[A Concept For A Future CoD Fic]

Im sorry but im feeling extra soft and feelsy today so Gen teaching Tsukasa how to slow dance?

I'm. Physically ill over this

It's such a small thing, really.

The moment is a blip in time, and yet it meant everything in the moment.

Gen was humming to himself a song from the old world that he missed while taking a brisk evening walk.

The moon was high, the sky was clear, and the world was at total peace.

He does a little spin, losing himself in the moment, and not even considering that anyone was watching.

But just as he finishes his twirl, he catches Tsukasa from the corner of his eye.

The two men greet each other politely

And though there is no real reason to remain together

They do so anyway.

Tsukasa asks Gen what song he was singing

Gen just shrugs and doesn't give a real answer, as is typical

"It sounded nice coming from you," Tsukasa said

Gen's face flushes

And dares to ask if Tsukasa knows how to dance

He admits that he doesn't

Reminding Gen that he'd never gotten the chance to do such things

It's a risk, but Gen offers to teach him

"Just for fun," Gen says. "I won't tell a single soul if you don't want me to."

Tsukasa considers it, then hesitantly agrees.

He wasn't sure he could be gentle

Even with Gen, the man he cared for

But he lets Gen take his hands, and pull him in

One hand rests in Gen's, one on his waist

Gen's touch on his shoulder is featherlight, yet heavier than anything Tsukasa had ever felt

Tsukasa thinks his heart might explode when Gen smiles up at him

It's a real smile

A rare sight from the mentalist

"I'll lead, my dear Tsukasa," Gen says

He's awkward and stiff compared to Gen's more fluid and easy movements

But he manages not to step on his feet

Or trip

Or otherwise embarrass himself

Gen hums his song, giving them a soft soundtrack as they dance together

At some point, Tsukasa gets more confident, and takes the lead himself

Gen praises him, but his words don't feel flowery or fake, like they usually do

Not when his voice is so soft

His eyes filled with such warmth

Tsukasa twirls Gen, pulling him in and dipping him low like he'd seen in movies

Gen's face is bright red

"My, my. Already an expert, I see~" Gen coos

Tsukasa chuckles, pulling him back up.

"I have an excellent teacher."

Neither of them moves, both letting the moment really sink in

Then they part, hands hesitant to let go of the other.

"Shall I walk you back to camp?" Tsukasa asks

"I'd be honored, dearest."

Tsukasa curses himself for not kissing Gen before leaving him

Dabi x Reader Oneshot

I was gonna put this on ao3 but I decided you all can have it instead.

Dabi tries to break up with you.

Loving someone like him wasn’t easy, he was a man of contradictions. He could be cagey and distant one day, clingy and obsessive another. There were days he’d say barely two words to you, and days he’d talk until his throat couldn’t take any more. But there was at least one thing that he was consistent on: 

Dabi didn’t lie.

If you asked him something he couldn’t-or just didn’t want-to answer, he’d either stay silent, or tell you that it wasn’t your business. Things like that included his work with the League, and his identity or past. Even if you pushed him on it, he’d clamp his jaw shut and turn away from you. You’d asked him once, why he didn’t just tell you something, even if it wasn’t true. You’d reminded him that it wasn’t like you’d know if he was lying, so what was the harm? 

“I don’t like liars,” Is all he’d said, and you’d had no choice but to accept it. You appreciated his truthfulness, knowing well just how easy it was for a man to lie to you just to keep in your good graces. Dabi was not afraid of telling you the truth, even if it hurt or made you angry. 

And that’s what makes tonight so strange. 

There was something in the way he stood, stiff yet overly relaxed, that clued you into something not being quite right. Then he refused to look you in the eye, which was definitely strange for him. He may not always look at you directly while speaking, but he was never the type to go to any great length to avoid your gaze. And tonight, his eyes were everywhere but on you, no matter how hard you tried to meet them. And on top of all that, nothing he was saying even made sense to you. 

He’d lived in your home, eaten your food, given you any and everything he could, told you over and over again for the last year that he loved you. And now he was breaking up with you? 

No, something was wrong here. Very, very wrong. 

