#clockwork watching this all go down: hehehe just like i planned | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chaotic-on-main · 6 months

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HEYY can I get uhhh a vanilla bean sugar cone with candy pls? 🎀

(And they’re both shy and blushy heheh)

Order up!! One vanilla bean sugar cone with candy for Tay!!

Sky's Summer Fall and 250 Follower Event!

☾ Pairing ➼ Armin Arlert x gn!Reader

☾ Content/Warning ➼ fluff, modernau, mutual pining

☾ A/N ➼ hi hi bby!! :3 thank you for sending a request in. i actually had one completely different planned but for the time, i had to move it and decided to go in a different direction. worry not though, i do plan to write that other one eventually!! because it's so cute. ANYWHO. have a cute armin hehe reader isn't too blushy but she is on the inside! i hope you like it!! happy birthday to the babiest of all babies, armin <3

☾ Wordcount ➼ ~2.2k

Armin Arlert spent his whole life busting his ass for a successful future. At a young age, he lost his parents from a plane accident and since then it's been just him and his grandfather. Due to his grandfather's old age, he did what he could to step up as soon as he was old enough – working odd jobs despite his long hours in school during the day.

With great persistence, he worked hard enough to get into a decent college off the coast to pursue an education in marine biology but of what focus, he wasn't sure. Regardless, to say Armin was tired would be an understatement.

With his program came multiple opportunities to gain experience in his field. At first, he dabbled in small research groups, taking samples of the local corals and sea water – but it wasn't nearly as satisfying to him as when he got to volunteer once a week in the aquarium just a few miles south of campus.

It took a few semesters to gain the necessary certifications and log enough dives to qualify. But eventually, he was able to start working as a diver, helping observe animal behavior and cleaning what was needed.

Armin has loved the sea for as long as he could remember, something his grandfather had instilled in him as a distraction from his deceased parents. It wasn't until his late teens that he was able to actually visit one, let alone live by one. Nothing could have prepared him for how much he would love it.

Even more so when he was underwater, whether it be in a tank or the wide ocean. There was nothing quite like the warbled silence that comes with diving deep in the fish tanks in full gear, nothing but various sea life and bubbles floating around him. But even with all of the beauty that surrounds him, nothing compared to the person that walks by the tank every shift with a gaggle of young kids and their chaperoning adults following behind.

You, the tour guide who worked every Saturday and a student who sat two rows ahead of him in the organic chemistry class you both shared.

In class, you were studious as ever. Attentive to every word the professor said. Typing away with nimble fingers at every comment and question proposed. Every day you would walk in like you were floating on air, a bright smile on your lips that matched the same shine in your beautiful eyes. There have been a couple times that you shot him one of those smiles and he swears he could have dropped dead then. He doesn't know when he developed this crush on you, but it was all consuming.

So he watches as he always does, you coming down the ramp with that smile and your arms flying around animatedly as you talked about the next tank – the one he was in. Like clockwork, you raise your hand and look over to him then wave prompting the little ones to wave as well. Armin waves back, as he always does, but his bright blue eyes don't leave your face.

Just as quick as you came, you ask your group a question before starting off in the next tank's direction. On your way past, you look up to where Armin still floats and offer him another small wave, this time your gaze lingering on him. If his face wasn't covered up, you would have seen the warmest pink flush his face.

The conversations between the two of you remained professional for the most part, whether it be about the aquarium or the coursework load. Armin would love to extend that conversation with you, but he was always too nervous around you. He was lucky to get more than thirty words out before choking or having to pull away for air. There was something about you that was just so intoxicating and Armin had no idea how to navigate that, never mind the fact that he hadn't had time to even think about dating ever with his busy schedule.

But one day, you made it easier for him.

Sometime during the late fall months, you found Armin in the break room propped up in the back corner with a book in one hand and sandwich in the other, half eaten. His blue eyes are practically glued to the page with his mind in another world, so much so that he doesn't even hear you come in. You take a moment to inspect his face. His eyebrows are furrowed in concern as his gaze flits across the words.

“That must be one hell of a book.” You joke as you walk over to your work locker. You miss the way Armin jumps at your sudden voice, but settle down quickly because he realizes it's you.

“I didn't hear you come in. It really is! Have you read it?” His soft voice responds back.

You look over your shoulder to see Armin holding up his book with a small smile. At first glance, you notice the big Stephen King across the top of the cover. Under that is a picture you know all too well with the title, ‘The Institute’. The biggest smile pulls at your cheeks as you see Armin holding your favorite book at the moment.

“I love that book! I've read it at least a few times!” You exclaim as you grab your belongings and sit on the chair next to him. Armin's heart leaps into his throat at your sudden proximity. Your faint honey-vanilla perfume dances in his senses as you lean over to get a better look at where he was at in the story.

“Oh you’re just at my favorite part, too!” Armin has to pull back so that you don't bump heads with him. He's never been so close to you before, but now that he is, he takes in the beauty of your face and complex coloration in your eyes. You raise an eyebrow at him, and he just now realizes that you've asked him something.

“W-what was that?” He squeaks out, feeling his face warm even more.

“I was asking how you liked the escape scene. It's so thrilling right??” You lean back finally but Armin still feels like he can't breathe from being near you.

“I- yeah. It's stressful for sure.” He smiles back at you, cautious but sweet.

“I'm sorry for getting so in your face, I'm just so excited to see someone I know reading that. It's easily my most recommended read.” You dig in your bag as you continue on, searching for the cool metal of your car keys that must be buried deep.

“What was your favorite part, if you don't mind me asking?” Armin carefully closes the book, making sure to place his bookmark in the right spot before doing so. Your excitement and happiness radiates off you like the sun.

“Oh my gosh, I love questions! It's gotta be when Nick and Kalisha kiss! I shipped them for so long so when they finally did that, it was like it all paid off. Not to mention that it was placed during a high tension moment!! I love those kinds of kisses. And you never would have thought they would end up like that, you know? Like, it's one of those romances where they end up falling for each other due to their circumstances and what not. It's just so cute!” You rattle on, staring straight into Armin's crystal blue eyes with a large grin on your face.

Armin’s interactions with you were always brief that he never really knew you, so to see this side of you was surprising to say the least. Not like it was a bad thing though, he already had a crush on you but now he was enamored. He could listen to you talking about your favorite things all day, he thinks.

“You think it's weird that such a little moment would be my favorite, don't you?” You tease, not a hint of distress in your tone.

“No! Not at all! Different, perhaps. But interesting for sure!” Armin waves his hands in front of his chest in a defensive manner, the book's pages fluttering from the back and forth motion.

“Good, because I was about to tease you about how goofy you look in your diving gear.” You laugh, the sound of it reverberating off the break room's walls. It tickles his brain in a pleasant way.

“What's wrong with my gear?” Armin glances at the clock briefly and notices he only has a few minutes left before he needs to get ready to leave for his night job. He found it easier for himself if he brought everything he needed for the day instead of going back and forth from his apartment.

“Nothing, silly. I'm just kidding. You look rather dashing in it, if I may be so blunt.” You mutter as you force your face into your bag. You still haven't been able to find your keys. Because of that, you miss the shell-shocked expression gracing his soft face. It's gone though as soon as you pop your head out. “Ah-ha!” You pull out a keychain with various charms sparkling off the bright fluorescents.

“Seems like it's time for us to head out, huh?” You check the time on your phone with a soft sigh before glancing over at him. Seems to Armin that he's not the only one who noticed you both left at the same time most days.

“Hey Armin, what are you doing tomorrow?” You ask innocently as you stand up, slinging your bag over your shoulder then turning to face the blushy blonde.

“Um, well it's my day off so I'll be catching up on some school work.” Armin stands up too, and much to your shock, you notice how much taller he is to you. Whenever you talked to him or worked with him, he was always in the tank or sitting at his desk. He wasn't towering per se, but you absolutely had to look up to keep his gaze.

“There's this bookshop that I've been dying to visit and I heard it has some published research journals I think would be great for our end of the year project.”

“Oh, uh. That's awesome, you'll gave to tell me what you think of it in class on Monday.”

“Well, why don't you come see it for yourself. Shopping is always fun with people you know, right? Do you have about an hour or so to spare?” You adjust the strap of your bag, mainly out of the sheer anxiety that floods your veins. You kept up a solid front, but inside you were churning.

“Yeah!-“ His voice jumps an octave before clearing his throat in a way to compose himself. “I can make time for that, sure.”

“Awesome! I think I still have your number from that homework assignment a few months ago so I'll message you when I'm ready tomorrow, yeah?” Another wide grin pulls from your cheeks, your stomach somersaulting at his cute expression. You were nervous around him but he was just so adorable, it made everything easier.

His heart quickens in pace as he fumbles with putting his own things away into his bag and zipping it tight. There's a pause as he watches you give him one more smile before turning on your heel for the door. He reaches a hand out as if to stop you but he hesitates. Is this what he thinks you're asking? If you were anyone else, he wouldn't have been so bold but there's something about you that makes him want to be a little more brave. So he calls your name to get your attention.

“Wait! Is this… is this a date?” His voice cracks ever so slightly.

“If you'd like that, yeah.” Your upper half turns in his direction as you throw him a cheeky smile.

“I would love that, actually.” Armin shuffles his feet, looking down at them only for a second before meeting your eyes once again. You're met with a shy smile and the softest shade of pink lighting up his face.

“Great. Then I'll see you tomorrow for our date.” And with that you're out the door, the lingering scent of your perfume the only proof of the interaction he just had with you. His hand closes in front of him, as if to grab hold of this moment.

On his way to his car, an inkling of a voice telling Armin he didn't have time for something like this creeps up on him. He had homework to catch up on, and not to mention the school week started up again so soon. For once though, he finds himself being able to overpower that voice so much so it turns into a whisper. He was allowed something like this. And if part of his day off included you, well. Working harder to make up some things would be worth it.

#sky's summer event #armin arlert #armin x reader #armin arlet #armin arlert x reader #armin arlet x reader #x reader #attack on titan #aot #shingeki no kyojin #snk #fluff #modernau #asked #answered

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komahinasecretexchange · 4 years

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Title: School Unity Club

Author: @thatsrightdollface

For: @bebexox4

Pairings/Characters: Hajime Hinata/Nagito Komaeda, with appearances by both Chiaki Nanami and Kokichi Oma. Others mentioned.

Rating/Warnings: T. Some mention of self-deprecating thought might be a relevant warning. There is also occasional swearing.

Prompt: Non despair hopes peak au with Enemies-Friends-Lovers komahina

Author’s notes: Hi there!!! Happy Komahina Secret Exchange, and I hope you enjoy your gifts!!! :D This is prompt one of two you can expect this time around. This was really fun to work on hehehe. Thank you!!!

