#‘us history? crap i forgot i’m taking that class—‘

[porcelainvino]

britney/brittany episode is so FUNNYEHSJDJRJ

[ptergwen]

love is more than a word

w/c: a very ouch 3.6k

warnings: so so so much angst and an unhealthy (ish) relationship

summary: after nearly four years together, peter has stopped trying

a/n: listen y’all i don’t know what came over me when i made this but i think it’s the saddest thing i’ve ever written? uh try to enjoy tho

-

you never thought this would happen, but you’re getting tired of peter. it isn’t your fault. that cliche it’s not you, it’s me line doesn’t apply here.

at first, you actually did find yourself believing the it’s me part. you’d came to the conclusion that you expect too much from peter. he goes to class, he works, patrols, sometimes parties, takes you out when he can. he’s got a lot going on for a full time college student, which is a busy life to lead on its own.

it’s why you don’t complain when he wants to spend the night in and order a pizza instead of cooking together like you’ve been wanting to try. it’s why every time your friends ask you two to hang, you have to reluctantly explain that peter is passed out at eight o’clock on a saturday.

there’s a lazy “wanna make out?” some nights, if peter isn’t yawning when he steps through the front door. even that has lost its enjoyment. kissing peter doesn’t give you the rush it used to, the taste of his strawberry chapstick not flooding your senses and intoxicating you. it’s become predictable. comfortable. boring.

peter is boring.

you’ve slipped into unspoken routine. say your hello’s, work on separate assignments in different rooms. peter eventually yells something like “babe, you hungry yet?” across the apartment, his passive way of asking you to make dinner. you usually order takeout because why make an effort if he doesn’t?

you might watch one of the ten movies peter has liked since before the start of your relationship. he’ll usually fall asleep during it. no surprise there. his overpacked schedule exhausts him, which you’ve talked to him about spreading himself too thin. peter is too nice and can’t say no, so this is where it leaves him.

the main reason you’ve stayed with him is that he can’t take care of himself. he’s clueless about paying the bills, sorting his laundry, simply remembering to drink water. peter wouldn’t be able to go a week without you. he even says it himself.

“crap, i totally forgot about these,” when you picked up his special ordered textbooks from your school library. “can food go in the garbage disposal?” a rare time you didn’t wash the dishes. “thank you, y/n/n. you’re literally a lifesaver,” whenever you do a task for him that someone in their 20s shouldn’t need assistance with.

you didn’t used to mind much. he watches over the city every night. you felt you should return the favor. spider-man could use some help, too. after the almost four years you’ve been together, peter has become completely dependent on you. it only got worse when you moved in together your junior year. you’re concerned how he’ll manage later in his adult life.

you’d think he’d be a little more passionate about your relationship considering how much he needs you. you know peter still loves you, of course he does. that’s not what the problem is. he’s become content with the mutual feeling, so he doesn’t try anymore. he expects the spark to keep itself lit.

no more random joke of the day texts that he used to send you. he stopped surprising you with your coffee order in the morning, the one that he memorized the first time you two went to a starbucks. what you initially found most endearing about peter was that he remembered every little thing you told him.

he put whatever energy he had into showing you that he listened. he’d do it all with rosy cheeks and that toothy smile of his. it seems now like he’s under the impression that being in a long term relationship means none of that matters anymore. there’s no need to impress you, keep you guessing, make you feel special.

tonight is your breaking point. as you go over all of this in your head while peter lays peacefully next to you, you can’t take it. you’ve been making so many excuses for him. you lie to yourself. you’re desperate to believe this is okay and normal and you can work this out, and you can love whatever version of him this is.

but, you can’t. you can’t do it. you need to tell him now because if you sleep on this, you’ll end up feeling bad and be stuck under these suffocating blankets forever.

“peter?” you whisper his name, your back turned to him in bed. you haven’t cuddled each other to sleep in a while. his arms don’t make you feel held now, they make you feel trapped. you’ve been forcing yourself to ignore his look of hurt when you reject his open embrace.

“peter?” you speak louder after a moment of silence, except for his occasional snores. a loud one escapes him before they stop altogether. his eyes stay shut as he mumbles out a, “uh... huh?” your heart is thudding through your entire body. you take a breath in from your nose. “i wanna break up.”

the breath you let out next is one of relief, those three words that have been scratching your throat for months finally out. peter slowly turns his head over his shoulder. he blinks rapidly at your motionless figure. you’re still not facing him.

“what?” is all he says. his voice is surprisingly steady, the confession not yet registering with his sleepy mind. his eyes are burning into you. “i wanna break up,” you repeat and squish your face further into your pillow. peter suddenly sits up, flicking on the lamp on his side. he tries to sling an arm around you. you move further away until you’re at the edge of the bed.

“i’m serious, peter. everything we had, it’s gone.” your words cut through him harder than literal knives he’s been stabbed with. “i- i don’t understand. where is this coming from?” he rakes a hand through his mess of curls. you turn onto your back, looking up at peter. his eyes are fixed on your lower half.

he’ll most definitely cry if he meets your eyes. he really doesn’t want to cry, not ever again when you won’t be here to make him feel better.

“it’s been coming,” you almost scoff at him as you prop yourself up against your pillows. peter’s teeth tug at his lower lip. “all we do is this.” you gesture to your bed, slapping your hand down at your side. “i get tired,” he speaks quietly, refusing to look at you. “i know you do, peter. i know, but you’d be a lot happier if you ever listened to me.”

your statement comes off as condescending to him. he works up the courage to look you in the face. “are you kidding? all you do is boss me around, and i take it. i’ve never once complained.” anger is coursing through his veins and voice. at the situation, that he’s about to lose the one stable part of his life. you’re getting pissed, too.

“that’s because you can’t do anything yourself!” you throw the blankets off you and swing your legs over the bed in one motion. peter hops out of bed entirely. “my whole life, i’ve been on my own half the time,” he spits as he comes over to stand in front of you. “sorry for taking you up on your offers to help.”

your peter would never spew that shit out. he wouldn’t guilt you for something he’s in the wrong about. this peter takes you for granted. he has no clue how fucked he’d be without you.

the first time you spoke to peter was on your way to history 227. you’d recognized him from your class, much more interested in the pretty boy taking notes with his tongue stuck out than whatever war your professor would lecture about.

he was carrying some books, a pencil case that didn’t fully zip, and a five subject notebook. you watched him do his balancing act through the halls until his legs started to wobble. a knowing smile on your face, you tapped his shoulder. it was a gentle one so you didn’t scare him and make all his things fall over.

“can i carry something for you?” you laughed out and pushed one of your backpack straps up on your shoulder. peter only stared at you, his doe eyes prompting you to reach for his pencil case. “uh, no, it’s fine. i got it. see?” he proved that to you by hiking everything up in his arms. he gave you a smile of his own.

“are you sure? we’re going to the same place,” you’d checked again and pointed at his impressive pile. “i’m not gonna steal your sharpies.” “really, i’m fine,” peter insisted with a heart clenching chuckle. “you can have one, if you want,” he offered and attempted to unzip his case, one handed. you put your hand over his to stop him.

“wait until we get to class,” you let go of him, leaving the tips of peter’s ears a shade of pink you’d later fall in love with. “i’ll sit with you.”

peter was once determined to do things on his own, to be self-sufficient. it used to be something he was proud of. now, he’s completely incapable of holding his independence.

“we’re done, peter.” your tone is short, you getting to your feet. “you’d probably forget how to fucking breathe without me, but call it bossing around, i guess,” you laugh bitterly and go over to your drawers. peter’s face falls as he grabs your wrist, stopping you when you pass by him. “where are you going?”

no answer. you pull yourself out of his grasp with your lips pressed into a stern line. peter follows you step by step over to the dresser. “wait, wait. don’t leave, baby. please,” he begs you, getting onto his knees beside you. you’re pulling random clothes out as quick as you can. a science t-shirt peter outgrew is in your hands.

peter used to give you all his old clothes. the signature smell of his cologne lingered no matter how many times you washed them. they kept you calm on nights he was out late patrolling or away on missions. peter would sport a smirk whenever you wore them out in public, pulling you closer to him and complimenting the look.

it started when he was packing for his first mission since you two had begun living together. he’d realized he became too buff to fit in some shirts. remembering how many times you’d giggle at their funny sayings, peter gave them to you. you threw one on and thanked him with a peck on the cheek. it became your tradition.

peter would set off for a new continent, but a piece of him would stay home with you.

the stretched out hoodies and ripped sweatpants just sit in your drawer now. another meaningful thing discontinued. whatever he doesn’t want goes to may for donations now. the memory of what they used to mean to you makes a fit of rage burst through you.

you slam down his ‘find x’ shirt in the space between his knees and yours. you’re on a mission of your own this time. you aren’t going anywhere until you get rid of all the stuff that went from him to you.

“y/n, don’t do this. i- i love you. i love you.” peter chokes out, tears filling his eyes. his vision is clouded while you toss more clothes to your side. “i love you, y/n/n,” he whimpers again, and this time you briskly push the drawer shut. the whole dresser shakes. this is the most emotion either of you have shown in the past few months of your relationship. it’s a little too late.

“love is more than a word, peter. you have to back it up with actions.” you’re doing your best not to cry. the memories of how loved peter made you feel play in your mind. he briefly wipes under his eyes and shakes his head. he’s so oblivious. “i thought i- i did.” “exactly, you did. you gave up at some point.” your voice gets weaker as a tear drips down your chin.

you didn’t plan on breaking down when you imagined this moment. part of you wishes you could give him another chance. most of you knows it wouldn’t do any good for you or peter. you’re not right for each other anymore. he outgrew some sweatshirts, you outgrew him.

that takes you all the way back to it’s not you, it’s me. it’s really both of you.

for the last time, you pull peter in for a hug. the two of you need this. he loops his arms around your back, keeping them loose around you as he tucks his face into the side of your neck. you’re a mix of tears and sharp breaths with your chin on his shoulder. you bring a hand up to the back of his head, grabbing a fistful of curls.

he sobs right into your ear, effectively destroying whatever composure you had left.

even though you’re not in love with peter, you haven’t stopped loving him. somewhere inside of him is the goofy boy who asked you out on a post-it during class. the kindhearted man who gave so much of himself to the world and saved enough for you. the one whose fingertips left goosebumps on your skin with every touch.

seeing him like this, having caused it feels like a dull pain rippling in every part of your body. you’ve been there to soothe him during countless breakdowns over the years. you managed to stay strong for all of them. this is the only exception. he lost people, felt down about life, made mistakes. you were there to pick up each piece and put them back together.

the one mistake peter made that you can’t fix is not loving you right. you became his rock, his anchor whenever he let grief and sadness rule over him. you’d get him back to himself. he could’ve at least bought you flowers once in a while, or done anything that showed his gratitude. every iteration of awful put together isn’t enough to describe how he feels.

“i’m so- i’m so fucking sorry, baby. i don’t deserve you. i never have,” peter murmurs as he cries, wetting your skin that his face is still pressed into. your fingers pull roughly at his hair. hot tears overflow from your own eyes. “i should’ve done more.” his voice cracks on the last word. “that’s all i wanted to hear, pete,” you breathe out and pull away from him.

“does that mean you’ll stay?” he croaks, arms still wound around your body. his eyes are hopeful when they lock with yours. a frown pulls at your lips. “only for tonight. i should... one of us should sleep on the couch.” “oh,” his voice is gravelly, so he clears his throat. “i’ll do it.” you’re not going to fight him on it for once.

peter removes his arms from your waist, you sitting back down on your thighs. you give him a blink and you’ll miss it smile because you can’t keep one for long. it’s to let him know you’re not mad. you were at the start of this conversation, then he took accountability. you also came to terms with the fact that the downfall of your relationship was a joined effort.

there are more factors than peter not giving you what he should have. time, different goals, new outlooks on life. you can’t hate only him because a whole bunch of things lead to this.

instead of a smile, since he physically can’t put one on his splotchy face, peter brushes the pad of his thumb over the corner of your lips. he gets up to leave the room, but you stop him with a “wait!” he freezes in front of you. you get out a hoodie from his pile of old clothes and stand up. “it’s cold.” you put it in his hands, earning a grin that he didn’t think was possible.

“thanks, y/n,” peter sighs and holds the hoodie against his chest. “goodnight. um,” this is the part where he’d usually say i love you. “sleep well, okay?” the replacement stings for both of you. you’ll have to learn to fall asleep without hearing that phrase first. as much as you didn’t feel it anymore, you’d become used to it. “you too, peter. night,” you say softly.

you head back to your bed while peter walks out the door. he glances at you once, and you’re already settling under the covers. he shuts the door behind him before finding his way to the couch.

your bed has always seemed too small. it’s gigantic without peter. you aren’t sure how you feel about that yet.

peter lays across the couch, the hood that doesn’t quite fit him pulled over his head. he’s only wearing it because you gave it to him. you doing that not even five minutes ago was how you backed up your love with actions. it’s so easy. silent tears spill from his eyes at the realization.

he wishes on every star that he could’ve figured out he wasn’t doing enough sooner. you’d be together right now, had he just caught on. there was a time he prided himself on knowing you fully and completely. how to turn you into the shy one with certain combinations of words, what your schedule was each week so he could plan his free time around it.

your relationship became something he thought would last unconditionally. if only he was able pinpoint the exact moment he went wrong.

you’re right in the other room. he can go in there and bawl, plead for you to take him back. how could he do that and claim to love you, though? you’ve made it clear you‘re over him.

the best way for peter to show you he loves you is by letting you live your life, without him in it.

-

you don’t see peter again for weeks. he moved back in with may, and you got to keep the apartment. you were the one who took all the care of it, anyway.

your semester ended at the perfect time because peter isn’t in any of your new classes. the city is too big to bump into each other. you’re free from the hold he had on you, which would’ve been four years long since yesterday. you’ve been good at picking up his broken pieces for too long, and now it’s time to pick up your own.

for all the hangouts you missed on his behalf, you made up for it. you called mj the day after your breakup and met for lunch. she never explicitly said it, but she took your side. peter had a feeling because when he had the same idea as you, to lean on his friends for support, she never reached out.

betty is indifferent, ned stays cordial with you. his real loyalty is to peter. you can’t blame him.

peter hasn’t been doing well since you broke up. he’s not eating enough, he can’t focus on work of any kind. you were right when you said he would forget how to breathe without you. he often wonders how you’ve been.

he finds out today.

you’re walking around campus, heading in the direction peter just came from. he has a class in the building your last one was. the two of you are on the same sidewalk, opposite sides. he almost doesn’t recognize you.

mj is on one side of you, a guy he’s never seen before with an arm around your shoulders. you’re all laughing about whatever dumb thing your professor said during the lecture. your hair, which is done in a new style, flows behind you in the spring breeze. a smile takes place on your glossy lips. the smile is directed towards that guy. your new boyfriend, peter assumes.

you look amazing, and not only physically. you seem happy with your small group of people. peter hadn’t been able to give you that happiness in years, so it’s nice to see you got it back somehow.

he must have stared too long because you notice him. you fall behind mj and your potential boyfriend, both of them wrapped up in discussing your next project. peter stops walking. you do the same. he’s not sure if he upset you, or what’s going on. his instincts tell him to apologize. his mouth stays closed.

that infectious smile of yours appears once again. you thought about peter yesterday, it being your anniversary and all. you’d only let yourself remember the good things. they outweighed the bad ones when you look back on everything.

“aye, grandma! get over here!” mj calls to you, your boyfriend nudging her side. “take your time, y/n/n. i’m not in a rush to write seven long ass pages.” you laugh to yourself at the two of them. peter fiddles with the zipper on his jacket. it’s from the drawer of things you used to wear. “one sec!” you yell back.

“hey,” you turn to face peter, who’s giving you a tight lipped smile. “how’ve you been?” “i’m okay. just, you know,” he shrugs and clasps his hands behind his back. there’s a short silence before peter says, “you seem good. really good.” he smiles for real this time. “yeah, i am. i hope you are, too,” you tell him and genuinely mean it.

you’d like to catch up soon, but it’s not right yet. you both need more time. “i’ll see you around?” you’re already starting to walk, backwards so you can see peter. “uh, sure. bye,” he gives you a quick wave and continues on his way.

you get back to mj and your boyfriend, his arm returning to your shoulders. they waited for you by the stoplight. “what’d ya get up to over there?” he teases, mj suspiciously watching your face for any tells. you carefully think through your answer with a grin. “love.”

[ladyvesuvia]

Moniker Origin

PAIRING: Sirius Black x Fem!Gryffindor!Reader

SUMMARY: Befriending a stray dog not only leads to a routine rendezvous every midnight but also the story of how Sirius got one of his many names.

WORDS: 5.5k

WARNING(S): Just fluff but involves cursing, name-calling, nicknames, mentions of celebrities/characters from the 70s, mentions of eating and food. || SECOND PERSON

A/N: can u tell this is kind of an indirect prequel to i’m a dreamer hsjsiw anyway i hope u like it!!! for @meiitanoia my beloved sirius black lovebot <3

[NAVIGATION] [MASTERLIST]

    You woke up with a start. The curtains to your four-poster bed danced gently, as if attempting to put you into a trance. It worked: You watched it, transfixed more than ever until you slowly gained proper consciousness, or at least enough to let you yawn.

    You reached out to push the curtains a bit to find that it was still night-time. You could hear light snores coming from your roommates, but you ignored it in desperate hopes of falling asleep again. You couldn’t; not that you didn’t want to, because you really did. The reason for your tossing and turning at this late hour was most likely because you slept around six p.m., an unideal hour for sleep on a weekday. You’d passed on dinner, and told yourself you’d just take breakfast early in the morning.

    Giving up, you threw out your feet off the bed, feeling the cold surface of the floor. The clock told you it was half past eleven as it kept ticking and ticking and ticking.

    Before you knew it, you were trudging down the deserted halls of Hogwarts, half-melted dark chocolate in one hand and your lightened wand in the other. You bought it from Honeydukes just last weekend on your visit to Hogsmeade. You didn’t know where you were going, but you just wanted to be somewhere else, maybe even do something exciting.

    For cautionary measures, you looked in every direction every time you reached a turn in fear of getting caught by any roaming person of authority. Peeves would probably make a sound that’ll draw Mr. Filch’s attention; Mrs. Norris could appear, and that in itself is bad news already; Mr. Filch himself could catch you and start throwing insane threats; or maybe someone from the faculty could catch you and put you in detention, and you knew full well you did not want to spend time doing an absurd task.

    When you managed to slip out unnoticed, you walked over to the bank of the lake, the rocks crunching under your feet. It was probably one of the things you find in horror movies when all is still, all is sleeping, and the monster is yet to come—

    Your pulse skipped a beat when the sight of something running away from the forest shuffled past. You realized it was just a dog, but it gave you a shock nonetheless. Just a dog, you thought. Just a dog.

    You pulled out the chocolate from your pocket, unwrapping it carelessly. It wasn’t until you took your first bite did you realize the dog was right behind you, watching you with curious eyes.

    “I’d give you some but dogs aren’t allowed to eat chocolate,” you said to the dog, who then whined in response as it sat down. “I really can’t, I’m sorry.”

    One might think a big black dog sneaking up on you in the middle of a night would cause a fright, but it was strangely more comforting than eerie. After all, it was just a dog.

    Just looking at the creature reminded you of Snuffles, your very own dog who died while you were away from home and sitting in History of Magic, unaware your best bud had passed. You looked down hopefully at the dog in front of you.

    “Snuffles?” you inquired hesitantly, reaching out your hand. Please don’t bite, you chanted more to yourself than to the dog. To your relief, it approached you gingerly and let you pet its head. “Is it you?”

    Highly unlikely, you knew that, but it wouldn’t hurt to hope that it was, right? You’d spent your entire childhood with that dog: Sleeping together under a poorly done fort until daybreak; getting lost in the neighborhood together, earning disapproving opinions from the neighbors; and most of all, countless birthdays.

    Well, just to name a few.

    Maybe it was the moonlight reflecting off of the lake’s waters, but you could’ve sworn you saw the dog wink. You took your hand back to rub your eyes before studying the dog. “Are you Hagrid’s?”

    The dog simply sat there, looking at you curiously. “Right, like a dog’s gonna talk back to me.” You chuckled, laughing at yourself. “Come, I’ll bring you back to him.”

    It didn’t move. “Look, I can’t give you chocolate. Maybe I can sneak you some steak or something next time if you’re still here. I’d give you dog food but they don’t have that around here. But I reckon Hagrid has some, though. Do you want me to get you food?”

    Once again, maybe (just maybe) it was only your imagination, but you got the sense that the dog disagreed. You didn’t push it any further and so you simply made yourself comfortable even under the rocks. You set down your cloak under your bottom to serve as a mat. It didn’t do much, but it was better. You gestured for the dog to come closer.

    “I’m gonna call you Snuffles now,” you said as you picked up a stone. “Watch this.” With a swing of your arm, you sent the stone flying into the lake, skipping three times. “I used to be able to do four. You’d know, you were there!”

    Snuffles your dog from years ago indeed was there with you when it happened on your family trip to your lake house, but this was not Snuffles; this was your very own classmate and Housemate, Sirius Black himself. He’d never talked to you before, much less noticed you, so it was a surprise to him that he’s spending his time with you at this late hour.

    Nevertheless, it was a time well-spent even when it was mostly (entirely) just watching you skip rocks down the lake as you talked about the aforementioned Snuffles. He didn’t know how long you two sat there, but sat you did anyway. Twice he thought of a joke to tell only to be disappointed for of course, he couldn’t voice it out.

    “I named her Snuffles because she used to cry a lot when we first brought her home from the shelter and mum didn’t want us to call her Sniffles so I went with the next best thing.” You put your legs in front of you. “Poor little thing.”

    It wasn’t until the sky brightened a bit did you realize you were thirsty from all the talking you were doing. You would've stayed for the sunrise but, well, schedules would tragically overlap.

    “Crap,” you thought as you began picking up your cloak, “I’ll end up dozing off in class! Anyway, I’ll try and bring you steak later, Snuffy.”

    With a wave, you ran away from the lake, cloak in your arms, unaware that you had left your wand behind. Sirius was watching you until you disappeared from sight before he spotted the wand, which he then picked up.

    He de-transformed on his way just a bit by a wall, and as soon as he did, he tucked your wand into his own cloak. He glanced back just for a second before running back to the castle. By the time he got to the painting of the Fat Lady, he halted at the sight of the girl from earlier — you.

    “—you know me already, ma’am. I just forgot the password is all. Please let me in.”

    “No password, no entry,” spat the Fat Lady. “And it does not do to wake up a sleeping person.”

    “Well, you’re just a painting,” you mumbled. And if Sirius could hear it from where he was standing, the Fat Lady probably heard it too.

    “Hmph!” exclaimed the Fat Lady. “Children are foul.”

    “They are, aren’t they?” you chimed in hopes of getting on the Fat Lady’s better graces.

     “I was talking about you, child,” said the Fat Lady with disdain. “Now scoot!”

     You were about to walk away when Sirius decided to walk in. You froze.

    It was only until then did it dawn on Sirius that he did not know your name because you had not told him anything earlier. He turned to the Fat Lady.

    “Spondulicks,” said Sirius. The Fat Lady merely grunted as the painting swung open to reveal the room. “After you, m’lady.”

    It was like he was seeing a different person; you refused to meet his eyes as you hurriedly walked into the opening of the painting, arms crossed. He was almost about to give you your wand but realized what a bad idea that would be, and so he kept his mouth shut.

    You kept walking straight ahead, and Sirius had to stifle his laugh at the sight of you missing a step on the stairs to the girls’ dormitory, especially when your pace quickened after this.

    That morning at breakfast, you were nowhere to be found. Sirius took his seat next to James while skimming the length of the Gryffindor table.

     “What’re you looking for?” asked James, curiously scanning the table as well.

     “This girl with [Y/H/C] hair,” Sirius replied absentmindedly as he slowly settled down, still looking for her.

     “A girl? You’re gonna have to be more specific, mate. But bagsy snogging her.”

    “What — you can’t bagsy her, you haven’t even met her,” spat Sirius. James was rather taken aback but still seemed to be stifling his laugh at the outburst nonetheless. Sirius cleared his throat. “And need I remind you that you’re trying to get Evans?”

    “Mhm, I was just trying to see how interested you were in this girl to be preoccupied with looking for her instead of petting your hair.” More and more people began to file in to the common room and Sirius’s attention went to the door after determining you were not seated in one of the tables.

    “It’s called combing, and you should try it.” Sirius ran his hand through his hair. “It would do you good to look fresh at least once.”

    James snickered. “What can I tell you, Pads? The ladies like the rugged look.”

    “I don’t think they do,” remarked Remus.

    “Oh trust me, Remus,” James started with a smug grin. “They do. The key to it is—”

    But Sirius never found out what ‘the key to it’ was; at least, not today. After a group of younger Ravenclaws walked in, he finally spotted you right behind them and his back straightened even more. For what, he did not know.

    You took your seat beside a couple more Gryffindors and helped yourself to food on your own plate. You were busy rubbing her eyes, giving Sirius more time to watch. When you finished, you caught him looking at you, but he didn’t break the eye contact; instead, he smiled.

    “Oh, her?” exclaimed James, trying to get a better look. Sirius gently kicked his foot at how obvious he was, but he nodded in confirmation. James blew a raspberry. “I can’t bagsy, can I?”