“Dabi,” You say his name slowly, carefully. “Can you just…tell me what’s going on?”

“I am telling you,” He says, tone far too strained to be natural. 

“Not…not really.” 

“It’s just not working.”

“What isn’t working?” 

“Us.” 

“What about us?” 

He lets out a hard sigh, your name mumbled from his lips. His eyes flit to yours for the barest second before they find the far wall again. 

“We don’t fit,” He says, and for the first time in this entire conversation, he sounds honest. 

“Says who?” You ask with a careful step forward. You reach out to touch him, hands gently grazing the front of his shirt before resting on his chest, soaking in his warmth through your fingertips. He doesn’t flinch at your touch, doesn’t lean away. If anything, he presses himself closer, his body much more truthful than his words.

“Says everyone.” 

You frown, pushing yourself closer by just another step. Your hands slide up his chest to caress his face, forcing him with gentle hands to look at you. He looks like he’s in pain. 

“Dabi,” You say his name again, catching how he subtly flinches at the sound of it. “My love-” 

He rips away from you, shoving you hard backwards in the process. It’s such a sudden action that you’re unable to catch yourself before tumbling to the ground, hissing in pain when your ankle twists the wrong way. Traitorous tears fill your eyes and threaten to fall from your lashes as you look up at him from your new spot on the ground. The way he looks back at you can only be described as abject horror. 

“No-fuck-I-” He vacillates between reaching for you and backing further away, unsure of what to do with himself now. “Shit.” 

His breathing is coming hard, eyes blown wide. One hand digs into his hair, pulling at his scalp, the other scratching at the staples in his face, almost like he was trying to tear them out. Your breath catches in your throat when you realize that he’s having a panic attack. 

You say his name, but he doesn’t hear you. His eyes are unfocused, his chest heaving. He manages to stumble back one more step before hitting the far wall and going still. You take that as your chance to move, scrambling up and limping over to him slowly, hands outstretched to take hold of him as soon as he’s within distance. When the first drops of blood hit your floor, you move faster, launching yourself forward heedless of how badly your ankle hurts. 

“Hey, hey,” You keep your voice low, grabbing at his wrists and trying to pull them away from his hair and face. He’s shaking, even harder than the days when he stumbles home overheated and overtired. He’s looking at you, but you aren’t sure he’s really seeing you. 

You coax him into sitting on the floor with you, letting him stay with his back pressed into the wall while you knelt in front of him. You’ve managed to pry his hands away from their self-destructive task and now hold them close, pressing them gently against your own chest so that he can feel your heartbeat and steadier breathing. 

“I’m okay,” You murmur softly, trying to keep your face neutral at the sight of his bloodied face. He’d managed to get a few staples out, causing new wounds in the process. “It’s going to be okay.” 

You wrack your brain for what to do now. There was no promise that this pause in self harm wouldn’t start back up at the wrong word or movement. Dabi was stronger than you, if he wanted to pull away from you and dig his fingers into his skin until he bled all over, he very well could, and though you’d resist, he’d definitely win that fight. There had to be something you could do, something that would shake him out of his fog just enough for you to bring him back to reality, without making it worse than it already was. 

“Do you think All Might would win in a fight against a mantis shrimp?” You blurt, surprising you both. Dabi looks at you, blinking slowly.

“I mean,” You continue. “Mantis shrimps can punch super hard, right? Like they can really fuck someone up despite being so little. But since All Might is also, like, the strongest in the world, would that make it a fair fight?” 

The corner of his lips turns upwards, light slowly returning to his eyes, and you just keep going. 

“They have to be in special cases when in captivity, cause otherwise they’ll break out. Did you know that they can punch so fast that they boil the water around them? And they do this totally naturally. They evolved to be able to do that. What kind of predators do these things have?” 

“All Might…” His voice is hoarse. “Apparently.”

You grin at him, snickering a little. He lets out a huff of air, something similar to a laugh but not quite. 

“The shrimp would win,” He says.

“Oh, one hundred percent.” Now you’re both laughing, really, properly laughing. His shoulders hunch, head dropped down, but his torso shakes with his amusement nonetheless. 