1. Okay, Why Are We Starting a School Unity Club Again?

The first time Hope’s Peak Academy tried to recruit Nagito Komaeda, of course he turned them down: he was unworthy, he insisted, trying to laugh at himself, trying to raise his metaphorical palms in obvious surrender. I mean, come on. Hope’s Peak… haha, that was for genuinely amazing people. For the Ultimate Students, glimmering irrefutable beacons of hope to everybody else. They were — no. Nagito couldn’t go to school with people like that. Practically superheroes, so hardworking and disciplined and just everything Nagito knew he didn’t deserve to be. What would he even say? How would he know where to sit, or when to participate in class discussions, or how to tactfully say no when they felt obligated to invite him along places?

But, in the end, Hope’s Peak Academy hadn’t so much wanted Nagito as a student, he gathered, as they’d wanted to study his luck. Nagito’d always had unreasonable, relentless, mythically impossible luck. Amazing things happened to him, and then… like clockwork, like the gears of the universe churning away… equally devastating things inevitably followed. The Ultimate Lucky Student. That’s right. After years of fallen-apart loved ones and distant extended family members and snakes slithering out of his bathtub drain the second he realized “You know, I think this might be my favorite brand of shampoo,” Nagito Komaeda’s absurd luck was finally going to help somebody. Hope’s Peak could learn from his luck, and that was worth humiliating himself daily, stumbling around Ultimate Students, rambling and awestruck. That was worth knowing he’d never belong, because he hadn’t worked for his Talent. It wasn’t really a Talent at all.

When Nagito was happy, he knew he was sure to feel tears burning against the back of his eyes very soon. He was happy about the chance to attend Hope’s Peak, despite everything, despite knowing he should have turned the invitation down again, whether his luck could be useful or no… and so, of course, bad things followed. Bad things he hadn’t talked to his classmates about, yet, and probably never would. Because it wasn’t like Nagito had come to such a prestigious institution expecting anybody to actually care about him. It wasn’t like he would have clawed his way in without being invited. Right?

Nagito liked to think that was right, anyway, just the way he liked to think he didn’t actually want any of his fancy, impossible new classmates to contradict him when he described himself as worthless, a faceless background character in their lives. Why should they tell him he was more than a bystander? Nagito would hold the camera when his classmates wanted a group photo. That should be more than enough. If he wanted to get something done for their sake, he could lean on his Ultimate Luck. If he drew a lottery number, it would always win. If a car was careening out of control through the school grounds, it would be sure to hit him before it clobbered anyone else. A weird system — a horrible system, from some points of view — but it was the least Nagito could do. It was his so-called “Talent,” after all.

Maybe that was why the Reserve Course had never made a lot of sense, to Nagito. See, some people could pay a hell of a lot of extra tuition money and buy their way into Hope’s Peak… but not as Ultimates. It felt like a flashlight demanding to be called the sun, to Nagito. Like a puddle on the street insisting it was the ocean. If Ultimates really were “hope,” then how dare anybody scramble around to grab their spotlight away, right? Reserve Course attendants would probably be easier to get along with than the Ultimate Students, given that Nagito was more or less “one of them”… a nobody, a stranger, an intruder here in this place for gods. But he didn’t go looking for friends among the Reserve Course, either. Why should he want to be buddy-buddy with arrogant pretenders? It wasn’t like Nagito had ever felt especially good at talking to people, anyway. He’d probably say something wrong; he’d probably mess something up; he’d probably just get furious. Wouldn’t you want to turn off the flashlight that thought it was the sun?

Better not to delude yourself, even if the truth was ugly, full of shaky, simpering smiles and resignation. Happiness led to pain. Good luck led to misery. On and on and on, and Nagito had been fairly sure he’d graduate from Hope’s Peak without any of his classmates having memorized his full name. You know, if he lived that long.

That’s why it was all the more surprising when Chiaki Nanami… the Ultimate Gamer… kept insisting on talking to him. Of course, Chiaki was kind to their whole class. She had no reason to sit silently and play phone games with Nagito until his phone caught fire in his hands — she had no reason to chat about his favorite super-indie horror titles during breaks in schoolwork, coming over to stand by his desk on purpose. Chiaki wanted to understand everybody: she told Nagito as much, honestly. Chiaki wanted their whole class to be a team, and so when she asked Nagito to show up for movie nights he did. He knew he’d suffer the bad luck for it later, but he picked up the phone when Chiaki called him every time.

If she wanted to be friends with everyone, Chiaki shouldn’t have to work for the Ultimate Lucky Student’s friendship, obviously. He should be a shoe-in. And it wasn’t really that Nagito was having fun that kept him sticking around, probably. It wasn’t really that he was starting to banter with the Ultimate Mechanic and the Ultimate Gangster, as if they were actually… uh… friendly acquaintances, or something, either. Chiaki told him he was reliable, even if he still wouldn’t admit he belonged with the rest of them. Even if he said hurtful things sometimes and didn’t seem to realize it.

“What?!” Nagito had balked, then. “Have I insulted you? Oh, no. No, that’s unacceptable. For someone like me to speak badly of an Ultimate Student, even without meaning to —”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Chiaki had answered. She reminded Nagito of a cat, pretty consistently… heavy-lidded eyes, and a voice like a tail swishing slowly back and forth. She didn’t look up from the game system in her hands as she drawled at him. “You say horrible things about yourself, and about how you can’t understand why I’d want anything to do with you… makes me feel like you don’t think I can pick my own friends. I say I think you’re okay, and you spend the next half an hour telling me why that’s a stupid thing to think. Kazuichi says he’s glad you stopped by to help him work on that robot project he’s building, and you have to make him apologize for thinking ‘trash like you’ deserves to hang out with the Ultimate Mechanic at all.”

Nagito wasn’t sure how to respond to any of that. He’d cleared his throat.

“Your friends will hurt when they see you hurt, Nagito. I always heard people in games saying that, and now I know it’s true. Okay?”

“Hm. Okay… if you’re sure, as an Ultimate Student.”

“I’m sure as your friend Chiaki.”

“Interesting. I mean… yeah, I’ll do my best not to hurt you?”

Nagito had been watching the way he talked about himself around Chiaki Nanami for about a week before she came to him with a plan she’d been working on with the Ultimate Supreme Leader. Kokichi Oma was a couple years behind them, but he was always scheming like the “Spawn of Loki” the Ultimate Animal Breeder declared him to be — his latest plan involved trying to unite the two branches of their school, the Main Course and the Reserve Course, coming together for some sort of mysterious club. Chiaki was all for it, apparently, and Nagito had wanted to say a lot of things. He’d wanted to say it sounded like reassuring the puddle that ships could drown in it after all, and coral reefs were sure to grow. It felt false, and wrong. But a lot of things Kokichi Oma said felt “false and wrong,” and Nagito wanted to be Chiaki’s real, worthy friend so badly. He agreed to help, however he could.

“It’s so generous of the Ultimates to share their Talents with everybody!” Nagito said. That was a fair enough rationalization, wasn’t it? “You really are a commendable person, Ultimate Supreme Leader. Even if practically everything you say is a shameless lie!”

And, “Hey now, most of my nefarious criminal organization members wouldn’t be called ‘Ultimate,’ and they’ve got more talents to share around than this whole stuck-up school,” Kokichi answered, voice light and airy, like he wasn’t actually invested in the conversation… though his eyes said he really was, unless that expression was just another lie from him? Lies upon lies upon lies. People told Nagito he was confusing to talk to, but surely he couldn’t have anything on Kokichi Oma. Was that okay for him to think? “A lot of these titles we got assigned feel pretty arbitrary, if you ask me. And it’s ridiculous we’ve never actually met so many of our classmates!”

Nagito raised his eyebrows. “Classmates?”

Kokichi stared him down, smile practically painted on. “Classmates. Yeah. Just think of how many possible recruits for my organization might be waiting in the Reserve Course… ya think any of ‘em are interested in a life of evil?”

“Most of the people who made the games we play aren’t Ultimates, either,” Chiaki murmured, at Kokichi’s side. She was muted and dusky pink, with a tender, hesitant smile — Kokichi was so glaringly bright and loud next to her. They made a strange team, but of course no stranger than Nagito and anyone in the world. “Please, Nagito. The School Unity Club is going to try and form real friendships… I think it’s a chance for us to do something good, and to learn what it’s like to be in the Reserve Course.“

As if Nagito wanted to understand something like that! Haha! Oh, Chiaki. No.

But that’s what led Nagito here, to the first official School Unity Club meeting. He filled out the Getting to Know Everybody Questionnaire Kokichi and Chiaki passed out, and he hung around in the back of the room, hands folded in his pockets, face perfectly neutral, until a spiky haired Reserve Course guy came storming up to him. What could have possibly gotten this uppity loser so mad? Chiaki had decorated this classroom herself, specifically for trash like the both of them. They should be so grateful. There were streamers and everything.

“Are you Nagito Komaeda?” Mr. Pointy-Hair spat.

“I am. Nice to meet —”

“So you’re the one who wrote that people who joined the Reserve Course have ‘no good reason to be here’ on the questionnaire. Knowing we’d all read it — knowing how much we want to attend Hope’s Peak Academy —”

Nagito nodded, letting himself smile. Ah, okay. This was making a little sense now. “Excuse me, I think you misunderstand something,” he tried to clarify. “I don’t believe I have a good reason to be here, either… really, we’re almost the same, you and me. I probably have more to say to someone like you than my whole class!” Nagito paused. Glanced over at the Ultimate Gamer. “Except for Chiaki. Maybe. If she still thinks so.”

Mr. Pointy-Hair didn’t look reassured by Nagito’s explanation. If anything, his cheeks were flushed red, the fury creeping up to the tips of his ears, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides. He was a little shorter than Nagito, but he was standing as tall as he possibly could. “Someone like me?” he asked. It was a question, somehow, but what exactly did he expect Nagito to say? Mr. Pointy-Hair’s teeth were ground together, but there was something honest and wholesome about his mossy green eyes. Nagito might have wanted to ask his name, if he didn’t feel sure he was about to get yelled at. Why weren’t they understanding each other, exactly, here?

“You’re not an Ultimate,” Nagito said, explaining something painfully simple. “This is a school for extraordinary people, and you and I are both unworthy of it. You see? But that shouldn’t be news to you…”

Mr. Pointy-Hair was spitting mad. Was he going to punch Nagito, next? Or simply tell him how awful he was? Nagito was bracing himself either way, but he shouldn’t have bothered. That was when Kokichi Oma’s spotlight found them, after all. That was when the Ultimate Supreme Leader — sauntering around on a stage made of pushed-together desks and using a super-chipper ringmaster voice — declared, “Oh! And what’s this? Mr. Komaeda and Mr. Hinata are already picking a fight! I think we just found some volunteers for a club project, guys!”

There was a scattering of polite, confused applause, and this Mr. Pointy-Hair Hinata spun around on his heel and threw himself out of the room. The door slammed, and his footsteps thudded away down the hall.