    Sirius scowled. “No.”

    “Then I call dibs.”

   “Wha — that’s the same thing! You can’t just call dibs.” Sirius cleared his throat once more, for James was raising a brow to signify he’d proved his point. “You can’t.”

    “Wouldn’t hurt you to go on over and talk to her, would it? After all, you do it all the time.” James stretched out his arms and made gestures of triumph. “Hook, sink, liner.”

    “It’s actually ‘Hook, line, and sinker,’” said Remus.

    “No it’s not. Get a load of this guy,” James joked (or not). “Anyway, come on, I’ll come with you. But I apologize in advance if my hair works better than yours.”

    When they made it over to where you were sitting, you appeared to be manually wiping your plate with a tissue.

    “Excuse me,” started Sirius, gesturing at the plate, “May I?”

    Hesitantly and still not meeting his gaze, you handed him the plate. Sirius pulled out his wand and with a small flick, he said, “Tergeo!”

    When he handed it back, you simply nodded your head in thanks and began to stuff it in your bag.

    “Wait, are you stealing a plate?” James asked with a grin, on the verge of laughing. “You wouldn’t want to do that. See, our friend’s a Prefect and he’ll totally tell Professor Meownerva — pun courtesy of Peter, by the way.” James snickered. “I wish I’d thought of it first be—Ow!”

    Sirius had stepped on James foot. “I’ll take it from here, Bambi.”

    James managed a scowl before leaving the scene. You didn’t know what to do; so in your mind, you started devising ways to get yourself out of that situation: Make a run for it or melt on the spot; neither seemed like a good option.

    “Why are you stealing a plate?” he asked.

    “Er — long story. Have a good day.” Then you stood up and began to walk away, backing up a bit to grab a piece of sandwich before completely storming off.

    When Sirius returned the other three were there, laughing out loud together.

    James leaned closer. “Her name’s [Y/N].”

    “Then why didn’t you tell me?” exclaimed Sirius, annoyed.

    “Hook, sink, liner,” said James confidently.

    Remus cleared his throat again. “Again, it’s ‘Hook, line, and’—”

    “Yeah, sure, whatever,” dismissed James.

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

    On your first class (Transfiguration), the two of you clearly could not at all suppress your yawns: Sirius was doing fairly better compared to you, for he had the decency to not let his head plop face down on his desk, but he was sleepy nonetheless. This was no surprise to Sirius. After all, he hadn’t slept that morning. As for you, he did not know whether or not you slept but according to your peaceful and sleeping face, he kind of had a clue.

    He wasn’t listening, and so when everyone brought out their wands, he just cluelessly followed the others. Professor McGonagall approached the middle row and stopped just right next to you.

    “Miss [Y/L/N]?” started McGonagall. “If I’m not mistaken, bedtime ended hours ago.”

     You merely grunted. McGonagall cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Miss [Y/L/N]?”

    The professor put the back of her palm against your forehead. She lifted your face off the table and her eyes widened. “Heavens! Child, you look positively ghastly. Remus, kindly take—”

    “I’ll do it,” said Sirius. “I’m her. . .” As he trailed off, all eyes went back and forth from you, McGonagall, and him. He opened his mouth again to add, “friend. We’re friends.”

    Although McGonagall appeared to be reluctant, she let you go, advising you to visit Madam Pomfrey. Sirius risked a smug look in James’s way before following you out the door, eager to speak with you.

    “So you’re feeling unwell?” asked Sirius.

    “Look, buddy, I appreciate it but I honestly just want to go to bed.”

    “Didn’t Minnie McG tell you to visit Madam Pomfrey?”

    You halted. “I’m not sick.”

    “What do you mean? What about the drowsy eyes and the head hurting and the red nose—?”

    “Okay, now you’re making my head hurt.” You faced him, hands on your hips in defiance. “Here’s what’s gonna happen, Black: I’ll go back to my room and you’ll take a walk to the Hospital Wing and back to class.”

    “But you’re sick.”

    “Buddy, I’m really not,” you said with an irritated laugh. “I haven’t slept yet and I lost my wand. How do you think I’ll be able to go to class without a damn wand?”

    Sirius scoffed. “Then what about your runny red nose and teary eyes?”

    “Really? Are purebloods really that dense not to come up with basic ways to get out of class?” It was almost ironic. After all, you’d heard tons of brilliant things pureblooded wizards could do. Clearly they weren’t as crafty. You snorted. “Do you really want to know?”

    “Do I? Of course I do.”

    And with a bit of consideration, you recounted your gimmicks: collecting two chili peppers from the table and lightly patting your finger under your eyes to make it teary (it badly hurt), pinching your nose as soon as you left the Great Hall and sprinkling a bit of pepper on your sleeve to get yourself to sneeze, taking a quick hot shower without getting your hair wet, and more.

    “Wow,” he exclaimed under his breath, astonished. You shrugged in response, turning around to walk away. “Wait, then why did you agree for me to take you instead of Remus?”

    “Eh, well, your friend who’s trying so hard to be Michael Landon said that the Remus guy was a Prefect so I figured that he’s probably a snitch.”

    “Trust me, he’s not a snitch,” Sirius said with a laugh. “Wait, I don’t even know who Michael Landon is but could you say that thing again but to James’s face tomorrow morning at breakfast?”

    “No.” You turned your back on him, walking away. “May we never talk again.”

    “You’re welcome, by the way!” He watched as you made a turn, disappearing from view before making a face. “Ungrateful chick.”

    That entire day, you spent your time in bed, tossing and turning to keep yourself awake. Whenever someone came in during vacant time, you made sure the curtains to your four-poster bed were sealed shut while pretending to sniffle.

    It was Friday, so you were thankful for the time to rest. You were thinking of just looking for your wand tomorrow when you remembered the dog. You shifted in your bed as you slowly stood up, peeking through the curtains of your bed. Your roommates were probably still in the common room, so you peeked your head out to grab your bag from beside your bed and pulled it in before shutting the curtains close.

    You pulled out the plate you got from earlier that morning and waited.

    Waited for your roommates to come in and chat for a while.

    Waited until the lights went out.

    Waited until the only sound you could hear was the ticking of the clock in the room.

    You were about to fall asleep when what you could only assume was a bird hit itself against the window, jolting you awake.

    It was dead silent. And just like you did hours ago, you threw your feet out of your bed. Going out at this hour without a wand felt threatening, but you reassured yourself, just thinking over and over that it would be just like old times back when you didn’t know you were a witch.

    There was no one in the common room by the time you got down there. You tightened your grip on the plate in your hands, thinking about how good a weapon it would make (it probably wasn’t, but it was good enough to make you feel like you had a chance).

    You slipped out, unaware once more of the same boy you had talked to the night before following you.

    The walk down the halls and stairs without a light made your tour all the more frightening: Jumping when you accidentally graze your hand too much on one of the paintings which often earned an angry grunt from them, feeling for the next step of the stairs in fear of tripping over, and so on.

    Sirius resisted the urge to just approach you and give you your wand, resorting to just staying behind to make sure you got out safely. He was about to keep going straight ahead when you made a turn, confusing him.

    It took a few more turns for him to realize you were headed for the kitchens. He had to wait outside until you came back out a short while later with something in the plate.

    Laughing silently to himself, he followed you again to the grounds, your wand in his cloak pocket, feeling like a hundred pounds weighing him down.

    You went back to where you were last night, scouring the rocks in hopes of spotting a distinct shape among the round shapes. You cursed under your breath in disappointment as you set the plate of steak aside, your eyes falling to the dark surface of the lake. Gulping, you tied up the pant legs of your pajamas, mumbling inaudible words to yourself at what you were about to do.

    Only your feet were in the water when you heard a loud bark, causing you to jump a bit, toppling backward at the sight of the black dog. You felt the water soak your back and a bit of your head.

    “Snuffles?” you asked the dog whilst shaking yourself dry as you stood up. “There’s steak over there. It’s for you.”

    If it weren’t for his physical state, Sirius would be laughing right now. The least he could do was walk your way, sitting right beside the plate of the steak.

    “I know it’s not as good as I promised but it’s the best I could give, I’m sorry,” you said to the dog as it looked at you curiously. You bent down to pick up your cloak, drying yourself and wrapping it around you. With a huff, you squeezed the water out of your hair and sat down on the rocks once again. “I only came down here to look for my wand. It probably rolled down to the bottom of the lake already.”

    You yawned. The lack of sleep was already taking a toll on you and you couldn’t let the sun rise before you could lie down in bed.

    “Do you not like the steak?” you asked again. “You know, I got that plate for you.”

   The dog’s ears perked up, and you reached out to pet it.

    “Thank Merlin I got away from that fruitcake.”

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

    “I’m a fruitcake,” Sirius told his friends that morning as they fell in line for their Hogsmeade trip. James looked at his friend as if he had gone mad (well, one can say he’s halfway there). “Out of all the things I could be, I’m a fruitcake.”

    “Took you long enough to figure that out,” said Peter, who then brightened when James burst into a laugh.

    “You sure?” said Remus, adjusting his tie. “If you are, then you’re far too salty to be one.”

    “Guys, I’m ser—” He cut himself off, aware that they were waiting for an opening to pick fun at his name. “I am not joking.”

    “Because you’re. . .?” James said, encouraging him.

    Sirius let out an exasperated sigh. “Serious.”

    And just like that, the entire group howled in laughter. Rolling his eyes, Sirius scanned the crowd again, but it was the same thing as yesterday — you were once again nowhere to be found.

    “Wait, where did you get this fruitcake comment from?” asked Remus.

    Sirius recounted your past encounters with him, earning a whoop of cheer and a pat from James.

    “I have a plan,” said Sirius. “I’ll just so happen to ‘run into’ her in Hogsmeade and she’ll think I’m charming because I did my hair better today.”

    “I don't know, I reckon it’ll be hard to jump from fruitcake puppy to charming knight and shining armor,” said Remus.

    It wasn't until they were near the front of the line did Sirius realize there was still no sign of you. He then stepped out of the line, earning sudden protests from the rest of the group.

    He made a show of waving at the other three as he disappeared from view before darting down the halls and up the stairs until he made it to the common room, where he plopped down on the couch. A couple of first and second years were gathered by the window playing chess.

    Sirius kept his head down as he waited for you to come out until finally, about almost ten minutes later, heavy steps came from the girls’ dormitory as it descended down the stairs. Sirius kept his face down so as to hide himself for you, cursing at himself for being too. . .what’s a nicer way to put creepy again?

    He followed you again like the night before, going over the things he wanted to say.

    Hello, I’m actually Snuffles.

    I’m Snuffles.

    Hi, I’m not really a reincarnation of your dog because I’m actually a fruitcake!

    It just kept getting worse in his head the more that he dwelled on it, and so he resorted to just focusing on his step when you halted, causing him to run into you.

    “You,” you started, stopping with your finger pointed right at him, daring him to speak, “why are you following me?”

    “Because. . .” Sirius trailed off. Why was he following you?

    Because I'm Snuffles and I have your wand. Because I can turn into a dog. Because while I am Snuffles, I'm also not really Snuffles. Because—

    “Because I found your wand,” he blurted out. “Well, consider it as a token of appreciation.”

    “For what?”

    “For being a good friend. . . ?”

    “As far as I know, the first and only time we ever even talked was just yesterday,” you said, gesturing with your hands. “What’s your deal?”

    “I want to take a walk,” Sirius relaxed, grinning at you.

    “Then do it yourself!” you exclaimed.

    “With you, I mean.”

    Sirius’s tone calmed you down at least a bit, and so you cleared your throat. Come to think of it, he’s probably not that bad.

    You began to walk with him on your way out to the grounds. “And what do I get out of this walking thing of yours?”

    Sirius waved his hand with a flourish as we jogged ahead to stop right in front of you, tipping an imaginary hat. “Bragging rights, madam.”

    You halted. “You’re gonna have to try better than that, Vinnie Barbarino.”

    “Er — that’s good, right?” he asked, tensing up again as he composed himself.

    “Depends on how you look at it.”

    “Well, does he have nice hair?”

    “Again, depends on how you look at it.”

    “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

    “You and me both, Vinnie,” you told him with a huff as you two set foot outside.

    “It’s certainly better than fruitcake,” he muttered under his breath. You leaned in closer, your brow raised in question. He shook his head and told you it was nothing.

    By the time you made it to the bank of the lake, you found yourself unconsciously searching the rocks for your wand.

    Sirius snorted. “You can keep looking but it’s not there.”

    “Wasn’t trying to.”

    He watched as you bent down to pick up a rock and moved closer to the lake. Just like you did a few nights ago, you swung your arm to skip a rock. It was kind of like a movie for him; the way your shoulders sunk a bit after getting only three skips. “I used to be able to do four.”

    I’d know, Sirius thought as he grinned at the irony. I was there. Maybe I really am Snuffles.

    “So, when are you going to give me my wand?” You turned around to face him again, dusting your hands as you did so.

    Sirius wanted to tell you about his alter-ego badly. But at the same time, it was right there and then Sirius realized something. He normally hated the idea of a routine; loathed it, even. But he figured that maybe, just this once, he could make an exception. He didn’t mind going out every single night as Padfoot or Snuffles if it meant the world to you to have something to look forward to. In fact, the line was starting to blur between all his names: Sirius Black, Onion, Padfoot, Snuffles, Fruitcake.

    Sirius cleared his throat and told you, “Monday morning when you have breakfast with me.”

    “I’m not gonna have breakfast with you.”

    “You are now because you’ll get a coupon.”

    “What coupon?” you asked, crossing your arms.

    “Bragging rights for spending time with me — Sirius Orion Black.”

    “You’re awfully presumptuous.”

    “Why are you so mean?” Sirius feigned pain by clutching his chest, making a show.

    You bit your cheek in attempt not to laugh. “Look, just give me back my wand.”

    “Give me your word that you’ll have breakfast with me first.”

    “Fine,” you told him. “Now will you give me my wand back?”

    Sirius let out a long sigh before taking a step forward and bending down to pick up a rock. He swung his arm backward as he made a shot.

    One, two, three, four.

    He faced you. “Hook, sink, liner.”

    “It’s ‘hook, line, and sinker,’ how could you mess that up?”

    “Damn it, James,” he cursed under his breath. “Anyway, here’s your wand.”

    This definitely took you by surprise, especially when he pulled it out of his coat pocket and handed it to you with only a friendly smile and without any hesitation.

    You grabbed it as fast as you could just in case he changed his mind at the last minute.

    Sirius fought the urge to pick fun at the fact that this was close to what one may call fetch.

    Wow, he thought. Merlin, I’m literally Snuffles. Sirius could hear his friends’ jeers light years away: Playing fetch with her, Snuffy? Will you also let her walk you? Oh, wait, you already did!

    “Thank you,” you told him. “I was literally prepared to dive down there just to get my wand. I know what a big hassle it is to get it replaced and everything.”

    “I know,” he said, pertaining to how he knew the lengths you were ready to go to just so you could find your wand, but you took what he said an answer to what you said last.

    Sirius began walking again, and you followed. “Why didn’t you go to Hogsmeade with the others?”

    “Eh, I’ve been there a lot of times. We’ll go there next time. I’ll take you to—”

    You halted. “Woah, woah, who said I’ll be coming with you?”

    “Time,” Sirius protested. “It tells you things even you wouldn’t be able to know.”

    You scoffed as you kept walking alongside him. “Eh, well, we got Professor Trelawney for that. What do you say we visit her classroom and play with balls? I mean, orbs. No, stop laughing.”

    But he didn’t stop. And honestly, neither did you; not even when you completed a turn around the grounds.

    That night was a brilliant one: You were headed back downstairs, this time keeping your wand tight in your hand as you did so.

    Just like as far as always can go, Snuffles sat by the lake, looking at the ripples that danced along its surface. Why did the dog suddenly look familiar?

    You stood right next to Snuffles, who was now looking up at you curiously.

    “I can’t stay for long,” you told the dog. “I have to sleep early, you know. I mean, you don’t, but — whatever.”

    You bent down to pick up a rock again, watching it skip three times. You cursed under your breath, “How’d he do it?”

    Snuffles, originally Sirius himself, snorted. You turned to the dog and shook your head, telling yourself it was your want of sleep playing tricks on you.

    “Fruitcake’s actually not that bad,” you started as you picked up another rock. Sirius looked up again. “I think I’ll give him a chance.”

    When you finally gave up on skipping rocks, you sat down right next to the dog. “He kinda left a ring of his, see?” You showed the dog Sirius’s ring. The dog blinked. “I’m not planning on keeping it, I’ll give it back to him on a good day.”

    A bird flew by, causing you to jump a bit. “Yep, I’m gonna need to sleep this out. Go to Hagrid’s will you? Actually, no, come with me.”

    You lead the dog to Hagrid’s hut and told it to stay there. Sirius thought it was funny seeing you boss him around in a gentler manner.

    With a wave, you ran back to the doors and dashed up the stairs until you reached the dormitories, where you hastily got in your bed and tucked yourself in.

    When breakfast came and you casually sat down right across from Sirius and beside James, a thought came to Sirius’s head again: He wanted you to know him as Sirius Black, no disguises involved. Sure, maybe he’d learn more of you if he continued doing it but . . . he wanted you to learn more of himself, too.

    As for telling you his secret identity (not Batman), he decided that it’d be best to let his future self deal with it and just enjoy breakfast with you, which is hopefully just the first of many.

    One last thing, though: Snuffles grew on Sirius. Safe to say that he got attached; so much that even when time told new people new fates, he found a way to let the name stay by using it as a safe codename as an attempt to become a lovable stray in the time of danger.

    But that doesn’t matter just yet, not when the group was busy having one of the most brilliant Mondays to date.

Taglist: @gingerale2017 @sfdlm @maybanksslut @hey-there-angels @elevatorsdoor @mrzweasley @gwlvr @1-800-itsfreerealestate @marrymetheonott @booksarealwaysbettersworlds-blog @sexysirius @turn-to-page-394-please @greenlyblue @henqtic @badass-yn @meiitanoia @gaycatlord-stuff @just2bubbly @awakendevildays @dracomalfoyposts @crazy-beautiful @adoreyou976 @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts

[twiceinadream]

“Anon.”

Requested: Yup

Request: Tzuyu is the popular girl who everyone wants to either be or date, Y/N is the quiet loner with only a handful of friends. In everyone's eyes, Tzuyu is the perfect girl who's always happy, but one day Y/N catches Tzuyu breaking down and crying in secret. Since then, she has been anonymously leaving notes in Tzuyu's locker. Among all her secret admirer letters, Tzuyu finds the notes with positive words and goes on a search for the sender [High School AU]

a/u: Hey, everyone! So I have to admit, my bad. I’m sorry for hyping this up and doing absolutely nothing for like 2 months, but I’m so happy that I finally got it done and I hope you all love it. I love you guys and thank you so much for all the support. Also, thank you so much for 2.3k+ followers, that’s insane!

Category: Fluff and Angst

Word Count: 2.9k

You frowned down at your notes as a soft breeze blew in from the open window next to you, the pages of your notebook fluttering in the wind as you placed a hand on top of them to prevent them from blowing as you sat back in your chair. Your teacher’s voice seemed like a monotonous drone that filled the classroom’s silence as he continued talking about the effects of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment movement and how it changed the world’s thinking of space and the world they lived in, but in all honesty in this moment in time you could honestly care less about what he was saying. Your mind was already too preoccupied with the most popular girl in all of JYP Academy, Chou Tzuyu. Your eyes had left your notes long ago as you couldn’t help but stare, she was so effortlessly beautiful that it was almost infuriating. If you didn’t know any better you could say she was perfect.

She had everything any high school student could ever hope for. She’s beautiful, popular, rich, and oh so perfect. If time would allow you, you probably wouldn’t stop thinking about her at all. But, just as you were about to dive deeper into thought a sudden shrill ring of a bell pulled you out of your thoughts as you blinked, shaking your head as you realized class had ended. You sighed as you closed your notebook and reached for your backpack, stuffing your things inside as you stood from your seat but before anyone could leave your teacher suddenly announced, “Remember, we have a test on this chapter next week! And it’s the last one before the end of the quarter so this will severely make or break your grades!” A loud chorus of groans followed as all the students began filing out of class and out to lunch.

You shook your head as you threw your bag onto your shoulder, ‘Shit.’

-

You breathed out a sigh of relief as you got out of the class, dodging the flow of students heading out of the school halls towards the cafeteria as you made your way to the back of the academy, where the art building was housed. Set on retrieving your friends so they wouldn’t miss lunch and beg you for food later.

The walk there was surprisingly peaceful as you used most of the time lost in thought, your mind filled with images of Chou Tzuyu and history. The halls toward the back buildings were much quieter, save for the sound of a piano being played in one of the practice rooms. A smile growing on your face as you followed your ear towards the music, stopping in front of the open door that housed the source of the sound.

Your eyes landed on the brunette playing, then drifted to the silver-haired fox next to her as their heads both swayed to the rhythm of the song. A small chuckle left you as you knocked on the open door, “Knock, knock.” The interruption does its job and the music stops as Chaeyoung and Dahyun turn to face you, smiles growing on their faces as they get up from the piano to hug you.

“Y/N! Finally!” Chaeyoung says happily as she punches you lightly in the shoulder, “I was starting to think you forgot about us back here.”

You laugh as you lean into her, “What? Never. Classes just ran late since we have finals next week.

Dahyun groaned as she threw an arm over her eyes dramatically, “Don’t remind me, I hate this time of year.” You shake your head as a giddy smile takes over your features.

“But, hey, it’s Friday! Wanna go to, Cup of TT, after school. My treat?” Both Chae and Dahyun nod enthusiastically.

“Sounds good, but you’re paying. No take backs.” The brunette says with a playful smile as you wave her off.

“I know, I know. I’m not gonna come up short, unlike some people.” You raised an eyebrow that was directed to Chaeyoung as you dodged her about to tackle you.

“I swear to all things holy if you make one more short joke.” The tiny tiger seethed as you and Dahyun laughed, putting your hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, I can’t hear you from down there.” You smile as you start running down the hallway, your’s and Dahyun’s laughter filling the halls as Chaeyoung chases after the both of you.

-Finals Day-

The crisp spring air did nothing to relieve the pounding you felt in your mind as you rested your head in your hand, flipping through your notes about world history as you could faintly hear Chaeyoung explaining something about a mountain painting she had seen at an art exhibit recently as Dahyun listened. Her attention fully on the shorter blonde as you absently flipped through every page, trying to cram any last minute information you could before the final next period. But, to be fair, not paying attention in class wasn’t your fault.

How could they expect anyone to focus when Chou Tzuyu was in their midsts?

But your brief study of about three months of work had come to an end with the sound of a shrill bell, signaling the start of your history period.

“Alright, good luck Y/N! Hwaiting!” Dahyun smiled as she squeezed your shoulder.

“Good luck, and don’t get distracted!” Chaeyoung winked as she moved just in time to avoid your reach, cackling as you were left in your classroom. Watching your classmates file in as you let out a breath.

‘I can do this.’

-1 Week Later-

Your stomach has been in knots for the past week as you waited for your teacher to post the grades of the final. Making silent prayers to whatever divine being that heard you as you held your breath waiting for the teacher to post the paper on the bulletin. The lack of air in your lungs makes you dizzy as you had to remind yourself to breathe.

Your heart raced as your teacher opened the door to his classroom, regarding his anxious students with a quick look over as he kept his body in front of the board. Taking his sweet time to staple the papers to the corkboard to prolong his students anticipation before finally taking pity on their bated breaths as he finally moved.

Barely dodging the stampede of students that nearly trampled him in their haste to see their scores. Some rejoiced while some looked close to tears as you finally got to the board, running your finger down the column on the paper till it landed on your name. You held your breath as you removed your finger, revealing...an A!

You had to stop yourself from jumping in excitement as a large smile was plastered onto your face, running to find Dahyun and Chaeyoung to tell them the good news.

-

“Guys!” You yelled happily as you finally found them. Slightly out of breath since you had to run around a bit to find them.

Chae turned first as she took in the smile on your face, “Survey says?”

You smiled brightly, “A!” Both your friends smiled excitedly as they sandwiched you between them jumping in celebration.

“Alright, get together at my house?” Dahyun asked you and Chae as you both nodded, “Great!” You smiled as you slung your arms around both your best friends, the three of you walking towards the entrance of the school before you stopped.

“Aww, crap. I left something in my history class, I’ll be right back.” You turned back as you began running to your classroom, the halls pretty much void of students as you made it through the last corridor before your class. Barely rounding the corner when you spotted Tzuyu in front of the board. You quickly stopped yourself as you hid on the side of the wall, peeking over the side as you watched her, scared to face her head on. So you just waited for her to leave, but what came next surprised you more than just seeing Tzuyu by herself instead of surrounded by her entourage.

She began to cry.

For a second you felt very unsure of what was happening. ‘She’s crying. Chou Tzuyu is crying. I should probably do something.’ Your thoughts seemed to finally catch up to you as you tried to spring your body into action, ‘I should probably do something!’ But your body was frozen in place, unable to move as Tzuyu sniffed loudly. Her head down as she began to walk away, leaving in the opposite direction as you. (Thank God)

You finally felt movement come back to your body as you stepped into the light, walking slowly towards the board as you searched down the list for Tzuyu’s name. Your breath catching as you found it, D. Oh no. That’s not good. You purse your lips in thought as you forgo getting your forgotten pencil as you walk towards the way Tzuyu left, deciding you might as well see if she was okay. But, you turned up empty handed, having no idea where she had run off to and decided to just cut your losses and return to your friends.