You take a breath, calming yourself a bit and observing your partner. His breathing was still a bit labored, and his eyes still had a faraway look to them, but he seemed to be back in the here and now, at least for the moment. Whatever had triggered his episode, whether it had been the argument, him pushing you over, or both, seems to have floated from his mind momentarily. You had no doubt you’d need to be prepared to talk him through it all once he was back to being fully himself. 

For a moment, you think you see who he could have been, if whatever had happened to him hadn’t happened. You could imagine him with brighter eyes, a bigger grin not suppressed by scars and staples. He was already perfect to you, but your heart ached for him. For the him that was lost to his past. 

“I love you,” You say. 

He looks at you for a long moment, his laughter dead in his chest. He pulls one hand away from your chest, and lifts it to caress your face. His thumb runs a soothing line along your cheekbone, twitching a bit when he spots the drying blood he’s accidentally rubbing into your skin. 

“I know,” He mumbles.

You want to crack a joke at him, but it doesn’t come out. Instead, the tears return, this time spilling over your lashes and soaking your face. There was such a finality in his tone, one that made you think that maybe this was all real, that he wasn’t lying, and he really was going to leave and never come back. You can feel your heart shattering with every second he doesn’t say anything else, with every second he just holds you in his hand and watches you cry. 

He couldn’t do this to you, not after all the endless nights and early mornings. Not after all the hours spent with his body connected to yours, branding you from the inside as his. He couldn’t just break you after he’d finally put you back together. 

You push his hand away and wipe at your eyes, trying your hardest to control your breathing and calm down. You had to finish this conversation calmly, you had to make sure he was okay. It felt horribly selfish to sob like this after he’d just been the one in a full blown panic attack. You needed to stop, to stifle your emotions until he left so that his last memory of you wasn’t this. 

“Are you…are you okay, now?” You ask with a shaky voice. This was probably the calmest you were going to be at the moment. 

“Yeah, baby, I’m good,” He says.

The world feels like it’s tilted sideways, nothing going the way you wanted it to. You were supposed to be having dinner, curled on your couch next to the man you adored more than you ever thought you could. He’s supposed to have an arm draped around you, not quite holding you but still keeping you close to him. There is supposed to be a shitty movie playing on the TV that the two of you make fun of together between idle kisses and steamy touches. It wasn’t fair.

“I love you,” You can’t stop yourself. “So much.” . 

“I know, baby,” He repeats his own words, reaching to brush hair from your tear-soaked face. He looks like he wants to say something else, but his jaw clenches, silencing himself before he lets whatever it is spill from his lips. 

So the two of you sit on the floor of your apartment in heavy silence. 

Your ankle throbs under you, reminding you of the tumble you’d taken just a moment ago. That seemed to be what had set him off, the more you think about it. He’d been calm when informing you that he was leaving you, and even when you argued with him about it. But it had been when he pushed you, and you got hurt, that he’d crumpled. 

“I’m sorry for upsetting you,” You manage to mumble. 

“You didn’t,” He says just as softly, and you know from the look on his face that he’s not talking about his panic attack. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Can you just make something up?” You know you sound pathetic, pleading with him like this, but you can’t help it. “Please, I don’t care if it’s something stupid. I just…I need to know that you have a reason for leaving. Something I can be mad about so this doesn’t hurt so much!” 

He sighs your name with a shake of his head. 

“I can’t.”

“Hah…” You shift and stand, trying not to put too much weight on your injured foot. “What was it you were saying to me earlier? That we don’t fit? Is that really what you want to stick with? What you want me to remember?” 

“What do you want me to say?” He asks, standing now as well. 

“Anything!” You yell, throwing your hands in the air. 

“Like what?!” He yells back, taking a step towards you, invading your space. 

“Tell me that I’m annoying! Tell me that I talk too much, or that I’m messy, or stupid! Lie to me! Or be honest and tell me that you don’t love me!” 

You think he’s stopped breathing, you’ve never seen him so still. It feels like standing in a silent forest, horrible and unnatural and frightening. 