Nagito took a stumbling half-step after him. He didn’t mean to. This was the sort of pretender who thought he deserved to be an Ultimate without earning it, after all. There was no reason to wonder what their club project would be together, or if he’d ever learn Hinata’s first name. There was no reason to ask what the Ultimate Supreme Leader had in store for them to work on — there was probably no reason to assume he and Hinata would ever see each other again, or get another chance to try and have an actual conversation.

Nagito asked Kokichi what their assignment was, anyway.

1½. Talking to You’s Like Trying to Paint in the Rain

Hajime Hinata figured if he just never attended a School Unity Club meeting again, he could simmer for a while and then amble on like this never happened. Like he’d never met Nagito Komaeda, with his hazy dark eyes and drifting, shaky-yet-infuriatingly-resolute voice. If he never joined up with the club again, then he couldn’t be assigned any weird-ass “club projects,” could he? And since Nagito was part of the Main Course… an Ultimate, even if he’d tried to convince Hajime they were “the same,” or whatever… their paths wouldn’t necessarily cross, otherwise. They even had passing periods at different times, and if Hajime saw Nagito’s fluffy, flyaway white hair from across the hallway he just stopped in his tracks and stalked away.

But, I mean… that isn’t the end of the story, obviously. Hajime underestimated the Ultimate Supreme Leader, and also how ridiculous things could get at Hope’s Peak Academy. Sometimes, the place barely even felt real.

Hajime received the instructions for his and Nagito Komaeda’s club project midway through math class. The guy in front of him — who he’d known the whole year, mind you, and was definitely just some guy who liked comic books and was often a little late to class — turned around in his seat and stage-whispered, “Hey, Hinata, you wouldn’t happen to know the answer to question thirteen, would you?”

“There is no question thirteen,” Hajime answered. “The worksheet only goes to ten —” and then he actually looked up, to raise his eyebrows at his classmate and/or see if they had different worksheets for some reason. And well. Hm. Wouldn’t you know it, this wasn’t his classmate at all. This was very obviously Kokichi Oma from the Main Course in a wig. The Ultimate Supreme Leader was wearing a Reserve Course uniform with the tie knotted all sloppily, and he grinned like the damn Cheshire Cat as he handed over a big envelope with the words “This is not your School Unity Club project assignment!” scribbled on it.

“Oh! Nice eye,” Kokichi grinned. “Aren’t you a smart one.”

“I don’t want to work with Nagito Komaeda,” Hajime hissed. “And Kokichi, this isn’t your class.”

“Are you sure I’m not enrolled in the Reserve Course, too?”

“Ugh. Yes? And you’re two years behind me.”

Kokichi scratched at his forehead. Hajime thought maybe he was taunting him, intentionally fiddling with his wig so that a little of his flippy purple hair snuck out. “Nagito’s stubborn, isn’t he? Kind of like you.”

“We’re nothing alike,” Hajime said, but even as he spat those words he knew they weren’t completely true. Honestly, Hajime felt sick with guilt for getting his family to pay this ridiculous Hope’s Peak Reserve Course tuition — he’d tried to change his own mind, convincing himself it didn’t matter whether the world called him Special. The Ultimate Students were just people, he told himself. So what if nobody thought he was good enough to be one of them? He could still live a happy, normal life… he could still pour attention into the hobbies he loved, and spend time with the people he cared about, and maybe it was kind of a pain to have your face on convenience store magazines anyway.

Hajime told himself stuff like that over and over again, but it wasn’t like it stuck, you know? It didn’t change the tide of his thoughts. It felt like the minute he painted a nice, encouraging picture of an alternative to Hope’s Peak Academy for himself, it got washed away. Staring into Nagito’s serene, self-righteously knowing eyes had felt a little like that, too. Hajime got the feeling that he could talk to him and talk to him, but it was almost impossible to change this guy’s mind until he changed it himself.

It was infuriating, wasn’t it, talking to people like that?

“If you want to prove you’re really different than Nagito — you’re really not super-stubborn and impossible to reach — you can always just do the project,” the Ultimate Supreme Leader grinned. “Up to you. I told him to meet you by those big fountains after school, and I think he’s actually gonna do it. He asked what your first name was, too… I told him it was ‘Daisuke.’”

“But it isn’t.”

“Oops, my bad. So tell him yourself.”

Hajime read the crayon-drawing assignment sheets waiting for him in that envelope during a break, sitting slumped over at a table with a bunch of students he didn’t really know. Apparently, Kokichi and the Ultimate Gamer wanted Hajime and Nagito to make a short documentary film showing everybody what life was like in the Hope’s Peak Reserve Course. They were supposed to interview students and get some funny stories; they were supposed to go over some of the things people were studying, and rate whether the desks were comfy. Just… get a portrait of the Reserve Course as people, basically, the instructions said. And be sure to let the Ultimate Supreme Leader know if anyone seemed open to helping with this prank he had in the works. Get them to sign a short, totally-harmless liability form. It’ll be fun.

Hajime crumpled the envelope and all its assignment sheets up, one by one, preparing to toss them away with the rest of his trash. But then he unfolded them, running a hand through his sticky-uppy hair.

You know what?

Why not.

Maybe it would do Nagito Komaeda some good, to get to know the people he was insulting. To see the school from a different point of view. Maybe it would be satisfying to see him feel like a jerk, fumbling around, trying oh-so-messily to explain himself to anybody a little less forgiving than Hajime. Anyway, it was sort of annoying the guy thought his name was something random Kokichi Oma had pulled out of a hat, too.

So Hajime went to meet Nagito by the fountains. For a moment, before they actually started working on the project, it had felt sort of right. Nagito had stood up from where he’d been bent over some homework; he’d smoothed down his vest, and smiled awkwardly, self-consciously. Hopefully. It had looked like maybe he would apologize. Maybe he’d thought over what he said, and Hajime didn’t need to spend any time convincing him he was an asshole. In that case, maybe Nagito was the kind of willowy handsome that Hajime liked in drama actors, if you got past the funny way he held himself. In that case, maybe his voice was sort of soft and lyrical, and if they were talking about something else… almost anything else… Hajime wouldn’t really mind listening to him.

But then, uh. Hajime got close enough for Nagito to wave, and call, “Do you understand what I meant, now, then? It’s nice to meet you properly, Daisuke!” And it only went downhill from there.

It didn’t help that the minute Hajime handed Nagito the school-owned camera Kokichi had finagled for them to use, it got carried out of his hands by an actual hawk. What the hell? “Ultimate Luck,” Nagito clarified, but what did that even mean? So then they were gonna record the thing on Hajime’s phone, except that they couldn’t decide where to start. Who to talk to. They got into a half-shouting match in front of a few of Hajime’s friendlier classmates, who excused themselves as quickly as possible. They tried to film the gymnasium, but it was closed for emergency fumigation and they ended up gagging, hunched over outside the doors for about five minutes. They tried to film in the dorms, but Hajime’s entrance pass cracked in two when they attempted to use it. Those were expensive! Augh! Why was Nagito laughing?!

Whatever Hajime tried to do, it felt like Nagito came sliding over to step on his toes. They were getting nowhere. This project was getting nowhere. They had to delete the one decent interview they managed to get because Hajime himself accidentally had his thumb over the camera. He had literally no idea how he could’ve missed something like that.

“Ultimate Luck,” Nagito said, again, for about the millionth time that evening. “See? It’s really not always much of a talent!”

That was the last straw. Hajime was done. Nagito was still obsessed with this concept of “talent”; Nagito was the last person who should be making a video trying to show what life was really like for Reserve Course students. The Ultimate Supreme Leader was probably just messing with them, just being a little shit like people said he tended to be. School Unity? What could Nagito Komaeda do to work towards School Unity? He was probably the sort of person who would want to trap a lizard that thought it was a dragon, just to show the poor little guy how small he really was. Hajime didn’t have time for this.

And so he told Nagito as much, and he gathered up his things. He deleted all the footage they’d recorded for their project, and went back home. That could’ve been the end of it. If Kokichi turned up in any of his classes again, Hajime would just tune him out. If the Ultimate Gamer asked him why he didn’t come around anymore, yeah, okay, he’d apologize, but that was it.

Hajime didn’t hear anything from the School Unity Club for about a month. “Good riddance,” he thought. He imagined himself slamming a book closed. And then possibly kicking said book under the bed, or something.

When he got a text from Kokichi Oma — wait, how had the Ultimate Supreme Leader gotten his phone number?! — Hajime almost didn’t open it. But morbid curiosity won out in the end, as it so often did. Morbid curiosity, and that claustrophobic, helplessly-stricken pull to the Ultimate Students Hajime still felt, even now. He had wanted to be valuable, to be seen; he had wanted to be a revelation. Every breath he took on this earth could have been game-changing, if only he’d been born someone else.

“Nice work on your video,” Kokichi said. “Turned out really insightful. I think it’ll help the Reserve Course students feel seen, too.”

Alright. Hold on.

What?

***

2. The Light

When Nagito Komaeda asked the Ultimate Supreme Leader whether it had been difficult, convincing Hajime to come watch his documentary about the Hope’s Peak Academy Reserve Course together, Kokichi said, “You just better not mess this up, kid,” with a big, sloppy wink. Nevermind that he really hadn’t answered the question, actually, when Nagito thought back on it – nevermind that Kokichi was… again… younger than him. Maybe it meant Hajime had struggled against the idea of ever actually talking to Nagito again, and Kokichi’d had to bribe him with glittery promises like, “If you give the video a chance, I’ll delete your phone number from my contacts list!” Or maybe it meant Nagito should feel lucky – lucky in a good way, mind you – because Hajime hadn’t needed a lot of nagging at all. Maybe Mr. Pointy-Hair was genuinely curious. Maybe he’d be willing to forgive how badly things had gone, and try, Nagito didn’t know, “hanging out” again, sometime.

“Why did you lie about Hajime’s name, to me?” Nagito asked. “I looked… inconsiderate.”

“Who knows?” Kokichi said. “I do stuff like that, you know.”

It would’ve been way too easy, if Kokichi Oma had been willing to answer a simple question for once. But all the same, Nagito ended up sitting alone in a dark, lonely classroom after club activities were over for the night; all the same, Nagito had finished up the Reserve Course documentary film on his own. He’d purchased four separate video cameras, and lost them all to his ruthless luck. He’d interviewed people from Hajime’s classes, asking the questions Hajime had scrawled out on the back of Kokichi’s crumpled-up assignment envelope that time they tried working together. “What brought you to the Reserve Course?” “What’s your most precious goal, and how do you hope the Reserve Course will help you get there?” “Do you like going to school here?” “What do you think Hope’s Peak could do differently, to show that it values all its students?” Some of the answers he’d gotten were genuinely shocking – one of them made him cry, actually, and try to shake the girl’s hand afterwards. (She took his hand, yes, but then asked why there was so much mud on it. Oh, crap. Nagito’d forgotten that happened… he’d been swallowed up by a surprise swamp on the way across campus that day.) All of the answers were… human? Maybe sometimes it was easy to get so wrapped up in this business of hope and despair, talent and luck, that Nagito forgot how learning a person’s abilities just barely scraped the surface of what it would be like getting to know them. He didn’t talk much at all, giving his interviews – aside from asking questions, of course. He laughed at jokes, sometimes, but he tried to laugh quietly, without wobbling the camera too much.