A look of relief on Chae’s face as she spotted you, “There you are! We thought we’d have to send out a search party for you.” You smiled weakly at the comment, Dahyun’s smile faltering as she took in your shift in mood.

“Is everything alright, Y/N?” You shook your head, clearing your thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good.” You gave her a thumbs up as you put your arms around them again, “What are we still doing here? Let’s go!”

-The Kim’s House-

The three of you had gone through at least two movies as you laid your head on Dahyun’s lap. Her finger’s threaded through your hair as your brows furrowed, the action usually calming you but had no effect on your consciousness as your mind still replayed the events outside your history class.

The brunette glanced down as she saw the serious look on your face, reaching over to pause the movie. Chaeyoung looked at her, ready to say something but stopped as Dahyun held up a hand, “Y/N,” No response, “Y/N.” Her tone became firmer as you blinked, turning your attention to her.

“Did you say something?” Dahyun sighed, making you sit up.

“What’s going on Y/N, after you came back from your class. You seem...sad?” You frowned slightly as you looked at both of your friends.

“Uh...okay, you got me. When I was going to my class, I saw Tzuyu outside since our grades were posted today then she started crying. I didn’t know what to do so I waited till she left and saw she got a, D.” To your surprise you heard Chaeyoung groan in annoyance.

“Dammit Chewy, I told her she needed help.” You and Dahyun both raised an eyebrow as you looked at your silver haired friend.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Chae shook her head, “I told Tzuyu that she needed to get herself a tutor since she was struggling with the paper. But, she didn’t want to since her parents are such hard asses about her being ‘perfect’ and what not.” But this only seemed to confuse you and the brunette further.

“Hold on. You know Tzuyu? Like personally?” Chaeyoung just nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were in diapers. Our parents are family friends, so we’ve spent our whole lives around each other.” The shorter Korean continued talking, oblivious to your’s and Dahyun’s shocked faces. “So, I know all about her grades and things. She was having such a hard time with it, I feel so bad.”

You sat in shock for a little longer, “Wait, so you know Tzuyu and just never thought you should mention it.” Chaeyoung shrugged.

“Must have slipped my mind. But,” The silver haired girl smiled at you, “I think I know how to make her feel better.”

You looked at your suspiciously, “What do you have in mind, Chaengie?”

But Chaeyoung just smiled.

-Monday-

It was early in the morning as you stood in front of Tzuyu’s locker, a small note in your hand as you tried to psych yourself up to put it in. ‘Come on Y/N, she doesn’t know it’s you. You’ll be fine.’

You bit your lip as you slid the note in, saying a prayer as you ran off.

-

The bell rang, signaling the start of school as Tzuyu stood before her locker. Opening it as she watched a few pieces of paper flutter to the ground, ‘More secret admirer letters.’ The Taiwanese girl shook her head as she opened them briefly, tired of reading about how beautiful she was since it was kinda getting old. Until she came across a note that differed from the rest.

Tzuyu, keep your head up. You’re so smart and don’t forget to live while you’re young and wild :) -Anon

Tzuyu nodded as she read the note, ‘Huh, now that’s new.’ She smiled to herself as she secretly tucked the note back into her locker, her head held higher as she walked to her class.

-Wednesday-

It been two days since the first note you had written and you were back with another, holding it to your chest as you breathed out. Before pushing it in.

-

Tzuyu yawned as she moved her hair away from her eyes, opening her locker as a note fluttered to the ground. A smile growing on her face as she noticed the handwriting was the same as the one she had seen on Monday.

Hey, Tzu. Hope your days are getting better! Remeber you are smarter than you know and stronger than you think ;) -Anon.

The Taiwanese girl smiled as she tucked the note with the one she had received on Monday. She was really starting to like this admirer.

-1 Month Later-

It been a month since you had started leaving notes at Tzuyu’s locker every other day, and unbeknownst to you, Tzuyu had actually started looking forward to those days. You stood in front of her locker again, placing a kiss to the note as you slid it in.

-

When Tzuyu arrived to the academy she rushed to her locker. Pulling it open as the note she waited for to fall to the ground.

Tzumong! I hope your classes are going well, remember you are strong enough and amazing. If I had the courage you did I’d ask you out on a date if I could. Have a great day ^ㅊ^ -Anon.

Her eyes widened at the last sentence, so this person did like her. And she couldn’t deny, she had also fallen a little bit for the person writing her, her favorite letters.

-1 Week Later-

You sat bored in your history class as you absentmindedly spun your pencil around your fingers. Barely listening to your teacher as he explained a project he was having the class do on Imperialism. Your eyes focusing slightly on Tzuyu, who you hoped still had no idea it was you leaving the notes.

“Y/N. Y/N!” You shook your head as your gaze was ripped from looking at Tzuyu, to face your teacher.

“Yes?”

He shook his head, tutting, “I said, you’re partners with Tzuyu. Move so you can sit next to each other.” You felt your heart rate spike as your lungs seemed to be completely void of air, getting up on shaky legs as you moved to sit next to Tzuyu.

A small smile on her face as she mouthed, “Hi.” You gave her a smile as the teacher explained the project, before finally allowing the class to talk.

You swallowed the nervous lump in your throat as you faced your crush, “H...Hi, I’m Y/N.”

The brunette smiled, “Hi, I’m Tzuyu. Nice to meet you.”

You nodded, “You too.”

The class went by in the blink of an eye as you talked about the project and how it would work out when the bell rang. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I have to go. Can you write your number.” Tzuyu held open her notebook as you quickly wrote your name and number on the lined sheet of paper as she rushed out of the class. Your eyes following her retreating form as you sat back in your desk.

‘Well that just happened.’

-

The Taiwanese girl had to run to the student council meeting since she was behind on one of her projects. Panting as she entered the room. Taking a seat as she opened the notebook she had given you to write in. Her eyes barely glanced at the paper, when your handwriting caught her attention.

Her eyes widened as she pulled the note she had received this morning out of her binder, holding it next to your name and number. An exact match.

‘Oh my god.’

-The Next Morning-

You walked sleepily to your locker as you ran a hand through your hair, yawning as you put in your code. Pulling it open, only to have a piece of paper come fluttering out. You raised an eyebrow as you squatted down to pick it up, turning it over as you gave it an experimental sniff. ‘It smelled like Tzuyu’s perfume?’

You felt your heart begin to pound in your chest as you slowly opened the note. Your eyes widening in shock.

Found you! Now how about you keep your promise about that date you wanted to take me on. -Tzuyu <3.

You couldn’t believe what you were seeing as you read the note over and over again. Tzuyu stood quietly behind you. Her chuckle greeted your ears as you turned around slowly, catching her gaze. A smile growing on her lips as she looked at you expectantly.

“So. What’ll it be, Anon?”

[pastaaa-bird]

Day 4:historical

@aphrarepairweek2021

Sorryforbeingadaylate

Oh warning for very minor swearing(only happens three times) but other then that there is nothing inappropriate and also there is implied period typical homophobia in this

Summary: An 80s human AU where a stressed out Chiara (nyo Romano) is saved from going crazy by a hero(Amelia aka nyo America)

Basically this is just fluff, fluff and more fluff

Chiara Vargas was a second a way from flipping her desk and raging down the halls, or at least she would be if she had not possessed just enough self control to hold back on the urge.

“Fuck fuck fuck….” Chiara muttered, the sound coming out muffled from her face being squished against her desk in failure.

“OH, CHIARA” came a high pitch voice down stairs.

Reluctantly she lifted her head to the sound.

“WHAT?I'M BUSY”,she yelled back, mentally cursing her brother for disturbing her sulking.

“A CERTAIN SOMEONE IS HERE FOR YOU",

“WHO IS IT?”,

“YOU'LL HAVE TO COME DOWN AND SEE",

After managing to hold back a bitter protest she stood up then stormed down stairs.

“This better be worth my time, Feli or l swear to Dio l’ll-",

Chiara came to a halt once she saw the girl beside Feliciano.

“Hey!” a cheerful voice as usual from the smiling blonde with pink sunglasses in her hair, dressed in her demine shorts,  red t-shirt and long white socks with a pair of roughed up old sneakers.

“Amelia- uh hi there" She replied while awkwardly fidgeted with the sleeves of her jacket, embarrassed at the realisation that she had heard her yelling.

“Nice to see you calm down, anyway l’ll you two ladies to it”, he winked at Chiara who rolled her eyes at the look, not sure whether to love or hate that it felt the exact same to when her grandfather would make comments about her bringing a boyfriend home.

He disappeared into the sitting room to join Valentino on the couch.

“I was wondering if you would want to hang out, we haven't done that for ages”,

“Oh right, ugh l don't think l can”,

“Sure you can! You're not busy are you?”,

“l am, study”,

Amelia raised an eyebrow at that.

“Study? Our exams aren't till two weeks" ,

“I know, l know but l'm sick of revising everything on the night before the exam, besides l need as much of time as possible to understand this crap",

“Ah fair enough- how about l help ya with it? math l'm guessing?”,

Sighing at the memory of her many failed attempts at completing and understanding equations and formulas she nodded.

“Yeah, but are you sure?”,

“Definitely!”, stated Amelia with both hands on her hips and standing tall to her eagerness for the task.

“Alright then...",

A while later Chiara found her self back at her desk with Amelia standing beside her reading over her practice questions, nervously waiting for the results.

It felt like an eternity before Amelia finally looked up and spoke.

“And…that's like sixty five percent right!”,

“Sixty five?! Where did l go wrong this time?!”,

They had been at this for quite some time now. Despite Chiara’s frustration she stayed relativity calm for the most part thanks to Amelia’s encouragement and little jokes that made her either outright laugh or complain due to what she claimed was annoyance even if though she did find it humorous.

“Symbols, you forgot them again, there's supposed to be a measurement symbol at the end of this to say whether it's centimetres squared or cubed or meters squared- eh you get the point...", she paused then continued.

Miss Kirkland is your math teacher, right? She's real strict when it comes to small stuff like that so she takes off a lot of marks”, explained Amelia while doodling with the pen in the corner of the practice sheet of paper Chiara had used.

Miss Kirkland, certified smartass- even if it is technically her job to be one. Now, Chiara didn’t exactly hate her but she was far from a favourite in terms of teachers she was forced to put up with.

She hated how Miss Kirkland loved to call on those who she knew where not paying attention, there was a sense of snobbishness when it came to the way Miss Kirkland would proudly correct the unsuspecting student with a smile that more closely resembled a smirk.

“l hate this, I'm so close to getting this right but l keep screwing it up”,

“Come on it's fine! You've made awesome progress since when we started! It's only been like what….an hour? Give yourself some credit",

“…l guess you're right. But I'm also stuck for other things- like history and geography suck",

“ Wanna head to the library? They got good resources for both”, questioned Amelia now looking up from her doodling.

“Nah, I've had enough school for today. Let's do something else, anything in mind?”,

“Ooh! A few things-“,

Understandably Chiara was not surprised when they had arrived at the arcade on their bikes.

“Is this becoming an addiction for you?”,

“Ha-ha very funny, you have your obsessions and l have mine”,

“You even call it obsession, keep all this up and l'll be hosting an intervention for you",

This time Amelia genuinely laughed in response, Chiara savoured every second of the sound.

They were stuck there for a while, when it came to Amelia's great interest and Chiara’s competitive attitude it was easy to guess that there would obviously be competitions to see who could score the highest.

To Chiara’s dislike Amelia ended up winning proportionally more then she did followed by listening to the victory taunts from Amelia.

And it seemed that as quickly as they arrived they where off again.

“No, no, no, nah, no, nope, no”,

“Oh come on! l thought you weren't a quitter”,

“I have my exceptions, this is one of them",

Roller skating, she wanted Chiara to roller skate. Clearly Amelia wasn't aware of the fact that Chiara would likely crawl into the ground out of embarrassment if she would likely- no when, when she would end up falling flat on the floor.

“l'll help ya along! You'll be fine", urged Amelia tilting her head to the side with pleading eyes.

Upon arrival to the centre she instantly felt her heart sink knowing what would be expected her. After much convincing from Amelia and equally as much rants about what could go wrong from Chiara- she ended up agreeing to at least attempting to skate.

Chiara felt her chest tighten and face heat up once she suddenly felt the hand of Amelia intertwine with her own, guiding her into the skating area after they got their roller blades.

It was fascinated to see how effortlessly Amelia could move, practically gliding with ease although at a much slower pace due to guiding Chiara along. For this moment anyway, Chiara forgot how to feel anxious.

The last destination for the day was the local diner.

“Two milkshakes please, a double chocolate for myself and a strawberry and banana mix for her”,

“Coming right up, dear", replied the waitress.

“Oh and don't worry l'm paying, l owe ya for last time with the ice-creams” reassured Amelia after she placed their order.

It was the small things that Chiara adored about Amelia the most, how she remembered her favourite foods was one of them. Along with her passing small notes with funny faces on them to her whenever they shared a class and she had noticed that Chiara was dying of boredom.

They sat on the high chairs in front of the counter top as they awaited her drinks, Amelia flapped her hands with giddy excitement once they were received, Chiara couldn't help smile at the sight.

She thought about sharing the milkshake together, putting the straw in her drink like those shitty romantic movies Amelia loves so much. It would be cute wouldn't it? Cuter to see Amelia's reaction to the gesture! She smiled to herself at the idea.

Then her face dropped.

No, no they couldn't, not here, although her smile was brought back again by looking towards her girlfriend who had all her attention on blowing bubbles into her drink.

“Should you really be playing with your food like that?”, she questioned placing the straw into her own drink.

“Might as well make the most of it when my folks aren't here to tell me off ", Amelia shrugged in response.

Chiara found her self agreeing with that mentality and joined in with the childish behaviour.

They cycled back to the house, it was getting dark already.

Amelia was invited in and the two walked past the living room seeing Feliciano and Valentino with their eyes still glued to their precious TV.

At peace now they were sat together on the back porch. There was a small garden behind the Vargas' house, it was closed off by the tall fence( put there mostly so the neighbour's cat couldn't hope over and ruin the vegetable patches or flowers).

The air was humid all day and was beginning to cool down with the sun getting lower and the clouds moving in.

For what could have been anywhere from a minute to a thousand years the two spoke about anything and everything, the topics seemed to flow so easily, naturally changing with ease.

Finally the two sat in comfortable silence, looking towards the sky who’s colours had turned into oranges, yellows and pinks.

This is what Chiara so deeply enjoyed, how they could just sit together and feel so secure.

Routinely this what would be done for one another if the other was upset and asked for so, this time was often spent with their hand held or being hugged by the other.

 There would be times where Chiara in particular would wish to be alone, in cases like this Amelia would go prepare or buy a snack for whenever Chiara is feeling okay again, it gave her something to look forward to when she needed to be alone with her own depressing thoughts.

Sometimes when Amelia would be upset she would just want to vent and vent with no words of “it will be okay" or “look on the bright side of things", Chiara was there to listen and agree with the difficulty of whatever situation she found herself in.

Chiara's head was rested on Amelia’s shoulder, her arm wrapped around her in response to it.

Now it was getting cold, thankfully she still wore her jacket…but maybe…

“Amy?”,

“Yeah?”,she quietly answered back to the nickname.

“It's getting a bit…chilly don't you think? Would you, would you like my jacket?”,

“Oh...Uh sure.If you wouldn't mind that is”, a blush covered Amelia’s cheeks, she was rarely flustered or at least visibly.

The jacket was a gift to Chiara for Christmas from one of her relatives, it was given oversized to her but she kept it since it seemed more comfortable like this. On Amelia the jacket finally looked normal, it fit her well and looked quiet lovely.

They went back to silence until Chiara broke it again.

“Thanks by the way. I really needed today- to get my mind off of all this stupid fucking stress l've been trapped in lately",

“Of course. We all need a break now and then",

“You could say that again…l love you" Chiara looked up, her chin now on Amelia's shoulder.

Amelia glanced down at her and grinned.

“The feeling is mutual, sweetheart"

The end

Okay now for me rambling

Uhhhhh l read through this and l don't think l made any mistakes? I'll edit this if there are and sorry if you saw any, idk l'm bad at checking for mistakes and l don't have someone to proof read for me

Oh and Valentino is human Seborga and alsooo not sure if l made it clear but Feliciano does know about their relationship and also Chiara is Bi and happy to feel valid in her relationship with Amelia as if it were the exact same as when she is with a guy and not something taboo in this time period

ALSO damn, sorry this isn't that particular to the 80s- l did leave out things l was originally going to add in though! Like l was going to have Felicianio and Valentino have a movie marton but according to Wikipedia they werent common around then and the ones that did happen were anime soooo y e p

Also thought about adding in a house cord phone but eh idk it felt nicer to have Amelia visit instead of having Chiara call her or if l tried writting it as Amelia calling and then showing up it just felt forced and weirdly put in any way l tried to write it in

AH l am so worried that this is boring or cringy, like l honestly can't tell if it is or is this fine-ehh l guess l've written worse um yeah if you've read this far thanks :)

(I'm editing this for mistakes and wtf 90 is so high why would she be shocked- damn l think l know why l originally wrote that, l was thinking Amelia said ONE of the questions is 90% right but before it l said she was correcting multiple questions so it reads as multiple questions being 90% right all together ANYWAY l corrected it so it's fine again okay bye -AND it turns out l missed some mistakes yet again-editing this for the 3rd time rip)

[hailhydra920]

That Professor Barnes

Pairing: Professor!Bucky x reader 

 A/n: For @the-ss-horniest-book-club​ HBC Bucky Barnes Appreciation Days. Today was Professor!Bucky, so hope you enjoy

 Warnings: Kinda suggestive content. I mean not really. That Professor Barnes is a warning in itself.

You quickly dashed into the auditorium, your hair flying in different directions, and sticky notes fluttering off your books. Your friend, Maven, signaled you over to one of the middle rows where she was sitting, and you sighed as you sat down.

           “Rough morning?” Maven asked.

           “You could say that. So, the new professor is coming in today?” You asked grabbing your notebook. “I’m sad Mrs. Summers had to go.”

           Maven laughed. “She was on crack half the time. And the other half she was asleep.”

           “That’s why I’m gonna miss her, because she was so easy. My one saving grace during dumb college exams. I’m afraid this new guy will make us actually do stuff.” You huffed, blowing a few strands of hair out of your face.

           “I’m not even sure how she got hired, but, yeah, the new professor should be here. Mr. Barnes I think is his name.”

           “Mr. Barnes? Sounds like some old man.” You sighed checking the time. “An old man that had a hard time getting out of bed, he’s late.”

           “Well, I’m glad we’re sitting in the middle, wouldn’t wanna smell some old professor.” Maven snickered as you laughed.

           “Sorry class.” A deep silky voice sounded. “My car wouldn’t start so I had to take the bus.”

           You and Maven both looked up to see a very handsome man entering the room. Most definitely not an old man. His piercing blue eyes lingered on you for a second before he walked over to the board.

           “I am Mr. Barnes or Bucky, your new history professor. And I like my class up close and engaging, so everyone please fill up these front rows.” He said as everyone eyed him. “Come on, move up, that is unless you want me to seat you in alphabetical order.”

           That got everyone moving quickly, so quickly in fact, that the only place left for you was in the front row. You cursed under your breath as you ambled toward the front.

           “Don’t be shy. I don’t bite.” Bucky chuckled, and then, soft enough so only you could hear. “That is unless you want me too.”

           Your head quickly whipped around, not completely trusting your ears, but from the smirk on his face, he definitely said what you thought he said. You took your seat and looked at Maven who shrugged nervously.

           “Sorry.” She mouthed.

           “Traitor.” You muttered underneath your breath.

           “Now class, before we begin, I would suggest you take notes as I am giving an intense exam at the end of the semester.” He said as everyone groaned. “Also, before you say anything, yes, I know I’m a young professor, but that means I’m more approachable for help. Keep up and you should get a passing grade.”

           You watched as he shrugged off his over coat and rolled up his shirt sleeves, causing his strong arms to show. You let out a shaky breath. Geez, could that man be any more distracting?