“Is that…what you think?” His voice is low, almost deadly. “You seriously think. That I’m doing this because I don’t love you?” 

“Unless you tell me otherwise, then-”

“Are you stupid?” 

The sudden, vicious anger in his words startles you, all words dying on your tongue as you just stare at him in surprise, your own frustration burning through your body. What gave him the right to sound like that when he was the one who started all this? 

You start to say his name, but one of his hands flies up to cover your mouth, just like he’d done when you’d babbled at him on the first night you met. 

“I’m doing this because I love you. Because being with me is dangerous for you, and I can’t fucking sleep at night anymore thinking about what could happen if someone finds out about you. It’s bad enough that heroes have been sniffing around this neighborhood recently, but if another villain gets their hands on you? Because of me?”

With his hand over your mouth, you can’t say anything. Though, even if you were free to, you’re not sure how you’d even respond to him at all. 

“You make me want to give up on everything. And I swear, if you asked, I’d do it. I’d give up on the revenge that I rightfully fucking deserve just to make you happy, because I can’t stand the idea that what I do could make you miserable.” 

His breathing is hard and angry, eyes wide and wild, and yet not for a single moment do you worry that he could hurt you. He’d scared you for a moment, sure, but now that you were really processing his words, you realize you had no reason to feel that way. He wasn’t angry with you. He hasn’t been this whole time. 

You lift your hands to gently take hold of his wrist, tugging on him to signal that you wanted to speak. His eyes narrow at you, but he allows his palm to be pried from your mouth, and moved to press into your cheek. You make him stand like that for a long time, letting yourself just digest everything he’s said. 

There were a hundred and one things you could say in response to him, but none of them really felt right. Telling him you loved him wouldn’t do much, telling him you understood would be a lie. Allowing him to leave was a big no-go, but brushing this all under the rug felt even worse. When you finally settle on what to say, you’re careful to do it slowly.

“You know…I don’t know that much about you,” You say. “I don’t know why your revenge is so important, I don’t know what kind of people you deal with or have made angry that might try to hurt me. And I don’t know why you pushing me over sent you so over the edge.” 

You look up at him, letting go of his wrist in favor of reaching for his face, to caress it the way he stayed caressing yours. 

“But, I still want you here. I want to love and be loved by you, regardless of if it means that I have to be a little extra vigilant. I don’t care if I have to practice what to say if a hero comes to the door, I don’t care if I have to be ready to jump out the window with you because you need to run and you don’t want to leave me behind. You being a villain, and having enemies, all that doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that you come home at night, that you remember things about me when I tell them to you, even in passing, and that you’re alive. You don’t even have to be safe, if you can’t promise that. Just come home with enough pieces that I can put you back together.” 

He huffs, pulling away but not too far, and covers his face. His shoulders shake and it takes you a moment to realize he’s laughing at you. Your face flushes, a touch of embarrassment making you anxious and antsy. 

Then, he mumbles something. 

“Wh-what?” You ask.

“I can’t cry,” His voice is soft, muffled by his hands but now just loud enough to hear. 

“Huh…?” 

“My face is too fucked up.” 

“Your face isn’t…it’s not-” 

“Baby,” He drops his hands, looking at you with tired eyes and a lopsided grin. “I know what I look like.” 

You let his self deprecating comment slide, just this once. 

“Do you want to cry?” You ask, instead. 

“Right now? A little bit.” 

You pull him impossibly close, one arm around his neck, hand petting the back of his head, the other up under his arm to grip his shoulder from behind. He buries his face into your neck, arms wrapping around you as tightly as he could without hurting you, and the two of you just stand like that for a while. 

You hiss involuntarily when he leans on you a little too hard, your ankle protesting the extra weight. The sound has him jerking away, eyes wide and full of worry. His expression was so foreign to you it was almost laughable. But it was honest, that much you knew. 

“I’m okay,” You say. “I think I rolled my ankle when I fell-” 

“Fuck, baby, I-” He cuts himself off, taking a breath before continuing. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” 

“I know,” You say. 

“Let me look at it.” 

