#+ he misjudged how fast he should go in that sprint he did. so he must have been thinking about how he failed to be average at sprinting

[lavender-acee]

In the sports day episode, Saiki was having issues with controlling his powers because his antenna was taken out. In episodes after this it causes issues too, but that is the only time that the issues consisted after the antenna was put back in.

In this episode he mentions needing to ‘eliminate’ Nendo because he’s too much of a risk, and then in the next scene explains to the audience about how his powers are too strong and he doesn’t know what he’d do without the limiter.

Anyways, putting two and two together with what he was thinking about with Nendo and the limiter, and the fact that he doesn’t have these issues again in future episodes where his limiter was removed and put back, I think it’s safe to say he was just straight up having a panic attack in the sports day episode

[jaehyunfirstlove]

Highway to Heaven - Ch. 6

Your best friend Johnny wants to go on a road trip. The only catch? He wants to bring his roommate, Jeong Jaehyun, someone you just couldn’t stand.

Genre: e2l, fluff, angst, (eventual) smut

Warnings: Just some swearing

Taglist: @jaehyunnie77 @sehunniepot​ @jaejoongiewifey-blog @glxwingstar​ @sleep-is-all-i-seek​ (send me a message if you want to be tagged)

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5

A/N: No smut in this chapter, sorry :)

You woke to someone whistling, and looking over you saw Johnny packing his suitcase. When he saw movement from you he sighed dramatically.

“Well look who’s finally awake!” he said sarcastically, “come on and pack up, Y/N, time to head home.”

You sat up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, feeling amazingly well-rested. You were in the middle of piecing together what happened the night before when Jaehyun emerged from the bathroom. He saw that you were awake, but then averted his eyes.

“I’ll go pack up the car,” he said quickly, grabbing Johnny’s suitcase right out of his hands, picking up his own on the way by, and sprinting out the door. Johnny looked at his retreating figure quizzically.

“What’s up with him?” he wondered, and then it hit you. The hazy events of the night before started to come back to you, but in flashes, like an erotic movie on fast forward. You felt the blush creep up your neck and onto your face, mortification the weakest description for what you were feeling at that moment.

“Oh my god,” you whispered under your breath. What the fuck is wrong with you, you reprimanded yourself. You covered your face with both your hands, wondering if you could spend the rest of the trip like that and not have anyone question it.

“Let’s go, Y/N,” Johnny called, walking out the door. You got out of bed and quickly packed up, taking a deep breath before you opened the door to face your fate. Your heart was pounding when you got to the car, and it absolutely sank when Johnny called out to you. “Hey if you don’t mind I’m taking the backseat, I didn’t sleep well in that bed last night so I wanna take a nap.”

You looked at Jaehyun, who was sitting in the driver’s seat staring straight ahead. He didn’t turn to you when you got into the car, just put it in drive and maneuvered out of the parking lot.

---

There was a heavy silence for the first part of the drive, just the sound of Johnny softly snoring in the backseat. You couldn’t stand it anymore so you finally spoke up.

“Is it okay if I play some music?” you asked. Jaehyun nodded, his eyes never leaving the road in front of him. He also kept a death grip on the steering wheel, not his usual one hand on the wheel, one hand on the console between you. You could see his knuckles turning white. You had to address this before he combusted.

“Listen Jaehyun, about last night…” you couldn’t look at him as you spoke, but he didn’t respond, so you looked up at him cautiously. He looked like he was in pain. “I’m really, really sorry for making you do… that.”

“You didn’t make me,” he responded quietly, “I agreed to it.”

“Yeah, well, it was wrong of me to put you in that position. I’m sorry.”

He visibly relaxed, his shoulders finally slumping and his hands slackening a little on the steering wheel. “It’s okay, I didn’t mind. It felt nice to make you feel good like that.” He hazarded a careful smile as he finally looked over at you.

Again you didn’t know how to feel, should you be insulted that he enjoyed it, or should you be flattered that he wanted to make you feel good? It was all so maddening to you. His entire existence affected you in a way you’d never been affected by anyone or anything before in your life. Just his presence mere inches from you had an exhilarating effect that you couldn’t escape, no matter how hard you tried.

“Yeah, well, thanks then, I guess.” You really didn’t know what to say at that point.

“You’re welcome,” he said sincerely.

“Let’s forget about it then, okay? We can pretend it never happened, and I promise I won’t ask you to do anything like that ever again.” You looked at him expectantly.

His face fell slightly, his smile faltering, but he quickly regained his composure and nodded. “For sure, not a problem.”

Wanting to change the subject and also to fill the silence you picked up your phone. “Hey, what’s your instagram?”

He looked over at you in surprise, before he turned back to the road and smiled. “It’s just my name, I’m boring like that.”

You opened instagram on your phone and quickly found him, pressing the follow button. You scrolled through his page, filled with pictures of the night sky, and not much else.

“Wow, you really are boring,” you teased, but as you scrolled you came across a picture of him. He was sitting at a table, probably in a restaurant, the person taking the picture sitting directly across from him. He had his hands clasped in front of him, staring at the picture taker with a soft expression. “Hm, this is a nice picture of you.”

He looked over to see which one you meant, and just nodded. “My ex took that picture.”

“Which one?” you scoffed, and you instantly regretted your words when you saw how his face fell.

“Sorry,” you said in a meek voice.

“No, it’s okay, I deserved that.” He sighed. You should have left it, it really wasn’t your business, but you were dying to know.

“What’s the story anyway? With all those girls that you date. Are you really a ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ type of guy?” You tried to keep your tone light, knowing the subject itself was anything but light. He was quiet for a long time and you thought he might be mad at you for asking. “Forget it, sorry I asked.”

He blew out a breath, and you really thought he was going to lay into you, but instead he poured out his heart.

“It’s, um, it’s a problem, for sure,” he began, and you involuntarily leaned closer as if he was going to tell you the secrets of the universe, “I thought I could find, you know, ‘the one’ as they call it, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. Not that I thought it would be easy, but I figured she was out there, you know? But with each person I dated, I just wasn’t feeling it.”

“Were you being too picky maybe?” you offered.

He nodded thoughtfully, “I mean, yeah? I thought maybe I should give it a chance sometimes, but why prolong something that you know isn’t going anywhere? I usually knew by the end of the first date.”

“So wait, all of these women were just first dates?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“So…. you weren’t, you know,” at this point you made a hole with one hand and the motion of your finger going through it with the other. If Johnny were awake he would have smacked you upside the head for being so juvenile.

Jaehyun just shook his head. “No, I didn’t have sex with them.”

You were floored. All this time you thought he was a sex machine, thinking he was bringing these women home to bed them and that’s why you and Johnny couldn’t hang out at their place.

“So when you were bringing them back to your apartment and Johnny and I were banned from hanging around, you weren’t banging them?” you had to ask.

He laughed. “No, I was cooking for them. It’s my thing.” He shrugged.

You didn’t know what to say. You’d had the wrong idea about him all this time, just like Johnny had said. You could hear Johnny’s voice in your head: you have the wrong idea about him, Y/N. Your mouth dropped open in shock. You could already hear Johnny gloating: told you so, told you so!

“It’s so lame, I know,” he chuckled humorlessly, “the last one really threw me though.”

“Why?” you asked, sincerely curious, “Did you have feelings for her?”

“No, it was the same story, but this time I decided to give it a chance. It got to the point where she really fell for me, but I couldn’t reciprocate her feelings and I felt terrible. I had to break it off, and she was furious. She blamed me for leading her on, told me I was a ‘lost boy who would never find love’ and threw me out of her house. I was at my lowest point and Johnny felt bad for me, so he suggested I go on this trip with you guys. So that’s why I’m here.”

You instantly felt like a sack of shit. Not only did you misjudge him so badly, you treated him like crap when all he needed was a fun time with friends.

“Oh fuck, I’m so lame,” you cursed yourself, “I’m so sorry.”

He smiled weakly. “Johnny told me what you thought of me, he said I should explain myself to you but I figured people believe actions over words, right? So I thought I could charm you but that backfired magnificently.”

You could only laugh. The two of you were like two dumb peas in a pod. “We’re both lame,” you lamented dramatically, at which point he threw his head back and laughed, a sound so beautiful to your ears you wanted to bottle it and keep it forever. Not to mention that when he laughed like that, the dimples in his cheeks got impossibly deep and his nose scrunched ever so cutely. You knew you were in deep trouble now.

“What’s so damn funny?” Johnny had woken up and clearly was not happy about it.

“Sorry,” Jaehyun looked in the rearview mirror to address Johnny, “Y/N was being funny.” He looked over at you and winked, you stuck your tongue out at him playfully. Johnny watched the two of you, the corners of his mouth turned up in amusement.

“Wait, does that mean the two of you are-” here he slapped his hand over his mouth in shock, “friends now?”

“Shut up,” you shot back, “I know this was all part of your plan. Go ahead and gloat, I’ll just ignore you.” You put in your airpods and pretended that you were listening to music.

“Finally!” Johnny yelled, clapping Jaehyun on the shoulders, “Told you she wasn’t a stuck-up, judgmental, annoying little brat!”

“Hey!” you turned around and punched him hard in the shoulder, “I heard that!”

---

For the rest of the drive Johnny alternated between expressing his relief at the two of you finally getting along, and teasing you about Jaehyun’s charms.

“You know that Jaehyun can cook, right? That means he’s good with his hands.” Johnny stated, smirking at the innuendo. If he only knew, you thought. You looked over at Jaehyun and his ears had turned red.

“I’m sure he is.” You couldn’t help yourself. Jaehyun shot you a panicked look, before he laughed nervously. “Maybe I can come over one day and you can cook for all of us.” You looked over to see his reaction. 

He smiled widely and nodded. “I’d love that.”

“Look at this! We’re all one big, happy family!” Johnny put his arms around both you and Jaehyun’s shoulders. You looked at your best friend and smiled. He was genuinely happy. You could only imagine how upsetting it was for him to have two people in his life who were very important to him, not be able to get along. You felt bad for putting him through that just because you were stubborn, and just as you were about to open your mouth to apologize he dropped a bomb. 

“And since we’re all so close now, we can all share the one king size bed in the motel tonight since it was the last room I was able to get.” He winked and shot finger hearts at you, and you wondered if there were any good places nearby to dispose of a body.

---

He was true to his word that night, climbing into the bed on one side and motioning for you and Jaehyun to get in with him.

“Come on in, I don’t bite. But I can if you want me to.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Jaehyun played along, giggling and covering his mouth demurely with his hand. You rolled your eyes. They really did belong together.

“You get in the middle then,” you addressed Jaehyun, “so you two lovebirds can be together.” Jaehyun laughed and got into the bed, and you followed, turning off the lights. With the lights on the mood could be playful and fun, but as soon as it was dark the seriousness of the situation hit you. You were so keenly aware of Jaehyun’s body beside you. You could hear him breathing, could see his chest rise and fall in the dim light. You could smell the faint musky scent of his cologne. There was no way you could fall asleep.

Jaehyun seemed to be having the same problem. Because of the lack of space, he wasn’t able to bring in an extra pillow to hug to help him fall asleep. He tossed and turned, sometimes kneeing or elbowing Johnny in the process, but Johnny slept like the dead and would only grunt and then turn over. This wouldn’t do.

“Do you need to hug something?” you whispered.

“It’s okay, there’s no space. I’ll manage.” He reassured you. But he sighed, and so you mustered up your courage.

“You can hug me, if you want,” you offered, “Just hug.” You felt like you should specify. He was quiet for a while so you thought he’d fallen asleep, but then you felt him turn towards you, his arm snaking around your waist.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” he whispered in your ear, and you involuntarily shuddered at his proximity. He felt good. His arm around you felt good. His body firm against your back felt good.

“Yeah,” you answered him, closing your eyes and finally giving in to the feelings you had been trying to hold back. “I’m really sure.”

[st-kitten]

AU for Sid: Where Daryl and Persia fight like hell against the walkers and just lose it at the end - but with fluff

Set in another supply run gone wrong

Warnings: bloodshed, walkers (like, lots of them), swearing, near death experiences, anger, fire, some angst maybe?

word count: 2768

‘I fucking told you...’ 

‘... to take...’

‘... the goddamn bridge!’ yelled Persia, slashing through thick branches that blocked the way toward an undiscovered destination.

‘I ain’t got no dream that we’ll be ambushed by them walkers,’ grunted Daryl as he paced behind her, his crossbow hovering above her shoulders to welcome any unsolicited company. 

‘I told you, didn’t I? I knew the area well and we should’ve taken the bridge. Sure, we’d have to kill some sons of bitches, but we’d have been on the way back to the prison by now. There’s no way we’re gonna be doing that here. In the middle... Of goddamn fucking nowhere!’ she cussed and tore through a few more branches until they emerged into a large field.

Sunlight hit their eyes, which were still unacquainted with light as they’d been trudging through the dark, gloomy woods for the past hour or two. They found themselves standing in front of a large cannery behind which lay an array of warehouses. 

‘Where the fuck did we come, Daryl?’ 

‘I didn’t bring us ‘ere. Best we rest and find what we can.’

The two made their way toward the cannery, assuming there’d be some leftover resources that they could bring with them. 

‘Don’ look like anybody’s been ‘ere,’ said Daryl, his eyes scanning for tracks on the ground. 

‘I won’t bet on it. There. Broken wall.’ Persia pointed at a split wall that led inside the cannery, the shutters of which were bolted tight. They slipped through the crack and stepped inside, the smell of stale food hitting them senseless. Daryl immediately pulled out the red piece of cloth he’d tie around his pants and covered his nose. Persia covered hers with her hand, pressing hard on her nose. They walked around the room, looking for anything they could use. At the back of the room, they entered the storage room and found empty cans and a dozen, useless label makers. Their time on the road had made them vigilant, so, they tied a bunch of cans to a string and wound it at a distant perimeter on sticks and wooden planks. It was their version of a security alarm should a walker stumble across, quite literally. 

Daryl insisted they look around the warehouses too. Persia didn’t disagree as she desperately wanted to get out of the smelly cannery. They trod through the back and scouted the area around the warehouses. Some of them were broken and shattered with splinters and mud as remains, while some of them were less tattered. They were easy to break into. Stacks of hay, shovels, hoes, and sickles lay around. Without a moment of hesitation, Daryl and Persia stocked themselves with shovels and sickles. Daryl tossed his crossbow down and collapsed on a haystack, resting his back and closing his eyes for a minute, his rapid breathing steadying gradually with each passing second. Persia didn’t complain. She knew how much he worked and fought for the group. If anyone deserved a moment’s rest, it was he. Though he’d misjudged their way back home, Persia knew he didn’t mean to. They would make it back safely, she thought.

She found a handful of pecans in one of the overalls hung on the hooks. Filling her pocket with some, she walked toward Daryl, whom she noticed was almost asleep, and stuffed some into the red cloth he had placed on his stomach, which rose steadily with his breath. She leant against the entrance of the warehouse, looking outside. Judging by the sun’s position, she figured it was past three o’clock in the afternoon. Sundown was a few hours away, which meant that they had to make it back to familiar roads before dark. She sighed and rested her head on the wooden frame, loosening her body, trying to relax her tensed muscles. Carrying machetes, swords, and heaps of bags with supplies nearly everyday, that too on an unsatisfied stomach, came at a heavy cost. 

Daryl wasn’t asleep. Instead he watched her past the forearm that lay on his forehead. He hated to admit it, but had he listened to her, they’d be home by now. Before they met her, the group trusted and relied intensely on Daryl’s tracking skills. But, this was a miss. It was his mistake that they’d gotten off-track. He felt ashamed and guilty to have put her on a dangerous path. He’d always be right, but that didn’t mean that she was wrong. But, he knew it too late. 

He watched her face illuminated by sunlight. He watched how her eyes crinkled and her cheeks turned red. There were mud stains on her neck and jaw. There were twigs in the bun she’d tied up, which was now loosened and was hanging low just above her nape. He watched her breathe fast, her chest smeared with dried bloodstains and sweat. The flannel shirt she wore on top of the t-shirt inside was torn and reddened. Daryl never paid heed to what beauty could look like, but in the savage world that he’d survived, the scars that a person bore, the wounds they left open, and the pain they carried on their sleeve rendered a person beautiful. To him, at least. Seeing her made one thing clear to him. That there was glory in gore. 

