No.4 - Tumblr Posts

(Whumptober Day Four) DEAD ON YOUR FEET

Part One

Hero slowly opens their eyes, What happened…? They tried to lift up their head, but they felt like there were weights on top of their head. Hero feels a stinging pain in the leg. Despite the numbness in the leg, they felt a puddle around them. Hero has an idea of what the puddle is. They tried to move around, only to be stopped by chains hugging their skin. Hero already feels the bruising in their wrist and ankles. They feel sick. They want to vomit, but tape is covering their mouth.

They just want to go asleep and wake up in their own room.

🎃Whumptober Day 4: "You in There" (Kris x Reader)🎃

You fiddle with your Dark Word outfit. You were walking with Kris in the Cyber World. You two were alone due to a fork in the path and Susie dragging Ralsei with her. At this moment, it was silent.

You notice that Kris have been weird since yesterday. They've always been weird, but they have been more weird lately. They have been a little robotic at times. You are not sure if they were in a mood or something else is going on.

"Hey uh...Kris?" You turn towards Kris, "Sorry if I am intruding, but are you doing okay?"

Kris just simply looks at you, "Yes." They then look away. You notice that there is something off in their tone. You don't want to push Kris to telling you on what is going on.

"Alright then..." You spoke up again after a few seconds, "You can talk to me if you want to, you know? Even if I can't help on whether is bothering, I'll listen." You pat Kris's shoulder. You can see a small smile on their face.

You hope they are okay.

"

"Legacy. What is a legacy?

It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.

I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me;

America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me!

You let me make a difference, a place where even orphan immigrants

Can leave their fingerprints and rise up!

I'm running out of time, I'm running, and my time's up!

Wise up! Eyes up."

~

-The World Was Wide Enough, Leslie Odom Jr. and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Whumptober No.4

She said she'd be with her forever, but you can never promise forever, now can you?

(Click for better quality)

Whumptober Prompt Four- Human Shield

Hello all.  I’m trying here.  I’m very much trying to reach out to tumblr to stop the algorithm from targeting me but I am making very little success.  But I’m still trying.  Here’s day four- Human Shield.

AO3 link- https://archiveofourown.org/works/20899490

Lucifer was laughing at some joke Miss Lopez was telling after a successful case when he first felt it. Even though it had been centuries, he always sensed when his twin landed near him.  It had been one of the benefits of being Heaven’s only twinship.

He turned and saw Michael walking down the stairs into the precinct. It seemed she had learned from her siblings as she wore clothes that fit naturally into the human world, not her normal armor, though she looked more like Maze than he would be dumb enough to tell her.  Her golden hair shining in the sun, her fair skin almost glowing, her lifeless blue eyes narrowed onto him.  Had he not known his twin, he would’ve assumed she was a normal human being in a police precinct.

“Lucifer, you okay?  You went all quiet all of a sudden.”  Miss Lopez touched his arm, causing him to jump.

“Get behind me.”  Lucifer hissed.  “Now.”

“Lucifer, what’s going on?”  Chloe, dear sweet Chloe, asked.

“Get behind me and stay behind me.”  Lucifer repeated.

He put his arms out to shield his humans from his sister’s wrath.

Michael had reached them by that point, letting out a humorless laugh.

“Unlike one of us, I still follow our Father’s laws.”

“What do you want, Michael?”  Lucifer asked.

“Can’t I just visit my twin brother?”  Michael pouted, the false exaggeration convincing his humans.

“Dude, you have a twin?”  Miss Lopez asked, sounding excited.

“Has he not told you about me?”  Michael’s eyes gleamed.  “Brother I’m disappointed.  I’m Michael. Lucifer’s twin.”

Dan went to extend his hand but Lucifer kept him back.

Michael rolled her eyes, the natural look for her when the twins met.

“I told you I wasn’t going to do anything to your pets.”  She sneered, her annoyance at him clear.

“Pets?”  Dan said offended, pulling his hand back.

“Why are you here?”  Lucifer demanded.  “You haven’t visited me ever, why are you here?”

“Father, of course.”  Michael said, as if talking to a five-year-old.  “He wanted to thank you for getting rid of his punishment. On Cain.”

Chloe gasped, and reached for her gun instinctively.

“Come, human, you know that won’t work on our kind.”  Michael condescended.

“It’s all right, Chloe, I’ve got this.”  Lucifer tried to give her a hopeful smile.  If her face was anything to go by, he didn’t manage it.

“I thought you never lied, brother.”  Michael teased.

“I’ve received the message.”  Lucifer said.  “There’s no reason for you to stay.”

“Oh, I can think of a few.”  Michael purred, low in her throat.  He took a step back, instinctively,  his arms trying to protect his humans.  She advanced, like a predator stalking prey.  “Uriel, for one.  Mom.  Cutting off your wings.  Running away from your post.  The Rebellion.”

“Go home, Michael.”  Lucifer tried to portray a confidence he didn’t feel.  “Unless you want to reveal yourself to all of these wonderful people.”

“No, I don’t really want to be seen right now.”  Michael replied.

Lucifer cursed under his breath.  When Michael didn’t want to be seen, she wasn’t.

Michael laughed at him.  “Besides, two have already had the revelation, I’m just surprised the male hasn’t gotten it.  Then again, he doesn’t seem to be the brightest type.  After all, Mom liked him.

“Daniel is a bloody brilliant human.”  Lucifer hissed.  “He may be a douche at times, but he’s a good human at heart.  I won’t hear you insult him.”

He felt Dan’s hand on his shoulder, nearly making him jump out of his skin.  Dan squeezed in a way Lucifer recognized as humans trying to assist.  “Maybe you oughta leave.  Lucifer doesn’t want you here.”

Michael laughed her laugh, high-pitched and just as cruel as he remembered it.

“I don’t take orders from humans.”  Michael said, disgust written clearly on her face.  “Let alone a human like you.”

“Why are you here, Michael?”  Lucifer pressed.  “If He just wanted to give me a message, He would be sent Gabriel.  Why did you come?”

“I volunteered, brother.”  Michael rolled her eyes again.  “Gabriel was busier with… more important matters.”

Realization dawned on Lucifer.  “He didn’t send you.  You came here of your own volition.”

Michael sighed.  “Fine.  You caught me.  He didn’t explicitly tell me yes or no so I decided to interpret our Father’s word in my favor.  Just like the humans do.  Just like you did.”

“Well Father never explicitly said I couldn’t go after the Flaming Sword so I decided to interpret his words in my favor.”

Lucifer had said that to her as they fought over access to the Flaming Sword, during his Rebellion.  That fight, while always very fresh in his mind, seemed so long ago right now.

“Just go home, Michael.”  Lucifer pleaded.  He hated submitting power in their conversation but usually when he submitted, Michael left him alone.  Michael liked to play with her food rather than eat it.

“Mhm, don’t really want to, Luci.”  Michael took another step towards him.  “You see, I don’t mind being on Earth as much as our brothers and sisters do.  There’s a few things I’ve missed about you.”

Like watching a train wreck in slow motion, he couldn’t tear his eyes away, knowing exactly what his sister meant.  She cocked a fist back and swung.

He flinched back, hard.

She had stopped maybe an inch from his face.

“Luci, you’re such a coward.”  Michael scoffed.  “Why don’t you just go running to Mom like you always do?  Maybe I should throw you back in Hell myself, since Ammemadiel won’t do his job anymore.  Send you back to where you belong like I did the first time.”

Michael’s boot making contact with his chest, sending him flying across Heaven, falling, unable to stop himself, his wings limp and useless behind him as he fell down, down, down… 

“Lucifer is where he belongs!”  Miss Lopez shouted, surprising him.  She escaped his hold on his humans and threw herself in front of Lucifer.  Lucifer was too stunned to stop her.  “How dare you come in here and try to hurt him?  He’s your brother, your twin, for Chrissake!”

Michael stared at her, wide-eyed.  No one had ever challenged the Soldier of God in such a way before, let alone a tiny human.

Miss Lopez barely noticed, and continued on.  “You should be ready to throw down for him at any moment!  That’s what family is for!  You protect each other, help each other, love each other!  You don’t strike fear into their hearts!  You don’t make them flinch at your touch!  You support them, love them, make sure they know you’ve always got their back!  And you know what, if you won’t do it, then I guess I’ll have to do it for you!”

Miss Lopez stood, all five foot four of her, in front of Lucifer just as he had done moments ago, arms spread wide to protect him.  Chloe was next, putting herself in front of him, followed quickly by Dan.  Lucifer froze, unable to stop them, unable to force himself to put himself in front of his humans to protect them from his sister.

Michael looked dumbfounded, even unsettled, and Lucifer knew her well enough to see the smallest flash of fear in her eyes.  He knew no one had ever called out Michael like this, she ran the Soldiers of Heaven like her own personal army, and no one dared to go against what she said when she decided to say it.  Michael’s face twitched, as if she was unsure of what emotion she wanted to portray, finally settling on a crude smile.

“It was just a joke.”  Michael murmured, obviously trying to diminish the human’s perception of her power, to Lucifer’s astonishment even taking a couple steps back.  “Luci and I used to joke like this all the time. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal.”  Dan said.  “You need to leave.”

“I didn’t even touch him.”  Michael pouted, the same face she would always make to their Father when they fought sending a jolt through Lucifer.  “He’s just overreacting.  He always overreacts.”

“It doesn’t matter.”  Chloe said.  “You are not welcome here.  Lucifer does not want you here, and if you stay, I’m going to arrest you for trespassing.”

Michael dropped her victim act.  She looked angry, but he knew she wouldn’t strike at him with his humans in front of him.  “Lucifer, I don’t know how you did it, but somehow you’ve gone from leading an angelic Rebellion to leading humans.  If this is how you want to spend your time, go ahead.  Just make sure to remember who can enter the Silver City when she wants to, and who can’t.”

“Go to Hell, Michael.”  Lucifer snapped.  “Maybe you can rule there for a few hundred years.  See how you like it.”

Michael started to draw her fist back again, aborted her actions when Chloe, Dan and Miss Lopez all stood up straighter to protect him, and then stomped off.  He could feel her wings fly her back to Heaven until she was out of his range.

“Oh my gosh that’s your sister?!?  No wonder you never talk about her, growing up together must’ve been Hell.”

“Man, I had no idea your family was like that, I can’t believe your own sister would hurt you like that.”

“Lucifer, are you okay?  Did she hurt you?  Are all of your other siblings like that?  Oh my gosh, was Amenadiel like that?”

All of his humans were talking at the same time, and he could barely distinguish who was saying which words.

“Ella, Chlo, give him some air.”  Dan said, breaking the cacophony of sounds.  “He looks like he’s about to be sick.”

Miss Lopez backed up immediately, and Chloe helped him into her chair.  His chest felt tight, but he wasn’t sure whether to tell Chloe to leave or beg her to stay.  He wasn’t sure what was going on with him at the moment.

“Lucifer?”  Chloe asked, her beautiful eyes scanning him for any injuries.

“Why?”  He finally found his voice through the lump in his throat.

“Why what, man?”  Dan said, gentler than he’d ever heard Dan before.

“Why would you do that?”  Lucifer looked at them, his fear mixing in with his surprise.  His chest started heaving.  “You don’t know what she could’ve done to you.  My sister is one of the most powerful creatures my Father ever created.  She can do things that my siblings can barely dream of.  And you threw yourselves in front of me.”

Miss Lopez put a hand on his arm.  “Of course we did.  I’ve taken a few beatings for my brothers. That’s what you do for family.”

Miss Lopez’s words, while he knew they came from a place of affection, did nothing to help the pain in his chest.  If anything, they made it worse.  He couldn’t breathe.  He couldn’t think.  Michael was going to come back and hurt them, Michael was going to hurt them, Michael was going to hurt him, Michael, Michael Michael-

“Lucifer, you’re having a panic attack.”  Dr. Linda’s voice came through a phone that had been placed next to his ear, shocking him out of his spiral.  “I want you to listen to me very closely.  Can you hear me?”

“Y-y-y-yes.”  Lucifer gasped out.

“Good, good.”  Dr. Linda said.  “Now, I want you to follow my instructions.”

Lucifer tried to do as she asked, controlling his breathing and rationalizing that his heart wasn’t about to beat out of his chest, until the vice around his chest eased and he was himself again, if a little exhausted.

“What was that?”  Lucifer asked.

“A panic attack.”  Dr. Linda explained gently, using her therapy voice.  “People get them sometimes when they’re under a severe amount of stress, such as interacting with an abusive sibling again.”

“The Devil doesn’t panic, doctor.”  Lucifer recited on instinct.

“Of course not, Lucifer.”  Dr. Linda soothed.  “That’s just what humans named them.”

It was then he realized his humans were still crowding around him, shielding him from onlookers and the outside world.  Each one wore an expression of concern and mild fear.

“You back with us?”  Chloe asked.

“When did I leave?”  Lucifer replied.  “I have not left the precinct since we closed the case.  I would not abandon you to my sister’s wrath.”

That elicited small but strained smiles from his humans.

“Lucifer, I’ve got another patient coming in.”  Dr. Linda said, sounding regretful.  “Will you be alright until your appointment tomorrow?”

“I think so, thank you doctor.”  Lucifer said, hanging up Chloe’s phone and handing it back to her.

A stiff silence hung around them for a moment.

Miss Lopez, as expected, broke it.  “Are you okay?”

“I will be, darling.”  Lucifer said.  “Just need a couple tumblers of whiskey, I think.”

“So that’s Michael.”  Dan said, as if testing the name out.  “That’s Saint Michael.  The archangel.”

“Heaven doesn’t actually really have archangels as you humans have created them.”  Lucifer explained.  “Technically, we have ranks in the Heavenly Host but that didn’t matter like you humans assumed it did.  No, what mattered most was who was our Father’s favorites.  Michael was one of them.  I wasn’t.”

Dan wiped a hand across his face.  “That’s nuts.  Man, I used to pray to Saint Michael when I was younger.”

“I doubt she heard you, if it makes you feel better.”  Lucifer said.  “Sainthood is a human creation.  Especially for my brothers and sisters.  Angels have little cares about what happens on the mortal world.  Unless dear old Dad instructs us to.”

Dan nodded.

“Wait, so you finally understand what I am?”  Lucifer asked.