You let him lead you to the couch and sit you down, kneeling at your feet so that he can take the injured one into his hands. He bends and twists it slowly, gauging your reactions, muttering soft apologies every time you wince or let out a pained noise. 

“Should ice it,” He says. “Prop it up, don’t use it for a couple days.”

“Yes sir,” You can’t stop yourself from teasing him a bit, grinning ear to ear when he levels you with a dangerous look. 

“Watch it, baby. I just narrowly avoided losing you. I’m wound up enough.” 

“Oh?” You lean forward a bit. “I think we’re both a little wound up.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Mhm.”

“Good.”

He gathers you in his arms and throws you over his shoulder, carrying you squealing and laughing into the bedroom, where he dumps you on the mattress and follows quickly after. He spends the rest of the night kissing you all over, hands refamiliarizing themselves with your body. His teeth leave marks along your shoulder and chest, and the wall ends up with a burn mark from him getting a little too excited. 

This was how things should be.

-

He’s always awake before you, but this was the first time he really laid here like this, looking at you. He watched as the first rays of sunlight stream through the tiny gap in the curtains, illuminating your face in a way he’s sure he’s never seen before. He traces a finger along your features, smiling a bit to himself when your eyebrows furrow, but you don’t wake. 

He, admittedly, feels bad for taking you to bed and being so rough when you were already hurt. He also never explained to you why him hurting you affected him so. To be fair, he hadn’t realized that something like that could bother him. Not after all the people he’d hurt and killed over the past several years. 

But seeing you on the floor, because of him? Hurt by his hands? It had made him feel disgusting, like a monster. It was that moment that he realized that he really was as bad as he’d told himself he was. That everyone told him he was. Everyone but you, that is. 

It cemented in him that his revenge couldn’t be put on hold, because if anyone took you away, it would be his father.

“You have no idea,” He whispers to your sleeping form. “What I’d do for you.” 

You let out a soft, sleepy hum. His first sign that you were really starting to wake up.

“Do you even realize what I would do to this fucking country if I lost you?” He keeps his voice low. “There wouldn’t be anything left. I’d burn it. Do you understand? I’d burn the whole fucking world to ashes, and no one would be able to stop me.”

“Promise?” One eye cracks open, and he’s honestly not sure you actually heart the whole of what he’s said, nor does he think you understood in your mostly-asleep state. 

“Cross my heart, baby.” 

You sigh, giving him another happy, sleepy little hum, and snuggle closer to him. 

“I love you,” He murmurs, kissing the top of your head. 

“Mm…I know.”

Relationship Headcanons: Stanley Snyder

x gn! reader

All of this is super self-indulgent

lmk who you want next

SFW:

Stanley "Loverboy" Snyder falls first, and falls hard.

Regardless of how/when you meet, after that day you have a constant companion.

Acts super nonchalant but the minute you accept his invitation for dinner he's internally losing his mind.

Pays for everything

Literally

He will not let you use your money for anything if he can help it

His love language is acts of service he is going to do everything he physically can for you

Hates long deployments because he doesn't get to see you

Highly protective (gets worse post petrification event)

Stanley is typically very secure in your relationship, but can get still jealous pretty quickly

Gives lots of soft touches throughout the day

Loves to just lay in bed with you with his head on your chest just listening to your heartbeat

Sometimes he needs to know that you're still there, still alive, still waiting for him

Is literally your best friend

Not because he chases everyone away, but because he's the only one who will actually sit and listen when you need him to

Always mindful to ask whether you're venting or looking for solutions

Gives the best hugs okay I don't make the rules here

Can be the biggest goofball when he's in the right mood, but only around you and sometimes Xeno

Speaking of Xeno, Stanley keeps the two of you separate for a while

You end up meeting your lovers best friend by Xeno's design random chance.

Stanley is genuinely relieved you two get along so well, he wasn't totally sure what he would have done if he ended up having to choose

Drives you everywhere, but is a complete speed demon so please god wear your seatbelt

Will take you anywhere to do anything you want

Stanley can do anything, and he will do it all for you.

