#'oh you mean the gods ONLY gave you massive advantages over everyone else on this planet but DIDN'T answer all your personal prayers?'

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I've rolled a similar idea around in my head for a while for a different DnD character I've made, so mind the bias: I think it would be fair in a way that would be absolutely hellish for those that survive.

Here's the premise: the gods of DnD in general and Exandria specifically are extremely anthropomorphic. It's not just that they take humanoid form, it's that they represent sapient concepts: law, tyranny, art, treachery, war, slavery. Of all the gods of Exandria, only the Wildmother is anything close to a god for nonhumans through nature...but in its own way, nature is a sapient concept, the idea that our world is somehow separate from the rest, that houses are fundamentally different from nests and government fundamentally different from hierarchy. All divine magic revolves around people. People get resurrection and healing and blessings, because they are the gods' children. But when the gods are gone and the divine magic disperses, they might not enjoy such preferential treatment.

A wolf's god might bless them on a hunt for human children. A deer's god might wipe out a settlement so their worshippers might eat without fear. Would plant gods tolerate being eaten? The gods gave people magic and agriculture and craft and medicine and knowledge, and people have taken that as their right....but then again, they only got these things in the first place because they were favored by the gods. With the gods gone, who else might be favored? And on the flip side, what will happen to people when they've lost that favor?

Exandria will survive, certainly. Divine magic will resurface. But there's no guarantee that any of the sapient species that call it home now will survive such a shift. The gods are a keystone of Exandria's ecosystem, and Predathos is an invasive. If they escape, another Calamity might not be the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario would be an extinction event.

I am wondering a lot about what happens in the 'ideal' scenario. You know, where Predathos only eats the Primes and the Betrayers and then leaves. Matt made the point about how divine magic was around before then and would be around after, but the source would change. So. What fills that power vacuum? How is there any guarantee that it is going to be better than what they have now? There isn't and Ludnius kind of admitted that, but what drives someone to that point? To the point where they care about the action, completing that action, but they don't care about the result?

[rezonan]

Ultimate(Alpha) DC

Oh boi this is gonna be a long series of posts.

With all the rumors of a new Ultimate DC universe coming by Scott Snyder and Mark Waid, I've decided to add my own shitty take on one to the endless pile I've seen. Probably gonna be Called Alpha DC based on that Alpha Earth tease.

So when making an Ultimate-Verse you gotta follow the rules based on the TV tropes one, but I've removed to lessened the ones that only the actual writer writing the works would care about:

1) You have to have an overall Meta Origin, this is something that for all the original Ultimate Universe got wrong, it got this perfectly right. If you're going to make a new universe to help readers jump on, you need to cut off the Kitchen Sink of superhero universes. Examples of a Meta Origin are how in the OG UU, every hero was tied back to Captain America's Super Serum tied to literally every origin from the Hulk to Spider-Man to even Iron Man, all being attempts to recreate the serum on a massive scale so everyone who isn't an alien, a god, or somehow involved with the Baxter Building teleportation experiment has their powers derived from the Super-Soldier project or one of its offshoots. And the reason I didn't mention mutants was cause in the mini-series Ultimate Origins elaborates on the Meta Origin and how it connects everything else; the mutants, too, owe their origin to the project, or on how Earth X everything is a direct-or-indirect result of Celestial manipulation, on The New Universe had the "White Event", a sudden flash of energy over the entire surface of the Earth that gave one out of every 500,000 people powers. You get the idea, it makes everything more cohesive if making the universe feel smaller. In general you gotta make the universe as cohesive as possible

2) Important characters may be Killed Off for Real, basically, Time Travelling should be limited same with just general resurrection should here.

3) Backstories are altered to have more depth or outline their progression to become closer to their original character, to make it feel like a fresh take rather than a simple copy. For example Ultimate Captain America is my favorite example of this, for those who actually followed his development, he started out as this jingoistic, angry maybe racist but still heroic guy from the 1940s calling himself Captain America but by the time the universe ended, his encounters with other attempts at him like Nuke(Cybernetic Captain America of Vietnam) and Spider-Mans death he had pretty much grown to his 616 self if a little grumpy.

4) Creating an Adaptation Personality Change with Adaptation Heroism or Adaptation Villainy, to shift perceptions of who the character is supposed to be. Basically you can have certain characters act differently than usual or switch sides and stuff like that.

5) Adding new or reusing old ones in completely new ways characters (heroes, villains, supporters, etc.)

6) A generally weaker universe, power wise, that means no moving planets or cracking the earth, no running at the speed of light and all that. Characters may be more powerful or weaker than the original version, relative to how their abilities would fare in different circumstances, so Captain Atom has a chance to be the strongest instead for example.

7) Last and not the least is the general drive for individual coherency, taking advantage of the Shared Universe and planning the Crisis Crossover ahead of time. Whereas the original work may have run against a Continuity Snarl, the Ultimate Universe has the benefit of hindsight. Writers can cherry-pick the best ideas from the preceding work and streamline familiar story beats.

So now for the actual way I imagine it working.

So one thing Ultimate Marvel got right was the way it was kept small, so I'm gonna limit it to 7 to 10 books(compare this to canon DC where this is the amount of Batman books alone), probably corresponding with the Big 7 and some others and their side of the universe not sure yet.

I don't want this post to be bigger than it already is so I'll actually split up, Post By Post starting with Alpha Batman.

[idy-ll-ique]

Blurry Lines.

Pairing: CEO!Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst

Warnings: MISCOMMUNICATION because oh my god just talk

Requested: nope

Summary: Y/N works for James Barnes, CEO of a very successful tech company. She also has a massive crush on him. One day, she walks in on him kissing his assistant, and a few months in, because of the incident, she turns in her resignation letter. But will Bucky let her go? There's a thin line between professionalism and non-professionalism, blurred in the case of Bucky and Y/N.

Author's Note: hiya peeps! could've just named it "a shakespeare play" because of all the miscommunication but i already have a fic with shakespeare in its title asfhdkfks,,, anyway enjoy!

masterlist

---

There he is.

The man who ruined my whole life.

Y/N stared as her boss, James Barnes, left the elevator, greeting everyone with a polite smile and a wave. Why did he have to be so perfect all the time? He wore a sky-blue-colored suit with a white shirt underneath, his long hair pulled back into a bun with loose strands framing his face, making him look like a Greek God.

She had fallen for him, which was a big, big, big mistake. 1, he was her boss; 2, he was way out of her league, and 3, he probably had a girlfriend because a man like that, single? Hah, no way. "Y/N? Y/N, hello?" She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up, giving the man a small, forced smile.

"Hi, Mr Barnes, good morning." Bucky's smile faltered a bit at her words because she never called him Mr Barnes, he had specifically requested her to call him Bucky. Was he in trouble? "Mr Barnes? Whoa, what did I do?" he joked, though Y/N realized he was being serious. "Sorry, must've slipped out."

"Okay. Good morning to you, too!" He smiled and went to his office. As soon he turned his back to her, Y/N dropped her smile and scowled, crossing her arms. "Stupid man with his stupid attitude and his stupid handsome smile and his idiotic, beautiful blue eyes," she grumbled under her breath as she continued working.

Y/N Y/L/N was an employee of the one and only James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, CEO of a big tech company called Epsilon. She loved working with him; he paid his employees well, was very kind-hearted, and showed no bias to anyone. When she had first started working with him, she wasn't interested in him at all, romantically speaking.

Then, a few months passed by and she started looking forward to his everyday arrival; seeing him get out of the elevator with his gorgeous eyes, his expensive suits and Cheshire grins became the favorite part of her day. Y/N was damn good at hiding her crush though; she was sure that it would go away with time.

But it didn't.

2 years had now passed since she started working for Bucky and the crush was still there, more amplified than before. But she knew it would never work out between them. So she started distancing herself from him. For some reason, he was very, very friendly with her; she knew he was a reserved man so it was peculiar…

He would be holed up in his office the whole day after greeting everyone. Hell, the only words he ever said to his employees were "good morning" and "goodnight, I'll see you all tomorrow" while the rest of his notices were passed on to them by his assistant.

Still, he always stayed at her desk the longest, making small talk. "The weather is nice today, any plans after work?" he'd ask one day while, "You look gorgeous today, is that a new dress?" the other. It was odd; why did he do it? He certainly couldn't be interested in her, could he?

Y/N sighed, sorting through the stack of papers on her desk when she suddenly noticed that one of them was missing Bucky's signature. She glanced at his assistant's desk; she was nowhere to be found so Y/N got up, walking to Bucky's office to get the signature herself.

She knocked on the door but accidentally pushed it open. The sight that greeted her probably scarred her for life; inside Bucky's office, he was kissing his assistant, pushed up against his desk. Y/N's eyes widened and she immediately turned around to leave, the clicking of her heels alerting Bucky.

"Get off of me," he grumbled, pushing his assistant away as he ran to the door, looking out to see Y/N walking away. "Y/N! Y/N!" She turned around at the sound of his voice and gave him an awkward smile. "I didn't mean to walk in without permission, I'm really sorry, I just needed a signature on a paper, really didn't mean to—"

He waved his arm in dismissal and took the paper from her hands, signing it and handing it back to her. "It's fine." He gave her a small smile as she turned to leave. Bucky then groaned quietly and went back to his office, glaring at his assistant. "What the fuck was that?" he hissed. "You like me!" she whined and he scrunched his nose in disgust.

"What— when did I ever tell you that?! I'm not interested in you," he spat. "So all those glances you gave me, all the times you flirted with me, that was fake?" she shrieked. "Stop yelling," he admonished, "And for the record, I have never once in my life ever flirted with you or glanced at you in any way except professionally. Please snap out of your daydream."

"So what about the kiss?"

"You didn't give me time to push away! And now poor Y/N probably thinks I'm some sort of a playboy who takes advantage of women that work for me— you know what? You're fired. Don't ever show up to his place again." His assistant wailed, her eyes filled with tears.

"I knew it. I knew you liked her!" she accused him and he scoffed. "I don't like her. Now get lost, I have a lot of work to do." She stormed out of his office. The angry clicking of her heels made Y/N and the rest of the employees look up as she staggered towards the elevator. Y/N frowned; what the hell was going on?

"What do you think is up with her?" her friend Rubie whispered. "I have no idea, I caught her making out with Bu— Mr Barnes. I guess they fought?" Rubie's eyes went wide. "You mean he isn't into her? Damn, the bosses always fall for their hot ass assistants, what happened here?" Y/N giggled at her words.

"Well, at least my theory is confirmed."

"What theory?" Y/N blinked. "That he likes you! Think about it; he always greets you with some extra phrases, he always praises your work, and now after you caught him kissing someone else he gets into a fight with them, possibly breaking up. Some of the other women are jealous of you, you know. They think you're super close with him."

"What?!" Y/N harshly whispered, "Utter bullshit. I'm not close with him in any way, he's just my boss and I'm sure they just got into one tiny fight. I swear shit's gonna be back to normal tomorrow." With that, the two got back to work.

---

Shit did not go back to normal tomorrow.

Or for months after that.

Bucky's assistant never really came back, leading many to believe that she had quit. Bucky had become more moody and temperamental, while Y/N's crush on him had escalated to new heights which was frankly taking a toll on her mental health. "I can't keep living like that. I'll just quit and get another job."

Those were the words she had whispered to herself one night as she lay in bed, unable to fall asleep. Bucky, on the other hand, had come to realize that his assistant was right; he did indeed have feelings for Y/N and all he wanted to do was confess them to her and get it over with.

Realizing he couldn't have her and that she only thought of him as her boss had made him moody and angry. While walking from the elevator to his office he no longer greeted her; he couldn't even bear to see her, knowing she was never gonna be his. Y/N, of course, interpreted it in a different way entirely.

She thought he had broken up with his assistant because she caught them making out, and now he hated her for getting in between his relationship. That created a whole new array of problems.

"Hey, whatcha doing?" Rubie peered over Y/N's shoulders as she quickly wrote down her resignation letter. "I'm quitting." Rubie gasped. "You can't do that! Why are you quitting?!" she whined. "Number 1: He fucking hates me; number 2: I still like him and that's a massive problem so yeah, leaving this place is the only good option."

She stood up. "Well, I can't talk you out of it, can I? I'm gonna miss you, Y/N," Rubie sighed and the two ladies gave each other a hug. Then Y/N went to the new assistant's desk, greeting him with a small smile. "Hi, will you please give this to Mr Barnes?" She handed him the letter.