The sudden jingle of cans alarmed them and instantly, they got up, Daryl’s crossbow latched onto his shoulder ready to aim and Persia’s machetes gripped tight in her hands, ready to tear apart yet another intruder. They met with each other and slowly advanced out of the warehouse. They immediately saw the disoriented walker grasping for support as he’d fallen down. It wriggled like a worm, screeching and groaning at the sight of Daryl coming toward him with a single arrow. He plunged it into its head, blood spluttering out, killing it. 

‘Ya see any more of ‘em out there?’ he asked, looking out for other walkers that might have followed that one. 

‘Can’t spot any. We should leave, Daryl,’ she said, a slight change in her tone alerting him. She sounded bothered. Scared. She rarely got riled up at the sight of nothing. She only got scared if she was at the brink of death or if a loved one was. Daryl could sense that something was bothering her. But, before he had the chance to find out, several groans echoed from the distant woods. Daryl stepped closer to Persia, who gulped and steadied herself. 

‘What do we do? We need to go back into the woods to find our way back home,’ she said. 

‘We see how many come. A dozen, we can take ‘em out. More, we can keep distance and kill ‘em one by one,’ Daryl answered.

‘And if they’re more than that?’ 

Daryl stayed silent for a moment, recognising what had been chewing her mind all this long. 

‘We do what we can.’

This was the reality for them. This was how it always was. Right from the start. There was a shift in the atmosphere. As Daryl and Persia moved back toward the warehouses, more walkers emerged from the woods. Their constant groaning invited more and soon, there were about a hundred walkers lurching their way. It was a horrifying sight. They didn’t have much ammunition left and whatever they had, they had to make sure that they could use it for their journey past the herd of walkers. 

‘Shit.’

‘No time for that. We gotta get to a vantage point. We gotta get higher,’ said Daryl and Persia nodded. Using the time that the walkers took to reach them, the two scanned around for any medium of height. Stilts, ladders, barrels that they could climb on. Anything. 

‘There! They’ve got a water storage tank!’ muttered Persia, showing Daryl the tall structure that stood nearly fifty feet away from them. They didn’t think twice before they started running toward it. Some of the walkers had almost reached them, their staggering footsteps getting louder and louder every minute. Daryl shot a few arrows to get rid of those who got too close. Persia on the other hand, pulled down a few wooden planks and threw them at the walkers who were too dead to dodge them and fell upon each other, giving them both, space and time to make it up to the tank. A couple of walkers dragged themselves toward them from the front and Persia ripped their heads apart. Few more had caught up to them and there wasn’t a minute to think. She slashed through them, her arms simply flailing in all directions. 

‘Come on,’ grunted Daryl as he grabbed the metal stilt that the tank stood upon. 

‘No, they’ll catch us. Go!’ she protested.

‘No way.’

‘Daryl! You can...’ she cut open a walker in half. ‘You can shoot them from up there, go!’ 

He hated it. He hated the fact that she was right. But, he hated the fact that she would have to fight them closely while he made his way up to a safe height. Keeping his eyes trained on her, he climbed up the stilts, occasionally mounting himself up to the bars and shooting some walkers that Persia missed to kill. He somehow made his way up to a square that he could stand properly upon. He didn’t pause even to regain his breath before shooting the arrows. He watched her tear apart the walkers one by one without stopping and he knew. He knew that there was going to be a moment where she’d halt for a while and something would happen. For the first time in his life, he thought that she wouldn’t make it. 

But, she kept on going, walker after walkers, head after head, flesh after flesh. She slashed through them, yelling and cussing and grunting as it took all of her strength to not stop. She pushed some walkers away with her bare hands, creating a small distance between them. But, there were some walkers who had cornered her from behind and there was no way she could resort to climbing up the tank. 

‘I’ll come down,’ Daryl shouted.

‘No! Don’t you dare, Daryl Dixon. I’ll kill you if you step down,’ she shouted back. Within seconds, she sprinted out to her right, between two warehouses, the walkers following her hungrily. She circled back to the warehouse and scurried inside one of them, throwing some wooden planks on her way in to buy herself some time. Once she was in, Daryl lost sight of her and it felt like his world had shattered. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t shoot more arrows as they’d run out and he’d be left with nothing. But, he couldn’t step down either as the herd had scattered around, leaving some of them at the foot of the tank, looking up at him. Did he trust her to know that she’d make it? Probably. But this, he thought, was too great to put faith in trust. Trust couldn’t keep someone with monsters after them alive, even if every person on the rotten planet wished so. 

He watched the walkers flood inside the warehouse Persia had ran into. He felt his heart stop as they kept on going in. Where was she? He could simply wait and hope. 

‘Dammit, Percy. Please be alive. Make it out back to me, will ya?’ he whispered to himself, sobs cracking through his rugged voice. For a minute, all that he could hear were the groans of walkers, something which, no matter how frequent, was never easy to get used to. Not when lives were at stake. Then they sounded like hammers colliding with metal, getting louder every time. But, to Daryl, everything was silent. 

That was until his eyes fell upon a few walkers that stumbled out of the warehouse, their rabid bodies set on fire. The walkers that collided into them caught fire too and soon, a bunch of them were ablaze. Daryl’s eyes pressingly searched for Persia. And he didn’t have to wait much longer, for she dashed out of the warehouse, swinging a shovel heftily, throwing back walkers out and around like chunks of nothing. 

‘Piss off, motherfuckers!’ she yelled, whipping the shovel into the heads of three walkers in one go. Daryl couldn’t believe it. He got up, clinging to the metal banister that surrounded him, his body aching to rush toward her.

Damn, the woman’s got a fight in her, he thought.

She pulled out something from her pocket. Daryl couldn’t quite see what it was due to the smoke that the burning walkers had diffused into. She tossed something at the foot of the tank and in a few moments, the walkers surrounding the tank began burning too. They wailed and screeched, perhaps feeling some irritation in their lifeless bodies, but they squirmed and reeled away from the tank, leaving Daryl a concrete amount of distance to climb down. He swung his crossbow behind his shoulders and made his way down. He pierced the heads of a few walkers with the pocket knife that he had and through the hot embers of fire, he made his way toward Persia who was swinging her shovel mercilessly. 

‘Perc—’ Persia hit his arm with shovel, assuming it was another walker.

‘Bitch! ‘S me!’ he cursed. She turned around and gawked, holding her shovel down.

‘Fuck, I’m so sorry.’

‘Ya good?’ he asked, massaging the bruise that had formed on his arm. Persia nodded. 

‘Ya ready to kill these sons of bitches?’ she asked, mimicking him. He smirked. Persia signaled at a few shovels that lay at the door of the warehouse and Daryl picked one up, feeling the hunter rise in him. He was very much ready to make the walking dead pay.

Together, they stood in front of them, their backs touching, stances like those of warriors. Taking a deep breath, they moved forward, slicing the heads of walkers that marched toward them. Their movements were in sync, not too away from each other and not too close to get in the way of the other. 

‘Duck,’ said Persia and Daryl crouched, her shovel swinging above him to sever a walker. They maneuvered across the field, splitting the heads of walkers that just didn’t seem to stop coming. It was getting dark and the smoke wasn’t doing any good. But, they kept on going. Despite the terror that surrounded them, they kept on fighting. As Daryl had said, they kept on doing what they could. 

Persia swung the shovel with all her might, but she knew that her arms were sore. She felt Daryl’s hand touch her elbow, pulling her arm down. She didn’t stop poking the shovel. It was finally when she felt his arm pulling around her, holding hers down to her chest that it dawned on her. Her body shook tremendously, tremors running down her spine. Daryl’s vice-like grip held her in place, but she kept wriggling. He pulled her close, burying her head in his shoulders, his wounded arm fondling the back of her head, his fingers dug into her rough hair. She tensed into his touch. She kept pushing, wanting to throw herself out there again.

He held her as she resisted. 

‘Hey, stop. Stop it!’ he begged. He held her face in his palm, taking a good look at the woman. Her face was smeared with ash and grime. He didn’t know whether it was sweat or tears that trailed down her cheeks. Her mouth was agape, gasping for breath, quivering slightly. Her eyes spoke of an oncoming frenzy poisoned with fear. He knew what it was. He knew it all too well. 

He leaned into her, pressing his bruised lips onto hers. Though the fires around them were hot, the warmth that spread across his body was nothing compared to it. He held her neck, dropping the shovel down, his free arm grasping her waist. He kissed her as if he couldn’t do anything else. He kissed her because he had to. He wanted to. He parted, hoping she’d wake up from her trance. He gazed into her eyes and smiled softly.

‘We...’ she muttered.

‘Yeh. We did it,’ said Daryl, pulling her closer, resting his arm on her shoulders as they watched the field succumb to the flames. They stood against the orange veil, watching the place fall into ruins.

‘When we reach the prison, we’re taking the longest fucking nap ever,’ she said.

‘Only if ya don’t pull somethin’ like this again.’

‘Saved our asses, didn’t I?’

‘Don’ let it get to ya. I ain’t gonna let ya outta ma sight,’ he said, making her chuckle.

‘Yee haw, let’s go back home.’

[psychemeanscure]

PART 21

Everything happened so fast. It was just Jang Taeyoung being wasted with the amount of alcohol he can be after a wrecking voice message he received from her to later getting delirious of her own image he always adored for. The next thing his assistant could only remember, was that they already backing up their boss of knocking out each man of the Alcaziar’s son, Zilo.

Yes, they’re currently in a chase to get the two-faced young dimwit indeed. Going ever possible place it could gone. And they did. Its warehouse of drugs. Jang Taeyoung holding a steel bar in its right hand, the other’s in pocket then he’s good to go with another battle. Walking boringly to the next pack, he spoke.

“Were you the last batch?”        

Lee tried to stop his boss for a reason, just to be interjected by Jae. “Don’t dare.”

“What?! He’s not thinking straight, Jae. We need to stop him before it gets worse!?”

Truly. They might just be ordinary subordinate who only follow the orders been ask to them, yet they were still human after all. Over the years of working with the great troubleshooter, they knew they also learn to care for him. So for Lee to witness the extent of his boss’ moves until today is too much not to pry.

Or better well said, being acquainted with a woman named Sung Eunyoung is dangerous more than what he expected it to be. He’s aware. Rather they all aware of its affection to her, but how can’t he worry when high officials were already involved. Given that his boss was in the bridge of being observed due to being investigated she caused even. They shouldn’t risk his safety!

“Jae!”

Another call he needed to his co-subordinate. “We can’t.”

Only to get debated once again. “The f*ck?”

His complain, but a recall for Jae. Remembering every bit, a Jang Taeyoung perceived when he himself tried to stop him as well. In its penthouse, in front of its own portrait. He knew, his boss is ready to risk everything.

The way Jang Taeyoung pushes the invisible button of his portrait revealing his secret revolver, a still wrapped blue gum, and cd tapes he left hidden over the years. A remembrance of his failed past. The SIESTA project which was once his writer self’s work to greed.

Tucking the gun on his holster while handing the gum and tapes to his assistant. He commanded. “Send this to Manager.”

By the mere mention of it, Jae instantly got alerted. He doesn’t even need to ask further for he already understand what that was. The Manager. Its former Russian boss who has a knack of not giving up pursuing his boss’ blue gum experiment that even after its exit with the gang, its interest didn’t end. Yet, Jang Taeyoung never gives in to that. Despite the continuous offer his former boss bestow for him, none until today.

He never been for he knew it was unsuccessful itself. He cannot manage of showing it again. Not even his Sung Eunyoung who almost knew about it. The reason why it’s been covered with satin cloth all the while as his hasty flexes halts her the moment she was about to touch his portrait. But if it’s his failure the only choice to keep her safe, so be it.

“Boss, isn’t it better if we should see things first before doing---“

“There ain’t something to see already, Jae.”

“But boss, you know the consequences---“

“Can’t you see this isn’t about me anymore?!”

He finally erupted. Sighing to calm himself, he faced his assistant once again. “He’s the only one who can help us. So just do what I told you to do so. You know what I meant about it, aren’t you?”

Hearing his last sentence somehow relieve his assistant as a proposal begins to form from its mouth. “If that’s the case, then we should ask for extra troop for you, bo--“

“I don’t need one. She’s much important.”

Responding a groan, Jae disagreed. “Boss, we can’t get you in dang---“  

“Another word Jae, and I might just kill you as well.”

And just like that, he surrendered and comprehend his boss’ request instead. And just as today they had no choice but to watch him fighting without braking.

Tapping Lee’s shoulder, he reminded. “We can no longer stop him, Bud. He’s already unstoppable. Accomplish or not, we’re only left with one choice and that is to protect who’s important to him at all cost. That’s all he wants.”  

Huffing with heavy breath with one-man punch to enemy’s underling, “F*ck this.” He follows. As in just a snap, they became their boss’ support system.

~

“Boss, saw the Alcaziar!”

A shout from one of his men, Jang firmly retorted. “Where?”

Pointing out the area, his men answered. “Along the hallway, upper right.”

That with one swift move, he tags along sprinting to the opposite side contradicting its path until he did. He reached him as he pointed his already loaded revolver at the back of its head. No doubt, the young Alcaziar is finally captured.

Welcomed by its mocking smiling face as it turns to face him, hands in the air. “Bang, little brother.” His reciprocated mockery even. As the act-like embarrassed Alcaziar answers. “Eish… Fine. I’m busted.”

For it was also too fast for Jang to drag him in a scattered gambling room, being beaten in some of his trivial parts. “Now, dimwit. It’s either you tell me where your delusional father is, or be dead instead. Your choice.”  

Wiping out some dust from his black suit, he threatened. Just to receive the snickering laugh of the young Spaniard, looking up to him, drained. “As if I had a choice either.” Its own hopeless answer as Jang Taeyoung starts to click his heels to sit by a near table with checker chips on it. Unmoved from the pity situation of the other. Picking one piece of chip as he pictures it like chess pieces before opening a theoretical talk.

“You play chess, Zilo?”

“I am. Why?”

As delighted Jang smirk. “So will you believe if I say why queen and knights are best partners in chess then?”

Confused Zilo questioned. “Shouldn’t it be the king and queen on a throne, though?”

Rubbing the texture of the checker chip, he retorted. “That’s the luxury of monarch, dimwit. Unfortunately, we’re talking boards where all I can see is a king who only proves himself useless in it. Hiding between his towers and pawn fences while lazily waiting for its queen’s pride and brave knight’s outcome. You got the sense, Zilo?”

Narrowing eyes starts to retract. “A give and take blabber getting the privilege which should have been given to queen and knights, you saying? Pathetic.” 

“Exactly. Makes sense, right.”

“Right. So what do they call each other? Comrades ready to reach supremacy? Great.”

As the amused chuckle came after Jang, “That’s how they’re made to be a perfect team! And you know what’s more fascinating?”

“What?”

Walking over to the young Alcaziar again, he bent. “It was when a queen’s in danger, the knight cannot be much angrier than slaughter and unforgiving.” Face leveled, as he begins to tap his revolver to its cheek itching to pull its trigger.

“So spill now young Alcaziar before this knight in front you become a stallion you can’t hardly imagine.”

His knowing verdict, only yet to be responded by a beaming smirk, urging its next word. “Too bad, brother. That’s just also the irony of chess you’re perceiving of.” Pausing to surround its eyes around the room, security agents flock to corner Jang and his men with guns. “You forgot the prankster bishop who hides in surprise behind the pawns.”  

“What will you do now, knight? The fences are already after you.”

Recognizing they are owned by filthy back up officials they have, he can only awe in sarcasm. Manically laughing like they were just joking around, gaping orbs following the surprise sight, mannish arms resting from his crouched knees. Cold Jang Taeyoung finally advents.

“Know what, dimwit?”

“What?”

“That for some time I actually thought of you as one. A younger brother I never had.”

Zilo was lying if it didn’t warm him for it obviously did as his once smirking face easily vanish just like that. Looking up to already standing older brother he never had as well. It’s too late.

Gazing to multiple guns pointing at him, he complains. “Eish… F*cking law makers.” Before he went back to look down Zilo. “I guess I misjudge you then.” Pulling out his revolver once again, he left one last word.

“Let’s play the game if given the chance, yeah? Who knows.”

And with a starting blow from the enemy’s agents, the imprudent chaos has begun. Together with his men, Jang knocks every underling that goes on his way. Series of bullets heard and wasted, lifeless bodies lying on the grime of floors, stinks of blood spread on endlessly from the dirty four walls. As all he could think of, is to chase the straightway escape of the young Alcaziar who has been escorted from the start.

But he was too late. They were already far for his reach. The youngster’s car freely drives from the buzzing path of sinners for cursing is the only thing that can pass his anger.

