#starlightsigner

[jugumpuppet]

@starlightsigner // Goodness, I hope so since ACT1 was done in about a week and ACT2 was done over 5 months.

[squidpro-quo]

AN: This is for @starlightsigner for the @dcmksecretsanta! I’m sorry for the tardiness, it’s a bnha au ft. angst

He’s seven minutes late. Hakuba tapped the edge of his phone against his knee in agitation, trying to stave off the inevitable impatience before a heist that he could tell was already starting to overtake him. Of all the things that he didn’t agree on with Kaito, like the villainy and the ‘thieving gig’ as Kaito called it, he’d always known he could count down the seconds to his rival’s dramatic entrances because he at least understood that punctuality was important. That Kaito always valued it for showmanship was another thing. 

He’d watched a group of kids play marbles for the first five, but by now they had departed and the park was beginning to darken as the bandstand remained empty aside from him and a woman twirling a battered rose between her fingers as she gazed out at the snowy trees. Its color was distinctive, a bright yellow like the one he’d gotten upon his graduation from UA almost a decade ago. The General Studies program hadn’t been as flashy as the Hero course’s, but he never forgot the elation that had overtaken him nonetheless. Neither could he forget what followed: being hired at the agency, finding he was more suited to the police side of matters than a straight-up hero spurred not just by the nature of his quirk but Kaito’s rise to infamy as the flashiest phantom in existence. 

“You don’t have to follow in his footsteps this much!” he could remember saying, once he’d cornered Kaito into the revelation that he really was the Moonlit Phantom, reborn as the reporters said after ten years of absence. 

“I can’t not. And besides, you’ll be there watching my every move, won’t you?” The trademark grin had been almost too much to bear, the way it crinkled into the corners of Kaito’s eyes but stayed out of his pupils. But Hakuba had done just that. 

Dogging his footsteps, outlined in the moon’s silver light, and ensuring that he had a counterweight even if he was pushing back instead of pulling forward as he wished he could do. It had become a routine, meeting up to see what they could each probe out of the other and between their questions were the answers they sometimes sought. If Hakuba had some leads he’d unburied from his agency’s files, he would never tell a soul besides Kaito; and if Kaito had a warning of what passed in the villainous channels, then Hakuba would happen to hear it. 

The woman left, the sharp clip of her shoes breaking him from his thoughts enough for him to notice the rose falling from her fingers. Reaching down to pick it up, he called after her. 

“You dropped this, ma’am.” 

She turned in surprise, looking down at the rose with no intent to take it back, her hands rubbing at her wrists instead of reaching out. 

“Oh, it’s not mine. I found it here, there on the railing.” Pointing behind him, she continued. “It’s yours, if you want it.”

Without any further questions from him, she turned away with a slight frown on her face upon seeing his expression, but he was already preoccupied by his realization. He considered the rose in his hand in a new light, inspecting the broken stem dangling underneath the crushed petals still clinging on like the last remnants of sunlight in a day. 

Kaito dealt in roses, passing them out when he was wearing someone else’s eyes or his own smile with not much distinction between what form he took. But why would he leave one now? Was it merely a token of affection? Nothing was ever that simple with Kaito and certainly not in their line of business. 

The bright yellow wasn’t a mistake; it was a message.

Pulling out his pocket watch, Hakuba rewound the minute hand by a quarter of an hour, then a half, focusing on how far back he could afford to go without losing too much of his headway. He had one shot at seeing the truth, he could only hope it would be within his limits. 

Resting his thumb against the pocketwatch’s knob took all the focus he had in him at the moment, not wasting a second longer in activating his quirk. Time flooded back around him, washing over the landscape like a tidal wave in reverse and flowing around him as he stood a solid rock in the face of the stream. 

Silhouettes filed past him, mothers pushing strollers passing down the paths like ghosts despite him remembering their faces from when he’d entered the park as they were leaving. The eerie jumble of sounds in reverse always provided an unsettling backdrop to his search and the creeping feeling along his back only heightened his urgency. 

Finally, a flurry of movement around and through him before his view cleared and Kaito stood with his back to him, watching the paths leading to the bandstand: waiting for Hakuba. He looked different, hair now a shock of bright white instead of his usual black, and he was taller than Hakuba remembered but when he turned around to lean against the bandstand’s railing, the same grin, wide and not a little bit wild, shone back that had always preceded a trick of some sort. 

As he watched, the floor of the bandstand rippled and roiled upwards until the form of a man appeared made entirely of beaten concrete with eyes of brick. Kaito kept his smile nailed into place, though Hakuba saw his eyes flicker towards the path leading out of that section of the park that he himself had walked down not twenty minutes after. Hakuba waded through time to stand closer, almost overlapping with Kaito as he inspected the newcomer’s face and the way Kaito’s knuckles tightened on the painted wood underneath his hands. 

“Out in the open today, Phantom? Not a wise choice.” 

Hakuba finally put a name to them after the form spoke, the villain Compacter, even as Kaito merely shook his head at his taunts. 

“I have never claimed to be wise,” he said, spreading his hands before him as if to show they were empty and patting the newly formed statue on the shoulder, “But what does it matter if I can be seen when you are just as visible as I am?” 

“You with your stolen faces, and me with my…” The statue gestured to itself idly. “Forms. You can’t hide when the walls have ears.”

