrimination and mistreatment, bullying, social services, maybe a little ooc

•As long as you’ve been alive you’ve dreamed of being a hero. You’d always play games of heroes and villains with your friends, pretending to have powerful quirks. But all of your dreams were shattered when you were told you were quirkless. You were devastated, as were your parents. They tried everything they could to “cure” you of your supposed disease. Yet all your parents accomplished was furthering your newly found self-loathing. Eventually, as a year or two passed, your parents gave up, not only on trying to manifest your quirk but on you as well. You were miserable, living with neglectful parents and constantly being bullied about your quirklessness.

•However, you found solace in heroes, watching their courageous exploits. In particular, the dragoon hero, Ryukyu, also known as Ryuko Tatsuma. She was your absolute favourite hero, you thought her quirk was amazing. But you would never be like her, or any hero, whispered a cruel voice in your head every time you felt an ounce of joy, forgetting your plight. And every time, you would be reduced to tears that everyone would either make fun of you for or ignore you with disdain in their hearts. Your situation made you become a mature child, handling things on your own. You knew that everyone regarded you as a burden, but you wanted to prove them wrong.

•Then one day, while you were walking home by yourself, a villain attacked. People were scattering in all directions, pushing and shoving in their desperation to find safety. Nobody paid mind to you as you were trampled over, then shoved into the reach of the villain. The villain noticed you immediately, and grabbed you. Cackling madly, he gleefully said that you’d be the first to go. Tears welled up in your eyes, but then a large dragon-shaped creature emerged, Ryukyu! You gasped in amazement, forgetting your fear. The villain stupidly let you go, opting for a greater kill of a Pro-Hero. You watched excitedly as your favourite hero took down the villain. Immediately after she won, people clapped and cheered for their saviour. However, she didn’t pay any attention to them, Ryuko’s mind was more occupied with the little child trembling.

•Ryuko made her way over to you, asking if you were okay. Still stunned silent, you nodded as a smile grew on your face. Ryuko felt her heartstrings being tugged. You were such a sweet and adorable child. Yet something felt off, not you but your situation. Where were your family? Usually someone related to a child would come running up, frantically searching for them. But nobody had come for you. Concerned, she inquired where your family was. Then, Ryuko saw your face fall as you explained that your mom and dad didn’t like you anymore because you didn’t have a quirk.

•Feeling her heart drop, Ryuko decided that she couldn’t stand by idly as you suffered. She walked you home, shocking your parents when they saw the pro-hero at their door. Ryuko calmly greeted them, although rage was boiling inside her. Your parents made fools of themselves stammering and trying to act as though you’d been missing. Ryuko maintained a polite smile throughout their entire performance. When they finished, she bid you goodbye. A small sense of amusement and fondness formed in her chest seeing your wide grin as you waved bye. Immediately after your house was out of sight, Ryuko made a quick call to one of her contacts in social services. Relief swelled-up inside her after she was finished, you would be safe soon.

•However, Ryuko’s work wasn’t done yet. She had to be sure you’d be alright until your parents were arrested. She came to pick you up after school, surprising both you and the kids that bullied you. They immediately ran up to her, starting to ask questions and squeal praises as your teacher tried to calm everyone. Ryuko shocked them further when she announced she was here for you. Gently, she outstretched your hand which you happily took. This started a routine of her dropping you off and picking you up from school. Your parents let her do as she pleased because they thought you were finally worth something now that’d you made friends with the pro-hero. You loved spending time with your favourite hero, Ryuko allowed you to be informal with her and took you on fun outings like to an amusement park or restaurant. Sometimes there would be someone who asked questions about your parents, but Ryuko always took you out for a movie after so it was fine.

•Soon, a case was built against your parents and finally, it was the time to act. Your parents were arrested and charged, while you were thrown into confusion, sobbing for them. Ryuko pitied your sadness but this was for the better. Still, you would go into foster care which could be just as bad, of not worse. Ryuko couldn’t condemn you to that, not after you’d been through. So, she decided to adopt you. She could do it quite easily as a high ranking pro-hero with a good reputation. And so it was done, you became her child. You were hesitant at first, but you quickly, and quite happily, accepted her as your new mother. The kids at school stopped picking on you and your teachers started behaving more formally. After all, you were the child of a pro-hero, Ryuko’s child and you would live a life filled with happiness, Ryuko swears it.

#platonic yandere #yandere platonic #yandere bnha #yandere bnha x reader #yandere mha x reader #yandere mha #yandere ryukyu

[afreakingdork]

As Luck Would Have It

RotTMNT Donatello x GN!Reader One-Shot

Warnings/Tags: Aged-up Turtles, Death of Past Life, Soulmates, Reincarnation, Violence, Happy Ending

Synopsis:  A glimpse into another lifetime leads to a wish being made that spans the ages. When Donnie happens to activate said parameters, he is sent on a quest to find someone that he's been waiting his whole existence for.

Also avaliable on Ao3

Hopefully not too long coming, but here she is: the fic requested by my one-shot giveaway winner @anxious-cyanide !!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Also huge shout-out to the illustrious and incomparable @unknownfanartist for supplying a cover image to go along with the fic! I seriously can't thank her or anyone else who participated in the giveaway enough for all the kindness and generosity you all have shown me! My life is filled with so much love I can't stand it, but I'm sure you aren't here to listen to me go all mushy; please enjoy!

“Which means loser Shion has to get water.” From atop a fallen log, a man balanced his odachi on two fingers.

“That hardly seems fair.” Shion scoffed, folding his arms.

Below the first, another man wrinkled his brow as he attempted to fall back into his zazen. “We all agreed to the bet.”

“There were extenuating circumstances!” Shion snapped and turned his head away bitterly.

“Shi’s right!” The third man chimed in from where he was reclined on his back. “It’s not like it’s his fault he lost his weapon!” One of his hands raised up and with an expert flick, a kendama ball landed on its spike.

“That is the definition of his fault.” The first man responded flatly. In one fluid movement, he rose from a sitting position and threw the odachi into the air before catching it by the hilt. “You look like a baby  playing with those kid's toys.”

“And you look like a show-off.” The second man huffed as he squeezed his fingertips together more tightly.

“Yes, let's continue to pass judgement on one another since we all accounted for that kama actually being a kusarigama!” Shion’s voice dripped with venom.

The first man stuttered. He reached unconsciously up and rubbed at the bare, bandaged shoulder that was exposed. He twisted, his blue patterned hakama pooling at his elbows.

“Ok, ok!” The third man groaned before bending backwards and snapping into a kip-up. The motion caused the ball to spin wildly on its string. With only minor adjustments it landed on its spike as he his feet. “Aoi is just grumpy he got injured and can’t play with this sweet baby himself.” The man made a show of flicking the ball off the spike and then onto the two cups in three rapid clacks. “Hisato, weren’t we gonna train some more with those sweet weapons we got in Ryukyu? Why are you meditating?” Not waiting for an answer and taking several leaping strides, he hopped over to Shion. “Will you get the water just ‘cause I asked nicely instead?”

The wreckage of the statements caused a palpable shift. Aoi pulled half his hakama up and puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. Hisato dropped out of his stance and lolled his head. Shion’s shoulders tightened as he scrutinized the question.  

“I swear the toys are all part of the act, Toju.” Shion relented, leaning back. “Somehow the youngest and most formidable.”

Toju chuckled breezily, but there was an unmistakable air of malcontent.

“You wanna spar, let’s spar.” Hisato rose up, his aura flaring as he readied for a fight.

“Bring it!” Toju twirled around Shion’s back and brought his fists up around him.

“I am not a human shield!!” Shion shrieked as Hisato ran full tilt towards him with a prepared punch. Trapped, Shion winced until no impact came.

“Gotcha, bro.” Histao lightly tapped Shion’s nose.

Shion tried to bite his brother’s finger, but he pulled back too fast.

“Aoi, want to watch?” Toju giggled, placing his hands on Shion’s shoulders and rocking him side to side to prevent further nipping.

“We should make camp.” Aoi grumbled, his mood ever souring.

“Upset you can’t spar too?” Hisato craned his neck to see Aoi. “Aw, don’t be like that. You’ll be back up to it in a few days!”

“Let him stew. My question is why aren’t we staying in town? We have the money.” Shion dropped down low out of his youngest brother’s grip and rounded Hisato.

“We’d have to travel after dark, remember?” Hisato murmured, instantly on edge.

“This again?” Shion sighed. “We aren’t deep enough in the mountains to see bears yet.”

“I-I wasn’t worried!”

“We’re fine here. We can stay in a town tomorrow.” There was a finality to Aoi’s voice as he dropped down from the log.

Shion sneered.

“We’ll get pretty thirsty…” Toju mused, holding out his kendama to Hisato.

“That’s two.” Shion rolled his eyes to where Hisato took the toy and tested the string. “What about you?”

“It would be a big help. I’ll set everything else up while you’re gone.” Hisato beamed Shion a reassuring grin before attempting to flick the ball onto the spike. It missed completely and whacked him in the sternum.

“Fine! Use the crafty one to do menial labor! See how disorganized everything gets when Hisa’s big clumsy mits toss everything about without a single care!” Shion threw his hands up and took a few slow steps into the tree line. He listened for one of his brothers to stop him after his poignant fact drop, but he was irritated to find they just resumed their weapons talk. Grumbling to himself, Shion stormed towards the river they had passed earlier.

His path carved straight through forest they’d been strolling through. Little branches picked at the dark purple of his hakama and he tugged at the fabric harshly to free it. With spring nearly at full bloom, the foliage vibrated in a way that meant his struggle was nearly useless. It brought his knees up in retaliation as he took stomping steps to cross the green underfoot. The buzzing vocals of bugs and birds slowly fell to the backdrop static of the rushing water. Clomping on the ever moistening soil, Shion broke free from the thicket and moved his eye along the rolling bank that lead to the water’s edge.

With twilight ever approaching, the sun threw off colorful shades of sky off the river’s flowing surface. Twisting tall lengths of needle thin greenery at the shore reached high to garner as much sunlight in competition with their brethren. This towering wall scaled its way down the water in both directions. Scowl ever deepening, Shion continue to storm forward as he arbitrarily chose to head right along the river’s edge. The clinical regions of his mind reminded him that if he had instead wound the path back that he and his brothers had taken earlier than there was a clear designated bank where the water could be accessed. Shoving the thought away, he watched his steps as rocks and undergrowth dappled the rarely trodden trail. The soothing running of water begged to soothe his agitation, but Shion steeled his brow instead. As the river curved, so did he and just down the way he spied several lengths of cattails crushed to the mossy ground.

If they had curved inward toward the river he would not have been given pause. Instead, they were pressed flat heading in the direction of the trees. Dropping his stance, Shion reflexively palmed at the air to his side before his scowl shifted to a bitter sneer. He’d lost his weapon in a skirmish earlier that day. If that were simply the case than it would be one thing. With their reputation and ever constant stream of offers, the brothers had more than enough funds to replace their weaponry when necessary. Instead, he already had an alternative in the form of the bō he’d picked up in Ryukyu. He’d become rapidly attached to the expertly crafted thing which made it all the more frustrating that he had simply neglected to grab it. It was the type of fatal mistake that a sought after samurai would never make.

Resisting the urge to grumble, he continued to creep towards the foreign outlet. As mad as he was at himself, there was no way he’d trudge back to camp empty handed. His pride and brother’s chiding simply wouldn’t allow it. The river filled the sound void where his footsteps no longer echoed. Drawing close, he followed the line from where the trampled grasses lead to broken branches. Whatever had done said damage appeared to have burst from the water itself and plowed directly into the forest. It made no sense. Finally reaching the downed blades, Shion dropped all the way down to hand and knee. There was a chance that said position were vulnerable, but he had confidence in his hand to hand combat capabilities. Head barely peeking out from the brush, Shion froze as he saw the green expanse of a back.

Or rather, the jumbled network of scutes of a green turtle shell.

Head marginally shifting in surprise, he craned his neck further and watched the human sized carapace rocked gently as its huddled shape fiddled with something out of sight. A memory of a warrior who had made his armor out of turtles came to mind. Wondering if he may have stumbled upon such a being, Shion crawled forward until he could plant his feet on the ground once again. Stowing a flattened rock against the heel of his palm, he rose up incrementally. As he did so, a shock of wet matted hair appeared just beyond the shell’s top edge. Refusing to give credence to the errant thought that this was the creature that had burst from the water, he steeled himself.

“You.” Shion’s voice sliced through the ever present run of water. “Identify yourself.”

The shell jolted and froze so still that for a moment Shion wasn’t sure if he had ever seen it move.

He usually wasn’t one to doubt his own brilliance.

“I said identify yourself.” Shion repeated, authority taking reign of his vocal cords.

The body dipped slightly and Shion’s muscles flexed as he considered that the person could simply dive out of his grasp. Instead, he watched as the shell hunched forward slowly and turned.

His breath hitched as being turned to face him.

The dark green of the carapace gave way to a skin in lighter shades of moss that ran acros the visible body's expanse. Fear laden golden eyes matched the hue of the plastron that encircled the humanoid’s torso. Gangly limbs seemed to sprout from it and between webbed phalanges was the half eaten body of a very small fish.

“A yokai.” His lips moved without his permission. He had, of course, heard tale of such creatures, but only his brothers ever entertained mysticism. Reason and rationale ruled Shion’s mind which made being faced with exactly such a creature grind his gears to a halt.

“H-human!” The being stuttered before rising up to match the voice.

Shion took a tentative step back.

The creature shined with a moment of unbridled pride before resuming a cocky air. “You l-look quite plump! Give me your rations and I will spare you.”

Shion dropped his lids and gave a bored stare. In the time he’d adjusted his stance, he’d cataloged a hundred little ticks and notes about his opposite. From the way they still clung to the little fish carcass to their weak stance, it read as an obvious conclusion. “If you’re so powerful than why are you starving?”

The yokai's arrogant air falted and they stumbled back water's edge. A webbed foot dipped into the water causing the creature to shudder.

Staring down at the appendage with light curiosity, Shion brought his bored stare back up to those large eyes. “You’re aquatic, right?”

“Y-yeah?” The yokai stammered.

Making a little noise of interest, Shion shoved down any debate and stepped forward. In exchange, the creature stepped back until their heels were almost touching the water. Watching for a sign of attack and only seeing anxiety in response, Shion reached out to snatch one of the yokai’s elbows.

“H-hey! What are you doing, mortal f-fool!?” The creature all but squawked out of its pointed beak.

The beings protests were far too easy to circumvent. Lip quirked in study, Shion found the creature's arms reduced to near sinew. Grabbing a green wrist with his other hand, he used it to bring up hand up for similar examination. He found dulled claws with distinct ridging that often attributed to poor nutrition. He had seen it many times before, but preferred not to look on too long at such people. “I have a game I’d like to play.”

“What?” Finally finding enough energy to pull free, the yokai took a step to the side. “I am not here to amuse you!”

“Exactly, if you’ll indulge me I think I know why you’re here.” Shion watched the creature move carefully. Almost every tale about yokai spoke of their power and yet before him stood a thing that looked as if it would blow away in a light breeze. It bred a thousand questions. Though the stories were told far and wide there was no concrete evidence about these beings. The precipice of discovering stretching out ahead of him was so tantalizing his mouth could almost water.

“You know nothing!” The creature continued to shuffle away incrementally.

Shion squared his shoulders in an imposing manner. “I have an ongoing bet with my brother about analyzing an opponent.”

The move worked and the yokai seemed to realize that chances of escape were low. Shion watched as the creature came to terms with this and then searched his person rapidly. He failed to conceal the rock in hand before the being caught sight of it. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it already. I’m not going to entertain you until then!”

“What a waste that would be.” Shion gave a frustrated sigh.

“Waste?” The creature shook its head in confusion.

“Look.” Shion dropped his stance in a show of amity. “There’s a lot of fearmongering between yokai and humans and I don’t know what your transgressions are, but I’m not interested in senseless violence.”

Those huge golden eyes surveyed with him wary curiosity.

“Allow me to guess your situation and answer some of my questions and I’ll give you my rations. A more even trade then whatever empty threats you were throwing around before.”

The yokai gave a distinct snort of indignity before their eye turned away. Shion watched as the being blatantly debated his offer. A hungry gaze won out before it returned their attention to him. “It better not be rotten or anything.”

“It’s rice and dried fish.” Shion clarified with a dry tone.

“Koi!?” The yokai surged forward and Shion reflexively brought up a hand to block. Instead the creature grabbed his appendage and their eyes nearly sparkled at this range.

“No. What? Why would we eat koi!?” Shion twisted his head up in disgust.

“Because you’re rich?” The yokai asked with a confused expression that said that should have been obvious.

“Nobles don’t eat koi, they keep them as pets.” Finally remembering he was being held, Shion wrenched his arm free.

“Pets!?” The yokai reeled with surprise. “You’re joking!? Those fat things!?”

“I’m not!” He couldn’t figure out when he had lost control of the conversation. “I am the one who is supposed to be questioning you!”

“I haven’t agreed to the deal yet. I want to make sure it’s worth my time.”

Shion made a indignant face. This creature’s pride was off the charts. The demonic facsimile of Aoi appeared in his mind and joked about how only his own was larger. Scowling to dissipate the thought, Shion narrowed his gaze. “I told you what you’ll get. It isn’t spoiled. It was meant to be my meal tonight. Now do you agree or not? I’ll leave otherwise.”

At the mention of losing food the yokai went rigid.

Shion folded his arms as a show of how serious he was.

“O-ok! Fine! That’s fine! I accept! Ask your questions!” The being scrambled.

It took quite a bit of effort to keep the satisfied smile off of his face. “Excellent.”

“You said it was some game?” The yokai mumbled, resentment dripping from their words.

Though the creature had conceded, Shion took in the tone carefully. He had to filter it through a mental apparition of Toju, but once it came out the other side he seemingly realized the issue with the statement. “Ah, I see, allow me to rephrase.”

The being tilted their head.

“I don’t see you as a notch to be garnered in some contest. Rather it would be for my own self satisfaction to see if my guess was correct.”

The yokai’s head continued to further loll, unconvinced.

Refusing to give in to the nervous prickles in the back of his neck, Shion straightened. “Fine, how many humans have you conversed with?”

“Ones that lived?” A little wicked smile grew on their lips.

Shion’s lids came down in an unimpressed fashion.

The yokai held strong for several moments before rolling their eyes. “Not many if I can help it. Usually kids or a particularly desperate villager giving an offering.”

Shion perked up at that note and logged it away into his ever evolving list. “And I, who have traveled across this great land, have never once actually come in contact with a being such as yourself.”

“Ok?” The creature took a bored bite of their fish.

“Cultural exchange!” Shion clarified, his hands coming up in excitement.

“Huh?” The yokai squinted.

“That is what I am after. I’m far more interested in a factual record on yokai.”

“Y-you’re going to tell others?” The being twisted into themselves and Shion was once again reminded that they could flee into the water at any moment.

“Wait!” Shion lunged and caught the creature’s wrist. “I’m no fool! If I were to try to share what I learn here with no evidence than I would be no better than the mindless geezers that pedal their yokai folktales as if they were truths.”

Not realizing the implication of his words, the being surged in his grasp. “Let go!”

Noting the sudden spike in fear, a mental version of Hisato shook his head. “Oh. Oh.” Shion made a slow show of bringing up his free hand before carefully releasing his grasp.