Before another gunshot was heard. For it was his stooping body covered with blood he saw. “We got him!” as a voice unfamiliar to him speaks out. The pain is bearable though like they intentionally miss to shot the most vital part of him as it didn’t take him long to know the reason why as another flocks of underling came rushing after, ready to take him down. He fights back. Even if his body isn’t cooperating this time.

How a simple stretch of his legs he flawlessly does, is lost. How hasty blocks became his wrecking bricks. And how his keen reflexes of dodges demote to novice. He hates it! He’s not usually a person who easily get strained with a mere shot. F*ck, he got the worst even!  

It seems like they implanted something from the bullet fired to him which lead him to be weak. Whatever it is, he’s f*cking screwed up! “Tss. These f*cking cowards.” His hell of grumbles the moment they were ask to stop their countless attacks. With his once perfect face busted and once well-built figure turns into qualmish leaf. They successfully take advantage of his current wimps indeed.  

Surely as he was fighting them alone, actually. How can he get help even when his men have their own fight meters afar from his? A much more number than he partakes.    

Pressing his gushing stomach while holding any possible thing that can give him strength which turns out to be edges of wooden recycling bins. He looks up to the scumbag that caused him then. Veeros Alcaziar, bending to face the aggrieved him. “Hey, young lad.” Its unabashed greeting. “How was the show, eh?” its next word as he can only grunt trying to grab its collar by the hand that was once holding the edge of the bins. Only for him to end up gripped lousily instead.

“W-where. Where did you bring Sung Eunyoung!”

Regaining a remaining strength, he has. He enraged. And the latter just confidently tapping his downgrade shoulder. “Don’t worry, young man. You’ll meet each other soon.” Its lunatic response as he begins to get drowsy. Medicine perhaps takes its effect.                                

“You know what you missed about the king, Lad?”

‘So he’s there all along.’ He thought.

Leaning its head towards his ear, the geezer whispered.

“It’s his manipulative intelligence.”

Then a Jang Taeyoung, finally passed out.

~

“Wake up. Jang Taeyoung, wake up!”

For there it is. The voice he had searched like years. Heard by his own lobes.

[midnigtartist]

hey more mermauk au

The water, once so familiar and inviting, now feels as though its pressing in on him from every side. Instead of carrying him, he can feel it tugging on him, weighing him down. He tries to swim up, His chest burns like it's never burned before and he has to fight to keep his mouth sealed around the swell of air that presses against his lips. It's so hard to move now. No matter how much he kicks and flails he hardly makes any progress, these new limbs not strong enough to push him forward, up towards the glimmer of sunlight on the surface of the water above him. Still he claws his way against the current, no webbing between his fingers to help him but that's alright. He keeps pushing and kicking and fighting his way up up up until his head finally breaks the surface.

Molly opens his mouth wide and takes in a great, gasping gulp of air, right before a wave comes crashing over top of him, forcing him back under. Luckily, it seems the ability to orientate oneself under water is learned and not genetic. Even though the push and pull of the sea spins him like a top, Molly is eventually able to right himself, breaking the surface once more. He blinked salt out of his eyes and kicks hard against the water to keep his head above it so he can look around. 

He can see the beach, a short ways off, and the dock that he’s seen Caleb perched on many times before with the cuffs of pants rolled up to the knees. More importantly, Molly can see the house, Caleb’s little house sitting way at the top of the rocky cliff side and the sight of it makes his heart hammer in his chest. Won’t he be surprised to see Molly striding up to his front door like a proper  person on his own two legs. He can almost imagine Caleb’s face when he sees him, those bright blue eyes of his round with shock.

With that image in mind, Molly feels his limbs get a bit stronger, and its with a giddy resolve that he fights against the pull and swell of the waves, swimming towards the beach as fast as he can. Eventually his hands and knees scrap against the sandy shoreline and finally, Molly is able to pull himself free of the surf and push himself up onto his new, strange legs. He can’t lie, it’s a struggle at first to find his balance. The sand shifting under his feet certainly doesn’t help him find firm footing and his knees quake under the weight of him, but after a few stumbling attempts, Molly manages to right himself. He lets out a triumphant huff as he straightens up, arms spread wide to help maintain his balance. He lifts a shaking leg, and takes a single step.

A surge of pride rolls through him, just as another wave crashes down on top of him, sending him sprawling back into the water.

Fuck!

He comes back up spluttering out sea water and has to drag himself out of the tide before he’s willing to give it another go.

The second attempt is much easier, it doesn't take nearly as long to stand this time. He plants his feet on the dry sand and pushes himself upright with his hands until he’s balanced once more on the two thin pegs that are his legs.

Well you see, know that wasn’t so difficult was it. He thinks to himself and takes a few more, less the graceful steps away from the ocean. Once Molly’s sure he's not about to be tackled by another wave, he takes a quick moment to asses himself. 

Weaver bless him, he has legs. Long purple ones that jut out from his hip bones where his tail had once been. Legs with knees and calves and feet with weird looking little nubs at the end that he burrows down into the soft sand. He runs his hands down them, bending over so he can touch the backs of his knees and that's when he notices two more new protrusions from his lower half. The one in the front is fairly easy to guess what it is. Though it's a bit strange to just see it dangling there limp between his legs, it's definitely not the most interesting thing going on down here. Something long and thin and sinuous is wiping back and forth behind him. He goes to grab it, to investigate, but only succeeds in falling over onto his arse. And it's all so bizarre and wonderful that he has to laugh. It leaves him in a soundless whoosh of air and, well shit. He opens his mouth to speak and all that comes out is a shrill, dry, screech. His brows draw down into the furrow.

That’s exactly what isn't supposed to happen. 

Molly reaches up to touch the chain of the silver necklace dangling from his throat. This was supposed to make him proper human, or a proper person at least. With legs and feet and, gods what was it Caleb called them, lungs? Yes. with lungs and a voice that works on land too. He runs a hand over his side, across his ribs where his fingers slid over two long gills that wrap their way around his flank. Which is just more confusing because he feels like he's breathing just fine without them. Maybe the Moonweaver’s magic can only do so much. Or maybe he should have been more specific with his request. He had only asked for legs, a lot of room for interpretation there. Caleb would probably know what's going on, he knows all sorts of things from those books he's always reading.

Oh gods he’d almost forgotten about Caleb in the excitement of it all. Quickly Molly scrambles back up to his feet. Hot, dry sand is sticking to his legs and hands and his arse, and no matter how hard he tries to wipe it off the only thing it seems to do is spread it around. So sand is something that is definitely better in the water, he concludes. Doesn’t matter, he did all of this so he could see Caleb and there's been a notable lack of the red head up to this point. Molly looks back up to the cliff face where Caleb's house is. 

The path up looks steeps and maybe a part of Molly is worried that maybe his frail new legs won't be enough to carry him up there, but he's certainly not just going to sit here on the beach and wait, in the hopes that Caleb will come and find him. He found a way onto land, he's sure as hell not going to let a little cliff stop him. But as he's making his way over to the place where the sand ends and tufts of shrub brush start to sprout, legs occasionally trembling underneath him, something small and bright orange streaks out of a patch of grass. Molly lets out a yelp of surprise as the thing sprints past him, a blur of ginger chasing a terrified crab as it scuttles towards the dock. Naturally he follows. He turns so fast it nearly knocks him off kilter, but he manages to catch himself before he eats sand and scrambles after the crab and the ginger blur. The blur is much faster than the crab. They race across the beach with Molly on their tail, making it as far as halfway up the dock. Molly watches the blur as it jumps and lands on the poor thing, coming down on it with its- well it's umm,,,,,

Coming to a less than graceful stop on the old wooden dock, he stares at the blur with his head cocked to the side, because this is the most bizarre creature he's ever seen. Its small, with a pointed face like an otter. Maybe it is an otter, it has the same four legs and the hair all over its body. But its ears are pointed and its eyes are an intelligent gold rather then glass black and its tail is longer and fluffier. If this is an otter, then there’s something very wrong with it. 

The not otter is starting at him inquisitively, the caught crab dangling from its mouth. It gives him  a quick and scathing once over before its back arches up and its hair sticks up on end and it hisses at him.

Rude little bastard, Molly thinks. He hisses back, baring pointed teeth at the creature. He could probably eat it, if he wanted to.

“Frumpkin? Are you out here?”

Faster than Molly has time to react, the not otter drops the crab and bolts between his legs back towards the beach, towards the sound of that familiar voice. Molly feels his heart start to race in his chest. 

“There you are, boy, I had not seen you in a while, and I was starting to worry, ja. Oh yes, you are a good kitty, very good- oh!”

Quickly Molly school his face into an alluring smile, and turns, slowly, to face Caleb. He’s clutching the mean little frumpkin to his chest, hair drawn back in a loose ponytail. He watches Caleb's eyes take him in, a light, giddy feeling bubbling up in his chest as they go round with amazement and his jaw drops slack.

“Mol-lymauk?” he breaths.

Oh and Molly can’t help it, he beams, blindingly bright at Caleb and nods. 

Slowly, as if in a trance, he sets the frumpkin down on the sand, and takes a few shuffling steps towards him. The breath catches in Molly’s throat. The suspense is almost to much to bare so on new legs Molly starts to jog down the dock towards Caleb. He must have miss stepped though, or misjudged how slick the wet wood of the dock was, but one second he's making a beeline for his favorite human, and the next the clear blue waves of the ocean are swinging up to greet him. He makes the mistake of taking a breath after he's hit the water, an old instinct that quickly fills his lungs with salty sea water. 

“Mollymauk!”

For a long moment the world is spinning, his lungs are burning, and he cant breath. And then he feels hands under his arms, pulling him up and out of the sea. He breathes in air and coughs out water, as Caleb heaves him back up onto the dock.

“Mollymauk are you alright?!” Caleb asks, his hand resting on Molly’s shoulders while he chokes. 

Molly nods, whipping the back of his hand over his face. He can feel more water dribbling out of his nose and the sensation makes his skin crawl and his eyes water. After a moment of furious hacking and Caleb's hesitant hand rubbing small circles over his back Molly is finally able to get a decent breath in, and when he does he turns to look at Caleb with a grin plastered across his face. 

Their eyes met and Molly feels a hand on his shoulder pause. “Gods, it really is you.” Caleb mutters.

Molly rolls his eyes. Who else would it be, he wants to say, but can't. 

Caleb runs a hand over his face, over his unshaven jaw. “But you are- you have-” his eyes trace over Molly’s legs, before quickly jumping back up to his face. Molly swears his sees a light dusting of color in his checks. “How is something like this even possible?”

Oh well that’s an easy enough question to answer. Molly catches the chain of his necklace between his fingers and brings it up to eye level for Caleb to see the silver, crescent shaped pendant dangling from the end. Then he points to the water and then to himself and folds his hands like he’s praying. Then he points to the necklace and then to his legs.

“I prayed to the Moonweaver to let me come on land and she gave me this necklace that gave me legs, so i could come and see you,,,”

He lays his hand on Caleb's shoulder and beams. 

Caleb blinks. “I aaah- I do not think that  that was as clear an explanation as you thought it was but umm- if I am understanding this correctly this necklaces is- some sort of magic?”

Molly seesaws his hand, sort of yeah, something like that. 

Caleb nods. “Well I cannot say that I fully understand it, yet, but we can worry about that later I suppose. Let’s ahhh- lets start with getting you cleaned up, ja? Can you stand? Here ummm-”

Molly allows him to slip an arm around his shoulder and help him to his feet. It's much easier than trying to do it by himself, and really, he can’t complain about the warmth of Caleb’s hand on the small of his back. He leans back a bit into it, and finds himself stumbling. Caleb tightens his grip.

“Careful Mollymauk.” He says. “I do not know if I am strong enough to pull you out a second time.”

Molly hums his understanding, steadying himself on his feet. Once Caleb is sure he's not going to topple over, he lets his hands drop. He gives Molly another shy once over, before catching his eye and dropping his gaze to the ground. “I aahh -here”

Quickly Caleb shrugs out of his coat. Molly watches him curiously as brings it around him and drapes it over his shoulders. It's warm and soft and smells of old book and cinnamon.

“There, that’s better. Are you comfortable Mollymauk?” he asks.

Molly nods, tugging the coat tighter around himself.

“Ja ja, that is um, gut, lets go. Umm-” With much hesitation, Caleb takes Molly’s free hand and sets it on his shoulder. “Just- Just hold on to me and we will get you up to the house.”

Molly flashes him a thumbs up. Lead the way.

The walk up to the house isn't strenuous but its is long, and by the time the pair of them are cresting the top of the hill, Molly is clinging rather fiercely to his companion so that his knees don't give out. They wobble under him, clearly not used to this amount of work. Caleb is holding him around the arm to keep him from falling over. 

“Nearly there.” Caleb mutters as they approach the front step

The house is modest and cozy looking, like a cottage, with planter boxes in the windows and silver chimes hanging by the door. Molly likes it quite a bit. He leans up against the wall while Caleb gets the door open, and then helps him inside. 

“Jester are you home?” Caleb calls out as kicks the door shut behind him. 

“I'm here, Caleb!” a female voice calls from behind one of the door frames.

“Can you come in here and help me, bitte?”

Suddenly there’s the sound of something scampering across the wooden floor and a moment later, another fuzzy, four legged creatures comes barreling from around the bend in the hall right at them. It's not a frumpkin, Molly’s got no idea what this is. But its bounding at them with its tongue lolling out of its mouth and its tail wagging excitedly. 

He jumps, digging his nails into Caleb’s shoulder as the thing comes to a skidding halt in front of him. 

“Nein, Nugget, down boy, down stop.” Caleb cries, trying to push the creature back with his foot while balancing Molly on his other arm. “Jester please, I need you.”

“Oh don't be such a baby, Nugget is only saying hello” the female voice comes again, and human figure enters the room. Well, more human than anything else Molly has seen. She has pastel blue skin and bright pink eyes and horns that curls against her head like his. 

She pauses in the doorway when she sees them. Molly smiles at her, and waves.

“Caleb” the woman, Jester he would assume, says. “Caleb what happened?”

Caleb shrugs. “This ahhh- this is Mollymauk.” he says sheepishly. “Is he okay?” she asks. She runs over to them, shooing the nugget out of her way. 

“Oh ja, he is fine, I think.” Caleb says. Molly flashes Jester a thumbs up. He feels just fine, maybe a little wobbly but fine other than that. Caleb continues. “Ja he is fine but I need to run a bath for him, can you help?” Jester nods vigorously. “Of course, of course Caleb, come on.”  Tentatively, she puts a hand on Molly’s shoulder and Molly lets himself be lead deeper into the house, busing himself with looking at all the odds and ends Caleb has hanging on the walls. “Caleb what happened?” Jester asks again.

“I umm I found him while I was out on the beach.” Caleb says. “He was like this when I found him.” “Oh no! You don't think he was shipwrecked do you?”

“,,,,, perhaps,,”

“Oh that’s terrible!” she cries. She turns to Molly. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

Molly shakes his head. No, he definitely not hurt. He pats her hand gently, hoping to assure her. 

She blinks up at him. “Can you not speak Molly?”

Again he shakes his head, and gestures to the gills on his flank, hidden now by Caleb’s coat.

“Something with your ribs?” Jester asks, before rounding on Caleb again. “See Caleb he is hurt! I bet he punctured one of his lungs and now its all shriveled up like a raisin.”

“I do not think so, Jester but I will check.” apparently they’ve reached wherever they were headed because Caleb uses his free hand to open the door and gently shoves Molly inside, barring Jester from entering with his body in the door frame. “I promise if there is something wrong I will come and get you right away, alright?”

She looks like she wants to argue, but Molly catches her gaze over Caleb's shoulder and nods. He's fine. 

Jester sighs. “Fiiiiiiiiiiiine, but if he dies don’t say I didn’t try to help you.” and with that she turns on her heel, and Caleb shuts the door after her. “You’re not going to die, are you?” he asks Molly.

Molly shakes his head. He doesn't think he’s dying, no.

Caleb runs fingers through his hair, pulling a few stands loose of his ponytail. “Good, that is gut. Now ahhh- lets the umm -let's get you cleaned up.”

Molly looks down at himself. There’s sand caked up over his legs and his arms and his tail and stuck between the nubs on the ends of his feet. He grimaces as he wiggles them and feels the unpleasant grittiness against his skin. He nods at Caleb. 

Probably best I get clean up yeah.

Caleb nods as well “Ja, we do not want you tracking sand all over the house. Here-” he offers his hand and Molly gladly takes it, allowing Caleb to lead him over to a large white basin against the far wall He has to grip the other’s forearms as Caleb directs him to step over the high walls of the thing and then sits down inside it.