           Bucky grinned as he watched your expression. “Let’s get class started, shall we?”

~~~~~~~

           You were having a difficult time concentrating. You tried to focus on just scrawling notes down, but Bucky seemed to make sure you were engaged.

           “Ms. Y/n, could you help me with this next part of the lesson?” He asked, crossing his arms, causing his muscles to scream against the shirt.

           Holy freak, could he just stop that! You couldn’t find your voice, so you just nodded. He slowly dragged a chair toward the center and motioned for you to sit down.

           “Class, I am going to show you how some of the people used to tie up prisoners. Unfortunately, in my rush this morning, I forgot my rope, but my tie will do.” He said leisurely untying his tie, eyeing you with a smirk.

           You gulped nervously as he got behind you, the soft velvet of his tie sliding against your skin. As he tightened the knot, his warm breath fanned against the back of your neck.

           “Comfortable?” He whispered darkly into your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

           He beamed as he turned toward the class. “As you can see, they were practically helpless in this situation, leaving them completely at the mercy of their captors.”

           More shivers shot down your spine as his eyes glazed over with a playful shine and his lips twitched up in a dark smile. He moistened his lips shooting you a wink. He was enjoying this far too much. Walking over to the board, you watched as the fabric of his pants did little to constrain his muscular legs.

           “I swear. That man.” You mumbled as Bucky tilted his head toward you.

           “What was that? Anything you’d like to share with the class?” His face full of utter satisfaction.

           “Nope, just making mental notes for the exam.” You retorted as he chuckled.

           “Very well, then. Pop quiz tomorrow and—”

           The bell interrupted him and everyone began to pack up their stuff.

           “Just a pop quiz then. Have a nice day.”

           A chorus of mumbles and “you too” filled the air as people scrambled to their next class. Maven walked down toward you, waiting to go to the next class with you. You looked toward Bucky, hoping he would untie you so you wouldn’t be late for your next class.

           “Uh, Maven, I must speak with Ms. Y/n, there is no need to wait. Actually, tell her next professor she might be a little late.” Bucky mused.

           You opened your mouth to say something, but Maven bolted out the door. You were alone with your extremely attractive professor tied to a chair. Not exactly how you planned to come back to school after the weekend. His next class wasn’t for another hour, and you groaned.

           “Now, now, don’t be so upset. You get to know your new professor.” He said taking long strides to the door before closing it softly.

           “Uh, can you untie me? Kinda don’t want to be late for my next class.” You said trying to wiggle from your constraints.

           Bucky chuckled darkly before grabbing the sides of the chair, his face mere millimeters from yours. He took a deep breath, the warm air spreading across your face, his steel blue eyes swirling with excitement. He gently ran his rough fingers through your hair. Your body went numb, not knowing what he was planning.

           “You didn’t think our lesson was over, did you?”

           Oh freaking crap.

Tags:  @sleep-i-ness​

[oosizins]

Genre: angst,fluff Words: 1.952 Warning: bullies, swearing words and violence and a little kiss

AN: So this is a request by @seroonie

I hope you like it sweetie

Bichy Bich Club

All start when they were younger Jeno was a little boy who loved take care of himself everyone thought he was selfish until he went help a little girl named Y/n, who was bullied by some random person. Fom that everything start to turn into something else, and that until now they had grown up, the little selfish kid turn into a men who is now in highschool, part of the soccer team he have good grades, rich and everywhere he is going everyone is staring at him. The little girl had grown even pretier that before but no one was able to see it but Jeno and his friends. She was really silent and didn't want everyone to look at her like they are looking at Jeno. She also have good grades and if you're searching for her she is at the table next to the window watching her friends doing sports or just studying.

But like in all the stories they are antagonists and there it was a girl named Chloe really popular too, by a chance (or not ) she got close to Jeno, they start hanging out together and he even introduce her to his friends, here they are:

Renjun the older of theme all, he was cold from the outside but when you get to know him he was as warm as the cacao that you drink in a cold winter, Haechan he was always teasing everyone and even the teachers were weak but he's the sunshine of you're group. Jaemin everyone's favorite, he was kind, heart warming and sociable when they were younger jeno and he were always fighting but they learn how to live around each other and they discovered how they likeed each other. Jaemin was here for everyone who need love and support and finally Y/n the only girl that was really close to them all she was shy and talk only to the boys so imagine the face that Chloe made when she knew that Jeno had another girl in his life. But she anyways took the place of all the girls dreams and became Jeno's girlfriend. And from this situation they're history are starting

Hey Y/n we are here said Haechan while shaking his hand over his head.

Ye I'm not that blind Chan I just need to go somewhere. you mumble back

Ok we are going to wait for you in the library Renjun shout and you and you friends separate to your respective place, actually, you were going to the bathroom, it was now an habit that at 13h Chloe and her friends were here in the toilet waiting for you and if you miss one of there reunion it's the end, they gonna make fun of you in front of the whole highschool or you gonna be bitten up

So you got our history home work? Asked Chloe without even looking at you

No I didn't get the time you replied

Ow and why did you didn't get the time? You were hanging out with someone? A no I forgot that beside Jeno and his pets you don't have any one her friend commented

So what are we going to do with you? Hm? Maybe hurt you? Like slap you're ugly face? Or no maybe hurt you're friends? The second said

No! Hurt me but not my friends you begged I don't care if you slap me... but don't you dare do something to my friends. You suddenly had a wired felling inside of you like if you're blood start boiling and anger filled your eyes.

Ow so we want to play the superhero? Chloe ironically asked

No but if you dare touch one of there hair all the high school will know what did you did with Kai

Ow I see you gain in confidence, but why would they trust you when you have the courage to talk only to MY boyfriend and his friends?

Do you really love "you're" boyfriend? That is the question everyone beside you him and you're two dogs know that you don't like him for who he is but for his-

That is none of your business bich- She cut you off and you saw his hand fly and slap you're cheek Don't you dare talk to me like that again or you'll regret

What you are gonna do if I talk to you like that?

She grab your hair and smack it against the sink

That what I'm gonna do stupid, don't you're parents thought you how to respectfully talk to people or they don't like you too?....

And they're gone

That isn't actually the worst they've done, you're just gonna have an bruise and maybe a red cheek but that's ok .... Right?

Hay what happened? Asked Renjun a little panicked to see you with a black eye And you saw Jeno take out his water bottle to place it gently against you're cheek bone

You felt you're heart race and you're cheek heat up by the fact that he was looking at you and his hand patting you. He was so gentle even if he have strong arms long legs kick bullies booties he was so careful and sweet, he always had the habit to make you fall for him in a way

I got stuck in the bathroom and I hurt myself against the door you said silently and you heard Jamin replying

Y/ n it's actually the 5 time it happened maybe we'll go with you next time?

In the girls bathroom? Noooo I'm not going with you, they're all gossiping about how jeno is strong, beautiful and everything else! joked haechan

No but we can stay on the bench in front to wait and if after 10 minutes you're not out we go break the doors explained Jaemin

No it's ok guys I'm ok don't worry you thank them.

No you're not that courageous or brave that you want to be, you don't fight back you don't want to get into troubles like all those popular protagonist in the series.

After the classes you saw Chloe talking to a new guy he seemed to be uninterested in what she was saying and you laugh

What is funny Y/n ? Asked Jeno

Just you're girlfriend trying to catch that guys attention you laughed out

Oh I hope it's a joke you're not like the boys right? He groaned

But why out of all the girls did you choose her? She isn't even kind? And she look like a fish

Yes but she love me and I love her she is really nice she even get to know you and she is beautiful I don't know why you think she is ugly jeno said

Ye she is pretty with all that paint on her face and she is kind with those popular guys you mumble to yourself

Y/n I'm telling you that I like her can you just respect my opinion

And I want you to be happy and with that you're gonna be everything but happy, she's a whore and when are you gonna get it? You were screaming

You know what don't come to me I'm not letting anyone talking about my girlfriend like that and usually people understand but you don't seem to. And he walk away

No-jeno I... I'm sorry...you started to cry out but he didn't heard and you get inside the bus alone with no one to talk to or to lean on while listening to music but all you were able to do is cry cuz knowing Jeno for that long you know that he wouldn't let you come close to him so you were crying, you have lost you're best friend.

//:✨a week have passed✨://

As you knew jeno didn't let you come closer to him so you were talking to the boys,Chloe said that if she see you with Jeno she will beet The boys so you didn't try to talk to him neither, Haechan said that Chloe hook up with one of the newbie of the highschool and you were again thinking about Jeno...

Jeno was blind he thought that this girl liked him for who he was but no it's just that he is famous, his rich, he is sportif and handsome.

Like every other day you were walking down the strets to to you're house it's was dark and only the little lights were showing you the way across the little park. You get out of the park and you saw what you didn't want to see. Jeno walking alone, you did as you havn't seen him but he took you're hand and that makes you look at him in confution

Sorry Y/n.... I'm dumb we shouldn't have had a fight about her. he said and put you in his arms

No...hmpf.- Jeno let me go- you were trying to go out but his arms were too strong

It's killing me that you want to go out now when before the simple fact that I touch you're shoulder makes you blush he said and you were kinda surprised by how he new

Jeno what are you talking about let me go out what is someone see us like that, they.. they would think that you are...- you tried to explain

I don't care about the others I care about you! He shout out and you were again speechless

But me I have to care about them cuz if Chloe see us like that she gonna beet us up me and that boys you mumble and you felt tears dropping

What?! You are telling me that only now?! My Lord I'm so wrong come here he said and drag you by you're arms, So you are saying that all the scars the bruise and everything else it's because of this bich?

How are you talking about you're girlfriend? You asked a little bit shocked.

It's been a week sins she isn't my girlfriend. Cuz during this time when we were fighting I finally figured how.... How I love you Y/n that is unbelievable but I figured out that I was always watching you or asking where you were or how you were and everytime someone was talking about you I was smiling like a dumb crap in love. He looked at you and you were still inerpreting what he said and you were happy to know that he loved you

Are you confessing? You joked

Of course yes how can I not, you're the girl of my dreams and I want you to be my ... My girlfriend he confess while scratching the back of his neck

Can- I .. can I kiss you? You mumble while playing with your fingers.

He looked a little bit surprised but didn't refuse and took you're chin in his finger and close the distance between your two lips.

And after that day Chloe got in (garde a vue) and everyone left her cuz what she did was discussed

Y/n was finally getting more comfortable around people and lived a happy life with our dear Jeno who took extremely care about her, Renjun, Jaemin and Haechan were so happy that they finally confess to each other, they wanted to do like a little wedding (but they didn't cuz it was to childish in Jeno's opinion and Jaemin was sad but that's ok)

But now the most important is that everyone know that popularity is not being rich, being highly educated or perfect, it's being kind, humble and real.

[mythrilhusk]

!!Kill Techno-sensei!! - Chapter Two

Words: 2,076 Chapter One (Last)  AO3 Version Chapter 3 (Next)

The class absorbs the threat, stunned, hushed. Quackity clenches his fists. "Why the fuck would you do that?" His defiance shatters the silence. 

"Because I can." Technoblade replies dismissively. "But I am here to teach, so please, open your textboo-"

"No." Quackity smirks, wearing a confidence he doesn't feel. "Why would you destroy the Earth? You're immortal, sure, but you seem like the kind of guy who's easily bored. What would you have left after your little temper tantrum?" 

One floppy ear flicks irritably. "You see, the idea is, I'd die as well." 

"If you want to die so fucking bad, why don't you just let us kill you, asshole?" 

"That kinda defeats the purpose of the threat. You see, you're completely correct in your assessment. I am bored." Technoblade's light yet nearly monotone voice grates on Quackity's nerves. "I'm simply too good. Unbeatable, even. I've searched and searched, but haven't found a single worthy foe." 

"So you failed!" Quackity crows, slamming his fist on the desk. Psychological warfare, baby.  

Tommy takes up the jeer as well, "You failed, big man, ho, ho!! Eat shit!"  

Technoblade scowls and buries his muzzle in the thick textbook. "Why don't we move on. Page three-hundre-" 

"Move on?? Move on?? You killed my family, Technoblade, you fucking killed them all! I can't fucking move on from that!" Quackity snarls. 

Exhaustion leaks from Technoblade's glower. "I've killed many families, Quackity. All for one goal." 

"Fuck you and your motherfucking anarchy!! You think I'm scared of you?? I- I-" The words choke in Quackity throat as Technoblade stands up. He shrinks in his seat.

"Stay away from him." Sapnap growls. 

Technoblade ignores the students completely, instead turning to the whiteboard and picking up a marker. "History is not circular." 

"What's the fucking point." Quackity grumbles under his breath. There's no winning against a man who'd have no qualms about punting him. 

"Nor is it straight." 

"Pfft, knew it. Now everyone who hates history will get cancelled for being homophobic." Tommy somehow manages to both lighten the mood and make everything worse at the same time. 

Technoblade doesn't get angry or annoyed, however. "Heh. History is pretty gay, not gonna lie. It's also-" He steps away from his crude drawing of a squiggly line, "a helix. History repeats itself in stages. Anyone want to guess why?" 

Tommy leans back in his chair. "Because you're fucking dumb, that's why." 

"Ranboo?" Technoblade addresses the creepy, quiet boy huddled over his desk in the back of the class. 

"Uh- well-" 

"Nothing ever stays the same, big guy." Tubbo interjects. "It's not as simple as stuffing it all into a one dimensional form. Who's to say it's even a line at all?"

Technoblade shrugs. "Fair, fair. Why don't y'all discuss." 

With that, most of the tension in the room dissolves. Groups form as students gravitate towards their friends. Chatter fills the former silence. Quackity forces himself to join in, laughing and pretending like everything is normal again. But nothing about this is normal. 

He can't kill Technoblade through sheer strength. But he could easily outwit him. The gears spin in his mind, working out a plot. 

++++

The first week has gone by uneventfully. Nobody's tried to kill Technoblade yet, who in turn has behaved like a responsible teacher, refraining from punting anyone. It's so boring. 

The last class of Friday ends with the bell, and the kids file out. Technoblade ignores the bitter glares from the little ‘gang’ that calls themselves Ducklings. They haven't attempted anything yet, and Technoblade doubts they'll ever find the guts to actually go through with their plots. Pity, really.

Tommy remains behind, trying to shoo Tubbo, who refuses to leave him. "Teacher!" Tommy stomps up to Techno and slams his notebook on the desk. He's a blustery scamp, but Technoblade has seen how he brightens the classroom and helps his peers. 

"Tommy." 

"Let me kill you." 

"Us." Tubbo corrects. 

"Let us kill you or else." 

"Or?" 

“I'll fail all my classes." Tommy grins, seeming confident he's found a bargaining chip. "And I'll tell everyone else to fail theirs, too. You'll be known as the worst fucking teacher to have ever teachered!" 

"Oh, the horror." Technoblade deadpans. He's got to admit, the kid has guts. "You think I care?" 

"You've gotta. You're our teacher, after all." 

"K." Technoblade doesn't smile. "I'm afraid I can't just let you kill me." 

"Then prepare to be failed upon!" 

"But." Techno holds up a hand. "But, if you try to pass your classes, I will teach you how to kill me. Deal?" 

Tubbo pipes up, "That will be adequate. Come on, Tommy." 

Technoblade waits until both are out of the classroom. He doesn't feel guilty at all. What should he feel guilty for, after all? Simmering rage burns in his chest, a constant companion to the acid in his mind. 

Next class, he promises himself. Next class, the training will begin. He'll be one step closer to achieving his goals. 

Technoblade rises and lets his human form melt away. The voices in his head scream, as they always have, as they always will, hundreds of thousands of souls trapped in here with him. His eyes-- all millions of them-- blink open as his hundreds of wings unfurl. Anyone who could see him now might name him a beast or an angel, and either could be correct. But Technoblade knows both are false promises. Humans can't create beasts or angels, after all. 

Demons, however, are apparently a different matter. 

++++

Ranboo only went back to get his notebook. He can't forget his notebook; that is the one thing he's not allowed to forget. Shadows seep from every corner of the classroom. He shivers as he hastily scrambles to his desk. 

His book isn't in his desk. Where is it?? He can't lose it. He rummages in the desk frantically. Where is it, where is it, where is it?? 

The window creaks, and Ranboo yelps, leaping away from the sudden draft. "Wh-who's there?" 

"Hey." The kind voice greets him from the darkness. "You're out late." 

"I- I just- uhh, who are you?" 

"Who are you?" 

"I- uhh, I'm Ranboo." He backs away to the door. On the floor, silver glints in a shaft of moonlight. The spiral of his notebook. Crap. The shadowed form leaps silently into the classroom and kneels to pick up the book. Crap, crap. "Uh- that's- that's mine, actually." 

"Is it, now?" The gentle mockery in his tone sets Ranboo on edge. 

"Yes, actually, so- so give it back. Please?" 

The mysterious form opens Ranboo's book and flips through it. "Interesting. Alright." He hands it back to Ranboo, who snatches it and scrambles for the door. "Actually, Ranboo, I wanted to talk to you." 

The words yank Ranboo to a halt. He wants to retort, he wants to say no, he wants to leave, but instead he turns back meekly. "Okay?" 

"You're in class 3-E, yeah?" 

"Y-yeah...?" 

"Good. That's good. Do you want your teacher to die?" 

"Huh?" Ranboo tenses, confused by the seeming non sequitor. "I- I mean." Does he want Technoblade to die? Does he want anyone to die, for that matter? "N-not necessarily?" 

"Hm. Alright." 

"Who are you?" Ranboo gathers what little courage he has and steps back towards the door. 

"You, hm, you can call me Dream." The man steps out of the shadows. The mask over his face grins eerily at Ranboo. "I've got a proposition for you, Ranboo." 

++++

"Metal melts in the bastard's skin, so anything with metal is a fucking waste of time." Quackity spreads the pages of his plan over the tree-house's table. 

"Maybe he's a vampire." Karl offers, sitting on the table and messing up Quackity's perfect layout. "Try wood stakes and garlic." 

"Vampires aren't real, dumbass." Connor rolls his eyes. 

"Well, neither are immortal pig-men mutants, but here we are." 

"He's a pig-man, not a vampire. Maybe try something for werewolves? Silver?" Sapnap joins in, swinging on the hammock. 

"He's not a fucking werewolf!" Quackity shoves Karl off the table. "Or a vampire. He's a motherfucking demon, that asshole is, and we need to fucking kill him!" 

"Language!!" The screech from the roof of the treehouse freezes everyone in place. 

"Karl." Quackity says calmly. "Who the fuck did you invite to our secret hideout?" 

"Nobody!" Karl cries. 

"Connor?" 

"He said he'd bring coke!" Connor cries. 

A short man dressed in goth black and red accents drops through the window and smiles at the Ducklings. "I did, but the cans burst on the way." 

"Not soda-" 

"Language!!" The man cries again, shushing Connor. "You kids shouldn't mess with bad stuff, anyway." 

"We don't." Quackity shoots a glare at Connor. "Anyway, it's none of your fucking business. Why the fuck are you here?? What do you want??" 

"I, uhh, just thought I'd help with your problem." The man grins. "You want to kill your teacher, right?" 

"Yeah? But-"

"Well, there you go! I can help you! Name's Bad, by the way. Badboyhalo." 

"How can you help? And what do you want in return??"

"Oh, hmm, how about seventy-five percent of the bounty." 

"Deal." Twenty-five percent of ten billion is still more than enough, and Quackity would prefer revenge on Technoblade over riches, anyway. "How do we kill him?" 

"I've got associates working on that tiny problem. We stole- uh, developed a way to hurt him temporarily, but he can't be killed unless you hit his heart, and his regen powers are too strong to let you reach that with any weapons we currently possess." 

"How the fuck do you know all this??" 

Bad smirks. "Social networking."

++++

Ranboo paces in the chilly alleyway, reading and re-reading his book as shivers wrack his body. He found it. Good. Everything is fine, now. He's fine. 

He shuts out the uneasiness caused by the blurry darkness over his memories. He's never had a good memory, which is why he has this book in the first place. 

He huddles in the corner of the grimy alley to complete his homework, and wonders briefly why there's a second notebook in his backpack also marked 'Do Not Read'. Maybe he forgot he already had one. No worries. It's fine. 

Everything is fine. 

++++

"Class." Technoblade greets his students as they file in. Quackity glares at the monster. He's in his piggy form today, his cloak swishing across the ground. 

"Rise." Tommy calls out the traditional honor given to teachers. But the class hadn't done this before for Technoblade. Quackity glances around at his fellow students, who all seem just as confused. He stands up. The others hesitantly follow his lead. 

"Bow." Tommy sets the example of a shallow bow. Then he straightens and draws a revolver. "Lock on!" 

Quackity stares as Tubbo, Eret, and Wilbur also draw out guns and take aim on Technoblade. 

"Heh??" Technoblade chuffs in confusion. 

"Target on Korosensei!" Tommy snaps out the order. "Fire!" 

"Korosensei??" Quackity's disbelieving laugh is drowned out by the ringing cracks of the guns and the shrill shrieks of students.

"HEH??" Technoblade chuffs again amidst the chaos. Quackity makes the signal to his gang as they stay out of the line of fire. 

"All stop!" Tommy barks. The gunfire ceases. 

Technoblade stares at his class, a tusky smile cracking across his muzzle. "For your first assassination attempt, that was four stars, kids." 

"Wow, that's really good!" Tubbo cheers and high-fives Tommy. 

"Out of ten." 

"Oh. Awww, come on, we deserve some credit for actually getting guns!" 

"You missed." Technoblade replies. "And you ruined my whiteboard." 

"That's your fault, innit, though, big man. If you'd've taken the bullets, the whiteboard would be alright." 

"That's true, that's true." Technoblade's smile fades into a scowl. "But you also put your classmates in danger." 

"They could've asked us what the plan was." Wilbur hums. "It's really their fault for sitting between us and you. And therefore it's your fault for assigning their seats there." 

"True." Eret agrees. "It's all Korosensei's fault."  

++++

Philza walks between his guards, Punz and Ponk, as the two escort him through the compound. "What happened?" He asks, faking calm. 

"Technoblade added another term to our deal." President Skeppy walks backwards in front of Philza. Beside him, Awesamdude keeps a hand on his holstered revolver. 

"Did he." 

"He wants his class trained for assassination. In return, he told us his weakness." 

"Hm." Philza smiles, hiding the whirlwind of chaos and bloodlust behind his eyes. "Pog."

@@@@ KOROSENSEI NEVER DIES @@@@

Chapter 3 (Next)

[hasspartacusdoneanythingwrong]

The Flame-Soaked City, Part 2

Mash, Jeanne (not the servant), Cris, and Kat's trek through Fuyuki continues! Mash has to come to terms with her new powers, while The master trio are learning how to fly blind. How will they react when their little journey gets a lot more crowded? Also, we get sidetracked and spend way too much time justifying the existence of CEs in-universe!

Part 1 here Part 3 here

(Note: anything <between triangle brackets> is being said mentally between the masters.)

Mash and Dr. Romani talked for a bit more about Mash's new condition as a pseudoservant. Before he was cut off by interference, he gave us coordinates for a leypoint, a source of magical energy that could give us a more stable connection. The heat was awful, but Mash's spirit origin was obvious enough that we could follow her footsteps to avoid the worst of the debris in our path.

Those things in the debris were nightmares, though. Mash could flatten them easily, but they were difficult to pick out in the haze, and we were already losing blood from our head wound.

As we neared the leyline’s focal point, I finally felt a source of magical energy that was different from all the skeletons that searched through the wreckage of the city.

Jeanne: Mash, is that... a human? Over there!

Mash: You're right, senpai! That's... the director!

Cris: <<Aw crap.>>

Kat: <Come on, don't be like that! The more people we find out here the better!>

Cris: <<Yeah, but she's had it out for us ever since Jeanne zoned out in the middle of her speech.>>

Jeanne: <<<I did not "zone out", you two were distracting me! How do you expect me to carry on two conversations at once?>>>

Cris: <<I don't know, but you can get plenty of practice right now.>>

Olga Marie: Well? What do you have to say for yourself?

Jeanne: Yes?

Olga Marie:...

Jeanne: ...No?

Jeanne: What are we talking about?

Olga Marie: How on EARTH did someone like you make it into Chaldea? The second it's possible, we're sending you back. We don't need fools on the front lines, especially not injured ones.

Cris: <<Smooth.>>

Jeanne: Oh, will you just-

Olga Marie: What was that?

Jeanne: ...Will you just... stay here, while I check on Mash's progress with the summoning circle?

Olga Marie: Well? Don't just stand there then, get on it!

Kat: <That was close.>

Jeanne: <<<As much as I know you would love to argue with her, Director Animusphere has a point, Cris. We're barely holding on as is.>>>

Cris: <<Oh come on! The only thing here is a bunch of skeletons, and Mash can flatten them in one punch! We're fine!>>

Jeanne: <<<Something is keeping these skeletons together, and I'd rather not deal with that while I am fucking blind, Cris.>>>

Kat: <Hey, we've all been through a lot. Let's just see how Mash is doing.>

Mash: Oh, Senpai! Perfect timing, the circle is almost complete!

Jeanne: Director, we almost have contact!

Energy flowed through Mash's shield and into the sigils surrounding it. Soon enough, Doctor Romani was with us again.

Romani: CQ, CQ. Hello, hello? Okay, the connection's back! Mash, Hannah, it's wonderful to see you again!

None of us actually went by our legal name, but it is less of a hassle than explaining the real situation, so we kept our mouth shut.

Romani: Sorry! I mean, er-

Olga Marie: Doctor Romani? Why are you running communications? Where's Lev? Put him on!

Romani: Director, you're alive? Wha-

Olga Marie: Of course I am! Now where's Lev? Why is a medic on the comms line?

Romani: I know I'm not cut out for the job, but there's nobody else.

Jeanne: What... what do you mean by that?

Romani: Currently, the surviving full time staff of Chaldea is less than twenty people. I'm the highest ranking survivor. Lev was supervising from the command room, where the blast was the strongest. There's no way he could have survived that.

Olga Marie: ...No...

Romani: All other the master candidates are in critical condition. We might be able to save a couple, but-

Olga Marie: Don't be ridiculous! Cryopreserve them immediately! We can worry about reviving them later.

Romani: Ah! Of course! I almost forgot they had that!

After putting the other masters in cryopreservation, Romani continued with his report. Chaldea's systems were crippled, and rayshifting out currently wasn't an option. Their comms were also cut off from the outside world.

Olga Marie: Very well. Romani! Continue with the repairs. In the meantime, Hannah, Mash, and I will investigate the town. If we came back empty handed the Clocktower would have my head.

Romani: Right away, Director!

The connection cut off, and the director focused on us.

Olga Marie: Unfortunately Hannah, you're the closest thing we have to a master at hand, so we'll just have to see what you can get.

Jeanne: What do you mean?

Olga Marie: Do I really have to spell it out for you? We're at a summoning circle! Summon another servant! Chaldeas was designed to power the contracts of dozens of masters, even in this state it can handle whatever dreck you can scrounge up.

Cris: Please. I'll have you know I was brought here because I have the compatibility of three masters!

Kat: <Definitely helps that we ARE three masters. Now hurry up! I wanna summon a berserker!>

Jeanne: <<<You do NOT.>>>

Olga Marie: Just try to get ONE other servant for now. Overconfidence won't help us any.

Mash and Olga prepared some materials for the ritual, and then I repeated a chant Olga fed to us. And then...

A deluge of information forced its way into our mind. Bones scattered in a desert. The tranquility of sunrise. The feeling of chains tying us down. The agony of warfare. ...A white squirrel? Each one forced its way in haphazardly, shoving the last one out of the way.

Cris: <<Hey, I think I got something solid!>>

Kat: <Me too!>

Jeanne: <<<I... kind of?>>>

The first thing I noticed once reality faded back in were the gems littering the ground around us. Even brushing against one of them brought back the flash of feeling from before, but not quite as overpowering.

Cris: <<Jeanne? Stop playing with rocks. We're surrounded.>>

The first thing Cris noticed was the dozens of spirit origins now surrounding us. Before panic could set in, one of them spoke up.

???: Now that you have command over the army of shadows, victory is at hand. You can rest easy now, Master. We are the Hundred Personas, Assassin class.

Olga Marie: What did you do, Hannah? I said one servant, not one hundred! How do you expect to control all of them?

Jeanne: I think they're a package deal, Director. Their spirit origins are almost identical.

Jeanne: We're glad to have all of you. Thank you for answering our summons.

Each one of the servants standing before us had only the most minute of differences in their spirit origin. I'm sure if you overlayed them all they'd form the original whole. So many bodies in a single graph... fascinating...

Kat: <Um, Jeanne? You can geek out about your servant later, there's a couple others in the crowd.>

Two new servants in the crowd stood out. The smaller one approached first. Her spirit origin seemed very similar to Mash's- this one was definitely a knight class! Judging by our connection, they must be Kat's servant.

???:It is nice to meet you, Master. Since I am still in training, please call me Saber Lily. I look forward to working with you in the years to come.

"Saber Lily" was an odd name, but we knew enough about people not to pry.

Jeanne: <<<Do you two know any lily-themed swordswomen?>>>

Cris: <<Of course, I totally paid attention in our History class. Who do you think it is, Kat?>>

Kat: <The biggest lily in history is that french one... Ahah! It's d'Eon, it's gotta be! I hear she's pretty! Gah, now I hope Cris got a caster, I want our eyes healed already!>

Jeanne: Thank you for coming. I hope this won't take that long, but I look forward to our time together as well.

That just left the servant Cris pulled, which was... oh no.

As the mountain of a servant stomped towards us, their spirit origin spoke volumes about them. Its fault lines and twists showed the unmistakeable marks of being forced into the berserker class.

It stopped inches from our face.

???: I am Berserker Spartacus. Sorry to ask this, but are you a tyrant?

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

Fire Emblem AU

First house I want to focus on is the *insert drumroll here*

Green Gator House, where those who hail from the SMP Empire reside!

The SMP empire is the oldest empire in the continent of Carmine. While it once ruled over the entire continent, it lost that power after The Badlands and L’Mmanberg were formed. Despite this, SMP has the most land and all of its citizens are proud of its rich history. The Gator is the house animal because of its toughness and strength, with high populations at SMP’s beaches. This years Green Gators consist of the following

Dream- Dream is the future emperor of the SMP and is considered a prodigy in his speed and skill with lances. He’s generally friendly with most students, despite being distant towards those of other houses. Dream always wears a green hood to cover up his hair for reasons unknown to others. However, underneath his jokes is someone who is desperate to change the status quo, especially how those with and without crests are treated. Dream is totally planning to start a war but he’s only doing it for the good of everyone. He disguises himself with his mask when he needs to work with his less morally standing allies. These allies are people who worship a mysterious god *coughtheeggcough* which gives them great power in exchange for the blood of humans. Dream doesn’t like working with them but he has no choice. Dream in his mask and longer cloak becomes known as The Green Demon. While Dream does have genuinely good reasons for starting a war and his resolve to achieve a better future for his nation won’t waver, he does sometimes ponder it after hanging out with his classmates. Dream specializes in lances, swords, and riding. He has a weakness in faith and heavy armor. He doesn’t like being weighed down. He has two crests.

George- George is Dreams loyal retainer and one of his best friends. George was a commoner until Dream just happened to see him compete in a tournament and was like “I want that one”. Thus, George was taken in to train as his retainer and he became fast friends with Dream and Sapnap. George kinda stands out as one of the few commoners in The Green Gators, not that anyone would dare give him crap about it in front of Dream. George is one of the few people to know what Dream is planning to do and his main reason why. That is to say, why Dream always has his hair covered. George is considered the least chaotic one in the Dream Team, as him, Dream, and Sapnap are called. He’s well known for sleeping in the weirdest places, like in the middle of lunch. Despite this, he is not to be underestimated with his skill in bows and riding wyverns. George is colorblind which he accidentally keeps a secret purely because he forgot to tell his housemates. George specializes in bows and flying. He has a weakness in riding. He has no crests.

Sapnap: Sapnap is Dreams childhood friend because of their families close connections. That is to say, Sapnaps father is the financial advisor to Dreams father. However, Sapnap really doesn’t want to do that and would much rather become a general someday. Sapnap has great talent with reason and is called an arsonist by his classmates after he set their lunch on fire when he was stuck with cooking duty. In his defense, he thought that would make the lunch cook faster and didn’t consider the possibility of fire. Sapnap is a friendly prankster but he does have his worries. Dream and George have been acting more distant lately and he has no idea why. All they are offering is vague platitudes or just evading his questions. Sapnap specializes in reason (fire) and brawling. Weakness in flying and riding. He has a crest.

Puffy: Puffy is a noblewoman who has always dreamed of becoming a knight. Her family specializes in overseas trading but she would really rather stay at home and defend others. She’s one of the oldest out of her classmates and is quickly dubbed as the mom friend. Puffy takes a shine to her future emperor and calls him her duckling after he started coming over to spar with her. Puffy also becomes fast friend with Niki, even though they are in separate houses. Puffy has a lot of friends in other houses. Perks of being used to interacting with those different from herself from trading, she supposes. Puffy has a strong sense of honor and believes very highly in fairness. She specializes in heavy armor and axes but she’s not so hot at flying. She’s not a big fan of heights. She has no crest. Basically, she’s a tanky character who is good at taking physical hits but has very low speed

Schlatt- Schlatts family used to be a part of L’Manberg and he was close friends with Wilbur. That is until his noble family made a risky investment and it backfired. Hard. When none of the nobles would help, nobles from the SMP offered financial aid in exchange for them leaving L’Manberg for the SMP. Schaltt’s family agreed, but their financial position is still very fragile. Schlatts friendship with Wilbur fizzled out after that, mostly due to Schlatts bitterness at the nobles of L’Manberg. Schlatt is also one of the few who can tell somethings off with Wilbur eve before he goes all hunched over eyepatch dude during the timeskip. However, Schlatts not good with feelings so he doesn’t approach Wilbur about it. Schlatt is a cynic about the concept of an honorable noble and has major money hoarding issues. He’s constantly trying to come up with new ways to make some quick cash off of people because who knows when he’ll need some extra? He’s friends with Quackity and Tubbo or as he puts it “The only nobles here he can tolerate because they aren’t self righteous pricks” Schlatt has strengths in reason(fire) and swords with a weakness in faith. He has no crest.

Quackity- Quackity is a noble of a minor house. He’s set to be the next leader of his territory after graduation so he’s mostly here to have one last hurrah of having fun and prepare for leadership. Quackity tells loads of jokes and may appear not to take things seriously. The important thing to note is appears. Quackity wants the best for his people and is willing to do whatever it takes to be a good leader for them. He secretly does a lot of research in past rulers and how they succeeded. Quackity does goof off a lot in between classes, which mostly involves helping out Schlatt with his latest scam. Or trying to talk him out of it if he thinks its a bit too immoral. If he’s not with Schlatt, Quackity likes hanging out with Sapnap as well. Quackity has strengths in axes and authority with a weakness in bows. He has a crest.

Tubbo- Tubbo is also a noble of a minor house. He’s a middle child in a lot of siblings. He’s at the academy mostly so he can figure out what he’s going to do with his life. He’s one of the younger students there. His and Tommy’s families are actually fairly close due to both of them being close to their respective borders. Despite their families trading a lot Tommy and Tubbo has never met. They quickly became inseparable at the academy, despite Tommy being busy with his duties as Wilbur’s retainer. It sure would be a shame if they were separated and forced to fight each other in a war, wouldn’t it? Tubbo loves to hang out at the greenhouse or cook with Karl. He’s extremely skilled at magic, through hard work mostly. Tubbo has strengths in both faith and reason (wind magic) and has weaknesses in axes and brawling. He’s a classic squishy wizard character who cannot take many hits due to low defense. He has a crest.

If Karl decides to teach The Green Gators he has two options before the timeskip. He can either side with Dream or go against him along with everyone else except George. Each side has pros and cons that could be debated about all day and night but that’s neither here nor there. This is mostly just to cover the students and what their generally like and backstories because this is already long enough without going into the plot. Sorry about that by the way. Feel free to tell me if you want this shortened.

Ah I remember why I didn’t pick up the game. It’s because I’m going to get attached to all the characters and won’t be able to save them all and oh no I’m crying.

ANyways. This is good. I like everyone’s characters in here and I’m excited for more. Also ouch on the Clingy Duo angst. Oh god. Oh no.

[thewickedkings]

Between the Two of Us ~ Chapter 2

Masterlist || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

Summary: Jurdan High school AU. Rivals Jude and Cardan are forced to partner up for a history project, and drama ensues. (I know, I know, I suck at descriptions)

Trigger Warnings: I don’t think there’s anything so far, but please let me know if there’s anything I missed!

Jude stepped out her warm shower and into her bath robe, humming softly to herself. She’d gotten up early and went for a run, so she still had half an hour before Cardan was supposed to come over. Maybe she’d make herself a nice comforting breakfast to mentally prepare herself. She’d definitely need the extra dose of comfort food before dealing with Cardan. And to think she would have to do this for the rest of the semester.

Happy thoughts, she reminded herself. Think happy thoughts.

She opened her bathroom door, drying her hair off with her towel, and immediately jumped back in surprise, her towel slipping from her fingers.

Cardan Greenbriar was in her room. He was in her room, lounging on her chair, completely at ease as if he wasn’t in her bedroom. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

Cardan looked up at her from where he sat on her chair, smirking. “Forget about our meeting?”

Jude’s mouth hung open in shock. She quickly closed it, her brain scrambling to catch up with the situation. “I didn’t forget. But it seems you forgot we were supposed to meet at 11:30, not 11:00, Cardan.”

“I’m nearly positive I said 11:00, Jude.” He leaned back in her chair, amused. “But maybe I’ll make a habit of coming early.” His eyes lowered from her dripping hair and landed on her bathrobe, and Jude felt herself blush.

“Shut up.” She marched over to her closet, grabbed the first outfit she could find, and walked back to her bathroom. “Give me a second, and then we’ll get this over with,” she growled, and tried not to slam the door behind her.

She looked up into the mirror, and realized she looked worse than she thought. Her brown hair hung down the side of her face in wet strands, and her cheeks were flushed, a side effect of dealing with Cardan.

Something about the way Cardan always seemed so in control of the situation got on her nerves, and she wanted to, for once, have the upper hand with him. He never seemed fazed, and Jude both envied and hated him for it.  

She combed out her hair and changed into a casual shirt and mom jeans, doing her best to make sure it didn’t look like she tried in any way for him.

When she walked back in the room, Cardan was looking at his phone, his brow furrowed. Jude had to admit that it was jarring to see him against the messy clutter of her room, and she felt somewhat exposed at him seeing the space she had made her own.

With his attention on his phone, Jude gave him a quick once over. He wore faded skinny jeans that were ripped at the knees and a soft black sweatshirt. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the faded scar just above his sharp jawline, and a small part of her wondered how he had gotten it.

Cardan caught her gaze. “Like what you see?”

She made a gagging sound. “You wish. Come on, let’s go downstairs. I need food before dealing with you.”

“What, haven’t had coffee yet?”

She threw her folder at him and walked towards the door. “I hate you.”

“Do you?” He raised his eyebrows as he deftly caught the folder and got up to follow her. “Besides, I was just getting you back for changing my locker combination. How the hell did you do that? It took me three days to figure it out.”

She smiled. She was particularly proud of that. It seemed her hour of practice and watching Youtube videos had been worth it. “I am a woman of many talents.”

He snorted. “Well, I’m sure you can include lock-picking on your resume, right under thief.”

She walked into the kitchen and grabbed eggs from the fridge. “I didn’t steal your car keys. I just conveniently misplaced them. Do you want some?” she asked as she cracked an egg into a bowl.

“No thanks. How will I know you didn’t ‘accidentally’ poison them?”

Jude’s thoughts flashed back to her plans to poison him and she choked back a laugh. That was a little too close to the truth.

Their conversation was interrupted by Jude’s older sister Vivi, who came rushing down the stairs, shoes on and car-keys in hand.

She paused when she saw Cardan leaning against the kitchen counter. “I see Jude’s finally brought home a b- Cardan?”

Jude ignored the fact that Vivi had just exposed her nonexistent love life and asked, “You two know each other?”

Vivi smiled. “I went to high school with his sister. How do you know Cardan?” She wagged her eyebrows playfully.

Jude shot her a glare.

“We have classes together,” Cardan responded. “But Jude clearly wanted to get to know me better, if you know what I mean, and so she generously invited me over to ‘work’ on our history project together.”

Jude scowled. “I didn’t invite you. You invited yourself.”

“If you say so. But I know you wanted me to come over.”

Jude fumed and looked at Vivi. “He’s delusional.”

But Vivi just looked between them with a knowing smile.

“What?” Jude snapped.

Before Vivi could say anything, Cardan pointed to the stove behind her. “Uh, Jude, I think your eggs are burning.”

“Crap.” She ran and lifted the pan from the stove, but it was too late. The eggs were already black around the edges. She opened the trash can and dumped the eggs inside angrily.

She turned back around, and both Cardan and Vivi were trying to keep a straight face.

“I hate you guys.”

“Ah, so it’s not just me she hates,” Cardan responded wryly.

Vivi examined the remains of her scrambled egg that were still stuck on the pan. “I don’t know how you managed to mess up scrambled eggs.”

“She did tell me she was a woman of many talents,” Cardan said solemnly, before both of them broke into laughter.