All you have to do is ask

NSFW

The first time you two have sex it's rushed and messy

Stanley lowkey wishes he could go back and do it over again to make the experience better for you, even though you have assured him that it remains one of the hottest nights of your life

He's fairly dominating, but he loves when you get assertive

Order him around in bed and you might not walk for three days (at least)

Will bend you over at random times of the day onto nearly every surface

Has considered a threesome with Xeno multiple times, the only thing stopping him is his uncertainty about whether you want that (you do. Trust me. You want that.)

Tries to go slow and gentle but his patience only stretches so thin, and when you start sounding like that? Game over

Has left bruises on your hips multiple times

Will come at just the sight of you red faced and panting, covered in his smeared lipstick

Bite marks and hickies everywhere

On him too, please. He wants to be claimed by you just as viciously

Likes to smoke after sex, but if you try to join him via shotgunning there will be another around

Whatever you need for aftercare is prepped beforehand so that he doesn't have to leave you alone in the bed

Literally has a drawer of snacks and water bottles and will have a towel on standby

I told ya I be back with more pain, ukyo seeing his wife after the second worldwide petrification seeing how she had aged in those 3 years alone Hair longer, eyes just bit more tired, hand having scars/callous builded up from the years of working nonstop, maybe a thinner but more muscle from working alone. Just them hugging so tightly, crying into each arms while not speaking. Maybe he can hear how strained his wife voice is after not talking much in the last 3yrs. Gently help her talk more and more, while always staying by her side so she knows he still there

:)

HEY BUDDY

WHY

Ukyo, who used to love her voice so much, is devastated that she doesn't speak as much anymore. He works so hard to help her re-learn how to talk.

He SINGS TO HER

I'm sobbing

Newest chapter of To the Moon and Back is out!

Anyway back to writing Senku getting killed

"Why won't you watch the new Devil May Cry anime? Isn't Dante your type?"

1. I'm having fun hyperfixating on Dr STONE

2. I am due both my annual Berserk and Hunter x Hunter phases

3. Because I've already fallen in love with a silly, traumatized, light haired gunslinger who wears a red coat and has an evil twin brother that i also fell in love with and I have the fanfictions to prove it

I was the one that requested the gen x historian reader, tysm for doing my request!! Loved it! How you have a great day/evening 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

I'm so glad!! I had fun writing it ♡

if its not too much, can you make a fic on evil scientist senku? (and maybe the s/o and general should be seperate if thats okay TvT)

(i will send the art which affected me in this way in a separate ask, since i would like to remain anon)

Okay but that art was such a vibe and I'm totally here for Senku being a little crazy.

I did something a little funky here, but I hope you enjoy it anyway

x gn!Reader

Senku Ishigami wasn’t evil.

Evil implied that he was torturing and murdering people for fun, and he had far too many better things to do than all that. Like helping his mentor do calculations, building his rockets, and testing chemicals on rats to see how effective they are. None of that made him evil. Just passionate about science. 

That’s what Xeno told him. And Xeno was always right.

Senku in this world let himself be swept up in Xeno's darkness

Science was so powerful, it could do anything

And Senku wanted to do everything

Even if it meant twisting his morals until they were no longer recognizable

In public, he's actually pretty much the same as he's always been

Bored, a bit distant, and a little eccentric

He's still friends with Taiju and Yuzuriha, though they don't subscribe to his way of thinking

His friends are actually very concerned and have voiced their worries many times to teachers, who have just waved it off

Because to them

He's a perfect student

There's no way he's that far gone

(he is)

The stone world is like a godsend to him

No laws means he doesn't have to worry about what he can and can't do

A master manipulator and still somehow manages to get the Ishigami village on his side

The only time he thanks Byakuya for being so sentimental

He does still want the world back to some state of normal though, and is trying to restore parts of it

When he and Xeno reunite, he jumps on the offer to merge their kingdoms together

Becomes his mentor's left hand (since Stanley is his right)

He narrows his eyes down at you, unamused by your invasion of his privacy.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" He asks.

You have no excuse, you'd just been curious about what he did in his lab all day that no one was allowed to see.