Sitting there with his knees bent up towards his chest, he gives Caleb a look, and taps the walls of the basin.

Caleb seems to pick up what it is he’s asking. “Oh! Ja um, this is a bathtub, I forget that you do not know this. This will help you get cleaned up.” he says, moving so he can fiddle with some strange pipes at the foot of it. “You can just throw my coat there on the floor, Mollymauk, I don't want it to get wet.”

Molly does as he's asked, slipping the coat off his shoulders and tossing it over the side of the bathtub. 

Caleb nods his approval, sticking some sort of plug into the opening in the floor of the tub, just as water starts to flow from the pipes. He stands up, wiping his hands off on his trousers. “It will take a little time for it to fill up but ahhh- it's something.” he says. “If it is too hot just turn this one this way.” he turns the right tap to the right and back again. Molly gives him a thumbs up. 

Caleb nods. “I would ahh- I would give you some privacy, but I am afraid the tub might overflow,,,,” he sounds almost guilty about it.

Molly waves it off with a hand.

Rather have you stay anyway. 

Caleb fidgets, and after a painfully long moment of watching him not know what to do with his hands, Molly takes pity on the man and taps the side of the tub again. Come sit here.

It seems Caleb understands because, after some deliberation, he sets himself down on end of the tub where the taps are. Molly hums his approval. 

The water is warm, and quickly climbing up the sides of the tub now. Molly takes the quiet moment to stretch his legs out. Bending them at the knee, rolling his ankle back and forth. He lifts it as high as he can then lets it drop back into the water with a splash. He hears Caleb chuckle and glances up to find the human’s eyes already on him.

Molly smiles, he can hardly believe this is happening. That he gets to be here, on land, with Caleb.

“I do not know how this is possible, but it is very good to see you Mollymauk.”

Molly nods. He’s so glad Caleb feels the same way.

And it's all thanks to these.  Molly stretches one of his legs towards Caleb. They’re pretty amazing, yeah?

The gesture gets another laugh out of Caleb. “Ja ja, they are pretty cool.”

They are cool, and once I’m cleaned up we're going to go exploring, you and I, and I’m going to have you show me everything I can see with a pair of these things.

He wiggles the little nubs at the ends of his feet.

“Very cute.”

 Molly beams at the praise.

Hell yeah he’s cute.

[fortune-fool02]

Just A Fairy Tale

Imp Robert. E. O Speedwagon x princess female reader

FairyTale AU

Okay, I was inspired to write this after watching Shrek again. Also, the Imp I was trying to go for was kinda like a male version of Midna from Twilight Princess. Like this (Art is not mine) but Speedwagon. 

Please enjoy and remember that feedback is always welcomed and appreciated. This is pretty long.

“Mr Joestar, I’m no expert but I’m fairly certain that’s the place.” Speedwagon commented, sarcasm coating his words as he took in the haunting demeanour the castle radiated, as if telling them to turn back now and forget all about their quest.

It was normally not in an Imp’s nature to be helpful but Speedwagon has known Johnathan for some time; thanks to the human for rescuing him from a vampire who he had misjudged. If it wasn’t for Johnathan, Speedwagon would be dead. 

Johnathan hoisted himself up and took in the castle. Dark, old bricks constructed it, holding it secure despite the spitting lava pit below it. He had to admit, everything about this castle screamed danger for those who dared to enter but there was a princess in there that needed their help. 

“The princess is in there somewhere, let’s go.” Johnathan jumped over the edge and slid down to the path below leaving Speedwagon there for a moment. The blonde Imp sighed, humans are always so naive when it came to danger. But he was here now, and he wasn’t going to let a day and a half trip go to waste. 

***

Shadows crawled everywhere, infesting the crumbling castle like a plague, thriving without life. The dim glow of Speedwagon’s markings offered little light as he trailed beside Johnathan. 

“So, um... Just wondering, where would one expect to find a dragon in a place like this?” Speedwagon asked, his eyes searching the shadows for anything out of place. The silence was deafening, the tapping of their footsteps echoed loudly along the hollow halls. Johnathan glanced between the fork in the hall, determining which direction to take, setting on the right corridor. 

“I am not quite sure. I suppose the dragon could be anywhere really.” Speedwagon shot him a look. Sure, Johnathan’s training of Hamon Breathing had improved but he doubted that it would protect them against something like a dragon. And, as far as magic went, Speedwagon was not an expert. He could use the razors in his hat but what good would that do? 

Their best chance was to find this princess and escape the castle without the dragon knowing of them. 

The two reached another split in the corridors. This time, Johnathan decided to take a different approach to it. 

“I think it would be best if we split up and cover more ground faster.” Speedwagon almost barked out in laughter at that but covered his mouth, not wanting to be so loud. 

“Oh Mr Joestar, that’s quite funny.” the Imp spoke only to be responded with a serious look from the human. “Oh, you’re serious?” Johnathan nodded. “But what if somethin’ happens?” he said. The idea of splitting up didn’t settle well with Speedwagon at all. Especially if it involved the chance of running into a large, snarling reptile with the ability to breath fire.

Johnathan looked around before his eyes fell upon the skeletal remains of a knight who was beyond recognition. He grabbed the sword laying beside it; the weapon was shorter than the Pluck sword that rested in Johnathan’s sheath on his back but it would protect Speedwagon if needed. 

“Here. This should protect you in case you need it.” Speedwagon took the short sword without complain, “It’s alright, Speedwagon. You just need to find the stairs.” Confusion painted the Imp’s face at that, pulling his attention away from the blade and to the dark haired human. 

“Stairs? For what?” Johnathan pointed towards the highest tower of the castle where a glowing light could be seen from the window. “Oh. The highest room in the tallest tower, of course.” Johnathan smiled at his friend before disappearing down the left corridor, leaving Speedwagon alone. 

“Just be careful, Mr Joestar.” he muttered out before turning and walking down the other corridor. 

***

The dim glow provided little light for Speedwagon, though his sight allowed him to see the darkness clear as day. He reached the end of the corridor to find a wooden door, along with a large hole in the wall to the right, easily able to fit someone through; taking a breath, he pushed the door open. Inside was mountains of glimmering jewels and shining coins. 

His eyes widened at the sheer amount of gold here, how did these things end up in places like this? Well, he wasn’t complaining. 

No, Robert. he thought to himself, Help rescue the princess first, then come back for the treasure. Closing the door to the room was much harder than one would think but he did so anyway, mentally mapping the place to come back for later. He turned to the large hole in the wall, peering through the hole to find stairs leading up somewhere. Climbing through the hole, he made his way up. Surely this would lead him straight to the princess’s room -and hopefully Mr Joestar. He hoped his friend was alright. 

Low and behold, the stairs led him straight up to a wooden door that was locked tighter than a safe. Not an issue for Speedwagon. He took one look at the steel lock and almost laughed, this was easy for him. With years of mischief and crime, no lock was impossible for the Imp.

After a couple of moments of fidgeting with the lock, the latch clipped open and Speedwagon smiled in success. Pushing the door open, he blinked in surprise. The room was clean. The bed was neatly made but... no princess laid upon it waiting for her rescuer. What? Was this the right room? Speedwagon wandered over to the window and peered out to see the spot where he and Mr Joestar were a bit ago. Did Mr Joestar find the princess first; then why was the door locked?

“Excuse me?” Speedwagon almost yelped at the sudden voice behind him, spinning around to come fact-to-face with a beautiful female with [Hair colour] locks that flowed from her head like a waterfall and sparkling [Eye colour] orbs that gazed into his soul, easing his fear. He gave a small cough before straightening his posture,

“‘ello there, princess.” he said, giving a small bow before her, unsure of what else to do. She smiled at that and mirrored it back to him. “Me an’ my friend are here to rescue you.” Her eyes lit up enough to almost put the sun to shame. 

Speedwagon smiled, a warmness blooming in his chest. “Oh, pardon my manners.” he said, bringing his clenched hand up to his chest where his heart would be. “Name’s Robert. E. O. Speedwagon. My friend’s known as Johnathan Joestar.” The princess smiled at him, giving him a small bow of her head, 

“It’s a pleasure to know the name of my rescuer, Speedwagon. I am Princess [Name].” 

***

The two made their way out the room and down on of the many corridors, searching for Johnathan. Speedwagon asked [Name] where was the most likely place to find the dragon and she responded with either what was left of the main hall or the treasure room located beneath the main hall. They decided to start with the main hall. 

A sudden, thunderous roar echoed throughout the castle, causing a handful of loose bricks to fall and clouds of dust to fill the corridors. 

“The dragon!” 

“Mr Joestar!” Taking off into a sprint, they darted down the corridors before reaching a balcony to witness the large reptilian monster throw Johnathan across the room and into the wall. [Name] watched with fearful eyes as the dragon rose back slightly, opening its large jaws to bare fangs that had taken the lives of so many nameless knights who had attempted to rescue her. 

Speedwagon’s eyes shifted up to see a swinging chandelier, he followed the rusted chain that held it up and spotted its hold. 

“The chandelier,” he spoke aloud, a plan forming in his head. “We can use it to trap the dragon and escape!” Before [Name] could speak, he grabbed her hand and almost dragged her down the stairs to the side of them, towards where the chandelier was held. He grabbed a hold of the handle and pushed, it didn’t budge, the rust had seemed to lock the metal in place. 

He threw a glance up to see Johnathan continuing to try and battle the dragon, Pluck held tightly in his hand but it was clear this battle was taking its toll on the man. With a deep inhale, Speedwagon summoned what little magic he had and pushed the hand, his markings glowing as he did. [Name] stood there, her hands on his as she tried to help in whatever way she could. 

A sharp snap was heard and the handle broke free from the rust, spinning madly as the chain holding the chandelier fell; the metal fell around the dragon’s neck, ripping its attention away from Johnathan for a moment to release a deafening roar.

“Jojo! Let’s go!” Speedwagon called out to his friend who abandoned the battle and joined his friend’s side, running as fast as their legs could carry them down the stone corridors. The dragon’s roars following after them as it gave into the chase, refusing to let them escape. 

As the entrance of the castle came into view, [Name] felt a sudden growing heat behind her. She didn’t need to look to know the wall of flame was rapidly gaining on them. The wooden bridge shook violently as the trio sprinted across it. They reach half way when the rope snapped, giving into the fire’s bite and dropping the three of them towards the molten that bubbled under them.

Johnathan and Speedwagon grasped onto the wooden planks tightly, halting their fall; however, [Name] was just out of reach to grab onto one of the planks. A scream ripped from her throat as she reached out towards the sky. This was it. She was never destined to die in the tower or by the dragon, she was to die in the very pit that surrounded her prison. 

A tight grip latched onto her wrist, she immediately grasped onto it; fear flooding her body as tears pricked her eyes. Looking up at her saviour, she saw Speedwagon holding onto her, his eyes blazing with determination as he slowly pulled her back up. Slowly, they began to climb up the make-shift ladder and collapsed onto the safety of solid ground. 

***

They trio didn’t stop to rest until they were far away enough from that castle and the dragon, and by that time, the sun had began to rise for a new day. Once they reached a clearing, both Johnathan and Speedwagon collapsed from exhaustion, panting heavily. [Name], on the other hand, spun around in circles, laughing happily as she did. 

“You rescued me! You’re both amazing and incredible.” Speedwagon rose one arm up, extended his thumb up before letting it fall back down onto his chest.

“No... problem...princess.” he panted, trying to regain his breath. 

“It... was no... trouble...” Johnathan spoke through the pants, dragging his body towards the stream of water and taking gulps of the crystal water. [Name] smiled brightly, sitting beside Speedwagon who looked at her with a smile,

“I never imagined my rescuer would be an Imp.” she admitted with a small shrug before continued, “Though, your heart is pure and I cannot thank you enough.” As she spoke, she lowered her head down and pressed a soft kiss onto his lips, catching the Imp off guard.

A sudden sense of warmth flooded his exhausted body, as if a small stream of light flowed through his blood, making him feel light and whole. Unlike any magic he has ever encountered before. Closing his eyes, he leaned into the kiss, cupping her face as he did. Johnathan smiled at this, he was fully aware of what was happening. 

Speedwagon was Princess [Name]’s knight in shining armour, and he was fine with that. After all, his eyes were already set on someone else. Perhaps Speedwagon will find his Happily Ever After after all. 

[what-inthe-goddamn]

Fallout 4 companions react to walking across a frozen river, when suddenly they hear a rather alarming “CRACK,” from behind them, followed by a splash. They turn around to where Sole should have been following them, and they’re gone. And there’s a hole in the ice. Bonus points if they also heard cursing just before Sole disappeared.

Ada: When Ada registered the cracking noise behind her shestopped walking. She heard a soft “Oh shit” before a splash. When she turnedaround, Sole was missing, and a giant hole in the ice was in their place. Ada cautiouslytrekked over to the hole, looking for a sign of Sole. They suddenly brokethrough the water gasping for air, fervently trying to drag themselves out ofthe water. She outstretched her arm to them, which they grabbed and used topull themselves out. “That was a close one. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

Cait: “Uh oh.” Cait stopped in her tracks when she heardSole utter those words. The ice cracked behind her and heard Sole’s body dropinto the water below. Immediately she ran over to the hole in the ice and fishedher hand around in the icy water. A hand grabbed hers, and she tugged at ituntil Sole was out of the water and up onto the ice. “Dammit, Sole. Are youalright?”

Codsworth: Codsworth whirred his body around just in time tosee Sole plunge into the water through the broken ice. “Oh no, sir/mum?!” Bythe time he made it to the cracked ice, Sole was already pulling themselves upout of the water. “Oh, thank goodness! Let’s get you warmed up.”

Curie: The distressed slew of curses after hearing the icecrackle behind her made Curie jump. She quickly turned to find Sole missingform the spot they were just at moments ago. Curie dashed over to the placethey fell in and waited for movements. A hand shot out of the water, trying tograsp something, anything. She took the hand and managed to pull up Sole ontothe ice. “Mon dieu, let’s get you out of here quickly!”

Danse: He had strongly recommended not crossing this riverand instead going around, but Sole insisted that the ice was thick enough tocross. Once Danse heard that ice snap behind him, he knew that he was right tohave said so. He made his way to the hole in the ice and was just in time tograb Sole’s arm before they completely sank down into the water. Once Danse hadgotten Sole up onto the ice he lectured them, “Next time I advise againstsomething, you should probably listen, Sole.”

Deacon: “Fuck, FUCK!!!” the unmistakable sound of Sole crashinginto the water made Deacon freeze for a moment. He whipped his head around, andSole was gone. Acting fast he skidded over to the newly made opening they justfell in, kneeling down and reaching his arm into the water for them. Sole eventuallyresurfaced and grabbed onto him; allowing Deacon to lift them out of the water.“Holy shit boss, you alright?”

Dogmeat: Dogmeat heard the faint cracking of the ice and glancedbehind him to see Sole missing. He trotted back to the spot they were just at,but only found a hole in the ice. He whimpered, sniffing the edge of the icefrantically. They were right here! He waited patiently for what seemed likeages at that spot. Then an arm came up from under the water, and Dogmeatquickly grabbed onto the sleeve and tugged at it until Sole’s head came upabove the water. With his help they crawled out of the hole. Dogmeat wasrewarded with a bunch of kisses and thank yous from a shivering Sole.

Gage: Once he heard the ice start to break, he snapped hishead around and saw Sole plunge into the water below them. “Shit, shit. Shit!” Gagesprinted towards the crack in the ice, barely grabbing their hand in time tostop them from completely sinking down. He helped them out walked them off theice as they thanked him kindly. “Don’t worry about it, boss.”

Hancock: “Oh damn…” Hancock picked up Sole’s voice right beforethe cracking of the ice started. “Sole?” he glanced over his shoulder. They weregone, and that alarmingly large opening in the ice was in their place. “Fuck.” hemuttered. Hancock dashed to the cracked ice and tried to grab anything, somethingthat could be Sole. He finally gripped something and pulled. Luckily it wasSole’s arm, and they were back on top of the ice in seconds. “Woah, almost lostyou there.”

Longfellow: In the past, Longfellow had walked across frozenlakes and rivers when he went on fishing trips up north here, but the seemed tohave misjudged how safe this particular river was; because halfway across heheard Sole break through the ice and sink below. Longfellow rushed to theopening and yanked Sole out of there quickly. “You alright?” he asked. Sole’sonly response was the violent chattering of their teeth.