 ~~~

 After Vivi left on a mysterious date she wouldn’t say anything about and Jude remade her eggs, they were actually able to get some work done. Jude tried not to let her surprise show when Cardan actually gave helpful input and took the project seriously, instead of sitting back and letting her do all the work like she had expected.

When Jude had suggested women’s rights as their topic, instead of dismissing the idea like a jerk, he suggested doing something more specific, and together they decided to do their project on the gender wage gap in the United States. She’d thought Cardan was just another dumb rich kid with too much time on his hands, and maybe he was, but she realized he was smarter than she gave him credit for.

By the time they were finished, Jude was actually proud of their outline. She looked up at the time and realized it was already half past one. She had to be at work for her first shift at two.

Jude had applied for a job at Courtside Coffee, a small coffee shop that was not too far from their school. She hoped to have a decent amount of savings before college. Jude didn’t want to depend on her sort-of father any more than she already had to. Madoc had taken them in when her parents had died despite the fact that they weren’t his biological children, but that didn’t mean she was going to keep taking his charity money throughout college.

Jude cleared her throat. “Um, I have work at two so I have to go. I think we did enough so far.”

Cardan got up and started picking up their papers. “Yeah, we’re pretty much done anyways.”

Jude went to grab her keys from the key holder on the wall, except they weren’t there. Frustration prickled up her neck. She’d told Taryn she needed the car today.

She picked up her phone and called her. After a couple of rings, Taryn answered, her voice lowered. “Hey, Jude. I’m kind of busy right now.”

“Taryn, I need the car. I told you I had my first shift at work today.”

“Oh, shoot. I forgot, sorry.”

Jude clenched her fists. This wasn’t the first time Taryn had conveniently forgotten Jude needed the car. “Well, where are you? How am I supposed to get to work?” Her voice raised in frustration.

“Uhhh… I’m kind of on a date?”

“You’re on a date? With who?” Of course both of her sisters were on dates today and she was stuck here with Cardan, she thought bitterly.

“I’ll tell you later. Can’t you just get a ride with Cardan? He’s still there right?”

Jude realized she must have let Cardan in this morning before she left. “Are you serious?”

“Come on Jude. I’m too far anyways to get back in time for your shift.”

“Fine,” Jude responded, her voice clipped, and hung up. Another reason she had wanted this job was to save up for her own car. Sharing with Taryn clearly wasn’t working.

She felt Cardan’s gaze on her. Heat prickled up her neck when she realized Cardan had probably heard the whole conversation.

“Is there something you need to ask me?” Cardan asked, playing with his keys innocently.

She gritted her teeth. “Can you give me a ride to work, Cardan?”

“I thought you hated me,” he said coyly, crossing his arms and leaning back against the doorway.

“Cardan, come on,” her eyes flicked to the clock. She had to be there in fifteen minutes.

“Wait, let me just savor this a little bit. Jude Duarte, begging for my help.”

“Cardan, I’m going to be late. Is it a yes or a no?”

“I’ll take you, but only if you come to one of my parties.”

Jude blinked. This had to be some sort of trick. “You want me to come to one of your parties?”

Cardan and his group of friends were notorious around the school for the parties they threw. From what she’d heard, they were typical high school parties, filled with bored kids that wanted to get drunk. Her first and only experience at a high school party had involved her awkwardly hiding out in the kitchen eating snacks while a couple made out against the fridge, and it was safe to say she wasn’t looking for a repeat of that incident. But she was desperate.

“Fine, I’ll go to your dumb party. Let’s go already.”

Jude grabbed her phone and wallet before walking to the door.

Cardan held it open for her, grinning a little too wide. “After you, my lady.”

Something told her this would come back to haunt her in the future.

Here’s chapter two!! Let me know what you think :) I’ll hopefully be faster with the updates from here on out because I finished outlining and have most of the next chapter already written so I’ll probably post that within a week. Hopefully. Again, thanks for reading! Your comments on the first chapter made my week <3

Tagging: (Bolded tags didn’t work. I don’t know why, it might be your settings or just tumblr acting up, but I’ll tag you in the comments for now! If I forgot to tag you our messed something up, just send me an ask and I’ll fix it as soon as I can!)

@jurdan7 @cardan-greenbriar-tcp  @amoosewithflannelforfur @aneuwin @mercrutiodidntdieforthis @hizqueen4life @mi-mavencalories @simonelovesff @b00kworm @nope-has-lied @andromeddea @aesthetics-11 @queen-of-glass @runnybabbit9  @afexiss @the-keen-queen @yesimtheslytherinwitch @fizziefaerie @abigneignenn @storiesandschemes @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @words-of-the-wise  @thedazzlingheights @magicalbookwyvern @kittkatandbooboo @queen-of-no1 @iminsanenotobsessed  

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[trainsinanime]

Here’s a Miraculous Ladybug story idea that I may write some time, but probably not, because I only really care about chapter two of what would probably need to be at least ten.

Chapter one features Lila going after Marinette full-force. Not the weak boring „she rips up her notebook so hard that Marinette has to move to Gotham“ crap. We’re doing this properly: Lila convinces the Mayor that Marinette is planning to resurrect Napoleon and bring him back to power. So the Mayor has Marinette imprisoned without trial, because apparently he can do that in the Miraculous universe, and not even her friends or family know what’s going on.

Chapter 3 and later will detail how Marinette managed to escape the prison after fourteen years, with the help of a professional hypnotist. She discovers a pirate treasure on a small uninhabited island off the coast of Italy. With the money from the treasure, she buys the island and the title of nobility that comes with it, and returns to Paris. Rich, and now officially a countess, she will reward those who were loyal to her, and destroy all her enemies. (I haven’t yet worked out what that means in detail.)

But the really interesting part for me is what happens in those fourteen years. Here are my notes. Content warning: Dark, Major Character Death, Intended as over-the-top and silly but maybe not over-the-top enough, and of course, Adrien/Lila:

With Marinette gone, a lot of joy drops from the class immediately. Everybody loves her, and they only have weird rumours about what happened to her, rumours that they can’t believe even if the source is Lila. (No, we’re not doing class salt. Yes, that means my options for enemies in the later chapters are limited. I don’t care, I love Alya and the rest of the class and I am not throwing them under the bus.)

The first time Ladybug doesn’t appear to a fight, everybody is pissed. The second time, they’re even more pissed. The third time, they’re worried.

Chat Noir does his best. He decides to capture the Akumas, so Ladybug can cleanse them when she returns. For now, he stores them in mason jars. After a bit of thought, he decided to just store them in the cellar of the mansion, in a box labelled „Adrien’s favourite toys“. Nobody ever looks there.

No Ladybug means no cleanup. (The ear rings are kept in the warden’s office in Marinette’s prison, so Ladybug is out of commission for fourteen years). Adrien again tries to help, spending way too much time cataclysming debris. A child has lost their favourite plush shark in a river of chocolate? Chat Noir manages to „find“ and „clean“ it. No, it’s totally the same shark, not a new one that he just bought, believe me. The child is happy, but clearly it’s not enough.

The first time the Eiffel Tower is destroyed, rebuilding it is a matter of national pride. If Ladybug is gone, then France will step in. Gabriel donates a lot to the effort.

The second time the Eiffel Tower is destroyed, authorities decide to leave the debris as a monument. The statue for Ladybug disappears.

With no Ladybug, Hawkmoth realises that he can’t get the ear rings. Attacks decrease, to once a month, then once every three months; apparently just to check whether Ladybug has returned. Around Adrien’s eighteenth birthday, it seems like Hawkmoth might retire for good. On a completely unrelated note, Gabriel appears to have lost all will to live.

Adrien can’t escape Lila, who continues to be employed by Gabriel, despite her not being very good at photoshoots. But he does his best to keep his distance.

Shortly after Adrien’s birthday, he is away, while Lila has a meeting with Gabriel and Nathalie. But tragedy strikes: Lila arrives and witnesses Gabriel shooting Nathalie and then himself. Why would he do such a thing? Good thing Lila is such a reliable witness. The case is so clear that the police don’t even have to check the gun for fingerprints.

Adrien is stricken with grief. He tries to call his friends, but nobody will reply. It’s almost as if someone with access to Gabriel’s computer had used the spy software on Adrien’s phone to disable it. But that’s clearly absurd. There is only one other person who is there to comfort him: Lila. Adrien doesn’t like her, but she is someone familiar. She spends the night.

The next morning, Adrien is disgusted, and the two part ways. But two months later, she reappears and tells him she is pregnant and it’s his child. She has a whole speech prepared about how he needs to take responsibility, but it’s not necessary: Adrien will not let his child grow up without a father.

The next month, the wedding is a weird affair. Lila wanted something grandiose, and she got it. But all their friends know that this is anything but true love.

Alix wonders aloud what Marinette’s role would have been if she had been here. Alya jokingly says that she’d be the bride. Adrien overhears, and he realises: Yeah, she would have been. He loves her. Always had. This moment is when the only wedding picture is taken where Adrien smiles.

Seven months later, Gabriel Agreste Junior is born. Adrien loves his son with all his heart, but he has questions. But Lila and her top-notch expensive doctors assure him that this is perfectly normal, sometimes pregnancies take a month longer or two. Adrien is not fully convinced, but he doesn’t want to cause a fuss.

Around this time we also get a new Hawkmoth, who is much meaner, but doesn’t seem to have as clear a goal. Everybody’s best guess is that this Hawkmoth is just going after whoever last pissed them off. (Totally forgot this one in the original version of the post, sorry)

Two years later, Lila’s daughter Emma Marinette Agreste Junior is born. Adrien picked the second name while Lila was asleep. Since Lila is not involved with her kid’s upbringing at all, she has not yet noticed. This time, Adrien is convinced that something is up and Lila is lying to him. The reason: He has recently learned how babies are made, and he knows for a fact that he never did that with Lila.

He confronts her. Lila isn’t concerned, though. What’s he going to do? Divorce her? Then he’s never going to see the kids again. The things she could make a court believe… Adrien is horrified by that thought, especially since he knows very well that he’s the only one in the marriage who loves these children.

Meanwhile, Lila’s own career as an actress isn’t going well. She’s a great natural talent, sure; she can make anyone believe anything. But to be a great actor, you still have to turn up on set every day, and not just when you feel like it. Oh, sure, she has great excuses, but the jobs still dry up fast. And while you can make up a story that makes you look good about one make-up artist you made cry, maybe two, there is a point where it becomes a problem.

She blames Adrien for this, mostly because he will generally not back up her lies about where she was. He doesn’t really care, though. Despite her threats, what’s she gonna do, leave with the kids? Thanks to his father, Adrien had some top notch lawyers, and the pre-nup agreement is watertight.

Unrelated to all this, behold Paris’s new mayor, Chloé Burgeois. She’s been embroiled in controversy from day one. Some say she’s too young. Others say she only got the job because her father was mayor before her. Yet others point to her publicly difficult relation with her constant partner and off-again-on-again girlfriend Sabrina. But perhaps the biggest talking point is that in her office, she has a big painting of a certain heroine in red with spots, with the words, „what would Ladybug do?“ underneath. She’s never lost trust, and the press hates her for it.

One day, her old school friend Alya visits. Alya’s own relationship to Ladybug is difficult: Part of her still holds out hope, just like Chat Noir. Another part of her curses Ladybug for just leaving. Her goal now is completely unrelated to Ladybug, though. She has uncovered new things about the Napoleon Resurrection Conspiracy: The main witness (Lila) and the supposed ring-leader: Marinette. That can’t be right.

She wants Chloé to reveal the truth. Chloé herself has no idea, and very little interest in investigating. Her father told her that this was all secret, and that she should never touch this subject.

But she knows very well what Alya is asking for here. Alya got her big break as a journalist by uncovering the files on the Napoleon Resurrection Conspiracy in the first place. The revelation that it had all been swept under the rug was what caused the old Mayor to step down in the first place. If Alya is now saying that this might all be wrong, that means she’s placing her whole career on the line. That level of commitment means something.

For her own part, it took Chloé a while to admit it, but she was shocked and heartbroken by Marinette’s sudden disappearance as well. It was the first step to becoming a somewhat nicer person, and forming real bonds with her classmates. She has the access to the archives. She could uncover the truth, and maybe even find out where Marinette is now. It wouldn’t be popular, and it might be dangerous… but what would Ladybug do?

Chloé is all in, and it doesn’t take long until she meets Lila. Chloé would not consider herself a fan. She knows the difference between Adrien’s real and fake smiles. Lila refuses to clear things up, though. Instead, she tells Chloé that the french secret service does not allow her to say anything, and that Chloé better drop it if she knows what’s good for her.

Chloé ignores it. She also ignores it when she gets a threatening letter. After all, Ladybug was up against powerful people, too, and she never let that stop her. She even ignores when her own personal Yacht sinks for unexplained reasons, until her Butler and Sabrina explain to her some things about the history of the french secret service (actually I’m not sure whether this is too much in bad taste; the alternative would be that her vacation home gets set on fire).

She tells Alya that there is nothing to know, and blocks her cell phone number. The next day, workers remove the Ladybug painting. After all, what Ladybug would do is just disappear, right? Only fitting. Sabrina laughs a little too artificially at the joke. Yes, indeed. Ladybug would just stop doing her job when the people needed her. Perfect analogy.

With that, the basic outline is set. Chapter three would probably be short and tell the story of Marinette’s imprisonment. Chapter four is then where the real revenge starts.

Other points:

At various points, Luka is sadly strumming his guitar.

I’m not sure what to do about Marinette’s parents. The mean option is that they die, full of grief over their missing daughter. The very mean option is that they end up separating first. I’m not sure Marinette’s revenge spree works if they’re still around, and I definitely don’t ever see them turning away from her.

Nino and Kagami could do with an arc here.

Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, but since I don’t know how to turn this into a full story, this is as good as it gets. If any of you guys want to borrow parts or all of it for your stories, please go ahead.

[whosemorales]

Heartbeat

IMPORTANT INFO Post Civil War and Spider-Man Homecoming. Infinity War and Endgame never ever happened cause no one needs that much sadness in their life. None of these one-shots are related unless it says otherwise. And I don't know when I'm going to post but I will try and make it weekly. I don't take requests, but you are free to comment.

Peter couldn't keep the smile off his face all day. It was Friday the last day of school for the week, but that wasn't why Peter was excited, he was excited because he was spending the entire weekend at the Avengers Tower.