The sudden change caused the yokai to slow, but their feet were still positioned in a way that prepared for escape.

“I have no intention of capturing or hurting you.”

“How can I believe that?!” Taking a small wary step back, the yokai’s hands squeezed into fists. “That you won’t go get that supposed dinner and bring your brother back with weapons!? You’ve said exactly what you want! Just like all those humans! All you do is take for your own gain!!”   

In spite of himself, Shino’s lips parted momentarily before he pressed them into a thin line.

“Well!?”

“I have no way to convince you.”

The yokai jolted at his quiet tone. The river continued to drone on through the long held pause before the being moved to break it. “You aren’t going to defend yourself…? Make up a lie even?”

“No.” Shion took his own step back, his hands still held up in accord. “It would make no difference. All I can give you is my word.”

“What’s the point of your ‘cultural exchange’ if you can’t tell anyone?”

Breaking eye contact, Shion searched the crushed greenery for a long moment. “It’s hard to say. Usually, proving others wrong is what I live for.”

The yokai made a sharp snorting noise.

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing I find sweeter than tearing someone’s moronic false ideas to shreds, but…”

Again, the water filled the void.

“I don’t know!” Shion growled, voice suddenly spiking. When he brought his gaze back to the yokai, he found them watching him curiously. “You’re unprecedented! A truly unique specimen and for the time being all I am interested in is gathering information about you.”

It was the being’s turn to look away. Through the waning light, there was a rosy quality to the green skin of their cheeks. “Fine, but I want to change the deal.”

“Again?” Shion sighed. “What now?”

“While I’m still not sure about the concept, doesn’t exchange go both ways?”

“Yes, it does. I’d also be happy to explain the concept and length if you-”

“We will each ask a question.” The yokai cut him off with a fold of their arms.

Shion sneered, but when the creature didn’t relent he gave an even headier sigh. “Fine, I suppose I was the one to use the terminology.”

“Great, go ahead then.”

“I wanted to begin with a ventured guess about your status.”

“That’s not really a question.” The yokai shook their head.

“Not yet.” Shion smirked and brought his chin up high. “From studying this scene you’ve left-” He made a show to pointing along the crush reeds up to the broken limbs in the treeline. “-In addition to your sorry state and resistance to initially fleeing…”

The yokai’s beak parted as if they were going to protest, but nothing came out.

“Along with the scant information you’ve mentioned, I believe I can make a credible hypothesis on your standing.” Without waiting, Shion lowered his gaze which sparkled with excitement. “I postulate that you were ousted from your home which I presume was a body of water you presided over as a local kami down south. You’ve traveled the waters up north, but the chilly overnight temperatures make it so you cannot stay in the water. The trip alone probably drained any resources you took with you, leaving you near destitute and unquestionably starving. As for my question, I’m asking if I was correct?”

Eyes somehow growing even larger, the creature gawked. Their beak opened and closed a few more times before they settled for falling out of their crossed armed stance to sulk. “Is it that obvious?”

To keep a lid on his surge of satisfaction at being right, Shion settled for shuffling his shoulders side to side. “I’m not interested in speaking for most people.”

The yokai huffed.

“I’ll count that as your question, moving on!”

“H-hey! That’s not fair!”

“Be more careful with your wording in the future!” Shion tutted with an air of amusement. “Could you tell me about your domain in length?”

The being shook their head hopelessly before making a show of taking a seat. Shion followed suit onto his knees and listened in rapt attention as the yokai described their lake in Funai. Nodding furiously at the information, he then supplied the creature with more information about his occupation. Breaching the culture in this regard seemed difficult as yokai hierarchy was left as broken as the warring states. Once he thoroughly translated the concept of samurai, Shion moved on to ask about their journey. Moonlight glistened off the water and made for just enough light as the creature went through a laundry list of hardships. Having lived a life of not quite luxury, but without exceeding want, Shion tried not to let pity cloud his account. The yokai seemed to catch on to this and was just asking about his human status when a snapping twig seemed to reverberate through the whole forest. Shion immediately took to his feet and his hand again went reflexively to his hip. This time he couldn’t keep the curse off his lips at his lack of weapon. Beside him, the yokai curled up, pressing into the cattails and blending in well with the shaded greens.

“I’d recognize that big forehead anywhere!”

For a split second, Shion relaxed at the sound of his brother’s voice before fear brought his muscles tense once again. Setting his jaw, Shion cast his eyes down to the creature and found them staring back at him with horrified expression. Shion mouthed for them to stay put and stepped in close, using his body as barrier as Aoi’s form approached. “You only see the signifier of my genius every single day.”

“Mhm, sure, sure.” Shion watched as Aoi came in, his brother’s eye taking in all the same detail that he had. “Forget something?”

For a moment, Shion scrambled mentally.

Aoi caught on immediately and brought rope with several carved bottles hanging off of it.

“The water.” Shion balked.

“Find something?” Aoi craned his neck curiously, following the environmental story telling.

Shion waffled and prayed for one of the few times in his life that his terrible lies would for once persuade someone. “I came across this strange display and got caught up in studying… what kind of creature had done this.”

Aoi swept his gaze up from the reeds to his brother’s face.

Shion thanked the moon for being behind him as it hopefully hid any sweat forming on his brow.

“You fell in didn’t you.”

“What?!” Shion shrieked.

“You didn’t want to come back all wet!” Aoi burst out laughing and the move caused the strung gourds to clatter along with his barks.

“I certainly did not!!” Shion hissed. It took some stretching, but he was just able to shove his brother without moving from his spot.

Aoi languidly walked off the move before circling back. “I can’t wait to tell Hisa and Juju!”

“You’ll tell them nothing!” Shion tried to make a swipe for the bottles, but Aoi outmaneuvered him.

“Nothing better than when you’re off you’re game.” Aoi continued to chuckle. “We’ll get the water together and then we can get you all toasty by the fire.”

“I-It’s fine! I’ll finish my assignment while you get back!” Shion internally screamed when the chirpy quality to his voice suddenly brought his brother’s curious brow up.

Before he could dodge, Aoi shot forward and fisted a bunch of Shion’s sleeve.

“W-wait-!”

“Bone dry.” Aoi frowned and leaned in close to his brother. “What have you been doing all this time?”

“Studying the scene!” Shion’s pupils rapidly scanned the close proximity before breaking away. “Yeah, that’s what I said earlier.”

“Are you telling me or yourself?” Aoi’s voice dropped its usual levity.

“You.” Shion set his features along with his will.

As Aoi’s gaze narrowed and Shion wasn’t going to be circumvented a third time. Both brothers moved in tandem. Aoi twisted to look behind Shion but before he could do so Shion intercepted by trying to catch his sibling in a headlock. The two then grappled with lightning fast reflexes before the engagement shifted Shion’s stance. Kicking out his brother’s feet, Aoi wrapped an arm around Shion’s waist to keep him from falling while also getting a look at what was behind him. “AH-ha…!”

Shion squirmed from where he was caught around the waist. “If you would let me-!”

“Seriously?!” Aoi huffed and let go.

Shion fell to the ground harshly, but snapped onto to his hands and knees. A dozen excuses formed on his tongue only to dissipate when he found nothing amongst the reeds he was once blocking. “What…?”

“You’re such a nerd.” Aoi griped, swinging the string of bottles into Shion’s face. “Fine, fill them up by yourself if that’s what you want!” Shion weakly reached up to take the rope. As soon as it left his hands, Aoi, turned and started walking away. “I can’t believe you actually got so distracted just looking at some smushed grass! Hurry up already or I’m gonna let Hisa eat your portion.”

“Alright!” Shion gripped with learned snark. Hobbling, but keeping to the ground, he twisted around searching for the yokai. Not finding them, Shion listened until his brother’s steps had retreated. “Are you…?” He bit down on the question as he wondered if his brother was somehow still listening. Caught between thoughts, Shion crawled forward until he was at the water’s edge. He then dragged up the string of bottles with a frown and started to fill them. As his finger’s dipped into the cool water, the tension of the surface bubbled several feet away. Freezing, he retracted the gourd in time as the shape rose up.

Instead of bursting out, the yokai’s head breeched the water in near silence. “That your brother?”

“Yes.” Shion clipped. He could feel how wide his eyes were, but was helpless to stop it.  

“I see why you play that game with him.”

Shion made a noise of affirmation and lowered the bottle to keep continue filing it. “How’d you get away?”

“Wasn’t it my turn?” The yokai gave a bobbing giggle.

Shion let out a single dry chuckle of his own and moved to fill the next gourd. “I don’t believe I have enough time to accurately answer your question.”

“Then I’ll say ‘it’s kinda my thing.’” The yokai’s hand broke the surface next and expertly squirted a spurt of water at Shion that landed just shy of his person.

“Aquatic.” Shion responded knowingly, shaking his head.

“So I’ll never get my answer?”

“As if you were the only one with more to ask.” Shion hummed, moving to fill the penultimate bottle. “I won’t penalize you for it. I’ll be sure to bring your food as soon as everyone’s asleep.”

“Can we continue then?” The yokai floated forward, but gave breadth for Shion’s work.

“I wouldn’t risk it…” Shion mused, bringing up the gourd prematurely with a loud popping bubble. “You. I wouldn’t risk you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the yokai dip slightly below the surface for a moment.

Slipping the gourd back into the river, Shion racked his brain. Trying to subdue the part of his mind that spiraled anxiously about missing his chance, he tried to sort out reasonable solutions. He’d barely scratched the surface of this cultural exchange and wasn’t about to let it slip through his fingers. Corking the third bottle and moving to fill the last, Shion felt every droplet that cycled in as if it were counting down time. The movement of which, thankfully, sparked an idea. “Was this your destination?”

“I don’t have a specific place in mind, though, like you said, the north is too cold.”

“It will continue to warm with spring here. Would you consider making an exception?” Keeping his eyes on task, Shion silently pleaded.

“Why do you ask?”

The bottle filled and he brought it up along with his gaze. “Keep following along the river; it’s the same route my brothers and I are taking to collect our payment. I’ll keep supplying you with food and we can continue to meet.”

The yokai bobbed up enough that Shion could see the owlish surprise in their golden orbs.

“Aren’t you cold?” Corking the bottle, Shion’s brow came down around the question. He wasn’t sure where it had come from.

“A little.”

Picking up the rope, Shion retreated backwards and watched in awe as the yokai’s head floated toward the bank. The being then seemed to walk straight out of the water which was undisturbed by the loss of its tenant. With the moon pouring light around the sparkling droplets on the yokai’s skin, Shion breathed deeply from where he hadn’t realized he’d stopped.

“I guess if you actually drop the food off tonight, then I can trust you’ll continue to hold up your end of the deal…”

There was a tentative surge of joy in Shion’s chest. He stamped it down. “I swear it.”

The yokai blinked widely and then through their beak gave a little smile. “I look forward to a steady meal.”

“Is that all?” Shion feigned a huff, the strange feeling still lingering in his chest.

“Of course, why else would I bother with such a stuffy human?” The yokai approached him.

He stiffened and they brought their hands up in amity as he had done to them earlier.

“Quick learner.” Shion grumbled more to himself.

The yokai either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the comment. “You’ll have to come to me at the river.” The being held out a webbed hand.

“Unless you want my brothers to see you…” Confused but curious, Shion looked between glowing eyes and the appendage several times before carefully offering his limb.

The yokai took it and turned it over so his palm was facing up. They then brought their other hand up with a single dull claw and dropped it to his skin. “To call me, just dip your finger into the water two times, then pause, then three times.” The being demonstrated barely scratching at his palm in the process. “I’ll know it’s you and the coast is clear.”

Shion nodded dumbly and watched as the yokai released him.

“You alright?”

“Yes.” He came back to himself and shook off the lingering buzzing in his hand by clenching it into a fist. “Yes.” He repeated more firmly. “From now on it will always be after my family is asleep.”

“Alright.” The yokai nodded with a bob.

It was the first time he’d seen an amicable air from them. Something about it made his chest surge with what Shion identified as pride. “I need to get back.” He pulled up the rope with the bottles.

The being hummed in agreement.

Shion took a stiff step back. “I’ll be back.”

“You said that.” The yokai gave that beaky smile again.

Several more bow legged steps were made.

“Bye.” The being gave a genial wave.

Shion dipped around it and finally made the turn towards where he had come. He made it approximately half a foot before something occurred to him. “I didn’t get your name!”

“Doremi.” The yokai nodded. “And what shall I call you, human?”

Resisting the urge to stare, Shion tried to swallow the ever pertinent odd feeling. “Shion.”

“Hurry up then, Shion-human. The sooner you return the sooner I can eat.”

“Sleep doesn’t work like that.” He called back before forcing himself to trudge forward. He cursed his idiotic parting and heard a small crop of laughter from the yokai he left by the riverside.

Back at camp, the evening banter with his brothers seemed to both fly by whilst drag on at a snail’s pace. The dying embers lingered longer than the even snores of his family. Though they didn’t know of the Doremi’s existence, part of Shion’s mind wondered how they could sleep knowing such a unique creature lay a short walk away. The moon had made it’s less noticeable trek across the sky by the time Shion was able to sneak away once again. This time he made sure footing through the underbrush and revealed his rations from the sleeve of his hakama. He left them at the water’s edge where the reeds were trampled and dipped his finger in the water as instructed. Against his better judgment, he refused to linger and hurried back to camp. With his brothers still collapsed on their rolls, Shion settled in and spent a sleepless night reviewing what he had learned again and again.

When morning’s light came, Toju found his rinsed container at the edge of camp. Shion babbled a line of excuses, but it was Aoi who laid down the agreed upon defense of late night snacking. It was a minor indignity, but nothing Shion couldn’t handle. After packing up, it was another day of traveling amongst his closest companions. There was both a learned air of family to their connection, but an unmistakable fondness that Shion wouldn’t trade for the world. Though they quarreled, he would pick no other occupation or persons to share his life with. Meeting with Doremi the first night was what he akinned to the rare spice in the pot. When it came to food, Toju did his best with dishes on the road and for the most part Shion couldn’t care less about the finished product. As long as a meal was palatable and gave enough nutrients, eating had always been more a necessity than a pleasure.

Doremi shifted his view on that as well. Watching the yokai partake in meals was an experience. They relished flavors they had never tasted before and regaled him in what humans usually offered. If the dish was good, then Doremi’s eyes would light up with enough sheen that it pushed Shion to make his first requests to the chef. It ended up being a win-win as Toju was over the moon that his brother had finally shown interest. It eased any guilt about Shion's ever mounting lies while the trope and yokai moved further north and into the mountains.

The nights spent in towns were the easiest to slip away from his brethren, but the hardest to easily gain access to the river. For whatever hurdles lay for Shion, they were always double that for Doremi. The yokai not only had to dodge humanity's vigilant eye, but they also had to navigate between multiple water ways while also keeping pace with a party they couldn’t see. The resilience wasn’t lost on Shion and neither were the changes in Doremi. Having a consistent and more balanced diet meant the yokai was rapidly on the mend. Though it wasn’t an overnight change, Shion’s studious eye noted every minute advance. From the enhanced green luster to fuller limbs, even Doremi’s claws seemed to sharpen themselves with good nutrition. Less to protect himself and more for his own comfort, he showed Doremi his new blade and bō. Shion was delighted to find no fear in place and instead curiosity at human construction. To say the cultural exchange was going well was by far an understatement.

When the brothers reached their destination to pick up payment, they were tipped off to their next job down south. The constant treks across the country had become commonplace and the group rarely complained about the backtracking. A night of celebration with overflowing wallets gave way to Shion’s first missed meeting. Carrying the veritable basket of apology confections and rations, Shion was surprised when he was met with blatant concern instead of anger. It twisted up that feeling that never seemed to leave him with Doremi was near. The scolding was light as he passed chewy delights to the yokai. Gushing about the flavor, Shion found the way the moonlight played off Doremi’s now glossy locks to be an image he wished he could immortalize in paint. It was one amongst a growing list.

Shion found he didn’t need and excuse to breach the topic of their next destination and his chest swelled when Doremi instead asked where they were going. His mind was quick to remind him that the noun could also include his brothers, but a hopeful part of his mind told him that Doremi instead considered themselves an unofficial member of the group. The sticky humidity of summer reared its head and the yokai was thriving in the weather. It wasn’t just the warmth of the sun that tingled in Shion’s cheeks at the thought of an extension to their partnership. Within a few days, the brothers and yokai departed.

As time stretched on, a rhythm was established. Shion knew with each meeting that he should be more wary that his brother’s would discover what he was doing, but in inverse occurred. Though he kept the same care in escape, he allowed his worries to wane. As they spent all their time together, it was inevitable that the group would need time apart. It wasn’t unusual to wake up and find someone had wandered off. Toju could often be found smearing berries on trees and Hisato’s faraway destructive punches could sometimes be heard on the wind if it blew in just the right way. It was Aoi that Shion feared the most. His twin’s perception and familial priorities were leagues ahead of the others. If Aoi did know, he thankfully had decided that it wasn’t worth his time to interrupt. Even if it was just his imagination, Shion was thankful.

In a similar vein, there was naturally a shift in the so-called cultural exchange that made the title less accurate. The countless hours spent discussing customs waned as the topics were stretched to their limits. From there informality grew and they moved on to discussing their personal lives. Though he’d gotten a taste for it, Shion never tired of Doremi’s attentive nature. They talked a haughty game, but had taken their responsibility as caretaker of their lake very seriously. The humans they had exposed themselves to were all done so in a means to help. From saving a drowning child to comforting a woman who lost her husband, Doremi even had been known to give back their own offerings if it meant a hungry mouth could be fed. Shion had long made adjustments so his own nutrition wasn’t at risk, but Doremi staunchly still tried to share every meal with him.

He’d indulged the yokai’s emphasis on food at first with an eye roll and eventually as a heady reminder. Though he never considered himself rich and there had always been times when a decent meal was scarce on the road. True hunger, however, wasn’t something Shion thought of. It revealed to him the deficits in society he tried to turn a blind eye to. It had taken some time, but guilt cropped up; not over their different statuses, though that was a given, but instead that she held a certain level of burden having to also explain them to him. It was a grounding he hadn’t realized he’d been missing. All that being said, he couldn’t help but still laugh at Doremi’s obsession with koi. Beyond eating it, if he happened to pass through a town that had some, endless questions were abound. He’d made sure to get a wooden carving, much to the confusion of his brothers. Overnight a necklace was woven out of reeds with the trinket dangling right at the upper edge of the yokai’s plastron. It brought Shion a satisfaction he couldn’t at first place. He began to jokingly refer to Doremi as such. He wasn’t sure if the yokai knew how selfish that thought was or the double meaning it entailed, but just their shiny locks were excuse enough to remind him of the ornate fish's fins. The nickname heralded a tidal shift that moved far beyond conversation alone.

The pair took to strolling through whatever path was afforded them near the rivers. Thousands of steps were matched as dreams were shared amongst them and the fireflies of summer. In time, an arm was offered and hips grazed with nearly every thought bubbling off tongues. It was on one particular night, when the cicadas screamed their loudest, that they found a forgotten boat docked on still waters of a connecting lake. Doremi pushed the boat out and Shion took helm on steering. When the yokai had turned, overjoyed at the ride and happiness sparkling in honeyed orbs, Shion finally pinned the feeling that had been ever growing. It left him awestruck and he nearly capsized at the identification. Doremi fretted and sent him to bed worrying about his health. The next morning his distracted state left his brothers in a similar fuss.