Nagito had expected the interviews would enrage him – would make him think these people were ungrateful, were building themselves homemade trophies to take away from the Ultimate Talents the Main Course actually earned. And sometimes, yeah, sometimes he did want to argue back. Put them in their places, back in the dirt with him; click off the flashlight that thought it was the sun. But he listened, for a while, anyway. Maybe it was because Hajime would’ve wanted him to, at first – maybe it was because Hajime might have said he couldn’t do it. But in the end, Nagito found himself with a lot of footage of people telling him their truths, and so many of those stories tasted familiar. That longing, that hurt, that want, that hunger. It had been written all over Hajime’s face when they first met, but Nagito’d never asked his story, had he?

Ah, well. Nagito had tried making the documentary into something Hajime wouldn’t hate, you know? He’d gone to one of the Reserve Course’s basketball games and recorded the crowds cheering, recorded the players’ teamwork and struggle. None of the players were the Ultimate Basketball Star or anything, but it still mattered when they won, didn’t it? Maybe not as much, existentially, or for the hope of the world as Nagito understood it, but – but it could still be emotional watching them come together and ruffle each other’s hair, afterwards, reminiscing about the game. Nagito had attempted to go to a Reserve Course swimming team competition too, but of course the pool flooded the second he stepped in the building… and like, really flooded, in that most of the bleachers were still underwater and they hadn’t been able to drain the dressing rooms, yet. Some sort of weird, constant flow in from ocean?! Nagito wasn’t sure on the specifics. Point being, he’d stopped attending sports events for a while, but he had asked Chiaki to record the Reserve Course’s musical production of Les Misérables so he could splice some of it into the documentary.

Nagito didn’t ask specific questions about Hajime Hinata while conducting his interviews, but he’d heard some stuff about him all the same. He was a good classmate, people said – a hard worker, soft-spoken, but he didn’t just sit back and take kindly to bullies. He was smart, but his handwriting was terrible, and he and Nagito seemed to like the same type of video games. Hajime’s classmates mentioned him in passing, see, discussing him among themselves… or they said, “Oh, no, Nagito’s probably okay. He was with Hajime a couple days ago, remember? Hey, Nagito, are you two friends?”

Um.

In that moment, Nagito had wanted very badly to say yes, yes they were friends. He would’ve been proud to have Hajime like him, as a person, the way Chiaki seemed to. But he just sort of smiled and shook his head. “We were working on a project together,” he offered. “School Unity Club.” It was probably fair to leave it at that, right?

But now the documentary was finished, and Hajime had been persuaded… somehow… to come to some empty classroom after School Unity Club let out and watch it at Nagito’s side. Nagito hadn’t really felt like he should be going to School Unity Club meetings lately: it was surreal to be back here again, inviting Hajime into the ruins of a game tournament. There was a scribbly, multi-color scoreboard, and bits of the floor were duct-taped off into what looked like a beanbag chair/slime vat obstacle course. The janitors at Hope’s Peak must have hated Kokichi Oma. Or who knows, really? Maybe he was planning to slink back in and clean all this up himself, after Nagito and Hajime finished with their video. Nagito showed Hajime over to some chairs he’d set up in front of his cracked-apart personal laptop. He pulled out Hajime’s chair a little bit, like they were someplace fancy, and Hajime scoffed. He sat down, though. And then he gestured to Nagito’s chair, like, “Well?”

They watched the documentary in silence. Sometimes Hajime shifted, or scratched at his neck. Sometimes he gasped, or shot Nagito careful, considering eyes. Nagito… for his part… tried his best to keep his expression neutral, the same as he’d done at that first School Unity Club meeting. The last interview was with himself, after all, and he thought he’d made his own points pretty clear. He didn’t understand what the Reserve Course meant, in connection to the Main Course here at Hope’s Peak Academy… on one hand he still thought it defied the point of the whole place, but on the other it was a class full of creativity and excitement and hope for the future, too. He’d learned a lot from the Reserve Course students, and it had been fun spending time with them. The interview questions had been written by Hajime Hinata, but they’d honestly become Nagito’s questions too, by the end. He thanked the viewer for watching, and the interviewees for talking to him, and the swimming team for their forgiveness when he tried to explain that it was his weird luck that ruined their tournament.

It wasn’t perfect. Nagito stumbled over his words, sometimes, and he contradicted himself, and he went on a short monologue about how it was possible hope came in innumerable different forms. He hinted at one of his most embarrassing thoughts, too – that maybe… just maybe, possibly, against all odds… it might’ve been more merciful to have a world without the worship of talent, a world where all people could just live as themselves and know that was enough. He had almost edited that part out. In another life, he probably wouldn’t have wanted anyone in the world to hear it. It flew in the face of everything he was supposed to honor, after all. It was skeptical of the very concept of the Ultimate Talents themselves.

Nagito might not have been able to explain exactly why he kept that part of his own interview in the documentary. Maybe he wanted Hajime to get him, if they ever spoke again. Maybe so many strangers had been utterly, vulnerably honest with him, he felt like it was sort of his turn. Either way, he winced, taking in the frustrated surrender on his own recorded face. He kept his arms folded over his chest and gritted his teeth. Hajime was watching him imagine a world where all that mattered was the light, whether it came from a flashlight or the sun. For all Nagito knew, he sounded ridiculous.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be,” Hajime said, slowly, after the credits rolled – Chiaki was thanked for most things Nagito hadn’t attributed to either himself or the conspicuously-absent Hajime Hinata. “Thanks, Nagito. You… are you going to the next club meeting?”

“What? Am I…?”

“I mean the School Unity Club. If you go to the next meeting, I’ll come too.”

Nagito swallowed, fidgeting. He brushed a little messy white hair behind his ear. “Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.” He decided to push his luck, just a little, then, seeing Hajime smile: he decided to try and make this raw, beautiful person that hated him laugh. “Maybe Kokichi’ll stop pestering me if I finally participate.”

Hajime snorted. He relaxed, just the littlest bit, and Nagito felt his insides twist. That was an unfamiliar feeling.

“Probably not,” Hajime said.

“No… probably not.”

That couldn’t have been part of the Ultimate Supreme Leader’s secret conniving plan, though, right? To get them to bond over mutual frustration… to pester them both until they started commiserating about it…

Right?

But then, maybe Nagito shouldn’t put it past him. Kokichi’d earned his Ultimate Student-status somehow. Maybe he and Chiaki hadn’t been completely wrong about a School Unity Club, either.

Well, now… they’d just played right into the Ultimate Supreme Leader’s hands, hadn’t they?

That didn’t matter too much, somehow, when Hajime was taking Nagito out to arcades with his other friends, and on hikes in the forest, and to read quietly on a bench in the park. Sun on their skin, wind in their hair, ruffling the pages of their books just the littlest bit… or else grabbing Nagito’s book away and hurtling it out horrifyingly fast into oncoming traffic. Or maybe it was the first book Hajime got him as a gift that would get stolen by a randomly-appearing hawk, this time? At least now Hajime knew Nagito usually laughed that desperate, rattling sort of cackle when he was upset. Nervous. Panicking. At least now Hajime would rub his back, a little, and tell him they were fine. Hey, hey. Nagito, look at me. Your luck isn’t your fault. Just breathe.

Breathe.

No, falling for the Ultimate Supreme Leader’s machinations barely mattered at all, this time.

2 ½. So Glad I was Wrong About You

The first time Hajime Hinata kissed Nagito Komaeda, he hadn’t been expecting to do it, himself, if you’d asked him just five minutes before. They were doing homework together, and the year was almost over – Nagito had asked Hajime to come to the Main Course Graduation Ball with him, as friends, of course, and high school was winding down to an end for both of them. Hajime had just worked weekend shifts at a thrift store to buy himself a set of four-leaf clover cufflinks to wear with his suit, small and gold and hopefully not the sort of thing Nagito would think was tacky. They were… Hajime hadn’t known what they were, exactly, until he found himself watching the way Nagito talked with his hands, staring off into the distance, swept away in what they were discussing. He remembered something their mutual friend Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer, had said a few weeks before:

“I don’t think Nagito’s gonna ask you to go to the ball as his date-date. But if he does, be nice.”

Hajime hadn’t pressed Chiaki on that, for some reason. He’d been a little distracted by how she was completely annihilating him in the game they were playing. Why hadn’t he… dammit, why hadn’t he really heard her, then? If Nagito asked him out, like… as a boyfriend… Hajime was supposed to treat him gently. Maybe Chiaki thought Hajime would’ve wanted to say no, to an invitation like that? It was hard to say. Her expression had been all dusty lavender, vague and soft, watching her character defeat Hajime’s so, so mercilessly. The game had been reflected in her eyes, neon and flickering and fast.

But maybe… maybe what Chiaki said had meant more than just some run-of-the-mill politeness advice. It could have meant Nagito’d told Chiaki he was interested in taking Hajime as his date-date, but had backed away squirming from the idea because he was still getting over the concept that he was somehow fundamentally broken. Maybe he didn’t realize Hajime had bought those four-leaf clover cufflinks like a promise, because he didn’t want this Graduation Ball to be the last chance he got to wear them. To be fair, Hajime had only just realized that, himself. Who else was he gonna wear four-leaf clovers for, if not the Ultimate Lucky Student? He’d gotten to know Nagito’s luck extremely well, over the last year together; he knew which scars he tended to keep hidden, because he hated explaining their backstories, and he had watched Nagito’s closing monologue from that Reserve Course documentary over and over in the dead of night. Trying to understand it. Trying to understand this impossible, contrary guy who had just helped him edit his last Japanese Literature essay of the semester.

Hajime had kept telling himself he was done with Nagito Komaeda – for weeks, he’d told himself that. It felt like such a waste, now. They were both growing beyond Hope’s Peak Academy, in their ways, even though obviously there had been a time when Hajime would’ve told you that was impossible. He hadn’t thought he could imagine himself a meaningful future without some link to Ultimate Talent, without this school, whatever exactly it was, but the possibilities had started painting themselves to life without him really noticing it. The change crept in so sweetly, somewhere between the Ultimate Supreme Leader dragging the whole School Unity Club into participating in the next academy-wide musical and that time they’d all gotten lost in the mountains and Hajime found himself spreading his coat out over Nagito while he slept. Living had changed things, brought meaning where none had been assigned by fancy academy board members. When Hajime learned about the Izuru Kamukura Project – a study that had apparently endowed some random Reserve Course student with all the Ultimate Talents under the sun – he was jealous, yeah, but not the way he felt he should have been.