"What's this?" he smiled. "My resignation letter." The smile disappeared from his face, a frown replacing it. "Why are you quitting? Is everything okay?" She pursed her lips. "I'd rather not talk about it, sorry. Just give him my letter, would ya? Thank you." The man nodded and she went back to her desk.

---

"Hey, Ryan— what's this?"

Ryan turned to see Bucky glaring at Y/N's resignation letter. "Oh, sir, that is Ms Y/L/N's resignation letter." Bucky nodded and Ryan left the office. Bucky read the letter, his glare deepening by the time he reached the end of it. She hadn't even specified why she was quitting; it came out of the blue. I can't let her do this.

He couldn't just let her quit like that, he loved her for God's sake! "I'm not letting her go," he snarled to himself, getting up and walking out of his office. When he walked out everyone turned to look at him. "Ms Y/L/N, can I see you for a moment? In my office?" Y/N frowned but got up, following him to his office.

"What's this?" Bucky asked her, holding up her letter. "My… resignation letter?" Y/N replied slowly, confused. "Yeah, I know, I can read. Why are you quitting all of a sudden?" he huffed. "I'd rather not say," she mumbled, suddenly feeling anxious. "What do you mean, you'd rather not say? Did you get into a fight?"

Yeah, with you, idiot.

"No, sir."

"Is it pay? I'll give you a raise right now—"

"It's not that, Bucky. I— I mean Mr—"

"Bucky is fine. So? Is someone troubling you? Someone I need to fire?"

"No. I just want to quit, why can't you accept that?!" Bucky stood up, slamming his hands on his desk. "You have to give me a legit reason! Vague answers will not be accepted!" Y/N glared back at him and the silence stretched on between them. "Wait a minute," Bucky exclaimed suddenly, "I know what's going on here—"

"What could you possibly know?" Y/N quipped sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "This is about that whole Marie thing, isn't it? Y/N, plea—" "No, Bucky! It's not! Why can't you just let me quit in peace?!" she yelled, interrupting him. Months of frustration had finally taken a toll on her.

"Give me an answer and I'll consider it!" he thundered and she took a step back, shocked. Maybe telling him the truth would speed up the process, she thought. "Fine, you wanna know why? Because I'm in love with you. Yes, Mr Barnes, I fucking love you and I can't keep working here knowing you're never gonna like me back!"

"Y/N…" Bucky whispered but she ignored him. "No, you listen to me. You wanted an answer? Well, here it is. I know you hate me for ruining things with Marie and this is the only best option for the both of us!" Bucky couldn't believe his ears. All this time, she'd liked him back. He walked around his desk without her noticing; she was still rambling to herself.

"And why would you even like me back? You don't even say hello anymore—"

Y/N froze when Bucky's lips crashed onto hers, his hands going to her waist to pull her closer to him. A few seconds later she reciprocated, her arms going around his neck. Without breaking the kiss Bucky turned them and picked her up, putting her down on his desk. She wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Feels like we're in a Shakespeare play with all this miscommunication," Bucky laughed when they finally pulled away to breathe. "You like me too? But what about Marie—" He scoffed. "Marie and I were never a thing, she came onto me and I fired her. Before going she said something about me liking you…"

"So?"

"Well at the time I denied it but then… she turned out to be right. And after that, talking to you became difficult because I knew I could never have you, you'd never see me in that way… boy if we'd just talked." Y/N giggled, simply happy to be in Bucky's arms. "What now? What are we?" Bucky traced a finger down her cheek.

"Don't leave me. Please, don't go," he pleaded. "Bucky, we work together, it'll be extremely unprofessional. I— I'm ready to be your girlfriend but I can't work here anymore." Bucky sighed and dropped his head to her shoulder. "Fine, but just because you said yes to being my girl. I'm so in love with you too, pretty face," he chuckled.

Y/N wrapped her arms around his shoulders, smiling. "I'm glad to hear it." He suddenly pulled away, giving her a devilish smirk. "Wanna get outta here?" Y/N's eyes widened. "Wh— now? Bucky, we—" He scoffed. "I'm still your boss, you know, you do as I say." Y/N rolled her eyes. "Do I have to deal with this while being in a rela—"

"Let's just go," Bucky groaned, pulling her to her feet and snaking an arm around her waist as they both left his office, heading to the elevators. Everyone working that day looked up, their jaws going slack as they saw the two with lovey-dovey smiles, fawning over each other. Rubie simply smirked at her friend.

"Oh please, she's quitting!" Bucky rolled his eyes when he noticed the stares. Everyone then only shook their heads and got back to work as Y/N lightly slapped Bucky on the chest, sighing.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading, leave a like if you enjoyed!

[celestialrry]

I wish you would write a fic where...

the main character is the daughter of a really important producer harry is working with and he has a major crush on her but 1) he doesn’t want her dad to feel like he’s taking advantage of her 2) she has a rule of not dating musicians

too young

OOOOOOHHHHHH

HIIII GUYS..... i started school again and honestly for the longest time i've had no inspiration to write but then i got this ask!!! (thank you for your patience anon ily) and was like i love this prompt but then i wrote the first part and had no idea how to continue it,,, but I finally finished it!! ε(♡'-')з (this is me giving you all my love and affection for sticking with me) 

(NOT EDITED)

2k

warnings: alcohol consumption

Harry was in a dilemma.

Usually, he could sweep all his issues under the rug, save them for another day, but this one... he couldn't do that. Not because he didn't want to, but because this problem was more than just a dust bunny on his hardwood floor.

Y/N was the problem.

Or to be more precise, his feelings for Y/N were the problem.

Harry had confidence when it came to his crushes. He was smooth, flirty, and snagged almost every single person he's caught feelings for.

But not Y/N.

No, she was almost unreachable, for quite a few reasons.

One, the only reason he knew her, met her, was through a producer he had been working with the past few months. Arlo was massive in the industry and Harry was flattered when Arlo approached him with interest in collaborating. And only a month into working together, he met Y/N.

Harry's head snapped towards the door that had just burst open, a girl barging into the studio that he had never seen before. She was gorgeous, he had to admit, but he couldn't ignore her blatant disrespect for coming in and making a scene while he, Arlo, and a few of his bandmates were working annoyed him to no end.

"Dad! Oh my god, you will not believe what just happened, I was on my way over here and I fucking bumped into Zach," The girl began ranting, approaching Arlo and huffing as she stood next to Arlo's chair. "Of all fucking people I could see just walking down the street, it had to be him. The world is against me today I swear. Anyways, I brought that drum pad you wanted."

She dug into her big brown bag that was slung over her shoulder and pulled out the music board, placing it on the table in front of Arlo.

"Where'd you see him, Y/N? We're about to go on break and I can leave and go kick his ass in," Arlo checked his watch. "7 minutes."

Y/N, Harry now knew her as, sighed and crossed her arms. "He's long gone by now, think he shit his pants when he saw me walking near him."

"Atta girl, thanks for bringing my board too," Arlo smiled up at her from his chair. He then turned to see Harry, and Mitch staring at the two of them. "Oh sorry guys, this is my daughter, Y/N. Y/N, this is Harry and Mitch."

She turned to look at them and smiled wide. "Nice to meet you!"

"You too." They both said in unison, looking at each other with a smile, before focusing back on Y/N.

"We'll be done soon, if you wanna go out and get lunch." Arlo said, turning back to his daughter.

"Sounds good, just text me," Y/N replied, giving him a smile before turning back to the boys. "Nice meeting you guys, again."

And before they could even respond she was gone.

Two, Y/N was younger than him. 6 years younger to be exact. It didn't seem like much, but when put into perspective, she was 21, only just being legally allowed to drink in the States, and Harry was 27. Practically 30, if you ask him, and he was positive Arlo would have his head if he found out Harry liked his daughter. 

And three, she doesn't date the people her dad works with. 

He had found this out one night when he, Arlo, Y/N, Mitch, and a couple other writers were hanging out at the studio, drinking some wine (she had even exclaimed that this would be her first time drinking red, and Harry was yet again reminded of her age) and chatting after a long day of working. 

Harry and Mitch were laughing with Arlo about the first time they met Y/N, and her comments about this “Zach” guy. 

“He’s my ex, and had worked with my dad on one shitty song that never got far because he’s just so-- music is just not his thing, to put it nicely. But he was an absolute asshole and after him I made rule to never date anyone Dad works with. It would just go terribly.” She explained, letting Arlo take a few more jabs at the guy before stopping him.

So yeah, Harry was in a dilemma. 

In all the time he’d known Y/N, he just kept falling for her. She was kind, funny, beautiful, lit up any room she walked into, and treated Harry like fine porcelain. 

She was just fucking perfect. 

｡:°ஐ

Y/N had probably been in a lot of worse positions than the predicament she was in now.

For example, that time her dad walked in on her and her ex making out in the studio, or her 21st birthday when she got completely wasted and almost got into the wrong car instead of her uber, and the next day found out that the man driving that car was actually a convicted criminal.

So there’s worse things that could happen than her liking Harry.

But it doesn't mean it wasn’t bad.

The thing is, Y/N didn’t fall for anyone easily. Her one and only ex Zach treated her like a queen until he could officially claim her as his. The flowers he gave her before every date remained at the shop and the consistent compliments turned into insults and muttered claims of discontentment. 

Hence why he was her ex. It took Y/N quite a long time to work up the courage to end things with him. He was her first kiss, first time, and first boyfriend. She was yet to find her first love, she never really loved Zach. The way he used to treat her in the beginning, she thinks she loved, but him? No, she would never call him her first love. 

So when Y/N’s time crush on Harry began to develop into real feelings in such a short span of time, it terrified her. She had really never felt this way about someone before; butterflies would erupt in her stomach every time he shot her a smile and her mind would erupt into pure chaos when his body brushed up against her own. 

So yeah, it could be worse, but it certainly wasn't good.

｡:°ஐ

Y/N enjoyed spending time at the studio with her dad, and surprisingly, spending time with her dad’s “co-workers”. Even though she didn't usually hang out with the pop stars and spent time mostly with the backing band/producers (they were usually 50 year old men, but they were pretty nice) she enjoyed herself fully, having lunch breaks and talking about where their children when to school and whatnot. 

Sometimes though, every blue moon, Y/N would hang out with a super star her dad was working with. Usually when most stars are at the studio all they did was record, which was understandable, but she never had the chance to meet a lot of them.

With Harry though, everything was different. It wasn’t just lunches at the studio, or dinner at someone’s house, no, tonight they were going out to a bar. 

It was completely unexpected too, they had just wrapped up a song, and Harry, being in a particularly good mood had yelled out about going to a bar to celebrate. Of course, Y/N ignored his shout, knowing she wasn’t invited, and after Arlo had said something about “not being able to party as much as I used to”, she gave her dad a hug good night and waved a little goodbye to the band. 

“Wait!” Harry had exclaimed, chasing after her in the hallway. “Where are y’going?”

Y/N’s eyes widened and she looked behind her before looking back at Harry. “I was just gonna head back home.”

Harry’s head tilted, and looked at her questionably. “Y’not comin’ to the bar with us?” He practically pouted.

Her brows shot up in surprise. “Oh! I- yeah I’ll go out with you guys.”

Which lead her here, decently tipsy, and sitting in a booth between Harry and Sarah, laughing at a story Adam had been telling. Every now and then she would glance over to Harry just to find his gaze already on her.

Her heart fluttered every time, and if Harry’s cheeks weren’t already flushed from the alcohol, Y/N would have noticed him blush every time they locked eyes as well. 

“M’gonna get another drink, does anyone want anything?” Y/N piped up, a resounding chorus of “no, thank you’s” answering her question. Except for Harry who spoke softly, “A beer? Go ahead and put it on my tab.”

She shook her head at him as he stood up to let her out of the maroon leather booth. “Can’t make you pay for that, I offered.” She said, standing to lock eyes with him yet again. 

“Nope,” He grinned. “You can, and you will.”

“But-”

“No buts.” He chuckled, giving her a dimpled smile.

Accepting her defeat she nodded and squeezed his arm with a murmured “Thank you.” before making her way to the bar.

Harry sat back down again, eyes trailing her figure as she walked away before looking back at the table to be met with knowing eyes. 

“What is it?” He asked, glancing around at everyone.