Hakuba frowned as he watched Kaito slip past the statue, his form shrinking and morphing until he was a bucktoothed, freckled kid of about ten years old bowing as he held up a large marble between his fingers. 

“I’d say, next time, don’t follow me on my errands.”

“The boss’ll hear about this. You won’t be able to hide from us when we strip you clean of every bauble you have. Who’ll you turn into then? A Phantom with no face left.” 

The Compactor stooped to grab his arm in a tight grip with hands that completely encircled his small wrists. Against the rough concrete grating over his skin, Kaito’s face stayed as still as if he were the statue instead, though as Hakuba leaned in close, he could see the tremor at the corner of his mouth. 

“You can’t chain me down if you wish to have me do what work you want from me,” Kaito finally said. 

“But I can certainly keep you on a tighter leash. This’ll be the last few minutes you have alone. Enjoy it before you return to your haunt, Phantom.” 

The statue dissolved back into the floor of the bandstand, leaving Kaito with a ring of bruises around his wrists and a small crack appeared in his mask. Hakuba took out his watch, the pain in Kaito’s eyes piercing him too much for him to endure it for longer, but before he could fast-forward, Kaito changed again. 

His hair grew long, flowing and blonde down to his shoulders, with one step, the next gave him a dress down to his knees; the spitting image of she who’d given him the yellow rose. 

Hakuba slammed down the button on his watch, speeding ahead in time: seeing his arrival at the bandstand, the waiting, the woman’s departure and his leap into the past. He tried to pause then, to return to where he’d left, desperate to stop even though he knew the price for his traveling. He kept going, watching the sun sink in the distance and the shadows grow long with the extra half-hour he had spent watching the past. When he stepped out of the stream, fingers pressing into the watch’s sharp lid, only the yellow rose greeted him. 

And he remembered the promise he’d made back then, the first time Kaito had given it to him. 

“You can’t escape me, not in the past or in the future.” And he’d meant it. It was time, time to find Kaito and pull him out before he fell too far.

[sagurus]

For the au, who does Saguru get along best with (if any) and worst with in the org?

oh, well,

Early on - like elementary/middle school age, he and Shiho got pretty close because they did a good chunk of their schooling together. They drifted apart after for a number of reasons, but Shiho has a very special place in Saguru’s heart - think like an older sister. He never really got to know Akemi, but he was pretty stressed out when she was killed + doubly so when Shiho ‘died’.

I feel like there’s some people near him in rank who he works with on occasion who he gets along with Just Fine. He wouldn’t call them his friends, but still. Of existing characters, I think he interacts well enough with Kir. Might also suspect her of being a double-agent, but he’s not about to expose her unless his hand is forced to do so.

Meanwhile, Vermouth and Gin scare the hell out of him. He has a very special hatred in his heart for Gin, specifically. That said, he plays nicely with them and is especially focused on staying in Gin’s good graces (this is an interesting balancing act, as Gin certainly can’t stand a kiss-ass, so he can’t seem too obvious). Vermouth is a little less predictable, so he hopes to be in her good graces but he can’t play along with her quite as easily.

People who he more clearly clashes with are I think Chianti and Korn, and others like them. Older members who he’s nearly the same rank as. He has the benefit of being brought in young, but there are probably plenty who look at this teenager and think he’s got more rank than he deserves, even with all the skill he shows.

[mezzato]

Saw that today was a happy day, hope it’s a great one!

Thank you so much ^^ !!!

[5160763]

I absolutely love your fics, especially what we don't tell, I cant wait to see what you make next!

Thank you so much for your kind message. I don’t really know how my works are being received, especially since I don’t write in complete stories most of the time, so it really means a lot to me to hear that you love them. I will try my best… right now I’m still working on finishing a KaiShin fic that’s just mostly cute sap and dating. As follows:

“No need to be shy,” hums Shinichi, and does exactly that, skating the both of them far away from the railing. “I haven’t skated in a while, either. If we go down, we both go down.”

“This is stupid,” mutters Kuroba after the first circuit. “I don’t know why I suggested ice skating. I mean, I know why, I just cannot comprehend why I would say it.”

“Why?”

Pushing ahead with even steps, Shinichi tugs Kuroba safely out of the way of yet another flailing skater.

“Because I was nervous. And I was thinking, don’t mess it up, don’t mess it up, don’t say ice skating, and then I said ice skating and you said yes.”

“Then you can pick something that you actually like to do the next time. Want to try for a spin?” Shinichi leans to the side to check their surroundings, Kuroba’s fingers tightening on his arms so much he is cutting off the blood flow to his hands. “Oi… “

“I don’t want to - “ Kuroba shrieks as Shinichi uses his weight to swing him sideways, freezing up into his position which is just as well, because he needs his knees bent for the balance.

The iconic skating rink is back. Thank you for your message!

[maid-of-snow]

∞

ORANGE CARAMEL - Catallena

까칠까칠 하지만 한 번만보고파 알고파 함께 춤 추고파

She’s temperamental but I want to see herI want to know her, I want to dance with her

[fandomanon]

starlightsigner replied to your post: 40 for the oc thing

i cant help but feel like this comes from some real life experience

shhh you can’t prove that

[fandomanon]

40 for the oc thing

40:What is the most ridiculous thing your OC has done?

they get lost really easily and they keep forgetting that they have like, no sense of direction

they never learned and so they once got lost and rather than a fifteen minute walk home it took them nearly two hours

they also forgot that their phone has navigation which couldve helped them but nope