How could he tell them he wasn’t sick, but in love?

It was the culmination of a thousand tiny things he could both list in an instant and never in a lifetime. It crushed him within an inch of his life. It felt like he was the luckist man alive. He wanted to deny the feeling. He labeled it selfish. He despised how his heart had betrayed him. They were completely different species. He had no way to take his earnings and settle down. Their lives, Doremi’s life, would always be in danger. It already was, but adding his existence to the mix made it more so. Humans had only fear for yokai, as yokai feared them in turn. Years of bloodshed, confusion, and hate weren’t something that would change overnight no matter how many facts Shion would plaster even the whiff of a naysayer with. It had taken him months to see and he had an open mind. He had little hope for the stupidity of the masses. It left him hopelessly happy and disheartened. It didn’t matter if Doremi felt the same. He couldn’t put that on her.

Lost in these ever swirling thoughts, a billow of black smoke shot up into the otherwise unmarred blue sky.

“That’s a big fire…” Toju murmured to Shion’s left.

“We just passed the charred remains of a village, what? Two days ago?” Hisato added over his shoulder.

“Sounds like we’re going on a detour, eh guys?” Aoi shifted his stance toward the plume.

“From the wreckage and timing, I’d say we’re in for a group of at least seven bandits.” Shion tapped his arm absentmindedly as he did the mental math.

“Don’t’cya just hate when we can’t split them up evenly!?” Aoi huffed. In a few bounding leaps, he shot in front of Hisato.

“Do you wish there were more or less?” Shion sneered.

Aoi spun around and made a show of whipping both his odachi out to his sides. “It’s a 50/50 for one guess!” He then winked and turned into a run. The brothers pulled out their own blades and quickly fell into formation. As the village grew on the horizon, a villager stumbled towards them on the path.

In several bounds, Toju broke away to intercept. As soon as he got close, the youngest brother halted so quickly that the dust from the path kicked up around him.

The brothers readied themselves.

As the dust cleared, they watched in stunned silence as the man turned, covered in blood. The left side of his face hung off and he routinely choked on the steady stream of his life fluids draining from the wound.

“Aoi!?” Toju squeaked, reaching for the man. “Sir?”

“There’s nothing we can do for him… I don’t know how the poor bastard's on his feet…” Aoi’s voice dropped low, circling.

“T-they…” The man choked, his form teetering more and more.

“How many?” Shion pressed, pulling away from Hisato.

“The men…” Strangled by something in his windpipe, the brothers each took their own step back as the man dropped to his knees and then the ground, silent.

“No more jokes.” Hisato decreed. “These people need help.”

The others nodded and shot straight to the village. Within seconds the screams poured from the flaming shacks. Bodies littered the ground and mud was formed from the amount of viscera spilled. Hoofbeats soared above the chaos and an armored man on hoseback appeared. Aoi leaped forward and bounded off Hisato’s shoulders to made a clean cut through the man’s neck.

Shion rounded the fallen figure and snatched the banner from the fleeing steed. “It’s a clan army…”

“What do they want with this small place?!” Hisato shot to the right and stabbed through a man coming around the corner.

Toju who had dropped down to check one of the bodies, rose up with an orange cloth fisted in his hands.

It was a marker they only implemented in battle.

Aoi stared at the younger sibling for a moment before setting his brow. “Let’s go!”

The brothers tied colored wraps up around their forehads and dove into the smoke. A cacophony of blades, shouts, arrows, and thudding hooves rose from every direction. Between the distinct flashes of his brother’s colors, Shion fell into the numbing rhythm of falling any other being that crossed his path. As his count soared above the double digits, the brothers broke free of the smoldering shacks and out onto a field bordering the village. There, nearly a hundred men sat idly with various stages of weaponry and horseback.  

“What the hell are you doing!?” Aoi roared, flicking blood from his odachi.

“Ah.” A man on an ornately decorated horse strode free from the line. Shion identified him as the general. “Well this is a surprise.”

“Not what I would call it.” Aoi all but hissed.

“Blue.” The general chuckled.

Aoi bared his teeth.

“Purple.”

Shion spun away from a downed foe and held his blade to his side.

“Red.”

Hisato knocked two men back and glared down the line.

“Orange.”

Toju slit a man’s throat and let him down with a teetering thud.

“I’ve heard of your little samurai family group. Your father was quite revered and he seems to have trained you well.”

“You haven’t answered my question.” Aoi seethed, taking a single step forward.

The general’s horse threw its head at the move and the man pulled at the reigns to stop it. “Oh this? We asked the villagers kindly to share their harvest as we head out to our little… rendezvous. They were gracious enough with food, but were lacking in the entertainment department…”

Shion squeezed his blade and could hear the thundering steps as Hisato approached.

“Under stimulated men get too zealous in battle so I’m letting the ones that are pent up release their energy.”

Aoi glanced back as a shack collapsed under a raging fire.

“Who hired you? I’ll double the pay to have you all scurry off.”

Aoi’s return rotation to the general oozed malice. “You could say we’re between jobs at the moment.”

“Then why are you bothering my men?” The general scoffed, looking bored of the conversation. “Here.” He reached into a pouch hanging from his horse’s saddle and pulled out a bag. He then tossed it straight across the field. It landed out Aoi’s feet and rolled over, spilling coin into the blood stained dirt. “Take this and leave.”

“Aoi…” Hisato’s voice was thick.

Aoi bent forward and took a hold of the mouth of the bag.

“Shion…” Toju murmured, exchanging glances.

Aoi smiled. “I see…”

Shion nodded.

“Well? It’s more than enough considering I lost how many men?” Leaving the question rhetorical, the general pulled at his reigns to rejoin the ranks.

“The price of man…” Aoi said.

“Let’s regroup. Did we get everything?” The general addressed his men.

Hisato sighed.

“I think you owe us one more thing!” Aoi shouted, an unhinged buoyancy to his stance.

“Huh?” Before the general could fully turn, an odachi stabbed right through his neck. It seemed as if even the flames went silent as the man gurgled around his own blood before falling off his horse into a heap.

“Now we’re square.” Aoi hummed, twirling his remaining Odachi in hand.

“SELFISH INGRATES!” The man next to the general screamed and gave the signal. The full army surged to life and stormed right at the brothers as they fell in line with one another. If the earlier chaos in the village was a cacophony, then this was completely deafening. The sounds engulfed Shion’s ears until they were ringing and everything dropped to a cottoned muffle. Every single movement had to be precise. They were outnumbered in a way they had never been before. Twisting and pushing his body beyond its limits, he struck again and again. A blade behind him clipped his shoulder and he kicked off one man and slammed into a horse. The neighing broke through the fuzz and the horse kicked a series of screaming men. Twisting his sword out, another blade hooked his hand along with the hilt. The ensuing pull sprayed blood and took his weapon away.

Dropping down to avoid the next strike, Shion pulled the bō from his back. Its lethality was less, but his range grew to make up for it. With a swift spin, he carved himself out a radius where he could take a single breath before men and hooves were upon him again. From the ground, someone he thought was dead stabbing into the plump part of his calf. Hissing, he jut the staff back and heard the sickening squelch of it entering the man’s head. If he had time he would have gagged.

“Hisato!!!” Toju’s voice screeched through the battle.

Shion spun around with the sound and let his weapon lead the way. Grunts echoed where the bō moved and he tried to carve that radial path once again. No matter how hard he spun, he couldn’t achive the arch without both his legs firmly planted. The torn muscle refused to cooperate so Shion shuck the weapon back to stabilize a forward shot instead. A blade swung back just as he took off and it was a flash of blue that kept him from being inadvertently decapitated.

“Pay attention!!” Aoi seethed, his own face painted red which dripped down making Shion’s color around his collar.

“Hisato!” Shion protested as they instinctually went back to back.

“We’re no good to him if we’re dead!” Aoi growled before shooting forward again.

Shion twisted in learned synchronization and, in time with Aoi, finally carved a path. The two dove deeper into the skirmish, each swinging in tandem with the other. It might have been exhilarating had a sword not plunged right through Aoi’s right arm. Shion watched in seeming slow motion as the strike shot through his brother. The grimace on his sibling’s face twisted along with the blade as it then cleaved most of the flesh off in a single swipe. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Shion lunged at the attacker. Aoi choked on something beside him as Shion put all his force into a forward jut of his bō. His shoulders screamed in protest as the wood punctured the man’s wind pipe.

Spinning around to catch his brother, Shion found Aoi nowhere in sight. Twisting his staff around, he prepared his lungs for another shout when his heart seemingly skipped a beat. His blood pressure plummeted as his head lolled down. Right through the left side of his chest, a shiny red blade stuck out several inches. Blinking slowly, he felt a sting in his left arm. Unable to lift his bō any longer, Shion rolled his head in that direction to find another blade cleaving his arm in a similar way it had Aoi’s. It was a weird cosmic symmetricality that they had always shared. When he moved to jerk away from the strike, his arm came mostly free from him. The weight distribution suddenly shifted, Shion watched as the ground rapidly soared towards his vision. In another bit of cruel irony, it was upon falling on the ground that the sword in his chest was finally dislodged.

Shion had no idea how long he lay on the ground, but it was long enough that the battle came to an end.

At least, that’s what the silence indicated.

Through a slow blink, he opened his eyes from where he hadn’t known he closed them. Around him, there wasn’t a single sign that a skirmish had taken place. On two wobbly stems, Shion propped himself up and stared across the field. It lay with the summer’s growth of a crop he suddenly couldn’t identify. He was usually so good with plants too. With some difficultly, Shion looked back to where the village should be. In its place there was nothing but continuous rolling fields. He watched as the thin green blades flicked with wind that didn’t seem to be reaching his person. Curious, a numb hand reached up to touch his face. He wasn’t sure contact was even made because none could be felt.

Opening his mouth, Shion tried to force out a call for his brothers but no air escaped him. He pushed and pushed, but it was as if there were no lungs in his body to move the sound. Terror gripped him and he spun around in a crazed semicircle. Miles and miles of empty land surrounded him on all sides. Unable to decide, Shion took off in the direction his pivot landed on. He tore through the grasses, but with every step that should have trampled them, they seemed unwieldy underfoot. It caused him to slow once more. Unsure, he racked his brain for the immense knowledge he had collected throughout his lifetime. No explanation of this supernatural occurrence came to mind, but the mysticism of it tore a single image from him: Doremi.

Renewed, he again tried to scream. No sound came out and his face screwed up as he put all his force into it. Though he didn’t seem to have any oxygen, the move made him light headed and brought him to the ground once again. In a horrible slideshow he watched a simultaneous projection of all the times he had spent with the yokai amidst all the times he hoped would come. When the reel ended, he was struck by how little there was. There hadn’t been enough time. He needed more time. Abandoning his voice, he clawed at the earth, but found he couldn’t make a dent. He felt tears that didn’t exist prick at his retinas and he did the only thing left, the one thing he’d all but abandoned; he prayed.

He’d dismissed the ideas of some overseeing being around the age of nine. Between his training and what he watched his father go through, Shion swore there was no way some magical entity could allow such indignities on his creations. Shion himself was often cited as cruel, but the machinations of this world far exceeding anything he could stomach.

Still be pleaded. He begged the force and made no apologies for the time he spent not believing. He instead argued for his due.

For his brothers.

For Doremi.

For Doremi.

For what seemed like an eternity, he kneeled. His mantra repeating in his brain at such a severe rate he might never have another thought other than that again.

No night came.

The sun continued to shine on a cloudless sky.

The grass continued to gentle jostle with a summer’s breeze.

His brothers.

Doremi.

He never even got to show her a real koi fish.

“You should have passed on by now.”

Shion jerked, the mantra still ringing in his ears.

“Why do you linger?”

Shooting to his feet, Shion spun around and was once again met with only rolling fields.

“A stubborn one.”

The plea continued to repeat as an earworm, but Shion was able to manage a single alternate thought. A question.

“Who am I?”

Shion blinked before opening and closing his mouth. There was still no sound.

“I can hear you just fine. No need to waste your time.”

Then why haven’t you answered my prayers?!

“Prayers?” The voice sounded genuinely confused.

Imaging a drum being played with exahsutive ferocity, Shion mentally turned up the mantra.

“Oh, that! You’ve been going on about that for so long that I’d gotten used to it!”

HOW DARE YOU-!

“Enough.”

…

“I meant more that you have already been granted one of those things.”

What do you mean?

“Your brothers. You are intrinsically tied to them. In fact, they are waiting for you now, but you need to move on.”

Shion spun around, searching the grasses once more.

“Not here, little one. You need to move to the next plane.”

Doremi!

“Doremi?” The voice again seemed genuinely surprised.

Doremi! Doremi! Green skin! Shell! Golden eyes! Hair like-

“Silence, allow me to see.”

Shion furrowed his brow. If this was some type of god, why didn’t they just already know? Why was he trapped in his inane conversation?

“It is not for you to comprehend.”

Spoken like someone who also has no idea.

“Aren’t you something.”

Far be it for a puny human to ask questions.

“I would call it amusing, but we don’t have to agree.”

Don’t we?

“We don’t. Tell me, what is it that you want with the kappa?”

Kappa?

“You didn’t even know what kind of yokai Doremi was? I see why you requested more time.”

Then you already know what I want!

“I didn’t say that. Your thoughts were too simplistic. You simply wished for your brothers and the yokai, but how? You already have one of those things. Why should I give you more?”

More?!

Shion turned, his chest aching painfully.

I barely got any time.

In quick repeat, he played the reel of his time with Doremi over.

Again, it ended in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

You can see, right?! You saw!?

“I saw.”

Then you know!

A long stretch of silence played out. Shion continued the mantra in a failed attempt to soothe himself.

“Do you want to know how many lifetimes it’s been since you found your soulmate?”

Soulmate?

“73.”

What do you mean soulmate!?

“It’s astounding in a way. It’s not like the system is rigged for you to not meet them. There’s free will to contend with, but the chance occurs in every lifetime.”

Answer me!

“Maybe it’s because you get coddled by your brothers in every existence…”

Don’t… Don’t you dare-!!!

“That’s not mine to undo. Do not fret.”

Not yours?! What does that mean!?

“It is a pity though.”

Hey!

“How about a compromise?”

…

“I can’t give you another gift. As I’ve said, you’re already tied to three beings, but I can grant you something else.”

Why?

“I find 73 lifetimes without true love to be a bit despairing. I guess I’m a romantic in that sense.”

Great. My life is in the hands of an being that doesn’t use reason.

“If I were then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

…

“The opportunity will occur in your next lifetime. If you make contact with your soulmate then I will allow you to glimpse a moment; a little gift so you may not let them slip through your clutches again.”

And what if I don’t? I’ve apparently failed 73 other times…

“Then you will be born again. My gift will be of one time use, but it will continue on until the meeting occurs.”

This is stupid.

A sharp ring of laughter echoed from the skies above.

It was so loud Shion’s knees buckled.

”You truly are something! I haven’t had a laugh in eons!”

Scoff.

“As much resentment as you hold, I can tell you're ready to move on.”

Something about the way it was said sent an icy cold shot of fear through Shion’s veins. He looked down to find his body rapidly becoming translucent.

Wait! I haven’t-!

“There will never be enough time. Just remember this moment-”

Shion winced as the image of Doremi eating a confectionery was forced into his mind.

“-and live your life to its fullest.”

Watching his hand, Shion found he could barely see his outline.

One! One final question!!!

“Hurry.”

Does that mean Doremi was-?!

“Good luck finding them in your next life.”

The breeze continued to roll through the unchanging empty landscape.

-

Cleaved by the earth in a continental divide.

Over and over in a gambit long tried.

A butterflies wings.

The sweep of tree's shade.

Castle doors open to mist.

Whilst the sun bathed you in a gentle kiss. 

The eternal dance of you and I.

Unable to seek.

Unwilling to hide.

-

“I just wanted a gazpacho burrito!” Leo whined as he rolled out of the way of a tenderizing mallet.

“What is wrong with you!?” Mikey turned up his nose in disgust.

“Honestly!” Rupert Swaggart huffed as he lifted his mallet again. “Food trucks are an affront to the culinary world!”

“No!” Mikey wrapped a chain around a light pole and swung around to kick Meat Sweats in the side of the head. The force launched the pig mutant across the park. “I am not agreeing with you on that! Food trucks have been instrumental in fusion shifts!”

“Perfect, I’d had enough of the banter.” Donnie clapped as his bō telescoped in hand. “I’d rather we get to lunch as soon as possible.”

“See! Donnie wants a burrito too!” Leo jumped excitedly to point.

“Eugh, no!” Donnie scrunched up his face in disgust.

“Et tu!?” Leo hissed.

“Ok, ok!” Raph scrubbed his face. “Isn’t that why we’re here?! ‘Cause no one could decide on one type of food!”

The others all paused to give it some thought.

“Huh, I guess so.” Leo shrugged. “Hey, how is there still a line!?”

“There can’t possibly be. There’s a mutant attack and-” Donnie looked as Leo gestured with an angry grimace. “Oh, wow, there actually is.”

Raph approached the slew of New Yorkers who were huddled down in fear but still queued at the various food trucks. “Uh, you guys ok?”

“I-I waited t-two hours.” A shaky voice rose up from the line. “I-I’m n-not going a-anywhere!”

“For the, and let me emphasize this, gazpacho burrito!?” Pinching the air to accentuate his point, Mikey dropped down onto Raph’s shoulder to loom over the person.

“Y-yeah?” The civilian choked.

“No taste.” Mikey sighed, crawling down from his perch. “So did Rupert just bail or…?”

“Maybe ya knocked him out?” Raph hummed in thought.

“That is a distinct possibility.” Donnie noted, tapping his staff to the ground.

Leo watched his brothers for a moment and then looked down the line from the trucks. “Uh… guys?”

“Huh? I can’t hear someone who no taste buds!” Mikey mimed a hand up to his ear and rolled his gaze skyward.

“Har har.” Leo retorted dryly. “Where do these trucks get their power?”

“Either from the truck itself or usually a generator.” Donnie walked over to one said square and gestured to it. “The output on this model is poor though. A few tweaks and…”

“No.” Raph stomped over and swatted Donnie’s flexing fingertips. “You gotta stop upgrading stuff without people’s consent!”

Leo started to walk down the queue. “But not like tapping into the city?”

Donnie rubbed his hand indignantly. “I believe that would invoke some kind of violation.”

“You’re basically stealing power.” Mikey nodded, slyly watching Leo out of the corner of his eye.

Leo reached down and picked up a thick orange cord. “Uh huh…”

“What is that?” Donnie slipped around Raph’s form and towards Leo.

Mikey seemed to catch sight of it too, but turned the other way. “It looks like there’s one going to every food truck…”

“One going to…?” Donnie spun around.

“Alas there’s bound to be causalities in the cutthroat world of cuisine!” Rupert’s voice rose up from above and the brothers turned to see the pig mutant perched on a nearby building with the end of the orange cord in hand.

“Donnie! Raph! Civilians! Mikey, on me!” Leo sliced open a portal as Mikey’s chains soared out towards Rupert.

Meat Sweats grinned manically and plugged in the cord.

“On it!” Raph shouted, turning back to the crowd. “Lunch times over! Y’all gotta-!”

A deep rumbling seemed to bubble up from somewhere other than the ground.

“Raph…” Donnie warned, wildly looking for the source.

“EVERYONE MOVE NOW!” Raph roared, his formed rapidly expanding with his ninpo. The line finally relented in an attempt to escape when the tires of the row of food trucks started to sway.