“Kinda hard to not right now.”  Dan shrugged, looking afraid but he didn’t seem to be coming undone at the seams.  “Your sister walks in here and no one notices.  She dresses like Maze but with less visible knives and no one notices.  She threw a punch at you and no one notices.  She says she doesn’t want to be seen and you freak.  She’s been calling us humans and pets and talks about wings and throwing you in hell, again?  Amenadiel promised me Charlotte was in Heaven, and somehow I believed him.  I finally felt at peace after that shitshow with Marcus.   And you’ve been calling yourself the Devil since day one, saying you don’t lie?  Yeah man, I get it now.”

Lucifer stared at him for a moment.  “How do you feel?”

“Don’t focus on me, you’re the one with the fucked up family.”  Dan said.

“Was-” Chloe’s voice was hesitant, “Were all of your siblings like that?”

“No.”  Lucifer said, and all three of them sagged in relief.  “Michael was the only one who ever got physical.  Michael and I were the only twins in the entire Heavenly Host so we had a different relationship than with any of my other siblings.  A lot of them disagreed with me, or just didn’t like me, but Michael was the only one.  The problem wasn’t my other siblings joining in.  The problem was none of my other siblings, nor my parents, believing me.  Michael was the perfect daughter, the perfect angel, the firstborn of the twins.  I was the one who asked too many questions and didn’t do as he was told.”

“I have never wanted to punch God in the face more than I do right now.”  Miss Lopez said, and made to remove her necklace.

“Please don’t, Miss Lopez.”  Lucifer stood on shaky legs, grabbing her hand.  “My father and I may not have the best relationship, but I do know my sister adores you.  Don’t throw away the whole barrel because you don’t like one apple.”

Miss Lopez stopped, and wrapped her arms around Lucifer.  He patted her back.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t like touch, you probably don’t want to be touched right now, do you?  Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”  Miss Lopez pulled herself back, though he could tell all she wanted to do was wrap him up and never let him go.

“Thank you, Miss Lopez.  I appreciate the effort.”  Lucifer made sure to give her the most comforting smile he could manage.  She smiled back so he considered that a win.

“Since the case has been solved, the murderer punished, and warm, fuzzy feelings felt, I think it time I retired to Lux.”  Lucifer said, his skin crawling like he wanted to escape his body and this conversation.  “I thank you all for your bravery, and for your affection.  I… do not know how to properly thank you all for this so this will have to do the moment.”

Miss Lopez gave him a much more fleeting hug, this time followed by Chloe.  Dan stuck out his hand, and Lucifer took it, Dan then clapping him on the back.  Miss Lopez went back to her station, and Chloe joined her.

“Hey, Lucifer?”  Dan asked, just as Lucifer was about to walk away from this conversation and escape to his penthouse.

“Yes, Daniel?”

“Do you really think I’m a bloody brilliant human being?”  Dan asked, his tone taking on their usual banter.

Lucifer huffed out a laugh.  “I never lie, Daniel.”

Dan smiled.

“However,” Lucifer added, “do not take this to mean I will stop stealing your pudding, calling you a douche, or making fun of you every chance I get.”

Dan laughed, a genuine one, one he had scarcely heard since Charlotte’s death.  “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Day 4, 6, 22, 29- I'm Fine (Don't Peek Behind the Curtain)

This one was a great time, I got to just play around with Bakugou's trauma for funsies hehe this one has Shinsou in it. and here's the thing about Shinsou (I'm not fully caught up, no spoilers please) I know very little about his quirk. So I took... a lot of liberties. So if it turns out that's not how Shinsou's quirk works, that's a problem for future me.

prompts- shock, made to watch, "watch out!", troubled past resurfacing- hurt Bakugou, a lovely little walk down memory lane, with memory lane being everything Bakugou's ever suffered through, emotionsTM

AO3 Link- https://archiveofourown.org/works/50331418

While Shinsou wasn’t particularly thrilled with being in a group with Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou, it really seemed like tempting fate at this point, he was glad that he was finally starting to catch up a little bit to his new classmates. Everyone else had already gotten a ridiculous amount of real world experience and they weren’t even done with their first year, and while one day out on patrol with Aizawa wouldn’t do too much to make up for it, at least it was a start.

The class had been thrilled at the thought of going out with their teachers, patrolling the warehouse district near the docks. Aizawa had told them that this wasn’t about fighting villains, but about how to do proper patrols. The teachers were hoping nobody ran into any villains, but, knowing 1A, they could fight if they did since they all had their probationary licenses. Shinsou had been a special case, since he’d transferred into the class after the test was given. Aizawa had vouched for him, to give him a temporary and restricted license until he could take the test, convincing the committee that since class 1A was constantly running into villains, that he needed to be able to fight alongside his classmates in an emergency. The license he had wasn’t like everyone else’s, but it was enough to let him get the real world experience he’d been looking for. Though, since he had to be in Aizawa’s presence the entire time he was out in the field, that also meant he’d gotten assigned to the ‘problem child’ group since Aizawa was also personally keeping an eye on them.

Bakugou had protested loudly at being stuck with Midoriya, but Aizawa had silenced him with a few whispered words. Shinsou hadn’t heard him exactly but it was something along the lines of ‘I need you to keep Midoriya and Todoroki from doing something stupid.’ Shinsou hadn’t been with the class long, but it was an open secret that Midoriya was always willing to go too far to try and save people, and that Todoroki often seemed way too easily convinced to do something illegal. And while Bakugou was often at the crux of shit that went down around 1A, it was well-known it hadn’t been his choice to be involved in any of it, ironically, making him the more sensible one. So it made sense to redirect Bakugou’s anger to something that he actively enjoyed, telling other people what to do.

“Stop walking ahead of me!” Bakugou snapped for what seemed like the twelfth time in ten minutes, which was followed by the twelfth “sorry, Kacchan,” in ten minutes, which was then followed by the twelfth “Don’t call me that!” in ten minutes.

Shinsou didn’t think he’d ever met a bigger asshole in his life.

Even though he was paying attention to everything around them, as Aizawa instructed, internally he was trying to wrap his head around why the fuck Midoriya and Kaminari called him their friend. Midoriya kept insisting that Bakugou just needed time to warm up to him, that he was softer and kinder than he seemed, but honestly, Shinsou didn’t believe him. Midoriya saw the best in literally everyone, Bakugou included, even if it wasn’t always really there. Kaminari said that Bakugou was an acquired taste, that he took some getting used to, and Shinsou thought maybe the whole class was just noseblind to Bakugou’s dickishness, for lack of a better term. Bakugou had only ever been insulting, arrogant, cocky, and a temperamental hothead around Shinsou, and he did not understand what his friends saw in the blonde.

“Will you just fucking shut up?” Shinsou groaned, running a hand down his face.

“Shut up.” Bakugou responded bluntly, his voice lower than expected. He suddenly stopped in the alleyway they were in, and Shinsou rolled his eyes. Midoriya and Todoroki stopped as well, no doubt to stop him from blowing Shinsou up for daring to tell him to be quiet.

“No seriously, shut up.” Shinsou shot back. “Not everything is about you all the fucking time. You’re not that special, dude.”

“I said shut up.” Bakugou hissed, his voice even lower. That unsettled Shinsou for some reason, and he stopped as well.

“Sensei?” Bakugou asked quietly, pointing at someone Shinsou could barely see. “They supposed to be here?”

Aizawa came to Bakugou, to look at what he was pointing at. Shinsou could just barely make out three people standing around, talking with each other. It looked like a few people talking on their breaks, and Shinsou was ready to ignore it and yell at Bakugou for being overdramatic when the men shook hands, and one pulled a thick wad of bills out of his pocket.

“There’s supposed to be a ship coming in about now.” Midoriya said, looking at the manifest schedule they’d been given earlier.

“I fucking know that Deku,” what, had he memorized the schedule? He’d barely even looked at it! “But something’s off. I can sense it.”

The wad of bills was exchanged for a briefcase, and when it was opened, the man who paid pulled out a white brick. That looked like…

“Drug runners.” Aizawa said with a hard look. “I was hoping they wouldn’t be here, but it seems they’re trying to get around the patrol schedule.”

Shinsou realized he was now a full-fledged member of 1A now, it barely being three weeks since he’d transferred in before running into villains. This was his first outing with his license, and now he was going to have to use it. That must have been some kind of record.

“You know them, Ai- I mean Eraserhead?” Midoriya asked.

“Not them specifically, but I’ve caught my fair share of drug smugglers here.” Aizawa said. “Ports are a big target for smugglers, hiding contraband on ships is easier than you think.”

Aizawa radioed the other teachers, relaying their position and that they might need backup. They couldn’t see any other villains beyond the three in front of them, but they all knew that didn’t mean those were the only ones.

“Dynamight, don’t ignite the drugs unless absolutely necessary.” Aizawa said, and to Shinsou’s mild surprise, Bakugou just nodded. “Try to keep that briefcase as undamaged as possible, we need it for evidence.”

The men hadn’t seemed to notice them yet, just talking and laughing as if one of them wasn’t holding an entire briefcase of what Shinsou thought was cocaine. They crept along the walls of the warehouses surrounding them, Bakugou walking quieter than Shinsou thought possible for the blonde. Red light began to shine from Midoriya, and Shinsou felt the temperature drop a few degrees.

“Easy.” Aizawa said, waving his hand a little. “Mindfreak, get their attention. Get as many of them under your control as you can, get them to surrender. Only then do we go in, and I’m on point. Just arresting them is the goal, don’t fight unless you have to.”

Everyone nodded.

Aizawa nodded at him, and Shinsou took a deep breath. Getting more than one person under his control was hard, and keeping them under control was even harder, but he just had to keep them under control until they were arrested. He could do this.

Fiddling with his artificial vocal cords for a moment, disguising his voice into something older, something more adult, he called out, “Excuse me? Can you help me?”

All three men turned to him, shouting at him in surprise, and Shinsou pounced. He had to attack each one individually, blanketing their minds with his quirk. The first one fell easily, and the second one wasn’t far behind, but the third one, the one holding the briefcase, clearly had psychic defenses. There wasn’t a way for him to enter without being crushed, his mind sharp, prepared for intruders.

Splitting himself in two was already making his head throb, his connection with their minds weak and flaky, hanging on by a thread and getting weaker as he tried to get briefcase guy.

Dammit, he couldn’t hold this, he was losing his grip on the other two. His legs wobbled, his heart stuttered, but he shouted out a, “surrender!”

The two he had control over immediately got down on their knees, putting their hands behind their head. He heard Aizawa say, “go!” but he couldn’t move from his spot. His vision went a little blurry, but he saw Aizawa and Bakugou go after briefcase guy, who had some sort of emitter quirk, which surprised Shinsou, since he thought he would’ve had a mental type quirk due to his shields.

Midoriya shouted, “Go help them, I got this!” and Todoroki joined the fight after handing Midoriya his cuffs. Midoriya was quick and precise, and both of them were arrested without much issue. Shinsou slumped against the wall, panting a little as he retracted his mind. The two woke up, and shouted, but Midoriya was already taking them away, getting them out of the line of fire. Shinsou could barely hear a “please stay here so you don’t get hurt” over the sounds of the battle, and he couldn’t believe just how true that rumor was.

He turned back to the battle, and he realized briefcase guy was more than a simple drug smuggler. The bastard fought as if he’d been trained, catching Aizawa’s capture weapon in his hands and using it against him, throwing him towards the water. Todoroki shot out a block of ice, catching their teacher before he fell into the ocean.

Okay. He could end this. He could do this.

“Over here you bastard!” Shinsou shouted, getting the briefcase guy’s attention once more.

Shinsou attacked with everything he had, trying to blanket the guy’s mind as he had the others. Going up against one was way easier, but damn, this guy had thorough mental shields. People who were psinull, without any psychic training whatsoever, getting in their mind was like walking through a house without walls. But this guy, he didn’t just have walls, he had fortresses, reinforced with training and expertise. Shinsou didn’t give up, though, he just had to find this guy’s weak point.

“Watch out!”

So focused on the guy’s mind, Shinsou hadn’t seen the emitter blast headed straight for him, Midoriya’s voice his only warning.

Caught by surprise, Shinsou didn’t have time to get his body to jump out of the way. He felt something slam into him, but it wasn’t a blast of energy. It was a person, propelled by an explosion he felt at the edge of his body. Bakugou smashed into him at full speed, his momentum forcing Shinsou out of the way. Shinsou crashed to the ground, but he wasn’t flattened by two hundred pounds of muscle and temper.

Bakugou had tried to blast them both out of the way, but he hadn’t had the time to get both of them out of the way, Bakugou getting hit by the edge of the blast. He was thrown down the alleyway, landing in a heap.

“Bakugou!” Shinsou shouted, scrambling to his feet and running to his classmate. He could hear Todoroki’s ice move and then the emitter blasts went silent, so Todoroki must’ve caught the guy. Shinsou barely noticed as he ran to Bakugou’s side. “Bakugou, are you alright?”

The blonde was trembling a little, the excess energy radiating from his hands, his ribs, his face, but then dissolving into the air. His hands hovered over Bakugou, knowing Bakugou didn’t like to be touched, but wanting to help anyway. Bakugou groaned, and then began to push himself up on his hands. “I’m fi--” Bakugou started, but his voice cut off suddenly. Bakugou turned to him, with a confused frown on his face, surprise in his eyes, and Shinsou gasped.

Little characters were carving themselves into Bakugou’s cheeks, and bruises were sprouting across Bakugou’s neck.

The energy began to diminish from his face, and Shinsou realized the energy dispersions must be targets of the quirk. Bakugou fell back on his ass, still wearing that confused look, and Shinsou saw blood starting to stain the orange parts of Bakugou’s uniform. Shinsou got Bakugou’s gloves off, and little characters were writing themselves in Bakugou’s blood on his hands too.

Shinsou wrapped Bakugou’s arm around his shoulder and hauled them both to their feet. They hadn’t even been able to make it two steps before Shinsou heard a sickening crack!’ and Bakugou shouted, his right leg suddenly unable to hold weight. Shinsou could barely look at how badly it was broken before his stomach lurched at the sight. They went from walking together to Shinsou all but dragging Bakugou forward, and Shinsou could feel Bakugou’s arm start to tremble as they went. Bruises spread across his shoulders, down his arms, and Shinsou ran as fast as he could carrying an entire person.

“Sensei!” Shinsou shouted, getting everyone’s attention from briefcase guy to them.

Todoroki immediately rushed forward to grab Bakugou’s other arm, and together they dragged him to Aizawa. His mentor was a seasoned professional, able to keep calm when everyone else was panicking, but seeing a look of fear, even just hidden in his eyes, scared the fuck out of him.

Instead of talking to them, he turned back to the man encased in Todoroki’s ice. “What the hell is your quirk?”