You bulldoze your way into his life

Literally

The first day he meets you, you're in his lab uninvited

And that little habit of yours continues

He can't decide if you're just as twisted as he was

Or just that stupid

Xeno encourages him to take you as a better apprentice, since you seem so curious

He tells Senku it might help with his "research" to have an extra pair of hands that isn't constantly questioning what he's up to

Either way, he can't seem to get rid of you, so he let's you float around him

It was better than you messing something up when he wasn't looking

At least if he was around, he could keep you from getting hurt

Not...that he cared

...

Okay, maybe he cared a little

Refuses to admit he falls in love with you as quickly as he does

But you listen to him, and you're patient with him, and sometimes you really are as crazy as him

Sometimes crazier

You're his version of Stanley

After your horror post I though what if during the sailing to america KoS met up Sirens that started to lure others into the sea but they fail in the end as Senku doesn't give even one millimeter interest to Sirens and barely manages to save his companions!

Oh but you see

Senku can be affected. He very nearly is.

They offer him answers. Not love, not sex, answers. They sing that they know the secrets of petrification, that they can tell him anything he wants to know. They sing that if he just took their hands, they'd show him all the secrets of the world.

But that's also what saves him. Because Senku does want those things, but he wants to discover them for himself. He doesn't want to take the easy way out, because then he wouldn't get to have fun, he wouldn't get to do the one thing he loves doing most.

That's what snaps him out of it, milliseconds before one of the creatures can convince him to fall into the water.

When he lays eyes on a Siren for the first time, he has no idea what he's even looking at. He'd never considered the idea that something like this could happen. But then again, Sirens and Mermaids have been in human mythology for thousands of years. They had to come from somewhere. And though he'd prefer if they were just drunken hallucinations from ancient sailors, there's nothing he can do about it now.

Because he's looking a scientific anomaly in the face, and she and her sisters want to eat him and his friends.

His mind races, digging through memory after memory, trying to remember all those stories, searching for the way to defeat them without killing them.

Senku ends up running down to where their radio is, and uses it to shout across the ship as loud as he can, hoping to drown out the sound of the incessant song in the air, and manages to startle Taiju out of his reverie. Senku tells him to plug his ears, and help him herd the rest of the crew into one of the lower parts of the ship that didn't have windows.

That's where he gets his hands on Ryusui, who he literally has to shake until his eyes snap back into focus with one of his trademark laughs. The captain of the Perseus tells Senku that Sirens are tricky. That, assuming the things outside were the same ones from ancient myth, getting out of this wasn't going to be easy. Just because he broke free of their spell once, didn't mean they couldn't entrap him in another.

These things worked outside the realm of science and fact, so the only way to defeat them was to play the game by their rules. So Senku clogs his ears with some spare wax, and leaves Ryusui and Taiju in charge of looking after the rest of the crew.

He heads up to the deck, only to find the world silent.

No more singing, no more pretty words and false promises. His eyes scan the horizon, searching for the wing-ed women who had been attempting to lure him and his friends into the depths.

"I know you're still here," He says. "No way you gave up that easily."

Something like a laugh, muffled by the wax, then a body drops in front of him, crouching on the railing of the ship.

It's easy to ignore her nakedness when she's covered in feathers.

"There you are." Senku can't stop the grin that spreads over his face. She was frighteningly beautiful, all sharp claws and birdlike eyes.

The Siren mimics his grin, showing off equally sharp teeth.

She leaps from the railing to stand at her full height. She was his size, maybe a handful of centimeters taller. Her hand lashes out, grabbing his face and tilting it to the side, eyes narrowing at the wax in his ears. Her claws dig into the softness of his cheeks, drawing blood.

"Cheat." She spats, shoving him away hard enough to make him stumble, and before he can fully steady himself, she's closing the small distance again, her wings folding neatly behind her.

"Let's play a game," Senku says quickly, backing up more. "Things like you like games, right?"

She pauses, tilting her head.

"What game?" She asks.

"A question game. Whoever can't answer the others question first loses."

"What happens to the one that loses?"

"Easy," He says. "The loser has to do what the winner asks."