“You’re whipped, mate.” Charlotte grinned, everyone else nodding in agreement.

“What?! I am not.” Harry pouted, eyes flicking over to Y/N, who was making her way to the table, one drink in each hand, before back to everyone else. 

“She’s really sweet H, you should go for it.” Mitch said.

Harry shook his head, eyes now on Mitch. “I’m not interested in her like that, she’s way too young for me, anyways.”

Just then did he hear the soft hit of his beer and her cosmo land on the table. His gaze trailed up her hands to see Y/N’s shattered face. “Here.” She practically whispered to him.

“I just remembered I have an early class tomorrow, so I should go, but thank you guys for inviting me out.” Y/N explained in lighting speed as she leaned over Harry to grab her purse and toss is over her shoulder. 

Words of confusion were tossed around the table but she was already booking it out of there, leaving Harry just as devastated as she was.

“I think she heard you, H.” Sarah said, frowning. 

Harry let out a muttered “Fuck!” before taking out large bills from his wallet and tossing it on the table. “For my tab, m’sorry, I gotta go.” And he left just as fast as Y/N did, weaving through the tables and people before bursting out the door to see her standing on the street, arm wrapped around her waist and another holding her phone.

“Y/N!”

Her head whipped around to see Harry bustling towards her and she quickly wiped her eye as he approached.

“Wait, don't go,” He said, struggling to find the words. “We all want you to stay, I want you to stay.”

“I have to get to class Harry, plus, I’m too young to be staying out this late anyways.” She grimaced at her own words. 

He sighed, eyes flickering from her own to her lips then back again. “I-fuck, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

This time, she fully turned to face him, brows knitted in distress. “Then how did you mean it? Because honestly I don’t think there is another way to mean it.”

This was his only chance, Harry knew it. 

“I just, I tried for so long to tell myself it was wrong to feel this way about you because you’re so much younger than me, and m’pretty sure your father would have my head if he knew but m’fucking infatuated with you, Y/N. M’so sorry I said that earlier, age is my only excuse for not asking you out and it’s not a good enough excuse anymore.”

With this her mouth was gaped like a fish, and her face was akin to a deer caught in headlights. In a flash her arms were wrapped around his neck and he was holding her waist, reveling in her touch. 

“Oh, Harry,” She pulled away. “I really like you too.” And with that she pressed a swift kiss to his cheek, leaving him a blushing mess. 

“Good, thats... thats good.” He stammered.

“So,” she nudged his arm. “Y’gonna ask me out now?”

[giuliafc]

Moonlit Tears

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30020268

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13839874/1/Moonlit-Tears

A confused and heart wrecked Chat Noir finds a Ladybug in tears atop the Eiffel Tower. But when the two heartbroken heroes compare the shattered pieces of their hearts, they realise that those pieces look very similar. In fact, they're right the same. LadyNoir/Adrinette.

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The low humming of sobs was the only sound that reached his ears as he landed gracefully at their usual spot atop the Eiffel tower. He gasped and didn’t move, unsure of what to do. His heart was already heavy with chagrin. He had transformed and ran across the rooftops for the last two hours trying to calm himself down. Trying to avoid being the next akuma victim. He couldn't bear the thought that his Lady could possibly have had her heart broken today too.

He sat with feline elegance next to her. She didn’t even acknowledge him, inwardly looking as she was. He didn’t blame her. She was always so open, so generous, so ready to help everyone. She had the right to be upset for once and to not bother to say hi. He didn't want her to think that he had been there all that time without letting her know, though. That would be plain rude.

“Little kitty on a roof, all alone beside his Lady,” he started singing, changing the words of the song on purpose. He heard her gasping, then she stopped sobbing. She slowly stretched her legs and hung them down from the metallic structure they were sitting on. She straightened her back, trying to wipe her eyes dry with her fingertips, but failing miserably. New tears rolled out, renewing the dampness on her cheeks.

“I thought it was ‘ without his Lady’,” she pointed out, sniffling loudly.

He smirked with a concerned look. “And you’re right, Buginette. But I felt lonely even sitting beside you tonight. I’ve been here for a while and you haven’t even noticed.”

She sniffled again. “Sorry, Chat Noir. I had a really bad evening. I transformed and ran across the rooftops for a good couple of hours, but I still didn’t feel better. I came here to be alone, safe from prying eyes.”

“Oh.” His ears drooped. “Do you want me to leave?”

A shadowed smile popped on her lips. “Not at all. I just didn’t expect you to be patrolling tonight.”

“I wasn’t patrolling,” he said, “I had a bad evening too. A bit like you, I needed to vent, so I ran for a while, ending up here. I was surprised to see you. And even more surprised to hear you crying.”

She wiped her eyes one last time and finally they came dry. “Care to tell me what upset you?” She saw him tense, so added quickly, “If it won’t reveal your identity of course.”

He sighed. “I don’t mind telling you, Buginette, but I think you need to vent more than me. I hate seeing you so upset. Who do I need to beat up?” He faked a scowl and posed like a boxer.

She looked at him in amazement and then erupted into a crystal laugh. “Oh thank you, chaton. I needed it. Thank you so much.” She hugged him tightly and kept laughing. But the more she laughed, the more her laughter lost its light. It darkened, until she sobbed again, clenching her fists against the spandex material of his suit on his chest. He tentatively hugged her. When she didn’t react by rejecting his touch, he tightened his hold and held her closer, patting her hair in a soothing rhythm. A quiet purr began rumbling into his chest; after an initial gasp, Ladybug hugged him back and his purr renewed.

“I told him tonight,” she whispered eventually.

“Him?” he asked, carrying on with his purring and gentle rhythm of his hand over her hair.

She sniffled again. “Yes. The boy that I love. You remember? The one I told you about when we faced Glaciator.” She paused, happily lulling herself in the cathartic feeling of the purr. “I’ve never been able to tell him up to now. And I knew I was setting myself up to fail, because he’s told me before that he loves someone else. But I drank a couple of drinks too many; he was so kind to drive me home, and was being nice with me. So I just... told him.”

A sense of déjà vu hit Chat Noir. He gasped almost too loud, causing Ladybug to look at him with a puzzled frown on her face. He put a hand on her shoulder and with the other, he lifted her chin so she would look into his eyes. “What did he say? Did he reject you? If he made fun of you in any way, tell me his name and I’ll haunt him in his sleep forever.”

Despite the pain that he could read in her eyes, Ladybug genuinely smiled at the remark. “Thank you, Chat Noir,” she said. “But no, he didn’t reject me.”

Now it was his turn to be puzzled. “Then, why are you crying?”

“He didn’t say anything , minou. He just sat there in his car in silence until we reached my house. I even waited a couple of minutes before getting out. I said bye to him and he didn’t respond. I ran inside feeling horrible. I… feel as if I’ve ruined not only my chances of being with him but also our friendship, which I have cherished for the last four years. All because I drank too much. I’m so stupid.” She looked down and moved away from him. Sniffling some more, she stared out at the twinkling lights of the City of Love .

“That’s funny,” he said bitterly. When he said that, she gasped and looked at him shocked.

“What do you find funny, Chat Noir?”

He stretched his arms behind him and leaned back, allowing his gaze to get lost admiring the beautiful full moon that towered in the dark sky. “Today I went to a birthday party organised for one of my friends. We drank a little too much and it had become very late, so I offered one of my friends a lift. God forbid that she walked home as tipsy as she was and someone took advantage of her. She’s too dear to my heart to allow it to happen.”

“Oh,” she said, “o-okay?”

“I was driving her home. Well, my driver was; I was sitting with her in the back.” His hand reached for the nape of his neck and his gaze darted down. “She was telling me how grateful she was that I gave her a lift and suddenly, she told me that she loved me. A-and I didn’t know what to do, or what to say, so I kept my mouth shut.”

She gasped at his words. His gaze darted to her briefly, and the intensity in her eyes made him sweat. She stared at him as if her life depended on his next sentence.

“And…?” she pressed.

Was it getting hot here, or was it only him? He dared another peek at her face; she was still looking at him intensely. “And… nothing. The car stopped in front of her place. I waited until she had gone inside before asking the driver to go. When I got home, I had to transform and get out because I didn’t understand what was going on with my feelings.”

“Why?” she asked in a choked whisper.

He could hardly breathe. “Be-because I was confused. I’d never thought she liked me. She always acted as if I was intimidating her. When we met, we started off on the wrong foot. So I really thought that she hated me, and probably only put up with me because of our friends.” Ladybug gasped loudly and looked up at him, her eyes as big as saucers. “I couldn’t believe that a person as amazing as her would think anything at all of one as insignificant as me.”

He turned around and looked straight into her eyes. “She was my first friend. I didn’t want to ruin that friendship. I messed up badly enough with my first girlfriend, being so indecisive and never letting myself go, until she got fed up and told me she had found someone else. I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with her too, because—” His mouth went dry; he gulped awkwardly and licked his lips.

“Because?” He could hear the breathlessness in her tone. He could see how hopeful her gaze was as it met his, how tense her back was as it straightened. He internally screamed. God, he couldn't believe it. This woman loved him. For real!

“Be-because she was important to me. I didn’t want to lose her.” He grabbed her hand, a tinge of pink dusting her cheeks as he locked his gaze to hers. “The truth is that I love her. I’ve loved her all along. Only, I was too blind to see it. I’m such a fool, Marinette .”

The sound of her gasp resounded in the silence of the night like a slap in the face.

“The girl who didn’t like my jokes, the one I told you about the day we were coming back from the wax museum. That girl was you .” He gulped seeing the tears staining her cheeks once again. She stared straight through to his soul in silence, crying quietly for a time that felt endless. Why wasn’t she talking?

“We’re idiots,” she eventually said, the shadow of a smile curling the corner of her lips.

“No, Buginette. I’m the only idiot I can see.”

The smile that had been curling her lips widened. “Silly chaton. There’s an even bigger idiot sitting right in front of you.” She took a big breath, exhaling slowly. “Be-because the boy I rejected you for the day we fought Glaciator—”

“Yes?” His ears perked up and he couldn’t help but lean towards her.

“Th-that b-boy… was… Adrien Agreste .” She looked up from behind her eyelashes, a deep blush dusting her cheeks when she saw the massive grin that spread on his lips. “I-I’ve loved you from the day you gave me your umbrella. I tried so hard to let go of you, b-but I’ve never been able to.”

His eyes widened as his mouth opened in a small o. “Y-you mean my first day at school?

She nodded, her red cheeks almost glowing in the darkness. He gawked at her beautifully flushed face for a long time, admiring how her porcelain skin shone bright in the pale light of the full moon. The stain of her tears like crystal reflecting the moonlit night. He looked at her for so long that her redness changed to pallor and her eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

“What’s wrong, minou?” she asked.

“Nothing.” He gulped and closed his eyes, taking a shuddering breath as he reminded himself to breathe. “I’m so happy.”

She smiled softly seeing the way his lip trembled. “C-can I kiss you?” she asked.

He nearly jumped out of his skin. His eyes sprang open; he smirked, and his tone turned teasing as he tried to hide his shock. “I always thought I was going to be the one to ask you .”

The soft smile never left her lips; she inched closer to him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, taking in the soft shaking under her touch. Her hands held his neck by the nape, pulling him in until there were only millimeters between them. They could feel the tickling of each other’s breath on their lips, both hesitating to close the gap.

“And tell me, minou.” Her nose brushed his, his heart clawing against his chest as her whispered words caused wild fluttering in his stomach. “What answer did you expect me to give you?”

His senses were overwhelmed with the scent of hot chocolate and sugary treats in her breath, with only the smallest tinge of alcohol.

He was still pondering on an answer when their lips met, and any residue of coherent thought dissolved from his mind. He would think about what to say later. Right now he was finally kissing the girl he loved.

Nothing else mattered. Nothing at all.

Fin

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Author’s Note:

Hi! I know, I know, I will end up with not one. Not two. But THREE updates today. I’m definitely spoiling you, don’t expect this every week (I would die LOL). But I had written this story a little while back prior to my submission for the New Beginning zine (they were asking for a piece of less than 2000 words and i had never written one before, so I had to see if I could write something that short before committing to a submission!). Unfortunately I wasn’t selected, which means that you get this story now and not in January 2022, are you happy? ^-^

Hope you’ll like it. Again, a bit different from what I’ve ever written, but more my style than the Visiting Hours one. Please let me know your thoughts! Any kind of comment (or kudos, favs, follows, bookmark… anything) is very welcome.