Briefcase guy just sneered. “Isn’t that the brat from the news? The villain one or something? I wouldn’t have thought he’d be so affected from watching TV.”

“If you don’t answer my question, I’m going to throw you into the water and tell the cops you jumped.” Aizawa said harshly. Shinsou knew Aizawa would never do so, not just because it was illegal but because Aizawa wasn’t a murderer, but he was obviously trying to convince the man he was. He must be scared if he went straight to threats.

“Alright, alright!” Briefcase guy panicked. “My quirk makes internal pain external. Guilt, fear, regret, that kind of thing.”

“Release him now!”

“I-I can’t! It lasts an hour, there’s nothing I can do once it’s started!”

Shinsou’s blood ran cold. Bakugou would have to go through an hour of this? He could barely stand as it was! Instinctively, both he and Todoroki turned to look at Bakugou, and the characters inscribing themselves on Bakugou’s face were beginning to form words.

“Sensei, I did as you said-- Kacchan!” Midoriya then joined them, Shinsou wasn’t sure where he’d been but right now it didn’t matter.

As soon as Midoriya came into their sight, a burst of blood spewed from Bakugou’s mouth.

“Deku, go!” Aizawa said, recognizing something Shinsou didn’t. Somehow Bakugou getting worse around Midoriya didn’t make sense to him, but it made sense to his mentor. “He can’t be around you right now. Todoroki, you go with him. Find another teacher, call an ambulance.”

Aizawa switched spots with Todoroki, taking Bakugou’s arm. Another choked gasp of blood started running down Bakugou’s chin. Todoroki and Midoriya looked like they didn’t want to go, wanting to stay by their friend’s side, but after a brief moment, they both took off.

“This way. I want you with me.” Aizawa said, just reaching down to Bakugou’s knees to carry him away from the ice, heading to a spot Aizawa must have deemed acceptable.

“Why me?” Shinsou asked. “Why not send me away too?”

“Because I think your quirk can help.” Aizawa stated, kneeling down and setting Bakugou down. “And you’re the only one here who doesn’t know him. You don’t have history with him, you won’t make him worse.”

Shinsou nodded and his mind a tornado of thought. How could he help Bakugou right now?

“Okay, Bakugou, I need you to answer me.” Shinsou said, looking directly at Bakugou’s face. To his horror, the words were becoming legible through the blood. “Talk to me, say something.”

Bakugou opened his mouth again, his chin still dripping blood, but he managed a quiet, “yeah?”

With the opening, Shinsou went to Bakugou’s mind, and he was surprised to feel a jaggedness he hadn’t felt before. It almost reminded him of when he’d entered Midoriya’s mind at the Sports’ Festival. Midoriya hadn’t felt like anyone he’d ever put under his control, and Bakugou’s mind even sharper than that. He got a flash of Bakugou’s memories, the quirk obviously bringing them to the forefront of Bakugou’s mind, and he could see Aizawa’s disapproving stare, and he could feel an immense amount of guilt, a feeling of not hitting a standard someone had set for you.

Shinsou didn’t even have time to figure out what that meant when he felt Bakugou’s mind kick him out, and he fell backwards from the force.

“Sensei, you gotta leave.” Shinsou said, scrambling back to his feet.

Aizawa turned to him, a frown deeply inscribed into his face.

“There’s something there with you too.” Shinsou said. “I think he feels like he disappointed you or something, but I can’t be sure, it might be the quirk.”

Actually Shinsou was very sure, but he knew Bakugou wouldn’t want him broadcasting his inner feelings to the world. Aizawa pursed his lips, but sighed, and nodded. “Do what you can, as soon as medical gets here, I’ll send them over to you.”

Shinsou nodded, and with a sinking heart, he watched as their teacher headed away from them too. Turning back to Bakugou, he found crimson eyes glaring at him, but he could see the pain he was trying to hide. The bruises started to spread down from Bakugou’s neck to his collarbone.

“Look, I’ll tell them it was just the quirk la… ter.” Shinsou said before his mouth went dry.

Terror struck him again as more characters began etching themselves into his neck. Shinsou opened his mouth to try again, but the words on Bakugou’s face were finished. His heart stuttered for a moment as he read ‘pathetic’ on his left and ‘weak’ on his right. Internal pain external. Bakugou must have had these thoughts on his own, but now he couldn’t hide them, as they were literally carving themselves into his body. Shinsou looked to his hands, and found the words ‘cruel’ and ‘villain’ finishing their last strokes.

Bakugou thought of himself as a villain? That… that was impossible. Bakugou was always so confident in himself, he was constantly yelling at everyone that he was going to be the best hero in Japan, better than All Might himself. No, no, this had to be the quirk. No one with Bakugou’s superiority complex and ego thought of themselves like that. Briefcase guy’s psychic shields were making more sense now, putting thoughts into other people’s heads or amplifying ones that were already there required psychic talent, even if it was done by emitting energy.

Shinsou shook his head clear of those awful thoughts, and he tried again. “Bakugou, you can’t kick me out like that. I know having someone else in your head probably feels terrifying right now, but I think I can help you. I should at least be able to knock you out so you don’t have to suffer through this. Come on, Bakugou, answer me.”

The glare that was badly disguising the fear in Bakugou’s eyes intensified, but after a moment, he got a “fuck you” with more syllables than letters due to Bakugou’s stutters and gasps, and Shinsou slipped back into Bakugou’s mind. The jaggedness still took him by surprise, but he forced himself through it, trying to blanket Bakugou’s mind with his control. Bakugou’s mind kept lashing out at him, fear at the forefront of the assault, but Shinsou was better prepared this time. Bakugou was like Midoriya, he could fight Shinsou off, but Shinsou had gotten better at controlling others with just his will. He would help Bakugou dammit.

The second Bakugou’s entire mind was covered, weakly, thinly, but covered, it was a simple “sleep” and Bakugou’s eyes closed, his mind going dark as Shinsou withdrew himself. Shinsou sighed, his shoulders slumping in exhaustion. But not even a full minute went by before he heard another nauseating ‘crack’ and Bakugou’s right arm snapped to the side, and Bakugou woke back up with a scream. The pain must have been so intense it woke him up. Which meant that Shinsou’s quirk knocking him out wouldn’t work, as he was only able to convince a mind to shut down for sleep, not be completely unconscious. Honestly at this point, Shinsou didn’t even know if that would even work. Dammit. Dammit!

Okay, think Shinsou, Bakugou needs you. He’s in excruciating agony and can’t be put to sleep. How else can he help? Think, dammit, think!

He couldn’t think. The now finished word on Bakugou’s neck, thankfully avoiding his aorta, stared right into Shinsou’s soul.

Monster.

Shinsou couldn’t do anything but stare in disbelief for a moment. Not even twenty minutes ago, Shinsou had been shouting at him, thinking he was nothing more than a nuisance, an asshole who he happened to unfortunately get stuck with. Bakugou was just an egotistical jerk, a self-important bastard who thought himself better than everyone. But now, the pain and fear Shinsou couldn’t deny was staring him right in the face. Bakugou actually thought of himself as a monster. Tears were streaming down his face before he even realized he was crying.

“Bakugou…” Shinsou breathed, heartbroken at the sight.

His only response was a choked, gurgling noise, but it was a response. Shinsou slipped back into Bakugou’s mind, finally starting to understand the jaggedness. Midoriya had been through a lot, he hadn’t told Shinsou everything, but he could still tell that Midoriya was haunted by it. It was obvious that something had happened since Midoriya was unusually attached to Bakugou, who had been nothing but a jerk to him, and while everyone in class speculated (and Todoroki created wild conspiracy theories) no one actually knew what had happened. But something had, something that scarred their minds into being jagged and reactive.

This time, Shinsou didn’t try to blanket Bakugou’s mind, instead trying to focus on helping Bakugou through the memories he was being attacked with, his (only) idea that if he could help soothe the memories, the injuries wouldn’t be as powerful. His internal pain was being reflected externally, and if he could help soothe the internal pain, hopefully the external pain wouldn’t be so strong. Shinsou had no idea what to expect, but he braced himself as best as he could.

Certain memories were connected to the words that were still bleeding down Bakugou’s face,  and Shinsou came to the first one, and the feeling of pathetic was so strong that Shinsou nearly lost his grip on it. He could see flashes of the memory, a moving sludge encasing his whole body, going down his throat, and struggling to breathe. The force of the memory was so strong, Shinsou could feel his own throat closing.

“I couldn’t just stand there and watch you die.”

That was Midoriya’s voice. It may not have been shouted when it happened, but the voice echoed so powerfully that Shinsou was thrown from the memory for a moment. He came back with a stronger grip this time, his mind racing on how he could ease this obviously debilitating pain? ‘It wasn’t your fault’ didn’t seem right, and ‘it wasn’t personal helping people is just who he is’ was definitely the wrong answer. Dammit, quick, Shinsou, his face is still bleeding.

“You weren’t pathetic.”  Telepathy itself was a small part of Shinsou’s quirk, as controlling people’s minds needed telepathy just to get into other people’s heads, but he rarely ever used it like this. Somehow though, he’d never been more confident speaking directly into someone’s mind. “It wasn’t pathetic of you to get caught. You did everything you could. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That doesn’t mean you were pathetic.”

Shinsou could feel the quirk trying to amplify Bakugou’s emotions, to try and kick him out again, but he pushed hard, keeping his mantra the same, that Bakugou hadn’t been pathetic to get attacked. He could feel the memory slow down, and start to slide away from the forefront of Bakugou’s mind. He couldn’t shove the memory away entirely, the word was already written into Bakugou’s face, but this was the best he could do. He could still use his own body rather than be essentially trapped in Bakugou’s mind, and looking out of his eyes showed that ‘pathetic’ had at least stopped bleeding, and was beginning to fade. His idea was working, thank fuck.

Once pathetic was taken care of as much as he could, Shinsou then moved steadily in Bakugou’s mind to ‘weak’. He knew what to brace himself for now, and weak was a much easier memory to grasp than pathetic. The flashes of weak were stronger, and Shinsou didn’t know if that meant that the quirk was trying to amplify it now that it had lost pathetic, or if Bakugou had been more affected by it, but that didn’t really change his game plan so he just took in the flashes with what strength he had.

The back of Shinsou’s neck burned, and seeing his friends’ horrified faces as Bakugou was dragged into darkness made his stomach lurch. The forest around was dark, but Midroiya and Todoroki were as bright as stars, and Bakugou had been unable to turn away, and not just because Dabi was holding him by his neck. Weakness flooded his mind, Bakugou not even all the way through the warp before he was already screaming at himself for being weak. Shinsou was now very much doubting that Bakugou actually had the superiority complex he’d thought he’d seen in Bakugou’s arrogance. Bakugou clearly used arrogance and cockiness as a cover to hide the fact that he thought of himself as pathetic and weak, that he was a hindrance to everyone around him.

The flashes were less focused this time, going from the forest to what was no doubt Kamino and then back again. Seeing Midoriya, Iida, and Kirishima in the air, and hating the hope that that brought him. Bakugou had wanted to rescue himself, but he couldn’t, and he felt lesser for it, but still he took Kirishima’s hand. And then being blasted with the horrible feeling of being trapped as Compress used his quirk and ensnared him in that tiny ball, the feeling of suffocation coming back tenfold.

Everyone knew that Bakugou getting kidnapped was the reason they were all forced into the dorm system, that he was the reason why the school was constantly in trouble and on thinner and thinner ice. He’d heard plenty of kids talking about Bakugou in the past, even before he transferred into the hero course, talking about how it was Bakugou’s fault for getting kidnapped, that he must have done something stupid to let it happen, that his cockiness wasn’t deserved as he hadn’t gotten himself free, and how everything now was his fault. Shinsou hadn’t paid much attention to it, he rarely paid attention to gossip, especially since whenever someone learned of his quirk, and his heroic intentions were put into question. (When he’d told his general studies classmates he wanted to transfer to the hero course, the rumor that he was a traitor started because his quirk could only lead to villainy, and he’d struggled to shut it down.) So he’d heard people talking about Bakugou, blaming him for the state of the school, but he hadn’t thought about it afterwards. He hadn’t even conceived the idea that Bakugou blamed himself more than any of those gossipers.

There was something else in Bakugou’s mind, he could just barely hear All Might’s voice, but this was deeper in the memory, and Shinsou could feel the same jaggedness but worse, and decided to leave that alone. Something in Bakugou’s mind was protecting that, and Shinsou didn’t want to fight him over his own memories.

“This wasn’t your fault.” This felt more right to say that, especially feeling the blame that Bakugou was putting on himself. “You aren’t weak for taking Kirishima’s hand. You were strong for letting them help you, for taking yourself out so the pros could go in without holding back. You kept yourself alive, that’s what matters. This wasn’t your fault, you didn’t choose any of this, you didn’t deserve any of that. You’re only fifteen, Bakugou, the League were grown adults, experienced villains deliberately going after someone who couldn’t have seen it coming. You weren’t weak, Bakugou, this wasn’t your fault.”

The quirk again tried to fight him, tried to shut him up, but Shinsou refused to go unheard. Bakugou would know this wasn’t his fault if it killed him. As with pathetic, weak started to slow down, growing distant in Bakugou’s mind. Shinsou didn’t know whether or not Bakugou believed him but he was at least hearing him, and that was all that mattered for now. Weak had stopped bleeding as well, and Shinsou wanted to move fast to the other, not exactly aware of how much time had passed, but trying to let whatever time left that Bakugou was still forced to deal with this be as easy as Shinsou could make it.

He did promise himself to pay more attention to what people were saying about Bakugou though, because while the emotions didn’t come from outside forces, they reinforced it in his mind, and Shinsou knew how awful that feeling felt, and he didn’t want Bakugou to feel it as well as deal with all of the other shit he was clearly going through.

As soon as weak was as far away as Shinsou could push it, he immediately moved onto the next one, ‘cruel’. But what Shinsou braced himself for wasn’t the emotion radiating off of the memory, and Shinsou nearly doubled over from the sheer magnitude of regret that he was inundated with. A quick press gave him flashes of conflicting feelings, the emotion that Bakugou had been feeling when the memory happened, and the regret he felt remembering it. He saw a classroom, and Midoriya cowering at Bakugou’s feet, a desk with scorch marks off to the side. Shinsou pulled away from that, not wanting to see his friend like that. Judging by their looks, this was middle school at the most, it didn’t look like 1A and he knew Aizawa wouldn’t have put up with that shit. Bakugou had been a bully in the past to Midoriya, and he’d loved it back then, but now all that was left was the bitter taste of regret. Bakugou actually did have a superiority complex, he could feel it in how he lorded his power over Midoriya, feeling like it was his right to do it since he felt he was better than Midoriya, though Shinsou wasn’t sure why. But somehow, he did also have an inferiority complex, he could feel it woven into the regret Bakugou had over these memories. How the fuck was that possible?