Donnie balked as the rumbling noise soared in pitch. He brought his staff up just as the metal roof of each truck burst open. Boiling oil shot straight into the sky and immediately hit an arch point where it curved to rain back down. Scrambling, Donnie activated his own ninpo and a giant purple umbrella formed out of the top of his staff. He bolted towards the civilians that had yet to escape and covered them as the oil rain down with a steaming sizzle.

“Hot, hot hot!!” Raph hissed as droplets dripped down through his projection.

Donnie planted his feet and increased the size of the umbrella. “Unless you want to be the ones deep fried, I suggest you move, people!” 

Raph’s form winced as he ducked under the umbrella and urged the masses along. “Alright, no shoving…”

The crowd shuffled around Donnie, bumping him as he tried to keep the umbrella steady. "Honestly-!” He was cut off when someone shouldered him with enough force that one hand came free from his bō. Hissing, the throng of people rushed across his arm and Donnie had difficulty reigning the limb back in while still holding the oversized object steady. With a sharp tug he retracted the appendage and his vision whited out.

“Well?” Shion watched carefully as Doremi went in to take a bite.

“Don’t rush me!” The yokai giggled with a shake of their head.

“As slow as a lazy koi.” Shion smiled fondly as Doremi’s beak cut right through the chewy mochi.

From where the yokai’s eyes had fallen in satisfaction, they popped open as they went on to gush about the flavor. Time stopped as moonlight played off Doremi’s glossy locks.

A sizzling sound hissed in his ears and the image seemed to burn away as if it were on an old film reel.

“Donnie!?” Raph’s voice reached his ears.

Donnie croaked and felt small bits of oil sting his legs. Blinking free, he found that he was on the ground with his big brother hunkered over him in an attempt to protect him from most of the boiling substance.

“What happened?!” Donnie shouted, hand wildly searching for his staff.

“I don’t know!? You kinda just passed out!” Raph’s face contorted in pain.

Finally grazing titanium, Donnie reestablished the umbrella. “Are you ok? Was anyone else hurt?”

“Heh.” Raph’s shoulders dropped, unable to cover his wounds. “Don’t worry about ole Raph. I got everyone out. I’m more worried about you and why the others haven’t unplugged the dang… whatever it is yet!”

“I…I’m fine.” Donnie twisted around to look at the rooftop where Rupert had been. “They’re gone.”

“Fights moved so we should too!” Raph straightened and shook himself off. Donnie reigned the size of the umbrella in and together the two brothers left the splash zone. Once free, purple pixels flittered down and shifted to form a safety barrier in a radius around the gushing oil. Raph gave Donnie an assuring nod before the two moved to scale the building. Unplugging the cord and watch the oil slowly taper off, the pair were about to dart off when a portal appeared beside him.

“We gotta unplug the-! Oh, it’s done!” Leo stepped through with Mikey following close behind.

“Where’s Meat Sweats?” Raph wondered, rubbing a blister on his bicep.

“We knocked him down into Hidden City jail. Maybe ruining a prison kitchen we’ll keep him busy for a bit.” Leo shook his head.

“Oh, to be a prisoner…” Mikey sang wistfully.

“No.” Leo said simply before bonking his younger brother with the hilt of his odachi.

“I swear, Michael, you are one step away from a life of crime at any moment.” Donnie mused with a wry smile.

“I think you’re mixing us up dear bro-there!” Mikey hummed and stuck his tongue out.

“You ok, big guy?” Leo took several slinking steps forward and around Raph.

“Just a little burn…” Raph responded with a rolling shoulder.

“I thought D had you covered?” Leo looked back at Donnie who was staring at the oil pooling on the concrete.

“That… Well…” Raph tried and failed.

“Something happened?” Mikey filled in.

“I passed out.” Donnie said flatly and felt all eyes land on him. “I had a vision, I think.”

“That’s…” Leo started and stopped to think. “What? Like a new power?”

“Casey’s never mentioned one like that before!” Mikey jumped excitedly at Donnie and snatched his arm to study it.

“No.” Donnie tugged his limb free and eyed Leo. “Not like that. I’m not sure. I feel fine now. I need to do some research…”

“But…!” Leo teased, leaning into Donnie face before moving downward to poke the plastron covering his stomach. “Lunch, right? Coulda just been a hunger induced fainting spell.”

“Ah!” Donnie telescoped his tech-bō to a handheld size. “I’m all for ruling out easy maladies. Yes, let us gather sustenance!”

“So, I was thinking Spanish?” Leo chided, looking beyond Donnie to Mikey.

“You heathen! You are not making that monstrosity at the table!” Mikey prickled.

“Let’s just hit a food hall…” Raph sighed, shaking his head.

-

Leaning back, Donnie looked down the blurry pen balanced on his snout. This act was far more Leo’s speed, but he had reached a point where channeling his other brothers’ energies was the next best thing. Beyond him, many tabs sat up on his enormous monitor. They culminated in countless hours of online research that had been proceeded by at least a dozen medical and mystic analyses. The tests yielded a slew of normal data while the internet had thin estimations at best. Giving a sigh, he wrinkled his nose and allowed the pen to fall. In a flash, he caught the writing utensil and lurched forward in the process. He brought the pen down to an errant piece of paper and made a scribble before discarding the object all together.

A frustrating query with no apparent result was the bane of his existence.

Swiveling around, he walked out of his chair within the rotation and prepared to hit the library again. Though he’d already spent an unknown amount of time there, none of the literature on visions seemed of much help. There were at least a dozen scenarios that seemingly applied, but something about all of them felt inherently wrong. The inexplicable emotions attached to the seemingly nonsensical sight had been another annoying factor. It had brought him on a detour to Draxum’s apartment the last time he was out and there he found little more than tepid curiosity from the yokai.

Fiddling with other abandoned projects, Donnie grimaced as he caught sight at a digital readout that noted the date. It had been almost five useless wheel spinning days since the food truck debacle. It hadn’t been a constant, he had the years of experience to know that nonstop research rarely amounted to much, but good night’s sleeps and meals hadn’t brought their usual fresh clarity. Flicking a lose wire, Donnie pulled a half constructed surveillance bot out from under scattered blueprints. He had unconscious timetables for things of this nature. They had a neat little file folder that sat in the back of his mind, labeled for future reference. Whatever he had seen in the park was simply something he didn’t have the current tools to crack. He didn’t consider it a loss, but instead a project to be explored at a later date. His ever expanding intellect acted as a means. He’d eventually create some new technology that would inevitably solve his dilemma.

Satisfied, Donnie reached across the table to grab a screwdriver. The instrument was almost underhand when a wash of green swaying grass appeared where a workbench had been. Recoiling on instinct, he took a few steps back and found himself in his lab just as he had been. Blinking rapidly in an attempt to check his eyesight, Donnie hunkered down. He became very keenly aware of the hum of the overhead lights and the multiple running processors. Not ready to brush the hallucination off, he turned and reached across the short expanses to his computer’s keyboard. A few swapped windows found he had only been awake nine hours with an average amount of sleep achieved prior to that. There was no cause to question his sanity, but still he frowned.

“Hello?”

There was always a chance it was a joke or even some villain’s ploy, but all of his trained senses said he was certainly alone. Giving a long moment for anyone to reveal themselves, Donnie gave himself a little shake to get his blood flowing before deciding to return to his bot once again. Turning back to the workbench, he stiffened as his lifted foot came down on a lush field. This time when he drew back, the greenery didn’t disappear. Spinning rapidly, he found the landscape stretched on endlessly in all directions. His blood pressure bottoming out, Donnie tossed his head up and squinted directly at the gently beaming sun overhead. It warmed his skin and he brought an arm up to chase the sensation. Everything about this felt real, but so did Hypno’s more ridiculous spells.

“You forgot the brainwashing part!” Donnie gripped, slowly rotating to find any sign of a culprit. Reaching onto his person, he cursed as he found that while his wraps were still in place, both his battleshell and tech-bō were left charging on ports that seemingly no longer existed. Feeling very exposed, he readied his stance and waited as only a shallow breeze caressed his cheek.

It took what felt like several long minutes before he dropped his shoulders with irritation. “So, just nothing? Seriously?”

Only the rustling of grasses responded.

Bored, Donnie took several strides forward before looking back to find any plants he crushed underfoot seemed unaffected. The scientist in him reared its head as he purposely stomped. Each step would press down on the greenery, but as soon as he lifted off, they sprang back up in time. It was like a video game with little finesse. Crouching down, he made an attempt to pull the plants from the ground. A faint ring of laughter echoed from the skies above. Donnie jolted to his feet from where he had just wrapped his hands around a fistful of grass. Scanning wildly, he spied the figure of a black haired man in the far distance toward where he had just come. Staring, he reminded himself that he had definitely looked there previously and found nothing. A tingling sensation tickled the back of his neck. Craning an arm to rub at the spot, Donnie slowly started to approach the man.

“Hey!” Calling out, the man didn’t react and instead was staring at the sky above. At a distance where he couldn’t make out any facial features, he watched as the man swayed as if he were locked in some intense conversation. Shouting again, Donnie felt the tickling spread down his arms. It sent a fear response through his spine so he picked up the pace. Eyes locked on the figure, he narrowed his gaze as he didn’t seem to be getting any closer. With each passing stride, his limbs felt both heavier and lighter. He dropped his center of gravity to make a jump, but found that pushing off barely sent him more than a foot off the ground.

Knowing he had far more power than that, Donnie scowled as when he was about to search his person for the cause, he noticed the man slowly lose his opacity. Flexing his fingers, he felt a longing pull to gaze at his hand. Refusing to look away, he could sense his brain sending signals to his legs to keep running, but it didn’t feel like the action was being carried out. The man still loomed on the horizon, now looking down at his limbs as Donnie had just felt the call to. It felt like déjà vu and so much more.

Pushing so hard, Donnie could feel the veins in his neck grow taunt, he felt a whiplash sensation as all the ground he never covered suddenly rushed around him. Eyes unable to focus at the intense speed, he soared until his limp form was brought right up to the man; only the faintest traces of him could be seen. Only able to see the man's back, Donnie watched as his own hand came into view as he reached out to the now phantom. The figure disappeared just as a green hand had made contact with it and overhead buzz of lab lighting rushed into his ears.

“You aren’t going to give up are you? You finally almost had your chance.”

Gasping, Donnie jolted upright and found he was laying on the floor. Resisting the urge to scream, he scrambled to his feet. “Analysis! Scan the lab for intruders and playback the last 15 minutes!” Donnie rounded on his monitor and watched himself walk up to his workbench. After a few moments, he ran through pulling out the surveillance bot and recoiling at nothing. Grimacing until his lip pulled away from his teeth, he felt a cold chill as he watched tangible proof that there hadn’t been anything there. Dread reared its head as he watched as past him decided to table the issue and return to work. The footage changed from his memory as he watched himself collapse to the floor of the lab instead. Leaning in close to study the image for signs of seizure, he instead found his past self’s expression twist as he presumably ran through the dream-like state.

As the footage caught up to the present, Donnie swapped screens for the scan. There was no one else present. Brow coming down, he restarted the recording and watched as inevitably his past self mouthed the questions to the lab. The silence of the footage caught him and he quickly turned the volume up on his computer where he had at some point muted it. Starting the footage over once more, he stared numbly as he listened to himself question the empty air. He heard the thump of a crumpled body smacking onto concrete and then, just as his past self awoke, he heard a garbled statement. His head nearly bobbed as he rolled the footage back just a few seconds to hear the sound again. It was useless crunchy audio so he brought up a program to isolate it. Passing it through filter after adjustment, he could just barely make out a question about giving up and a chance.

Chewing on his lower lip, Donnie collapsed in his chair and set the still barely understandable audio on loop. It’s distorted sound had an odd rhythm to it that brought his lids down. Donnie let it echo as he recalled the only close up image he had gotten of the man in the field. Trying to recall as much detail he could about the person, a flash of a beak biting down into mochi appeared.

“Koi.” The syllable hit Donnie’s ears and took several moments before he was able to acknowledge it was his own. As registration occurred, he shot forward. His fingers flew across his keyboard and the measured  hammering filled the air.

-

“Help me explain to the others that I need to find a single person in a city of almost 9 million people!”

From where Mikey was balanced on one toe atop a precarious several foot tall stack of knickknacks, the younger brother opened a single eye. “What?”

“Look-” Donnie shuffled in from the doorway of Mikey’s room, trailing continuous stationary with hundreds of lines of little black print on it. “I don’t know how to explain this. I guess it’s a mystic thing, so you would understand best! I need to find someone and I need to explain to the others because I need help.”

Shifting his weight, Mikey hopped off the stack and landed beside his brother only to have the pile crash to the ground as soon as he came up. “Dang…”

“I’ll help you rebuild it.” Donnie offered the sentiment along with a sheet of paper.

Mikey took it and read over the list of names. “Is this what you’ve been working on?”

“No. Yes. It’s not important.”

“Donnie…” Mikey warned, letting the page loosen in his hands.

“None of this mystic stuff ever makes sense!” Donnie reeled, trying to pull up the rest of the pages up and finally realizing he had been leaving a breadcrumb trail of them behind.

“I would say mysterious ways, but I don’t think that’s gonna be much help now.” Mikey rounded his older brother and started to collect the paper. “Maybe take a breath and try telling me what happened?”

Donnie groaned loudly before relenting. By the time Mikey had stacked all the paper back up neatly, Donnie had just mentioned the ominous carp phrase that had come off his lips. “-so I pulled surveillance from the area the day of Meat Sweats' attack and this is the culmination of identified persons who were waiting in line at the food trucks.”

“This many!?” Mikey ran a thumb through the pages.

“I was able to narrow it down to about 1000 people hence why I need-”

“The help.” Mikey winced.

“Interrupting, but correct.” Donnie sighed.

“Who do you think the mystery person is?”

“I have no idea, but they chose the wrong person to reach out to. Everyone should know apathy is my specialty.” Tilting his head to one side, Donnie put on his carefully curated aloof visage.

“Maybe it’s because they knew you’d have the tech to find them?” Mikey stared down at the first page with a furrowed brow.

“That’s as good a guess as any at this point.” Donnie shrugged and reached out.

Mikey catching wind of what was happening and handed over the top half of the stack. “Are they in danger? Cause this is uh… gonna take awhile?”

Shaking his head, Donnie looked down from the pages in hand to where they were still connected to the ones in Mikey’s.

Coming up to view the younger, Donnie watched as something occurred to Mikey and he set his portion on the floor. He then cascaded around his room in a sorting flurry with craft supplies flying around his wake. When he returned he had a slew of highlighters and plopped down cross-legged in front of his stack and started marking. “Let’s color coordinate by the boroughs!”

Donnie sat down as well and took an offered green highlighter from Mikey.

“That’ll be Manhattan.”

Nodding, the two flipped through the pages with only the soft scrap of pen to paper sounding in the room. After making substantial progress, Mikey blinked up to spy on his brother.

“Feeling a little calmer?”

“I knew what you were doing.” Donnie smirked and didn't look away from his work.

“You’re gonna have to pull the ‘trust me on this’ card.”

“Ugh, can’t you play into your skills? Say something like you found someone’s personal effect and you are in dire need of returning it!”

“Donnie.”

Donnie chewed the inside of his cheek and flipped over to a new line of names.

“You said there was a recording?”

Perking up only slightly, Donnie brought his cuff up and played the audio.

Mikey closed his eyes and leaned in close with a turned ear to the sound. Donnie replayed it several times before the younger brother’s eyes flew open. “Fate.”

“What?” Donnie soured, turning the sound bite off.

“’You finally almost had your chance!’”

Eyes blinking wide, Donnie slammed a finger to play the clip one more time. “You understood it?!”

“Only that last part.” Mikey hummed before taking a deep breath. “Oh man, why didn’t I think of it sooner?! You have fate stink all over you!”

“I most assuredly do not!” Donnie hissed, retrieving his highlight as a mock sword.

“A fated chance!”Mikey crooned, his excitement taking him to his feet. “You missed them before, but when?” Switching gears from romanticized cheer to curiosity, the younger brought an uncapped red highlighter dangerously close to his chin in thought.

“Only 20 years to sift through.” Donnie made a show of rolling his eyes and marking another name.

“Only…” Mikey mouthed before tapping the pen nib to his cheek. “Or more...”

“More, sure.” Not dismissing with a barb, but instead out of distraction, Donnie reached out and grabbed a discarded purple highlighter to continue working.

“A vision… A otherworldly voice… a destined meeting….” Taking counting steps, Mikey’s footfalls echoed loudly. “Uh duh!!!”

The sound brought Donnie’s head up and he watched his younger brother scrub his hands over his face.

“It’s gotta be your soulmate!!!”

Donnie dropped his jaw in disgust at both the sentence and the red lines that now smeared across Mikey’s face.

“Don’t give me that look! You were just trying to get me to act out some kinda romcom trope to trick our brothers!” Mikey turned and pointed the highlighter right at his brother.

Affronted, Donnie looked away nervously.

“Ha! Got you! Which movie was it?” Mikey chirped, dropping down to his knees in his original spot.  

Before Donnie could open his mouth, a different voice floated in.

“We watching a movie?” Leo leaned languidly in the door frame before busting out laughing. “You look like if I went through a wash cycle and you know I’m dry clean only!!”

“Who? Donnie?” Mikey pondered, rapidly looking between the pair.

Donnie rolled his eyes. “We are not watching a movie, Mikey is helping me with some important work-”

“We’re narrowing down the list for Donnie’s soulmate!” Mikey nearly sang.

Leo who had almost recovered from his first bout of laughter broke down again.

“Mikey!” Donnie seethed, squeezing his two highlighters with bareful force.

The sounds of the blue brother wheezing seemed to summon Raph, who looked over each part of the scene curiously.

“What? You wanted my help and honesty is the best policy!” Mikey folded his arms, streaking red across his left bicep in the process.

“The cap!” Donnie screeched, grabbing said red hunk of plastic and throwing it right into Mikey’s forehead. “And you-!” Spinning around, Donnie launched the blue highlighter at Leo’s hacking form.

“Guys, we ain’t 10 anymore. Don’t throw art supplies…” Raph sighed, sidestepping Leo who only laughed harder at the implement thrown at him. “What’s going on?”

“Do-” Leo gapsed for air.

“Wait, did I get marker on me?” Finally capping the pen, Mikey examined his right arm carefully.

“Don-” Leo crawled forward.

“The other one.” Raph offered before looking around.

Donnie took a deep breath. “Glossing over the fact that I specifically asked you to help me ‘convince them’ and not just ‘tell them outright,’ you think you could have, I don’t know, called a meeting or something!?”

“We always have each other’s backs!” Mikey protested, still examining the wrong arm. 

“Scoff doesn’t even begin to label my response to that!” Donnie reeled with annoyance.

Locating a box of tissues, Raph walked it over to Mikey. “Right arm and your whole face.”

“Oh!!!” Mikey crooned as if it were an epiphany. He then snatched a tissue and buried his nose into it.

“Donnie!” Leo finally managed both a word and to reach said brother.

“What?” Donnie responded flatly, hands ready to push him away at any moment.

“Did...” Leo sucked down another gulp of oxygen before laying himself out as if he were the picture of poise. “…you print out your online dating matches off some nerd website? Connect with local eggheads in your area?”