Maccready: Maccready’s stomach dropped when he heard the distinctsound of ice breaking. He froze until he heard Sole curse briefly before splashinginto the water. Maccready spun towards the sound, hightailing towards the breakin the ice. Sole was still barely holding onto the edge. “Stay still!” heshouted at them. They barely managed to hold onto each other as Sole wasdragged out of the water. “Shi-shoot, that was bad. C’mon.”

Nick Valentine: He should’ve known better. Why the hell didhe agree to walk out here? When Sole fell through the broken ice Nick immediatelyregretted his choice of crossing this river. “Dammit.” He cursed at himselfwhile he made his way to Sole; who was struggling to stay above the water. Hegot them out in a flash and asked them if they were okay

Piper Wright: Ice cracked behind her, and Piper froze upwhen Sole screamed. No. She darted over to the freshly caved in hole, takingtheir hand and digging her heels into the ground to bring them up.

Preston Garvey: Sole’s screech when the ice cracked, and cursingthey plunged into the water jolted Preston. He frantically searched for them onthe ice, only to find them barely hanging onto the edge of the hole. “I’ve gotyou, general!” Preston quickly took hold of their arms and dragged them out ofthere. No words were exchanged at first, but the two of them both looked ateach other with horrified expressions. “Preston, thank you.” He waved it off. “Noproblem, I got your back.”

Strong: Strong had heard something rack behind him, and heturned towards the sound. Where did Sole go? “Human?” He stepped over towardswhere Sole just was. Strong instead found a hole in the ice. “Uh oh…” Sole thenbroke through the water and gasped for air. “There you are-“ “Get me out!” Soleshouted at him. Strong quickly took hold of them and lifted them out of thewater, setting them down once he reached shore. “You okay human?”

X6-88: He heard the ice breaking from the rear and tried to reachSole before they fell into the water below. They sank into the water below,arms flailing as they tried to grasp the edge. X6 swiftly took hold of theirhand, hauling them out an up onto the unbroken ice. “Are you alright, Sole?” “You… you saved me! Thank you!” X6-88 smiled at them and shook his head. “Don’t worryabout it.”

[scribeofmorpheus]

Robin’s Girl Finale

Pairing: Robin x (OC) Clara | Steve Harrington x Reader

Sequel to: Meet Cute | Chapter List

Chapter Title: Love is a Battlefield | Words: 4k

Note: Okay so 1. I love Clara and Robin 1000% more now and I’m sad to see them go, but I’m happy with the ending even if it leaves things open -I may do a Christmas special again down the road, see where everyone ended up, but I’m also really happy with this ending. It’s been a pleasure to write some fluff for Robin! Want more Stranger Things? read His Girl Tuesday’s Prologue!

If you enjoyed this story don’t be afraid to like, reblog or comment. I don’t bite. Taglist is open just send an ask. 

Playlist by Ari ♥ 

~

The lights swelled like a kaleidoscopic rainbow. Vibrations from the band’s speakers turning the floor into an erratic heartbeat. You, Clara and Robin, formed a triangle at the centre of lively inebriated masses. Swaying, shuffling, giggling and seeing through a blurry lens –everything was pleasantly numb. The euphoria of living in the moment, coupled with copious amounts of alcohol, chased all the worries and problems that plagued your mind since your fight with Steve.

You would occasionally catch glimpses of Robin and Clara blushing or touching fingertips lightly, inching towards each other like magnets as time passed, hair flipped to hide twinkles of joyous emotions. The only times they’d part was when they noticed you drifting away from them or when an unwanted guy tried to butt in.

When your plastic cup was empty, you tumbled into Clara and shouted with a numb tongue over the bass, “Mmmmm gonna ge’ a refill!”

Clara squinted her eyes at you, not having heard through your slurs. Robin leaned in to repeat what you said, “She’s gonna get a refill!”

Clara made an O-face before giving you a thumbs up.

You pushed and shoved your way to the bar, but when you held out your hand to grab onto the back of a bar stool, you misjudged the distance and tripped forward- a loud yelp leaving your lips.

A pair of hands helped you up, “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” you waved them away, looking up to see a strange young man staring down at you, his efforts of stifling his laugh failing. A certain boyish charm to him, although the crucifix earring and leather jacket made him look almost as tough as Clara.

“Can you stand?” He asked sincerely, an earnest smile. In the poor lighting, the stranger looked almost like Steve, only with darker, longer hair.

You giggled, tingly fingers trailing down his cheek with no grace, “Ya kno’ you rem- remine… re-mind me of my boyfriend Shteve!”

The guy’s smile slipped away, “Is he here with you?”

You pouted, shaking your head way too fast, “You are shweet. No. He was bein’ an ash! He-he, asshhh. Wait…” you cleared your throat. “Ass!”

Tears started welling up in your face as your pout grew deeper, “We had a faa- fight. A big one.”

The stranger’s eyes grew wide as he didn’t know how to handle your mood-swing and sudden outburst, “Uhh, that sucks. You got friends with you or…?”

You nodded, again too fast, your balance gone to hell as your vision began to spin, “Clara and Rob-” you hickuped. “Robin.”

“Okay,” his eyes lit up with relief. “Stay here, I’ll go look for them, sit on this chair.” He helped you onto the barstool and disappeared into the crowd. His metal-head boots like some new-age cowboy with steel tips for spurs.

A few minutes later, after trying your best to seem sober, Clara and Robin walked towards you, the cute boy from before pointing at you before throwing up a peace sign and melting into the crowd once again.

"Come on, you're worse than Robin right now," Clara chuckled a teasing wink thrown Robin's way.

Robin swayed a little, although she was much better with her footing than you, her dusted cheeks and nose indicating she was more tipsy than sober. Clara had always been good at holding her liquor, but the flush on her chest was gave away the fact that none of you were a hundred percent sober.

"You think you're such a badass missy," Robin's words were less slurred than yours no less butchered though. "With your leather jacket and cool highlights and… stuff. I had a train of thought, it's gone."

Clara giggled, "You’re cute when you're flustered."

Robin blushed harder and you groaned, "Get a room you two!"

"Let's get some food in you," Clara slung her arm around your shoulder, Robin took your other side. Together they helped you out of the buzzing dancefloor and towards the cold night air, stumbling like a three-legged race team towards a fast food place nearby.

***

"I'm jussht so tired of him being secretive," you whined into your French fries.

Clara rolled her eyes, "Oh boy, I'm not good with boy drama. Babysit while I order seconds?" She looked at Robin pleadingly.

Robin hummed a yes, nails tapping at her teeth in a drumming sort of way.

"I just want us to have a future away from Hawkinsh!" You grumbled loudly, ignorant to the fact Clara has all but sprinted away from your dramatic recount of your romantic woes. Several strangers glared at you with confusion and humour, the sound of chewing and slurping and laughter drowning you out so you weren’t nearly as loud as you could’ve been. 

Robin kept her head low, slurping on her cherry coke greedily.

"Am I not enough anymore?" You sunk down onto the table, flicking French fries about.

Robins's eyes grew wide, "No, no, no! That buffoon is crazy about you! He's just scared to tell you the truth." Robin snorted, "He's afraid you'd think he's crazy!"

"You know?" Your head shot up.

Robin chocked on her drink, fizz running out of her nose as she beat her chest to cough, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to..."

"Shpit it out," you threatened her with a French fry.

Robin chomped down on the fry and leaned closer, "Oh, hell, he's too much of a wimp to say anything and I for one will not stand by his incessant stubbornness!" Robin crooked her finger, urging you to lean closer like you were about to talk of some great conspiracy. "It started with Russian's and a giant hell hole under Starcourt Mall..."

***

Steve was awoken by the sound of the telephone ringing. Dustin and Lucas were passed out on the other sofa, the proverbial babysitters Robin had called to look after him. They had provided ample distraction by having a VHS marathon coupled with some Monopoly and way too much sugar. Mike was out of town visiting Eleven and Will. Max's life was a little bit chaotic ever since what happened to Billy, there was talk of her parents planning to move. Lucas had spent most of the evening talking about his worries on that issue. Poor Dustin had to deal with two lost boys and their romance troubles.

When no one budged after the first few rings, Steve kicked the blanket that was too small for his entire length and shuffled to the phone, sliding on the polished floors with his less than clean socks.

"Y'ello," Steve said with less gusto than should be accompanied with such a greeting.

"Steeeeve!" His girlfriend dragged out the E's in his name, a drunken pitch detected in how she slurred her S's.

"Y/N? Are- are you drunk? Where are you calling me from right now?" Steve glanced at the clock and realised it was ten past midnight. "Jesus, are you guys still out?"

She ignored his questioning and simply giggled like she did when she blushed, "I know your secret!"

Steve froze, panic spreading through his veins. "I- I don't know what you-"

"Shhhh! Don't try and play dumb Mr Perfect Hair! Robin-" she hiccupped. "Robin told me everything!"

"How much is everything?" Steve gulped.

"I know about the Russian's and the Mind Barbeque'r and the secret superpower kids club..."

"Shhhh! Okay, so you do know--"

"Did you really think I wouldn't believe you?"

"I… Yes."

"Well, you're right. The only reason I'm not freaking out right now is because I can barely count to 20 without running out of fingers! Or losing count!"

Steve smiled at her adorable tipsy behaviour, but a part of him couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about her and Clara and Robin out on the town so late.

"St-Steve?" She asked with a hint of insecurity.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Will you promise me something?"

"Sure..."

"If I don't remember this completely absurd story that Robin just told me tomorrow," she sniffled. "Promise me you'll remind me. And if I believe you without having… one, two, four, six? Eight drinks in my system, then promise we'll talk about what comes next."

"What comes next?" Steve felt something spread throughout his stomach –it wasn’t butterflies, but it wasn’t dread either.

"I…" the line went silent briefly, another sniffle coming through. “I don't know. But I know I don't want to break up. But I'm also not ready for Hawkins to be my door stopper, Steve."

Steve leaned his head against the wall, a deep sigh leaving his lips as he kept his gaze fixed on the bulb flickering above. A twitch in his fingers caused them to instantly ball up into a fist at the blinking light. His heart sank, focusing on how much, and how little, was being said during the phone call.

Steve whispered, "I know Y/N. I know."

She didn't say anything back. Steve pictured her holding onto the payphone with both hands, hoping he'd say something, anything. When he didn't, she let out a soft whimper. The simple sound diluted by the murmurs and laughs in the background and yet still powerful enough to cause him to bang the back of his head into the wall in frustration after she hung up.

Few moments in one’s life demanded an immediate choice and this was one of them. He could wait for tomorrow, see what he would do if she forgot, or wait and see what he'd do if she remembered.

Steve's eyes trailed to the notepad where Robin had written the name of the club they had gone to. Now was his time to decide.

Out of nowhere, a pair of keys flew into his cheek. Steve flinched from the contact, looking up to see Dustin leaning against a doorframe, a chocolate bar in hand.

"What the hell dude?" Steve demanded just loud enough to stir Lucas from his snoring. "You could have taken out my eye."

"So what's the great monster hunter Steve Harrington going to do now?" Dustin asked with an arched eyebrow.

Steve blew out a sigh, his hand ruffling his dishevelled hair, "I don't know."

"You want my advice?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"The hero always goes after what he wants. You just gotta chose whether you're the hero this time."

"When did you get so wise?" Steve said using amusement to mask his slight crisis of conscience.

Dustin took a bite of his bar, "It's not that hard. I just have to look smarter than you."

Steve rolled his eyes and Dustin chuckled before going back into the sofa.

Steve tapped his foot, eyes falling to the set of car keys Dustin had lobbed at him. They were the ones with the glass token Y/N had given him for Christmas. It was hard to believe everything that had happened was all centred around a roll of candy. The ticking of the wall clock made him nervous with each breath.

***

 After Robin had finished telling Y/N everything she knew -or at least remembered- she sat back, a smug look on her face.

The poor girl sitting opposite her looked like she was trying to swallow marbles. Her mouth agape as she tried to assimilate all the crazy Robin had just filled her in on. "So… all those times Steve would say something weird, he really wasn't talking about DnD? I knew a guy like him didn't play DnD! I asked him what class his character was and he said 'Batter'! That's not a thing!" Y/N mumbled loudly.

Robin panicked, "Oh, shit! Don't tell Clara!"

Y/N's eyes went wide, "Me you tell, but for some reason, the girl arm wrestling with a man double her size over there is off-limits?" she pointed to Clara who was indeed arm-wrestling a guy twice her size.

"I'm not afraid she won’t believe me, I'm afraid she will and then she'll demand to see the girl who can make things float with her mind. How would I explain that to Steve? Or any of them? Those guys are super-" Robin wiggled her fingers like jazz hands. "Up-tight about their secrets. Especially Joyce. They're worse than the Russian's…and I cracked a Russian secret code once!" she whispered, her head hunkering low so her chin nearly touched the table.

"Yes!" Clara shouted in triumph a few tables away, hands raised high. Her opponent simply flashed her an impressed smile, shaking her hand in defeat. As she sauntered over to their table, Robin kicked Y/N's shin.

"Look normal, she's coming."

Clara did a ridiculous dance-walk, her index fingers pointing at both Robin and Y/N, "Who is the strongest woman in the world?" she sing-songed.

"Definitely you," Y/N humoured her. "And not a teenage girl..." she whispered afterwards, eyes still buggy.

Robin choked on her cherry coke when she heard that, slamming the table after Clara rose her brows. "This is some damn good cherry coke!" She tried to cover up.

Clara simply shrugged and slid in next to Robin, their hands instinctively finding each other, pinky fingers locking as though they had just sworn a picky promise telepathically.

"Ugh!" Y/N groaned, rolling her eyes so far back her head Robin wondered if they'd stay permanently white. "You guys are so disgustingly adorable."

Clara tried to act like a smart ass, a casual look on her face, "I have no idea what you mean. We're just three friends enjoying a post alcohol poisoning meal."

Y/N pointed her index and middle finger so it looked like a V. "I used to call someone my friend when we went out together too, then I called him my boyfriend by accident during my film-making trivia babble-rants and it stuck." Another whine let her throat just as her forehead fell lifelessly onto the table with a painful thud. "Ow! And now we're… complicated!" She declared dramatically with a fake half sob, causing patrons nearby to do a double-take.

One of the waitresses carrying empty plates glanced over at their table, frowning when she noticed Robin and Clara semi holding hands in the space between their thighs. Her intuition catching on quick that it wasn’t just a meaningless gesture of friendship. Clara glared at her defiantly, but Robin recoiled, pulling her hand free. For some reason, that judgemental look had made her feel like someone guilty of committing a crime -of being a freak- and her mouth went dry.

Feeling a sudden wave of emotions hit her, Robin excused herself from their table and trotted to the restrooms so she could be alone, away from any potentially prying eyes and the feeling of being naked in front of an entire classroom.

Gasping for air, her hands trembled against the enamelled steel sink of the girls restroom. The door burst open and Clara leaned next to her, hands cupping the side of Robin's face hidden behind cascading hair.

"Hey, what the hell was that? Are you okay?"

Despite her poor choice of wording, Robin knew Clara was simply worried for her. In some ways, she reminded her of a prickly pear; tough and thorny on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside.

"It's nothing, just leave me alone for a minute, okay?"

"Oh bullshit it's nothing. It was that snooty nosed waitress wasn't it. Don't pay her any attention."

"That's easy for you to say..." Robin bit back.

Clara scoffed, "Oh, right! Because I don't look away or keep my head down when people are assholes, that instantly translates to me not giving a shit or feeling like shit sometimes?"

Robin stared at her in surprise, "But you never say anything."

Clara's eyes narrowed as she wrung her neck, "You think it doesn't bother me that we can't just hold hands in public like any Tom, Dick or Harry and the Marry Sue's on their arms? Because it does. It bothers me a lot!"

The lights flickered before Robin stammered, "B-but… you just… you're always so tough."

Clara snorted, her hand slamming against the door when another person was about to enter, blocking the door. "Occupied!" The lady scoffed and muttered a complaint before her heels traipsed away. Clara continued as though nothing had happened, "News flash Robin!" she flicked a strand of Robin's hair. "So are you!"

"What?"

"Jesus! You're one of the funniest and smartest people I know and you're never scared to let the whole room know!" Clara closed the distance between them, her fingers lacing with Robin's. "And you love who you are. You don't try to fight it or pretend to be different and that's… fucking brave. One of the bravest things anyone can do is be comfortable in their own skin. I'm tough sure, but that's a shell in its own way. You? You're your own person, nerdy brain and all."