Hajime leaned across the desk and took Nagito’s face in his hands; he kissed him fast and hard, before he could change his mind. Kissed him like he’d yelled his actual first name in his face. Kissed him like truth, and the revelation he’d always thought maybe he could be, if only, if only, if only. He felt Nagito tense and then soften; he felt Nagito try to speak, and then close his eyes, pale lashes brushing against his skin. Hajime ran his hand down Nagito’s neck, and tangled it just a little in his unbrushed hair. Nagito made a wondering, helpless sound, and Hajime held him closer. Pulled back. Kissed his forehead.

“I’m sorry,” Nagito said. Hajime didn’t think he knew what for. Maybe he was still sorry for saying he didn’t think Hajime had any reason to come to this school and that whole tangled-up, confusing introduction they’d had; maybe he was just worried he’d turned out to be a disappointing kisser. Somewhere out in the hallway, Kokichi Oma was laughing, calling, “You’ll never take me alive!” to someone chasing him with a mysteriously bedazzled mop. Somewhere out in the hallway, Izuru Kamukura – Reserve Course student-turned living god – was staring out at the world and realizing it was all immeasurably, heartbreakingly boring, when all the talent possible was limp in his hands.

“Why?” Hajime asked.

“Um,” Nagito said. There were so many words churning inside him, but he was holding Hajime’s hand really tightly, now. He cleared his throat. “I mean, we can try that again, if you want. If I did it wrong.”

Hajime and Nagito were both strong believers in second chances, by that point. They went to the Main Course Graduation Ball with Nagito holding Hajime’s hand just as tight, and no, that absolutely wasn’t the last chance Hajime had to wear those four-leaf clover cufflinks.

#komahina #komahina secret exchange #fanfiction

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bolbianddolanhouse · 5 years

Text

BNHA self insert AU

Nani the heck is this? Read here!

Chapter 25: Itati the Brave

The Sports Festival happens, now the agents get their fun! The list of supplies gets handed out and we get into survival studies so we all pull through without causalities. Monoma and I cut our training to only once a week now that he’s gotten the hang of extending his copies and developing techniques. But that hasn’t stopped our bedroom sessions from being whenever we want each other.

-Thursday in the Halls with Mimi and Jin-

“Did y’all hear what happened at lunch?!” Mimi gasped like it was news of the century.

“What’s the tea sis?” I say as I’m hovering a very sleep deprived Jin above our heads.

“Yuka broke up with Tetsu!”

“NO WAY?!” Jin and I gasped.

“YES WAY!” she responded in equal exaggeration “she was peeved that he’s too much of a pussy to step up to get more intimate with her” she was remembering what she saw “they were in the work room I was in, but I was in the rafters to get the bird that flew in the morning. They rushed in, kissing really rough, when Yuka tried to go down on him and he said no. She then asked him if he wanted to do anything aside from kissing and he said that he was scared. Yuka then started to do that thing where she stops breathing to make a quick decision. The bitch fuckin yells she’s been horny since the party because she stopped sleeping with the weed man to be with him.”

“I knew they were sleeping!” I wasn’t surprised about that now confirmed fact “nobody gets weed from agent 420 without proper payment of yen or pussy.”

“What made matters worse is that metal man was feeling inadequate and cried that he loved her and was trying to be a better man for her” she crossed her arms and sighed tiredly “Yuka backhanded him and stormed out of the room saying that it was over, leaving him to cry. Which made things very awkward when I had to get down from the rafters at some point to go release the bird outside.”

“Oh no! Poor dude” I think about the places he might be after school “I’ll talk to him about it later but dang, didn’t think Yuka would be that like that. It’s been what, almost 3 months? That’s alot of time to abstain from sex.”

Fast forward to after school, I walk to the school patio to see if Tetsutetsu was there with Shinso. I always saw them together after school by the stone tables on certain days, maybe I’d see them there today. I saw Shinso talking to a tree and my mind didn’t know how to interpret the sight.

“Please? You have to tell me what’s the matter” Shinso coaxed at the tree “I promise I won’t judge you if you tell me!”

“Shinso?” I asked, startling him “sorry to give you a scare, but who are you talking too? All I see is the tree.”

“Oh uhh hehe” he gets self-aware of his surroundings “Tetsu is up in the tree sobbing and he won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“Oh! I was just looking for him” I got closer and saw that he was hidden in the leafy branches of the tree “I know why and I’m here to talk to him about it.”

“I don’t want to” spoke Tetsutetsu between sobs “today is the worst and I just want to hide!”

“Well, whether you want to or not” I start to climb the tree “I’m coming up there to make you feel a bit better.”

“I’m coming up too” Shinso follows after me “I want to know.”

“Hey bud, so Mimi told me what happened” I popped my head near where he was perched “it was fucked up of Yuka to just blow up on you like that” I helped Shinso up on a branch “intimacy can get a bit scary, especially sex, Yuka stopping having it since you guys started going steady! She cares about you to be committed to you but having those pent up urges does make you lose it.”

“Has that ever happened to you?” asked Shinso.

“Umm well, I’ve never gone that far but I see this type of thing in others all the time.” I did not want these boys to know about my sessions at all.

“Tetsu, you’re crying over your girl?” Shinso put everything together “sorry that happened bro, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know! I’ve fallen in deep with her bro” he said between sobs “I want to win her back and show that I’m a man worth her time but needs to be in the right mind to do that sort of thing.”

“I have a plan” I spoke up “we have a party on saturday, just announced by Hansai like an hour ago. I can use my plus one on you to come in and make up with Yuka, knowing her, she can easily avoid you at school but she really can’t at one of our parties.”

“I want to come too” Shinso butted in “for moral support and so he doesn’t get all teary with everyone watching when things go down.”

“Hmmm, I didn’t count on that factor” I thought about how I was going to include Shinso in “Oh! I’ll ask Jin to use his plus one on you, he never invites anybody from outside the program and he’s the bouncer of our parties.”

“Bro, you’re gonna be in for the wildest night of your young life” Tetsu said without sobbing “those agent kids don’t mess around with their liquor or competitive drinking! I woke up with my shirt up my ass at the first party I went.”

“Hehehe yea he did” I giggled as I pulled up the picture to show Shinso “Yuka took the picture, apparently he made a bet that if he makes this last shot on a game of beer pong he was going to kiss Yuka but if he doesn’t he was going to shove his shirt up his ass. Guess what happened.”

“Oh my God, really dude?” Shinso looked horrified at the picture “now I’m scared.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you whats good and what to avoid” I pat Shinso on the back “I realize that y’all are party babies and need some help.” I pull up the mass text with the details “Okay so it’s this Saturday at the 2nd year dorms, doors open at 7pm, all rules apply.” I turn to the boys “You got that fellas?”

“I’ll fill you in on the house rules but we got it” Tetsu turned to Shinso to confirm.

“Great! I’ll be zooting outta here now” I put my phone in my bag “see you boys then!” I teleport out and kept the details to myself until the day of the party.

-Morning of the party, at the mall with Jin and Mimi-

“Do you think Yuka and the others are handling things alright?” I asked worried as I checked the time “it’s 3 hours til and we haven’t been contacted about anything.”

Jin tosses his final item into his cart “I’m sure they’re fine” he checks the list for any missed items “it’s not their first time handling things.”

Mimi tries on some hiking boots “No, babygirl has a point” she stands to do a test walk in the boots “remember when we were gone for the take down practice test and they couldn’t handle us being gone for 2 days?” she stumbles a bit “everything was a disaster! Why don’t we shoot a text to see if they need us to pick up anything?”

I sent the text and we didn’t get a reply, it gave all of us anxiety and we rushed our supply shopping to go back. When we got back, things were on the brink of going wrong so we helped with that. Everything was done an hour before people started to arrive and that gave me time to get pretty. And like clockwork, everyone came right on the dot. Once the boys came, it was go time with the plan.

“...Ok Tetsu, remember, you go up to her THEN you yell ‘you just got ICED!’, now go!” I say as I hand him the bottle and point to Yuka across the room.

Shinso sees him walk to Yuka “So this a dorm party huh?”

“Psh it’s just intel that has these parties” I scoff as a mix him a drink “If you think the hero dorms are like this, sorry to say but y’all can’t do shit.”

“Is that why you ran wild all the time?” he glances back to me “I’ve heard from the others of your little adventures.”

“Yea, I have more liberties than the hero program” I hand him the drink “thankfully everything is where it should be now but living with those kids was such a pain in the ass.”

He takes the drink from my hand “Really? Now I’m not looking forward to moving in during the summer” he takes a sip and almost spits it back in the cup “oh Tetsu wasn’t kidding, it does taste like burning!”

“Oh you’re moving in! That means you’re gonna take my old room!” I get giddy “lucky you! it’s the biggest room on the boys side.”

“Oh yea? Well, hows class with those kids? I’m getting incorporated in 2nd term.”

“Oof, it’s alright but maybe it won’t be as bad” I pause to get Shinso a napkin “I’m also coming in 2nd term for the communications and strategy class.”

“Oh that’s cool” he wipes his chin and takes another sip “I guess we’ll be seeing each other more often then just in passing and training.”

“Yup! and I can’t wait!” I open a beer “I’ve heard about the off site simulation training we’re going to do and I’m stoked to take part!”

Meanwhile, In the hero dorms...

“Anything interesting happening?” Mineta asked Kaminari that was hogging the binoculars.

“Nothing yet- WAIT! Oh man Iida-kun is going to flip!”

“WHAT?! What did you see!” Mineta screamed trying to grab the binoculars to take a look.

“Palma-san is getting a little too social with Shinso” Kaminari gives the binoculars back “please tell me he’s still awake!”

“It’s almost 10pm, I doubt it” Mineta looks at the clock then at the party “don’t you find it weird that the only time anybody in the hero program is let in those parties is because they’re associated with Palma-san?”

Aoyama perks up from the couch “Don’t you know? Those parties are invite only, everyone in her class has an admit one guest” he strikes a pose “that means that Shinso begged her to let him in this party.”

Mineta and Kaminari put two and two together “ALL THIS TIME WE COULD’VE GONE TO ONE IF WE ASKED TO BE HER PLUS ONE?!”

Kaminari remembered the school dance events and the morning after “So that means that Iida-kun wasn’t formally invited to that after party, he begged her or included himself” he thought some more “then he went, got drunk with her until who-knows-when and they ended up in the situation in the morning after.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Mineta, still confused.

“I’m saying that Iida-kun is the coolest guy in our class! He partied until he literally passed out and had a girl take care of him AND the same girl always invites him first to these parties!” he then got a bit hysterical “making us dumb, lame party virgins!”

-Fast foward: Thursday Night, gearing up for the camping trip-

“Uh oh sisters” I exclaimed in a semi-panicky tone.

“Whats wrong?” Jin asked.

“We’re missing a large lantern ” I said as I pointed on the list “we have the oil and the emergency back up but not a the lantern.”