Last but not least, if you read this and you’re not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks . See you there soon!

[liahswriting]

Lovesick Six and a Murderous Robot Boyfriend

Relationship(s): Revenant/original female character, Wraith/original female character, Mirage/original female character, Bloodhound/original female character, Octane/original female character, Crypto/original female character, Loba/original female character

Words: 8,411

Warnings: None

Summary: The new girl is very pretty and she's got most of the men (and some of the women) pining for her. Problem is, she's got her eyes set on a certain simulacrum.

Pretty girls can fight. Pretty girls can be tough. Pretty girls can be scary and threatening. Just because Gia was pretty didn't mean she didn't belong in the Games. I mean, Loba was almost perfect in every physical way and yet she knew her way around a pistol. Che had a cute face and yet her teams almost always were Champion. And of course Elliott was downright the most handsome man in the Games and yet he could wipe a team if need be. Being attractive didn't mean you were weak. In fact, Gia being attractive gave her an advantage to the game. After all, how could a pretty girl like her be any trouble? You think you're safe because look how cute she is, what is she gonna do to you? And then all of a sudden you're eating dirt because she shoved a wingman up your ass and annihilated you.

Gia's origins are unknown to the rest of the Legends. She showed up one day unexpectedly and won Champion that same afternoon. Her kit and abilities brought a whole new playstyle to the Games: a playstyle that both terrified and intrigued the others. Her enhanced vision gave her every input she needed to weaken your team's defenses. She knew exactly whose health was hanging on by a thread, giving her the ultimate advantage to breaking your team apart and dwindling your numbers until you were way beyond outmatched. The Legends assumed she had some sort of black market enhancement done to her eyes given the fact that they were far from being normal. How she managed to slip through the Apex recruitment with her fiercely white irises was beyond everyone. I mean, come on! The girl's eyes were as white as snow all around! The only color to them was a very faint, needle-thin black line separating her sclera from her iris. Everything else was pure white. Even her pupil. Crypto was already walking on thin ice with his illegal body enhancements. The only reason no one actually paid much attention to it was simply because his modifications didn't directly impact his abilities in the arena. But Gia was a whole other story.

Typically, the Legends expect Silva to dive head first into a fire fight with his stim. Or perhaps they'll see Crypto's drone following them around. And on occasion a team will back out of a fight to heal up and end up running into another team holding a choke point with Wattson's electric fences. All of this was expected. And then Gia came along and now every Legend that wasn't on her team was afraid of her tactical EMP that disabled all enemy primary weapons. You could pin her team down and you think you're gonna win, and then all of a sudden your Devotion stops all functionality and now you have to rely on your Alternator with 20 shots left in the chamber.

As if that wasn't enough of a fright, instead of Makoa's air strike landing on your head or Bloodhound storming up behind you faster than humanly possible, Gia's big trick messed with your mind and your vision. In the blink of an eye, you are no longer able to discern who is teammate and who is enemy. And it's not as simple to just say "Wraith is not on my team. I need to shoot her" because the enemy Wraith you're staring down through a 4x-8x will suddenly appear as your friendly Pathfinder and your friendly Pathfinder will suddenly appear as the enemy Wraith. It was more likely to die via friendly fire than enemy fire when Gia's ultimate activated.

The only reprieve the other Legends got was finding out that she was insanely friendly. Thank god too because no one needed another Dr. Nox or another Revenant on their team. Gia was friendly with everyone she interacted with. Despite her scary demeanor, she got along rather excellently with the other Legends. And that's when most of the trouble started.

It all started off as friendly taunts. Elliott took the first step and made a move on her immediately. After all, she's beautiful, he's beautiful, it only made sense for the two of them to date. They could be the ultimate power couple. Their two beautiful faces displayed up high on the Champion banners. It was a dream. But she politely shut him down. Still, he tried again. And she laughed and played along. "My my, Mr. Witt. Aren't you the massive charmer!" This caught the attention of the daredevil himself and he attempted to get under Elliott's skin by literally sliding by them in the arena and dropping the biggest pickup line she's ever heard. "Aye, amiga. Thanks for brightening up the place with your beautiful face." and then he put a couple bullets in Witt's stomach. Silva's team went down immediately for that stunt and Elliott was able to be picked back up, but his idea worked. Elliott was obviously mad at the green-haired adrenaline junkie after the game for trying to steal "his girl" but it was all in good fun when she turned him down too. Bloodhound soon was seen at her side more often than not. He found her skills fascinating and her air of mystery perfectly matched his own. They had sort of an unspoken bond between them, connected solely on the fact that both of their lives were an enigma. Everyone asked her about herself but she never opened up. When it was just her and Bloodhound, neither one even dared to ask the other about their past. It was comforting being able to sit with someone and not have to worry about prying curiosities. Bloodhound attempted to flirt; there was lots of hand touches and close sitting. Yet she turned him down too.

After that it became an unofficial competition between the three of them to see who could win her over, which lead to a lot of showing off and friendly banter. Elliott would throw pickup line after pickup line at her. Silva did crazy stunts to impress her. Bloodhound brought her tea every morning. And yet nothing ever came of it. Gia would play along every now and again but at the end of the day she made it clear she was just playing. Still didn't stop the men from trying.

And then Loba joined the crowd. And boy oh boy was that a surprise. The chick was into chicks! "Did you clowns ever stop and think that maybe you don't have the right parts she's looking for?" Loba taunted them. But she was right, of course. None of the men asked Gia if she was even straight. But it was still all laughs and good times regardless if she ever found an interest in them. Loba had other ideas in mind. She was thoroughly convinced that Gia was full on gay, looking to get it on with another girl. And Loba believed she was just the girl to get her rocks off. Loba was much more blunt than the men ever were in their affection. That night while all the Legends were winding down with some drinks and enjoying the royalties they made from the recent Game, Loba approached Gia and asked her if she would like to join the seductive thief in a private area away from the loud crowd. When she agreed, the three men that had been pining for her started to believe Loba was right all along. Loba and Gia were gonna do it! Loba was gonna fuck the new girl before they were! As much as Elliott enjoyed the thoughts that put into his mind (and trust me, he enjoyed them a lot), he was upset that all of his attempts had been for naught.

Loba and Gia had disappeared for hours and the three men all huddle together in somber at their ultimate defeat. Elliott poured several rounds of drinks for them in solidarity and they cheered a farewell to their playful challenge. It was Gia 's friendly "What's wrong, boys?" that gathered their attention mid-mope. Silva was just about to tell her of their shallow depression when he spotted Loba stiffly walking up to the bar for another drink with a pout on her face. The thief looked just as pristine as when she and Gia disappeared. Not a single wrinkle in her clothes nor a thread of hair out of place in its braids. So she was wrong!

"Nada, bonita. We're all good here!" he happily told her and shot back what was left of his current drink. "Right, guys?" he nudged them with a big 'ole grin on his face. Neither of them picked up on his hints but they agreed with him anyway. She didn't buy it for one second and got another round for them to put a smile on their faces. A single, friendly peck to each of their cheeks is what really solidified their grins and she walked off, happy to have made them smile. When Loba approached them after Gia walked away, Silva was quick to ask the slumping woman what went on behind closed doors.

"I was wrong." she admitted pitifully. "She turned me down too."

"So the competition is back on?" Elliott questioned and all four of them agreed. And thus their antics continued: Elliott flirted, Silva showed off, Bloodhound gifted things, and Loba seduced. None of it worked in the slightest. But Gia would laugh it off and let her touches linger just that fraction of a second longer that made them all question their sanity. If they were teamed up with her, they'd give her the items she requested. If she was hungry, they got her food. If she was feeling unwell, they took care of her until she was better.

"Like lost puppies." Anita commented to the four of them as she watched them all practically drool at the sight of Gia on the complete opposite end of the room. She seemed unaware of their presence but they knew she knew they were there. She sat with Makoa and Pathfinder, all three of them happily chatting with each other without a care in the world. Makoa's big belly laughs rang in everyone's ears.

"She's totally into me, I can tell." Elliott stated matter-of-factly.

"As if." Loba retorted.

"Did'cha ever think that maybe she got someone already?" Che asked with a smirk. "Some of us got loved ones back home."

"I doubt it, amiga. She would've told us if she did." said Silva.

"Maybe she didn't want to tell you. Seems like she doesn't tell anyone anything about herself. For all you know, she could have a husband, or wife, and several kids back on her home planet." Anita commented. The latter part of her sentence fell on deaf ears as the four love-sick Legends stared in Gia's direction when she laughed at something either Pathfinder or Makoa said. Her laugh was like music to their ears. Anita rolled her eyes towards Che and the other simply shook her head.

"Look at her! She's absolutely gor-gor-gorg... pretty! We're totally comp-compat... made for each other!"

"If we're going off looks alone, surely there are better suitors than you." Loba told Elliott with a smirk.

"Hey now, that's quite rude!"

"Gia is a strong fighter. Our skills are equally matched. Perhaps she's not looking for a superficial partner at all."

"All of you are a hack." Crypto's voice surprised everyone. He stood just off to the side, watching them with a bored expression on his face. Hands in his pockets, as is his usual stance, he eyed all four of them down.

"Come on! Don't try and tell us you don't think she's muy caliente."

"She is very beautiful," Crypto agreed. "and you are very desperate."

"So you are not in any way attracted to her." Loba stated rather than asked. She leaned forward, chin on her knuckles, and pressed him.

"I never said that."

"So you think about her."

"I never said that either."

"Say what you want, but until she tells me to back off I'm not going anywhere."

"And neither am I!" Elliott responded rather quickly -and defensively.

"That makes three of us." said Silva.

"Four."

"Fine. Make it five."

"I can't believe this." Che grumbled.

Gia found Crypto unexpectedly by her side more and more. He was rather reserved and his attempts at flirting were down right embarrassing. She tried not to show pity for him. The poor guy probably hadn't ever touched a boob before. She assumed him like Elliot, Silva, Bloodhound, and Loba and went along with whatever he said. She never asked much from Crypto and he was thankful for that. He had no idea how to woo her. He knew absolutely nothing about her, but who was he to ask her about her past if he wasn't willing to exchange an equal value? She was pretty and she was talented, so he tried to play to those strengths. He complimented her when she dolled up and he praised her when her team won Champion. Very rarely was he ever paired up with her so he often admired her through his scopes. He assumed to himself that he could impress her if he won Champion, so he tried his best to wipe the floor with any enemy teams he came across. More often than not, her team would demolish his so he would side step her if he spotted her. However, whenever Caustic or Revenant were on his team, there was no room for niceties and they went in with guns blazing whether he liked it or not. Caustic would throw his gas traps at them, or Revenant would silence them, and then suddenly both teams were at war with each other.

Just last week, Revenant went charging in at Gia, Bloodhound, and Wattson. He silenced their abilities, giving Revenant an easy target on the blonde girl before she could even defend their position with her electric fences. Wattson went down like a sack of bricks. And then Wraith went charging in on Bloodhound. She managed to break the hunter's shields before Gia came to her teammate's rescue and knocked the voidwalker to the ground with a few well-placed 301 shots. Crypto attempted to help his team by going in with his drone and EMP-ing the two enemies still standing. With their abilities still silenced, Gia was unable to fight back at the same caliber and Revenant took his EVA and pulled the trigger three times in Gia's chest. She collapsed to the ground with her knockdown shield aimed directly at the robot.

"Nothing personal, girlie." he chuckled as he tried to show off and finish her. He got interrupted when Bloodhound came around the corner and shot his hopped-up Wingman into the simulacrum's skull. Revenant went down as well. That left Crypto versus Bloodhound. Crypto was still fully shielded as opposed to Bloodhound. However, Crypto was armed with a 45 while his opponent had a Wingman with a skull-piercer on it. Even if Crypto landed all of his shots, it would only take three from the hunter to fully knock him. And he did indeed get knocked. His gold knockdown shield was the only thing that kept his team from being spawned out of the arena and back onto the dropship. Bloodhound knows Crypto's entire team was down so he was not at all worried about being shot in the back as he picked up both Gia and Wattson. Gia didn't waste any time healing and instead finished off Revenant with a big fucking smile on her beautiful lips.