"I… I didn't think of it that way..." Robin's lips quavered, a deep flush adding colour to her cheeks.

Clara leaned in, bringing her hand to cup Robin's face again so they shared the same eyeliner, a soft smile of admiration easing her usually tough features into a warm show of brightness.

"Robin, you are phenomenal," she blinked slow, taking another step closer. "And I want to get to know you… more, beyond friendship."

Sparks electrified the air, making it supercharged with static, tingles travelling from Robin's arms to her fingertips and into Clara. Their contact a sacred exchange of longing and desire, a feeling so primal, so old, and so right! It chased away all of Robin's fears and doubts, wiping that feeling of shame from the slate, freeing her chest making her feel like she was breathing for the first time in a long time.

Robin smiled, wholeheartedly and Clara mimicked her response, sweet giggles bubbling between them. Their grip on each other’s hands tightening, promising to keep the other anchored. It was a silent promise to be true to themselves and only themselves. A defiant fist in the air to society’s expectations of them and the first brick of a foundation intended to strengthen the bond of trust between two deviants -between two humans whose love-struck hearts beat with the ferocity of all the great loves worth swooning over. 

Feeling an undeniable pull, Robin decided to be daring and bold for once. Not brave in the form of fighting Russian's in an underground lab beneath a mall, and not brave in the sense that she could see the impossible and fling a firework at it like it was any regular old Sunday, but a braveness that meant taking a chance, opening up her heart to the prospect of heartbreak as well as the prospect of pure joy.

Her lips were so close to Clara’s she could feel her breath against her sensitive pink skin, and just when she was about to take that last step off the cliff and fully commit to her leap of faith, Clara pulled back, a furrow forming between the space of her beautiful eyes.

Robin felt heat travel up her face, her heart racing -but this time not from their electric connection. "I- I'm sorry, I thought we were having a moment!" She rushed to explain.

Clara held her face to muffle an exasperated exhale, "No, you weren't wrong. There was definitely a moment."

Robin blinked several times, "Then what's the matter."

Clara laughed, "Because dummy, I'm not going to let our first kiss be in the girls restroom of a shitty fast food joint filled with pretentious waitresses." She entangled their fingers back together again. "If I'm going to kiss you, it's going to be in daylight."

Robin beamed, "You know, you may have a foul mouth, but sometimes, you say the most perfect things."

Clara winked, "I'm unpredictable that way." She chuckled, bobbing her head towards the door. "Come on, I think I'm sober enough to drive. Let's go reunite our two clowns so they stop being walking black holes, sucking all the happiness out of the room with their moping."

 ***

You had spent more than ten minutes playing with the salt you'd emptied from the small salt packet, ring finger drawing weird outlines of doodles.

Clara and Robin burst out of the girls' bathroom with the goofiest smiles you'd ever seen -well maybe not as goofy as Dustin's when he beat Steve on the Atari.

And now you were thinking about Steve again.

Damn it! You cursed.

You glanced back at the two girls shamelessly enjoying each other’s closeness. They were different somehow, and not just because their shoulders kept brushing against each other and they didn't once try and pull away or hide a smile behind a curtain of hair, they were more confident. And then it hit you, they were starting to fall for each other, their thoughts reserved for each other and not the gawking world around them.

After paying the check, Robin helped you walk considering you were the only one stumbling now. After passing a few streets, without warning, Clara stopped dead in her tracks, making your nose bury itself under her shoulder blade.

"Oof!" You rubbed the nib of your nose with a disapproving pout. "Warn someone before you decide to pull the hand brakes, Clara!"

Clara's hand waved in the air as if she were trying to hail a cab, only it was waving at Robin.

"Are you seeing this?" She asked.

"Oh my..." Robin froze for a moment, repeating Clara's hand gesture at you. "Tell me you have a candle."

You looked at Robin as if she were an alien from outer space, "Why would I have a candle?"

"Because I think you're about to have a Sixteen Candles moment."

Clara turned her head, "A what moment?"

Robin goggled at her, "You've never seen Sixteen Candles?"

You hopped on your tippy-toes to see beyond their shoulders, curious as to what grabbed their attention. "Can… you… guys… move? I… can't… see!"

They ignored your jumping and nudging, Clara opening her palms up to the air with a shrug that made her leather jacket groan. "I'm more of a Saint Elmo's Fire girl," she said.

Robin's jaw dropped even further, "Marry me."

For the first time in years, Clara blushed, deeply. "Alright, but I'm keeping my last name. Clara Buckley sounds like a suburban housewife's name and suburban bliss is my greatest fear!"

You sighed, rolling your eyes and squeezed between them, "What are you guys--"

Cars zoomed across the road, casting red racing ghosts from the lights of their tail-ends, the entire street looking like a sped-up music video. Past the foot and car traffic was a parked car, familiar, and banged up to hell. Leaning against the car’s door was Steve. His arms folded and his legs crossed at the ankle. He was looking to the side, a forlorn expression making his face transform into  a live rendition of a melancholic photograph. Your heart fluttered and then stopped and then fluttered again like it had just undergone a spell of rejuvenation. Your swirling vision reminding you of the large quantities of alcohol swimming with your rushing blood.

You turned to Clara and Robin, a searching gaze telling them you needed confirmation that you weren't hallucinating or past out in the dinner, they both nodded at you, a happy twinkle making their eyes shine with starlight. You felt the air leave your lungs.

A second after, your feet picked up in an unbalanced run, your body bumping into pedestrians and strangers. Steve saw a crowd begin to part and looked your way, the sadness draining from his face as he jogged to catch up with you.

Your bodies crashed together like two colliding meteors, Steve wrapped his strong arms around you, picking you up off the ground and letting out a relieved huff on your neck as he spun you around, slowly. Strangers ignoring the two of you were dreaded donation collectors. You tittered, feeling a bolt of lightning full of verve and newfound energy strike you. In the spin, colours seemed brighter, the air felt clearer and your mind was finally at peace.

"What are you doing here, Harrington?" you asked when he set you down.

Steve's thumb caressed your cheek, "I'm here to make sure you don't forget."

"Forget what?"

"That I love you," he captured your lips in a kiss filled with passion and tenderness. He fished something small out of his pocket and dropped it in your hands. It was his car keys, they still had that charm you had given him for Christmas.

"You called," was all he said as he wrapped you in a warm hug for a second time.

Your fingers brushed over the glasswork love-heart charm, the words: ‘Call Me’ slightly shaved down from wear and tear.

You sniffled as happy tears fell down your face, "I called."

 Clara and Robin had decided to drive back to Hawkins in her car while you and Steve drove back together. Your elbow was resting on the space where the window was supposed to be, fingers drawing waves through the wind, eyes looking out at the cityscape panorama rushing past, the song Love is a Battlefield playing over the radio as you slowly drifted to sleep, Steve's heavenly scent almost therapeutic.

Time past in chunks of long stretches and sudden gaps, your eyes fluttering open from time to time as you stirred and mumbled unintelligible words. At some point in the night, you felt your body lift as arms braced your spine and thighs, the thrumming of a strong heart knocking against your ear, soothing you into a tranquil lull. A kiss placed on your forehead, the brush of a blanket pulled over your shivering body, fingers smoothing the lines of your jaw and tracing the curves and dips of your throat.

"You are my forever, you know that?"

You moved further into the bright spot of warmth radiating beside you, your ear finding that glorious thrum again. Euphoria seeping from the base of your skull to your toes.

"If you forget, I'll remind you tomorrow. And the day after that. Forever."

 That morning, you had woken up in Steve's room, his body draped over yours possessively, a puppy dog pout taking over his sleeping face. His hair was messy as usual. You ran your hands through his long waves, breathing in the smell of his conditioner that still clung to his follicles.

"Morning," he murmured into the pillow.

"Good morning." He peeked at you through one eye, "So? Do you remember?"

You inched your face closer to his, "I do."

***

 Clara sat cross-legged on her window sill in her favourite pyjamas, a cup of hot cocoa in her hands. "Hey," Clara spoke with her lips skirting against her mug's rim, steam wiping around her eyes to form a foggy curtain.

"Hey," Robin replied, her mug equally close to her own lips. She folded her frame onto the windowsill, her knee brushing against Clara’s as she placed a sauce plate with a cupcake and a birthday candle between the diamond-space formed by their folded legs. “I got it wrong before.”

Clara cocked her head to the side.

“We’re the ones about to have a Sixteen Candles moment.”

Clara set her mug down, a smirk turning upwards, “Its daylight."

Robin looked up at her through hooded eyes, "So it is..."

“And I’m yours.”

Robin arched a playful brow, “A regular ol’ Robin’s girl, huh?”

 The End.

   Also: if you liked the playlist check out @multifandom-mixtapes blog and send her a request, she’s awesome (side note: now that the fic is concluded feel free to add more songs to the playlist Ari!)

Permatags: @gruffle1 @thechickvic @notawarriorjustyet @savethehoneeybees

Robins Girl & Meet Cute: @chims-kookies @electroma89 @thechickvic @mochminnie @timeladygallifrey

[katedoesfics]

The Great Calamity

Chapter Seven - A Change of Heart (Blades of the Yiga)

It was early in the morning when Zelda left Gerudo Town on her own. Despite Link’s aversions, Zelda insisted on respecting the law of the Gerudo which forbade men from entering, even despite Urbosa’s willingness to let him enter. Fortunately, Kara Kara Bazaar was not far from town, where Link anxiously waited for her. Despite this, Zelda was in dangerous territory. Unbeknownst to her, the hideout of the Yiga Clan - ex Sheikah who pledged allegiance to Calamity Ganon - was just on the outskirts of the desert, far away from curious wanderers. Their spies were scattered all over Hyrule in search of the princess and her knight, seeking a chance to eliminate them at any cost.

And Zelda had been found.

She was oblivious to their presence as they stalked their prey, but couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched; followed. The desert was eerily quiet and lifeless as she made the walk towards the bazaar where she would meet up with Link. She looked around her surroundings quickly, and back over her shoulder, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. Surely if anyone were following her, they would be easy to spot.

Her pace quickened as the bazaar came into sight. She was growing uneasy and found herself suddenly wishing Link were with her. She was, after all, exposed and vulnerable without him, without so much as a knife to defend herself.

She looked over her shoulder again, but this time, a figure blurred from the desert heat approached her slowly. She squinted against the sun as the figure began to take a more recognizable shape. It strode towards her for a moment, then raised its arm. The sun glinted off the steel of a blade and the figure started running - sprinting - towards her.

Zelda stumbled over her feet as she spun around in the desert sand and started running as fast as she could towards the bazaar. She sprinted across the desert, turning to look over her shoulder quickly at the approaching member of the Yiga Clan. He was much faster than her and was closing in on her quickly. Zelda pushed herself forward, sprinting as fast as she possibly could in the suffocating heat of the desert, but as she neared the bazaar, she was struck with the sickening realization that it was empty. She pushed onward desperately, but the Yiga Clan members were quicker still as two jumped out in front of her into her path.

Zelda spun around in an attempt to run in the other direction, but the other Yiga Clan member was behind her, then, stopping her dead in her tracks. They raised their weapons and Zelda stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. Her eyes darted around as the three closed in around her, taunting her as they spun their deadly blades.

They raised their blades in the air and she threw her arm over her in an attempt to defend herself, though she knew it would be useless. She closed her eyes as feet shuffled in the sand and she heard the sound of steel against steel. She opened her eyes, watching as a body fell to the ground beside her. She turned her gaze up to see Link standing before her, blocking her from the other two members of the Yiga Clan. They stepped backwards as he raised his sword threateningly.

Zelda looked up at Link, watching him as he stood defensively, protecting her from them. The two spun around quickly, taking off into the desert, but Link was quicker to react. He pulled out his bow and shot off two precise arrows and they dropped to the ground.

“Princess!”

Zelda shifted her gaze to the two Gerudo soldiers who rushed towards them. They pulled Zelda to her feet.

“Are you alright?”

Zelda hesitated, meeting Link’s gaze. “Yes,” she said quickly. She dusted off her pants. “Yes. I’m fine, thanks to Link.”

“Members of the Yiga Clan are scattered all over Hyrule,” one of the soldiers warned. She returned her scimitar. “I advise you to be aware of your surroundings at all times. They will stop at nothing to find you both and kill you.”

Zelda nodded. “Thank you,” she said. She turned back to Link, anxious to leave the desert. “Let’s go,” she said simply.

*****

They made it out of the desert without further incident, retrieving their horses from the stables. They rode in silence through the canyon until they got back into Hyrule Field. By then, it was late in the afternoon.

“Thank you,” Zelda said, finally breaking the silence as they left the canyon behind them. “For saving me back there.”

Link turned to Zelda, but her gaze was focused on the road ahead. “Of course.”

“I forget how…” Zelda hesitated. “...ill-equipped I am. I’m not trained to fight, or even defend. Father never saw that appropriate for a princess.” She sighed lightly, hating how vulnerable she felt in that moment. If she had it her way, she’d be doing this all on her own, well trained and well equipped. She’d never admit, though, how grateful she was for Link’s presence.

She looked over at Link when he said nothing further. “I suppose we should make our way to Zora’s Domain,” she said with a small smile. “Our last stop.”

Link nodded. “After we stop at the castle.”

Zelda narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”

“Because your father will kill me personally if I don’t bring you back safe.”

“He won’t do that.”

“I’m not taking any chances.”

Zelda smiled and turned her gaze to the horizon. “The Hero of Hyrule who is expected to defeat Calamity Ganon is afraid of the king.” She laughed lightly.

“Can’t save Hyrule if the king kills me first,” Link muttered, less amused than she was.

“Fine,” Zelda said, turning back to him. “I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

They rode across Hyrule until it grew darker, stopping for the night at the Riverside Stables. Zelda sat alone by the fire, eating her dinner, watching as Link untacked the horses. He scratched their necks and fed them apples.

Her gaze drifted to the stables, distracted by three giggling women. They stood by their own horses, but their eyes were across the way on Link. They whispered and giggled to one another. Zelda’s brows knit together at the interaction. She watched as one of the women walked over to him, a carrot in hand which she then offered to Epona.

The women spoke with Link, but Zelda could not hear what she was saying. She watched them for a moment. Link smiled at the woman and patted Epona’s neck as the horse took the carrot happily.

After a seemingly endless conversation, the woman walked away, waving her fingers at Link as she did so. Zelda followed her with her eyes as the woman returned to her two giggling friends and they resumed their whispering.

Zelda stood abruptly as Link made his way over to her. “Goodnight,” she said simply, before heading into the inn and leaving Link alone outside.

*****

It was early in the morning when they rode out. Zelda hardly spoke a word to Link as they rode, her mind going over the interaction with the three women from the night before. She didn’t know why the women aggravated her so much - or why she felt a strange pang of jealousy when they flirted with Link.

She was grateful when they finally arrived back at the castle by midday, eager for a distraction. However, her father anxiously awaited their return, and Zelda did not find any relief when he angrily confronted her. He waited just outside the stables, nodding to Link as he brought the horses inside, but otherwise did not acknowledge him, waiting until he disappeared.

“I’m-” Zelda started.

“I don’t want to hear it, Zelda,” the king snapped at her. “That move you pulled was childish. I expected more from you.”

“I just-”

“You are not to leave this castle without Link,” he hissed. “Do you understand?”

Zelda averted her gaze. “Yes,” she said quietly.

Her father’s voice softened. “It is dangerous out there, Zelda. You cannot be unprotected.”

She nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“I know you don’t like him,” he started, but Zelda shook her head quickly.

“No. He’s fine.” She met her father’s gaze. “I… misjudged him.”

The king smiled. His gaze turned to Link as he emerged from the stables. “I trust everything went well?”

“Yes,” Zelda said quickly, meeting Link’s gaze. “Without incident.”

She watched with relief as Link turned his gaze to the king and nodded.

“Good,” the king said. “Take some time to rest. When you’re ready, you should both head to Goron City. Daruk has expressed concern with Vah Rudania. It seems the Divine Beast has been acting strangely.”

Zelda nodded, feeling uneasy. “We can go now.”

Her father shook his head. “Tomorrow morning,” he said simply. He turned away and left Zelda and Link alone by the stables.

Zelda watched her father leave, then turned to Link. “Thank you.”

I am unsure how to put today’s events into words. Words so often evade me lately, and now more than ever. He saved me. Without a thought for his own life, he protected me from the ruthless blades of the Yiga Clan. Though I’ve been cold to him all this time… taking my selfish and childish anger out on him at every turn… Still, he was there for me. I won’t ever forget that. Tomorrow, I shall apologize for all that has transpired between us. And then… I will try talking to him. To Link. It’s worth a shot.