“Ah frick now what?” Hansai thought for a bit “any of you know who might have one? All the shops are closed and we won’t be able to go buy one in the morning.”

“I’ll call my brother” Yuka said dialing on her phone.

“I’ll go pop in the hero dorms and see if anyone has one” I check the time “it’s 6:40, dinner just finished for them, I’ll be back.” I teleport to the commons room and I saw that I popped in the middle of a stressful study session “Um sorry to disrupt yall but do any of yall have a large lantern for camping?”

“What do you have to exchange for it?” Kirishima mocked my line when I would barter my illegal dorm goods.

“I have 1,500 yen, help with your english or strategy homework, a discount at my dorm goods store, this coil hair tie, a tiddie flash and a mystery hand touch.”

“Whats that last thing you said? Mystery hand touch?” asked Tokoyami.

“It’s when I touch a part of your body for 5 seconds, no limitations” I explain as a wiggle my fingers.

“I HAVE ONE!” Iida and Midoriya stood up at the same time.

“I’ll just lend it to you for no charge!” Iida said while doing his air chops “please don’t put up odd services for things you need.”

“I’ll give it to you for 500 yen, the discount and the hand touch” Midoriya put up his offer “I want a back rub, I had a bad day.”

“Aww poor baby! Sure thing” I said has I counted out the money and a pink sticky note for the discount “I’ll extend that back rub for 10 seconds.”

He comes out with the lantern, showed me how it worked and sat on the couch for the back rub “mind if I cry a little too?”

“Let it all out” I said as I started rubbing his back, slowly counting to 10 in my head. Once the 10 seconds was up I asked in a soft tone “feel better Izu?”

“Yeah, Thank you for popping in” he said wiping his tears “what did you want the lantern for anyways?”

“Oh I’m going on my survival camp trip with my class” I stood up “We’re leaving tomorrow at twelve and come back next week friday.”

“So while you go camping, we’re stuck here doing midterms?!” exclaimed Sero “you intel kids have all the fun.”

“Not really, we’re competing with other intel programs to see who’s top dog” I stretch my back “so there’s a chance that some of us won’t make it, there’s bears and shit plus we have to work as a team to raid this cabin and we have to be ready for anything.”

“That still sounds like more fun than what we’re doing” Aoyama pouted.

“Before you go Ita” Iida walked toward me “let me hug you goodbye.” He gives me those gentle but comforting hugs “be careful, beat those other schools and stay together with your team.”

“Aww you’re gonna miss me?” I broke the hug “don’t worry, I know we’ll pull through this one” I put my hand on his cheek “I’ll come back, I promise.” Before he could do anything, I teleported off with the lantern.

The boys looked at Iida suggestively. “I’ll come back! I promise” some of them mocked with kissy noises.

“It’s not like that, cut it out!” Iida fixed his glasses as he glared at the boys.

In the morning, intel set off to their survival camp about 3 hours away from the dorms. The hype was real until we got there and the other groups looked like something out of Mad Max.

“Oh my fucking Gawd” squeaked a B class student “we’re gonna die die!”

“Shut up Tokka-san!” groaned her friend “we gotta do it for Zippy!”

We unload our stuff and get the announcement to line up at our designated spots for a map and instructional radio for daily updates and emergency contact. We started strong until nightfall, Hansai was going to stay up to fend off any attackers or bears while we slept. It backfired as we got ambushed, 2 nights in a row, taking things like blankets and some rations. On the 3rd night I put it upon myself to stay up for the rest of the remaining time, no sleep. With the skills my dad taught me to survive, I managed to keep everyone safe at night. On the 5th day is when some of us were losing it a bit.

“LOOK! APPLES!” Jin screamed like he found treasure “we’re gonna live!” he ran up to the tree to pick the fruit, tears in his eyes.

“Wait, if we check map.....yup! the river is just a quarter mile east!” Yuka exclaimed then turned to Mimi “can you climb up and confirm for us?”

Mimi nods and climbs up one of the apple trees and looks all directions “Okay some good and bad news” she yelled “good news, the river is in fact a quarter mile east” she turns and points behind us “bad news, we got to keep an eye out for 2 groups that are a bit too close for comfort.”

“We have to cross the river before settling down for the night” I spoke up “if I’m not mistaken, we have 4 hours of daylight left, rivers are prime water ambush zones.”

“Then lets keep moving team!” Hansai points east “stay close, it’s bear and deer territory, watch out for traps.”

We get to the river after an hour and we stop dead in our tracks, there was a fucking bear near the edge.

“Aw fuck, now what?” whispered Yuka “Oleshin, any ideas?”

“I’ve never seen a bear before in my life!” Mimi whispered harshly with some panic “and thats one big bitch!”

“I got this yall” I said as I put on my rancho hat “my dad always said the key to approaching wild animals is to talk to them like a neighbor” I get a few apples from my bag and put them in my coat pockets before walking up to the bear.

“Well, there goes our only hope of surviving this shit” sighed a B class student.

“Hola osito! Que pasa?!” I casually say to the bear to get it’s attention “nice day for fishing huh?” the bear turned and whimpered as it was stuck in a bear trap “Ay mira! easy there big guy” I carefully approached to break open the trap “look what I have for you, some nice and juicy apples” I rolled an apple to the bear to gain it’s trust and they ate it in desperation “pobresito, you’re starving, not for long though” I pry the trap open just enough for the bear to get it’s paw out and gave it another 2 apples. The bear then licks my hand starts to muzzle into my arm, like a dog. “Oh my, aren’t you a sweetie?!” I then motion everyone that it was safe to approach.

“Palma, you crazy American bitch!” Hansai sighed in disbelief at the sight of the bear eating an apple out of my hand “you tamed a fuckin bear, in Spanish! I must be dreaming.”

Everyone held out an apple for the bear to gain it’s trust and the bear was licking and sniffing us like a big dog. As we tried to cross the river, the bear followed us like it was trying to return the favor by protecting us. We let the bear sleep near us when we set up camp for the night. And followed us in the morning.

“MORNING UPDATES: 2 MORE TEAMS HAVE FORFEITED DUE TO ILLNESS, LEAVING 4 SCHOOLS STILL IN THE RUN. REPORTS OF A SCHOOL THAT TAMED A WILD BEAR AND IS USING IT AS GUARD AND ATTACK, NAME OF THE SCHOOL IS UNKNOWN DUE TO LIMITED INFORMATION. WEATHER REPORT OF CLOUDY SKIES WITH 15 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN.”

“Oh wow, word got out fast about big boy” Jin said as he tossed a salmon tail to the bear “how many groups tried to attack us last night?”

I rubbed my eyes “2 groups but they didn’t get close enough for a fight, big boy shoo’d them away.”

“It’s day 6 Palma-san” Yuka spoke with concern “are you sure you don’t want to rest? we can carry you as you sleep.”

“I’ll be fine” I took a sip of water “we can’t afford to waste man power on comforts” I peer over the map and point to the objective area “we are about 3 more miles until the suit up point, by then it will be nightfall and we’d be forced to stop anyways” I stretch my arms and stifle a yawn “if everything goes mostly right and nobody gets injured, that’ll be my rest.”

“I volunteer as guard for tonight” Jin stood up to stretch “we need you rested and alert for the ambush, you’re our wildcard.”

We trudge along these 3 miles just as scheduled and I was allowed my rest. I woke up in the morning, ready for whatever.

“MORNING UPDATES: 4 SCHOOLS STILL REMAIN AND ALL 4 HAVE CHECKED IN AT THE SUIT UP POINT AS OF THIS MORNING. IT’S THE FINAL DAY, ALL CAMPING GEAR IS TO BE SURRENDERED IN THE MARKED STORAGE BIN WITH YOUR SCHOOL’S NAME ON THE SIDE FOR SAFE KEEPING.”

“Okay listen up team” Hansai stood up on a rock to overlook us “from this point on, all command is to be switched over to our big 3 here” he motioned over to Jin, Mimi and me “they have the most experience with these types of mass ambush and strategy, I will be following behind the group to make sure nobody falls behind.”

“I won’t be of much use as the forest here is thick with little visibility” Mimi stated “but lets hype up team! Do it for Zippy!”

Everyone was gassing up to get on with the final leg of the forest. A student from B class spoke up “I know this seems a bit extra but I made this rope harness for Big Boy” they held up their creation “its so we can ride on his back with comfort.”

“Innovative! Lets suit up Big Boy too!” I gasped and got excited “he’s a battle bear now.” We put the harness on the bear and he lets me on his back “Everyone armed?” everyone nods “get in position, and lets head out.”

We got through the forest with little incident and made it to the cabin by sundown.

“Stop!” Mimi commanded “one of the schools has infiltrated the cabin already.”

“Aw frick, now what?” I pondered “do we just wait it out?”

“It’s best” Jin spoke up as he was listening to the radio through the headset “I changed the frequency so I can tap in the other’s ear piece systems” he sighed “things aren’t going so well on their end, we have to wait for the other school to do their thing and see our next moves from there.”

We waited out and the other school couldn’t even make it in the cabin before getting struck down by the enemy.

“Jin, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I turned to Jin with raised eyebrows.

“Yes and I hate that you’re right” he rubbed his temples stressfully, then faced the rest of the group “Okay we need a sniper team, ground control team and a raid team. New goal, since there’s 5 people in the cabin and one hostage to retrieve, the raid team goes in and warps them out of the cabin and the hostage to the safe zone. Ground team detains the enemy as they get warped out and sniper team fires at will as back up leaving Big Boy as our last ditch savior.”

Everyone gets in position, raid team being myself, Jin and Hansai. We bust in and get wary that there was nobody in the living room nor the kitchen.

“I have a bad feeling that they have a trick up their sleeve” I spoke up “coming in was too easy and I can’t detect any noises” I turn to the other 2 “Hansai, can you use your quirk to see if you can detect the enemy and hostage? Jin, alert the sniper team to be on lock.”

“You’re going to hate this” Hansai chirps “there’s 7 people and 2 hostages, plus there’s 2 more levels to this long cabin.”

“Fuck” I said softly, then recouped “okay, any nearby?”

“Yes, in the bedroom and the door to the other level is there too.”

“Lets smoke them out boys” I cocked my gun and signaled them to follow suit. We opened the door to the bedroom and before the 2 people had the chance to do anything, Jin portaled them outside for our ground team to detain. Same thing when we raided the basement.

“We found the hostages” Jin pinged me as I was searching for the last person on the enemy side on the level below the basement “I’m going to portal them and Hansai just outside the sniper ring, near the safe zone.”

“Great job, see you on the upper level” I responded. As I did a quick sweep of the level, I found nothing. I pinged Jin to give the clearing “basement 2 is clear, how’s the ground level?” No response “Jin? Status report.” Still no response, I get on high alert “All teams on code white, Jin is not responding to my pings.”

“All snipers are at your will Palma, find our boy.” calmly said Mimi.