Okay, figure that out later, these memories were taunting Bakugou with his past cruelty, but Shinsou needed a way to at least distract him from it. Shinsou couldn’t stop the regret, nor would he even if he could, regrets were often what made a person change after hurting someone else, and he didn’t want Bakugou to lose what character development he had gotten since. This was Bakugou’s journey to go through, and Shinsou’s route to help him through this pain.

“You’ve grown since.” Shinsou couldn’t believe he was saying this, because he hadn’t thought Bakugou capable of said growth, but everything he’d ever known about the blonde had been completely warped and changed since this started, so he felt more confident in saying it. “People make mistakes, Bakugou. You’ve learned from them. Looking back on the past does nothing, and I’m sure Midoriya has forgiven you.”

Jaggedness smacked Shinsou in the face, and he felt his own nose start to drip blood. Okay, that was the wrong thing to say, he got it.

In checking his body for the effects, he saw that cruel had stopped bleeding, but it hadn’t begun to fade yet, so something he was saying was working. With the other memories, Shinsou could ease their strength, take it away from the quirk forcing Bakugou to think only of them, and right now that was his only goal. Bakugou’s feelings over his mistreatment of Midoriya were his own, but at the very least, Shinsou could set them back to simmer in the back of his mind until he was ready to deal with them, stopping the quirk from torturing him with them.

“Your past isn’t all of who you are, Bakugou. Sometimes redemption arcs are the best stories we can tell.”

Shinsou could tell that it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t nearly enough to actually help Bakugou through what he was feeling, but it was enough to get the memories out of the quirk. No wonder Bakugou had gotten so much worse just from looking at Midoriya.  Those feelings did dismiss his idea though that Midoriya trying to save Bakugou from that sludge had been the event that had made Bakugou so angry at Midoriya. It could still be what made Midoriya so attached, but Shinsou couldn’t be sure. He’d just ask when this was all over.

With cruel sliding back with the others, Shinsou pressed on, exhausted but desperate to keep his friend from the pain that was still overwhelming his senses. Shinsou could tell that his pushing the memories away was helping, able to sense that the pain wasn’t so intense anymore, but it was like going from one hundred percent to eighty. Shinsou couldn’t solve all of Bakugou’s pain, but he was going to keep trying to soothe what he could. Regardless of Bakugou’s assholery, in the past or in the present, he didn’t deserve this kind of pure agony.

Villain also didn’t have the same emotion that Shinsou would’ve thought, nor the same memories. He thought it might’ve been tied to Midoriya but what he found was somehow even worse. Chained to a chair with so many restraints that Shinsou couldn’t even count them all, and that was just what Bakugou could see and feel, surrounded by the same people who tormented his class, the same bastards who attacked the USJ, unleashed Nomus onto the world, who led to the fight that would bring about All Might’s downfall. Shinsou couldn’t even imagine being surrounded by so many villains, let alone be as calm as Bakugou had portrayed himself to be.

“People… rules… heroes… we’re all shackled by them.”

Shinsou didn’t have to have met Shigaraki to know that that was his voice, even before Bakugou’s mind recognized it fully. He was pitching to Bakugou, an opportunity to join the League of Villains, that he had the stuff that they were looking for… and the temperament.

There was no way to hide that Bakugou’s attitude had been the reason the League had gone after him, and that was the main reason why everyone else blamed him. ‘If he hadn’t been such an asshole on live TV, then we wouldn’t have to be the ones suffering the consequences’, was the overwhelming majority opinion he’d overheard. Even members in the press implied that in their questions, even with Aizawa defending Bakugou’s character at that press conference. He could distantly hear Aizawa’s voice on what he could just sense as a tv, and oh gods, Bakugou had seen that? While literally in the middle of a hell that couldn’t be described?

Oh gods. This is why Bakugou blamed himself. Shinsou couldn’t imagine already feeling weak for getting kidnapped, for being restrained to the point where he couldn’t move for the second time, and seeing grown ass adults tell everyone watching that he was going to join the league. And Bakugou had gone through all of that. Alone. With only his teacher to stand up for him in a room full of people who’d never met him yet seemed to hate him for no reason, surrounded by villains who thought the exact same thing. And no one had said anything nice once they’d come back to school, only adding to how shitty Bakugou felt about this happening in the first place. No one outside of 1A had felt bad for Bakugou for getting kidnapped, only blaming class 1A but mostly him for the changes in their lives. Saying the exact same things that the villains had over those horrible days.

No wonder Bakugou saw himself as a villain, as a monster. Everyone else did.

This time, Shinsou didn’t have words. He couldn’t think of anything to say, just repeating choppy utterances weren’t even real sentences, desperate for anything at all to say.

“You’re a hero, they were wrong, you’re a hero, you’re a hero, they’re wrong, they’re all wrong, you saved me, you save people, you’re a hero, you’re a hero, you’re a hero, you’re a hero.”

Villain didn’t fade like the other ones, but Shinsou could feel the memories slipping through his fingers. Something was happening, the quirk was doing something he hadn’t expected, and he chased after the memories he’d already taken care of. It was like something was drawing them back, a gravitational force he didn’t understand, drawing in the other memories and collecting them into what seemed like one mass.

In telepathy, sometimes when two people are connected for a long time, the stronger telepath could sometimes see creations being formed without them actually being there, sort of a way to rationalize what was going on with the signals the brain was getting. The stronger telepath’s mind could create a picture that only they could see that was deeply connected to the actual feelings and memories of the weaker telepath. Since Bakugou wasn’t telepathically inclined at all, he probably wouldn’t be able to remember this as a telepath might, but as Shinsou looked at what the quirk was turning the weaker memories into, he thought it was for the best that Bakugou wouldn’t be able to.

All four of the words he’d seen amalgamated into one, swirling black hole that turned into what Shinsou thought looked like a building with a single door, with MONSTER emblazoned on it in bright red, flickering neon. It almost looked like the door before a final boss fight in a video game, but Shinsou wasn’t deterred. Besides, this wasn’t real per say, this was just a psychic projection of the emotions the quirk was bringing out in Bakugou.

It was only after he opened the door that he heard a lock snap, and he could sense that the quirk which had its own psychic energy, and was trying to keep him out, was trying to create this into a singular pain that Bakugou couldn’t escape. However, Shinsou had moved as soon as the doorknob had created itself, and the quirk hadn’t been able to lock the door before he got in. Shinsou was going to discuss how this quirk tried to fight him with Aizawa, as he was ninety-nine percent sure that briefcase guy was still controlling the quirk psychically because otherwise he didn’t think the quirk would be fighting him so hard, psychic quirks needed direction and couldn’t generate it on their own.

At first, Shinsou couldn’t perceive anything, only to hear a sound that sounded suspiciously like a child crying. A light flickered on, and a tiny form was illuminated, on their knees, hunched over with their hands out. That was what had been crying. At first, Shinsou thought that this was a projection of Bakugou’s inner child, but when a small head looked up at him, he realized that it was Bakugou as he was, just much smaller than the teenager Shinsou knew. When he recognized Shinsou, he blushed fiercely, unable to look Shinsou in the eyes, somehow getting even smaller. Shinsou wasn’t good at kids, but he thought maybe Bakugou was the size of a five-year-old.

“Bakugou?”

“I didn’t mean to.” Gods, Bakguou sounded so small, Shinsou’s heart just broke all over again.

Shinsou went to his friend, and knelt in front of him, and gasped when he saw Bakugou’s hands were covered in blood.

“Bakugou, what happened? Why is there blood on your hands?”

The sobs just got stronger.

A television screen formed behind them, and from the memories Shinsou had seen, this was the same room he’d been held in by the League of Villains, just empty. Instead of All-for-One on the screen, flashes of memories began to play. Blood bursting from Best Jeanist’s abdomen, Midoriya staring at him with his big green eyes and he could hear Bakugou’s voice say “Why was I the one who ended All Might?”, then it flashed to being in the air, holding Kirishima’s hand, big drops of blood in the air as Mount Lady fell, and then after the fight, All Might in his smaller form, steam emanating from all over his body, his finger pointing straight out. And… somehow, Shinsou could tell that Bakugou felt like it wasn’t pointing at him.

Shinsou rarely acted without thinking. His relationship with other people required him to think first before any action, no matter how small. So many people were quick to jump to the thought that he was a villain that he had to think everything through, even if it was asking to borrow a pencil or asking for notes if he missed a day. But now he wasn’t thinking at all. He just moved.

Arms wrapped around the small form, bringing Bakugou close, holding him as tight as he could. Bakugou just kept sobbing, and Shinsou cupped the back of his head, tucking him into Shinsou’s shoulder. Bakugou was so small that Shinsou could wrap his entire body around with room to spare, crossing his legs and holding all of his friend with all of him.

Shinsou wasn’t sure how long he just held his friend before he felt a hand touch his shoulder, his body’s shoulder. Immediately, he pulled out of Bakugou’s mind, and when he came back to himself he saw Aizawa standing there. There were flashing red lights of an ambulance, where he could see people moving in the back, and they approached quickly. Shinsou stepped away as soon as they did, and he looked back at Bakugou for the first time since he slipped into his mind. The cuts had stopped bleeding, and weak had faded to the point where he couldn’t read it clearly anymore. The wounds were still horrific to look at, but Shinsou thought he’d gotten them down to a level that was more manageable. He thought he might ask Bakugou if he was okay, or at least in less pain than before, but Bakugou’s eyes were already closed, and his breathing was even. The medics must have sedated him, with something stronger than a mental suggestion. It actually seemed to keep him asleep this time, so Shinsou allowed himself to relax a little.

He checked his phone, and to his surprise it had only been a few minutes. He knew telepaths perceived time differently when they were inside someone’s head, but that seemed a bit extreme, even for him. At least Bakugou could sleep off the rest of the hour now.

“You alright?” Aizawa asked, placing his hand on Shinsou’s shoulder again. “Your nose was bleeding.”

Shinsou nodded, his throat tight, wiping away the blood. “I'm fine.”

Aizawa clapped him on the back, and then went to deal with the medics and everything else. Shinsou took a deep breath, and he walked over to where Midoriya and Todoroki were. His friends were talking, Midoriya practically vibrating with worry.

“Shinsou!” Ah, he’d been noticed. “Is everything alright? How’s Kacchan?”

“The medics are helping him now.” Shinsou said, skirting the question. “Just a matter of time now.”

“Are you alright, Shinsou?” Midoriya asked, his green eyes full of sincerity. He could feel his stomach constrict a little, the echoes of Bakugou’s feelings still fresh in his mind.

“I’ll be alright.” Shinsou said. “I’ve just… got a lot to think about.”

Don't Forget to Water Your Bakugou

Day 4 Hypnosis, Day 5 Heat Stroke, Day 6 Not Realizing They're Injured, Day 12 Just A Little More, Day 25 Being Monitored, Alt #10 Shivering

Class 1-A goes on a field trip. It's a ridiculously hot and humid day, and unfortunately, Shinsou's group accidentally gets lost in the woods. Bakugou ends up getting heat stroke and Shinsou, Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu take care of him the only way they can.

Todoroki always talked about how field trips for Class 1-A were cursed, and at this point, Shinsou was leaning to the conspiracy theorist being right about that. They’d traveled to Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park, an island at the end of the archipelago of Japan, a forest that was isolated and uninhabited, something that almost guaranteed they wouldn’t be attacked by villains. They’d gone to study local plant and animal life, a science project of sorts. They’d been split into five groups of four, making sure that if anything happened, they’d have backup. Shinsou at first thought it was a bit much, needing backup on an uninhabited island, but he was new to Class 1-A, and he didn’t want to question anything he didn’t have experience with. Admittedly, it did kinda seem that wherever Class 1-A went, trouble followed.

The day had been much hotter and more humid than originally anticipated, and boy did it show. Everyone was sweating, uncomfortable, and complaining about it. Kaminari was one of the loudest, which came as no surprise. Todoroki had graciously offered some of his ice, but when they’d arrived, they’d been split into their groups to explore separate parts of the island. That had elicited a groan from everyone at the thought of losing their portable air conditioner, but Aizawa-sensei had shut them up with a glare. Unfortunately for Shinsou, Todoroki hadn’t been in his randomly assigned group, but at least Bakugou had, and he could take that. Not only was Bakugou one of the best in the class, he was actually kinda becoming Shinsou’s friend.

Kaminari had assimilated Shinsou into his friend group regardless if Shinsou wanted friends or not, saying that “You look like you need a friend, and these guys are the best!” It hadn’t been an easy transition for him, as he’d never had many friends due to his quirk, no one really ever trusted him with themselves, but Kaminari just steamrolled what he knew and before he really knew it, Shinsou had become a part of the Bakusquad and there was no going back. But strangely enough, Bakugou had been the one who made the transition more tolerable, as apparently, he’d been given the same treatment by Kirishima.

“The more you tell them you don’t want friends, the more they weasel into your life.” Bakugou had said. “They at least get more tolerable with time.”

And he’d been right. The more time he spent with the Bakusquad, the more he enjoyed their company. There was still a part of him that was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to ask him something like using his quirk on a teacher so they wouldn’t have to take a test, or to use his voice synthesizer as a prank, but so far they hadn’t. They just seemed… genuinely interested in his friendship. Shinsou wasn’t quite sure what to make of that honestly. He’d never met such sincere people who were willing to trust him, despite knowing his quirk.

His favorite way to spend time though was when the rest of the squad was playing video games or complaining as they did their homework, was to just sit sort of next to Bakugou in silence. Oftentimes Bakugou would be reading three chapters ahead, but he never said anything when Shinsou would sit next to him on the couch to do his own thing. Occasionally, he’d glance over at what Shinsou was doing, correct him if he messed something up, but mostly they just sat together. It was a much needed calmness in the hecticness of their previously unwanted friend group. He didn’t know if Bakugou enjoyed it as much as he did, but Bakugou never refused him, so he took that to mean he liked it too.

“It’s so hot.” Kaminari whined, for what felt like the fifth time. “I hate humidity. It’s not fair that we have to be here when it’s so humid.”

“Shut up, Pikachu.” Bakugou snapped, wiping his sweat from his brow. “Not all of us are so weak that we have to complain about each and every little thing. We fucking know you hate it, stop fucking complaining. Won’t change anything about our situation. Fucking deal with it.”