[sleepyfan-blog]

*Screams* Hewwos, um maybe, a bit out there but a version of sci from dreamswap that has helped the meme squad a fair amount of times- the last bad things happens bingo card

prompt : Bounty On Their Head

Fandom: Dreamswap by @onebizarrekai

Characters and pairing: DS Science!Sans, DS Nightmare, DS Cross, DS Error

Warnings: cursing

Word count: 1,962

Summary: Sci’s been here for just over a month and commits treason. Still, it’s for a good cause?

Sci had been working working as an intern for one of Justice Reign’s main laboratories for a little over a month, having just finished the rather extensive orientation and training program, though he was incredibly honored to have won a spot in such a well-respected organization. It was even a paid internship. He had room and board for free for himself and for his younger brother, Papyrus who was able to play with the children who were taken care of at the orphanage, and learned from the teachers that came to instruct the children. While Sci was a little… Unsure as to how he felt about the no-mercy policy when it came to dealing with criminals, he knew better than to speak up.

His supervisor shoved a pair of bulky and terrifying power-restraining cuffs and ordered him to “Take these down to the dungeon - someone dangerous has just shown up and they need these. Now. Here’s a note to give the guards so they know that you’ve got clearance to be where you’re going to deliver the cuffs. Make it fast.”

“Y-Yes sir!” Sci responded, nodding and walking as quickly as he could after he teleported to the uppermost level of the dungeon - showing the note to the guards when prompted to do so, not wanting to get into trouble.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time, and he was pushed unceremoniously into the cell, where there was a heap of purple and black clothing. Sci blinked and made his way cautiously further into the cell, poking the being with one of his feet and jumping back a little when it groaned and shifted. He took in a deep, steadying breath before carefully lifting the other up with his magic - the skeleton in his grasp having the strangest soul that he’d ever scene - it was the shape and size of an apple - and was a violet hue. Sci also read the other’s Stats - not that he meant to.

{Nightmare - Guardian of Negativity: 430/50000 HP, 500 ATK, 700 DEF. LV 3. Tired and determined. Your friend and former neighbor.} Sci sets the other down on the cot and moves over to the still unconscious skeleton, his hands shaking a little at the implications that information had just given him, pausing for a moment as he realizes that this is the latest version of the power-restricting cuffs that he helped to work on. He closes them with a click, deliberately ignoring the fact that one of the runes that would keep the other’s magic from being used is carved too deeply to be effective - and another is carved just incorrectly enough to mask the other’s magical presence instead of suppress it.

“Uhm…” He calls out uncertainly as he sees a hint of violet in the other’s eye sockets “Guard person? This prisoner is injured. Shouldn’t… Shouldn’t they be tended to?”

“… What did they pull you out a blind AU last week? You really have no idea who that is, do you?” The guard called out derisively, rolling their eyes - all ten of them. It was really impressive and a little intimidating “Nah, we won’t bother the medics for the likes of him. But if you have a bit of healing magic, then heal him if you like.”

Sci nodded, his hands lighting up green, and he knew that the other was awake as Nightmare as the check had told him the other’s name was, jolted softly as his magic soothed the other’s injuries. He didn’t have enough magic to bring the other back up to full HP, but it was well over half. He did recognize the other as Shade - one of his neighbors. The other tended to be reclusive and disliked going outside without his datemates with him. Sci had helped them out as best as they could - and he’d noticed that all three of them had been wary of Justice Reigns.

At the time he’d thought nothing of it. He had his reservations about such a powerful organization interfering with his timeline - despite the fact that their aid had helped everyone quite a bit. Lord Dream himself had broken the barrier that had sealed them all underground and had led the peace talks with the humans above. But Sci had been… Worried about what the cost of all of that would be… And he’d figured he didn’t have much of a choice when a JR representative had shown up at his door, asking if he would be interested in working in their science division.

He’d been having a bit of a get-together with Shade, Criss and Merrow, and as soon as he’d seen who was at the door, he’d sent Paps to tell them before going upstairs to be quiet, wandering slowly to the front door in order to give them time to hide. He’d also figured out when the JR patrols would go through Snowdin and shared the information with the three of them.

Now though… There was a choice before him. Should he help Shade - or rather Nightmare - who had been a good if awkward friend… Or should he stay quiet and live in comfort and security with his baby brother (while hating himself for condemning a friend to a not so pleasant fate)? He glanced around and shifted ever so slightly to the right so that the camera wouldn’t see his hands moving {Third rune on the inside of the right cuff will give if you push it, then they will come off completely. These cuffs are mostly defective. Stay safe, Shade.} He also pulled out the half-dozen spider-donuts that he’d been planning to surprise Paps with and quickly shoved them into Night-Shade’s mouth, boosting the other’s HP even further.

Night’s eye lights widen in shock and gratitude and he nods, signing a silent {Thank you. Stay safe.}

Sci nodded imperceptibly, smiling a little at the other before turning to the front of the cell and calling out “Okay, I’m ready to come out of the cell now.”

The guard person nodded, unlocking the cell and opening just wide enough for Sci to get out before slamming it shut and locking it securely “You newbies are always so soft on the criminal scum. You’ll soon learn that they deserve nothing more than what Lord Von Licht and the courts decide they get.”

“I… Uh-uhm, okay…” Sci responded, uncomfortable and worried.

They managed to make it about half-way through the dungeon when Criss and Merrow showed up in a flash of destructive magic, the distinctive staticky sound of Merrow’s portals warning Sci several seconds before they actually arrived, subtle though it was. He stared at the both of them before he decided that there was no job cushy and secure enough to make him abandon his friends.

Sci swiftly turned around and murmured “I’m sorry, you seemed… Like a decent person.” To the guard who’d been escorting him, summoning a bone attack and smacking the other hard enough on the head with it to knock the other out cold for several seconds. Sci quickly tied the other up using the cuffs that they had on their waist and threw the key ring at Criss, who stared at him in confusion, just barely able to catch it out of reflex “Hey guys… So it turns out I’m not JR material after all. Shade is three levels straight below us, that is if he hasn’t-”

Shade came barrelling towards them, sprinting at full speed, a dozen guards cursing and charing right behind him, the broken cuffs dangling from his wrists - precisely where Sci had told him to snap them. Sci yelped and called out loudly “N-No!” raising a thick wall of blue bones that was several feet thick and misjudging the distance so that they sprung up between Shade and the guards - giving them plenty of time to escape. He winked at a still stunned and confused Criss and Merrow before calling out “P-please l-let me go!” Making it sound as if they’d forced him to do that “Please… M-my little b-brother is e-elsewhere in the ca-castle… P-Please let me go…”

“I… What? I-I’m not-” Criss started, the confusion audible in his voice.

Shade interrupted him with a smack to the head, signing faster than Sci could read. He said “You should be useful enough as a hostage if my companion can’t get us a portal out of here before reinforcements arrive.” Shade grabbed him and held him close, muttering under his breath “Teleport to your brother and run out to the forest. We’ll meet you there and get you both out of here.” Sci nodded minutely in response.

Criss went “Oooh.” Softly and nodded before scowling at him “Yeah… You… Hostage-y person.”

Shade sighed and face palmed “Shut up, Cross…”

Merrow reopened the portal and Shade shoved him aside roughly, smirking “Thanks for the help. See you later, maybe.”

Sci was already teleporting over to where his brother was - taking a mid-afternoon nap in their small apartment in the living quarters section of JR’s castle. He shoved Papyrus’ most beloved treasures into his inventory as fast as he could. While he could hope that no one thought that he’d deliberately helped - he could sense guards running to his location - and he wasn’t going to put his brother in further danger, wrapping his baby brother up in his favorite blanket and teleporting away just as Von Licht himself burst into the room, claymore in hand, frowning dangerously.

Sci stumbled a little as he nearly ran into a tree, the teleportation much rougher than he was expecting it to be - but Criss grabbed him by a shoulder and flung the both of them through a portal, rushing after him a second later, the portal snapping shut as he found himself in a very strange place. “Where… Where are we?”

‘Welcome to the omega timeline. Home to the lost, outcast and innocent who are hunted.” Shade responded with a wry sigh “Since you helped to save my ass… I suppose I should properly introduce myself - good work fucking up those cuffs, by the way that was brilliant. I’m Nightmare - number one on JR’s hitlist for the crime of existing. Number two - Error and Number three Cross. They’re high up on the list too because they’re my friends and they can’t catch us if we’re together.”

“Come on, let’s watch some TV and eat. I’ve got some brownies on the counter.” Cross responded “We’ve got a spare room you can put the squirt.”

“I… Thank you for not leaving me behind.” Sci responded gratefully “Even though it put you in danger.”

“Of course we’d come after you too. You helped us dodge JR’s patrols at least a dozen times. Nightmare actually got captured on purpose because we were worried that Lord Von Fuu…” Cross’s eye lights flickered to the sleeping child “Fuuunky face might have grabbed you ‘cause he realized you were helping us.”

Unfortunately their episode of Undernovella was interrupted by a breaking bulletin - there was a new wanted criminal… His face was up. His crimes were aiding and abetting the escape of other prisoners… And kidnapping a child.

“Woo! Look at you, that’s an impressive amount of G for just that. You must have quite a noodle in your head if he wants you back. Were you working on anything sensitive?” Cross grinned, even as Error and Nightmare rolled their eye lights.

“I… J-Just the newest magical restraining cuffs and something about a kind of car?” Sci shrugged, frowning a little.

“Huh. Welp, welcome to being a villain. We’ll give you a jacket and lessons in Evil Laughter after this.” Nightmare responded with a small grin, patting one of the other’s shoulders. They returned to watching Undernovella, Papyrus safely asleep upstairs.

[sammyspreadyourwings]

Ohhh, 33 for either maylor or froger? (I'm not picky whatever you're comfortable with) (I love your writing!!)

33 “I saw you staring at each other, I just wasn’t sure if it was sexual tension or murderous rage.”

Hey! Smile!Era, enjoy!

Upon further reflection, Roger realizes that he may not have handled the situation with grace. He doesn’t know why Brian going out on a date bothered him so much, but then when Brian came back in a bad mood, he just had to open his mouth. He thought that teasing Brian would be the easiest way to get his attention back on Roger, but apparently, he misjudged how upset Brian was.

That was three days ago now and Brian hasn’t said a word to him. Roger almost wonders if it’s worse begging for forgiveness on his knees. He tracks Brian as he leaves the basement that they’ve commandeered for band practice.

“I saw you staring at each other, I just wasn’t sure if it was sexual tension or murderous rage,” Tim wanders over, “what happened?”

“I opened my mouth.”

Tim nods like this is explanation enough, and Roger feels anger rise. At least time is a fair enough target. He grabs the nearest object (his water bottle) and lobs it towards Tim’s head. The singer, to his credit, leans to the side and it whisks by him and smacks into the wall before falling into the ground. Roger doesn’t enjoy how much he has in common with the water bottle.

“What’d you two even fight about? How’d you even get into a fight with Brian?”

Roger shrugs, “I don’t really know. His date went bad and I was happy about it so I teased him and he snapped so I snapped back.”

“Why were you happy about his date going bad?”

He looks up at Tim in confusion, “because well…”

“Did you want to get with the girl he took out?”

“No, her laugh is too whiney.”

Tim looks lost, “okay so then you were upset because you haven’t managed to get laid in two months?”

Roger blinks, “has it been that long?”

“Roger,” Tim says in the same tone you would use with a child, “do you like Brian?”

“He’s my best mate.”

“That was my fault,” Tim says under his breath, “do you fancy Brian?”

“Do I fancy Brian?” Roger gapes.

He closes his mouth to explain how exactly he doesn’t fancy Brian and that he’s just jealous that he doesn’t always have Brian’s complete undivided attention on him. It’s not unusual for him, Roger likes attention, but the more he thinks about it the more he realizes that he’d rather have Brian’s attention over Tim’s or anyone else’s. There have been drunken nights where he curled up in Brian’s bed and awoken happier than he can remember (despite the hangover) just because Brian was the first one he got to see in the morning.

Upon further thought, he’s not turned off by the idea of Brian kissing him or hugging him or having sex with him.

None of that means that he fancies Brian.

The anger he felt when Brian said that he had a date, might mean that though.

“Hell.”

Tim sighs, “did you really just realize? You two have been making eyes at each other since you auditioned.”

Roger opens his mouth, “I was subtle about it! You’re the only one to realize!”

“All of London knows, except for Brian.”

“I’m going to go talk to him!”

He grabs his bag and bolts out of the basement. Tim is yelling something, but Roger doesn’t care to listen. It should be easy to catch up with Brian because he has to wait for the bus and there’s still fifteen minutes before the next one shows up. Sprinting as fast as he can, Roger barely makes it to the stop. He jumps into the bus just before the driver closes the door and rummages for the exact change.

The other riders are annoyed, but Brian is particularly angry looking.

Roger sits in front of him just to avoid being murdered.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to talk with you,” Roger says breathless, “but we can’t have the conversation in public.”

“Does it have to be right now?”

“Yes.”

Brian leans back, “if you’re sure.”

They don’t speak for the rest of the bus ride or the walk to Brian’s flat. Roger makes a mental note to phone Freddie if things go well. Brian lets him enter the flat first. He can see that the older man is tense, but Roger is nothing if determined.

“I’m sorry for how I acted after your date,” Roger begins, “it was unfair of me to take out my feelings on you. But thankfully, it’s knocked some sense into me.”

“Roger, do you have a fever?” Brian says mockingly.

It’s hurtful but a fair question, “no.”

“I forgive you, is that all?”

Roger shakes his head, “I told you, it knocked some sense into me. Or rather Tim did.”

Brian arches an eyebrow, “oh? And what was that?”

No matter how well he writes, he’s shit at words. He rolls onto his toes and grips Brian’s face in the same moment. Roger brings Brian’s face to his and the kiss is chaste, but it sends electricity down his spine. There’s no return pressure and Roger starts to move away when arms wrap around his waist and pull him closer. Brian deepens it, and Roger drops his hands to get more leverage by holding onto Brian’s shoulders.

They pull away.

“That’s what it was,” Roger says cheekily.

Brian looks kiss drunk and noses at Roger’s neck, it’s so unexpected that it runs straight to Roger’s dick.

“Hm,” Brian hums.

“Don’t leave me hanging here,” Roger remarks tilting his head to the side.

“What exactly is it you want?”

Roger wonders if he wants a quick shag but then decides that he doesn’t. That would ruin his friendship with Brian and that’s the last thing he wants in the world. He’s not sure that he wants a relationship either, but if that’s what Brian wants, he might be willing to go along with it. He does know what his simplest desire is.

“You. Just you and whatever you want to give me,” Roger breathes.

“I’d want it to be exclusive if we did this.”

“Done.”

“You’d have to say you’re with someone if asked.”

“Okay.”

Brian keeps eye contact but then leans forward his lips stopping centimeters from Roger’s lips, “be mine, Roger Taylor.”

“I’m yours, Brian May.”

[riley1416]

Rise of The Argons:

Found

Chapter 1

“Eve can you get me a water?” Max took his hazel eyes off the rocky back dirt road for a moment to glance at me.

Giving a nod, I swiveled the passenger seat around, facing in to the living area of the R.V. The ten year old Scott was on the love seat watching a cartoon I had put on the TV. The show was colorful and had a lot of funny gags. That was Scott’s favorite kind of show.

“Evey! Evey! Look!” Scott grabbed my wrist as I went to pass him.

Scott was a happy ten year old and none of the stress around him seemed to affect him. It was understandable though, he could not comprehend the gravity of our situation. Part of me was grateful for that. He was so innocent, that at least he was still smiling.

The RV bumped hard to the left, stumbling I managed to catch my balance on the counter. Looking up to the front of the RV, I found Max gripping the steering wheel, his eyes focused ahead. The road we were driving was not meant for an unsporty RV. It was a lone dirt road in the mountainous area around Alberquerque. We had completely avoided the city, which had been taken over by the Argans. Argans, monthly stuck to the cities and towns. Easier to take control of the population.

Non-Compliant humans were now stuck in a type of exile. They either traveled in small conveys, or small camps in rural areas. Well that was the non-compliant humans that were not a threat. A lot of humans had been captured. I had no idea what happened to captured humans, or the Argan sympathizers. The rumor I had last heard was that if you kept your head down around the Argans you may just be left alone. But those were only rumors that Max and I had come across in thee past few days.