"It's not personal, Rev." she echoed back at him and followed it up with a knee thrusted into the simulacrum's throat and then a low roundhouse kick to the side of his skull. Revenant disappeared, his banner taking his place. Meanwhile, Bloodhound turned to Crypto and attempted to finish him off as well. The last thing Crypto saw was the hunter's battle axe being thrown at his head. And then he and Wraith were standing next to Revenant on the dropship while the on-ship medics came to tend to their wounds. Crypto ignored them, instead turning all of his focus towards the displays following the remaining teams in the arena. One monitor focused on the general rotation of the arena. Another showcased the team that killed his. Crypto's eyes followed Gia's face on the display. She was quick to heal up and then lead her team towards the ring.

The rest of the game was long-lived. Many teams put up a good fight with each other. Ultimately, the best team had to win and that team was of Lifeline, Octane, and Gibralter. Gia's team came second. As skilled as she was, going against Lifeline was a difficult feat. Especially when Gibralter's shield dome gave the team ample cover for a quick pick-up. Not to mention the fact that Silva was nearly resistant to pain and was able to recover without the use of meds once he was picked up. A good heal will almost always out fight heavy damage. Once all the teams made it back onto the ship, Crypto approached Gia. "Good fight." he simply said. She smiled at him and returned the sentiment with a peck to his cheek. Crypto felt his face grow hot and he heard a snicker beside him. He found Loba, Bloodhound, Silva, and Elliott watching him with dopey smiles. Loba crossed her arms and eyed him in a way that meant she told him so. He ignored them in favor of getting patched up the rest of the way by the ship medics.

"You may have won this time, little girl, but I'd watch my back if I were you." Revenant threatened Gia at the other end of the ship. He bent down to her level and stared right into her eyes. But she didn't shy away from the simulacrum's threatening advances.

"The only thing I'll be watching is a replay of me finishing you." she shot at him. He simply returned her remark with a deep, throaty sound and then he stalked off.

That night, Elliott threw a small after-party at his place. There were drinks aplenty, more food to go around than anyone could think of, and of course the Champion squad. All complete with Silva begging to do some party tricks and doing them anyway regardless of how Elliott responded. Not as if Elliott would say no to his friend anyway. Everyone came out to the party. Even Dr. Nox and Revenant who hardly ever show their faces when not in the arena. Still, they kept to themselves and only participated when coaxed. Well, at least Dr. Nox did. Revenant just stalked everyone as per usual.

Gia tried to make rounds with everyone but it was becoming difficult with five of the Legends begging for her attention. Silva wanted her to watch him light himself on fire. Which he did and she watched on like she promised. "One of these days you're gonna get yourself killed, love." she said to him as she patted down the last of the flames burning away at his shorts.

"As if Death could catch me, chica bonita."

"Promise me you'll live to see tomorrow so we can get lunch."

"Absolutamente!" he grinned from ear to ear and then she walked off to sit and talk with Anita and Che. "She wants me." he said to Elliot. The latter simply rolled his eyes.

"She only said that because she doesn't want to watch you kill yourself tonight."

"She so wants me."

Gia chatted with the two women. Gia congratulated Che on her win today and the medic praised her back with a statement of her skill. "A couple close calls." the woman had said and Gia nodded in agreement.

"A toast to our Champion!" Anita held her glass in the air and the other two women clinked theirs together and took a large gulp of their drinks.

"Let's hang out this week. Go do something fun. My treat, of course as a present for our lovely Champion here." Gia offered the two women.

"I'm in the mood for a nice massage!" chirped said Champion. "It hurts having to carry 'round these children all the time." This made the other two laugh heartedly.

"I swear, some of these kids want to get hurt." commented Anita.

"Sounds an awful lot like those five over there." Gia pointed to the group huddled together and watching her.

"They just tryna impress ya. Problem is they don't know when to quit it."

"I think it's cute."

"Do ya like any of them?" Che asked and Gia sat back and thought about it for a second.

"They're certainly cute. And it's funny watching them flirt. But it's all just fun and games."

"You seeing anybody? They won't stop unless you tell them you're taken." said Anita matter-of-factly. She took another gulp of her drink.

"They don't need to stop. It's nothing serious. No one's getting hurt and I've already told them no so it's not like I'm leading them on. Let them dream a little."

"As long as ya okay with it."

"I am." she responded. "I'm also hungry. Be right back." she told the women and got up to grab some food that was piled up on a table. There was so much food here but she wouldn't be surprised if it all got eaten anyway. There were some hungry Legends here and -she's not going to name names- some of them can absolutely pack it away. Silva didn't count, however, because his metabolism was way faster than normal so it's never a surprise to see the green-haired junkie go up for fourths or even fifths. Gia grabbed a plate and filled it with foods that appealed to her. Nothing fancy but just interesting enough to get doubles of. As she was making her way back to Che and Anita, she spotted Wraith sitting alone and moping. Gia detoured over there and took a seat opposite of the woman.

"You doing okay?" she asked, making Wraith look up at her and force a smile.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure? I didn't hit you too hard out there today, did I?" Gia attempted to lighten to mood. It worked to a degree; Wraith cracked a more genuine smile and gave a short chuckle.

"You got some good shots on me but that was pure luck." she said. "Good game today, by the way."

"You too. Do you wanna talk about what's bothering you? I'm all ears."

"Thanks but I'll be fine. It's nothing serious."

"Come find me if you ever need a shoulder." Gia offered the woman and was gifted a nod with a bigger smile in response. Gia placed a gentle hand against Wraith's cheek. "Smile for me some more. You've got a beautiful smile." she said and then got up and walked away.

"You don't think Wraith's into Gia too, do you?" Elliott asked the group as they all watched the exchange happen between said women. His eyes followed Gia for a moment as she walked away and then focused on the other. Even though Wraith looked away from the room, he could see her blushing furiously. And she tentatively placed a hand against the same cheek Gia did. Oh, she definitely had it bad for her.

"I wouldn't be surprised. I've caught her staring at my ass on more than one occasion." Loba snorted.

"Gia and Wraith aren't seeing each other already, are they?" Crypto asked everyone as if they had any more answers on her love life than he did. As predicted, everyone else shrugged or didn't answer at all. Elliott went back to watching Wraith's behavior. Everything that just happened in the last 10 seconds told him that Wraith hadn't expected Gia to show her that type of affection. If she's blushing that bad from a single touch, then that means Wraith is crushing real hard. She didn't act like that was a normal occurrence between the two of them. As if she could read Elliot's mind, Wraith turned her attention to the group of five that had been watching her. Elliott waved his hand over to her, silently telling her to join them. Wraith did a double take, making sure he was in fact motioning to her and when she realized he was, she made her way over to them.

"Aye, you into Gia?" Silva got right to the point and put Wraith on the spot. She sputtered.

"What? No. What makes you think that?"

"You do not have to lie." Bloodhound calmed her. "She is the reason we're all here." he motioned to the group.

"She's just a friend!" Wraith was quick to defend. "I mean she's pretty and all but nothing would ever be between us."

"So you admit you're into her." Loba accused and Wraith went silent. She blushed again.

"I mean, she's nice. And pretty. And she smells good. But so what."

"Listen, no one's poking fun at you. We all like her." Elliott came to her rescue.

"Yeah and we've got a competition going to see who she likes more!" said Silva.

"Why?"

"Because it's fun! And because we can hit on her without pressuring her to return the favor."

"So she knows you've all placed bets on her?" Wraith assumed questionably making the others stiffen and look to each other.

"Well." Crypto started. "She doesn't know about the competition but she knows we all are attracted to her."

"Isn't that kind of, I don't know, scummy?"

"We're not placing actual bets on her." Loba defended.

"Yeah it's just all bragging rights at the end of the day if one of us wins her over." said Elliott casually.

"Aye, you can get in on this if you want, chica, but we're all just having fun."

Wraith hesitated for a moment to think it over. This was scummy, right? Holding Gia as a prize? Surely she wouldn't appreciate it. But then Wraith looked over to Gia sitting with Che and Anita and noticed how beautiful she looked when she had her hair down. Wraith quickly touched her cheek again.

"What are the rules to this... competition?"

"None really. Try to woo her and, if you do, congrats. You won." said Elliot.

"So, are you in or are you out?" Crypto questioned.

"I'm in."

To say Gia was leading the pack was a bit of an understatement. Everywhere she went, her little lovesick posse was not too far behind. And it seemed to be growing by the day. Given that there were now six of them, it was more likely she was paired up with at least one of them during the Games. And when they were paired up together, it was very obvious they were trying to impress her. If she was ever downed, Wraith would stop whatever she's doing to portal her to safety even if she herself wasn't in a safe position. If she was out of ammo, Elliott dropped several stacks of whatever she needed even if he needed it himself. If she gave an order, Silva would absolutely follow it even if he had already jump padded a mile away. If she wanted the Peacekeeper, Loba would steal it for her. If Crypto found a high-level shield, he'd let her have it. If the team got split, Bloodhound would always follow her in case she ran into another team. And if their third got pinned, well Bloodhound wasn't leaving Gia's side.

Everyone else was starting to notice it more and more and they'd approach her about it. "It doesn't bother me." she'd say. And maybe it truly doesn't. Maybe she likes the constant attention she gets from the lovesick six. It certainly didn't hinder her performance in the arena. However it was becoming a bit annoying not being able to spend much time with anyone else without the group being a hare's breath away. But still she played along, laughed at their jokes, swooned over their flirtatious remarks, cheered them on as they showed off.

The Games continued nonetheless and even more Legends showed up; first there was weapons-expert Ramya Parekh, and then there was scientist Mary Somers, and with Dr. Somers came a new arena. Both of whom were very quick to pick up on the weird dynamic between Gia and six of the other Legends. "They're quite infatuated with you, darling." Dr. Somers had commented on day one of her being there. "Eh, they're all a bit weird." Ramya said nonchalantly.

Also Revenant and Elliott got to take over the games for awhile -again. Everyone hated when Revenant got control of the Games and this time around he's decided to switch it up a little bit. Elliott, on the other hand, took the opportunity to impress Gia. "Look at me! I'm so good they wanted to bring me back! The fans love me!" he said. His pride was short lived because the Apex hosts gave the fans quite the show when new events dropped and Elliott, Silva, Wraith, Bloodhound, and Loba all got makeovers -among other Legends, Gia included. All of them took their new looks on stage in an attempt to make Gia swoon. And as good as they all looked, Gia barely had the time of day to compliment them because Apex was whisking her away left and right to show off her new look. The fans loved her and demanded her attention. There was even a huge party for all of the Legends and multiple press corporations to advertise the new events. It was all just so overwhelming. Gia hated being center stage and the constant swarms of people drained her energy rather quickly. Her only reprieve was when one of her six admirers took all of the attention away from her as they did some sort of stunt to make her smile. It was mostly Silva donning his Octane ego that got the press's attention because who doesn't love to watch a daredevil jump out of the window? Nevertheless, she appreciated the breath of fresh air when the cameras weren't on her. She took the opportunity to hide away near the buffet table.

"Ya doing alright?" Che had asked from beside her, grabbing food for herself.

"I'm fine. Just need a break from all of this."

"Still not used to being a fan favorite, are ya?"

"I'm surprised I'm a favorite at all, to be honest. I know a lot of people like to go for the shiny, new toy but I'm no longer shiny or new. Ramya and Dr. Somers should be getting all of the attention."

"Are ya kidding me? Ya one of the best there is! Ya win more games than ya lose. Of course ya a favorite!" Che attempted to cheer her up.

"You win a lot of games too, but it seems like everyone wants to surround me."

"Well, I have been here longer than ya have. Give it time and they'll move on. They like ya because ya don't tell them anything. It keeps them interested."

"I'm sure you're right. But for now I just need a breather. I'll catch you later, Che." Gia bid farewell and walked off into the shadows, away from prying eyes and camera flashes. The combat medic made her way back to the center of the press where Elliott and Silva were waiting to talk to her with concerned looks in their eyes.

"Is Gia alright?" Elliott questioned her, making a move to go follow the object of his desires. Che put a hand against his chest to stop him.

"She don't wanna be bothered right now. She wants to be alone. So leave her alone."

"Is she hurt or something?" Silva asked worriedly.

"Nah, she just needs some fresh air. But she made it very clear she didn't want anyone to accompany her. So make sure ya tell the others to leave her be tonight."

"Can you at least tell us where's she's going in case she need someone."

