( Nat And Boomer! )

👫 ( nat and boomer! )

four headcanons about their relationship !     /     @asteriskheart

god i love ships where on is the super strong entity while the other is just your average person but said normal person deals with the ultra powerful one just like anybody else.  natalie doesn’t take any bullshit,  boomer’s included.  he knows that she’s super nice,  kindness is her virtue,  but she’s no floor mat to be stepped on.  he likes her spunk or at least feeds into it,  and he never uses his abilities to harm her once they settled in this odd friendship of theirs.  she speaks to him not with fear or like someone trying to kiss ass,  she talks back to him when he oversteps,  they have normal,  playful banter.  i think he’d really appreciate that,  what with being known as an infamous supervillain since the day he was created.  natalie only just sees boomer for who he is and his efforts to being,  well,  not as bad.  she also never treats him like he’s stupid.

she thinks his powers are cool,  of course,  but she never asks for him to demonstrate them.  in fact,  she never shies away from challenging him to a few things,  stating that he wouldn’t be able to win against her unless he depended on them.  hook,  line,  sinker.  he may be an artificial human who trained and fought alongside his super powered brothers against monsters and other formidable opponents,  but natalie has managed to both outrun him and outscore him in the baseball pitching machines.  this girl is competitive and tougher than she looks.  it’s all for fun,  and he lets her have these wins,  he would even make the effort of pretending to still try when he really gave up earlier because he didn’t want to bother — if only to not have her pout that he went easy on her.  he would argue that he’s already not using his powers,  so,  “of course i’m going easy on you.”

they both like baseball,  natalie herself is a softball girl and has played all of middle school but had to quit sometime in high school once she got a bad shoulder.  boomer shows off his neon bat around her since he knows that it’s her favorite ability of his other than flight  ( and he would agree,  it is very cool,  and something that neither of his brothers can do ).  with flaunting this particular power though comes the awareness of being safe while doing so;  she has gotten dizzy multiple times and has shook it off to reassure him that she’s fine.  along with being aware of how he’s treated by her compared to others,  so came the self control.  he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt her,  he may mess with her sometimes — but he would never put her in harm’s way.

likewise,  while boomer perhaps wouldn’t admit that he’s — dare i say — protective of his friend,  natalie isn’t ashamed to show it.  with great power comes a great amount of kickassery,  and while she knows the chances of him being greatly hurt isn’t always a possibility,  there is still the what-ifs.  she turns out to be really good at first aid and patches him up when he needs it,  not caring when he fusses.  she is a lot more stubborn during these times.  it’s not because of pity,  he knows,  that she tends to him — it’s simply because she wants to,  and he’s her friend.  she even managed to wrap his brothers up the same way,  and they allow it since it saves them time from doing it themselves  ( i’d say butch enjoys it most of all because,  duh,  pretty girl,  while brick doesn’t care ).  other than when boomer gets hurt,  she’s really good at working with his dissociation,  which not even his brothers are sure how to handle or even bother to sometimes  ( not out of malice but because they are just too tired themselves to deal with it and know that boomer will eventually snap out of it ).  natalie,  though,  would never be too tired to help someone out.  she’s always a compassionate presence,  so when she’s around when he’s in those episodes then they probably don’t last as long as they usually do.  she’d hold his hands when it’s safe,  she’d get him to walk around with her,  call out scents and neat sounds,  play music or sing something herself,  she’d feed him something sweet or spicy;  she’ll try and do anything at all to ground him.  anything to do with sounds and music helps mostly,  so she’ll sing and play songs and waits until he hums or sings back.

new main tags 3/?

"you're not a very convincing liar." ( katsuki @ izuku :') )

►  ❪ DIALOUGUE  ❫

         His fluent way with words impressed as per usual, a vicious reckoning coming to kick down Izuku's bolted door.

         Specks of irritation fettered boy into place, rising to meet the challenge as freckled cheeks burrowed further into tattered yellow. Expression set, pensive, bracing for impact. No longer did the boy shrink away from ever burning eyes of childhood friend.

         It's unthinkable to ask his friends to shoulder this heavy weight alongside him. Regret for the initial flurry of biting words disregarding their feelings sat within a rattled ribcage, among decaying wishes to go back to a time much simpler than this, but the sentiment behind them did not. Keeping them — everyone — safe mattered the most. He didn't need their understanding. He needed them alive and breathing, capable of finding happiness and meaning when the storm passed. This mission he inherited from the holders, All Might's mission, was his to fulfill. Handling these villains were Izuku's duty.

         Hilarious. How after how much he'd grown, after everything he went through, he ended up right back to where he started. An 'other', an existence different from his peers, this time of his own volition and conviction instead of their stinging rejection. It'd been easy to blend into the shadows of the background and fade into the dark, presence plain and unnoticed back then. A practice and standard as easy as blinking rain water from eyes. Why was it now, when Izuku actually wanted it, that Kacchan appeared in the suffocating black silence, trying to dispel it with his vicarious, thunderous light ?

         ( let him detach, let him drift out of your orbit. it's for the best. no, anything but that )

         ❝ Shut up. I'm not trying to lie. ❞  A dull scratch layered his voice, weariness deep enough to penetrate clear in each syllable. It's a sluggish feeling needing more than a single night's rest within the branches of safety to remove.

         ( he hates being alone, tired and exhausted, but he can't ever stop )

         Maybe it made more sense to lay quiet. Let sleeping dogs lie in the shade rather than automatic snapping at the baiting prod. But he knew, they both did, that Izuku hated lying to him and Kacchan called him a liar anyway.