Raph moved first, but he wasn’t close enough as Donnie wrapped his hands around Leo’s throat. The three scuffled and Mikey stood up in an unhurried fashion. The youngest then took the orange highlighter and flicked the cap off with one hand. He smeared war paint on each of his cheeks and then tossed the marker aside. Planting his feet, he then flexed at his knees a few times and then breathed deeply.

“HOLD IT!!!”

The other three froze mid-fight with Donnie on Raph’s back clawing at Leo who was being held out by his arm pits at Raph’s front.

They watched as Mikey momentarily scrambled away, only to return wearing an orange helmet. “Sit!”

With a honed exchange of vicious glances, the other three brothers took to a line on the floor.

“As the resident mystic master, this is my domain. Now Donnie has been mystically chosen to find someone. I will not admit to jumping the gun because I do think it’s his soulmate, but I guess we don’t know that for sure.” Mikey shot Donnie a quick wink and then resumed his authoritative demonstration. “We are gonna help our dear brother out and-” He threw out a finger to the forgotten stack of pages. “-Narrow down this list because that’s what fate wants!”

Silence held for a moment before Raph looked to Donnie and then Leo flanking him on either side. Donnie pouted and sulked into himself while Leo looked on with growing confusion. Bringing his gaze back to Mikey, Raph raised his hand.

“Yes!” Mikey swooped his digit to point at the eldest.

“What the heck are we talking about?”

“Well, you see-” Donnie started, scotching forward at the chance to drop an explanation.

“Wait, I wanna tell it this time!” Mikey hopped forward a few eager steps.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if I-” Donnie made out before Mikey came in close enough to press that same outstretched finger to his brother’s lips.

“It all started the day of the food truck meet up…!” Mikey threw out his other hand as if painting a picture.

-

“So…” Leo drew out the syllable in a manner that mimicked the last three days.

Perched in various trees, the brothers overlooked a gentleman sitting on a park bench. After an agonizing afternoon of back and forths over the purpose of the visions, Donnie was at his wit’s end. When he thought they finally understood at least that much, he’d let it slip how long he’d been studying the query which then triggered the annoyed protests of a week leaving them out of the loop. Disorganization followed before a plan was set. In a bit of cosmic cruelty, their first outing ended in them not able to locate a single person on their first list. The city that never sleeps earned its reputation as the four learned the hard way that an address does not always mean someone is home. The others had also annoyingly stopped him from activating a tracking network on all potential suspects. Invasion of privacy extended only to what was available in a phone book even though his argument that he’d already hacked surveillance cameras was more than sturdy enough. Still, he needed the help so he agreed. He just might go ahead and stumble upon more data if this night were to end in another failure.

“That’s him…” Mikey hummed checking his phone. “Number 23!”

Nerves oddly waning, Donnie gazed at the man through his goggles. A slew of tagging data appeared along with a telltale checkmark. “Correct.”

“That’s obvious, hermano. Didn’t you hear me before?” Leo huffed.

“We can always hear you, Leo.” Raph gave his brother a cheeky smile.

Leo played up his offense at the statement before smiling out of it. “I meant more what do we do now? Should he like glow or something when he comes in contact with D?”

Hearing the approximation of his name, Donnie flicked his head so his goggles snapped into their upright position. He frowned slightly and stared down at the man who seemed fatigued. The distance between them felt like miles of desert. “I’m not sure.”

“It’s ok to be worried…” Mikey dropped both his voice and body to Donnie’s branch. “It’s the first one.”

“Just think of him as some guy!” Leo added, kicking his legs. “The mystic connection thing will happen or not.”

“If it’s like our powers, it’s something we need to activate though.” Raph brought a corner of his mouth up in thought.

“Good point.” Leo closed his eyes in mock thought.

“Might as well talk to him in the meantime.” Mikey urged.

“We’re still mutant turtles. Am I going to just expose myself to 1000 people?” Donnie looked at Mikey’s out stretched hand with ever chasmed worry.  He wasn’t sure if he said that because it was a good point or because his brain was scrambling at the prospects of this grossly uncharted territory.

“Ehhh…” Leo hissed through clenched teeth.

“Well…” Raph started and stopped. “They already saw us.”

“Yeah?” Mikey rolled on the branch causing Donnie to clutch on for dear life.

“These are all people from the food truck thing, right? They saw us save them.” Raph pointed downward to Mikey.

“Yeah!” Mikey tittered, shaking the branch more.

Leaves sprinkled down and Donnie wished he wasn’t already on thin mental ice. “That doesn’t mean they’ll be friendly. The amount of people who have watched us save their actual lives and still mix up which mutant side we were on has been astonishing.”

Leo stood up on his branch and walked toward the base. The other brothers stopped to watch his movements. “Well… you know how this goes…”

Donnie felt his stomach bottom out. Fight or flight kicked in and he slammed a hand to the tree in a desperate attempt to get to his feet. He watched as Mikey, already well balanced, shot away and a flash of a blade cut the limb free from its wooden attachment. Donnie stifled a yelp as he careened down and just barely managed to land on his feet before the downed branch bumped him. His momentum toppled and he landed in a bush with a resounding thud. Groaning off the fall, Donnie popped up to yell at his brother only to hear a timid voice instead.

“Uh… Y-you ok?”

Staring at the man who looked back at him with a similar owlish expression, Donnie glanced in the trees to find all his brothers now missing. Bringing his gaze back to the stranger, Donnie gave a fake grin and forced an awkward foot forward out of the shrubbery. “Yes, I’m fine. I apologize for…” He cursed himself as he’d already mostly walked into the Leo-level joke. “…dropping in on you like this.”

The man’s wide eyes dropped slightly.

“You see I was just-”

“I’ve seen you!” The man animated, the surprise taking him out of his seat.

“Yes-”

“You saved me from getting burned!” The man shot forward and Donnie barely resisted the urge to step back. Before the mutant could register what was happening, his hand was taken and being shook at a furious level. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re… welcome…?” Donnie staggered, the whole exchange leaving him empty. He watched as the man’s hand retracted from his own and there was a ghostly cold left in its wake. There was no scientific basis for it, but every one of his senses was telling him that this wasn’t the right person. All the ever-present dread evaporated as his usual sureness flooded in.

“Is there anything I can do for you? Did something happen? Do you need me to ID the guy!? He was a pig!” The man seemed to get progressively more excited.

“Not at all.” Donnie raised a hand to stop him and the gesture seemed to work. “I am simply… conducting a survey. How would you rate my heroic experience? ‘Very satisfied, very, very satisfied, extremely satisfied?’”

The man thought on this very hard before looking up. “Just very. It was fine, but the aftermath sucked because I never got any food.”

Donnie grimaced. “And how is that my fault?”

The man rebuffed the indignity with one of his own. “I don’t know. You’re the hero! Sure, you saved me, but you could stick around for clean up more!”           

“That’s-” Donnie sneered. “We’re vigilantes! It’s illegal!”

“Nobody asked you to act outside the law.” The man shrugged, stepping back.

“You would literally be a battered if it weren’t for me!” Donnie seethed.

“I think I could have managed.” The man shrugged.

“Alright, alright!” Leo dropped down on the other side of the man. “We got his… response or whatever, time to go!”

The man gaped at Leo openly and then pointed. “You…”

“Yes, go on! More thank yous are in order?” Leo flicked his mask tails and waited for his praise.

“You’re the one that ran away with that other useless orange one!” The man gawked.

“Ran-!?” Leo seized up.

“Useless!?” Mikey’s voice echoed somewhere in the distance.

“Enough!” Raph dropped down behind Leo long enough to wrap an arm around him before shooting forward to snatch Donnie. “Thank you for your time, sir. Have an… ok day and maybe be less rude next time!” He parted the man with a final wave before soaring off back into the trees.

“Can you believe the nerve!?” Leo stewed as trunks flew around them.

“Let’s just-” Raph started as Mikey came into view and he dropped down beside him, depositing the other brothers. “He’s a jerk; people can be jerks!”

“Ungrateful!” Leo barked, storming in a small circle.

“Ingrate.” Donnie corrected, shaking his head free of the situation.

“Tell me he’s not your person?!” Leo looked to Donnie with pleading eyes before sweeping them to the left and talking out the side of his mouth. “Though he does match your personality.”

Donnie seized up for a moment before forcing the irritation out in one quick tensing of muscles. “No, he’s not my person.” Even with the exercise in restraint, the phrase still came out from beneath clenched teeth.

“Was there like a sign?” Mikey wondered, stepping forward to examine Donnie.

Donnie evaluated the youngest evenly for a moment before watching over the reel of the interaction again. He looked down at his hand and almost thought he saw an apparition of a translucent one over it. Turning the green appendage over, he seemed to remember his brother’s presence and looked up. “I think… I need to touch them?”

“That helps. So we got something to go off of!” Raph nodded, staring down at Donnie’s hand.

“You could probably get away with a little New York bump here and there instead of having to chat each person up.” Mikey bobbed with excitement.

“It’ll be a little touch and go for awhile, but at least we’ll be able to knock out the list!” Leo leaned forward with a bright smile.

The other brothers stood caught for a second before Donnie dispelled it. “Alright then, gentlemen! Shall we continue?” Tapping his cuff, he brought up a digital display of the list and the others crouched in close to see.

-

He had fulfilled his touch quota for a lifetime.

Donnie assumed he looked the definition of haggard, but couldn’t find the strength to glimpse himself in a mirror, front facing camera, or any of the like.

The past month had been an agonizing exercise in trials and tribulations. If he ever had so much of an inkling to take the most inane sample audience and test them against one of the most unknown variables of all time again, he now knew for a fact that he would take dip in a vat of slugs instead. Dragging a hand over his worn face, Donnie tried to force himself upright. The table he collapsed against wasn’t inviting in the slightest, but his plastron didn’t seem to care. Sighing, he relented and keeled over until his face pressed against the surface as well. There was a faint trace of stickiness that made his skin crawl, but even then he couldn’t bring himself to adjust. Instead he laid his arm cuff in front of his eyes and pressed the display on with his nose. It slowly ran a calculated cycle through the hundreds of red checkmarks that signified each and every failure. It was the digital count of exactly 1037 New Yorkers that were not this fabled person.

Groaning until the screen went to sleep, Donnie gave a slow blink. He could see the cycling of the different categories of people he had been forced to interact with. There was a good portion that fell under the header that Leo had frustratingly been able to make stick as the ‘touch and gos.’ They were the cleanest bunch data-wise by far in that he’d been able to tap them in passing and move on. Donnie had almost refined his technique to the point that he considered himself the candidate for a great life in pickpocketing were that something he’d want to cultivate. It had also helped, for once, that his brothers had made it into a game. They silently bet on whether or not a target would take notice as they were tapped in passing on the street. It was a nice little bolster to Donnie’s ego, not that he’d admit it.

From there, were the slew of typical New York talk-backs. They’d feel the touch and gripe loudly about it in a stereotypical confrontational manner. Donnie’s reactions depended on his mood. Either way he’d end up exercising a gross misuse of his skills whether it was to disappear without a trace or let off a little steam in a quick show of strength. His brother’s opinions on those interactions broke apart in a lazy divide.

After that came those who had to be creatively handled. They were a subset of persons that rarely allowed themselves open interaction on the street. It had been a fun utilization of Donnie’s costumed wardrobe that he rarely got to pedal out. In a play of sorts, he’d assumed the role of everything from bodega clerk to a businessman. There had been another split amongst the peanut gallery, but this time it was more for Donnie’s performance and less about the morality of his actions. The acting portion had been more of a distraction to the task at hand, but as time had worn on, it was almost necessary.

Though his brother’s would deny it until their last breath, Donnie saw that they were exhausted with the mystery. They vehemently stayed by his side out of a obligation he understood; if it was any of them that were cursed to find some person who was mystically calling out, he’d want to be right there whenever the exchange finally occurred. They had been through too much together to not worry about what could be any of a million outcomes.  Still, filtering through a thousand people while also still maintaining their protectors of New York status stole away almost all their free time. When they’d checked the final person off in the wee hours of this same morning and found it to be another failure, the drop in morale had been palpable. Donnie loved them unquestionably, but watching the mixture of reactions from Raph’s weary pity to Mikey’s near tears was something he wished he could have shooed them off from. It was Leo’s look especially that still haunted Donnie; that let down of what should have been something of a Holmesian fallacy, but there was just a shred in Leo’s eyes that doubted the whole thing. If Donnie were in his brother’s place, he knew he’d feel the same. This intangible haunting occurring was something he’d love to write off too. Unfortunately, in addition to the ghostly reminder, there was this  inexplicable ache in his chest that he had yet to solve.

In the end, Leo had called for a temporary parting to give Donnie his space. It had stung in its own way even if he had been about to ask for it. They all had heavy bags darkening their eyes and the weight of the supposedly loss was excruciating. All the time sunk with no apparent cost in sight. In another slow blink, he saw flickers of how he assumed they were. Mikey was presumably conked out after making breakfast for the others. Raph was either mediatating or in bed himself and Donnie just knew Leo was doing his own research. It had been something he’d caught an inkling of about halfway through the list. Leo seemed to know a little more about the target then the manifest noted. Donnie could almost laugh at the double standard. Leo was surely breaking some kind of law to get his information. Frowning, it was another similarity between the two had the shoe been on the other foot.

Bringing his lids up, the futility of the whole thing hung around Donnie’s neck like a noose. He wondered if he tried to file the problem away again if that mysterious entity would fling him back to that strange field. He’d idly tried to place it one sleepless morning, but they were indistinct grasses native to so many Asian regions that it left him with an exhaustive search area. It didn’t quite feel ethereal either and he didn’t want to begin to count the options if mystic realms were involved. Donnie debated the lesser of two evils between ignoring the headings of a mystic entity or asking Leo for help when between blinks a to-go coffee cup appeared between his face and his arm. The generic cup’s pale appearance was just jarring enough that it brought his head up.

“Sorry, um…!”

Giving the cup one last linger glance, he dragged his eye line up to the source of the voice.

You jolted as eye contact was established. “…How do I say this?”

He arched a brow.

“You looked like you needed a pick me up!” Your body bobbed as you brought your fists up in weak assurance.

You weren’t wrong. Donnie looked back down to the drink. He had almost forgotten he had wandered into a coffee shop in his defeated stupor earlier. It was surprising no one had thrown him out sooner. He had basically been darkening this corner spot for what felt like hours without purchasing anything.

“It’s just drip, but if you don’t like that I can get you something else.”

What an attentive stranger. Swinging his gaze back up, he evaluated you closely. You didn’t seem to work here, so you weren’t taking pity on him in that sense. Instead you looked a sort of put together version of someone who rolled out of bed. It was early, there were any number of possibilities for your attendance. “What roast?”

That probably wasn’t the kindest thing to say to someone who just bought you a drink.

“House…?” You straightened your back and tried to hide the way you looked out of the corner of your eye to catch a glimpse of the menu board.

Donnie chuckled. “That should be fine. Thank you.”

Turning and confirming to himself that the interaction was saved, Donnie palmed the coffee. Through the sleeve, the warmth tickled at his palm. He almost smiled as he brought it to his lips and took a sip. It was just a touch burnt, but it went down smooth enough that his shoulders relaxed. Staring out the window at those passing by, he noted that his emotional bar had ticked a little bit closer to neutral. That was as much as he could ask for with the looming preparations for a whole new set of search criteria. Who was he if he gave up against insurmountable odds? That was just every other day for him. Eyes drifting shut, he thought on how much a few sips of caffeine had affected him and how food would surely compound the effect.  

“Of course, you’re busy… or tired…”

You were still here; that was odd. Against his lids protest, Donnie opened his eyes again. Though blurry, he instantly made out a hand reaching towards his cup. His nerves tried to seize up, but it was too late. He really was off his game.

“I just wanted to thank you. Have a good day.”

He watched as your hand finally made it through the motions and gave the back of his the slightest brush with your fingertips.

Donnie wasn’t even sure he blinked when he felt the oddly familiar rush.

“Something this good should be savored!” Doremi threw up their chin, moonlight gleaming ethereal as their hair flittered around the motion.

“So it was good?” Shion looked down at his threaded hands to keep from staring any longer. He smiled to himself as the image had indeed burned itself into his mind.

“Of course, I mean, you got it for me!”

Coming out of the vision, Donnie spun out of his stool so fast his knees harshly slammed into the underside of the table. The sound was loud enough that several people looked on curiously as he watched you push open the café door. “Wait!!!”

You slowed, one foot still lifted.

Against stinging limbs, Donnie freed himself from his seat and staggered over. “It’s you!”

“Yeah?” You wondered, your brows traveling as far north as possible.

“You! I found you! Well you found me, but-” The feeling was overwhelming; he felt a thousand fireworks go off in his chest and it translated down his appendages. The radiating excitement converted into kinetic energy and before he could register what he was doing he scooped you up. You squealed at the motion and he sort of registered something falling to the floor as he spun you around.

“Stop! What!?” He could feel your protesting and finally the action caught up with his mind.

“Oh.” He set you down and surveyed the damage. It was your coffee that had been knocked to the ground and it’s leaking contents soaked through the pastry bag lying in its wake. Coming up with a sheepish bob of his shoulders, he noted the confused fear scrunched up in your features and body language.

That was certainly the right reaction to what just happened.

“I know how this looks…” He began.

“You-” You choked on the sound as an employee headed towards you.

Donnie watched you catch sight of them and then the unmistakable glance you then made to the door.

You weren’t on the list.

You were about to leave.

“Please.” He resisted the urge to step further into your space and trigger any more discomfort. “I know that was erratic and uncalled for, but there’s…” He trailed off realizing that he had no way of trying to explain to what was presumably a regular New Yorker something he barely understood himself. He shook the thought off and pleaded with his gaze. “I can’t explain it, but if you wouldn’t mind sparing some of your time. I’ll buy you another coffee and whatever else it is that I accidentally ruined… Just… If you could?”

Still curled in a defensive position you scanned his gaze for a long moment then took in his body language.

The employee appeared with a miniature mop cart. “Hey, you two alright?”  

Donnie swallowed hard in an attempt to keep himself from taking control of the situation. He’d already crossed a line and, though it pained him to no end, he needed you to decide.

Your brows came together as you debated and you knealt down to pick up the cup. “Sorry about this.”

Donnie could feel his chest tightening as the employee clearly took note that their question was dodged.

“It’s alright. We have spills all the time.” The employee ducked down near you and though they dropped their voice, his ears still picked up what was said next. “Are you ok? I can stall him if you need to leave.”

The part of indignity it served him was harshly undercut but how much he deserved that. Stepping back to give the two more breadth, Donnie glanced at his forgotten coffee.

“I’m… alright actually. Thanks for your help.”

That vibrating excitement returned, but this time Donnie shoved it all the way down to his feet. He kept his chin stiffly set in its turn so as not to alert you that he was listening in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you rise up and give him a look that said you knew regardless.

“If you need anything else, I’ll be at the counter when I finish up here. How about  a replacement?”  The employee discarded the trash and moved to prepare the mop with a placed sign.

“That’s alright. He’s got it.” You tipped your head, pointedly staring at Donnie.

“Yes.” He hoped the excitement in his voice was kept to a decent level. “Order whatever you want.”

You moved back to the counter and he followed behind making sure to maintain a safety bubble of distance. You ordered and with a sly look added on a breakfast sandwich that could not have fit in the bag he saw. He could appreciate that you took advantage of the situation.

“You should get something to eat too.” You noted, giving him a flicking once over.