"If she wants ya, she'll let ya know." was Che's response and then she walked away, hoping those idiots wouldn't bother Gia. She had to give the dopey idiots some credit though because all six of them never left the party. Despite their infatuation with the white-eyed Legend, they respected her privacy and gave her space when she asked for it. The press took notice of Gia's absence and tried to dig into everyone else for her whereabouts but no one relented and the press was forced to focus on the remaining Legends at the party.

Once the whole shebang was over and the press had made their leave, the six were becoming slightly worried at Gia's continued AWOL. She hadn't talked to anyone since she told Che she was leaving. No messages or calls. Nothing. Surely she was fine, though. Gia could absolutely hold her own if god forbid something were to happen, so the Legends weren't worried about finding her all beaten up on the Docks. But they were worried that something was still wrong and didn't feel comfortable letting her be alone for this long. It's been hours since anyone has seen her.

"I'm gonna go look for her." Elliott finally said. He was obviously agitated in his boots. The others weren't looking so hot either and they all agreed to split up and look for her. Problem was, there were far too many places she could possibly be and she hadn't answered anyone's messages so there wasn't even a general location they could pinpoint her at. They all checked her place in the compound housing the Legends, they checked all over Olympus, they checked Malta. They checked everywhere they could think of, but there was no sign of her and now they were well into the wee hours of the morning. Everyone was seriously starting to worry.

There was one final place Elliott could think of where she might possibly be, so he ran there as fast as he could to check. If she wasn't there, then he was starting to think he'd need to put a missing person's report on her. Surely Apex would find her quickly; they can't let one of their best fighters disappear. Especially not after a night of reporters fawning over her. Elliott charged towards the dropship housed at the very edge of Olympus. Getting through the security was rather easy, simply because the security had been disabled which was a relatively good sign in Elliott's eyes. She had to be here. None of the Apex crew were working at this time, as far as he was concerned. He let himself aboard the aircraft and he nearly collapsed onto the floor when he did.

Holy fucking shit, Gia was here. And she was with Revenant. And she was very clearly naked! Both of them were asleep -or, well, she was asleep and he was shut down, Elliott guessed. Did the robot sleep at all? They were laying all cuddled up to each other on one of the many plush seating areas with a blanket wrapped loosely around them. Gia's entire upper half was exposed to the warm air of the ship, but her dignity was covered just enough by the fact that she had her chest pressed up against Revenant's. The simulacrum kept a metal arm laying over her as they both slept, almost as if he was protecting her. She stirred lightly in her sleep and he responded by pulling her closer. Yet neither one of them woke up.

Elliott wasn't sure if he could scream, cry, runaway, or do all three. He wasn't gonna lie, his heart broke knowing that she would choose a robot over him. Even if his flirts were nothing more than a game, the fact that he was beat by a fucking robot of all things stung. Why didn't she say anything? Probably because no one would have believed her. I mean, Revenant of all people? That thing hated everyone and everything. And he's been known to threaten her on occasion. Was it all part of a rouse to keep people from guessing? Did the simulacrum have some sort of reputation to uphold? Or was this some sort of spontaneous thing? Either way, Elliott had a hard time picking his jaw up off the floor.

He managed to sneak out of the ship without waking either one of them and he exited the hangar. What was he supposed to tell the others? He didn't even know how to comprehend it himself! But he had to say something. Everyone else was still out looking for her. He managed to message everyone else but his words were short. "I found her. She's alright. Everyone stop worrying." he told them. Any responses he got back from them were ignored as he tried to calm his racing mind while he made his way back to his place.

This has been one hell of a night.

Elliott called an emergency meeting with the others the next afternoon once everyone was able to catch some well-needed sleep. Both Gia and Revenant had reappeared some time in the early morning, though no one was able to catch them together. Her usual chipper mood didn't do anything to quell Elliot's confused thoughts and he had half a mind to just probe her for answers to the questions he wasn't sure he wanted to even ask. What was he supposed to ask her? "How long have you been fucking Revenant? Were you ever gonna tell us or were you trying to toy with us? Does he even have a dick?" He wasn't hurt by the fact that she was seeing someone. Elliott knew she wasn't interested in any of the six of them. She made it very clear her no actually meant no. But Revenant?!

"What's so important you needed to gather all of us?" Crypto had asked. Elliott was tongue-tied. He just had to rip it off like a band-aid, right? That's what they all say, right?

"We need to call the competition off. Leave Gia alone." he managed to say.

"What? Why?" Wraith questioned with genuine confusion.

"She's seeing someone."

"How do you know?" Silva asked.

"I found them together last night."

"Are you sure?" Bloodhound asked and Elliott nodded.

"Very sure."

"Who is it? Another Legend?" Loba wondered. All eyes were on Elliott, waiting for him to spill the beans. Who could've possibly stolen Gia's heart? No one ever saw anyone else fawning over her and no one ever saw her eyes lingering for too long on a certain someone. She treated everyone the same. Perhaps it wasn't another Legend. Did she have a lover that came to surprise her at the party? Did a husband or wife come to cheer her on in the new events?

"It's... It's Revenant, okay!" he spat out and quite literally everyone else had gasped in surprise.

"Are you trying to make some sort of sick joke? Because if you are, I will throttle you!" Loba threatened.

"I'm serious! I found them together last night and she was very clearly naked in his arms."

"I don't believe it!" cried Wraith. There is no way someone as sweet as Gia would ever find companionship in someone like Revenant. It just couldn't be possible.

"Believe what you want but I'm backing out of this dumb competition! I don't want Revenant to snap my neck!" shouted Elliott and he threw his hands up in defeat. With a heavy sigh, he dropped his head to the table in a loud thump. A look of understanding passed from Legend to Legend. Everyone knew Revenant's behavior. He was cold and he was unforgiving. If what Elliott claimed was true, then there's no telling what the simulacrum would do to them if he found out they were all trying to get into her pants.

"What do we say to Gia? She'll know something's up." Silva asked aloud to the group.

"You don't have to say anything." that god damn voice said, making everyone jump in their seat and whip their heads around to peer at Gia timidly idling in the doorway. Her white eyes were glossed over in pity, and that hurt all the more.

"Were you standing there the whole time?" Elliott asked her.

"I heard shouting. I came at the part where you said you found us together last night."

"Oh." was all he said back.

"Listen, guys," she started, moving into the room and closer to them. "I know how much fun you guys were having with this competition thing going on between all of you. And I'm sorry this was how you found out about me and Revenant."

"Have you been seeing him this whole time?" Loba almost seethed.

"Yes." she flat out said. No beating around the bush. "I promise I'm not dating him to spite you, Loba. I started dating him long before I even knew of your history with him. I didn't do this to hurt you. And I'm sorry if it does hurt you." she apologized.

"No one's hurt that you're seeing him." claimed Silva.

"Speak for yourself!" Loba interrupted.

"We're just confused is all, chica."

"Loba, truly I'm very sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry to all of you. I'm sorry if I ever lead any of you on, but I honestly thought I had made it very clear that this was just a game."

"You did. We heard you loud and clear, hermosa. We were just trying to have a little fun with you."

"I know. And I'm sorry if this put a stop to your competition. Believe me when I say I enjoyed the attention. I truly did not intend for any of you to get hurt or upset. If it's Revenant you're hesitant of, I can give you my absolute word he will not harm any of you."

"I guess I just want to know how it happened." said Wraith. Gia attempted a jovial smile in her direction.

"There's so much to me you guys don't even know. So much that even Revenant doesn't know. I know it may seem strange but I promise you that he and I are not very different."

"Does he even.... um.. have a... you know?" Elliott then hesitantly questioned much to everyone else's embarrassment. They all shouted at him in distaste. "Oh come on! I know I'm not the only one who's curious!" he defended himself. Gia took in a deep, shuttering breath.

"Well... um... yes, he does."

"That's just weird. That is so weird." shuttered Silva. "Dios mío, eso es asqueroso. Can we please talk about something else?" he mumbled into his palms.

"Look, to make a long story short, all I can say is I'm sorry. From the absolute bottom of my heart, I am sorry. Regardless of where we all go from here, I just want you to know that you've all made me feel pretty, you've made me feel important, and you've made me feel loved. And I can't ever thank you enough for that. I just hope you all understand that I truly do love you too. Even if it's not the same way that you love me. I truly do love you."

"As long as you're happy." Crypto replied to her. As sad as he was to say it, he meant it for her.

"I am. I really am."

"I guess that's the end of that. It's been a good game, guys." Elliott directed towards the other five. "We're just not what you're looking for, I guess."

"But you're what someone is looking for." she consoled. "Elliot, you are the most handsome man I have ever met in my entire life." Gia confessed to him. To solidify her statement, she pressed a warm kiss to his cheek. Then she turned to the green-haired man beside him. "Silva, my life would be so incredibly boring without you in it." and she pressed a kiss to his cheek as well. "Loba, next time you see me in the arena, I want you to just step on me with those boots." she giggled and kissed her cheek as well. Despite Loba's best efforts, she cracked a real smile. "Bloodhound, you're an incredibly skilled hunter and I wish I could match up to you." Gia tentatively lifted her hands towards his face, waiting to see if he'd stop her from removing his face mask. He didn't. So she lifted the material from his face and pressed a kiss to his cheek as well before putting it back in place. "Crypto, don't ever let anyone underestimate you." a kiss to his cheek. "And of course, Wraith. I meant what I said before; you have a beautiful smile. Show it off some more." a kiss to her cheek. "I love you guys. And I hope you don't think any less of me."

"Of course not." said Bloodhound which made Gia's heart flutter with glee. She bid a final farewell to all of them before making her departure, still unsure if they have forgiven her for her secrets. The room fell quiet for several moments as they all processed what just happened. In the blink of an eye, everything just crumbled. No one was angry. They all still loved Gia. But now things were a little different. The competition was officially off the table now and the six Legends were unsure of where to go from here.

"She totally loves me more." Silva cracked the silence.

"Are you kidding? She kissed me first!"

"She kissed me longer." claimed Bloodhound. And then a full blown argument started between all of them over who Gia had more affection for.

Everything sort of calmed down after Gia had finally come clean. The six Legends that had been following her for months had backed off and everyone took notice of it. Che asked Gia what had happened between all of them and Gia had confessed that she had been seeing someone behind everyone's back. Though she didn't name names. Che wanted details of course but didn't press when Gia refused to give them. Even Pathfinder could sense that there was some tension in the room but, bless his heart, he had no idea how to make everyone feel better. He tried though. "Everything will be okay, friend." he told her and then gave her one of his famous high fives.

It's not like Gia didn't try to mend things with them. She still tried to talk to them but conversations became awkward because no one knew what to say anymore. All the flirting stopped and everyone was too scared to sit too close to her in fear of Revenant's wrath. But she did try. It's just that her efforts went nowhere.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Gia and Revenant were seen together out in public for the very first time. They officially outed themselves as a couple. Everyone was just minding their own business when Gia had appeared, dragging Revenant behind her with her hand interlaced in his. She pulled him into everyone's view and everyone turned to stare at them with wide eyes. She paid them no mind, but Revenant glared at anyone he connected eyes with. She pulled him down to sit with her and he did without complaint. She cuddled into his side and he tossed an arm across her shoulders, allowing her to get as close as possible. Everyone was watching, but it was Elliott, Silva, Loba, Crypto, Bloodhound, and Wraith that seemed to be the most in shock. What had finally changed her mind about keeping their relationship quiet, they didn't know. Everyone was just as confused as they were and those who were aware of the six's admiration for Gia all turned towards them in either pity or curiosity. Yet no one said a word. It felt like all eyes were burning into them. But thank god they all turned away at some point.

Gia proceeded to show Revenant something on her device and they both watched intently. He even scooted her into his lap so he could place his chin on her shoulder and watch. His arms wrapped around her midsection protectively and she cracked a smile. She looked so tiny in his lap.

"I can't watch this." Loba said and stormed off. She still hadn't come to terms with the fact that the woman she desired was in love with the demon she wanted to murder.

"Does anyone else feel nauseous or is it just me?" Wraith asked, turning away from the loving couple.

"No, I feel it too." Elliott confessed.

"Aye."

"It may hurt now, but she is a grown woman who has made her decision and we must respect that. We'll get over it eventually." Bloodhound told the group.

"Just because we respect it doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt, compadre." retorted Silva.