I teleport up to the bedroom and kick every door open to find him and in the main room was my worst fear. The last member of the enemy group had Jin in a chokehold with a gun to his head.

I put my gun up but before I could do anything, the man speaks “Don’t shoot or he gets it!” he presses the gun up to Jin’s temple.

“Don’t do it babygirl” Jin weakly croaked “he has an energy drain quirk.”

“And with every passing moment, I drain more of his energy” he explained “so, drop the gun and he’ll live OR shoot me and your boy here won’t live to see the sun!”

I think fast and point my gun to my head “What will I get if I shoot myself?”

The man stops his act in confusion “Wait, what?”

“You heard me” I cock the gun and press it up to my ear to switch on my earpiece “I said what will happen if I shoot myself? I’m talkin blasting my brains out, will you let him go?”

The man lowers the gun and thinks about my offer but by then its too late, a hail of round rubber bullets come down from the high windows and strike the man down and releasing Jin. I net the man and I teleport him out first before carrying Jin’s weakened body out. As I give the all clear, the radio wails

“CONGRATULATIONS TO UA INTEL ON COMPLETING THE OBJECTIVE, THUS CONCLUDING THIS YEAR’S SURVIVAL CAMP! PLEASE REPORT TO THE SAFE ZONE IMMEDIATELY.”

We make our way to the safe zone, Jin’s limp body on the bear’s back and all. Upon arrival, we see Hansai and the other schools that were still in the race with us.

“Holy shit, UA were the bear tamers?!” Were some of the things the other schools said when we came strolling in with the bear in a rope harness. The people that hosted the camp trial came out to show everyone the ranking, since we completed the camp and objective, we ranked top and everyone else trickled down the list. Diya sensei came out after and he froze in his place.

“I leave you kids alone in the wilderness for a week” he motions over to the bear “and you come back with a fucking bear? What is with you kids and taming wild animals?!”

“To be fair” Mimi spoke up “Palma rescued him and it just started to follow us and obey.”

“Sorry?!” I half-heartly apologized as I fed the bear an apple “Also, Jin need som milk.”

“Him and the other guys” Diya’s tone changed to more impressed then stressed “the man you sniped, oof, he got air lifted to a hospital because he got a few broken bones.”

We all cringed at the idea, Jin got some medical attention to regain some of his energy. We took a group picture with the bear and started to load the bus for the journey back to the dorms. The bear wanted to board the bus with us after we took off the harness but we had to say our good byes.

“Sorry Big Boy, you can’t come with us” I comforted the bear “thank you for your brave service to us.”

“Thank you gentle creature” Mimi pat his back “I hope you help another group in need of your loyalty.”

Jin walks up to the bear and hugs him “I’ll never forget you, go hit that bear pussy, Zippy would’ve wanted it that way.” He gave the bear the rest of his apples and boarded the bus with the rest of us.

On our journey back to the dorms, we figure our how the hell we’re going to tell everyone we tamed a bear without making it sound dramatic. Upon arriving, B class’s parents were there to take them home and our classmates from the other levels were there to greet us back. None of us were in the mood to celebrate, we were stinky and hungry plus I felt the early symptoms of a head cold. We soaked in the bath, ate whatever we didn’t need to cook as long as we ate something and passed out. The next day, like I predicted, I got sick and so did a few others including Jin.

“Hey uhhhhh, you good for visitors?” asked Mimi while I was sitting on the couch, watching a cooking show.

“Depends, who’s a-knockin’ and askin’?”

“Monoma, and he brought flowers”

“Oh shit, yeah bring him in” I perked up and blew my nose.

He walked in and saw that I was loungewear and wasn’t looking too well. “Oh my, you really do look like you survived a week in the wilderness!” he put his hand on my arm to copy my quirk “I’ll take good care of you” he floated me to my room and everyone got the hint that he was going to do more than nurse me back to health. He situated me on my bed and put the flowers on my desk “How I’ve missed you darling” he tried to kiss me but I pulled away.

“Don’t, I don’t want to get you sick too.”

“Oh, I then I’ll kiss you here” he kissed my neck and other parts of my body “you missed my touch? my kiss?” he said between kisses “lay back, relax” he took off his shirt and fixed my pillows for me to lay down comfortably “I want to please my master after a long and victorious journey.” I consented and let him please me.

“Oh Neito, you’re so sweet and obedient like a servant when we’re alone” I moaned in the middle of passion “what would the others think?”

He looks up at me and looms over me “They’d never believe us” he mounted me “they’ll never believe me if I told them how sickly sweet you body feels when I enter it’s heavenly gates” he shudders in pleasure as he does so “and they’ll never believe you if you told them I get on my knees for you or that I please your body whenever you ask me to” he grunts as he finds his rhythm and I lose my breath.

-Fast forward, Monday in homeroom-

“Hey Hey! It’s video announcements from Present Mic! Before we get to our school wide announcements, a big congratulations to our intel second years for not only completing this year’s survival camp challenge but also coming out on top of the ranking! YEAAAAH! Here’s a highlight reel of their week in the wilderness...”

“Oh geez they kept in the part where Mimi shot that west side kid’s ass for stealing our rations” I cringed as the kid screamed for death.

“Oh shit look! They captured the part where Palma-san rescued the bear!” Yuka jumped in her seat as the part where the bear muzzled me came up “AH! they even got GoPro shots of the bear attacking that loin cloth group after they tried to spear us!”

“Well I’ll be damned” Diya looked in shock at the footage “you really did that rescue shit and it devoted it’s life to you.”

“...you saw that correctly folks! A bear aided our students in their challenge, all thanks to the kind-hearted and brave efforts of 2nd year, and intel Big 3 contender, Itati Palma! If you see her around, praise her for being very Plus Ultra to a creature in need. Now on to other school news...”

I turned red in embarrassment as I knew I was going to get all this unwanted attention as I go to my other classes and lunch. And as predicted, there was whispers as I walked the halls and a few people did give me approving looks and words.

“Look who’s here! Bear rescuer Palma!” Mic announced as I walked in the english class to assist “You have to tell me and the audience how you did it!”

“Well, my dad taught me everything about survival and living alongside animals” I overlooked the room and saw that everyone was attentive “he said to me, Itati, the key to approaching an animal is to talk to them like they’re a neighbor. Give them a casual greeting and a compliment on the weather and the rest will follow suite.”

“Was your father an animal rescuer?” Kendo asked naively to what I was going to say next.

“Ha, nope, he was raised on a farm and thought he was a real buckeroo” I responded in a rough rancho accent “rode horses and bulls and shit, he’s also an avid meat eater and so am I” I giggled “so if that bear didn’t pull through, I would’ve eaten it, made a nice bear pelt coat and brought it home. My dad taught me how to do all that too.”

“Oh my god why would your father teach you all those barbaric things?” shrieked Shiozaki.

“That’s how he shows his love for his children” I get nostalgic “by teaching them very valuable skills in case of survival, so really, I have to thank him for teaching me so much to shape me into the confident and reliable person you see before you.”

The rest of that class was tense after that but the rest of my day went better. I did my little jazz band practice for Mic, Midnight and Aizawa for the last hour of school. “Loved the set today Miss Palma” Aizawa spoke up after our last song “not to bring up school work but can you help out your fellow classmates.”

“Um sure” I hopped down to sit on the edge of the stage “what can I help you with?”

“Well, as you know, for the class you’re taking with us” he started off fine “it’s first term strategy and second communications but” he sighed stressfully “strategy is really kicking them in the ass, something isn’t clicking with them.”

“Is it that bad?” I didn’t believe it was as he was making it sound like “what’s the average on the last exam?”

“70 percent, Midoriya and Bakugo are the ones keeping it that high but even they’re struggling”

“Oof, that’s sad” I think a bit and come up with a solution “I have a fun little thing that’ll get things clicking, what’s the P.E. schedule for this week?”

-End Chapter 25-

#bnha #mha #self insert au #not canon #chapter 25 #will update regularly #ask me anything #lmao hi Im back yall #I started this chapter on the 4th #Ive been playing the sims 4 #more chapters in a more reasonable time frame coming soon

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got7doubleb · 7 years

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hello, do you still accept prompts? if yes, can i ask for number 33 for markjin in zombie apocalypse au? hehehe

Please don’t go, i need you -markjin

Please don’t go, i need you - Mark+Jinyoung, Angst, PG, 2.5k+ wordsWhere Youngjae is saved from the streets by Jinyoung and slowly find the meaning in Jinyoung’s forced smile.

a/n: i’m so not good with zombie!au so sorry if there are loopholes in the story. also this is from youngjae’s pov despite it still being markjin. i hope that’s ok, anon-sshi! though, ain’t gonna lie, i liked the way this one turned out.

warnings: this is inspired by the ‘i am legend’ universe. the zombie proof house mentioned is inspired by this. just in case you want a better visualization.

Youngjae had first met Jinyoung by chance. He was walkingalone, feeling his sobs thicken with each step when he reached the center ofSeoul. His car had broken down and he had been travelling with his friend. That was until his friend had been bittenwhile they were scouting for food in a supermarket. So, he was alone when hehad been walking down the empty streets of familiar streets.

The day was about to become dark and Youngjae had thought ofbreaking into a car and hoping for the best. Or he had contemplated simplywalking till he met his demise. His foot was uselessly sprained or broken orboth but he trudged on. Suddenly, a sleek black sedan drove by him in an alarmingspeed. The car initially just passes him as if Youngjae wasn’t there. But then,it reverses and Youngjae is met with a man with dark hair and a haunting smile.The man calls him into the car, urging him to pick up the pace before it getsdark and that was how Youngjae was saved by Jinyoung.

Jinyoung doesn’t say much. He simply asked him where did hecome from and why he was in Seoul. He had a large rifle in the back seat and a handgun tucked in his glove compartment. Ever since, the zombies overtook Korea,weapons are a huge commodity and the fact that Jinyoung doesn’t hide hisweapons when meeting him tells Youngjae that Jinyoung wasn’t one to fuck with. Ifhe tried to even lok at the weapons the wrong way, he would and can swiftlykill him.

“Are you not planning to move to the zombie free land downsouth?” Youngjae queried when they pull into what he thinks is Jinyoung’shouse. His house was one of those Zombie Proof houses that were built beforethe actual disease spread from Japan. Youngjae remembered watching on the newsabout how fast the houses had went on sale. His family was too poor to affordmuch protection, so his father had packed all they needed into a car and leftMokpo before the evacuation team even arrived.

The evacuation team never arrived in time to Mokpo. Thedisease had spread and within all the chaos, Youngjae had lost his parents andbrother. He left with the only person he found. And yet that person had alsobeen changed.

“This is my home” Jinyoung said, the edges of his mouthtwitching into what was supposed to be bright smile but only seemed forced.“You may stay and leave whenever you please”

Jinyoung had showed him the whole house. There was aswimming pool that had no water in it, spacious living space with high risewindows that probably had not seen light in years and expensive furniture thathad never been sat in. The house was obviously too big for it to be just theJinyoung. And yet Jinyoung had called it his home.