Kaminari pouted, and the last member of their group, Yaoyorozu, offered to make him a cooling cloth to put around his neck.

“Don’t give him an out, Ponytail!” Bakugou snarled, glaring fiercely at her. “He needs to fucking toughen up, a little heat is nothing. What happens if you get caught near a fire? We’ve trained for worse, stop being such a baby!”

Kaminari pouted. “Don’t I get a say in this? She didn’t offer it to you.”

“No, you fucking don’t.” Bakugou growled. “You’d cheat on tests if you could get away with it, I’m not fucking letting you cheat in this shit.”

Kaminari groaned, pouting, but he didn’t take Yaoyorozu up on her offer. Shinsou watched Bakugou carefully, and he realized something as they walked. Bakugou wasn’t just being a dick about this, making Kaminari suffer alongside the rest of them. But Shinsou noticed in his words that it almost seemed like Bakugou was trying to help Kaminari train. He was right, a fire was an intense amount of heat where things like cooling clothes wouldn’t help, or wouldn’t be available in the first place. It seemed as if Bakugou was trying to toughen Kaminari up himself, which was an interesting thought. Apparently Bakugou wasn’t as detached from the squad as he made himself appear to be. Very interesting.

Together, all four of them explored their area of the forest, Bakugou and Yaoyorozu writing down their notes of the things they observed. Only one person was really instructed to write everything down, Kaminari immediately made pleading eyes with Yaoyorozu until she accepted with a smile, but Bakugou seemed to be writing his own notes anyways. Shinsou kept an eye on what he was writing down, wanting to make sure he didn’t miss anything, needing to study twice as hard to be half as good as everyone else since he transferred in so late. It was actually the journal that initially gave Shinsou the first hint that something was wrong. Bakugou prided himself on his… well, everything, but one of the things was his very crisp, legible handwriting. But as they walked, as the minutes turned into an hour, Bakugou’s handwriting seemed to be getting worse.

“You okay, dude?” Shinsou whispered as Kaminari found a frog, (and then immediately shrieked when it leapt his way).

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” Bakugou snapped back, again wiping his brow.

“Just… thought your writing was getting a little messy.” Shinsou said, and when he said it aloud, he realized just how flimsy his evidence was. “You’re just usually so… neat.”

Bakugou just glared at him. “Keep your fucking nose out of my business.”

“I was just trying to help, okay?” Shinsou held up his hands. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but you and I are actually kinda friends now, and I was trying to look out for you.”

“I don’t need anyone’s help.” Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Let alone some stray that Pikachu brought home.”

Shinsou’s heart hurt a little at that, surprised by Bakugou’s testiness. Sure, the guy was always cranky, but this seemed a little strong for even the explosive boy. Bakugou had never called him a stray before, and even though he probably didn’t mean it, it still hurt to hear.

“Fine, asshole.” Shinsou snapped back. “Forgive me for wanting to be a decent human being to you. I won’t do it again.”

Shinsou then stomped off before Bakugou could reply, and went over to a giggling Yaoyorozu and a frightened Kaminari standing behind her.

“Hey, ‘Toshi, does your quirk work on animals?” Kaminari asked, staring warily at the tiny little frog. “It won’t leave me alone.”

“It doesn’t, Denki, but I don’t think we need it.” Shinsou just chuckled, and scooped the frog up gently. He then softly tossed it back near the river, and it jumped out of his hands to return to its house. “There. Now you’re safe from the itty bitty frog.”

Kamiari glared at him with a pout on his lips. “‘Toshiiiii. Don’t be so mean. We’ve already got Kacchan for that.”

Shinsou snorted bitterly. “Yeah we do.”

As dumb as Kaminari was, he said with love, Kaminari was actually very perceptive about people’s emotions. At least, when it didn’t come to flirting. “You okay?”

“Bakugou’s just an asshole, it’s fine.” Shinsou muttered.

“Oh, yeah, he gets extra cranky when he’s uncomfortable.” Kaminari shrugged casually, as if it was common knowledge. “And heat like this makes him cranky.”

Shinsou looked back at Bakugou, and saw him wiping his forehead again, panting a little. He vaguely remembered Kirishima making sure Bakugou drank lots of water on hot days, saying that Bakugou’s sweat didn’t cool him down like a normal person’s. It wasn’t an excuse, and he wasn’t forgiven, but at least Shinsou understood a little more.

Even so, Shinsou avoided Bakugou as they continued to explore, but the blond was quiet, reserved even, which Shinsou found odd but at the moment he didn’t care. He was just glad that Bakugou wasn’t yelling or snapping at anyone anymore.

“Um, guys?” Kaminari voiced after a bit, uncertainty clear in his tone. “Um. Does anyone remember how we got here? Because I can’t find the path we’re supposed to be on.”

Bakugou then stomped over to them with a snarl and a glare. “Are you saying you got us lost, Pikachu?”

“I- um, uh…”

“You stupid idiot!”

Shinsou then stepped between them, holding up his hand. “Hey! You weren’t paying attention to where we were going either. It’s just as much our fault as it is his!”

Bakugou just snarled at him and stalked off.

“Oi! Kacchan, where are you going?”

“Retracing our steps, idiot!” Bakugou shouted back.

Shinsou met Kaminari and Yaoyorozu’s eyes and nodded, following after him. If anyone knew what to do, it would be Bakugou. Kirishima had told him that he and Bakugou often went on hikes, even went rock climbing together too. He’d know what to do when lost in the woods.

Bakugou knelt down, seemingly examining their tracks. “Ponytail, make me a compass.”

“Kacchan, don’t you have one of those real fancy ones?” Kaminari asked.

“Yes, but it’s in my climbing pack, which is currently still in the dorms.” Bakugou said. “We weren’t going climbing, didn’t think I’d need to bring it. I wasn’t expecting you fucks to get us lost. So, Ponytail, make me a compass.”

“Of course, Bakugou.” Yaoyorozu said, and after a moment, handed him a compass.

“If we keep going southwest, based on our previous direction, we should make it back to the path Dunce Face wasn’t supposed to get off of.”

Bakugou then stood up, and wobbled for a moment. That caught everyone’s attention.

“Whoa, Kacchan, are you okay?”

“Bakugou, are you alright? Do you need some water?”

“I’m fine! Back off!” Bakugou snarled at them.

Shinsou noticed there was a faint flush of red on Bakugou’s cheeks as he shouted at them. A sunburn maybe? That would explain the crankiness, but not that moment where he lost his balance. Unless the sunburn was giving him a headache maybe? Most people were much more irritable when in pain.

“Just fucking keep up, I’m not fucking keeping track of you shits.”

“Why can’t you just let people care about you, huh?” Shinsou asked before he could stop himself, even though he knew that his question would piss Bakugou off.

“I don’t need your fucking pity!” Bakugou shouted back at him, wiping his forehead again. If Shinsou wasn’t so distracted by Bakugou’s anger, he would’ve noticed that Bakugou’s skin was too dry for the hotness of the day.

“I’m not fucking giving you any!” Shinsou yelled, refusing to back down. Shinsou had observed enough interactions with the explosive blond, he knew that the best way to get through to him was to not back down from his anger. “Not everyone who fucking asks if you’re okay is fucking pitying you, you asshole!”

Yaoyorozu then stepped between them. “Boys, please! Yelling at each other isn’t going to get us back on the path.”

Bakugou just snarled at him again before stomping off.

They quickly followed, Shinsou switching between fury and worry as he looked at his friend. Bakugou’s breath was coming a little faster than usual as they walked, and his skin was flushed red. But at the same time, Bakugou seemed his normal, cranky, asshole self. Though, he also knew that Bakugou would never tell them he wasn’t feeling well. Damn bastard. At this point, Shinsou didn’t even know whether or not he even should be worried. He didn’t think Bakugou was a liar, and he seemed very convinced that he was fine.

Suddenly, Bakugou stopped, and his hand came to his forehead.

When he didn’t speak, Yaoyorozu did. “Um, Bakugou? Is everything alright?”

Bakugou didn’t answer her.

Too late, Shinsou realized Bakugou was tilting to the side, and he watched in horror as Bakugou’s legs seemed to give out. His newly trained hero instincts had him moving before he could even process what was happening, his arms immediately wrapping around Bakugou’s body. But even with the strength training he’d been doing, he couldn’t stop them both from crashing to the ground, Shinsou doing his best to clutch Bakugou’s head to his chest, doing his best to protect his friend.

“Bakugou!”  “Kacchan!”

Kaminari and Yaoyorozu rushed to their side, and Shinsou pulled himself up a little, still holding Bakugou close to his chest, adjusting so he was laying up against a nearby tree. Hands came to Bakugou’s shoulders, his waist, and together he and Yaoyorozu turned the unconscious blond over. Bakugou’s head lolled limply, and Shinsou’s heart began to pound in his chest.

“Fuck, he feels like he’s on fire.” Shinsou murmured, pressing his hand to Bakugou’s forehead. “And I think he stopped sweating.”

“His heart and breathing are also going too fast.” Yaoyorozu added, her face set in a serious expression. “I think he has heat stroke.”

Shinsou’s stomach twisted painfully with dread. Irritability and agitation were also a sign of heat stroke, and Shinsou had just chalked it up to Bakugou just being an asshole. Dammit, he knew something was wrong with Bakugou, and he let Bakugou’s attitude deter him from checking on his friend. Dammit.

“Heat stroke? Isn’t that the really serious one?” Kaminari asked, fear evident in his voice.

Yaoyorozu nodded grimly. “Yes. It means his body temperature is over 40 (104) degrees. We need to cool him down immediately.”

“The river.” Shinsou said, and Yaoyorozu and Kaminari nodded.

Shinsou stood up, and grabbed Bakugou’s right arm, as Kaminari grabbed his left. Together, they hauled Bakugou up, slinging his arms over their shoulders and grabbing Bakugou’s waist, running as quickly as they could to the river. Bakugou’s feet dragged limply as they ran, and Shinsou just tried to focus on getting to the river. Bakugou would be okay, they just had to cool him down. The river was close, they just had to get him there.

“Okay, so should we just toss him in or something?” Kaminari asked, clearly panicking a little. Shinsou didn’t blame him. He’d known 1A long enough to know that when something bad happened, they looked to Bakugou (and Midoriya and Todoroki) for the game plan, Kaminari and the Bakusquad especially. And he knew how Kaminari studied, which is to say not at all, so poor Kaminari must feel like he has absolutely no idea of what to do.

“No, we need to ease him in gently, otherwise we might put him into shock.” Yaoyorozu said. Then she shifted a little nervously. “And… we need to take his clothes off.”

Awkwardness hung heavy in the air for a moment. But then Shinsou just took a deep breath, and nodded. None of them wanted to do this, but it had to be done. “Alright. Yaomomo, you get his shirt off, and then Denki and I will get his pants.”

Shinsou watched Yaoyorozu’s nimble fingers undo the buttons on Bakugou’s white shirt, exposing more and more of his skin as she went. They wrangled Bakugou’s limp arms out of his shirt, and then he and Kaminari laid Bakugou down onto the ground. Shinsou’s hands shook a little as he unbuckled Bakugou’s belt, and then the buttons on his pants. Kaminari and Yaoyorozu lifted his waist so Shinsou could slide the fabric down Bakugou’s body, then they took off Bakugou’s shoes and socks, setting them aside so Shinsou could place the other clothes on them.

After taking a few moments to splash the river water onto Bakugou’s heated skin, all three of them carefully maneuvered Bakugou into the cool water. Slowly, they laid Bakugou down to where the water was coming up just below his shoulders. The blond made a soft sound as they did, but he didn’t seem to wake fully. Shinsou’s stomach twisted hard with dread again.

Yaoyorozu pulled a rag out of her chest. She dipped it into the water and wrung it out before placing it on Bakugou’s forehead. She then took a big, deep breath before her chest sparkled as she pulled a sunbrella out, which Kaminari set up to cast them into shadow. “Okay, that should be good for now. It’s not ideal, but this should keep him from overheating even further, and should hopefully bring his temperature down.”

Shinsou didn’t like how Yaoyorozu was saying ‘should’, but it was the best they had. A hand suddenly came to his shoulder, and when he faced it, Kaminari was looking at him with a sad smile.

“Don’t worry, ‘Toshi. He’ll be alright. He always is. He’s Bakugou. If he could survive like twelve villain attacks, then heat’s got nothing on him.”

Shinsou nodded softly, grateful for his friend’s optimism. “We need to get back to the teachers, they can take him back to the mainland and get him actual help.”

“I mean, that’s a good plan, ‘Toshi, but going back to the river made us even more lost.” Kaminari sighed. “Wait, Yaomomo, can you make, like, a GPS or something? Something that could find the teachers?”

“Well, I could make a GPS but that would only tell us where we are.” Yaoyorozu murmured. “I could make one if someone decides to go looking for the teachers, that would lead them back to us. But it wouldn’t make us any less lost.”

Kaminari deflated a little. Shinsou put his hand on Kaminari’s shoulder and squeezed.

“We’ll figure this out, Denks.” Shinsou tried for a smile. “We just need to put our heads together. We’re smart, we can think of something.”

A sudden noise caught all of their attention, and Bakugou’s crimson eyes fluttered open a little. Oh thank god. As much as Shinsou had studied hero coursework, being trapped on an island away from all medical help and other people with someone with heat stroke hadn’t exactly been covered. Shinsou was really relieved that Bakugou would be back to be able to guide them back to camp.

But when Shinsou’s eyes met Bakugou’s, his heart sank. Unfocused crimson was dull with haze, and Shinsou’s shoulders slumped. Bakugou’s mouth moved for a moment with no sound before he croaked out a quiet, “water.”

Everyone scrambled to grab their water bottles, and since Shinsou’s was the only one with a straw, it was quickly decided that that would be the one used, and Shinsou brought it to Bakugou’s lips. Yaoyorozu positioned herself behind Bakugou, lifting him gently so his head rested in her lap. Shinsou pressed the straw to Bakugou’s lips, and he took a sip.

“Come on, Bakugou, just a little more.” Shinsou softly coaxed, keeping his water bottle at Bakugou’s lips.

Bakugou made a hushed noise of negation. “Mm… mm. Feel sick.”

“The water will help, Bakugou, come on.” Shinsou said. When Bakugou refused again, his voice still slightly slurred, a terrible idea came into his head.

It seemed that Kaminari had the same idea as he said, “Um, Hitosh? Maybe you should use your quirk.”