"You think they'll stay together?" Crypto then asked and everyone looked back to Gia still cuddled in Revenant's metallic lap. Elliott watched carefully as every twitch of Revenant's fingers only seemed to hold her closer to his chest. His touched appeared to be gentle and Gia had made herself comfortable in his embrace. She smiled at her device and carefully ran her fingertips along the build of his arms. He must've made some sort of noise because she nudged her cheek against his metal face plating. When he turned to look at her, she looked back and pressed her forehead to his. They both closed their eyes and Elliott assumed that was their version of a kiss considering he didn't have any lips -or even a moveable jaw for that matter. And Elliott could tell that she was genuinely happy.

"Yeah. I think so."

[whatcouldgowrong-ohthat]

Brilliant and Kind (Thor x Curvy!Reader One Shot)

So this is my second submission to @crushedbyhyperbole​‘s writing challenge! I have a lot of issues with self image and I know I’m not the only one in the world. So I thought this would be a sweet one-shot to write. And I wanted to address in this that it is about being comfortable in what you wear. Whatever that is, fucking go for it, right? And Thor most certainly agrees.

Pairing: Thor x Curvy!Reader

Prompt: Costs an arm and a leg

Summary: Thor has noticed Y/N around the compound, but had no idea that she noticed him. When she does something unbelievably kind for him, he knows he has to take some time to get to know this wonderful woman a little better.

Warnings: None, I think? I mean, we got a confident reader here! Embrace that and the fact that Thor thinks Y/N is utterly adorable???

Thor never quite understood how “cost” worked in Midgard. As a prince, he never had to worry about that. Especially in a world like Asgard. But Midgard – or Earth – was something else entirely. He’d seen Tony spend money like it was nothing. He’d dropped millions on new tech and gifts for the Avengers. He paid for the Spider-child’s new outfit just to keep the kid safe.

So why was it that Tony’s new techie seemed so careful when it came to spending money? 

At least, that’s what Thor had to believe. He had been watching Tony and Bruce at first, truly, that was his intention. But when Y/N had come in for the day, he was definitely distracted. Her presence had that affect on him. And it was frustrating to say the least. Looking at her now, he couldn’t help but smile. She had one of those almost comedically large mugs in hand, but he wasn’t sure whether it was coffee or tea. Her hair was pulled up and out of her makeup-free face and she was wearing leggings with a hoodie.

It was details like that – her state of dress that made him even more curious about her. He liked that she didn’t dress up, but something about Midgard’s women made it clear that it was an expectation. Women were supposed to wear a face full of warpaint, heels that made painful blisters according to Pepper, and dresses that the infamous Natasha used on her missions. So did Y/N simply not care? Or did she find herself that comfortable in the presence of the Avengers?

Thor found himself hoping it was the latter.

“Hey, Thunder brains. Yoohoo!” Tony called, earning a jerk of the head from the Asgardian. “You done staring at my favorite employee?”

Thor glanced back at her. If it weren’t for the blush already tinting her cheeks and ears, he would have thought she didn’t hear them. But she did. And knowing that made him smile. “What is it your science has to show me, Stark?”

“Oh, it isn’t our science.” Tony didn’t bother to hide that arrogant smirk of his. And instead of elaborating, he and Bruce shared a look that left Thor feeling even more clueless.

He wasn’t always the fastest to pick up on Tony’s games. There were always too many for him to keep track of, so they made an agreement. Tony could ask one question regarding Mjolnir a week and Thor could participate only in games he was interested in. This one left him a little interested, though he didn’t like having to admit it. “What are you talking about now, Stark?”

“It’s mine.”

Thor spun around, the chair he was sitting on squeaking from the new action. Y/N was standing in the doorway, thick thighs on full display and curves prominent despite the hoodie that was clearly a size too large. Her hands were tucked into her sleeves, only her fingers peeking through as she fidgeted with the hem. With her large frames and strands of hair framing her face, she looked absolutely adorable. She nudged her frames on top of her head, only needing them for reading after all.

“Yours? And what is it you’ve created that would require my viewing?” Thor smiled at her, unable to stop himself. He liked her voice and was certain that he could listen to her talk all day. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. She was fidgeting, something he wasn’t used to seeing from his fellow teammates. It was so human. So simple and yet so utterly human.

He liked it. He liked that she was awkward and that she was even comfortable in it.

“Well…” She trailed off, shifting from one foot to the other. “I noticed that you were hanging around the compound more, going off on more missions with the team.”

“Yes, it is my duty as an Avenger. Is it not?”

“No, it is.” She nodded to assure that she did, in fact, agree with him. “But out of everyone on the team, you’re the only one that has family and yet still has such limited access to them.”

“I can come and go from Asgard when I please, Lady Y/N.”

“You say that, but you don’t.”

Thor’s brow furrowed as he watched her. How much had she been paying attention to? “No…I don’t.” He rose to his feet. “The more visits I take part in between Asgard and Midgard, the more I find myself arguing with my father. To avoid these confrontations, I’ve chosen to spend my time where I’m needed.”

“Odin, right?”

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yes, Odin, the Allfather.”

“Well,” Tony cleared his throat. Always one to pull the attention back to him, wasn’t he? “Since we’re all about creative inventions at Stark Industries, I funded her idea.”

“And what idea was this?”

“Hello? I can see you; can you see me?”

Thor froze as soon as he heard that voice. He knew that voice. He moved slow, turning and seeing a holographic video call from – “Mother?”

“Thor!” Frigga grinned, unable to contain her joy. She let out a breathless laugh, her fingers brushing what he could only guess was her own image of the room.

“How is this possible?” Thor blinked away the tears that threatened to fall, the smile he inherited from his mother splitting his face in half. He was filled with more genuine joy than Tony or Bruce had ever seen.

Tony glanced at Y/N, noticing the way she was biting her lip to keep her smile tucked away. Oh, she was a clever girl, she was. But no one could hide feelings like that from Tony. Especially when he was paying them. “Come on, Bruce.” He and the other scientist made their way out, but Tony paused just as he reached Y/N’s side.

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Yes, Mr. Stark?”

“Costs an arm and a leg, but…” The two looked back at Thor. He was already engrossed in the conversation he was having with his mother. “I can see why you’d want to make him smile like that. I still do anything to see Pep with that look on her face.”

Y/N tensed, quickly looking back to form an argument, but it was too late. Tony was already gone. She huffed, perching her glasses back on her nose as she glanced at the God of Thunder. She would never admit it out loud, but she really liked the way his eyes lit up in moments like this. But no, she could never admit it. Instead, she went back to her desk and started tinkering away on yet another project.

—–

Hours had passed since Y/N had revealed her gift for Thor. She had been meticulously working on a new code ever since, but it seemed she was far too sleepy to keep her head up anymore. Her head was held up by her hand, hair having fallen loose, and glasses still propped and ready on her nose – as if anticipating she would wake up at any moment.

Thor watched, listening to the soft murmurs slipping past her lips. How she managed to hide herself here, he would never understand. Pulling up a chair, he sat on the opposite side of her desk. The computer created a sort of wall between them, but his height gave him the advantage of still seeing her. He didn’t understand it – how was someone able to look so brilliant even completely asleep?

“Y/N?”

She jolted, waking as if she had been struck by lightning. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. Rubbing at them tiredly, she was unable to stifle her yawn. He wondered how much sleep she had gotten the night before. Adjusting her glasses, she ran her fingers through her hair and out of her face before realizing that it was Thor that had spoken to her. And even though he was sitting on the opposite side of her desk, with a massive monitor between them, he was sitting close.

Really close.

“I – Uh…What time is it?”

“Almost eleven.”

She squeaked, checking the phone that was on the desk. “Fuck…I’ve been here all day…”

“As have I.”

Y/N looked up when she heard that, her smile a little too contagious. Thor mirrored her, leaning forward on the desk and propping his chin on the monitor. She giggled, ducking her head and adjusting her glasses. It seemed to be another habit of hers. “I’m glad to hear that it was a success.”

“What made you do it? I mean, how were you even able to do that? I thought the Bifrost is the only way to connect Asgard to any of the other realms.”

“That’s what everyone thinks until someone gets stubborn enough.”

“And is that what you were? Stubborn enough?”

Y/N hid her smile before her interlaced fingers. Her eyes sparked with something he didn’t understand but wanted to spend a lifetime getting to know. “A scientist never reveals her secrets.”

“I thought that was what your people call magicians.”

Y/N laughed at that. “Either way, I’ll never tell.”

“Fine, keep your secrets.” He tilted his head, watching her curiously. “But contacting my mother?”

“That was actually trickier than the science part. But I had a little help from Heimdall.”

“Heimdall?” He laughed wholeheartedly as he ran a hand over his face. This woman was determined, he’d give her that. And absolutely unbelievable. “You convinced Heimdall to keep a secret from the Allfather?”

“What, like it’s hard?”

“Oh, you are a tease, aren’t you, Lady Y/N? Keeping all of these secrets.”

She froze at that, rosy blush appearing on her cheeks once more. “I – Um…” Silence fell between them. He was afraid he’d mis stepped, but then he heard her mumble a soft, “You don’t have to say things like that.”

Thor frowned, tilting his head as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“Just the compliments.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, shrugging. She looked back at the monitor, doing her best to ignore the God that had decided to be a new decoration. “I mean – I don’t exactly look like the other girls in the compound. Save the comments for them, yeah?”

Silence fell again as Thor pondered what she said. “Is that why you wear the clothes you do?”

Y/N scoffed at that. She looked back at him, peeking at him over the rim of her glasses. Thor shifted in his seat, not sure what sort of effect that look gave, but only knowing that he liked it. He liked it a lot.

“No. Not at all.”

“Is that what you Midgards call sarcasm?” She tilted her head up and it was then he noticed that nope, she wasn’t being sarcastic. She was being serious. And it sounded like he was insulting her. “I didn’t mean to imply that – “

She held up a hand, silencing him. “I know. When you spend too much time around Tony, it gets hard to tell the difference. But no, that’s not why I wear the clothes I do. I might be self-conscious from time to time, but I wear these clothes because I’m normally in an empty lab for hours on end. You won’t see me wearing some ridiculous dress and a pair of heels unless I want to. And that’s the way it should be.”

Thor grinned when she finished her speech.

“Good.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow, clearly confused by that little declaration. “Good?”

“Yes, good. I like seeing you like this. The rest of the women here are always dressed to the extremes. If that is what they want, then good for them. But I like that this is what you want. To be yourself.”

“Uh…thank you, Thor.”

“Thank you, Lady Y/N.”

She turned her gaze back to her work, clearly not planning to leave any time soon. As much as Thor didn’t mind that her attention had diverted back to her passions, he wished the conversation hadn’t ended so abruptly. However, he wouldn’t force his presence on her. Instead he tucked his chair back where it belonged and made his exit.

“Um, Thor?”

He looked back, surprised that she had even realized he’d walked away. “Yes, Lady Y/N?”

“I’m about to grab some food and bring it back in here. Do you…” She shrugged, trying to make it seem like this wasn’t that big of a deal. But what she didn’t realize was that it was a bigger deal to Thor than it was to her. “Do you want to join me? I could use the company.”

He turned to face her, that impish grin back in place. “Of course, but only on one condition.”

“What condition is that?”

“If we’re calling this a date, I get to ask you on the second.”

Y/N bit her lip, already knowing her answer. “It’s a deal.”

——

@crushedbyhyperbole​

[poptod]

The Story of Golden Fish and Red Duck (Ahkmenrah x Reader, Ch. 5)

Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4

Word Count: 3.4k AO3 Link: The Story of Golden Fish and Red Duck

Unas visited Ahkmen several more times, but you did not join in. You were convinced that the less you saw of him, the more likely that your emotions for him (whatever they may be) would dissipate, and life would return to normal. The only problem was you didn't see him at all - you were forbade from doing that, and the idea that it was forbidden made you miss him all the more. It was indeed a very, very unfortunate predicament that had Unas laughing every time he saw you frowning or pouting.

"This is a serious issue, you know," you mumbled, wary of the many guests in the lower level of your house. Your mother had been feeling a little lonely, or at least that's what she told your father so he'd plan a small party. Unas' family was, of course, invited, along with one of your sister's friend's family. Teremun was annoyed that he couldn't invite his friends, but that was none of your business locked away in your bedroom, you and Unas sitting across from each other on the floor and avoiding everyone else.