“My lab is in the basement and it’s off limits. Are youhungry?”

Jinyoung walked them to the kitchen area where he sets downhis massive bag pack and unloads tins of food and ramyeon. He explains that theexpiries in these sorts of foods are longer; thus it could last him longer. Healso explains that he arranges the food according to it expiry month and year.“This is the ones that will expire in this year” he said opening a closet fullof tin cans and packets of instant food.

“Help yourself” Jinyoung coos. “I’ll be in my lab, just knockif you need anything”

Jinyoung had explained how there was only one point of entryand that at night the gates were on lock down. Zombies can’t be in the sunlightso it’s only safe to leave in the morning anyway.

Youngjae hadn’t fell asleep in a bed for almost a year andwhen he finally tucks himself into the guest room’s bed after a hot shower (anotherluxury he had lost) Youngjae starts to think maybe staying with Jinyoung wasn’tsuch a bad idea.

-o0o-

It is an accident when Youngjae first learns about Mark.

Youngjae had been watching old DVDs from Jinyoung’s TV inthe living room. Youngjae is surprised it still worked. There were a lot ofEnglish DVDs that didn’t even have any Korean subtitles but Youngjae watchedthem anyway. He had been on a Harry Potter marathon when he had heard Jinyoungscreaming.

It was weird because he was sure Jinyoung had entered hisroom saying that he was going to retire to bed for the day. For the past week,Youngjae had been in so much ease that he had almost forgotten zombies existed.The only reminder of zombies Youngjae had been when his foot healed Jinyoungwould help him find a car and he would be off to the zombie free land.

That was until he heard a cry coming from Jinyoung’s room.

It was like all his senses were awaken and he was running asfast as he can to Jinyoung’s room on the upper floor. His hand found theemergency gun in the living room leaving no room for hesitation. He swung thedoor open to find Jinyoung writhing on his bed. Jinyoung was drenched in sweat,eyebrows furrowed.

“Mark!” He cried. “No!”

“Please don’t go Ineed you” Jinyoung’s arms shoots straight out reaching as if he could justgrab something. Something Youngjae couldn’t see but Jinyoung could see in hismind.

It was a nightmare to watch and Youngjae could only imaginewhat it felt like. He had his own fair share of nightmares. He knew pain neverreally truly left.

So, Youngjae tucked the gun in his pocket and shook Jinyoungawake.

He held Jinyoung in his arms as Jinyoung sobbed about itbeing his entire fault; the same name whimpered over and over.

Mark.

-o0o-

Ever since the incident, Youngjae became weary of Jinyoung.The cracks in Jinyoung’s forced smiles and calm demeanor had slowly started toshow.

Youngjae had known Jinyoung’s lab was off limits but he hadheard banging and he was worried. He knew he always had to knock when heentered the lab. But the sound of glass crashing on the ground had made him runto swing the door open before he could think. The gun in his hand shook as heheld in front of him the way experience had thought him.

He was met with a sight he could not believe.

Jinyoung was on the floor, sobbing, next to what Youngjaethinks used to be a glass beaker. His eyes trained on the floor facing the backof the room. Youngjae hadn’t notice it at first but the longer he looked at it,the more he understood.

In the back of the room was a cage. The sides of the cagewere made out of steel and it had windows that allowed Youngjae to immediatelyrecognize what was caged in it. It was a zombie. The zombie was screeching andwheezing at Jinyoung. Its skin looked like burns all over it, its head bald andmouth open wide to reveal its yellowing teeth. It kept banging the glass of thecage but the sounds only seemed to be muffled.

There were thousands of rodent cages arranged on almostevery inch of the wall. The sounds of them squeaking filled the lab alongsideJinyoung’s sobs.

“I’m sorry, Mark” Jinyoung sobbed, still not realizingYoungjae’s presence. “I’m so so sorry”

“I-I just can’t do this without you” Jinyoung sobbed.Youngjae followed his line of sight and saw that Jinyoung was talking to thezombie. The zombie seems unaware of whatever was going on, now pacing in thesmall enclosure of its cage.

“I need you, Mark. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO?” Jinyoungscreamed. His fist balled up as he violently punched the ground in front ofhim, releasing himself of pent up frustrations. Youngjae could no longer standwatch.

He sets aside his pistol and catches Jinyoung’s hand beforeit meets the ground. Youngjae’s holds Jinyoung in his arms as he struggledagainst him. Weaken by tears though, Jinyoung relents and for the longest time,Youngjae held him in his arms.

-o0o-

Jinyoung never speaks of ‘Mark’ again but Youngjae could putthe pieces together quite quickly. Youngjae doesn’t quite mean to eavesdrop onJinyoung talking to Mark but sometimes he just can’t help himself.

It was easy to tell that Mark was Jinyoung’s lover.

Jinyoung recounts how they met to Mark daily, likeclockwork. His hands injecting mice and working on chemicals as he talked abouthow they met in med school and Jinyoung had fallen in love with him when Markhad wrongly said his name. He recounts how Mark had gotten a job in a sciencelab shortly after graduation and Jinyoung had worked as a surgeon in ahospital. He recounts how when the zombie warnings had come, they had gottenmarried under the tree where they had their first kiss.

He recounts everything with smiles and laughter in hisspeech but the dark look in his eyes make Youngjae’s tear leave his eyes.

He knows Jinyoung was working on an antidote for hishusband. There was no question about it. But he also knows that there is apossibility that when Mark wakes up, he may not remember Jinyoung.

And that’s why Jinyoung recounts everything he hopes Markwould never forget.

-o0o-

“What if you never find an antidote, hyung?” Youngjae askedone day when Jinyoung had finally decided to have dinner with him.

“There has to be” hesaid, not meeting Youngjae’s eyes.

“What if there are other people out there who could help youfind an antidote”

Jinyoung looked at Youngjae solemnly.

“I can’t leave him and It wouldn’t matter if the antidoteisn’t for Mark” Jinyoung’s voice said sharply. “Together till death do us part”A chill runs down Youngjae’s body because he had lived with Jinyoung for threemonths and he knew Jinyoung never said everything that he meant.

And Youngjae knew exactly what he implied.

If he couldn’t find an antidote, then Jinyoung would killhimself. Or even worse, kill both of them.

-o0o-

“How good are you at killing zombies?” Jinyoung asked asthey are having dinner.

It’s not a question Youngjae liked to answer. It remindedhim of all the innocent people he had killed. It reminded him of the time hehad to blast his friend who had helped him out of Mokpo in the head.

“I have experience” is all Youngjae manages.

“I think I have made a breakthrough,” Jinyoung said as hiseyes flicker to Youngjae’s unfinished peas. “But I need a plan B”

-o0o-

Youngjae uses the swimming pool as his shooting range.Jinyoung was specific with his orders and Youngjae had been in Jinyoung’s mercyfor far too long to refuse. It was the least he could do.

Even though the least he could do was a bit too much.

“You have to be good with both hands” Jinyoung shouts whenYoungjae finally runs out of ammo on the two targets set in front of him. “It’scrucial that it’s both hands”

“You can’t miss”

-o0o-

“Don’t panic,” Jinyoung said. He looked calm and relaxed. Itwas like he was ready for whatever was coming his way. For once, his actionsdidn’t look tense or forced, instead Jinyoung looked natural.

Jinyoung has his hand on the lock of Mark’s cage. Mark waslooking between the two of them curiously. For a zombie, Mark was definitelyless screechy and aggressive. Youngjae isn’t quite sure what Jinyoung had didto him but whatever it was, it was working.

“When I open this door, he would smell me and his zombieinstincts will cave in and he would try to attack me. Remember to not shoot himwhen he does. Let him attack me” Jinyoung opens his mouth to reveal atransparent blue pill sitting on his tongue.

“If this antidote works I’ve got me covered.” He lifts up asyringe in his left hand. “If this works, then you won’t need to use your guns.Remember 10 seconds and if we both start changing, shoot us both in the head.Don’t miss”

Youngjae nods. His conflicting consciousness making hisstomach twitch and his heart thumped painfully in his chest but Jinyoung gives himno time to back out as he unlocks the door.

The door comes unlocked and Mark bolts straight up withattention. He looked at Jinyoung for what seemed an eternity before he growlsin what Youngjae can only hear as a predatory delight.

Everything else that happens happened too fast. Mark jumpedtoward Jinyoung so fast that Youngjae had trouble adjusting his guns into aim.They wrestle for a bit when Jinyoung keeps on cooing at Mark. “It’s me, Mark”,“It’s Jinyoung” and “We can finally be together”.

Mark tackled Jinyoung so Jinyoung was on the ground butJinyoung was stronger than him and manages to flip them over. Mark waskneeling, teeth chomping on nothing towards Jinyoung’s direction while Jinyounggriped the zombie’s shoulders to hold him still. Jinyoung lets out a grunt ashe swiftly sticks the needle straight into where the heart was. Seconds laterthere is a cry of pain from Jinyoung and Youngjae knew he has been bitten.

“10 seconds, Youngjae!” Jinyoung groans. His arms wrappedaround Marks shoulders holding him down and forcing the zombie into a hug.

Youngjae counts with a shaky voice.

“10… 9… 8…”

Mark’s attention seems to shift towards Youngjae as histeeth start chomping onto nothing again. Jinyoung however has a tight grip onhim, hugging him as though it was what he had yearned for years. It probablywas.

“7… 6… 5… 4…”

Youngjae adjusts his aim, controlling his breathing.Jinyoung was starting to make wheezing noises and his grip on Mark seemed tofalter. Youngjae is afraid the worst was happening when Mark only seemed tobecome more aggressive by the second. His arms were stretched out reaching forYoungjae and his fingers curling.

“3…”

Youngjae could hear Jinyoung trying to form words but itwasn’t working. Youngjae tried not to think of how great it felt to haveJinyoung taking care of him. Youngjae tried not to cry at the thought ofkilling him.

“2…”

“Mark” the wordswere precise cutting through the silent air. “Please don’t go. I need you”

“1…”

Mark who had been emptily chomping on thin air stopped to lookcuriously at Jinyoung when the words left his mouth. His aggression immediatelydissipating as he somehow held the weak Jinyoung in his arms.

It was almost like he understood what Jinyoung had uttered.

Jinyoung’s eyes seemed unfocused, his body leaning limp inMark’s arms. There was no sign of the shaking and wheezing Youngjae knew sowell. Youngjae slumped to the ground, exhausted but insanely relieved. His gunsfell on the ground along with him.

It had worked.

The antidote had worked.

#markjin #got7 fic #got7 jinyoung #got7 mark #got7 markjin #markjin fic #angst #zombie au #gotsichiwrites2017 #myfic #anon #ask #mark tuan #park jinyoung

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