Ever since he stopped the Vulture from stealing Mr Starks plane, he spent more and more time with Mr Stark and had grown a lot closer to him. He had met the Avengers a few weeks ago after the accords were sorted out they were welcomed back to the tower, it had been a bit awkward at first but they all grew closer and upon meeting Peter they absolutely adored him.

Peter was currently in his last class of the day, history, the only subject he didn't have with Ned, and he was bored. Don't get him wrong he loved history but they were learning about WW2 and Peter already knew heaps about it (courtesy of Steve and Bucky). So he decided to occupy himself with designing new Web formula, one that would be stronger than anything he's had before, hopefully, strong enough to hold down the hulk.

*20 minutes later*

Peter was writing down the last few equations in his book when the bell suddenly rang through the classroom, causing him to wince due to his heightened hearing, quickly grabbing his stuff he made his way out of the classroom and into the crowded halls of the school.

He met up with Ned on the way to his locker and they both started to talk about the new lego set Ned's mum had just bought him. While Ned was talking Peter was grabbing the books he would need and shoving them into his bag.

"What up losers." Both boys turned to see MJ standing there, but she wasn't looking at them; she still had her nose in her book.

"Oh hey MJ." Peter and Ned said at the same time, laughing the two boys grabbed their stuff and the three made their way out of the school. They spoke outside for a little while until a black Audi pulled up out the front.

"That's Happy I gotta go, bye guys!" Peter yelled as he walked over to the car.

"Hey Happy." Peter greeted as he tossed his bag onto the back seat and climbed in.

"Hey, Pete."

As Happy pulled onto the main road Peter began to ramble on about his day and the amount of homework the teachers had given them.

About an hour later they pulled into the back entrance of the tower to avoid the paparazzi.

Hopping out of the car Peter called out a quick 'goodbye' to Happy before getting into the elevator. When the doors closed Friday's voice rang through the speakers.

"Hello Peter, how was school?" The AI asked.

"It was good Friday. Could you please take me to whatever floor Mr Stark is on.?" Peter questioned.

"Of course Peter, Boss is currently on the Penthouse floor with the avengers. Would you like me to inform him of your arrival?" Friday questioned.

"Yes please." With that, the elevator started to make its way to the penthouse floor.

When the elevator stopped Peter thanked Friday and made his way out, he dropped his bag on the kitchen counter and walked into the main living area. Peter saw that all the avengers were watching TV (Everyone except Thor who is in Asgard with Loki). Steve, Sam and Bucky were all sharing the couch closest to the window, Tony, Bruce, Rhodey and Nat were on the middle couch directly in front of the TV and Wanda and Vision were sharing a chair together. Mr Stark was the first to notice Peters presence.

"Oh, hey kid, how was school?" Mr Stark asked.

"It was good but boring I already knew most of the stuff they were teaching anyway, but I did get time to design a new formula for my webs," Peter announced taking a seat on one of the empty chairs.

"Well if you want we can go down to the lab and start working on them." Mr Stark offered.

"Really!! That would be awesome Mr Stark!"

The billion air sighed. "Kid how many times do I have to tell you, it's Tony, Mr Stark makes me feel old."

"I know," Peter smirked, "But I'm going to keep calling Mr Stark because you won't stop calling me kid."

"Touché."

The others laughed at the duo's interaction. They were going to turn back to the TV when Fridays voice stopped them.

"Boss Miss Potts would like me to inform you of her arrival."

"Peppers back?" Peter chimed in, a wide smile taking over his features. Pepper had recently been on a trip to Tokyo to help strengthen the company.

"How come you call her Pepper but me Mr Stark!" Tony grumbled, Peter just rolled his eyes making the others laugh. Just then the elevator dinged drawing everyone's attention. Now Peters hearing is amazing meaning that he can hear things that not even Steve or Bucky could, so when Pepper walked out of the elevator he was confused when he heard two heartbeats.

"Hey everyone." Pepper greeted, receiving numerous hi's and hello's from everyone in the room, everyone except Peter that is, who was still trying to figure out what he had just heard.

"Um, Pete you wanna so hi?" Wanda asked, looking at the boy with furrowed eyebrows.

"What? Oh yeah um hi Pepper how was Tokyo?" Peter smiled deciding to ignore what had just happened.

"Tokyo was amazing but the people well they were draining," Pepper laughed, "What have you guys been up to?" Pepper asked taking a seat next to Tony.

"Not much," Natasha replied.

"Miss Potts," Fridays voice rang through the room, " Miss Pierce would like me to inform you that she finished all the paperwork you asked for and she also needs your signature for one of the documents."

"Who the hell is Miss Pierce?" Tony wondered aloud.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "She's the new assistant I told you I was hiring her name is Freya Pierce." As soon as Peter heard her name he got a tingly feeling in the back of his neck. Something wasn't right.

"Tell her to take it to my office and I'll meet her there please Fri," Pepper answered, getting up from her seat.

"Um, Pepper could I come with you?" Peter asked quickly.

"Of course." Pepper smiled.

The two made their way over to the elevator and got in, as soon as the doors closed Peter frowned he could still hear the sound of three heartbeats and then his brain suddenly clicked, Pepper was pregnant.

"Um, Pepper? This is going to be a really weird question but are you pregnant?" Peter asked sheepishly.

Peppers eyes went wide, "H-How did you know?"

"Heightened hearing." Peter shrugged.

Pepper facepalmed, "Of course I totally forgot about that, it was supposed to be a surprise I was going to tell everyone at dinner."

"I won't tell anyone, " Peter assured, a smile slowly growing on his face, "Is it a girl or a boy?"

Pepper laughed, "It's a girl."

"Yes!" Peter triumphed.

Then the elevator dinged cutting off Peters celebrations and he remembered why he was really here, the doors opened to show the hall leading to Peppers office, standing out the front was a young girl round about Peters age, she had brown curls that descended past her shoulders, she was wearing black jeans, black boots and grey shirt with a black leather jacket, in her hands was the paperwork Peter assumed Friday was talking about.

"Thank you so much, Freya, come in here and I'll sign the documents." Pepper gestured to her office. Opening the door the three of them walked inside, as soon as the door closed Peters spider-sense went haywire.

"Just place them on the desk please Katherine." Pepper smiled, Freya nodded and walked over to the desk placing them on the edge.

Freya stood back giving Pepper room to sign the documents, Peter kept his eyes on her the whole time making himself ready for whatever she was planing. A sudden grunt from Pepper made him whip his head around, Pepper had just cut her finger on the paper, but a few seconds was all Freya needed, realising his mistake Peter quickly turned back around only to be face to face with a gun barrel.

"There, all done." Pepper smiled, oblivious to the gun being pointed at Peter.

"Um, Pepper."

"Yes, hun?" Peter would normally smile or blush slightly but now wasn't really the time.

"You might want to turn around." Turning around Pepper gasped in surprise, she slowly put her hands up.

Freya smirked. "It's been wonderful working for you Miss Potts it really has, but I'm afraid I won't be able to make it in tomorrow," she fake pouted. God Peter really hated this woman, he slowly put his hands behind his back preparing to shoot his Web shooters only to realise that they weren't on his wrists. Crap! That might be a problem.

"What are you doing?" Pepper asked.

"I'm getting my revenge," she answered.

"Revenge for what? We haven't done anything."

Freya let out a bitter laugh. "Because I used to have a family, a loving caring family and then our village was attacked with the same weapons that were made in this very tower. I watched my entire family get killed with one blast of a bomb, the only reason I survived was because my mother and father shielded me from the blast, but I didn't get away unscathed," She took off her jacket to reveal burn marks covering her skin, shrugging her jacket back on Freya then turned to Peter.

"And you, not scared? Trying to act brave by not putting your hands up?"

Peter just shrugged. "Not the first time someone's held a gun at me. And quite frankly you're just being dumb I mean seriously, you pull a gun on Miss Potts and don't think that she would have some way of contacting all the avengers with just a push of a button." Peter asked raising his eyebrows, but he was only buying time and praying to the gods that Friday had alerted the avengers.

Freya's facade faltered but she quickly replaced it with a smirk.

"It doesn't matter whether or not they get me, it's whether or not they save her on time." Freya suddenly turned the gun on Pepper and fired. Peter silently thanked the gods for his enhanced reflexes as he jumped in front of her not wanting to hurt her or the baby by pushing her out of the way.

Peter felt the bullet pierce his skin and embed its self in his flesh, he let out a cry and dropped to his knees but still stayed in front of Pepper ready to protect her again if Freya decided to fire another bullet.

Freya was shocked but decided not to dwell on it turning around she ran as fast as she could trying to make it out before the avengers got there.

"Friday call the avengers now!" Pepper yelled as she ran to help Peter, who was still on his knees trying to stop the blood flow with his hands.

"Are you ok? Is the baby ok?" Peter asked looking over at Pepper with worry.

"I'm fine Pete I'm not the one who just got shot."

"Sorry." Peter winced, as Pepper pressed a towel on the open wound.

"What are you sorry for?" Pepper asked trying to put enough pressure on at the same time.

"I'm getting blood everywhere."

Pepper sighed this kid was too good for his own good. "Pete right now that is the least of my problems."

"I'm fine, it's just a bullet wound, I've had way worse trust me." Peter laughed slightly but stopped when he saw the expression on Pepper's face.

"What-" Pepper stopped herself, "That's a question for another day right now I need to get you to the med-bay."

Pepper put Peters arm over her shoulder and hers under his and started to lift him up. Peter winced a couple of times until he was standing up fully straight, or a straight as you could be when half of your body is leaning in the other direction.

"Friday tell Bruce to set up the med-bay," Pepper called out as she helped Peter make his way to the door.

"Bruce is currently in the med bay setting up and the rest of the Avengers are on their way," Friday responded, as if on cue the elevator opened up and the avengers ran out decked in full gear. Peter would have laughed if it wasn't for the pain in his side and the fact he was starting to see two of everything.

"What the hell happened?!" Tony exclaimed as he grabbed Peters other arm to help with the weight.

"We don't Have time for that right now, we need to get him to the med-bay he's losing a lot of blood."

Clint ran over and took Peppers place and helped Tony take Peter to the med bay all the while trying to keep the young spiderling awake.

When they got to the med-bay they quickly but carefully placed Peter down on the bed that Bruce set up, Peter winced at the movement and bit his lip to keep himself from crying out. Bruce quickly ushered everyone out of the way and began to take the bullet out before his enhanced healing covered it. Unfortunately one of the downsides to having an enhanced metabolism is that it eats through the sedatives way too quickly, meaning that Peter had to be awake while Bruce took the bullet out. Bruce was halfway through taking the bullet out when Peter finally passed out. *******

The others were anxiously waiting outside the room, praying that Peter would be alright. Bucky, Steve, Wanda, Rhodey, Sam and Pepper were sitting on the chairs out the front of the med-bay Vision was floating close to Wanda and Tony was pacing back and forth running his hand through his hair over and over again.

"What happened?" Tony asked suddenly stopping and turning to Pepper.

Pepper sighed and began to tell them exactly what happened.

"-And then I heard the gunfire and I closed my eyes waiting for the bullet to hit me but instead I heard Peter cry out and when I opened my eyes he was in front of me with a bullet wound in his side, and then Freya ran so I tried to stop the bleeding and helped him up and that's when you guys came in."

"Well Freya didn't get very far, security stopped her before she could get out," Sam smirked.

"Of course the kid would try and save you, but why didn't he push you out of the way," Tony asked, "I mean if he pushed you out of the way then you both would have gotten out unscathed and Peter would have been able to catch her, so why did he stand in front of you?" Tony asked mainly to himself.

"I-I don't know." Pepper cursed herself for stuttering.

Tony frowned slightly. "Pep why did he jump in front of you?" he asked again this time to Pepper.

The others were listening in closely for her answer.

"I don't know," Pepper repeated.

"Tony just leave it and come sit down." Rhodey pipped up gesturing to the seat beside him.

"NO! No, I will not just leave it my kid is in there with a bullet wound that he wouldn't have got if he had just pushed Pepper out of the way so why didn't he?" Tony demanded.

"BECAUSE I'M PREGNANT!" Pepper finally yelled.

Everyone went silent, their eyes grew wide and small smiles started to form on their faces.

"What?" Tony asked his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm pregnant," Pepper repeated with a soft smile. Before Pepper could even register what was happening she was being enveloped in a hug, Tony held her tight his face nuzzled into her neck and pepper could have sworn she felt something wet fall onto her shoulder. When Tony finally let go he brought Pepper in for a passionate kiss.

When they pulled away Tony frowned. "Wait how did Peter know, did you tell him before me." He gasped bring his hand up to his heart in mock hurt, making the others laugh.

"No, it's because of his enhanced hearing, when we were in the elevator he asked me, I was shocked at how he knew but then he told me it's because he could hear a second heartbeat."

"Wow, that kid really is something," Bucky said.

"Yeah, he sure is." Bruce agreed, startling everyone as he came out of the med-bay.

"Bruce, how is he?" Tony asked quickly praying to gods it didn't hit anything important and that Peter was going to be ok.

"He's fine," Bruce assured, "Actually he's better than fine, his system I-I've never seen anything like it before. I mean Steve's and Bucky's is good but Peter's is amazing the way it works is fascinating. Normally when Steve or Bucky get shot it takes a little while to heal, but Peters system is working at a phenomenal speed, meaning when he wakes up he might feel a bit sore but it will only feel like a bruise." Bruce explained.

Everyone was shocked, they knew Peters healing was good but they didn't know it was that good.

"Can we go in?" Tony question, Bruce gave him a nod and Pepper and he rushed in.

When they got to Peters bed they saw the bandage wrapped around his waist and the heart monitors finger clip attached to his finger, the monitor was beeping in a steady rhythm, indicating that Peters heart rate was normal.

They both took a seat on either side of Peter and took his hand making sure that they would be the first ones he would see when he woke up. They sat in the med-bay for half an hour before the little spider started to wake up.

"Mmhm." Peter moaned trying to open his eyes, but once they did open he regretted it because a bright light blinded him. He waited a couple of seconds before opening them again.

"What happened?" Peter mumbled, but he suddenly sat bolt upright scaring the daylights out of Pepper and Tony, "Is Pepper OK! Is the baby OK!" He asked quickly looking around still waiting for his eyes to adjust properly.

Tony and Pepper laughed softly. "She's fine kiddo, and so is the baby," Tony answered.

"Oh, hey Mr Stark," Peter waved slightly before his eyes went as wide as dinner plates, "OMG! I just told him about the baby! I promised I wouldn't tell because you were going to tell them all at dinner. I am a despicable human being." Peter gasped, putting his face in his hands.

Pepper laughed, "Pete it's fine I already told him."

"Oh thank the gods." Peter sighed.

Just then the vent swung open and Clint fell out.

"Ow." He groaned, but a smile quickly took over his face when he saw that Peter was awake.

Getting off the floor he gave Peter a hug ruffling his hair making Peter growl. Soon all the avengers were in the med-bay they all gave Peter a hug, glad that he was ok. And Peter loved it he loved them and sure they were a very dysfunctional family but they were his dysfunctional family.

"So Pepper, what are you going to name the baby?" Natasha asked.

"WAIT YOU PREGNANT!!!" Bruce yelled.

[thebrotherssalvatore321]

Keeping Secrets Ch. 15

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

Pairing: Damonxoc, Tylerxoc, Elijahxoc, then Klausxoc endgame. Warnings: Mentions of mental and physical abuse.

Katie sat in her car in the school parking lot catching up on homework that she had failed to do when she saw Stefan drive up in an old, but very well taken care of sports car with the music blaring. He was throwing caution to the wind, tossing a big red flag in the air that Elena clearly didn’t see since the two of them kissed then Elena walked off with a smile on her face. Katie tucked her finished homework into her bag then walked over to meet Stefan at his car. “You’re not being inconspicuous.” Katie said as he quickly closed the trunk and turned to her with a smile on his face. “You’re not okay are you?” she asked with and appraising glare.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He told her with a tight lipped smile as he pushed the strap of his backpack higher on his shoulder.

“I’m not Elena, Stefan, I’m not going to let you lie to me. You’re not acting like yourself.” She told him as she placed her hand on the trunk and gave him a ‘talk to me’ look.

“I’m fine.” He told her with a look that told her to stop asking questions.

“Look, I’m not going to tell Elena, but if you’re not doing okay you need to talk to somebody. Let me be that somebody.” She asked and he just took his sunglasses out of the neck of his shirt and put them on. “Okay. I’m not going to beg you to talk to me, but you can’t say I didn’t try to be there for you.” she sighed and started walking with him to the school in silence.

When they walked into history and took a seat both Elena and Alaric gave her a questioning look. “Katie, what are you doing here I thought I had you in fifth period.”

“They changed my schedule, something about there being too many people in period one Spanish.” She shrugged and he started looking at a stack of papers on his desk.

“Ah, I over looked that notice.” He told her then looked up to see two other kids walk in and take a seat only leaving one seat available in the room. “Which explains why you two are here.” he observed. “Okay, this week we’re going to set aside our regular curriculum for a lesson in local history as we approach founder’s day.” Mr. Saltzman started. “Apparently the community leaders feel that’s more important than world war two. But hey, what do I know?”

He was interrupted by Bonnie walking through the door. "Sorry I'm late." She told him as she shut the door.

"Looks like we'll be at full occupancy today. Welcome home, Bonnie." Alaric said as Bonnie took a seat. He started talking but Katie wasn't paying attention. Instead she gave Bonnie a smile that went unreturned. She brushed off Elena and Stefan too.

She and Elena gave each other ‘what’s up with her?’ look then turned their eyes to their teacher. Bonnie was the first one out the door when class was over.

Elena and Katie tried several attempts throughout the day to talk to Bonnie, but she kept slipping away. It wasn't until after school that they managed to catch her on the way to her car. “Bonnie,” Katie called and Bonnie stopped walking, “hey, how are you?”

“Yeah how's the family?” Elena added.

“We're dealing. It's been hard.” Bonnie answered understandably vague.

“We all really missed you.” Elena said as she pushed the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder.

“Yeah I just had so much to deal with after Grams funeral, and honestly after you told me that the tomb spell failed, I just really didn’t want to come back.” she told them.

Katie looked at Elena, “You told her over the phone?”

“I wanted her to know before she came home.” Elena defended herself then turned back to Bonnie. “I hope you understand why I told you.”

“I understand why. I just wish I didn’t know.” Bonnie’s eyes turned a little cold as she looked at her two friends.

“Bonnie!” They heard Caroline say as she ran over and scooped Bonnie up in a hug making her smile. “Thank god you’re home.” She let go of Bonnie just as fast as she scooped her up. “I know we talked everyday, but I missed you. How are you doing?” Caroline asked in a whirlwind.

“Better, better. You know, just glad to be back. Trying to keep myself busy.” Bonnie said giving Caroline more words than she had Elena and Katie.

“Well, I can help with that.” Caroline said with a smile on her face. “Major wardrobe confab needed asap. You need to help me pick the perfect dress for the founder’s court.”

“The founder’s court?” Elena asked. “Did I miss something?”

“The founder’s court. You know, Miss Mystic Falls.” Caroline told her like she should already know what she was talking about. “They announced it today and um, you and I and Katie are on it.”

“Oh, my god, we signed up for that so long ago. I completely forgot.” Elena replied.

“So are you dropping out then?” Caroline asked sounding a little too hopeful.

“I can’t.” Elena said as she sank back into herself a little bit.

“No?” Caroline asked confused.

“Her mom is the one who wanted her to enter.” Bonnie explained.

The three girls shared a look. “Hey, Katie,” Tyler called from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see him standing a few feet behind her with his hands in his pockets, “can we talk?”

“Yeah.” She told him then looked at her friends. “I’ll see you guys later.” They walked away as Tyler walked up to her. “What’s up?”

“I know you said you wanted to take a break for a few days, but I don’t need a few days.” He told her.

She pushed the strap of her bag up her shoulder. “Okay, so what does that mean?” she asked as she started walking to her car.

“It mean’s that I don’t want to break up with you.” he told her as she came to her car.

She opened the driver’s door and tossed her bag into the passenger seat. “Good, because I don’t want to break up with you either.” She told him and he smiled. “But,” she held up her finger stopping him from being too happy too soon, “if this is going to work both of us need to make a few changes.”

“Like what?” he asked with a sigh.

“Like I’m going to stop dancing with guys who aren’t you.” she started.

“And what change do I have to make?” he asked with pursed lips.

“You need to realize that I’m not the kind of girl that parties and gets drunk at public events. A bonfire, a random kegger in the woods…alone in my room with you…?” she said as she hooked her finger into the collar of his button up shirt and pulled him a little closer. “Sure, but I’m not going to be stupid and ruin my chances for a scholarship.” He smirked down at her finger in his shirt. “Is that cool with you or is it a deal breaker?”

“It’s cool.” He told her as his smirk turned onto a smile. “You care about your future, I get it.”

“Does that mean you’ll be my escort for the Miss Mystic Falls founder’s pageant?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

“You made the court?” he asked with a smile and raised brows

“Why do you look so surprised?” she asked with a small laugh.

“Well, because my mom is over that.” He said with a tilt of his head.

“Regardless, I’m on it and I need an escort.” She told him getting back on topic. “So will you?”

“Yes, I will learn the stupid dance and everything.” He told her with a smile as he leaned in and pinned her between him and the open door of her car. She placed her hand on his chest and kissed him.

“Wanna help me find a dress?” she asked with another hopeful smile when the kiss broke.

“No, hard pass.” He told her shake of his head.

“Okay fine.” She sighed then pulled him back in for a kiss.

TVDTVDTVD

She was sitting at the bar at work, slacking off while writing what she was going to say when the judges did their whole, we want to get to know you before picking a winner, thing when she felt someone touch her shoulder making her jump and almost fall off of the stool. “Whoa there Katie Cat, didn’t mean to scare you.” Damon laughed while pulling her back onto the stool. “What are you concentrating so hard on?” he asked as he sat down and slid the paper across the bar and began to read it. “While I haven’t helped the community first hand I have had a part in the-”

“Give me that back.” Katie said trying to take it from him, but he lifted it high in the air and kept reading.

“go green campaign at school and made several donations to the M.F. beautification committee and the rec. center soup kitchen. My plans for the future are to go to Duke university and become a pediatrician.” She finally managed to get it from him and stuff it in her bag to be worked on later. “What is that?”

“The speech I’m going to give the founders court judges.” She told him as she walked around the bar and made him a glass of bourbon on the rocks.

“A pediatrician huh?” he asked as she slid him the glass.

“It’s what I put on the paper when I signed up.” She shrugged. “I didn’t think I would actually make it. Now I have to buy yet another dress and heels and I have no idea what’s appropriate for this kind of thing.” She complained with a sigh. She saw Damon looking her up and down. “What?”

“Blue, one shoulder, flowy with one of those sparkly belts on the waist.” He suggested, wiggling his fingers at her waist.

“I can’t wear blue, Elena’s claimed that color.” She argued.

“Then red.” He suggested.

“Really, a red dress with red hair?” she asked with a point to her ponytail.

“Wine red, it won’t clash.” He explained and she gave him an odd look. “I enjoy looking at women and I happen to pick up on what looks good on them. Don’t judge me.” He told her with a smirk as he leaned across the bar.

“Not judging.” She said holding her hands up in surrender. “Just appreciating.”

“Get back to work and stop breaking the law before they fire you.” he told her with a jerk of his head to a couple that had been seated in her section when he walked in who were looking impatient.

“Crap.” She said as she walked around the bar pulling the notepad out of her apron pocket as she did.

A few hours later, Bonnie came in a sat in Katie’s section without realizing it. “Hey, what can I get for you?” she asked not getting even a small smile of a greeting out of her friend Bonnie told her what she wanted in the most uncaring unhappy voice in the world. “Are you made at me for something?” she asked not caring that this was keeping her from the work she was supposed to be doing. “I mean, you barely spoke to me the whole time you were gone and then you come back and you won’t even look me in the eyes. So if I’ve done something I need to know about it so I can fix it.”

“You haven’t done anything, so you can’t fix it.” Bonnie told her with a frown.

“But there is something wrong.” Katie argued.

“Look, I can’t just sit back and pretend that everything is fine. Grams died protecting us from those tomb vampires and they’re out. So Grams died for nothing.” Bonnie explained.

“Do you blame me for that?” Katie asked, confused.

“No, I blame them.” Bonnie told her coldly. “Damon and Stefan.”

“Still waiting for the part where you explain why you’re cutting me out of your life.” Katie said getting a little aggravated.

“You’re friends with them, Katie.” She said as she looked down at her hands. “I’m not going put you or Elena in a position where you have to choose sides.”

“Okay then, consider me Switzerland.” Katie stated making Bonnie look up at her. “I’m living with my grandfather again. I wasn’t safe with the Salvatore’s. So if you decide you still want to be my friend, you know where I’ll be.” Katie told her then walked away.

TVDTVDTVD

The next day she got in from work and went up to her room only to freeze in the doorway when her eyes landed on a wine red, chiffon, one shoulder dress with a thin line of rhinestones around the waist, hanging in her window. Matching red suede lace up shoes with thick, easy to dance on, heels sat on the floor beside it. She instantly pulled her phone out of her bag and called The Hotter Salvatore Brother. “Surprise and you’re welcome.” He answered with a smile in his voice.