Shinsou looked to Yaoyorozu, who he trusted with making this decision. He wouldn’t dare use his quirk without everyone agreeing.

“He really does need the water.” Yaoyorozu sighed. “Feeling sick is a symptom of heat stroke, and he needs the hydration to combat it.”

Shinsou’s shoulders slumped, and he nodded. He hated using his quirk like this, when the innocent person he was using it on wasn’t consenting, but it was for the greater good.

Bakugou, please, just drink a little more.” Shinsou pleaded with him one last time, wanting to save using his quirk as a last resort.

Again, Bakugou refused, turning his head away from the water bottle. It broke his heart, but when the blond murmured, “uh-uh,” Shinsou activated his quirk. He blanketed Bakugou’s mind with his quirk, calming Bakugou’s fierce willpower with a soft darkness. Bakugou’s mind was powerful, and if he was fully conscious Shinsou doubted he’d be able to get control of Bakugou. But he wasn’t fully conscious, he was suffering and dehydrated, so Shinsou easily got a hold of Bakugou’s mind.

“Drink five small sips of water.” Shinsou commanded, using careful language. He always had to be careful in the language he used on those he controlled, as vagueness just left them confused and disoriented, able to fight back.

As commanded, Bakugou drank five more sips of water, and Shinsou used his quirk to soften the edges of the illness Bakguou was feeling right now, able to feel his own stomach rolling as Bakgou’s did. But the power of telepathy behind his quirk also let Shinsou soothe neural impulses, and he could ease the nausea within Bakugou to keep him drinking without issue.

“Is that enough?” Shinsou whispered, not breaking eye contact with Bakugou. “Has he had enough?”

He could feel his friends’ discomfort as they watched him control Bakugou, even if it was necessary, and he hated it. He wanted it over with as quickly as possible, for all their sakes.

“M-may… maybe a little more?” Yaoyorozu responded after a moment. “I-I can’t tell if he’s hydrated enough.”

“Drink five more small sips of water.” Shinsou commanded, and Bakugou instantly complied.

Shinsou felt Bakugou’s mind wavering, and he knew Bakugou was close to passing out again, so he withdrew his mind from Bakugou’s. Still, it took a moment to meet his friends’ eyes again. He knew they wouldn’t blame him for doing that, but it didn’t make him feel any less lousy for needing to control Bakugou to get him to drink some damn water. He just hung his head for a minute, needing to gather his courage to look Kaminari and Yaoyorozu in the eye again.

“H-hey, he’s shivering.” Kaminari said, which caused Shinsou to look up at the electric blond. “Does that mean the water is too cold?”

“No I don’t think so.” Yaoyorozu shook her head, feeling Bakugou’s cheeks and neck with the back of her hand. “He’s cooled down a little though. He’s not as hot as before.”

“Think we can chance moving him?” Shinsou asked, with a pit of dread in his stomach that the river wouldn’t help their friend for too much longer.

“I’m not sure.” Yaoyorozu worried at her lip. “If we weren’t lost, I’d think we could, but we still have no idea how far our base camp is from here. We can’t take him and look for help for more than… I’d say a half an hour. It would just make him worse.”

“Then you guys stay here.” Kaminari said, suddenly standing. “I’m gonna go look for help.”

“Whoa, hey, Denki-”

“No, I got us lost, I need to get us unlost.” Kaminari said. “Kacchan needs a hospital where they can actually get him out of this humidity and actually cool him off and stuff. And Hitoshi, you need to be able to help Kacchan when he can’t do it himself and Yaomomo knows the most about heat stroke and can make anything he needs. I’m expendable, I need to go looking for someone who can help us get out of here.”

“You’re not expendable, Denki!” Shinsou argued, hating that what Kaminari was saying was making a little sense, but he refused to let his friend think so lowly of himself.

“Yes, Kaminari, Shinsou’s right. You’re not expendable. You’ve been incredibly helpful.”

“Well, I’m gonna go be more helpful.” Kaminari said resolutely, and Shinsou knew they wouldn’t be able to change his mind. Once any member of the Bakusquad set their minds to something, there was no talking them out of it. “Yaomomo, can I have that GPS?”

Shinsou and Yaoyorozu exchanged a glance, and he could see a resignation in her eyes that matched his own.

“Alright, but please be careful, Kaminari.” Yaoyorozu pleaded, and within moments, she handed him a fully functioning GPS system. “Walking alone in the woods seems to be inviting trouble.”

“I’ll be safe, Yaomomo.” Kaminari gave them a thumbs up, and unexpectedly, it did kinda make Shinsou feel better. “I’ll be real careful, I promise.”

Yaoyorozu then handed Kaminari a walkie talkie. “Take this too, so we can keep in contact.”

“Check in like every five minutes, dude.” Shinsou said, his worry clearly shining through. “And make sure to drink lots of water.”

“I will. Just stay here, guys, I’ll get help.” Kaminari said, giving them both a look before turning and taking off. Shinsou watched with a heavy heart until Kaminari was out of sight. He knew that the park was uninhabited, but there was always the risk of getting injured or heat exhaustion or spooking a venomous animal. Kaminari could break his ankle or get bitten by a snake or fall down a crevasse or…

“He’ll be alright.” Yaoyorozu then said, startling him from his thoughts. “If there’s anything that Class 1-A is, it’s good in a crisis.”

Shinsou huffed softly. “Yeah. Guess Fate decided that I’m supposed to see that for myself.”

“Hey-o, my dudes, I’m still alive.” The walkie talkie then chirped and they giggled a little, Kaminari’s words breaking the tension a little.

“Glad to hear it, man.” Shinsou said into their receiver.

Silence followed for a little while, but it wasn’t as awkward as Shinsou was used to. Most silences around him were awkward, people wanting too much from him or no one feeling comfortable around him, but for some reason, it was a calm silence, like how when he sat with Bakugou on the couch. If Bakugou hadn’t been so sick, it would’ve been almost nice.

As an amount of time that Shinsou wasn’t sure of passed, he and Yaoyorozu just kept tending to Bakugou. Re-soaking the cloth on his forehead with cool water, gently splashing his exposed skin, adjusting the sunbrella to keep the sun off of them. Bakugou regained consciousness a couple of times, and Shinsou was able to get him to drink a little bit more water, but he never stayed awake long enough for much else. Kaminari routinely checked in with them, telling them that he was fine, and venting a little about how all trees look alike. Shinsou just prayed that Kaminari wasn’t getting any more lost.

“I’m- I’m sorry guys, I feel like I’ve passed this tree like four times, I can’t- hey! Guys! Over here!” Kaminari shouted through the walkie talkie, and both Shinsou and Yaoyorozu perked up.

“What’s going on, Kaminari?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I finally found you guys, I’ve been searching for forever!” Kaminari said, not answering the question.

“Where the hell have you guys been, man?!” That was Kirishima, worry evident in his tone. Kaminari had found their class again! “We’ve been looking for you guys for over an hour!”

“Kacchan got heat stroke, we had to go to the river to cool him down, and we got lost.” Kaminari said desperately. “But- but don’t worry, Yaomomo made me a GPS thingy, it’ll lead us straight back to them!”

“Then let’s waste no time.” Shinsou was a little surprised to hear their teacher’s voice, but he supposed that when students were missing, Aizawa-sensei would never let his students search alone. “Lead us back to your group, Kaminari.”

“Yes, sir, Aizawa-sensei sir!”

“Thank goodness.” Yaoyorozu murmured, softly stroking Bakugou’s cheek almost absentmindedly. “I was beginning to get really worried.”

Shinsou nodded, his body untensing as relief flooded through him. “Yeah, me too.”

After a bit, Kaminari shouted through the walkie talkie. “Guys! Guys! The GPS thingy says we’ll be at your location in three minutes.”

“Understood, Kaminari, and thank you.” Yaoyorozu answered.

Aizawa must have taken the walkie talkie because it was his voice that echoed through next. “How’s Bakugou?” 

“Still unconscious, but he’s better than when he first passed out.” Yaoyorozu replied. “His shivering has calmed down a little, and we’ve been able to get him to drink some water when he does wake up.”

“Well done.”

Once everyone arrived, Shinsou thought it was like a sort of controlled chaos. Everyone else must have returned on time, as Aizawa had been walking with their whole class, probably to keep everyone together, and so many people immediately rushed in to help. Kirishima picked Bakugou up, Todoroki brushed a thin layer of ice over Bakugou’s skin, Sero grabbed all of Bakugou’s clothes, Midoriya and the girls immediately worried over both he and Yaoyorozu, checking over them as Aizawa checked over Bakugou. It was a lot of stimulation at once, and kinda overwhelming, but then Kaminari put a hand on Shinsou’s shoulder and squeezed gently, grounding him a little, and Shinsou managed a small smile.

As they headed back to the boat, with Bakugou in Kirishima’s arms, Shinsou finally felt a sense of tranquility come over him, safe in the knowledge that soon they’d be back in their air conditioned dormitory and Bakugou would be in an air conditioned hospital room. While they walked, Shinsou couldn’t help but find himself drawn to Bakugou’s slack face. It was strange, his blank face looked almost peaceful, serene. It was the gentlest expression he thought he’d ever seen on Bakugou. He wondered if the blond could tell that he was surrounded by friends and safety as they walked. He hoped so.

When Bakugou woke up later in Recovery Girl’s office, Shinsou would be there waiting for him.

A Good Night's Sleep

Law can't escape, even in his dreams. Especially in his dreams.

You know those games where you hit the ball around to get it to the finish line? Law is the ball. Trigger Warnings : - Implied Character Death - Graphic Description of Corpses - Maggot - Blood and Gore - Psychological Horror - Implied Genocide Nothing is graphic except the description of the corpses but it's definitely there. Feel free to let me know if I missed anything. Fandom : One Piece Character(s) : Trafalgar D. Water Law Words Count : 962 No. 4: HALLUCINATIONS Hypnosis | Sensory Deprivation | “You're still alive in my head.” (Billy Lockett, More)

Law ran and ran, but he couldn't escape. The white stretched everywhere, on the buildings, on the trees, on the people . The cold air bit his skin viciously and his ragged breathing formed condensation in the air.

The smoke morphed before his eyes, winding and wrapping all around him. The smell of smoke and burning flesh hit his nose and Law doubled over to vomit.

He was so hot, his skin was clammy and he felt like he was suffocating in his heavy black feather coat. The coat swallowed him up completely, almost suffocating him and Law wondered when it had arrived on his shoulders. It must have been Cora-san who had put it there. But where was Cora-san?

The smoke thickened, taking on the appearance of crows with bloody feathers. Drops of blood fell onto the pristine snow. White. Red. Black. Law’s head kept spinning.

Where was Cora-san?

If they didn't hurry up, Doflamingo would catch up with them.

(Doflamingo had already caught up with them.)

(Cora-san was dead.)

Law looked up at the sky. The stars shone brightly in the dark night, incandescent and untouchable. (How could he see them through the smoke?) A star grew in the sky, grew and grew until Law could see only it, until his retina burned in his eyeballs.

Strings of gold descended from the heavens, like the will of a vengeful god (run Law, run), and fell to the earth with all the force of a meteor. The ground shook and Law fell into the bloody snow. 

The threads streaked the sky by the thousands until Law could no longer see the stars, trapping him in the White City. (City of the Dead, City of Angels)

A birdcage.

(Doflamingo was there.)

(Run, Law, Run.)

The blood-stained raven croaked, a cruel, bitter laugh. Law wept with it. His tears felt like stardrops, burning against his cheeks.

Law began to run again. The white continued to advance, marking his skin and seeping into his body, all the way to his lungs. Soon, the white would swallow him whole until nothing remained of him but a bloodstain on the snow.

A weight fell on his back, sending him to the ground and snow poured into his mouth. Law tried to swim through the mass that clung to his skin like blood, but chains around his feet pulled him deeper into the earth.

Law screamed. But no one heard him.

The pressure on his back grew more intense and when Law opened his eyes again, Lammy's lifeless eyes were staring at him. Law was drowning in a sea of ​​severed limbs and rotting flesh. Bones sticking out in all the wrong directions, teeth falling out of twisted smiles. Gaunt skin covered in white spots.

The white had caught up with him.

(Dead. Everyone was dead.)

Law was the only survivor.

“See? There is no despair in this world. Someone will probably come and give you a helping hand.”

A maggot crawled out of Lammy's eye and into Law's ear.

But he couldn't scream.

(But he couldn't cry.)

If he screamed, the Navy would find him and kill him.

(If he cried, Doflamingo would find him and kill him.)

It was his only way to leave Flevance alive.

(It was his only way to leave Minion Island alive.)

A skeletal hand placed itself over his hand and mouth, preventing him from screaming. Terrified, Law followed the arm with his eyes, barely daring to move or breathe. Cora-san smiled at him, blood running from his nose and a broken tooth.

“I’ll die smiling! Because if you ever think of me, I want you to remember my smile.”

Cora-san's coat spontaneously caught fire. As usual, Cora-san didn't notice. The fire spread to the mountain of corpses that Law was on top of, licking the soles of his shoes.

The World Government wanted to remove all evidence.

(But they wouldn't be able to, because Law was still alive.)

(For that, he had to run.)

(Run, Law, Run.)

A hand locked around his ankle, cold and bony. Lammy’s head snapped around in its socket, the skin of her face melting around her eyeballs. She was smiling.

“Big brother, let’s go to the festival!” 

Lammy’s hand tightened, her fingers digging in painfully until blood flowed.

“Big brother, why don’t you want to play with me?”

There were tears in her eyes.

“Big brother, why don’t you love me anymore?”

Law tried to pull away, tugging and kicking. He fell out of the pile and into the snow, Lammy’s torn-off arm still clinging to his ankle.

Gunshots rang out in the night, making Law flinch violently.

(Two brothers face to face, a gun in their hands. A perfect mirror.)

(Cora-san's body falling on the chest where Law was hidden.)

Law began to run, Lammy's arm like prisoner's chains around his feet. Black and pink feathers flew around him, a raven laughed in the distance.

Strings wrapped around Law's throat and hands. A doll tangled in his puppeteer's grip.

"You can't run forever, Law."

He couldn't escape.

  He couldn't escape.

   He couldn't escape.

A crevasse opened beneath his feet, snow cascading down and dragging Law down with it. The white covered him, swallowed him, ate him whole.

But just before Law was completely devoured by the white, an open hand closed around his wrist. Warm and soft and gentle. A blond man smiled at him, black and pink feathers dancing around him.

“If you want a good night's sleep, nothing better.”

(Law hadn't slept properly since Cora-san died.)

(The world was so noisy .)