“Can we saw low blood sugar is to blame?” He bobbed his head at you before turning to the cashier. “I’ll have one of the same.”

“Not a chance.” You hummed and watched as he paid. You both traveled back to where he had been sitting at the window and slipped onto the stools facing one another.

Palming his lukewarm coffee, Donnie chose to drink the liquid with only a minor sneer.

“So… Did you mistake me for someone else or…?” You craned an elbow to the table and rested your cheek against your hand in lazy wait.

He forced the kickback burn of his drink down and chased it with a gulp of oxygen. “Something like that?”  He followed it up with a wincing smile.

You seemed less than enthused.

“I want to explain, trust me, but it is…” He looked between the cup and you before setting it down. “You can trust me when I say it’s a complicated ordeal.”

You softened up a bit. “I guess that comes with the mutant hero territory?”

“Very much so.” He nodded approvingly.

You gave your own nod and the silence laid over the moment like a blanket.

With part of his mind still trying to find a suitable explanation for the mystic events, Donnie set a little processing power to some of the other unknowns from this chance meeting. “You said you wanted to thank me?”

“Oh… Yeah…” You tightened up in your stool and your arm fell from your face. “I was… uh…”

“At the food truck event?” He offered, using a sip from the cup as a means to hide his curiosity.

You snapped to attention. “Do you remember me from there?”

“Sadly, no.”

“But you-?”

“Order up!”

You both moved to get it, but you raised your hand. “Let me.”

Donnie nodded and watched as you slipped off your stool. You grappled slightly with the multitude of bags and to-go cup, but managed the handful and brought it back over. As if laying out a bounty, he smiled as you lined everything up and then slid his wrapped sandwich over like it was a payment for some misdeed.

“There were a lot of people there that day.” Donnie remarked as he picked at a sticker sealing the wrapping.

“It was crazy.” You huffed, taking a swig from your cup. “All that oil!”

“Which truck were you trying to order from?” Finally freeing his sandwich, he surveyed it before taking a handful. How you had fallen through the cracks of his pristine list making reared its head as an assaulting high priority.

“None of them!” You chuckled, mimicking his move with your food.

He froze, mouth still open from the bite he was about to take. “Then how?”

“How…?” You lead, watching him out of the corner of your eye as you kept your attention on your sandwich.

His lips made a thin line. “How were you there? Where were you?”

“Where was the event held?”

Your sudden airy attitude irked him. “In a plaza by the park.”

You nodded and took your first bite.

He watched you chew and then lolled his head back as he realized. “You were in the park.”

“Bingo.” You pointed at him with one finger that popped up from the bread.

“Where Meat Sweats was tossed into.” Donnie grumbled, vexation growing. “The park! Why didn’t I add that to my calculations!? It’s so obvious!”

He could feel amusement pouring off of you as you continued your meal.

Remembering his own, Donnie took a bitter bite of his sandwich. He paused as the flavors hit his tongue and with each subsequent chew his anger slowly dissipated. His earlier food assessment had been correct at least. He needed a little win.

“Calculations, ‘I found you,’ ‘sadly, no.’” You listed off before taking a sip of coffee.

Donnie stiffened as he realized where you were going.

“Think of a way to explain it yet?” You turned to him finally. “Why you were looking for me?”

He absolutely did not.

“You won’t believe me.” He left the last half of his sandwich and turned to you in show of opening up. “I still don’t quite understand.”

“You know…” You trailed off and gave a lingering glance to the window. “I have the day off. I think I have time for a crazy story.” You turned back to him with a bright smile.

For a moment, Donnie swore he saw gigantic golden eyes. It immediately disappeared, but spurned him to sink down in his stool. “If you insist…”

He went on to explain the past month leaving out very little detail as the story went on because the treading emotions crested as he recounted them. He had heard tale of how easy it could be to share a secret with a strange and while that rung true to a point, part of him intrinsically felt like he knew you. He also couldn’t shake the unmistakable flicker of joy in watching you. It stemmed from some deep recess of his psyche in a way that almost felt foreign. An never-ending line of people came and went with their orders. At some point you broke out a muffin and nibbled on it. Cups were drained and new ones were ordered by the time he caught up to the present.

Setting down your second cup, you had a haggard look on your eye. “That…”

“Yeah.” Donnie commiserated, sipping a fresh coffee.

“It’s a lot…” You swallowed hard.

“Yeah.” Setting his cup down, his eye chased it.

He wouldn’t blame you if you left now. At least he had gotten his chance.

In his periphery he watched you shake your head before bringing an arm up. It raked through your hair and stayed atop your head as you weighed the hefty connotations. The stretch pulled at your t-shirt and he caught a glimpse of a bit of color.

That little flicker exploded into a full blown flame.

“What’s that?” He pointed, glad he’d had freed his hands up.

“What’s what?” You murmured beside your arm. You followed his eye line and strained to see from your awkward angle. “Oh!” Finally bringing the limb down, you turned it towards him and rolled up your sleeve. “It’s my tattoo!”

His tongue went dry.

Skirting along your shoulder, a orange and white koi fish swam freely from somewhere behind your back and down your arm. Little droplets of water punctuated it’s lazy trek and shimmering scales reflecting in fine needlework.

A single chuckle escaped his lips.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked koi. I don’t know what it is, you know?”

Another single chortle.

“Woah! You ok?”

A few more dribbled bits of laughter came off his lips before the wetness chased them. Bringing a hand up, he touched the tears and could feel they weren’t his. As that recessed emotions gained form, he could feel someone else. They were both him and not at the same time. Their joy was so overwhelming. The crashing sensation brought forth more laughter to him. He wrapped his hands around his plastron to keep himself together. It wasn’t that he thought he was splitting, but it felt like there was too much inside for one body to contain. Outright sobbing and uncontrollably cackling, Donnie felt his consciousness pulled deep inside. In a dark space, his body seemed to free float and he watched that translucent man from the field appeared with a smile and tears on his own face. It was the first time Donnie had seen him so clearly, but at the same time he felt as though he'd always known. He gave Donnie a single nod before reality crashed back around him.

Donnie looked up through bleary eyes to find you had one hand on his shoulder and the other at his cheek.

He leaned your palm and tapered off the giggles until they formed a bright smile.

Mikey was right.

He’d have to tell him that later.

He’d have to tell them all about their fates later.

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah…?” You seemed pale and confused.

In this reality that made sense.

You couldn’t know.

At least, that wasn’t part of the deal.

Right?

“Can I ask you something that’s going to sound ridiculous?”

“I… guess?” Your voice peaked with frazzled worry.

“Have you ever wanted to eat koi?”

Your first reaction was to shake your head into a rollback of confusion.

Then there was a spark.

A blink and he would have missed it moment where something seemed to click; a hue of gold appeared to spin in your iris before disappeared. A single tear ran down your cheek and he watched as an odd calm seemed to wash over you. The hand on his shoulder left him before you brought it to touch the droplet in a similar manner as he had just done. Looking at it curiously, there was none of the similarly overwhelming follow-up that he had endured, but he didn’t want that for you.

“N-no.” You choked out, your voice thick. “I don’t think I have…”

He nodded and reached up to gently remove your hand from his cheek. He held it in his palm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“What just happened?” You sounded breathless.

“Something a long time coming.”

It was slow, but through your conjoined hands, he felt you shake. He looked up in time to watch stifled laughter bubble up in you. He watched fondly as you shook what was certainly the exhausting length of emotions off before looking at him with lingering snickers. “What luck!”

If you liked this, there will be a whole list of behind the scenes notes posted on the membership tier of my ko-fi!

#rottmnt donnie x reader #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt x reader #donatello hamato #donnie x reader #rise donnie #rise donnie x reader #rottmnt donatello #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt #me #fanfiction #my fanfiction

[thehighlordishere]

𝐌𝐇𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐒 (adults, heroes)

Prompts

Aizawa

Dadzawa

-Imagine him giving you away at your wedding

-Accidents happen +brother figure!Hitoshi trigg: SH

-Dadzawa x ftm!transmasc!teen!reader platonic

Present Mic

Dadmic

Allmight

Dadmight

Best Jeanist

Crimson Riot

Hawks

Nighteye

Ryukyu

Fat Gum

Gang Orca

Mirko

#mha christmas #mha headcanons #mha fluff #mha fanart #mha x reader #aizawa shouta #aizawa x reader #dadzawa #present mic #dad mic #all might #dad might #gang orca #mha hawks #fatgum #mirko

[randoimago]

Can I request Ryukyu, Momo and Petra first kisses headcanons? Thank you Kat!

First Kiss Headcanons

Fandom: Attack on Titan // My Hero Academia

Characters: Petra, Ryukyu (Ryuko Tatsuma), Momo Yaoyorozu

Type of Request: Headcanons

Notes: Ngl, I thought Petra was another MHA character that I missed somehow (I checked the wiki and apparently there is a Petra but there's like barely a sentence of info for them) >.<

Attack on Titan

Petra

She's definitely embarrassed, but also excited. With how messed up life is, she's going to do her best to enjoy the first kiss.

Honestly, it probably wouldn't be long into the relationship when she'd kiss you just because no one knows how long they'll live in this life.

So she's not really thinking of making the kiss "perfect". It's fine if there's no fireworks or a crap ton of passion because it is a kiss that is her pulling you to her without any preparation and giving you a kiss.

When there's more time or a break then she'll give you a better kiss where she's actually trying to make it perfect, but the first kiss is going to be a bit messy and rushed.

My Hero Academia

Ryukyu

Honestly your first kiss with her is either a cheek or a forehead kiss. It takes a bit longer for an actual kiss on the lips.

It's a sweet peck too. It's cute and the smile she gives you afterwards let's you know she really cares for you even if the kiss was short and to the point.

Probably a kiss before she goes on a really tough mission. You always get forehead or cheek kisses before she leaves but she'll be sure to give you a peck on the lips before she leaves for something dangerous.

Yaoyorozu

More on the shy side because she doesn't have a whole lot of experience. Would want you to take the lead just because she doesn't know what she's doing.

When she does then it's still on the shy side. Like she isn't quite sure but she also wants to make you happy. It's not a long kiss either, short and sweet.

Also one to give you kisses on your forehead or bring the back of your hand to her lips. Prefers kissing in private than public though. It's more romantic that way, or it is to her.

Doesn't give out kisses freely though. Maybe if she's helping you study and you answer correctly then you get a kiss or if training goes really well. Or if the class is attacked by villains again.

#ajanisapprentice #my hero academia x reader #mha x reader #attack on titan x reader #aot x reader #petra x reader #ryukyu x reader #yaoyorozu x reader #ryuko tatsuma x reader #momo yaoyorozu x reader

[frickingnerd]

best jeanist comforting his self concious s/o

pairing: tsunagu hakamada / best jeanist x gn!reader

summary: you worry that you aren't good enough to date the pro hero best jeanist but he proves you otherwise...

being with one of the top heroes of japan can be hard, since all eyes are constantly on the two of you

everyone has an opinion about your relationship and the two of you, even if they don't even know you

best jeanist seemed to be able to deal with those comments a lot better than you were, as they seemingly didn't even faze him

you however couldn't help but worry that perhaps those people were right

maybe you really weren't good enough for him. maybe he would've been better off dating another pro hero like mirko or ryukyu! 

of course, your boyfriend had noticed how your mood seemed to worsen over the last few weeks, as more magazines started to cover your relationship with each other

eventually, best jeanist decided to confront you about it, asking if you're okay, since you've been so distant the last few days

you first tried to brush it off, but ultimately you couldn't help but ask him something that's been on your mind all this time

"do you think i'm… good enough for you…?" 

best jeanist froze for a second, sighing softly, before gently pulling you into his arms

"i wouldn't be with you if i didn't think you were the best. sure, i could find someone else who might look better, earn more or is more popular, but that's not what i want. i only want you. you're the best in my eyes, no matter what anyone else says!" 

#tsunagu hakamata #tsunagu hakamata x reader #hakamata tsunagu #hakamata tsunagu x reader #hakamata x reader #tsunagu x reader #hakamata #tsunagu #x reader #x you #x y/n #best jeanist x reader #best jeanist #bnha x reader #bnha #mha x reader #mha #boku no hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia #my hero academia x reader #my hero academia #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #headcanons #hcs #x gn reader

[airybcbyy]

Teardrops on my Guitar

Mirio Togata x Reader

CW; Angst, unrequited love, Mirio is an oblivious man, reader is in love with Mirio, based off of Taylor Swift’s “teardrops on my guitar” obviously, let me know if I missed anything!!

Synopsis; You’re in love with your best friend, Mirio Togata, who everyone wants, but you have. Or had. When he starts talking about another girl and how much he likes her to you, what are you meant to do besides sit aside and let him become happy.

Mirio Togata was the boy that boys and girls alike wanted. His beautiful crystal blue eyes, blonde hair, and best of all, his sweet sweet smile made him the picture image of the “perfect boy.” You were just like everyone else, pining for the rather ditzy boy, but you had an advantage; You were one of Mirio’s best friends, someone he could come to with his problems and someone who got the privilege to hear about how he wasn’t looking for a relationship right now. 

While that may seem discouraging, you were actually relieved. The feelings you bore for Togata couldn’t be expressed, at least not in a way you were comfortable with. I mean, you had a quirk that seemed rather useless in your eyes; a music based quirk. Compared to Mirio, you felt like the shadow of a leaf falling to the ground while the sun stood in its place and shined, not once wavering. You held no comparison to him; you had no wish to build your own agency from the ground up. You would much rather stay a pro’s sidekick like you were now with Ryukyu, but Mirio seemed far past that. It simply wouldn’t work, but you could hope.

Even though Mirio Togata was the sun to you; you were simply just Pluto in his universe. You were close enough to be in his orbit, but never would you be close enough to actually be a part of his life. You would be lucky to even be remembered by Mirio after highschool, let alone be what you actually wanted to be to him; a girlfriend.

You wanted Mirio more than all might had wished to catch All-For-One. You wanted to write songs about him, to wake up to that giddy boyish smile every morning, and just be a bigger part of his life, just be with him. That wouldn’t happen though, Mirio was obsessed with another girl; someone in class 3-B who you had never really seen before.

“We’re gonna get married Y/N! I just know it!”

“You haven’t talked to her yet, Mirio, what are you talking about?”

“We’re gonna get married!”

Mirio was too much, it was like he never realized your feelings even though everyone else had. And if he had; then that was a cruel game to play just because he could, but you knew him too well to know he would never do that to you. So you began keeping your feelings locked up, now encouraging Mirio to talk to the girl, to go up to her, to just…be himself. Yes, it hurt like hell, but you couldn’t stop Mirio’s feelings for her; so why not try and help him and try to get over him this way?

Eventually, a month later, Mirio and the girl are together and they are oh so happy. As excited you were for him, it also became noticeable that Mirio was distancing from you; slowly going farther away until you could no longer reach him. That was okay, you knew Mirio was happy, so why were you always crying throughout the hours of the night? Your body was something you didn't understand; it made you cry for what you thought was no reason. You were tired of crying; so you came up with a plan, distract yourself.

You began picking up your cluttered room, taking the clothes to the hamper, dusting away the cobwebs,and moving stuff out from under your bed. That was where you found a crumpled piece of paper; unfolding it only to see a song that you had been writing for Mirio, well not for him, but about him. About how he talked about this girl to you, how perfect he looked, how his smile could make you melt. You got up and grabbed your guitar, slowly starting to strum the chords while softly singing along. Of course you started to cry; even with all your attempts to distract yourself, you couldn’t help it. 

Mirio Togata, the boy who everyone wanted but you had, was never meant to be yours. Life had other plans for you two, and they didn’t include each other. So you’d sit in your dorm, letting your mind wander to the boy who’s the reason for the teardrops on your guitar.

i love mirio and hope i did him justice!

playing next...

A place in this world

#★ · airybcbyy #airy posts #mha #mha mirio #togata mirio #mirio togata #mirio x reader #bnha mirio #airy writes for mirio ☀️ #mirio togata x reader #angst #unrequited love #bnha mirio togata

[lunadragneel0928]

How Could I Say That?

Denki x fem!Reader

Friends to Lovers

Summary: Y/N had a terrible day and best friend Denki just wants to help, but she's been run ragged and accidentally takes it out on him.

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"Hey, Y/N! How was your patrol with Ryukyu?" Denki asked, jogging to catch up with her as she entered the dorm. 

"Not that great. I don't really want to talk about it." 

She waited long enough for him to catch up before she answered, then entered the building with him only a couple steps behind.

“Anything I can do to help?” he questioned as they switched out their shoes.

As much as she loved Denki, she really didn’t have the energy for anything more than scrounging up something for dinner and then crashing. He was his normal, bubbly self and as much as she wanted to give him a smile she just couldn’t bring herself to. 

Her patrol that day with Ryukyu had been one shit show after another. Several civilians had gotten hurt because she'd been distracted during a scuffle with some robbers. Then she'd scared a kid with her quirk, trying to protect him until his dad could get him. To top it off she'd nearly lost a villain Ryukyu had recognized as being connected to the League of Villains and Paranormal Liberation Front during the war. She was feeling like a failure and just wanted the day to be over.

“Not right now Denks, maybe tomorrow.”

“There’s gotta be something! You know how great I am at cheering you up.” 

“I know, Denki, please, I just want to be alone for a bit.”

“Aw, come on, Songbird! You know you’ll feel better after we hang out!”

He caught her hand, whether he was trying to get her to stop walking or he was just going to do something silly, she wasn’t sure, but it pushed over the edge. Something inexplicable rose up and made her snatch her hand away, feeling like she was tainted and it would rub off on him.

“Phoenixes don’t sing, Denks.”

“Y/N, don’t be such a grump!”

“Oh my God, Denki, I told you I want to be alone! Stop being stupid!"

Even in the midst of her anger and frustration it took less than a moment to realize what she'd done. In a blink her stomach dropped and she covered her mouth with her hand, self loathing replacing her earlier aggravation. 

"Denki…"

The light in Denki's eyes dimmed, leaving behind something hard and his normally soft smile turned sharp as he took several steps back from her.

"Yeah, sorry, I should have backed off when you asked. Was just trying to cheer you up, but I guess now's not the time."

"No, I'm so sorry. Fuck, Denki, I’m sorry. I'm such an asshole."

Before Denki could say anything she spun on her toe and ran. 

Without a care of where her slippers landed she snatched up her regular shoes and burst through the front door. Hopping on one foot as she fought to get her shoes on but still trying to move forward, away from her best friend that she'd just hurt; possibly beyond repair. 

Not bothering to use her quirk, she sped across campus, aiming for the front gate. Rounding the corner onto the street had her running face first into Shinso, heading back from his internship.

He managed to keep them both upright, catching her around the waist, but when he realized there were tears streaming down her face his hold on her shifted to her shoulders.

"Y/N, what's wrong?"

Shaking her head she took a step away from him, getting ready to resume her mad dash away from the school. 

"Denki, check on Denki." 

"What happened?" He started, eyes wide at her sobbing plea, but she was already taking off again. "Y/N!" 

She didn't stop, didn't look back to see if Shinso had gone to do as she asked, she just ran.

As if her day hadn't already been terrible enough, she had said the worst possible thing she could have to Denki. Her best friend that she knew struggled with being insecure about his intelligence. 

'I'm no hero. I couldn't help those civilians earlier, I scared that kid, I nearly let the villain escape, and I just hurt Denki.'