         Reminder brought attention to the sting once settled at home in a bruised cheek under the clean strip of gauze, failure imprinted upon freckled skin. A persistent memoir of his inability to win / of his oldest connection  ( breathless scarlet seared at the back of the mind — why / why / why you ?  and why was it me that ended our symbol of hope — a question he had no answer to, not one that could've began assuage the unseen turmoil )  making him eat dirt on concrete pavement. The weight of hiding the existence of his / All Might’s / One for All’s secret exchanged for the burden Kacchan had been suffering alone.

         With more at risk now, Izuku's own doubts remained numerous. AFO proved he could strike anywhere. Anytime. Kacchan's standing now, bared teeth and intentions, but the chance of being so lucky to get up and walk away when AFO took another swing was abysmal. The villain's next calculated strike may meet it's mark with precision and not merely graze the fragile, glass sculpture encompassing the flame of his friend's life. A furious burn itched the back of his eyes.

         Aloud, he murmured, ❝ ...It's my responsibility. Mine. You know already that I don't want any of you hurt because of me. ❞  That's what it boiled down to, didn't it ?  The crux of his stubborn resistance. His hands continue their momentum, carrying on his sentences through them: (  i'm afraid. [...] i want you all safe. not like what happened [...] before.  )

         Izuku was fine. It's the truth.

         It had to be.

➤ ` KOMI. (  madestars  )

          𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐬𝐨  𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭,   𝐢𝐭’𝐬  𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞  enough to sneak past one’s senses and go unnoticed until the last moment,  just as the intensity of her stare seems to get picked up.   she tries to speak up,  really,  but it’s never so simple.   or easy.   so her dark gaze stays glued on,  unnerving to some,  a long and intense stare,  stare,  stare.   when he finally does speak,  her body can’t help but to react with a small jump,  her expression freezes and a small squeak escapes her throat.   his question eases her down,  and she remembers that this is her friend.   he knows how she functions by now,  and has looked after her before.

          her slender fingers work swiftly but delicately over her notebook,  her neat handwriting then displayed for the other to see as she lifts it to her nose.   Shouko is a quiet girl,  this he knows,  but she is by no means always expressionless  —  there’s a bit of worry in her big and pretty eyes.

               「   how  are  you  and  Bakugo?   sensei  looks  upset.   」

         Hiked shoulders loosened, intent gaze jumping from one neatly penned word to the next, soaking up the ink characters, processing what’s being asked as though his classmate’s voice had conveyed it clear as bell chimes in the early morning instead. Who could’ve known that in the grip of solitude, thoughts spoken into dead air, to be heard only by his own ears and pressed into the comfort of paper — confirming their existence / his existence to this uneven world — would sharpen understanding of that which went unsaid ?

         ❝ Ah... Kacchan... ❞

         Finger tapped the tip of the pen, irregular clicks against the table reflective of the askew tempo within. He’s unsure of broaching the topic, of addressing the conflict that took place in the makeshift cityscape. The conclusion of viewpoints clashing / the need to prove came and went, left him tired and aching, yet eyes stayed wide awake. Happy, yet anxious, yet relieved, yet belligerent — the flurry of ambivalent emotions refused to leave him.

         The pen’s set down, brows knitted and mouth twisted into a faltering frown.  ❝ We got into a fight so Aizawa-sensei was pretty mad about that. We're going to be on clean up duty for the next few days. I was trying to write the apology letter I have to do too. I’m having a bit of a hard time with it... ❞  He's not sorry. How could he be ?  For the first time in a long time, there had been honesty. The capacity for regret was abysmally low, perhaps there if only in a marginal sense, stemming from causing problems for his teachers and a ruckus in the night. But whether it’s despondency or off kilter disposition or the bandages strewn across face and limbs, something gave his friend cause for concern. Realization finally sunk in. Hands flew up to his chest, engaged in a frenetic wave, a hope of dispelling her distress. ❝ I-I’m okay though !  So - ❞  Motion jarred / slowing / boy remembering himself, and lowered one hand clasped at another, thumb pressed against raised flesh.  ❝ - so, um, you don’t have to worry about me Komi-san. Thank you for asking. ❞

cough.....

        Eyes widened, a hand flying to her open mouth, reeling back slightly as she puts on an exaggerated act of being shocked at the results. She's not of course. It's him, after all. Riku !  It'd truly be a bigger surprise if he somehow didn't clear most of the card  ( and what did this say about her ? ).

        A breezy laugh broke the facade and a few easy steps brought her to his side. She clasped his shoulder, firmly shaking it a bit.  ❝ Stop lying Riku, I know what you are. And I know that you can be goofy. ❞

“ why did you come? ”  @ Sora

►  ❪ QUESTIONS  ❫

         Wide smile stretched across visage, a shower of light marking the exit of his blade, hands linking behind mused hair as body rocked on its heels, balance righted just before gravity took hold. Nonchalance, a bit off tempo in the beat of the moment but the key’s chosen wielder would argue that a silly question incurred a silly response.

         ❝ Of course I would. ❞ Excuse him if fond exasperation glossed over the teasing tucked away in the recesses of his voice. Why would he show up ? Why wouldn’t he ? Honestly, Gemiya held much closer bonds to Kairi than Sora, but still — she should know him better than that by now. They were friends !

         ( weight upon shoulders builds, bending / creaking / but bones not quite breaking — ready to give just a bit more, as much as it took to see it through. how much can one heart give before it gives, collapsing under the heaviness of its own kindness ? )

         If it could help even a little bit, then putting in an appearance would be worth the effort. It’s who he was, had always been, and despite everything on his journey, hardships and trials hadn’t changed that the slightest about them him. ❝ I’ll always lend a hand. You know how it is. ❞