“We have to stop.” Max huffed, angrily pulling the RV off to the side of the glorified goat trail.

Stop? Why did we have to stop? Wasn’t it too dangerous to stop? Especially so close to the city. My emerald eyes shifted to t he oblivious Scott, then back to Max. It was scary to think of us sitting idle on the side of the road. I rushed back to the front of the RV, to my older brother’s side. He could see my worry clear on my face.

“We’re almost out of fuel. I’ll have to take to cans and walk back to that station we passed get some.” Max pointed to the fuel gauge. “It’ll be safer if you watch Scott here.” He lowered his voice so Scott would not here his name being said.

Walk all that way back, carrying two can of diesel. How many miles back had we passed that fueling station? It had to have been over 20 miles back. That was dangerous, very dangerous. Besides two 5 gallon can empty was nothing but both filled and walking that far would be a struggle even for someone as fit as my brother. I plopped back in to the passenger chair, my emerald eyes beginning to cloud with frustrated tears. What could I do or say to stop him?

“Why did we stop them?” I frowned, shutting my eyes briefly to calm myself

“I thought we could make it with what we had. I misjudged the fuel mileage of this beast.” Max shook his head. “And we don’t have enough to make it back to the gas station.” He admitted rubbing his brow, seeming to be slightly annoyed.

“Max it’s dangerous to do that.” I pushed, still trying to chang his mind.

Besides such a long walk would be more than a free hours. It could even be a day or more depending on if he ran in to any trouble or not. I should have been more vigilant of our fuel situation. Though Scott was my main priority, I tried hard to help with everything I could. Max had said he would take care of everything involving the RV because he had been a mechanic in the army. I knew about vehicles and was taught by our oldest brother Roger. But with having to change Scott’s routine and dealing with the backlash had taken up all of my focus.

“A convoy could come by and help us out. You don’t have to take a suicide trek in the desert.” I argued in a low voice.

“I have to do it. Every minute we waste arguing about it, it a minute longer that I’ll be gone.” Max took a deep breath than his eyes softened. “Eve, it’ll be okay. I promise, I will be back. Just make camp here. The Argans will not bother you. You are not a threat.” He reached over placing a hand on my knee, giving it a squeeze.

There was no changing Max’s mind. I wanted nothing more than to just tell him we both could stay and camp here with Scott. As long as he kept his temper in check, Argans would not bother us. I knew all of my arguments would fall on deaf ears when Max made up his mind. I could only imagine that he was just as stressed as I was about everything going on.

“Max, Max!” Scott ran up to us. “I found my toy!” He was holding up a ken doll dressed in mock Army greens.

I couldn’t help but smile at both my brothers. Standing from the passenger seat as Scott shoved the ken doll into our brother’s face. Max only smiled taking the doll from Scott, complimenting on how well the doll looked. My own smile faded as I gave the two some space. How was I going to fend for Scott and myself if anything happened to Max, if he never came back. It took two people people to drive and watch Scott. Especially in an RV where he could get in to dangerous things, even with all of our precautions. Max had told me some stories he heard of Argans not tolerating the disabled like Scott. They killed them without a second thought. I had not witnessed this, but I had to take his word for it. He had gotten the information from one of his military contacts before the Take Over.

“Be safe!” I called to my brother’s back as he trudged back down the road we came.

“Bye! Bye Max!” Scott waved enthusiastically from my side.

Scott played happily in the sand at the end of the far end of the RV. He was still under the canopy of the RV. The sun was starting to set, it was a beautiful hot New Mexico day. It was easy to forget about all he bad and think this was all a big camping trip. But the reality was, that our new life was that we were Gypsies. Just Gypsies that were nomads with no set home. It made me wonder if humans would be pushed to the brink of extinction or not. Would we all be slaves or find some happy medium?

Sitting in a folding lawn chair I pulled from the cargo hatch, I watched closed my eyes. I had to try to keep calm. The rays from the setting sun warmed me, as I took a few needed deep breaths. It was almost time to fix dinner for Scott. Had to keep a sort of routine for him, to make him feel safe and secure. Even though Scott was not far down on the Autism scale, he still needed some structure. My mind was still wracked with worry about Max and our situation. I had to stay positive. Nothing back had happened so far. We had nothing but smooth sailing, which made my worries far worse to what may happen.

“Hey! Hey look!” Scott rushed to my side, pointing off in to the distance.

There on the road was a large dust cloud. It was a vehicle, a smaller one than the RV. I was on my feet, knocking the lawn chair backward. Could it be Max? The vehicle was traveling fast, very fast. Max would not be driving that fast. Any person who grew up on backroads knew this type of road was not meant for high speeds unless they were on a dirt bike or something similar. My heart leapt in to my throat, this could be a scenario that I had been fearing.

“Scott, get in the RV.” I guided Scott by the shoulders to the door of the RV.

Scott only blinked but obeyed. He seemed to sense my heightened anxiety and just went along with it. Shutting the door behind him, I turned my attention back to the fast approaching dust cloud. This would somewhat protect my baby brother if it came down to it.

“Please be Max.” I mumbled under my breath, glancing back to the door.

The sound of crunching metal and fiberglass filled the air. My attention snapped back to the dust cloud. It had mushroomed and there was a dust trail leading off to the right of it. They crashed. They would need help. Should I help them? I had to help them, they could die. There was a possibility that it could be Max, I had to go check it out. It was the right thing to do. Giving the RV door one last glance, I began sprinting toward the wreck.

[egopocalypse]

Egotober Day 5: Light of the Moon

Jackaboy Man rushed through the streets, zipping around the city in a flash. His eyes were focused on the view ahead of him as he pushed himself harder, trying to go just a little bit faster. He needed to go faster, why wasn’t he going faster?? He was depending on him, he needed to help him, to save him-

The superhero suddenly skids to a stop, finally reaching his destination. He feverishly scanned the surrounding area, looking for a way to scale up the building. His breath was coming out in harsh, fast pants that were increasing in speed as he panicked to find a way to access the roof. He was wasting time, it’s fruitless, he should just give up now, he wasn’t going to make it-

Finally, he found what he was looking for, a fire escape on the neighboring building. He took off less than a second after he spotted it, not wasting any more time. Precious seconds slipped away from him as he sped up the metal staircase, causing it to shake incessantly with every step.

Once he reached the top of the building, he peered through the darkness of the night to catch a glimpse of his partner. A flap of that unmistakeable cap caused him to breathe a sigh of relief. He made it.

Well, He thought, noting the gap between the two buildings uneasily. Almost made it.

The superhero took a deep breath to calm himself down, backing away from the edge to feel more grounded. Why they had decided to meet on a rooftop of all things was beyond him, especially since they both had a fear of heights.

He took several more deep breaths to center himself and closed his eyes to focus, calling on his powers once again. He took off sprinting as soon as he opened them, channeling his super speed to give him the momentum he needed to make the jump.

The edge inched closer and closer with every step and Jackaboy refused to second-guess himself as he leaped over the alleyway several stories below.

He misjudged the landing, however, and rolled inelegantly as he tried to stop his momentum. He was left sprawled on the roof, his suit ripped in several places as his body was littered with small scrapes and bruises that had already started to heal.

The other figure on the roof chuckled. “I almost thought you were going to miss it.”

Jackaboy Man groaned and rolled over on his side, making it easier for him to get up.

“I would’ve come sooner, but there was a bank robbery on 7th street and I couldn’t let them get away with it. Not when I could’ve helped.”

The figure hummed, patting the space next to him on the blanket that was set out. Jackaboy quickly obliged, mimicking the other’s posture and purposefully bumping their knees together. If the other noticed, he makes no note of it as he stares up at the full moon, choosing to keep a comfortable silence.

“I’m glad we set this up, Jackie.” The other stated softly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his face. The hero glanced at the figure as he started to smile as well.

“Yeah, this is really relaxing Marvin. We should do it more often.” The hero agreed as tucked his hands behind his neck and laid down, oblivious to the way the magician’s face twisted into a frown as he glanced back at the sky.

A shiver wracked through Marvin’s body, and Jackaboy mistook it for Marvin feeling cold. He scoots closer, trying to share his body heat with the magician, which was accepted gratefully.

Jackaboy snuck another glance at the eyes beyond the cat mask as he questioned his next action. He didn’t want to ruin what he and Marvin had, but at the same time, he couldn’t deny the feelings he had for the magician. Finally, he decided to try it and snaked an arm over the other’s body, twisting to face Marvin as he did so.

The magician was surprised, to say the least, but didn’t say anything as he curled further into Jackaboy’s body, the heat radiating from the hero hotter than a normal human. He buried his face into the hero’s chest, causing Jackie to blush as the magician started to purr lightly in his arms.

“Hey, Marvin??” Jackie asked, hating to break the comfortable silence, but needing to ask the question.

“Yeah, Jackie??” Marvin twisted his head to look up at the other man, and Jackie’s heart melted as he noticed the sleepy expression on Marvin’s face, which wasn’t helped by the way his hair had been tousled by the wind.

“How about the next time we stargaze, we do it from the house?? That way we’ll be warmer, and we’ll probably see even more stars than what we see now due to the lack of light pollution.”

Marvin hummed in agreement once again, his cheeks a rosy pink as well. “I’d really like that.”

Neither remembers who kissed the other first on that moonlit night, but once they started, they both forgot about the moon’s beauty in favor of the other’s, showering each other with affection until they fell asleep curled up under the stars.

[caprisonsofanarchy-blog]

Week 2 | Lauren | Forbidden

One… Two… Three…

Nothing.

Vee lets out a long sigh. She’s been stood in the forest for a couple of hours now, using all her strength and will power. She’s exhausted now. Her mother made it look so easy during their last lesson and yet, Vee still can’t replicate it.

“C’mon Vee, you’ve got this. Just… focus.” Vee thinks she must look crazy talking to herself like this, but if anyone found out what she was doing, the fact she was talking to herself would be the last thing they focused on.

Vee shuffles her feet into a sideways stance once again. Feet shoulder width apart and arms at her side. All she needed was to figure out how to do it once and she could repeat it every time.

“The energy doesn’t come from your mind and your thoughts, it comes from somewhere deep inside your soul. You only use your thoughts to control it once you’ve found it.” She hears her mother’s voice in her head. The issue is, Vee wasn’t sure where to find that part of her soul. It had taken a lot of her soul just to stay in the forest and keep trying. Giving up was looking like an incredible appealing option.

One more try. Vee was giving herself one more try before she packed her bag and went home to tell her mother she was a failure. Vee shuts her eyes and focuses on remembering. She imagined her mother and her brother, sat happily at the kitchen table as they enjoyed their last meal together. The last supper before he walked out the door and never came back. She imagined her mother, standing tall and strong as she brought Vee out to the woods for the first time. She imagined putting on her brother’s tattered purple leather jacket that he left behind. She imagined the way her mother had smiled with tears in her eyes when Vee walked out in it, her hair freshly dyed with purple streaks to match.

Vee’s hands felt hot. Which was unusual considering it was mid-October and nearing evening. She peaked out of her right eye and noticed a soft glow. Slowly, she lifts her hands and lets out a small shriek of excitement. She’d done it. Vee had found the part of her soul that produced it. The part that produced magic.

Vee could not stop laughing. If an onlooker didn’t think she was crazy talking to herself, they would now.

After several minutes of jumping around and screaming at the trees that she’d done it, Vee finally composed herself enough to look at the targets her mother had set up during their first lesson.

“Use your thoughts to control it,” Vee murmurs her mother’s words like religious script. She realised that to her mother, it is her religion, hence why she passed it onto her children. Unlike most religion though, there is no God. You are your own God.

Gathering the glow into a ball, Vee held it in the palm of her hand before closing her fist around it. She pulls her arm back before launching it forward like a baseball and missing the target by a hilarious distance. So hilarious that Vee snorts. Again and again she tries before finally hitting the bottom right corner of one of the targets.

The celebration dance is repeated as Vee jumps around in circles, excited to show her mother what she has achieved. But a snapping branch stops her mid-boogie.

Vee’s head snaps round, hoping to find an animal, expecting to find a solider. Instead she finds neither. In between the bushes there hides a boy. As their eyes make contact for the first time both enter fight or flight mode. The boy chooses flight, but Vee is having none of it.

“Hey!” she shouts as she sprints forward in his direction. The boy is fast, but Vee’s long legs allow her to gain on him, eventually tackling him. Vee was hoping the take down would be easy, but had misjudged the power in her jump. The two lose balance, tumbling over each other down the steep walls of a large ditch, which would prove difficult to escape from. This could work in Vee’s favour.

The boy scrambles to his feet, finally giving Vee a good look at her opponent. He seems to be a similar age to her however slightly more malnourished. His face is dirty and hair mops over his eyes, as if he had not known the luxury of a bath in a long while. His jacket was similar to Vees, leather and tattered, but with a few patches sewn on probably covering holes he had acquired during his supposed life away from civilisation. He stands tall, but his knees are bent, ready to pounce at any second. But Vee is prepared for any attack.

“What did you see?” she asks, purposefully.

“Enough.” His short reply does nothing but make Vee’s fists twitch.

“That wasn’t what I asked,” she spits through gritted teeth.

“You were practising magic,” he spits back.

“No I wasn’t.”

“Magic is forbidden, everyone knows that.”

“Well it’s a good job I wasn’t doing magic then.”

“You had a freaking ball of light in your hand,” he says, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the words he was saying.

“You were hallucinating,” Vee offers, politely.

The boy rolls his eyes, “There are scorch marks on the trees from where you missed.”

Suddenly, he moves. As he tries to slip past Vee, she sticks out her foot, tripping him face first into a pile of golden leaves.

“You really shouldn’t do that,” she mutters. He is on his feet again and the pair begin to circle, like two lions in a gladiator arena.

“I should report you,” he warns.

“See, I really can’t let you do that,” Vee shrugs matter-of-factly.

“Do you even know what the punishment for performing magic is?” the boy asks. Vee does not.

“I’m sure it’s painful,” she offers.

This time, Vee is the one to launch at him, using her words to propel her forward. It baffles her how the boy managed to dodge the punch, the one she threw with such force that she almost knocked herself over. Managing to keep her balance, she finds his eyes again. They’re a steely blue and stare deep, making her skin feel icy and hair stand on end.

“You’re in so much trouble,” he laughs, his expression baffled at her stupidity. In all honesty, perhaps Vee should have found a more secure location to practice. She’s always felt safe here with her mother and did not think anyone could invade. How could she be so naïve?

“Seriously, man! Cut me some slack. It was harmless magic! It’s not like I was hurting anyone.”

“You just tried to punch me!” he shouts.

“Well…” Vee’s brain has no excuse. “You’ve got me there but this situation is an exception and you know it. You’re gonna get me maimed or worse!”

The boy laughs whole heartedly, as if they were friends bantering. Then he tries to walk away. But they’re not friends and this is not a game. This could potentially mean Vee’s death. And she’s not ready to die.

With a battle cry she sprints towards him, jumping onto the boy’s back. She would have at least thought there would have been a slight struggle considering his slim appearance, but in seconds the boy has Vee flipped over his shoulder and flat on her back. Vee splutters as the wind is knocked out of her and the boy stands above her with a smirk on his lips. She scowls.

“I’m Jonny, by the way,” he smiles down at her.

“Vee,” she growls back up at him.

Jonny offers her a hand, which Vee bashes away. He then offers his other hand. Vee’s eyebrow involuntarily raises in query, to which the boy just shrugs. Reluctantly, she allows Jonny to help her up. Where they go from here, she wasn’t sure. She was half expecting having to tie him up and drag him back to her mother so she could wipe his memory with some special herb tea or something stupid. But here they stand as if the last ten minutes had not happened.

Jonny’s body language has changed from defensive to relaxed as he perches on a rock and sits in silence. After several moments of this deafening silence, Vee can’t wait anymore.  

“Are… are you gonna tell?” she whispers. She feels like a small child, vulnerable and completely helpless.

Jonny shakes his head.

“Nah, you’re not dangerous enough just yet,” he chuckles to himself.

“Hey! I can be dangerous!” Vee defends herself, scolded by his remark.

“You could barely hit one target, let alone a person,” Jonny comments.

“You know, you talk a lot of shit for a snitch,” Vee spits back at him. His expression changes to one that mirrors hers.

“I’m no snitch.”

“What are you then?” she asks, bluntly.

Jonny smirks, pulling up his sleeve and looks at his hand. Vee gasps as he snaps his fingers, producing a small flame in the palm of his hand.