Johnny Lawrence (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strikefirster) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2022-07-07 02:17 pm
strikefirster) wrote in deercountry2022-07-07 02:17 pm
Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone
Who: Johnny, Daniel, Ortus, Gideon Nav's Exquisite Corpse, Paul, Kaworu, Deku, Harrow, Maybe more?
What: Kidnapping, Forced Adoption, Getting these kids away from the Emperor
When: Shortly after boatgate
Where: The Bone House and Cobra Kai
Content Warnings: Probably references to Murder, Manipulation, Johnny Lawrence.
Prompts and Mingle will be in the comments.
What: Kidnapping, Forced Adoption, Getting these kids away from the Emperor
When: Shortly after boatgate
Where: The Bone House and Cobra Kai
Content Warnings: Probably references to Murder, Manipulation, Johnny Lawrence.
Prompts and Mingle will be in the comments.
no subject
I think I can wrap my head around it when you put it that way.
[ After all, it doesn't seem that strange after realising magic is just real in some worlds due to seeing this place. Midoriya's world sounds like.. like the world in superhero movies. The same as theirs, just with at least some people having superpowers.
That's manageable. ]
I'm from the U.S. like Johnny, but I've been to Japan before. It's such a beautiful place. [ He pauses a little. Usually he'd bring up mister Miyagi, but considering some of the other guy's explanation about these kids' situation involves the mention of a bad mentor, Daniel isn't so sure threading there won't hurt them. Better to avoid it. Let them think about something lighter. Something that doesn't have a huge chance of letting their thoughts spiral to darker or more hurtful places, especially with the way these kids somehow - strangely enough - even seem to avoid contact with each other a little while sitting back there. ] Especially Okinawa. Have you ever been there?
no subject
(The bright stain of red on Kaworu and Izuku's mouths, a vividness of color that only comes from summer sunshine, and their lips tasted like sugar and Izuku hummed when their teeth clicked together, Kaworu squirming between them impatiently. His tongue had ended up as red as theirs, the faint pink of peach conquered overwhelmingly.)
There's never a time when learning is wasted. Paul listens to them talk about a place they nearly have in common. He places Okinawa on an ancient map of Earth, which occupies all of a fraction of a second, but it's time not spent thinking of even more unreachable things so much closer.
It's a gentle topic to engage Midoriya with. Kind, an open, outstretched hand. Paul's averted focus slowly shifts, until he's not quite looking at Daniel out of the corner of his eye, guarded and watchful.]
no subject
"No, I've never been. Didn't get the chance." Now he may never. "I'm from Musutafu*, Shizuoka Prefecture. A few hours from Tokyo by shinkansen." Bullet train. He would have taught Paul these words along with some of the other places he'd been: Nagano, Kanagawa, Yokohama, Hosu*.
It is miraculous that he and Daniel come from a similar time. Midoriya felt the chances of being from the same geographical location were higher.
"Are you also from California like Lawrence-sensei? I know a Pro Hero who once worked there."
*ooc: a bunch of places in MHA are just adapted from Star Wars names lmao
no subject
[ Hey, he isn't going to expect kids from other countries to know about where everything is on the other side of the world.. It's not like he would have known where the city the kid is speaking of is if Midoriya hadn't specified the prefecture or the distance from Tokyo in the first place. ]
When I was a teenager, my mother's job got transferred to California, so that's when we move out there with the two of us. Been living there ever since, yeah.
[ Even as he's talking rather casually about all this stuff, he's definitely keeping an eye on everyone in the back. Considering the way Midoriya is looking, Daniel thinks it's for the better to just keep talking about this. At least it can give the kid a feeling like he's having a normal conversation, even if he's physically looking everything but normal right now.
And then there's Paul, who seems to be watching him and yet not watching him at the same time. Daniel is half-tempted to ask him where he's from, but considering his brief answer about the slushies, maybe it's better to give that kid some space. Daniel can always try talking to him later, if he would rather stick to himself instead of engage in this moment. ]
I met Johnny when I moved out there too, we were in the same school. [ And Johnny immediately started bullying him...
.. but he'll at least leave that out, because the last thing the kids need is him and Johnny starting to bicker in the front of the car. ]
Some stuff happened, and a few months later we were already fighting each other at the local karate tournament. That was such a long time ago though. I was you guys' age back then. [ Which is saying a lot about how long ago it is. Daniel may not look as old as he is, but he's definitely an old man. ]
no subject
He dips his chin, slightly embarrassed, but that pales in comparison to everything else he's feeling.
"The one who worked in America for a while. All Might, my teacher. One of my teachers," he adds.
It's like listening to All Might talk about his school days. (All Might is also definitely an old man.) Midoriya misses his warm presence. He's sure he would have some kind words or wisdom to impart, though sometimes All Might flounders himself. Tears stand in his eyes. He can't think too hard about the people he's missing. There is one who is just on the other side of the city, one who refused to leave that house with the skeletons.
"We had a tournament in Trench not too long ago. It was fun..."
His voice trails off. It was fun. Kaworu watched in the audience. Paul was his first match. Midoriya kissed him afterwards, running on the heady post-match high, time flying away from them... Too many of his happy memories are now tinged, and it's too much right now to begin sponging away the stains. Midoriya curls up with a creak of his bracers where he's sitting, finally burying silent sobs into his arms over his knees.