“Cora-san?”

Law's voice was weak, almost inaudible.

(No one had heard him cry amidst the explosions, long after Cora-san died.)

(Cora-san could always hear him.)

“ Wrong .”

Law screamed.

(No one heard him.)

I'm sorry.

Whumptober 2022 Day 4 || Waking Up Disorientated

Saw somthing like this on my dash and decided it might be fun to try out !

I'll try to do as many days as I can, but I'm pretty busy :]

Gn Reader || cw Body horror || Not proofread || tw yandere ||

Everything around you felt...floaty. Yet oddly heavy.

Heavy but floaty. All at once.

Were you awake? Or was this just a vivid dream you found yourself trapped in?

Thinking this, the air around you seemed to cup your face gently, its' warm touch enveloping your senses completely.

How had you not noticed how cold you were until now? The blank white expanse so frigid and lifeless.

The warm feeling dragged you away from your thoughts, away from reality.

Before slipping away, just as quickly as it came. The absence of it leaving you empty and confused.

You couldn't let that feeling go.

It was cold. So cold. Unbearably cold.

Like you had been covered in ice, your skin frozen over. Your warm blood, drained away...

You needed to find that warmth.

Before something irreversible happened.

That warning rang in your head, a desperate call to protect you from something unknown.

Grasping the ground, you tried lifting yourself up onto your feet, the panic gnawing at your insides, threatening to burst out of your skin.

Yet, you felt to heavy, so weak, like trying to swim through a pool made out of honey. Your limbs screaming out in defiance, your body, a traitor.

Struggling, you have no choice but to leave it behind. Slipping from your skin, shedding that useless shell, you feel the weight, that chilling pressure, disappear.

Its' strange, and you don't know exactly what happened just now, but maybe ...thats for the best.

Curiosity killed the cat, you know.

Completing your task, you frantically looked out into the distance, trying to find that sliver of warmth.

Through the fog that is your mind, you see the shadow, the warmth.

You sprint toward it, your form free from "human imperfections", no lungs suffocating you and forcing you to stop for a breath, no muscle to drag you down and tire you out.

You pay no heed to your surroundings, your focus entirely on the black shadow, the warmth, your only hope.

The white turning to grey and then to black.

The freezing temperature slowly heating up, and then becoming scalding hot.

It didn't matter.

You were close. Oh so close to the shadow.

You had almost touched it.

With a desperate cry, you felt your new form collide with your body, merging once again. Something dragging you back.

There was nothing you could do but unwillingly sink back to reality.

--

"Are you awake now?" A sweet voice flooded your ears.

The world felt heavy once again, but at least everything was a bit less foggy.

You looked up, meeting the eyes of your captor. You couldn't remember much, but you knew it was their fault.

Everyhting was so blurry, yet the hatred and anger you felt was engraved in your heart. Engraved in your soul.

"..Please.. don't look at me like that, love." Their guiltless whisper sounded in the hospital-looking room you found yourself in.

Your mouth spoke on its' own, ceramic lips delicately opening.

"I know what you did."

Their reaction was immediate. They gripped the bed sheets, their smooth un-calloused hands still a bit messy with clay.

"I.. I only did what I h-had to, I promise!" They cried out.

It sounded like they were trying to convince themself, not just you.

It was sickening.

That voice, those eyes, that look of desperation and sadness.

Why? Why?!

That look made your gut fester with never ending disgust.

Fueled by confusion and anger, you lunge at them, aiming for their open neck. Something, just anything, to make this disgusting feeling fade.

And yet they easily pinned your hands above you, cautious and gentle.

"Please.. p-please be careful.. I just finished making your new body..." Their expression turned frantic and uneasy, the emotions in your glassy eyes sending a clear message to them.

Watching them pulling a concoction from their lab coat, you struggled in their grip. Every joint in your body working to rid yourself of their slimy grip.

The panic and unease of what they would do to you next-

The tussle only lasts a few moments.

They cut off your little game, gripping your chin with surprising strength, forcing the odd mixture down your throat.

Your mind is bleary, as you fall into semi-lucidity,

o

n c

e

a

g a

i

n . .

.

shijima-san 🎨🖌️

No. 4: HALLUCINATIONS

Hypnosis | Sensory Deprivation | “You’re still alive in my head.” (Billy Lockett, More)

OC Whump

Hi, here is my contribution no.4 for Whumptober !

A bit of context : When he was younger, the Ensorceleur fled his home and met a man who drew him into his mercenary army. He trusted this man completely, without realizing that their relationship was anything but healthy. After years of committing atrocities on behalf of his mentor, he finally opened his eyes and left. But the experience have definitely left a mark.

If you have any questions, I'd obviously be more than happy to answer! Also, English isn't my first language, so i apologize for any mistake. Check the tags for TW and enjoy !

The world moved around without him seeming to belong to it. His body seemed to be in a different space-time, heavy and slow, while a complex choreography of fluid movements seemed to take place around. A thick, heavy fabric limited his movements and separated him from the rest of the world. On a deeper level, the Ensorceleur recognized the effects of an active substance, probably an opioid administered to calm the raging pain that had taken hold of his decomposing right arm. This recognition, however, didn't allow him to act on the consequences, which didn't help the swarm of agitated persons next to him to calm down.

Standing next to his shivering friend who was clearly in a state of shock, Api struggled to retain any vestiges of composure.

 -If there's one fucking piece of information that's correct and accurate in his file, it's that he reacts badly to opioids !

-It wasn't in his file, sir ! Retorted the young apprentice on the verge of tears.

-Then who messed with the files ?!

-I did the best I could with what I had, sir !

-Damn it!

At his wits end, the healer turned away and took a deep breath to calm himself. Well, at least the drug seemed to have greatly reduced the physical pain, which was the primary objective. On the negative side, the mercenary looked more distressed than Api had ever seen him.

The Ensorceleur buried his head in his knees with a moan, drawing his attention. The man who treated a show of weakness as the worst thing that could happen to him moaned. The healer dropped to one knee, hesitantly bringing his hands up to the other man. The problem with trying to heal an Entity completely drugged and trained to kill was that the slightest miscalculated gesture could have dramatic consequences.

-Easy, breathed a voice behind his ear before he could make contact with his friend.

Crouching beside him, Bryan regarded the Ensorceleur with a worried expression.

-If possible, avoid touching him. He sometimes reacts...violently, when he's not in his normal state.

-Has anything like this ever happened before ? inquired the healer cautiously.

The guild leader hesitated visibly, because...

-With his metabolism, yes, from time to time...Don't look at me like that ! he quickly defended himself against the healer's glare. We tried to get his cooperation on several potential treatment plans when necessary, when he was in top form, and he always refused ! Except that once he was injured, we had no choice but to try and treat him with what little medical history we had. So yes, sometimes things got out of hand, and I've seen him in that kind of state before.

The Ensorceleur muttered a series of garbled words incomprehensible to them, and Bryan winced.

-Well, maybe not like this. His reactions to opioids are one of the pieces of information he's shared with us on his own.

-Hey. I need you to focus on us and try to communicate how you're feeling. I have a drug with an antagonistic effect that may help you feel better, but with your strange metabolism, I'd rather we let the effect wear off on its own. But I need to know how you feel, Api said slowly and distinctly to his patient.

The Ensorceleur could have answered him. He could have told him immediately to give him the strongest possible dose of his magic product. In fact, he would probably have begged him to do so, had he been able to hear what Api was saying.

But the ghostly hand resting on the back of his neck like tthe executioner guillotine had ensured that his undivided attention went to the only person in the room worthy of it.

Didn’t I taught you that showing weakness is the best way to get others to stab you in the back ?

Not real. He wasn't. He was drugged, and he absolutely had to hold onto that thought. At all costs.

You've never been one to hide behind lies. But I guess that's what you needed to keep hiding behind Silver Shein's back like a scared child.

The hand had more weight now, nails digging into flesh.

It's pathetic. You look like a beaten dog. But I suppose my disgust is normal. Few artists are ever satisfied with their creations.

The Ensorceleur exhaled the liquid lead in his lungs in a long, hoarse hiss and tried to convince himself that the hand on the back of his neck was more reassuring than terrifying, whether it belonged to Api or Bryan, or even Freya, who distrusted him but wouldn't hurt him for no reason, least of all in front of Bryan's eyes.

He forced himself to open his eyes and stare at Api's anxious face hovering in front of him. Whatever he felt behind him wasn't real. Just a hallucination brought on by the painkiller. Nothing that could hurt him, just a conspiracy from his brain and senses. If he concentrated on Api's features, on his reassuring presence, then the hallucinations would have a harder time dragging him into the dark corner of his consciousness where they resided.

Except that a pale face burst into his field of vision, blocking out his friend's view. The Enchanter gasped and threw himself backwards. His skull hit the wall with a thud and a flash of white flashed into his retina for a second, just a second ; that was enough.

A leather-gloved iron fist closed around his neck, strangling the scream. A weight much heavier than it should have crushed his hips, pinning him to the ground, and Magister leaned over him, smiling broadly, his pupils two black holes dripping ink onto his face.

Perhaps your brother's son would make a better canvas...or a better receptacle !

The man's face melted, lengthened a little, and his hair grew and lightened until a mass of curls frame familiar features. A grotesque parody of Lucien laughed in his face, before vomiting black, stale blood onto his chest. The Ensorceleur received a few drops in his mouth and audibly choked, struggling to free himself from his mentor's grasp.

-No. N-no...

He’s choking

Even now, you don't beg. Is there anything that could make you give up your misplaced pride ? Are they so insignificant to you, those you claim to protect ?

-Nooo...

We'll see, whispered the abomination with his nephew’s face. We'll see how quickly you fall at his feet...

When I've repaired your mistake and got my new suit of flesh, finished Magister, his mentor, master, friend and executioner.

Through the delirious terror (not for himself, never for himself, because his master would never hurt him, but the others, the insignificant...) that clouded his mind, he became aware of an increasingly acute pain in his arm. He resumed his pitiful attempts to free himself. He was the Ensorceleur, he had to fight, to keep going, to do the only thing he was good at...

But he had never been able to make even a violent gesture towards Magister.

You love me more than you've ever loved anyone.

Warm breath on his nose. Ice-blue eyes, punctuated with shadows and shades, so close he could almost see the constellations formed by the black flakes in the iris.

I'll try to sedate him

Watch his arm

Moist warmth on his cheeks, distant and impersonal. Emotions blunted and others too vivid to comprehend that clash and leave him torn, barely able to put together the pieces that make him the Ensorceleur.

I love you.

A sharp but localized pain in his arm.

I forgive you.

The last image to followed him into the muddy waters of unconsciousness were those icy eyes. Or...warm brown, perhaps?

He prefered this softer brown.

L'Ensorceleur let himself be drawn under the surface, where neither ghosts nor memories can follow him.

You belong to me, after all.

Whumptober day 4 - Human Shield

My fourth fill for @whumptober2019​, where I decided to go the soft route. Also available on Ao3.

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

It was unfair, Tony thought, how quickly the weather could turn.

When he'd left the Tower, it might have been somewhat cold, but the sun had been shining with few clouds in the sky. Now, not even two hours later, it was pouring. He honestly wouldn't even be surprised if it started hailing in a bit, considering how cold the rain already was.

On the bright side, at least he'd managed to find himself some cover so he wouldn't get soaked. On the not-so-bright side, he had no idea when it would stop raining. From the way the clouds looked, huge and heavy and dark, dark grey, he'd guess it could take a while.

Before he could start thinking of ways to get back to the Tower that would keep him as dry as possible, he frowned. Was that a sound?

Now that he was focusing on it, it became clearer. It sounded like whimpering of some sort, a soft squeaking sound that actually worried him.

Leaving the dubious safety of his shelter, he slowly approached. It didn't take long for his clothes to be soaked through, not with how hard it was raining, but he hardly felt it through his focus.

The sound wasn't loud, and the rain falling almost masked it completely, but now that he'd heard it, Tony could distinguish it easily. It seemed to come from a small nook between buildings, not even big enough to be called an alley.

At first, it looked like a trash bag. And, to be fair, it kept looking like a trash bag. Except the trash bag was moving slightly, and whining.

"Oh no," he whispered, approaching it hesitantly. The whimpering was a somewhat good sign, he supposed, but...

When he gently pulled at it, trying to see how to get the animal out of there safely, it just about fell off, revealing one tiny, muddy canine that he hoped was a regular dog puppy and not something more feral. "Oh, sweetheart," he muttered. The thing was clearly too young to be on its own, eyes not even opened yet, and he knew he had to get it out of the cold immediately if he wanted it to have any chance of surviving.

It was far too cold to the touch, and Tony quickly unzipped his jacket. Hopefully, his own body heat would be able to help a little, until he could truly warm it up.

Hunching over the poor creature to keep it safe from the icy rain, he set a steady pace towards the Tower, not even paying all that much attention to the weather anymore. He was already soaked through anyway - the best thing to do would be to get back as quickly as possible so he could warm the both of them up over there.

There was hardly anyone on the streets - even the people who had remembered to bring umbrellas were mostly sheltering instead of trying to brave the winds.

Tony cursed softly. The rain had been bad enough, and every drop already felt like a rock hitting him due to how cold he was, but he could see how the rain was slowly shifting into hail. The creature in his arms couldn’t wait until it stopped, though. Even with Tony using his body to both warm it up and protect it from getting even more soaked, he could feel how weak its struggles were getting, hear the way it whimpered softly.

Finally, he could see the Tower in the distance. “Only a little further, sweetheart,” he assured the (hopefully) dog in his arms. “Only a little longer and we’ll get you warm and fed.”

As soon as he made it into the lobby, he addressed one of JARVIS’ sensors. “J, start up a warm bath on my floor, and we need some very urgent supplies for a very young puppy - or at least, that’s what I think it is.”

“Yes, Sir,” JARVIS agreed immediately, voice following him as he quickly stepped into the elevator.

He was dripping all over the floor, and despite the fact that the Tower was significantly warmer than it had been outside, he still felt like he was freezing. Unfortunately, so did the puppy.

When he got to his own floor, he wasn’t entirely surprised to see that Bucky was there, looking concerned. “JARVIS said you were back,” he explained his presence. “Damn, doll, you look like you’re freezing.”

“Feel that way, too,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t wait out the weather.”

“I’d have come to pick you up, you know?”

“Roads were too congested - everyone’s taking a car right now. And I had to get this little one somewhere safe and warm, quickly.”