When she found herself back outside her mentor's agency, she hurried through the lobby and into the elevator, scanning her ID at the security desk while keeping her head tilted down. She hoped the guards couldn't tell she'd been bawling like a baby a few minutes ago. It was bad enough she'd clearly ran all the way from the school. Sweaty and still panting a little.

She punched the button for the top floor and shuffled to the back of the elevator to wait. 

At this time of day the agency wasn't fully staffed so there were only a couple of tired looking office workers heading to their respective desks to start their evening shift. When Y/N arrived at the top floor, she beelined for the short set of stairs and the door to the roof. 

Working directly with Ryukyu allowed her to learn a lot of nuances that came with having a quirk that allowed you to transform into a mythical flying creature. It also meant her agency ID opened the door to the roof when most agency members didn't have access.

She'd never been more thankful for her choice of internships as she was at that moment. Ryukyu's love of heights led her to create a peaceful outdoor seating area on the roof of her agency that most people didn't know even existed. Since the weather was good, the retractable roof was put away, leaving a clear view of the sky; something that brought peace to dragon and phoenix alike apparently. 

Y/N sat on one of chairs, cushions and pillows giving her the opportunity to comfortably curl up. The solitude had her thoughts spiraling once more, her tears coming back full force as she crushed one of the pillows to her chest. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, but she ignored it. It was probably Shinso checking on her, but she didn't deserve that so she refused to allow herself the opportunity to feel better. 

And if it were Denki… he was the sweetest friend she'd ever had, he'd probably try to tell her it was okay and it didn't bother him when she knew it absolutely did. She wished he would yell at her, curse at her the way Bakugou did all the time. 

‘God, how could I say that to him?’

She'd just made the decision to steer clear of him until he realized she was letting him off the hook of being her friend, no obligation to stay with her meant she'd never be able to hurt him again, when her early morning, long day, and tears caught up to her. The last thought she had was of how pissed Mr. Aizawa would be when he found out she was out after curfew, then exhaustion pulled her under.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Songbird. Time to wake up."

Gentle fingers brushed her hair off her face stirring her into wakefulness.

"Phoenixes don't sing." She muttered, still half asleep.

Light laughter had her eyes snapping, immediately meeting a pair of golden eyes that were only slightly less sad than the last time she'd seen them.

"Denki!" She cried, scrambling out of the chair she'd been sleeping in. “How did you find me?!”

On her feet once more, she turned away, fully intending to run away from him again, but he caught her hand before she got far.

"I don't think so, Y/N. No way am I gonna let you run away again before we talk."

"Let go, Denki! I will jump off this building and fly away if you don't!"

"You go right ahead, Songbird, but I hope you've been practicing flying with someone in your back because I'm not letting go."

Tears sprang up again, so she stubbornly refused to face him. Kept yanking at her hand, but didn't want to do anything that would hurt him just to break his grip on her.

"Talk to me Y/N."

"That's what got us into this mess! Me talking and being a jerk!"

"Hey, you weren't being a jerk, it was the truth, I was being –"

Anger coursed through her and she turned to glare at him, causing him to shut his mouth. 

"I'm already pissed at myself for saying that to you, Denki, don't make it worse by even trying to say I was right." 

Denki sighed, but only pulled her into his chest. She didn't make it easy, but she couldn't bring herself to pull away again. All she wanted was for them to be okay, but even if Denki could forgive her for what she'd done, she wasn't sure she could forgive herself. 

"You know I'm not mad at you, Y/N." He murmured as his arms wrapped around her.

Shoulders shaking, she slipped her arms around his waist and clung to the back of his jacket.

"You should be! You're my best friend and I said something unforgivable." She sobbed.

"Well, I was bugging you when you'd obviously had a rough day."

"Ugh, stop! You were being a good friend! Trying to cheer me up, or at least talk about what happened. I was an asshole!"

"Aw come on –"

"No, Denki!" She cut him off, leaning back just enough to look up at his face. "I know better than anyone how much you struggle with confidence in how smart you are, and I still said what I said. You're the sweetest, funniest, most fun to be around guy that I know. You always make me feel better when I'm in a bad mood, you bring me snacks, and you watch movies and anime with me even when it's something you don't like, and how do I repay you? By calling you stupid! You're not stupid though! You're smart! And kind and intuitive and handsome and I've never had someone in my life I care about the way I care about you. Then I went and ruined it!" 

She buried her face back in his chest, not even registering the way Denki froze for a moment. Then he was gently tipping her chin so she'd look at him again.

"You think I'm handsome?"

Y/N rolled her eyes even as she felt her cheeks go warm.

"You're kidding right? That's what you're choosing to focus on right now?"

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"That you think I'm handsome? That you've never cared about anyone the way you care about me?"

"Yeah, I meant it!"

"Shit, I forgive you."

"What –"

It was Denki's turn to interrupt her, leaning down and pressing his mouth to hers. If Y/N hadn't known any better she would have sworn he used his quirk on her, but even as she found herself unable to move, there was no fiery pain that accompanied being stunned with Denki's electricity. 

When Denki broke the kiss just long enough to tilt his head and lean back in, Y/N involuntarily shifted her weight into him, lifting onto her tiptoes to reach his lips better. 

It wasn't much more than a press of their mouths together. Awkward because of their inexperience, but still enough to set butterflies off in her stomach. 

Then he was pulling away to look her in the eye. For several moments they were silent, but his eyes seemed to be sparkling with so many feelings and thoughts. It was probably pretty similar to what she felt was going on in her mind.

"Denki?"

"Yeah?"

"I really am sorry. I shouldn't have let my shitty day cause me to be such a terrible friend."

"I already forgave you, Y/N."

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't apologize. Or try to make it up to you."

Eyes lighting up as he grinned, Denki pulled her with him as he sat in one of the chairs. 

Sitting in his lap, legs draped over the arm of the chair and tucked into his chest was more comfortable than she would have thought it would be. Though her cheeks were much warmer than normal at the intimate embrace she'd never been in before with anyone, much less Denki.

"I think I know how you can make it up to me, Songbird." 

Pulse skyrocketing as he pulled her even closer, she had to swallow hard to be able to respond.

"How?"

"Be my girlfriend?"

Her mouth dropped open in surprise, eyes growing wide in disbelief at what he’d said.

"Really?" She choked out.

His smile dropped at one corner, and insecurity flickered in his eyes causing her to scramble to grab his face and pull his mouth back to hers. Noses bumped together but she didn't let that deter her as she tried to keep her mouth pressed to his as she shifted in his lap to straddle his legs.

"You actually want to date me?" She asked when she broke the kiss.

"How could I not?"

"Denki, I could give you so many reasons not to! I'm grumpy all the time, I'm completely addicted to caffeine, I have a terrible sense of humor, I never look cute for class because I sleep instead of doing my hair or makeup, I take myself way too seriously, I get stuck in my head and overanalyze everything –"

"Kind of like now?" Denki teased.

"Humph!"

He laughed before pressing a kiss to her cheek. She was already getting attached to the way the easy affection felt as she allowed herself to return it.

"You are not grumpy, Bakugou is grumpy, you're just not over the top bubbly like Mina. And you still have a long way to go before I consider you 'addicted' to caffeine. Shinso is addicted to caffeine, Songbird, you are not. Your sense of humor is absolutely adorable, you like puns! Which means you actually laugh at most of the memes I send you. How could that be anything other than perfect? And regardless of how your hair and makeup looks, you're always absolutely gorgeous. Your eyes sparkle and your smile is beautiful no matter what. I wouldn't say you take yourself too seriously so much as you care very deeply about things that are important to you. That's not a bad thing usually, but sometimes, on days like today, you let that push you into a dark place. On top of that, you overanalyze, which comes in handy in class and in hero work, but can be dangerous if left unchecked."

Her face grew warm with every argument Denki gave, disagreeing with each flaw she thought she had. By the time he finished she wanted to bury her head in his neck and hide away. But then he reached up and palmed both of her cheeks.

"And I wouldn't change a single thing about you, Songbird."

Tearing up a little she melted into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him close.

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend, Denki."

Denki laughed as he squeezed her around the middle, then suddenly they were up off the chair and spinning around. Her giggles joined his as whooped loudly, dancing across the roof in his exuberance, then set her down to stand in front of him.

"Not a bad way to end a bad day, huh?"

"More like start a new day, the sun is coming up, Denki!"

"Oh shit, we'd better get back to campus before Mr. Aizawa finds out!"

"Even if he does, it was worth it!" Y/N laughed as she pulled Denki to the edge of the roof. 

"You have actually been practicing flying with someone riding, right?" He asked a little worriedly as she transformed. “Y/N?”

"Hold on tight!" She called as he settled onto her back. 

Then they were off, Denki squeaking at the unexpected feeling of speeding off the roof and through the air. She leveled off as soon as she was high enough to see over the majority of the city. 

"Look to the right!"

"Whoa!"

It was one of her favorite parts of being able to fly, getting up so high nothing blocked the view of the sun as it dawned over the horizon. 

The sky was blushing pink, just starting to turn orange, revealing clouds that had been nearly unnoticeable in the dark.

The way the light hit the different shapes in the cloud, painting them every hue of pink and orange imaginable was unlike anything else she’d ever seen. It was like living in a water color painting, filling her with adrenaline as she took a moment to enjoy the view and the wind in her feathers.

"You get to see this all the time?"

Denki's awed question had her chuckling, but she waited to answer as she tilted forward to begin their descent towards the school. 

"I'll take you up whenever you'd like Denki." She offered as she transformed back, turning to the blonde who immediately pulled her in close and captured her lips. 

"Totally worth it."

With another laugh they were off, racing to the front gate of the school, unsure of what they would find and neither one caring a bit.

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Hope you guys enjoyed!!!

#denki x you #bnha denki #denki kaminari #kaminari #mha #mha x reader #mha kaminari #bnha fanfiction #bnha x reader #fluff #hurt/comfort #fanfic writer #women writers #my hero fanfic #fanfiction #writers on tumblr #reader insert #original writing

[dumbbitchenergy17]

Mimic Chapter 39

A battle until anything heroes would ever be able to experience. Power, unlike anything, was here and death was in the air.

Words- 4775

Izuku Midoriya x Reader

Warnings: Fighting, violence, angst, MHA WAR ARC SPOILERS (TW: HEAVY GORE)

A/N: Enjoy this early chapter as a Christmas gift🎄! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season!!

“He foresaw his downfall and entrusted all he had to his successors..”

“Successors?” Present Mic says. All For One had another player involved?

“He even chose to pass on his quirk. So, just like I once did for him…he took in a duplicate of his own quirk…”

“Tenko please.” His last sister called out to him standing right between him and his master, the shadows of the space and decay were getting to you crawling from your feet up. Your hand reaches out to him, “Brother…”

“Don’t do something stupid Tenko…because you won’t win. I won’t let you.” You speak out to him and his gaze hardens.

“I’ll kill you then.” He says before his hand grasps your neck with all five fingers and cracks appear covering you, “This is my destiny. Don’t reject who I am.” He says before walking to the shadow covering his master.

“…and split the original to Tomura and Y/n Shigaraki.” The doctor says.

Electricity rushes through his body as he seizes, and life is brought back to him as power and hatred flood him.

Your hand slams into a wall letting out a gasp of air a loud thudding in your brain. Unaware of another frozen in place as the evacuation goes on, the same words ring in your head.

“He’s Coming. He’s Coming!”

Your head snaps straight in the direction of the hospital your chest tight feeling his eyes staring back at you.

“Tenko…”

The sounds of the evacuation go mute your eyes still focused on the hospital and your classmates begin to notice both your and Midoriya’s strange behavior. Then you see it.

“The hospital…” Midoriya whispers out and you watch birds around it fly off in flocks before familiar cracks appear and it crumbles dust kicking up in the air and the wave of it heading towards the city.

“GET THESE PEOPLE MOVING!” “EVERYONE RUN!!”

Heroes and civilians start running and Midoriya rushes but when he looks back seeing the way of decay you’re still frozen in your spot.

“Y/N RUN!” He screams seeing the decaying grow closer to you. He shoots over grabbing you just before a stray piece of decay could touch you running off with you in his arms. Your gaze stays glued to the wave of destruction heading towards you all but that’s not what your eyes see. You see a man standing with chaos looking straight back at you the man you knew was completely gone.

“Y/n~”

“Y/N!” Midoriya’s voice pulls you out of your head as he runs holding you, “You gotta run we need to help people!”

Nodding shakily he tosses you ahead and you catch your footing running scooping up a child holding her close to your chest as you all run from the wave.

“WHAT’S UP AT THE HOSPITAL? SOMEBODY, PLEASE RESPOND! ENDEAVOR! RYUKYU! ANYONE!!” Burnin yells out into her comm but nothing is coming through.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!”

You had escaped to a far enough distance that the decay had stopped everyone traumatized witnessing everything decay in front of them, homes, friends, family, and heroes all gone. The child in your arms gets taken by another hero towards the evacuation station as the rest of the heroes look at the destruction. He had done this. This was different than anything else he’s done.

On the battlefield Shigaraki holds back the full force of Endeavor, something inside him is urging him on. Telling him to go after it.

“To get One For All.” He whispers seeing far off in the distance two bright stars, the power his master seeks in two of them.

“One…For…All?” Endeavor says confused by the name.

“SAY WHAT?! ONE FOR WHAT?! WHATEVER HELP’S COMING YOUR WAY!” Burnin yells back but moves forward toward the battlefield.

“It’s…down there and her…dear sister~”

“Sister? He…has a family?” Endeavor says and the blood rushes out of your body and you feel two pairs of eyes move towards you hearing Endeavor’s voice.

“Burnin! Wait!” Midoriya tries chasing after her but she runs off yelling back at him,

“YOU KIDS EVACUATE WITH THE REMAINING HEROES!!”

“He’s heading for the evacuees!” Endeavor’s voice rings through your earpiece.

“Expand the battle perimeter! Start evacuating the city outskirts too!” Many heroes yell out as you stand frozen, seeing children and adults trying to escape while mourning. Even heroes trying to understand the shock of losing friends. He was coming for you…to kill you and to claim One For All.

“The Sword of All For One.”

“And when that moment comes you will finally become what I created you to be…a weapon to destroy all of heroes society.

Your feet move before your mind can catch up and you’re sprinting away from the civilians.

“Y/n!” Midoriya’s voice calls and you see him running beside you, “Guess this is the fight we were told about.”

“If you told them there’s no denyin’ that they’d hafta devote a lotta people just to protect you.” Bakugo’s voice appears next to you running alongside you, “Because heroes are supposed to protect everyone. And you if they knew they probably shoot you on the spot. ”

“Kacchan!” “Bakugo…”

“You two have already made up your mind right?” Bakugo says.

“We gotta prioritize the people’s safety!” Midoriya says.

“First we hear ‘One For All’ and the whole sister thing and then that he’s heading our way…that’s ain't exactly solid proof, but still you know you’d better start moving,” Bakugo says.

“Huh? Where are you going!?” Todoroki yells out to the three of you.

“I…forgot something! I’ll be right back!” Midoriya yells and the three of you disappear into the city.

“Deku, here! Sorry for using the private frequency, but… There’s a chance that Shigaraki is after me and Shimura specifically! Maybe we can lead him to a deserted area!” Midoriya explains in his earpiece in a private channel with Endeavor.

“I’ll explain later! I’m too far away to spot Shigaraki now cuz of all the dust and smoke! Please let me know if he suddenly changes courses!!” Midoriya says and in a second he speaks again, “Thought so! Thank you! We can buy the evacuation effort time! We’ll try to lure him away!”

“Listen up, everyone! Shigaraki’s changed tack! He’s heading southwest! And he’s got hyper regeneration now, so he’s not the same as before!”

“Hear that guys? He’s coming out way!!” Midoriya yells out.

“Of course, I heard! Were you listening?! That total scumbag turned into some kinda monster! All the more reason to play keep-away!” Bakugo says

“This is different than some kinda monster!” You say running along the rooftops using Airwalk to bounce yourself off gaps with All For One boosting you, “He has All For One and has accepted All For One’s control. He’s on a completely different level….he plans to kill me.” You say and the two boys are shocked by your knowledge of the plot of your death.

“You’re his sister! Why would he do-” Midoriya speaks but you cut him off “My brother is dead! He died the second he sided with All For One…he’s threatened as well. I’ve had his quirk longer than him….I’ve had more time to learn, I’ve been All For One’s damn weapon and he knows I can beat him. That’s why if he finds me. He’s not going to stop until he knows I’m dead. So before he can kill me….I have to kill him.” You say pushing yourself forward and you don’t realize Midoriya is watching you as you run in the air, Bakugo uses his explosions to boost him forward. You had completely accepted your life, your destiny. You were forced with the burden of killing your brother.

A sudden shockwave spreads through the field your earpiece letting out a loud ringing noise, “WHAT’S THAT?!” You all look forward as time slows down as he appears in front of you. Darkness and the stench of death surround him. You felt it in Kamino, standing before All For One and it was exactly the same as now that fear of death.

“Hand over One For All, Izuku Midoriya.” He grins and before he could reach out for Midoriya a blur passes and you catch a glimpse of yellow grab Midoriya and Bakugo but before it could catch you a hand already latched onto you and the two of you crashed into the ground. Instinctively you erased his decay but the others you would have to deal with.

“Y/NNN!”

Your hands grasp his wrist holding him back from stealing your quirk as the two of you stare at each other the pure force and power from the two of you holding each other back.

“Y/n~” He grins.

“I won’t let you hurt anyone else Shigaraki!” You scream out and he grins before slamming his head against yours sending you flying back rolling on the ground for a bit. Pushing yourself up and pressing your hand to your head you pull back seeing red and it drips down your face wiping it on your clothes you stare across at him.

“I’m taking One For All from the boy and once I’ve down that, I will fully take All For One from you.” He says and you glare at him, in a frightening instant he’s in front of you his hand slamming against your chest ready to decay when nothing happens. Someone snatches you up into the air and you see Shigaraki get slapped away by Ryukyu. Looking up at your savior seeing it being Endeavor.

“You’re his sister aren’t you…” He says and you don’t bother hiding and nod. He sighs before he throws you off and someone else grabs you sending you away.

“You’re insane fighting him Shimura!” Gran Torino’s voice yells at you before he lands back down with Midoriya and Bakugo. Midoriya instantly grabs you pulling you into his arms and you clutch his sleeves safely in his arms.

“Should be good here.” Gran Torino says the four of you are a far distance from Shigaraki.

“But Aizawa Sensei’s down there!” Midoriya says…so it was him that saved you..he erased Shigaraki’s quirk.

“Yeah, he’s sealing off Shigaraki’s quirks.” Gran Torino says and from the distance, you could see flames shoot up in the air.

“We’re still pretty damn close gramps!” Bakugo yells. Gran Torino gives him a look before looking at the two of you.

“Bakugo already knows everything…” You say.

“One For All and All For One? Yeah, Toshinori told me. And this is as far as we go, Bakugo. That thing’s capable of moving quicker than any of us expected. There are only so many heroes…who can chase, and since our comms are jammed, luring him too far away would actually give Shigaraki free rein. You already got that thing away from the people and into Eraser’s line of sight! That’s a job well done.” Gran Torino says before turning away from you all, “Now I’m heading back to help keep Eraser mobile.”

“Are you saying we should just hide?!” Midoriya says.