"Sorry..."
no subject
Paul's self-control is nearly perfect. He doesn't blurt things in a rush, with his face crumpled by thwarted concern and eyes heavy with an emotion he will no longer even allow himself to define as he looks at Midoriya trying to hide his tears. His hand doesn't rise in a reaching out cut short, or curl back on itself as he withdraws.
So someone else must have done all of those things, and it is this person who continues, gaze flitting to Danny with brittle fierceness: "He's a great fighter. He never gave up, not once. Never faltered or flinched."
He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know why he's doing it, or who he's defending Midoriya from, or what good can possibly come of it, but it's somehow vitally important that Daniel be told that Midoriya is not so easily defeated. That this sorry, sad state of Midoriya isn't who he is; that he's brave and skilled and relentless.
(That nothing that happened was because he didn't fight hard enough.)
no subject
He pulls himself out of those thoughts, forcing himself to focus on the teens that are there here and now. Even though he can't physically reach over towards them with how he's trying to carefully drive this car through streets that were never meant for it, the least he can do is reach out emotionally. To show that someone cares.
"I believe it," he says, a gentle edge to his tone. There's a faint smile on his face as he looks into the mirror, crossing gazes with Paul, but it's not quite as much exuberant as it seems to be understanding.
At least he does sound like he believes it. Daniel would never see tears as a sign of weakness, after all. Sure, it hurts to hear Midoriya cry, but on the other hand, it's better for him to actually let these feelings out right now than to crop them all up. And seeing Paul stick up for him.. it's sweet. A sign of a good quality.
"I guess I'm dealing with some pretty impressive people here. But I guess that makes sense, if Johnny picked you guys up."
Will Daniel trash Johnny into eternity and back? Of course. It's what the two of them do, as eternal rivals.
But he's never say a bad word about kids that just happen to be Johnny's students. There's no such thing as a bad student, those words always echo through his head, and for all of the blonde's faults, it does seem like he always tries to pick up kids who could use the help. Who can bloom into beautiful full potential.
"But if I can say one thing.. It's that you don't have to apologize for crying. No one here should have to feel ashamed for feeling bad." Under such overwhelming circumstances? Please, Daniel is pretty sure not a single person could keep their head cool under those. "You can let it out, I won't judge."
oh no i think he's done... rip broccoli boy...
It's Midoriya's kindness that gives him strength, not weakness, but it hurts so much.
He still feels terrible for being a bother when he originally came along to help. Instead, he failed to get Kaworu to leave with him, and now he's crying in the back of this man's truck. With Paul so close, Midoriya's body expects to be enveloped in the arms of someone who loves him. (And Paul still loves him, or he would not have spoken these things at all.)
Inertia wins out. He doesn't want to get into it with Paul here in front of poor Daniel, because he doesn't know if he will hurt Paul with words or--what he wants more--weep in a clutching embrace unable to let go. He wraps his arms more securely around his buried head as if that will make up for the absent hug his body craves. He has told Paul this very thing, that it's okay to cry. Midoriya tends not to hold things in. If he does, something is terribly wrong, and there are too many things wrong already today.
He does as Daniel suggests and lets it out.
no subject
Midoriya told Paul that once. Hearing a version of it echoed back by this stranger he’s heard so much about, but knows so little of, who looks at him with gentle understanding (because he doesn’t know what Paul has done, that he’s the architect of Izuku’s misery) before he devotes his attention to the wounded hero – it’s almost too much. The feelings he’s been holding down by the throat buck under his grip, and hot citric salt opens on his tongue.
He watches Midoriya bury himself in his folded arms, weeping in a loneliness that is untouched by being around so many people, and he remembers the closed swelter of a tent at the end of the world.
Paul doesn’t say anything as he slides down the truck bed, letting the rattling of the vehicle conceal most of the sound of his movement. Midoriya had been the only one who knew he held back to protect them. Everything Paul had done, and he had told him to go before anyone tried to kill him. He hadn’t listened. He could walk away only so far before he turned back.
He's the last person who should be doing this. There is no one else. He has always been so much like his mother.
He touches Izuku’s shoulder with a delicate lightness, breath stilled in his lungs.
no subject
So Daniel, of course, goes silent. This isn't a moment to ruin with talking. There's probably not much he can do anyway, being a stranger to them and being busy driving the car.
He'll leave these two to hopefully find some comfort in each other, gaze lingering only a moment before he instead focuses on the road ahead.
no subject
"Kaworu-kun!" he gasps as he jerks up, turning, possessed by a fleeting urge to leap out of the truck to go back for him. He does not. There is someone in his way, close, blocking his vision. He arrests himself and crumples like a useless doll, his body understanding the futility of going back before his mind does. His face and shoulder thump gently against him.
Once, he was caught in the pouring rain as he collapsed and passed out. Today, he is still awake. Sobs convulse through him with double their strength.
no subject
There was an instant where Paul thought he had burned him. It takes so much not to now, extinguishing flickers that spark into his fingertips on the cresting wave of fear. His hands are hot and dry as one curves around Midoriya's upper arm, another coming up to cradle the back of his head. He turns his face against messy green hair tucked against the crook of his neck where he settles him, and he lets himself feel the tears Midoriya weeps for both of them.
For all three of them.
There is nothing Paul can say, so he still says nothing. He rocks Midoriya softly back and forth as he sobs, counterbalancing the jarring of the truck bed, and if a trace of saltwater disappears into the verdant forest he hides his face in, who is there to know?