Apparently, JARVIS hadn’t informed Bucky of Tony’s recent find, and when he opened up his jacket to reveal the tiny animal, Bucky looked absolutely stunned. “Is that a puppy?” he asked, voice almost reverent.

“Found it near where I was sheltering, in a trash bag,” he explained, grimacing. As the two of them were speaking, he kept moving to the bathroom. Not only was he more likely to get ill the longer he stayed in his soaking clothes, but the animal really needed to warm up quickly.

While he would usually prefer a shower over a bath, he hoped this would make it easier to get the animal clean and back to a better temperature.

“I have taken the liberty of alerting a veterinarian, who will also bring the supplies for your find,” JARVIS informed him.

“Good job, J.” Tony started to take off his clothes, only to find that it was quite difficult to do so with only one arm available. Still, he didn’t want to set the puppy down.

Of course, he wasn’t alone anymore. “Here, doll, let me help,” Bucky offered, holding out his arms. Considering he ran at a higher temperature than normal humans, Tony hoped it would help warm the creature up.

Quickly divesting himself of his clothes, he sat down in the bathtub. It wasn’t quite the high temperature he usually preferred, but he guessed JARVIS had done that on purpose - even now, it felt like thousands of pinpricks on his chilled skin. He didn’t have too much time to worry about it, though, instead turning back to Bucky and holding out his own arms.

“I’ll go make sure to get some towels warmed up,” Bucky offered, blushing when Tony smiled at him with infinite gratitude.

“You’re amazing, Snowflake,” he softly told his boyfriend.

With an adoring smile, Bucky leaned down to give him a brief kiss. “So are you, doll. A real hero,” he only half-joked. “Wish I could stay, but I better make sure you and your rescue can get warmed up quickly.” Then, he headed off, grabbing four towels to throw into the dryer so they would be warm when Tony got out of the bath.

Ever-so-gently, he washed the mud off the puppy, revealing snow-white fur. Fortunately it had been warmed up by his own body heat, so it didn’t seem to mind the water as much as Tony had. “There you go, sweetheart,” he told it softly. The whining had grown less, though he knew it was probably hungry. Who knew how long it had been out there before he’d found it?

Despite the fact that it was probably starving and feeling completely awful, it lied trustingly in Tony’s hand, and he could feel himself falling in love.

When Bucky came back, carrying the warm towels, he smiled when he saw the look on Tony’s face. “So… We’re keeping it, aren’t we?” His voice was soft and utterly non-judgmental, and from the look in his eyes, Tony guessed he didn’t mind at all.

He looked back down at the tiny animal, now wrapped in one of the warm towels and squeaking softly. “Yeah… Yeah, I think we are.”

Whumptober: Trust Fall

In the dark, shadows crept along the wall, glints from white eyes being the only sign that it was not just a trick of the light.

Unseen by guards and enemies, a group of four darted across the building, heading for the basement, and the core. On their way, they took out enemies and guards, lowering their chance of being seen with less people around to see them.

As they neared a large computer with screens facing all around, four split into pairs of two. Red and purple stayed by the computer, while orange and blue split off to wander around the border, taking down any patrols that risked discovering the middle pair.

Michelangelo yawned and grinned at Leonardo, giving him a friendly nudge while they were lingering by a doorway.

"Hey, Leo-!"

"Shh!" Leonardo hushed him quickly, elbowing him in the ribs, "Not the time, nor the place!"

Michelangelo pouted, but gave up while they continued on with their patrol around the bordering. The youngest's gaze drifted around lazily, bored to death by the lack of conversation and- Hey, was that a..?

Oh.

That felt… really important.

And probably like something he should tell Leonardo.

"Hey, Leo?"

"What?"

"Uh… That looks. Important." Michelangelo pointed to what he spotted, and saw Leonardo's expression shift to horror immediately.

It was a camera, angled directly at them and tracking their movements. Both of them stilled, knowing that they had both messed up. 

They were being watched.

They both backed up, and, after the camera had been pointed out, a voice came over the speakers. Razhaar.

"We know you're here," he growled over the microphone, voice teasing like they had already won, "get running, little piggies."

Leonardo and Michelangelo turned on their heel and ran for their lives, regrouping with Raphael and Donatello.

"Don, you done?" Leonardo asked, an urgency to his voice that wasn't there before.

Donatello nodded, giving them the good-to-go as he pulled the USB out of the computer.

With that, they took off, needing to get out fast.

The halls were... Eerily silent, there was not a sound to be heard as they ran. Which, was odd, and honestly concerning. They would have thought that the halls would be swarming with guards- No, there they are. They were all focused on the exits, trying to trap the team inside.

They skidded to a halt, bracing themselves for a fight and unsheathing weapons in preparation for what was to come. The guards spotted them quickly, and rushed them, dashing forward like they thought they had a chance.

The Foot bots were taken down quickly to avoid them adapting to their fighting styles, each member of the team moving fluidly across the area to assist others. And, just as quickly as it started, it was over.

With every enemy down, they went running for the exit, getting out while they still could. Raphael and Donatello took the lead, the genius holding valuable information at the moment, while Michelangelo and Leonardo held the rear for the time being.

Michelangelo looked behind them and froze up. He was scared, something gripped him and he stopped moving. He just couldn't move, he was afraid, there were more guards coming and they needed to leave-

"Hey," Leonardo held his shoulder, tense, but smiling gently to soothe him, "You good?"

Michelangelo still couldn't run, but he nodded, even as Leonardo positioned himself between the youngest and the approaching enemies. He missed the way Leonardo glanced up, then back, before back at Michelangelo. Leaning down ever so slightly, he cocked his head to the side.

"Mikey, you trust me, right?"

"Huh?"

"Do you trust me?"

What kind of question was that? Of course he did. Leonardo always had their backs. He was right there for them, all the time. Of course he trusted him. So, he nodded.

In the back, Donatello and Raphael called for them, sounding antsy.

Leonardo smiled wider, and Michelangelo felt soothed, like a child comforted by their mother.

"Good."

Suddenly, Michelangelo was shoved backwards, and he staggered, falling down and looking to Leonardo in question-

Leonardo smiled, and waved, before stepping back himself in time for a wall to come crashing down. Michelangelo screamed, loud and wordless as he scrambled back up and threw himself against the wall, slamming his fists into it and yelling his brother's name, yelling for the oldest.

No, nononono-!

He had been so calm just a second ago, why did that have to be taken away?!

Beside him, Raphael and Donatello appear, screaming themselves hoarse.

"Leo!"

From the other side, there was one, single tap, Leonardo's response.

"Guys," he called, and all of them fell silent, apprehensive, "you need to go, alright? I know another way out. I'll be fine, I'll meet you at the lair when this is all over."

Michelangelo whimpered. Donatello looked down. Raphael curled his hands into fists. Nobody said a word for a long moment.

Then, Donatello broke the silence. "You better keep your word, alright Leo? You have a very bad track record of lying."

"Alright," Leonardo called, his voice slowly fading, as if he was walking away, "Just get out and don't wait up, alright?"

Raphael swallowed and nodded, then signaled for them to follow after him. Donatello followed hesitantly, and Michelangelo just ran. He had already hurt them by not moving once, that's how Leonardo got trapped, and he refused to let that happen again.

%%%

Leonardo did not come back. They waited hours, constantly checking the clock, calling and texting him like they thought it would do something, waiting, waiting.

Leonardo did not come back.

A lone tear slid down Michelangelo's face.

Cause: Insomnia|G|530 Words

Read on AO3

Fandom: 9-1-1

Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz

Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Eddie Diaz

Tags: Whumptober 2024, Hallucinations, Insomnia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Eddie Diaz Has PTSD (9-1-1 TV), Eddie Diaz Has Insomnia (9-1-1 TV), Mentioned Shannon Diaz, Dead Shannon Diaz

Summary: Eddie sees Shannon at the station.

Whumptober 2024 Day 4: Hallucinations

A hidden injury fic?? More likely then you’d think

Summary:

Player screws up. Very badly. Not the kind his mother would tease him for, but the kind that would make his friends ban him from heists in person for the foreseeable future, the kind that would make Carmen blame herself and fret until the cows came home.

Player gets stabbed.

(Made for Whumptober Day 4, Dead On Your Feet and the prompt Blood Loss)

Whumptober - 4. Human Shield

1, 2, 3

(Flashback)

“Why don’t we ever get /creative/ enemies?”

Tony lifts a brow, “Are you seriously complaining that they came with real weapons and not… what? Magic?”

“I just mean that I’d like to see them do something different,” Peter says, panting loudly into Tony’s ear as he jumps and leaps around wildly, dodging bullets left and right.

“Sorry to disappoint, kid, but this is it most of the time,” Tony tells him, ducking a spray of fire and returning it.

Peter sighs, “That’s disappointing.”

“Want me to unlock your iron suit?”

“No, no,” Peter says, “I’d like to actually do this /without/ cheating.”

“How is it cheating to use everything you’ve got, kid?” Tony asks rhetorically, “They are. You shouldn’t be ashamed of using nanotech to deflect these kinds of things.”

He says that, but he’s been watching Peter from a distance and the kid is phenomenal at avoiding fire.

“Feels like… cheating because I’m not you,” Peter tells him, pulling a gun from one of the men and shattering it in his fist, slamming it over the thug’s head and knocking him out, “No offense, sir. But everyone has their own thing and that’s not mine.”

“Right, right.”

Peter chuckles, but stops when one of the men pulls out a minigun and aims it directly at him, “Oh shit!”

“Pete, get down!” Tony bursts after him, flinging himself into the line of fire and turning his back to cover Peter, wrapping his arms around him and holding him down to keep him safe.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter shouts, reaching up and watching him helplessly as the bullets barrel down, the armor quickly replacing and repairing itself in an attempt to stop any of them from breaking through. It can’t last forever, but it buys him some time to think of an exit plan.

Tony grits his teeth, “It’s okay, just stay put.”

“Yeah, yeah… yes… sir,” Peter nods, his hands on the armor just around the arc reactor as Tony lights up, plates of nanotech separating from him and blasting the gunman.

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cattle prod / shock / you in there? (I see the danger, it’s written there in your eyes.)

He wondered at first if it was because of something he’d said. Something he’d done. There had to be a reason for the punishment. It was a punishment, right? It definitely wasn’t anything he’d signed up for. There had been no little box on the recruitment application to indicate permission granted for torture.

Perhaps they were upset about his physical appearance. He’d argued that there was science - well documented and thoroughly researched - that held that long hair acted as a sixth sense. Surprisingly, they had permitted him to keep his long locks… but this could still be a form of retribution for that allowance.

Could they have caught him sneaking from the other barracks? It’s not as if it was forbidden. Dalliances were often encouraged in the ranks, in fact, as long as such behavior didn’t interfere with showing up for your shift. He had never been late to the field. Never brawled with fellow soldiers. Never led his squadron into lethal situations.

Sure, he’d been physically violent with a fair number of the enemy - whoever they were. But he’d never instigated the altercations.

There was nothing that sprang to mind as just cause for being tormented for days on end.

Cattle prod marks dotted his arms, his legs, his stomach and chest and back. Whip lashes had left stinging welts and broken the skin in several spots. He’d been wrestled into a device that allowed them to shock him repeatedly which wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been a level of power that gradually increased over time, but they never went in any order he could detect. There was no way to prepare for the voltage of the jolt. Sometimes he’d clench his teeth and close his eyes and it would be as soft as being too near the hum of electricity. Other times it would make stars explode behind his eyelids and could leave him with a bitten tongue and gouges in his palms from the pressure of his own nails digging in.

He was never left to sleep for long. Usually minutes at a time. The lights were always on in his cell. He had no inkling of how long he’d been there for by now. The guards were masked, the doctors were masked, the voices were all modulated by devices around their throats. Though occasionally he suspected some of their identities.

“You in there?” A mocking voice, a rap of knuckles on his forehead. Laughter as he fought against the restraints keeping him locked in place. The height and weight seemed right. The ridicule was certainly what he’d expect. If this particular individual wasn’t one of the first men he’d fought with way back during training on Mars, years and years ago… well, then it was someone just like that asshole. Someone just as cruel and annoying.

One time he’d found his throat less parched than usual. The doctor in with him was soft-spoken and timid in their movements. He detected a gentleness in their manner, perhaps a caring soul that could be coerced into releasing him. It was the only time he’d bothered to beg. Beg for his freedom. Beg for answers.

But the doctor had shook their head solemnly. “I see the danger; it’s written in your eyes.” And on that oddly poetic note, they had taken their leave and never returned.

There was danger in his eyes. There was danger to every inch of him. He was a formidable opponent. He had been trained in violent forms of self-defense, had been broken and healed over and over until he could ignore any agony being inflicted upon his person. He could jab his fingers into a man’s chest and end their life. He was a killing machine.

Briefly, he’d thought he could be more. Thought he had more to give than brute force and incredible endurance.

He’d met a woman. Beautiful, strong, clever. A fighter just like him. She had ignited a passion within him that was impossible to ignore. They’d fallen into bed and fallen into love and his heart had cracked open with all the dreams of a future that could include her.

And then people started to disappear. Not unusual in the military. He’d served enough years to know that and it had not worried him. Until the day she wasn’t there.

Had he gone on a rampage at that point?

It seemed unlikely. But for some reason he couldn’t actually remember.

The past few days, weeks, months even? …everything seemed blurry. Shrouded in doubt. How long had he been here? How long had they been together on this dusty moon so far from their home world? How long had he been bound in this room and made to suffer attacks he was not allowed to defend against?

Time became meaningless. Doctors and guards paraded around him ceaselessly. He was given injections. Bright lights were shone into his eyes. He was beaten, tied, shocked, drowned. He was revived. For a long while he was plagued by bouts of dizziness and nausea so intense he blacked out while heaving. Chills made his limbs tremble. His bones ached, his muscles felt on fire. Images flickering at the edge of his perception - odd things floating in the air, butterflies? It was nonsense. It was not real. Nothing was real anymore.

On and on and on.

Questions.

What was his name? Who was his superior? What year was it? Where was he? How did he feel?

There came a day when he found he had no answers. There was only the shell he inhabited. What contents was a shell supposed to hold? What memories was he supposed to have? This was all a nightmare that had gone on since time began and would continue until time met its end.

Pain and drugs swirled in his system. His vision grew worse and then improved. His teeth throbbed in his mouth and he wanted to rip them out. He knew he was going to die there. The why was immaterial. The how equally so. The when was the only true question he had, the only bit of control he maintained.

He was going to die. But he would damn sure take as many of them along as possible. And if somehow he managed to escape with his life? Well… the world itself would choke and burn. He’d see to it.