“Word is All For One’s quirk was transferred to Shigaraki. If he manages to steal One For All and All For One from the both of you, well… what’s worse than the worst-case scenario?” Gran Torino says before a loud roar covers the battlefield. Far off in the distance, you see creatures appearing from the rubble…Nomus.

“Dang it! Two of ‘em are heading right for Eraser!!” Gran Torino says shooting off, “You three keep hidden!” He’s gone the fight before you but you were forced here. You take a step forward but an arm shoots out stopping you.

“We can’t. Gran Torino told us to stay back.” Bakugo says but you push his arm aside another hand grabs your wrist and you look back seeing Midoriya looking at you with a hard look on his face.

“Y/n…”

“No, I’m not just gonna stand to the side while he kills them off!” You yell trying to pull your hand free.

“Shigaraki almost killed you if it weren’t for Mr. Aizawa!” Midoriya yells back.

“I have to! I have to be the one to stop him! It’s my fault he’s like this.” You yell out, “Maybe if I tried more he wouldn’t have felt unloved…if I was stronger I could have freed both of us!” Tears brim your eyes but you swipe them away. If you just did more maybe things would have been different.

“That’s the past,” Bakugo says and you look over at him, “Like you said that thing is on a whole different level. Your brother is dead.” His words strike deep and you freeze as your tears mix with the blood dripping from your wound. Looking back at the fight you see the manic look on his face, the bloodlust…the power. He wasn’t Tenko anymore…he wasn’t even Shigaraki anymore…it was just All For One.

Your eyes widen seeing Shigaraki propel himself right toward Mr. Aizawa. You could see Shigaraki’s hand making contact and Aizawa being dusted in the air. It was simultaneously as the three of you took off. Aizawa pulls his knife ready to face off with Shigaraki and Gran Torino is just seconds from blocking Shigaraki when a boy rushes in colliding him head-on.

“SENSEI!” Midoriya yells holding back Shigaraki a cold look on his face as the villain grins.

“IT’S OUR TURN!!” Bakugo yells out appearing from behind Midoriya with an explosion ready.

“What-?!” Gran Torino yells out.

“AS LONG AS SHIGARKI’S QUIRKS ARE ERASED, WE CAN JOIN THIS FIGHT TOO! THE WORSE CASE…IS LOSING OUT TEACHER! THE TEACHER WHO HAS WATCHED OVER US ALL THIS TIME! WE CAN’T LOSE HIM!” Midoriya yells out.

“Midoriya.” Aizawa breathes out a flash of the young boy completely gone to the boy...no...hero in front of him.

“LET’S DO THIS THING RATIONALLY!” Bakugo yells as Midoriya uses Blackwhip to flip behind Shigaraki and the blonde fires fast A.P. shots at the villain.

Shigaraki pushes through the burns, “Cute fireworks show, there.” He grins trying to move forward but Blackwhip holds him back. He rushes forward pulling the boy with him appearing in front of Bakugo, “Sorry. You’re not on my radar anymore.” Before he could land a hit on him. Black rivets stab Shigaraki through his stomach and arms and he is ripped away from them, pulling away. A fist comes in contact with his chest and sending him flying forward and getting dug into the ground. Aizawa and Gran Torino's gaze shoot over as the dust clears and your walk towards them with black rivets returning from one of your hands the other hand still sparking with All For One.

Shigaraki stands up looking down at his chest and arms the small holes healing but where you punched him cracks are forming but healing slowly this time, looking across the field your look could kill a man ten times over.

“Endeavor!” Midoriya yells out as the flame hero lands beside you.

“Where’s Shoto?!” He yells his gaze still focused on Shigaraki.

“It’s just us three here!” Midoriya responds.

“That body’s beyond human at this point.” Gran Torino says and Bakugo scoffs.

“As powerful and sturdy as All Might…” Endeavor says the flames covering his body burn brighter.

“As….All Might…?”

“He’s healing slower,” You point out to see the decay healed but it took a while, “Regular injuries he can heal but his own quirk against him…it takes longer.” Fighting a quirk that works so quickly would be his own downfall.

“But as long as I don’t blink, that power is all he’s got. And I’ll hold on for a good long time.” Eraser says.

“For whatever reason, you three are here now…” Endeavor says, “Let’s save the ‘why’ for later!” You cut him off as Shigaraki rushes toward you all.

“We’re giving Eraser the support he needs! Bakugo you cover Deku and Shimura!” Endeavor yells out.

“One for All….!” Shigaraki groans grabbing his head before looking up a large crack appears from the right side of his face going straight through his eye and to his mouth, “YOU WILL BE MINE….LITTLE BROTHER.”

Brother? Endeavor quickly uses hell spider but Shigaraki dodges them skillfully Gran Torino bursts through kicking him back and dragging him to the ground.

“Now quit….trampling all over…Shimura’s memory!” He yells out rearing his fist back to strike him but Shigaraki grabs him throwing him aside flying right past Endeavor as well getting hit as well and through the flames he grins seeing the two of you standing together your quirks ready to defend yourself.

“THEY WERE JUST BAIT!” Bakugo yells pulling the pin of his gauntlet sending a tower of explosions and flames right down on Shigaraki’s head Endeavor dives into the flames swinging a fist full of flames right at the villain and he is brought to the ground steam coming off him as he twitches.

“Tomura Shigaraki…gather up all the power you like! But without ideals, your hollow destruction will never bring us down!!” Endeavor yells out at him and Shigaraki slowly pushes himself to his knees letting out gasps of air.

“You heroes….hurt your own families..just to help complete strangers!” Shigaraki spats and you watch as deep black cracks appear across his skin, “Dad told me that. He told us that! You want ideals…? I have it..! No, I had it…! You heroes….pretend to be society’s guardians.” He pushes himself to stand his body barely able to support himself as his hair covers his face.

“For generations…you pretended not to see those you couldn’t protect..and swept their pain under the rug. It’s tainted everything you’ve built. That means…your system’s all rotten from the inside…with maggots crawling out. It all builds up…little by little, over time. You’ve got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that need coddling. It’s a corrupt, vicious cycle. Everything I’ve witnessed…this whole system you’ve built has always rejected me. Now I’m ready to reject it. That’s why I destroy. That’s why I took this power for myself. Why I’ll take your power too. Simple enough, yeah?” Shigaraki says raising his hand and pointing it straight at you when he says ‘your power’.

“I don’t care if you don’t understand….that’s what makes us…HEROES and VILLAINS.”

A wave of fire shoots out right at Shigaraki, “Thanks for the breather! And since you’re on death’s door and all…prepare to-” Shigaraki jumps from the flames a look of pure evil paints his face before he is quickly slammed into the floor by Gran Torino. He swings around but Gran Torino moves back. Shigaraki’s hand shoots out grabbing his leg and with a sickening crunch, blood paints the air.

“GRAN TORINO!” Both your voice and Midoriya’s cry out and you all rush toward him as Shigaraki slams Gran Torino into the ground a crater forming and blood flies into the air.

“NOOO!” Your voice rips through the air and you swing your fist out at Shigaraki but before it could make contact he had disappeared from in front of you. He was faster now! Your head snaps behind you and he’s rushing straight toward Eraserhead. Shigaraki collides with Ryukyu’s hand trapped inside her own hand digging through the flesh and dragging her forward. Midoriya appears choking him from behind Blackwhip binding Shigaraki to him.

“I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!” “And I won’t forgive anyone.” Shigaraki elbows Midoriya hard blood spurting from his mouth but his hold on him stay strong.

“HOLD HIM RIGHT THERE, DEKU!” Endeavor yells out as you and Bakugo rush toward Shigaraki.

“HE’S GOT A DELETER ROUND!” Ryukyu roars out and you all are sprinting toward him. If that were to hit someone their quirk would be gone forever.

“100 PERCENT WYOMING SMASH!!” Midoriya screams out bringing his fist right down on Shigaraki the air pressure sends you all back and the bullet is let loose.

“SENSEIII!” A scream rips through your throat as the bullet hits Eraser’s crimpled leg just as fast as it hits him his leg is a stump of the limb on the floor. A shockwave sends you all flying back, you hit the ground rolling for a bit when you look up Shigaraki is in front of Eraser his hand digging into his face. A wall of ice sends Shigaraki up in the air and Midoriya punches him further away grabbing Eraser and the other heroes pulling them away.

“Sensei!...Sensei!!” Midoriya cries out holding his teacher in his arms.

“So you protected him…So what?” Shigaraki’s voice calls out through the smoke as it begins to clear his injuries healed, “Delay the inevitable all you like. Destruction is all that awaits you.”

“SHIGARAKIII!” “SHIMURA NO!”

Fiery red rage blinds you. It’s like a blur from where you stood beside Bakugo and appeared in front of Shigaraki your fist slams into the ground and it cracks underneath him before spikes appear underneath him cutting him up but he jumps back. Swiping your arms down blue flames erupt from your arms crashing down on Shigaraki the heat and power burn up your sleeves straight up to your shoulder. Push past the pain. He appears with burns littering his body as they heal but you’re at him again your hand grips his arm throwing him up into the air before your shoot yourself in the air with One For All lighting up your veins and an explosion from your palms. Rivets appear from your fingers digging into his chest pulling him closer your fist sparks bright red and he stares up with widened eyes. Your fist connects with his chest and he collides into the ground a crater forming and you hit the ground a cracking forming under yourself.

“Take All For One.” His voice rings clear in both yours and Shigaraki’s heads and the two of you stare at each other. The two of you take a step forward when a large rip appears from Shigaraki's body going through his arm and his chest blood pouring out of him.

“Ah, I see…I get why I was all busted up just a second ago…I had to push past my body’s limits to keep moving…” He says before looking up at you, “What’s the date today…?” His body…his body wasn’t fully ready to accept the quirk..too much power for his body to keep up with!

“You’re reaching your limit too, huh dear sister?” Shigaraki says looking at you and you glare at him ignoring the pain radiating through your body.

“I’ve had this quirk longer than you have! I’m not the one being ripped apar-” Blood spurts from your mouth and you stumble on your feet.

“Y/N!” “SHIMURA!” The voices of your fellow heroes call out to you. As fire rushes through your veins and skin. Looking at yourself you look in horror as your arm barely hangs onto your shoulder and the gash running across your chest is similar to Shigaraki. Looking up at him as his own wounds slowly start healing while yours grows worst. He didn’t touch you, you made sure.

“A connection runs deeper than you think Y/n! You will feel the pain I feel!” He yells out and he quickly crouches down, “One touch..should end this!!” His palm slams against the ground and before his quirk could touch you, you’re suddenly up in the air.

“We’re floating?!” Rock Lock yells out as you see you all are wrapped in blackwhip in the air safe from decaying. Looking up you see Midoriya holding you all up floating in the air…

The seventh user’s FLOAT!

“Up here…is where I’ll beat you! I swear it, with all I got!” Midoriya yells out the full power of One For All running through his veins. His grip on all of you falters before he lets you all fall back to the ground, “Take care of Gran Torino and the rest!” Midoriya yells before pulling himself back into the fight with Shigaraki.

“Izuku!” You cry out trying to push yourself up but Bakugo holds you down as you scream out in pain.

“They need first aid now! Get to it Shoto!” Endeavor yells out as your gaze is glued to the sky seeing Midoriya fly through the sky. Your free hand grabs Bakugo by the collar pulling him to your face.

“Bakugo you better not let him die!” You scream in his face before crying out as your arm and chest continues to bleed out. Bakugo looks down at you and back at Midoriya in the sky. This was bad the two of you were the ones Shigaraki was after and he had to choose which one to defend.

“DEKU! YOU’RE THE ONE GUY WHO NEEDS TO KEEP HIS DISTANCE FROM THAT CREEP! HE’S NO LONGER HELD BACK BY ERASURE!” Bakugo screams up at him.

“BUT WHO ELSE CAN KEEP SHIGARAKI OFF THE GROUND?!” Midoriya screams back.

“Please I…I gotta stop Shigaraki...I gotta.” You try pushing yourself up but Todoroki moves over to you holding you down and your vision goes white for a second from the pain.

“You’re in no condition to be moving. Stand down!” Todoroki yells down at you and tears brim your eyes, you were covered in scuff marks and blood and with the gash across your chest and your arm barely hanging on he was surprised you didn’t pass out from the blood loss. “You’re arm I don’t think it’s going to make it.” He says almost hesitating to make the decision to remove your arm but your hand jumps out stopping him.

“No! Stop its healing…slowly...It’s taking a while to learn…to learn this quirk.” You wheeze out and he looks at your arm and chest and you were right slowly your skin and muscles were fusing together but how long would that take?

“Just stay down…until you’re ready.” He says and a shockwave and an explosion of light send dust and debris flying back. Up in the air, it’s just flashes of green and explosions of power��this was One For All.

“A-Amazing…” Manual breathes out.

“No. He’s gonna lose if this keeps up.” Bakugo says as you all look up at the intense fight Midoriya is putting up, “Deku’s using his legs and air force to negate the blowback…controlling multiple quirks…simultaneously..it’s taking every skill he’s got to keep Shigaraki in the air. But since that first hit didn’t seal the deal, it’s now an endurance match. Deku can’t last forever against a guy who can regenerate. In a few minutes, he’ll be dusted and have his power taken from him. YOU FINISHED WITH THAT FIRST AID, TODOROKI?!” Todoroki looks down at you and you nod and he moves over to Bakugo leaving you propped against some rubble beside Rock Lock who is holding Mr. Aizawa.

“Endeavor! Don’t waste any fire on flying up there, cuz I’ve got that part covered! And, Todoroki, keep Endeavor cool till the last possible moment!” Bakugo yells out.

“You’re thinking I should finish him off…with a max firepower attack…leave it to me!” Endeavor yells out steam pouring off him.

“But…they’re just kids…” Rock Lock stutters.

“Take care of Sensei and the others!” Todoroki yells back at Rock Lock and the three of them shoot up into the air.

Why was he doubting ‘em…? Seeing that Deku during the raid and now he was one helluva hero and you, just a glimpse during the raid he could tell you were powerful but now as you laid beside his feet healing slowly. You tore yourself apart fighting single-handly against Shigaraki and those boys you all were putting your all more than he could say for some other heroes.

Bakugo and Todoroki throw Endeavor up in the air and he latches onto Shigaraki.

“PROMINENCE BUUUUURN!!” A bright light of fire fills the sky as Shigaraki burns up by the point-blank attack.

Tomura….lend me your body.

Rivets erupt from Shigaraki impaling Endeavor as he falls back plummeting to the ground before more head straight towards Midoriya who can’t dodge. At the moment there were no thoughts…in his head. His body just moved on its own.

“KACCHAN!”

A scream rips through your throat as your back arches in an unusual manner and Manual and Rock Lock look down at you shocked as you scream bloody murder.

“HEY, KID!” “STAY WITH US!”

“I request your assistance child…it seems your insolent brother rage is stronger than I expected.”

“NO, I WON’T LET YOU!”

“My dear…you can’t fight the hold I’ve curated for years….now.”

Fight My Sword.

TAG LIST-

@jazzylove @coochiehaitachi @me-e-mo @galaneiaeris @nothingtoseehere-01 @endlessmari @twitterpat @one-hell-of-a-potato29 @stxrrielle

#mimic series #midoriya x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #bakugou katsuki #shoto todoroki #shota aizawa #tomura shigaraki #izuku x reader #mha #mha x reader

[honeyspiders10]

Welcome back, to my tavern!

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Masterlist!

My name is Charlie! And this is my tavern!

Requests are open!!

Go check out my girl! @nerdysleepybunny <3

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Things I will write for:

Anything Pride/LGBTQIA+! (you are valid! <3)

Gender neutral reader!

Male reader!

Non binary reader!

And male aligned readers!

(I will write female readers for my friends and friends only. Sorry for the inconvenience)

Poly relationships! Between reader and characters.

Platonic relationships!

And Child!reader and Parent!character!

I will also write for my age regression community!

Ships are welcome as well!

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Things I will not write for:

NSFW! I'm a minor! I have a lot of age regression moots, and most of them are not comfortable with NSFW. So, you will not find smut on my blog at all.

Anxiety, depression, etc. These can be triggering topics to some people, and I want this to be a safe spot.

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Fandoms: TV shows and Movies

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Hasbin Hotel:

Angel Dust

Husker

Charlie

Vaggie

Nifty

Alastor

Lucifier

Ships:

Husker x Angel Dust

Alastor x Lucifer

Vaggie x Charlie

Okay with x reader:

Husker x Angel Dust x Reader

Alastor x Lucifer x reader

Vaggie x Charlie x reader

The Lord of the Rings:

Gimli

Legolas

Aragorn

Gandalf (platonic only!)

Frodo

Sam

Mary

Pippin

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The Walking Dead:

Glen

Maggie

Negan

Abraham

Carl

Rick

Beth

Lori

Carol

Daryl

Eugene

Dale (platonic only!)

Tdog

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Supernatural:

Dean

Sam

Cas

Crowley

Rowena

Lucifer

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Marvel:

Bucky

Sam

Steve

Stephen

Rhody

Tony

Pepper

Groot (platonic only!)

Rocket (platonic only!)

Gamora

Nebula

Drax

Mantix (platonic only!)

Quil

Thor

Loki

Peter

Ned

Wong

MJ

Natasha

Bruce/Hulk

Scott

(If there are any more, let me know! I'll write for just about anyone from the MCU!)

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Kids shows:

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Octonaunts:

Barnacles

Peso

Kwazii

Shellington

Dashi

Tweak

Inkling (platonic only!)

Vegimals (platonic only!)

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Ninjago:

Cole

Kai

Jay

Zane

Nya

Lloyd

Wu (platonic only!)

Garmadon

Zora

Wyldfire

Arin

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Sing 1-2:

Johnny

Mena

Rosita (platonic only!)

Gunther

Ash

Mrs. Crawley (platonic only!)

Buster

Suki

Clay

Krystal

Porsha

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Anime:

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Naruto:

Choji

Naruto

Sasuke

Sakura

Shikamaru

Ino

Tenten

Neji

Lee

Kakashi

Guy

Asuma

Jiraiya

Tsunade

Orichimaru

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Demonslayer:

Tanjiro

Inosuke

Zenitsu

Genya

Rengoku

Tengen

All tengens wifes

Shinobu

Sanemi

Gyomei

Mitsuri

Obanai

Giyuu

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My Hero Academia:

All of class 1-A

The big three

Shinso

Wild, wild pussycats

Dabi

Shigaraki

Staib

Lady Nagant

Toga

Overhaul

Gentle criminal (platonic only!)

Twice

Mr. Compress

Mei

Aizawa

Nezu (platonic only!)

Fatgum

Endeavor

Present Mike

Midnight

All Might

Hawks

Snipe

Recovery girl (platonic only!)

Mt. Lady

Vlad King

Edgeshot

Best jeanist

Ms. Joke

Mirko

Kamui Woods

Ryukyu

Gang orca

Inasa

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Beastars:

Riz

Legoshi

Jack

Haru

Pina

Louis

Juno

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Novels:

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Heartstopper: platonic only!

Charlie

Nick

Imogen

Aled

Sahar

Darcy

Tara

Issac

Tao

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Thank you for reading! Safe journeys, travelers!

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#x reader #sing 2021 #gareth x male reader #eddie x steve #male reader #eddie munson #my hero academia #sing #ninjago #ninjago cole x reader #x nonbinary reader #x female reader #beastars #greys anatomy #beastars x reader #greys anatomy x reader