“Damon Salvatore, I did not ask you to buy me a dress. I don’t need your charity.” She scolded him. Even though she loved the dress she couldn’t accept it.

“It’s not charity it’s a gift.” He argued as she walked over and looked at the price tag only to find that the price had been taken off of it.

“Damon I can’t accept this.” She argued back not being able to take her eyes off of it.

“Well, do you like it?” he asked ignoring her statement.

“No it’s absolutely hideous and I will not wear it.” she told him sternly.

He was quiet for a second before he said, “You almost had me there for a minute. You love it and you know it.”

“Fine it’s freaking beautiful, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t keep it.” she argued.

“You can and you will. If I don’t see you wearing it at the pageant I am going to be very angry at you.” he warned.

“Fine, I’ll wear it.” she gave in knowing there was no fighting him.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie, wearing her red heels, stood in the school cafeteria across from Tyler as his mom instructed them on the dance. “Honor your partner.” She told them and they stepped up to each other and she curtsied as he bowed then they stepped back in line. “Let’s focus, right hand around.” They held up their hands and walked around each other. “Flirt with your eyes.” She told them and Tyler gave her his best attempt at a flirty gaze making her crack a smile even though she was trying her best to be serious. “Left hand around.” They did the same thing in the opposite direction. “Both hands.” Katie was aware of Elena and Stefan talking throughout the whole lesson then Stefan grabbed Elena and twirled her around. “Oh, no. No, no, no, there’s no touching during this part.” Carol scolded the laughing couple. “It’s about the simple intimacy of the near-touch.” She told them then motioned for them to get back to it.

When they started waltzing Katie was surprised that Tyler had really good form. “You know how to dance?” she asked with a surprised smile.

“Have you met my mom?” he asked with a glance at his mother. “She made me take dance lessons specifically for situations like this.”

“Oh.” She said with a head tilt.

“Little tip,” he started, “stiffen your arms more and act like you have a pole up your ass.”

She bit her lips holding back a laugh as she did what he told her. “Looking good guys.” Carol told the couple with a smile as she walked by and touched her son’s shoulder. Tyler gave Katie a cocky smirk.

TVDTVDTVD

The day of the pageant Katie went to a salon and used the money she had intended on buying a dress with to get her hair and nails done then went to the founder’s hall with her dress, shoes and makeup bag in hand. The other girl’s dresses were all already hung up in the dressing room, so Katie added hers then headed to the room where the girls were getting ready. Elena and Caroline gave her a smile when she walked in and sat down at one of the free vanities complete with a lighted mirror.

After putting on some subtle makeup Katie headed to the dressing room to put her dress on. She thought the dressing room was empty but instead she walked in on Damon and Elena. “Oops. Sorry I’ll just uh,” she stared backing out of the room, but Damon grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. “What’s going on?”

“We all need to talk.” Damon told them as Katie walked over a grabbed her dress.

“Does it have to be right now?” Elena asked waving her dress at Damon.

“Normally I would have a completely different outlook on what I’m about to tell you,” Damon started talking and Elena gave Katie a questioning look as her friend started unbuttoning her shirt. “Katie, I’m trying to concentrate here.” Damon said with an interested look at Katie.

“And I’m trying to get dressed before I’m late.” Katie argued.

“Anyways.” Damon blinked rapidly and turned his eyes to Elena. “Since what I’m about to tell you could really inconvenience me, I’ll… squeal.”

“What are you talking about?” Elena asked still holding her dress in her hands while Katie slipped hers over her head.

“Stefan’s still drinking human blood.” Damon told her.

“Called it, but he refused to admit it to me.” Katie said as she took her shorts off under the dress. “Someone wanna zip me?” she asked turning her back on to the two of them.

“What?” Elena asked and Katie knew she was talking to Damon.

“Yeah.” Damon answered as he walked over and zipped up Katie’s dress. She walked around Damon and sat down on the white couch in the room. “A month ago I would have rejoiced.” Damon kept talking as he watched Katie switch her flip flops for the red heels. “But with the council back on the alert it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle.”

“I know he’s been a little edgy, but he said that was normal.” Elena argued with Damon then turned to look at Katie as she stood up and moved to look at herself in the mirror. “And you called it?” she asked her friend. “Why can’t you just have a little faith in him?”

“It’s not about faith, Elena, it’s about seeing what’s right in front of your face.” Katie said as she straightened her dress.

“He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house.” Damon told Elena making her sit down on the couch. “He has no idea what normal is. His entire existence isn’t normal.” Katie, seeing that the dress was as perfect as it was going to get turned from the mirror to look at her friends. “Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood. But he spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning how to control it. and now it’s controlling him instead.”

“I can’t believe it. I mean, it’s Stefan we’re talking about here.” Elena said not wanting to accept what she was being told.

“Stefan on human blood, Elena.” Damon argued. “He’ll do anything, he’ll say anything, because he’s not going to want to stop.”

“He had me keeping secrets from you.” Katie spoke up as she moved to stand next to Damon.

He looked across his shoulder at her and looked her up and down. “You look gorgeous by the way.”

“Thank you.” she told him with a smile.

“Wait what do you mean he had you keeping secrets from me?” Elena asked as she stood up.

“The night after you gave him your blood I walked in on him binging blood bags.” Katie explained. “He made me promise not to tell you.”

“Oh my god, this is all my fault. I’m the one who fed him the blood in the first place.” Elena said as she started pacing the room.

“What’s going on in here?” Stefan asked as he opened the dressing room door.

“Just…filling Elena and Katie in on your extracurricular activities.” Damon answered as he turned to look at him. “Although I think Katie already had her suspicions.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Stefan said with a shake of his head.

“I know about the blood Stefan.” Elena told him with one of her judgy little looks.

“We're just gonna...go.” Damon said holding his hand out for Katie to come with him. She followed him out to see that the other girls were lining up to walk down the stairs.

Katie was third in the line up and as the first girls name was called Carol walked over to Katie with a smile on her face. “You look beautiful.” She told her as she adjusted a curl that was framing Katie's face. “Good luck.”

“Miss Katie Finnegan.” Her name was called and suddenly Katie felt as if her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

She made herself take a deep breath and let it out then plastered a smile onto her face as she started walking down the curving stairs. The red chiffon of her dress flowed over the stairs behind her creating a beautiful contrast of white and red. However when Tyler and Damon's eyes landed on her neither of them were looking at her feet.

When Katie's eyes landed on Tyler's awe struck face her smile turned into one that lit up the room. Damon found himself frowning at the younger man as Katie took his hand and walked with him outside.

But when Katie saw Elena walk out with Damon instead of Stefan she felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her. Tyler cleared his throat reminding her that she was supposed to be keeping eye contact with him. So she looked at him and made herself forget about Damon and Elena. It wasn't hard once the music started playing and the two of them started the choreographed dance.

By the end of it she found herself only thinking about Tyler. "I really want to kiss you right now." Katie whispered to him as he escorted her to the stage.

"Save it for when you win." Tyler told her as he let go of her hand and went to stand in the crowd.

"Where's Amber?" She heard Caroline ask Elena and Katie realized that they had been missing a girl and an escort.

"Before I crown the winner," Mayor Lockwood said as he walked up to stand on the corner of the stage, "I would like to offer a personal thank you to all of these young ladies for their efforts to better our community." Katie put on a close lipped, polite, but genuine smile as everyone clapped. "So without further ado," Katie's heart raced with anticipation, "it is my honor to announce our very own Miss Mystic Falls...Miss Caroline Forbs!" The Mayor motioned to Caroline and Katie's heart fell to her feet.

But when Caroline turned to her Katie plastered on a smile and hugged her friend. "I actually won." She told Elena who hugged her too.

Katie tried to keep her face cheerful and not the least bit disappointed, but she felt herself failing. After Caroline got her sash and was awarded her scholarship they all walked off the stage, met at the bottom of the steps by their escorts then were allowed to enjoy the rest of the party. "I think you should've won." Tyler told her as he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Thanks." She told him with a sad smile.

"I do too." Katie turned to see Carol behind her. "I tried to argue that you managed to help the community while balancing school and work without your grades slipping, but they didn't listen." She said with a shrug.

"Caroline's worked really hard for this and the title meant more to her than just a scholarship." Katie said with a small smile and a shrug. "The right girl won."

Carol smiled at Katie and patted Tyler on the shoulder as she walked off. "How did you win my mom over?" He asked looking impressed.

"I have my ways." She told him coyly. "So…I didn't win the scholarship, but I did manage to make it through that dance without tripping over this dress in these heels. Does that still qualify me for a victory kiss?" She asked.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. "Did I see jealousy on your face when Elena walked out with Damon?" Tyler asked making her frown.

"No, you saw worry. She was supposed to be with Stefan, but he disappeared." She explained. "He’s been going through something here lately and I’m worried about him. Speaking of which will you excuse me for a minute? I really need to talk to Elena." She asked and he nodded. "Thank you." She pecked him on the lips then picked up her dress and started looking for Elena and Damon. She ran into them as they were headed out of the front doors. "Hey, where's Stefan?" She asked as she rushed after them noticing Bonnie behind her.

"I think he took Amber." Damon explained and when they got into the parking lot they heard a scream off in the woods. "Come on, this way."

They followed the sound to find Stefan feeding on the crying blond. "Oh my god. Stefan!" Katie yelled sounding like she was scalding a misbehaving child.

"Stefan!" Elena yelled sounding scared as they all stopped a somewhat safe distance away from the raging vampire.

Stefan turned to look at the four of them. Katie and Elena stood at Damon's sides while Bonnie stood further behind them. “Stefan. Come on. Get control of it.” Damon started coaxing him. “It’s okay. Come on.” He walked cautiously over to his brother. “Breathe through it man.”

As soon as Damon touched him Stefan growled and threw him into the distance. He started walking over to the three girls, blood dripping from his mouth and veins popping under his eyes. He was halfway to them when he stopped and started grunting in pain as he grabbed his head. Elena and Katie turn around to see Bonnie glaring at Stefan with her hands at her sides and her palms facing out.

After a few seconds of agony Bonnie stopped and Stefan, no longer raging, looked at all of them with scared eyes full of regret. "It's okay, Stefan." Damon tried, but Stefan turned from them and ran.

"Okay, I'm going to call Sheriff Forbs. You three found her and called me. You got it?" He asked as he walked over to Amber and compelled her to forget what happened.

Police cars started showing up before Damon could even pull out his phone. Soon they saw some EMS workers along with the Sheriff walking over. The EMS practically jumped Amber while the Sheriff pulled Damon to the side.

After talking to him and Amber the Sheriff walked over to the girls and Damon. "She doesn't remember what happened."

"It's a good thing the girls got here when they did. She lost a lot of blood." Damon told her.

"And you didn't see anything?" The sheriff asked and while Elena looked at Bonnie, Katie looked at the sheriff and shook her head no.

"No, we just...found her and then called Damon." Elena answered for all of them.

"Is she going to be okay?" Bonnie asked.

"It looks like it, yeah. Why don't you girls go back to the party? Damon and I can take it from here." Sheriff Forbs told them and they all nodded and left.

While Elena and Bonnie talked Katie went back inside to find Tyler. "Hey, where have you been?" Tyler asked as she walked up to him where he stood at the bar drinking a soda.

"That's a long story that I'd rather tell you later." She sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Yeah I just needed a hug.” She answered feeling stupid as she let go of him. "Wanna tell your parents that you're staying at a friend’s house and stay the night with me?" She asked.

"Are you serious?" He asked with a laugh.

"As a heart attack." She answered with a smile. "My grandpa won't say anything to anyone."

"Sure." He answered as he placed his hand on the back of her neck and kissed her.

"Then I will see you later." She told him as she let him go. "I'm going to head home and get out of this dress and take the ten pounds of hairspray and bobby pins out of my hair."

TVDTVDTVD

She had just gotten out of the shower when she heard her text tone chime. So she dried her hand and picked up the phone to see a text from The Hotter Salvatore Brother. "Stefan is locked away thanks to Elena and one if Alaric’s vervain darts. Just wanted to let you know Mystic Falls is relatively safe again."

"Thanks, Damon." she typed then hit send.

"Goodnight, Katie Cat."

"Goodnight."

She closed her phone and put it on her desk. She had just put on a tank top and shorts when she heard a knock on the door. She ran down stairs to see her grandfather shake Tyler's hand and let him in. "Hey." She greeted him from the stairs and waved him up. "Come on."

He followed her up the stairs and to her room. "So are you going to tell me where you disappeared to tonight?" He asked not letting it go.

"Elena, Bonnie and I found Amber in the woods with a big bite on her shoulder and neck." She answered. “I didn't want to talk about it at the party." She sat down in the middle of the bed and placed a pillow in her lap.

"Is she okay?" Tyler asked as he sat down next to her.

"Yeah, they said she'll be fine. She just… lost a lot of blood." Katie shrugged.

“Are you okay?” He asked placing his hand over hers as he threaded their fingers together.

“Yeah, it's just been a really eventful day and all I want to do right now is vegg out with you. Wanna watch a movie?" She asked as with a point to the tv hanging on the wall across from the foot of the bed.

“Sure.” Tyler answered so Katie slid off the bed and started looking through the DVDs that lined the shelves of the bookshelf in the room.

“What are you in the mood for?” She asked as he slid off the bed and walked over to look with her.

“Scary.” He answered as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Have you seen ghost ship?” She asked holding up the DVD case.

“Nope.” He answered so she popped it into the dvd player then grabbed the remote and they got comfortable on the bed.

“This is probably going to make me sound crazy, but I love the opening scene of this movie.” She said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into his side.

They watched as someone flipped a lever making metal cable wind up on a spool, pulling it so tight that it the cable snapped. It sliced through all the people on the ships dance floor and they slowly slipped apart and fell to the floor in pieces, leaving a little girl alive, screaming at the carnage around her. "What is wrong with you?" He asked when the scene was over.

"I told you…I'm crazy." She said with a laugh and Tyler just shook his head.

As they watched the movie Tyler flipped her hand over and started lightly drawing on her palm with the tips of her fingers. The light touch sent a relaxing wave of pleasure through her.

When the credits rolled on the tv, playing music in the background, Tyler kissed her, laying her back on the bed. As they kissed she grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. As she threw it to the side, not caring where it landed, Tyler started kissing her neck, pulling a quiet moan from somewhere deep inside her.

Her hands slid down the smooth taunt skin of his back as she rolled them over. He slid his strong hands up her sides under her shirt pushing it up as far as he could. With a small smile she grabbed it and flung it to the side then leaned down. A deep moan left his lips when she started kissing his neck.

She wasn’t surprised when she felt him start unhooking her bra. It wasn’t surprising that he wanted more since they had been dating for two months and hadn’t gone further than heavy make out sessions. What surprised her were the butterflies that started fluttering in her stomach. Butterflies that let her know that she was capable of loving someone other than Damon.

She sat up and tossed her bra onto the pile of shirts then looked down at Tyler’s body, sliding her hands over the contours of his abs while he caressed her thin, curvy sides. She smiled softly as she moved her eyes to his. “God, you’re beautiful.” His honest compliment made her smile grow bigger.

“Thank you.” she told him then fell forward, bracing herself with her hands on each side of his head. “You’re pretty damn handsome yourself.” She told him, her face just a few inches from his.

He closed the gap, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that quickly deepened until Katie kissed his jaw then down to his neck. As she stayed there, alternating between kissing and nibbling Tyler’s hands explored her back and chest, pulling a moan from her as his thumbs slid across the peaks of her breasts.

Deciding she needed more from him, she started trailing kisses down his chest and stomach until she got to the waist line of his jeans. She sat up on her knees, between his legs and looked at him with lustful eyes as she started unbuckling his belt. Still looking him in the eyes she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. “Come here.” He told her with a jerk of his head and a smirk on his face. So she crawled back up him, he caught her face in his hand and pressed his lips to hers as he flipped them over and stood up letting his jeans fall to the floor.

She made it a point to keep her eyes on his face as his boxers followed and he hooked his fingers into her cheer shorts and panties and pulled them down at the same time. As he tossed them to the floor, Katie sat up and grabbed the back on his neck, pulling him down for a kiss as he crawled on top of her. His hand gripped her thigh and pulled her long, toned leg up and around his hip.

He stopped kissing her and pulled back to look her in the eyes as he sank into her. A sigh left her lips and she pressed her fingertips into his back. “Tyler.” She sighed his name then pressed her lips back to his.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie laid on her side her head on Tyler’s shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her, brushing his finger tips up and down her side. “You okay?” he asked with a look down at her. “You’re really quiet.”

“Yeah.” Katie answered, looking up at him with a smile. “I’m awesome.”

He pecked her on the lips with a smile. “Good.” It was comfortably quiet for a while until he broke the silence. "Do you really want to be a pediatrician?" Katie picked her head up to look into he chocolate eyes, giving him a questioning look. "Mom mentioned it."

"I used to, yeah. It's what I've been working toward my whole life." She answered as she put her head back down on his shoulder.

"But you don't want to anymore?" He asked as he picked up some of her hair then let it slip though his fingers.

"I don’t know. I've realized that not only am I doing all I can just to stay in the top twenty of our class, but I don’t do well in high stress situations. And if I'm having to fight this hard now then I'm afraid that once I get into college I'm going to get chewed up and spit out." She told him then took in a deep breath.

"So what do you want to do instead?" He asked.

"I've been thinking about becoming a song writer." She admitted.

"Can you sing?" He asked looking down at her even though she couldn’t see him.

“Good enough to get my songs heard, but I’m nothing amazing.” She brushed it off. “Who knows, I night end up working at the grill for the rest of my life for all I know.” She sighed as she rolled over onto her stomach to look at him. As the reality of what she’d just done with him set in a smile took over her face.

“What?” he asked with a small laugh at her.

“You make me really happy.” She admitted.

Tyler slid his hand over her cheek and pulled her down for a kiss that made her eyes slip shut. “You make me happy too.” He whispered and kissed her again then laid back and tucked his arm behind his head. Katie laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled into his side. “Sometimes all I can feel is anger. Exercising helps, but when I’m with you…I’m calm.”

Katie just looked up at him and smiled before he pecked her on the lips. “I’m glad I can be your escape.” She told him as she brushed her finger across his bottom lip. “Because you’re mine.”

They ended falling asleep in each other’s arms.

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Shook (Brick/Blossom)

{{Original posting unfortunately deleted. Reposted here.}}

Summary: When Butch and Buttercup’s fighting goes a bit too far, Blossom takes it upon herself to intervene. Reds.

xxx

Brick woke up with pinprick pain in his temples this morning, a sure indicator that today was going to be a bad day.

His headache only progressed throughout the day, and by the end of sixth period AP European History, he was fantasizing about how good Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had it with that guillotine. Quick, painless, and blissful freedom from the squabbling peasants who would never have let them off easy anyway.

“Dude, you’re doing it again.”

Brick could feel his brother’s big, blue eyes on the back of his head as he unloaded his books at his locker. “What.”

“The resting serial killer face.”

Brick glanced at his reflection in the small mirror he had affixed to his locker door. Tired, red eyes stared back at him, mouth in a harsh, thin line, and his trademark red cap backwards over his red hair. His bangs were getting a little long.

He slammed the locker door. “Maybe take the hint.”

Boomer, unlike most of the plebeians at Townsville High School, didn’t cower in fear at his brother’s bloody glare. He smiled and threw a letter-jacket-clad arm over Brick’s shoulders. “Lighten up, man. It’s Friday! Julie’s party is tonight, remember?”

Shit, Brick had forgotten. He vaguely remembered agreeing to go to that.

“Someone say party?” Wes Goingon, a guy so pale he looked like he’d been bleached at birth, approached them hand in hand with his girlfriend, Kim Chan.

Kim smiled brightly at Brick. “Oh yeah, Julie’s! You guys are going, right?”

Boomer dragged Brick into step with their friends, and he was too tired to resist. “For sure.”

Brick sighed. “I don’t know, I’ve got a migraine. I might sit this one out.”

“No way, you gotta come!” Wes said. “It’s not a party without you.”

Kim nudged Brick affectionately. “He’s right, but if you’re not feeling well, you should stay home. I noticed you were kind of quiet today.”

“Shh, Kim, don’t give him a way out. Everybody’s gonna be there,” Boomer said. “It’s the last party before Fall Break!”

Fall Break, yes, that was an appealing prospect. A whole week off from school to do what he wanted without having to deal with all the bullshit of high school daily life. Brick didn’t hate it as much as he’d thought he would. Even with his reputation as a Rowdyruff Boy following him, there had been some brave souls who’d given him and his brothers a chance to be normal seventeen-year-old boys, something he hadn’t had back in Citiesville before transferring. Even if many were wary of him, there were a few like Wes and Kim who were so used to sharing the halls with Supers that they barely noticed the difference.

The four of them were approaching the west exit when Brick came across the last person he wanted to see. His migraine flared at the mere sight of her and the suspicion in her gaze that was as ubiquitous as her red hair ribbon whenever they unfortunately crossed paths.

“Hey Blossom!” Kim said, bounding over.

“Hi Kim,” Blossom said, bypassing her to approach Brick, but it turned out it wasn’t him she was looking for. “Boomer, I’m glad I ran into you. Have you seen my sister anywhere?”

Brick watched her talking to his brother like he wasn’t standing right there and felt his blood pressure begin to rise. No matter how much time he spent breathing the same air as this girl, he couldn’t get past his dislike of her. They were no longer arch enemies looking to grind each other into the ground, their childhood enmity mostly behind them now that they were older and more interested in living their lives in peace. But even so, Brick had never had any desire to befriend Blossom or her Super sisters, Bubbles and Buttercup.

Still, she didn’t have to ignore him so obviously. She was always doing petty crap like that. So juvenile.

Boomer, of course, had no such qualms about mingling with Townsville’s resident heroes. Brick wasn’t sure how it had happened, but somehow Boomer had befriended Bubbles, played sports with Buttercup, and was even on amicable terms with Blossom.

“Which one?” Boomer asked, running a hand through his short, blond hair like he was thinking about how it looked in front of her.

The fuck, Brick thought.

“Bubbles. She was supposed to meet me after class, but she’s not answering her phone.”

“No, sorry. I haven’t seen her since lunch.”

Blossom tugged on her long, red ponytail, something she did whenever she was troubled by something. Brick hated that he knew this about her.

“Oh, all right. Well, if you hear from her, can you let me know?”

“Sure thing.”

Her rosy gaze finally flickered to Brick, and she matched his frown. He told himself to ignore her and her unwarranted suspicion of him—it wasn’t like they were twelve anymore and he was going to rob a convenience store, for fuck’s sake—but he also was not about to look away first.

“Brick,” she said curtly, but she might as well have told him to go jump in a lake.

“Blossom,” he said just as clipped. And, just because he knew how annoyingly hyper-alert she got when they were around each other, he let his eyes flicker briefly over her figure, today clad in casual capris and a sleeveless top.

Just his luck that one of the hottest girls in school had such a frustrating personality.

Of course, she noticed him briefly checking her out and crossed her arms. Her pretty eyes narrowed, and the air around them charged. Boomer noticed her subtly spiking energy levels and shrank back instinctively. Brick held his ground, wondering if she’d tell him off. He kind of hoped she would if only to distract him from his pounding headache.

Wes and Kim, oblivious to the electrifying tension, were still talking about Blossom’s missing sister.

Or rather, sisters plural.

“Yeah, I think I saw them leave together. They were in kind of a hurry,” Wes said.

“Really? Since when are Butch and Buttercup so chummy?” Kim asked.

At the mention of his trigger-happy brother, Brick tore his gaze from Blossom. “What about Butch?”

Blossom also forgot her rising annoyance and focused on Wes. “What are you talking about? They left together?”

Wes looked between Brick and Blossom, and it was his turn to shrink. Friends or not, being on the receiving end of both Reds’ glares at the same time was enough to make a guy quail. “Uh, yeah, like I saw them both dash out after sixth period…”

“Together?” Blossom demanded.

“Kind of?” Wes put his hands up like he was trying to placate a pair of wild animals. “More like he dragged her out? I mean, not violently or something!”

Blossom paled, and Brick rolled his eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. Butch couldn’t seem to go a full week without fighting the only person on the planet dumb enough to rise to his challenge every time. Mostly, Brick didn’t care what his brother did as long as it didn’t blow back on Boomer and him, and for the most part Butch behaved. But lately, he’d been hitting the gym twice a day and even pestering Brick for spars more often than usual. As if fighting Buttercup wasn’t enough of a challenge for him already.

“Oh, so they probably went to fight. Hey, maybe Bubbles is with them?” Boomer said.

Blossom was still white as a sheet. “They can’t fight right now. She’s in no condition.”

Brick was about to tell her to calm down, she was overreacting about every goddamned little thing as usual, but Blossom dashed off in a flash of pink before he could get a word in. Kim was knocked over with the force of it, and Boomer was forced to catch her when she bumped into Wes and they both almost went down.

“Jeez, what was that about?!” Kim griped.

“You okay?” Boomer asked.

Brick scowled deeply. What was she thinking using her powers in school? Of all people, Blossom would never. What had crawled up her ass today? He had half a mind to find out.

“Come on, Boomer,” he said.

“Wait, where are we going?”