She lets out a thoughtful hum, head tilting the other way not. She truly looked like some kind of humanoid bird.

"Fine. Your question." She says finally.

"What are you doing here?" Senku asks.

"We have always been here," She says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "My question. Where did you go?"

He blinks, then understands.

She and the rest of her sisters hadn't been affected by petrification because they weren't human. So as far as she knew, humans just suddenly disappeared for thousands of years.

"We turned to stone," He says. "How have you survived without humans? If I remember my stories, you usually eat us."

She rolls her eyes.

"Humans stopped being good food long before you 'turned to stone'." She says. "How did you come back?"

"Science," He says. When her eyes narrow, he continues. "The stone I was trapped in was eroded through contact with nitric acid, which came from the caves near where I was stuck." It was best to keep it simple for now.

"How do you convince humans to jump into the water?" He asks.

"By knowing what's in their hearts." She says with a shrug. Of course, it was something totally natural to her, just like breathing. She probably has no other way to explain it.

It was her turn now, but instead of shooting off another question quickly as she had been, she takes a moment to consider.

"What is your name?" She asks, finally.

"Senku," He says. "I'll ask the same question. What's your name?"

She gives it, but it's in a language he's never heard, spoken with an accent that makes him dizzy. He doesn't try to repeat it.

"Where are you going?" She asks.

"America, to get what we need to start saving more humans from their stone prisons." He catches the way her expression shifts, just slightly, at his words. She seems pleased.

Senku sucks in a breath, it was time to end the game, and he had the perfect question.

"Why did the Why-Man turn humanity to stone?"

"Cheat!" She snaps, baring her sharp teeth at the question he knew she couldn't really answer, despite what had been promised to him in the songs.

"The rule is that you have to answer until you can't anymore. I never said the questions had to be something you should already know," He grins at her.

Her eyes widen, her feathers puffing out and he knows he's pissed her off. She makes a noise, something similar to an angry trill.

Then, she laughs.

"You win." She says. "I do not know why your Why-Man took humans away."

"That means you have to do what I say now," He reminds her.

"Tell me, Se-en-kuu. What you want."

"To study you. I want you to stay with me and my Kingdom of Science, and let me learn everything about you."

Her eyebrows raise.

"Is that your true desire, Se-en-kuu?" She asks. "I know you want more."

"Sure, I want plenty of things. But this is what I'm asking you for," He says. She makes another trilling noise, this one less angry but still annoyed.

"Fine. I will stay with you and your people."

"No trying to eat anyone," He says. "I need every person in good health."

"That is more than you asked for."

"Wanna play again?"

She scoffs.

"No. You cheat. I will not harm your people."

"Good Siren."

"You are, as I have heard it said, treading on thin ice."

How would you imagine Xeno & Stanley deal with insomniac partner?

PS. Your writings are delightful to read ♡

You're so sweet <3

And speaking of mild insomnia, I, too, need a nap

Stanley and Xeno don't really fuck around when it comes to taking care of their partner and each other. If their partner struggles with sleep, they're gonna wanna know why before they do anything.

Regardless, once they've rooted out the cause, they're quick to act.

Xeno will make a list of things to do to soothe their mind and body into wanting to sleep. I'm talking warm baths, lavender oils, extraneous activity (aka, physical intimacy with one or both of them). He will look into different medications, if the problem is that severe, but he'd prefer that they not rely on such things since he knows they can be addictive.

Stanley hides the coffee and anything else with caffeine between 5pm and 4am (when he wakes up and needs it). If they are physically able and willing, he will make them go on runs with him. If not, he's a killer masseuse and will try to stretch and loosen their muscles instead.

There was a television in the bedroom at one time, but Xeno has it removed to limit their time looking at screens before bed, and Stanley buys a white noise machine, a fan, and blackout curtains.

Stanley also becomes pretty strict about enforcing a bedtime schedule for everyone, so that their partner doesn't feel left out or neglected. All three go to bed together, no exceptions.

The only way to get out of it is if one of them is gone for work related reasons, but the two left behind are expected to keep to it (even if the only two home are Xeno and Stanley)