But Brick dashed off in a blinding blaze of red in much the same fashion as Blossom before him, knocking all three of them down in his haste to catch up to her.

xxx

Buttercup heaved and spat blood. The Chemical X in her system was sluggish as it depleted so much faster than usual, and she felt Butch’s punches like a ton of bricks. He came in fast and hard again, and this time Buttercup dodged the brunt of his punch and sent him spinning away.

“C’mon, BC! Enough of this cat and mouse crap,” Butch taunted. “Fight me! Unless you’re too much of a pussy.”

“Fuck you,” Buttercup spat.

Trash talk had always been a part of their clashes, and normally it added to the fire she felt beneath her skin at the prospect of handing him his ass. But their last fight had been particularly brutal just a few days ago, and while Buttercup would never admit weakness, she was not fully recovered from it.

Should’ve listened to Blossom and taken that X supplement…

Buttercup silenced that traitorous thought. She didn’t need help. She was the toughest fighter for a reason. A little roughhousing didn’t merit all that coddling. Then again, she hadn’t expected Butch to be raring to go again so soon.

“Guys, really! I think you should just call it quits for today!” Bubbles said, hovering close but not close enough to get in between them. She was not suicidal.

Butch glanced at her askance. “Hey, no one asked you, Blondie. I don’t mind an audience, but this is between me ’n your sister, so be a good girl and mind your own fucking business.”

Buttercup seethed. “Don’t talk to her like that!”

“Oh, yeah? What’re you gonna do about it?”

The taunt was transparent, but Buttercup fell for it all the same. She always fell for it, her body screaming to meet his blow for blow even if her mind knew better. It had always been that way with Butch, supernatural. He’d been created to destroy her, and even now that they were older and grown out of that artificial good versus evil bullshit, sometimes she felt like he really was out to obliterate her. She lived for that challenge, that push to the limits of fear and fatality, knowing in her bones that no one could get her as close to the edge as Butch could.

And so, reckless in pursuit of that special high only he could give her, Buttercup rocketed toward him, her fists crackling green with power. Butch caught her fists in his, and their power exploded between them.

Buttercup was invincible for all of a half second, and then came the pain. She was blown back with such force that she went flying and landed hard in the parking lot of the Shankaplex movie theater, totaling two cars and ripping a crater open in the asphalt. Her body ached, and when she opened her eyes, she saw double.

“Buttercup!” Bubbles screamed.

But it wasn’t Bubbles who pulled her out of that crater. Butch’s rough hands had her by the collar of her shirt, and he lifted her like a rag doll. His arms smoked where Buttercup’s power had burned him, but his X was healing him fast, and pain had never bothered him anyway.

“Tsk tsk, taking a nap? Am I boring you that much?”

Buttercup could feel that he was about to throw her, and she made a grab for his wrists, only to find that her hands were bruised and cut, and her palms were slick with her own blood. Chemical X was barely healing her at all anymore. A brief flicker of panic petrified her, and Butch smelled it like a shark scenting blood in the water.

“Guess it’s time to finish you off,” he said, grinning.

But he never got the chance, because Bubbles swooped in and tackled him into a movie poster display at full power. Buttercup fell to her knees, coughing and shaking in pain, but her thoughts were only of Bubbles. That inkling of panic she’d felt before blossomed into full-on fear for her baby sister. Bubbles was no match for Butch, not when he was raring to go like this.

As if to prove her fears true, Bubbles went crashing into the asphalt next to Buttercup seconds later, having taken one of Butch’s punishing punches to the stomach dead on. Buttercup stared at her fallen sister and shook with rage.

“What the fuck, Butch! You leave her out of this!” Buttercup screamed at him.

Butch cracked his neck. A horrible gash on his face where Bubbles had injured him sealed before Buttercup’s eyes as the X in his system came to his aid.

“I’m okay,” Bubbles said, sitting up and clutching her stomach. “Just a little winded…”

“Hey, she threw the first punch. Don’t be jealous, BC. You know you’re my main squeeze.” He grinned salaciously at her.

Excruciatingly, Buttercup forced herself to get up. Her limbs were on fire. Logically, she knew she could not take Butch in her state. She had no idea how he had recovered faster than her—fucking teenage boy hormones—but he was in top form and she couldn’t hope to face him fairly like this. Fear faded to fury at her own shortcomings. They were supposed to be equals, but nothing she threw at him could bring him down today.

Still, Buttercup had never forfeited a fight, and she wasn’t about to start now.

“Buttercup, no! You can’t fight him like this! Let me—”

“Shut up, Bubbles,” Buttercup hissed. No way was she going to let Bubbles clean up her mess. Butch was and always would be her problem. She wasn’t going to let him near her sister.

Butch laughed. “That’s more like it. Now, where were we? Oh yeah, here!”

He shot off again, and Buttercup braced herself for a world of pain. If she could just tire him out enough to call it quits, that would be enough without having to forfeit, surely.

A blinding blast of pink energy intercepted Butch before he could ram Buttercup, and she was blown back into Bubble’s arms before she could eat concrete again. When she came to, she saw Blossom’s long ponytail fluttering past her waist, her bare arms sparking with raw, pink power and a deep crag in the concrete leading from her to where Butch now kneeled, smoking and breathing heavily.

Manic jade looked up at Blossom, and despite herself, Buttercup shuddered at the sight. He was good and pissed off now. “And then there were three, huh? I’m in high demand today.”

Blossom ignored him. “Buttercup, are you okay?”

Buttercup’s ire flared again. “I’m fine. What’re you doing here?”

Blossom shot her a glare over her shoulder. “Cleaning up your mess, as usual. What were you thinking fighting him in your state? You know you’re not recovered.”

Pride told Buttercup to defy her imperious sister, but shame and guilt knowing Blossom was right held her back. But it wasn’t like she’d had a choice! When Butch got it in his head that he wanted a fight, there was no stopping him. Before Buttercup got a chance to snap back at Blossom, they were interrupted again.

“What the fuck is this?” Brick landed next to Butch.

Butch rolled his eyes and got to his feet. “Nothing. This is between me and Buttercup.”

Brick’s creepy eyes scanned the ruined parking lot and the few civilians who had poked their heads out of the movie theater to gape at the Supers like fish out of water. “You, Buttercup, and the Mayor’s office when I have to make a case to the city not to fine us for all this property damage.”

An admiring whistle drew everyone’s attention to Boomer hovering a short ways away surveying the damage. “Damn, Butch. You got something against Frozen 2?”

Sure enough, the new kids’ movie advertisement poster was totally destroyed thanks to the explosive fight.

“Huh?” Butch said.

“Enough,” Blossom said. “Brick, take your brother home. He’s done enough damage for one day.”

Brick glared at her, and Buttercup braced herself for the spat she knew was coming.

“We’re not finished here,” Butch said before Brick could get into it with Blossom. “So why don’t you march that fine ass back to chess club or whatever the hell you do after school?”

Brick turned his glare on Butch, and Buttercup felt its departure like the cruel summer sun dipping behind the clouds.

Bubbles gasped. “No! Buttercup, you can’t fight him anymore! I told you this was a bad idea!”

Blossom somehow looked even more incensed. “You came here willingly? I rushed over here thinking Butch had forced you into a fight. Buttercup, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking this has nothing to do with you,” Buttercup said petulantly.

“You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.” Blossom growled in frustration. “Why is it always a fight with you? You know what, I don’t care. We’ll talk about this later. Bubbles, take her home.”

Bubbles moved to do that, but one look from Buttercup stayed her hand. No way, no fucking way was Buttercup going to let her big sister swoop in and embarrass her like this. Butch would never let her live it down.

“Hey! Are you deaf? I said this is between me and Buttercup. I’m not gonna tell you again, Blossom.”

Butch bared his teeth, and Buttercup felt her skin crawl. He was seriously not done yet, and a very small part of her began to feel the fear creeping back in. She was not in any condition to fight him, she knew that, but he was in no condition to stop.

“Butch,” Brick warned.

But Butch smacked his hand away. His whole body sparked with green energy, ready to snap. Despite herself, Buttercup swallowed hard.

“Fine,” Blossom said. “You want a fight? I’ll give you the fight of your life.”

Buttercup gaped open-mouthed at her sister, not sure if she’d heard right. Blossom never fought unless all other avenues were exhausted, and she certainly never fought Butch. Even Brick looked momentarily stunned at her challenge.

Butch was quicker to recover and burst out laughing. “Good one! Now seriously, get the hell outta my way.”

Blossom didn’t budge. “No.”

All traces of humor left Butch as he regarded her, and then he glanced at Brick. “Hey, I’m not gonna tell you again. I’m not here for you, so move.”

Blossom was busy removing her pearl studs and bracelet. When she held them out, Buttercup was still too stunned to do anything but accept them without protest.

“This won’t take long,” Blossom said, tightening her ponytail.

“Brick,” Boomer said warily, landing next to his brother.

Brick bristled. “Forget this. I’ll fight you, you fucking masochist.”

“No way bro,” Butch said, stepping forward. “Ladies first. She wants me, can’t you tell?”

Blossom actually laughed, stunning Buttercup for the second time in as many minutes. “Honestly, Buttercup, how do you take this boy seriously?”

Buttercup wanted to be mad, but Butch’s reaction was so sudden and so visceral that it gave her whiplash. He began to shake as his power leaked out of him and clogged the air like noxious fumes. That little, emasculating laugh got him more worked up than any number of Buttercup’s punches had today.

“Hey.” Buttercup reached for Blossom and they locked gazes. She shivered at the cold look in her sister’s eyes. It was one she had not often seen, but one she knew better than to question. The instinct to shrink back was so overwhelming that Buttercup felt her stomach turn, and it was not even directed at her.

She remembered a fight many, many years ago when Princess Morbucks had pushed Blossom too far in her pursuit of power. It was the first time Buttercup had ever seen that remorseless look in her sister’s eyes, and she would never forget it.

Butch was no longer grinning. “I’m gonna enjoy putting you in your place.”

Blossom cocked her head. She was still smiling that eerie, cold smile. “I’m waiting.”

That did it. Before anyone could blink, Butch was coming straight for her, fists blazing.

xxx

“Oh shit!” Boomer flew up to join Bubbles, Buttercup, and Brick in the air as they watched Blossom and Butch collide in a conflagration of pink and green. Butch’s punches, delivered hard and swift enough to break the sound barrier, carried like thunder. “Should we, like, do something?!”

Brick was eerily silent next to him as he followed the fight with a calculating eye. “If he hits her, she’s done for.”

“Like hell,” Buttercup spat. “She’s strong. You should know.”

“Wait, I thought you were the one who was against this?” Boomer asked.

Buttercup grimaced, but she stubbornly refused to let on how much pain she was in. Now that Boomer got a good look at her, she really looked trashed. Jesus, had Butch really done that to her?

“Doesn’t mean I don’t know my sister. She can take him.”

“Except she can’t,” Brick said, watching as Butch fired a green energy beam at Blossom that sent her careening high into the clouds. “I know her too. She’s a glass cannon.”

Blossom’s pink streak came flying in faster than Boomer had ever seen her fly, and Butch was waiting for her with a welcome punch that connected with her ribs. But Blossom swerved with his force and rammed her elbow mercilessly against the back of his neck. Her blunt force was so great that he went cashing into the woods beyond the Shankaplex, where he landed with a monstrous crack. Blossom waited for him to reemerge, a hand pressed to her side but otherwise masking her pain.

Bubbles gasped, and Buttercup shot Brick a scathing grin. “You were saying?”

Brick’s eyes were glued to Blossom. “Butch hits like a freight train. She won’t be able to absorb his punches indefinitely.”

Buttercup laughed, but in her injured state, it came out more like a wheeze. “Dude, you don’t know this Blossom.”

Brick glanced at her askance, and Boomer wondered. What did that mean?

“That tickled!” Butch shouted as he came flying back ready to go again. “Do it again!”

Blossom was silent as she waited for him to come to her. He came in hot, but this time she didn’t let his punch connect. More elegantly than Boomer thought her capable of, Blossom avoided him entirely, grabbed his hair, and kneed him in the stomach.

Boomer gasped—gasped, because holy hell—as Butch hacked up a lung and clutched his stomach. “I think she broke some ribs!” Chemical X or no, that one really had to hurt.

Blossom put some distance between Butch and herself and took a deep breath.

“Incoming!” Bubbles dashed away with Buttercup, and Boomer shoved Brick out of the path of danger just in time to avoid getting caught up in Blossom’s powerful ice breath.

Butch didn’t even try to avoid it, and soon he was covered in a layer of thick ice. Not one to be restrained, however, his eyes glowed red and his eye beams burst through the ice. Blossom avoided the laser that wasn’t really aiming at her anyway and came in from behind to catch him unawares.

Unfortunately, Butch was not bothered by the ice and burst out of it just as Blossom came in close. He managed to grab her ponytail and reel her in like a fish. The punch he landed on her jaw sent her spinning, and she hit a billboard advertising pet food right through Talking Dog’s face.

“Ha!!! Take that!” Butch dashed after her, and Boomer watched as Blossom peeled herself off the destroyed billboard and narrowly avoided a second pummeling. Butch hit the billboard and knocked the whole structure over like a falling domino. It was only Bubbles’ timely intervention that kept it from crashing on top of a Cooper’s Market.

Pink and green sped around each other as Butch chased Blossom. He fired his eye beams and his green energy beams in the hopes of hitting her at a distance, but she was quick and extremely precise in her movements in a way Boomer knew he himself was not, and Butch was even less coordinated than him. It was like watching Brick, he realized. Brick was so in control of his body, of every single minute movement he made, that it didn’t matter that he wasn’t physically as strong as Butch or as fast as Boomer. There was no surprising him or tripping him up, and Blossom was no different.

But did Butch know that?

“Stop running! I thought you were gonna give me the fight of my life, what happened? You scared?” Butch taunted as he tried to catch Blossom.

She was stony-faced as she avoided his grabs and his eye beams alike, but made no effort to return fire or respond.

“That’s risky,” Brick muttered.

“What’s risky?” Boomer asked.

“She’s trying to tire him out, hoping he’ll burn up all his X. But Butch has more reserves than you or me. His stamina’s even better than Buttercup’s.”

“That’s not what she’s doing,” Bubbles said.

Brick shot her a withering look like he couldn’t believe she dared to contradict him. “Oh, really?” he said sarcastically.

Bubbles didn’t even flinch. “Really.”

Brick scoffed and returned his attention to the fight.

“What’s the matter, Blossom! Get over here and fight me!”

Butch threw another punch that she artfully avoided. Pissed off, he shot at her with his eye beams, but Blossom swerved and struck him with the heel of her hand under the jaw. His eye beams went awry.

“Shit!” Buttercup said.

Brick was paying closer attention than Boomer, however, and intercepted the stray eye beams before they could strike anyone. His jacket sleeve smoked and sizzled where a new hole had opened up.

“Tch,” he said.

Butch shook himself out like a wet dog. He was bleeding from his mouth and his eyes were dilated, but he was still fighting fit. If he was wearing out, he was hiding it well. Boomer glanced at Bubbles.

“So what is Blossom doing?”

Bubbles looked more concerned than grim as she watched. “She’s feeling him out.”

“She’s making him mad,” Buttercup said.

Boomer winced. That didn’t sound like a good idea facing Butch. The guy was an unstoppable force when he was mad.

“But why—”

Crack!

Boomer whipped around just in time to see that Butch had finally landed another hit on Blossom and sent her flying out of control. She clutched her side as he sped after her, no longer laughing or taunting; he just wanted to finish her off now, it seemed. Beside Boomer, Brick sucked in an audible breath as he watched.

Butch wound up a punch. Blossom wasn’t moving to avoid. Boomer lost his mind.

“Watch out!” he screamed at her, unable to help himself.

Buttercup and Brick looked at Boomer like he’d grown another head. Butch caught up to Blossom, but just as his punch connected, she grabbed his wrist, spun gracefully behind him, and unleashed her eye beams at point blank range on the back of his neck.

Even Brick winced at that one.

“Fuck yeah!!” Buttercup shouted. “How’s that taste, Butch!”

Butch staggered in the air, his hands clutching his smoking neck. They came away bloody. Boomer didn’t miss the filthy look he shot Blossom.

“Forfeit,” Blossom called to him. “You can’t win.”

“Fuck you,” Butch spat. “I was going easy on you. No more.”

With a crackle of energy, Butch’s signature shield materialized around him. And then, he was after her again.

xxx

That’s it. She’s done, Brick thought to himself.

As soon as Butch brought out his shield, there was little and less to be done about it aside from waiting him out. Even Brick had trouble against him when he donned what was essentially impenetrable armor.

It was kind of a shame, really. She’d surprised him in this fight. Brick couldn’t recall her taking hits so well when they’d clashed in the past. Granted, that was years ago, but still.

He glanced at her sisters. They were still watching the fight, but they didn’t seem particularly deterred. Brick narrowed his eyes, and he considered.

Could she really…?

“Hiding behind your shield? How predictable,” Blossom taunted him, something Brick had rarely known her to do.

“I predict you’re about to eat shit!” Butch hurtled after her, but she danced ever out of reach.

His shield was truly something. It molded roughly to the shape of him, extending with his punches and folding with his blocks. It was a drain on his X reserves, but it was his best and only real defense.

Blossom couldn’t know this, though. Blossom had never fought Butch. But then, she was fast learning him with every punch, every dodge, every overreaction to her baiting.

Despite himself, Brick’s attention was fully arrested as he watched them. Even his migraine had subsided to a dull ache as he ignored it in favor of following the fight.

Blossom got in a good punch, but Butch’s shield was truly impenetrable, and all she got for her efforts was a crackle of jade sparks and a hurt fist. She immediately pulled back.

“That shield is so strong!” Bubbles said.

Buttercup grunted. Blossom didn’t try to hit Butch again, but he did his level best to strike her.

“Hey, is this what they call playing hard to get?” Butch sneered as he lobbed another punch at Blossom.

“I’m right here, Butch. Come and get me,” she taunted again.

What the hell is she playing at?

The Blossom Brick knew was not one to joke and jab, but the more she did it, the more riled up Butch got. She couldn’t possibly be trying to make him mad. That was suicidal for anyone who wasn’t Brick himself. And that shield…

“C’mon and give us a hug!” Butch sped after her, his only goal to grab her and crush her under the force of his shield. Sloppy and uncoordinated, but if he managed to grab her, that would be the end of it.

“What the—?!” Boomer sputtered.

Brick barely had time to be shocked as Blossom stopped her flight and spread her arms as if to hug Butch like he wanted. Brick was moving before he could process it, a command on the tip of his tongue, because no matter how much he despised Blossom, he couldn’t very well let his brother literally kill her.

Butch grabbed her before Brick could reach them, and Blossom flexed as she braced herself, her pink power manifesting like a second skin as Butch wrapped his meaty arms around her smaller frame with every intention of snapping her in half. Buttercup shouted something, but Brick couldn’t hear her over the racing wind in his ears as he tore after them, and then—

“F-F-Fuck!” Butch groaned.

His shield, his whole body was engulfed in preternatural ice as Blossom hugged him tight enough to break. Her arms were covered in ice that would not shatter no mater how much Butch struggled. He tried to fire off his eye beams, but she had ducked her head under his chin, safe from his fire. Impossibly, his green shield began to collapse as the ice and Blossom herself crushed him like a soda can.

They crash landed well away from the Shankaplex and any civilians just by the edge of the forest. Brick swooped down after them, the others not far behind. When he landed, he found Butch face down eating dirt and covered in chunks of ice, his shield completely dissipated, as Blossom towered over him. She had his wrists in her hands and her boot on the back of his head, grinding him further into the ground. Ice coated her arms like armor, and there was no mercy in her eyes.

“B-Blossom, babe, c’mon,” Butch said in what was meant to be a playful tone, but came out sounding like a whimper.

Blossom leaned down over him. “Call me babe again.” She drove her heel harder into the side of his head, sinking him deeper into the earth.

Butch struggled against her. He fired green energy beams from his palms, but Blossom pulled harder on his arms and sent them harmlessly awry.

“Let me be perfectly clear, Butch. You’re going to leave my sister alone for the rest of the month while you both recover.” She peered at him over her knee until his green eye swiveled to see her. “Tell me you understand.”

He grinned, and his teeth were a red ruin. “I don’t take orders from you—ah fuck!”

Blossom yanked his left arm back and dislocated it with a severe pop. She twisted the other one behind his back and hauled him up by his hair. “You do now.”

Her eyes glowed red, her hair was a windswept mess, and she had Butch—Butch, the fiercest fighter—on his fucking knees under her absolute control, and it was single-handedly the most beautiful sight Brick had ever seen in his life. It was perfect, and she was…

For a mad moment, he imagined her pinning him on his knees, her hand fisting his hair, exerting that control he had always pursued but never from her, until this moment.

“Brick, shouldn’t you…?” Boomer said.

Realizing she and Butch had an audience, Blossom looked up and locked eyes with Brick, and he shivered.

Oh hell.

“Hey, I like you on your knees,” Buttercup said, approaching Butch and Blossom. “Definitely your best angle.”

Butch spit blood and a piece of broken tooth. Nonetheless, he managed a smirk for her. “Next time, just ask.”

Blossom shoved him back into the dirt, and he promptly shut up.

Boomer sighed and floated over. “C’mon, dude. Let’s get you home.”

“I got it,” Butch complained, but he struggled to get to his feet.

“You seriously don’t. Can you even stand? Jesus.”

“Blossom!” Bubbles hugged her sister, who winced at the pressure.

“Bubbles, not so tight! I’m a little sore.” She smiled and brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

“You were amazing!”

Blossom grinned. “I know.”

“Serves you right, moron,” Buttercup said to Butch. “You’ll be pissing sitting down for a week.”

Boomer snorted as he looped Butch’s arm over his shoulder. “You got that right.”

“Ha ha, hilarious. Fuck you both,” Butch groused. His eyes flickered to Blossom, guarded.

“Brick? You coming?” Boomer asked.

Brick rubbed his mouth. He felt woozy. Bubbles shot him a curious look that he chose not to dwell on. “Take that idiot home. Make sure he doesn’t bleed all over the place.”

“Uh, right… What’re you gonna do?”

“I’m right behind you.”

His brothers flew off—or rather, Boomer flew and Butch dangled precariously from his shoulder. Finally, Brick turned his attention to Blossom.

“Blossom,” he said, his voice tight.

She looked up at him. “Brick.”

He swallowed, the image of her dominating Butch while she looked at him burned into his mind’s eye. So that was never going away… “Butch is my problem. Next time, you leave him to me.”

She regarded him, and so slowly he may have imagined it had he not been hyper-focused on her every movement, her lips curled in little smirk. “There’s not going to be a next time.”

In that moment, Brick had never felt so bewildered and so attracted to another person in his entire life. It was over all too soon as she showed him her back and spoke to her sisters. They were heading home. Like a fucking idiot, he just stood there, mind blown.

Did that really just happen?

Oh god, she was talking to him again. He blinked and tried to focus.

“What?” he said, fucking idiot that he was.

“The repairs. Look, I know you would rather chew glass than be around me, but you know the Mayor appreciates an in-person explanation and apology for this kind of damage. Are you coming, or do I have to tell him once again that you couldn’t be bothered?”

“No, I’m coming. I’ll talk to the Mayor with you.”

She peered at him like she didn’t quite recognize him. “All right… Thanks.”

xxx

That evening, after all was said and done and Boomer was showered and ready to go to Julie’s party, he gave Brick one more chance to come along instead of languor at home with a passed out Butch. The guy was out cold and would likely remain so for the next day after the beating Blossom had dealt him.

“You sure you don’t wanna come?” he asked.

Brick was lounging on the living room sofa where he had his nose in a Kurt Vonnegut novel. “No.”

“Everyone’s gonna be there, you know.”

“Great.” Ignore.

Boomer shrugged. “Wes and Kim, Mike, Robin, Bubbles, Harry, the Floyjoydson Twins.”

Brick grunted noncommittally.

Boomer adjusted his jacket and pretended not to watch Brick like a hawk. “Blossom too.”

Pause.

Brick’s gaze flickered over the top of his book to catch Boomer’s eye. “This isn’t some themed shit like that last one, is it?”

“Nope. Just friends, drinking games, the usual. But if your migraine’s still bugging you, I’d get you wanting to go to bed early—”

“I’ll go for an hour.” Brick closed his book and got up off the sofa.

“Cool. Cool cool cool…” It took every ounce of self control Boomer had in him not to smile at his brother’s expense.

Brick when to change his shirt, and Boomer pulled out his phone and texted Bubbles.

[Boomer: I think you’re right. He’s finally seen the light.]

[Bubbles: I told you! Did you see the way he was staring at her??? Shook.]

Boomer laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Brick asked as he reemerged in a button down shirt. Had he brushed his hair? Christ, he’d actually brushed his hair.

Shooketh.

Boomer grinned. “Nothing, man. Just looking forward to a fun night.”

“Whatever.”

They headed out, and Boomer trailed his brother’s red streak.

Something told him it would be a very fun night.

[valhala90]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Bleach Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo Characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Rukia Additional Tags: Drama & Romance, Romantic Fluff, Short One-Shot, Fluff and Humor, Bickering, Fluff and Angst Summary:

A short one-shot inspired by goodbyes Ichigo and Rukia shared throughout the Bleach. They were the most emotional scenes for me. Hope you'll like it!