"I'm fully aware of that, it doesn't make it any less funny," he wheezed out, unable to catch his breath.

"It's not that funny!"

"Oh I'm sorry, you not knowing you had a crush on Ahkmen isn't funny? We must live in different realms," he said as he shook his head, still grinning from ear to ear.

"I don't have a crush on him!" You snapped, your cheeks burning hot.

"You're still in denial?" His expression fell into unadulterated disbelief.

"Well... I just don't want you saying it out loud," you admitted sheepishly.

He looked at you, almost shocked at your ineptitude in the area of love, but somehow still supportive.

"We need to do something about this. You realize that, right?" He asked lowly, trying to meet your worrisome gaze.

"Yeah, but I have no idea how we're going to make me hate Goldie again."

"That - that is not the answer to this question, what the hell," he said, shaking his head again. "We're going to get you and Ahkmen together."

Your heart dropped in your chest. You were not going to be in a relationship with Ahkmen - it simply wasn’t an option. Besides the fact that you were still consciously in denial about even liking him, your families would be horrified in more ways than one. Ahkmen had pull as a prince, but his father was the Pharaoh, and his word was law, and the Pharaoh hated your father. There was no way either family would approve.

"Absolutely not. He's literally banned from seeing me again, and that's not even in the dating definition of that word," you said with a humorless laugh, rubbing your temples.

"That's what makes it more exciting."

You did not agree, but you didn't agree with Unas on several other things, so it wasn't a massive deal. He didn't have a point, that's what you kept telling yourself, repeating it over and over again in your head - his way was not the right way. Actually, it was more near suicidal. Neither of you even knew if Ahkmen liked you back, and even if he did, there was still the problem that you consciously kept circling back to hating him. You had strong emotions about him, and by Gods you were going to make sure it remained a strong hate, instead of the soft love sneaking into your head and lulling your hatred at bay.

All of your, Unas, and Ahkmen's ideas on the subject aside, you were still banned from seeing each other, and there was no way Unas could make you climb that rope again. You would have to be made to see him by your own family and his, and all three of you knew that would never happen again.

Except there was one thing Unas could do.

One horrible, devious thing, but he was known for being devious, and did not mind the title at all.

Within the next several weeks a popular festival would make its' way to Memphis; the Hathor festival. Much like the Tekh festival, the main theme was to get as drunk as possible and have as many orgasms as physically possible before passing out two hours before sunrise. Usually you spent the evening with Unas, wandering the streets and finding the best musicians and brewers the city had to offer. In fact you even made to do that - by afternoon you were walking to Unas' house, keeping your bag and coins close to you.

There was a thrill in the air, something that persisted throughout the city on the eve of every festival, just as it did then. Vendors more easily negotiated a price, eager to get home and prepare their own celebrations, some restaurants even letting their workers off early. For some reason, it wasn't complete catastrophe if no one worked during the festival, which you attributed to it being a bit of a free for all. Not particularly the safest environment for children, but things worked out alright, and Unas always brought backup in the form of weaponry.

Knocking at Unas' front door, you were greeted by his quiet sister, who you rarely ever saw, much like his father. You didn't get in a word before she was calling down Unas, who bounded down the stairs after catching sight of you. Dragging you inside, he pulled you upstairs and forced you into his room without a word.

"Unas? Everything alright?" You asked, feeling suspicious, but too amused by the secrecy of the situation to put any stock in it being a bad situation.

"Yes! Of course, here, I got you something," he said with a too-happy grin, handing you clothing wrapped in a brown package. Eyeing him oddly, you slowly unwrapped it, unveiling a black and red bundle of cloth. "Try it on, it's for tonight," he said.

"Don't we usually not dress up for this?" You asked, the suspicious feeling returning.

"Yeah, but I got invites to a pretty high up party," he said with a smirk, proud of his accomplishment.

"Fine," you gave in with a sigh. "I'll get changed, but I expect you to wear something just as frivolous."

"Don't worry, I will. Oh, and," he caught you before you left the room, "I'm blindfolding you on the way there. It's a surprise."

You frowned. "This is starting to sound like a bad idea."

It was, very much, a bad idea. Unas refused to take the blindfold off until the carriage stopped, the two of you had gotten out, and you were halfway up the steps. The amount of steps had you suspicious, but as he pulled the cloth from your eyes, it was all confirmed - he was taking you to the palace, the exact place the both of you had been banned from being. To make matters worse, you were actually looking forward to spending time with Unas, and he went and betrayed you.

"I'm going home," you said immediately, the cloth barely falling from your eyes before you could see the familiar pillars.

"No, you aren't! You're going to deal with this like an adult!" He said, chasing after you down the steps, grasping onto your upper arm and yanking you back up.

"We've been banned from the palace, in case you hadn't noticed! It's illegal for us to go in there!"

"Didn't bother you when we snuck in," he bit back.

"That was different and you know that."

"It doesn't matter anyway," he said, digging into his bag. "It's gonna be a massive orgy in there, no one will notice us, and masks are getting in to fashion." He pulled two masks out, one pitch black and the other stark white, handing the black one to you. Decorating your eyes with gems and silk, you tied the string behind your head, adjusting it on your nose. He did the same, correcting the accidental tilt in yours when he finished.

"You'll stay by my side, at least until we find him, right?" You asked shakily, trying to take a deep breath.

"Of course," he assured with a small smile, gripping your hand in his. The two of you took off up the stairs, him determined to stop your whining about Ahkmen, and you determined to do the exact same, but for a different reason.

The noise level grew with each step closer, become more and more defined, till you could pick out the loud moaners from the singers, the massive crowd in sight. As with most of the Pharaoh's parties, it was a no-invite event, meaning anyone could attend, and a good deal of people loved to take advantage of that. Your fingers tightened around Unas' hand, and he gave you a reaffirming smile - we're not going to be caught by the Pharaoh.

"I mean, Pharaoh's probably drunk, right?" You said, anxiety lacing your tone.

"Exactly. He can't prove anything and we can run faster than he can. Just one thing -" he turned to you - "stay sober."

"Yes sir," you said with a salute, the two of you chuckling quietly as the tenseness in the air lessened.

There was no way anyone would notice you. Everyone was far too preoccupied with their and other people's genitals which might've been enjoyable had you been drunk enough to attend, but you were not, and neither was Unas, leaving you both an embarrassed mess by the time you reached the food tables. Several people were lounging in that general area, most having slow sex while eating food, which you and Unas pointedly ignored.

"Where do you think he is?" You whispered, unsure of why you were whispering, but Unas seemed to think it was the right thing to do as well.

"In the highest room in the tallest tower, you'll find a beautiful golden maiden," he whispered in a high, girly voice, batting his eyelashes. You elbowed him, making him wheeze and laugh.

"Thanks for that, idiot. Let's go find him and get this over with," you grumbled under your breath, dragging him away from the food and leading him up the stairs.

Your memory wasn't fantastic, and you'd only been led to Ahkmen's room once before, which was your main excuse for getting lost three times. Unas made fun of you, as a friend always does, but wasn't of much more help when it came to finding the right rooms. Several of them had been filled up with more people, and upon noticing that you started to knock before entering. Though, that tactic wasn't of much help either, because most people would just invite you in, thinking you were more patrons waiting for a good time.

When at last you came to stand in front of the familiar double doors, the both of you stopped - the journey had finally come to a close, and there was a strange sense of doom in the air.

"You'll do fine, I'm sure," Unas said, sounding as if he'd never been less sure in his life, eyes staring up at the tall doors.

"Yeah... sure," you agreed thoughtlessly, your voice a murmur.

"... so are you going to go in?" He asked slowly, turning to you expectantly.

"Hm? Oh, um.. yeah. Of course. I'll... what - what should I say?"

"Why are you asking me? This is not my area of expertise," he said, frowning.

"Well you're the one who brought me here! I thought you might have a better idea than I do," you hissed, every second that passed by feeding the fear growing rabid in your heart.

"I just thought you'd go in there and, I don't know, kiss him? This is why it's a bad idea to ask me."

"You have no idea what subtlety is, do you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, knocking on the door. "I can be subtle."

"I can't think of a single time you've ever been subtle," you chuckled.

Silence came from the room, halting your conversation with Unas. Confused, the both of you pushed open the doors, finding the room empty and the lights out.

"Well fuck," he muttered under his breath, glancing to the balcony before helping you close the doors again.

"Looks like it wasn't meant to be! We should go," you said, tugging on Unas' sleeve to get him to leave, which he continuously refused to do.

"He has to be somewhere in the palace. Maybe he's at the party," Unas suggested, using his size and strength to drag you along.

"We'll never find him, there must be a thousand people in this place," you said as you weakly attempted to break his grasp on you.

"I'm not willing to watch you and Ahkmen mope about for one more day. I'm sick of it," he finally admitted with bitter words, making you stammer for an excuse. There was none, but you still tried, stumbling over your words as you tried to wrench his hand from yours.

"I do not mope," you said as you gave in, walking at his side.

"You most certainly do, you've been doing it for weeks now," he retorted, his eyes drifting over the dancing crowd once you reached the lower level. Reluctantly you assisted, checking the left side of the massive room while he checked the right.

In a second his grip loosened from yours and he bolted across the room, pushing careless people aside as he ran. Startled, you looked in his direction, but couldn't find him amongst the mass of people. That idiot, you thought bitterly as you set off in the general direction he'd taken. He said he wouldn't leave my side.

Running against the flow of the populace, you almost ran head-long into several people, to which you quickly apologized and continued on your way. Fortunately for you, most people were drunk enough that they didn't mind. Unas wasn't horribly tall, but he didn't exactly blend into the crowd either, and you considered yourself blessed when you caught sight of his unruly hair. Before you could push your way to him, someone ran headfirst into you, your foreheads clanking painfully together, sending a wave of dull, throbbing pain through your skull.

"Oh, fuck!" You exclaimed instinctively, screwing your eyes shut and grasping your head where you'd been hit.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to," the man said in a terribly familiar voice that grated against your nerves and softened your heart. Opening your eyes you looked at him, also sitting on the ground, golden robes pooling around him and a crown upon his head.

"Goldie, I... uh," you trailed off, your words leaving you as the two of you stared at each other, the trampling crowd not a thought in your heads.

Out of nowhere, Unas' hand reached for the back of Ahkmen's collar, yanking him backwards into the crowd. Stumbling to your feet you tried to find which direction they'd gone in, but to no avail - you were too short to see above the crowd. Nonetheless you continued in their general direction, weaving through dancers and passing at least two dozen naked people before you reached a wall.

Fuck's sake, you thought, biting your lip as you turned back to the crowd. From your position you saw the stairs on the other side of the room, the only place in which the crowd thinned, and the only place you could easily see and sort through the various people. It was slow work, but you made your way to it, climbing up a carved statue of a lion and sitting atop the head, looking out over the gathering. Unlike with most of the Pharaoh's parties, it was dimly lit, making it harder to see who you might be fraternizing with. For you, all it worked to do was make your task of finding Ahkmen much, much harder.

Caught up in an almost grotesque scene of around ten naked people writhing over each other, you didn't notice someone flickering past you in the corner of your eye, at least not until they were grasping the back of your shirt and tugging you off the statue and up the stairs. You let out a yelp of surprise, trying to turn and see your abductor with fruitless results. Trying to keep your feet steady, you attempted to walk backwards to ease the pull they had on you, only slipping two or three times on the large staircase.

"This is illegal you know, abduction," you reminded them through gritted teeth, reaching back to dig at their fingers in hopes they'd release you.

Anxieties ran rampant through your head, reminding you of the many, horrible ways this person could violate and hurt you. As adrenaline rushed through you you dug harder into their fingers, hoping to puncture the skin and draw blood. A wince came from them, but not much else before they were tossing you into a dark, cramped storage room, following after you and closing the door.

At last you turned around, trying your damnedest to force your eyes to adjust in the dark to see your captor. Just as the edges of your vision returned to you, they surged forward, hands on either side of your face and kissed you. Hard. In a mesh of tongue and soft lips you tried to pull away, but they kept going deeper. You'd clenched your eyes, you noticed that as they continued to kiss you, and when you opened them you came face to face with very familiar eyes that fluttered open when he pulled away, gentle in a manner you rarely, if ever, saw.

"Gold -"

Once again you were cut off by him pulling you by the waist, colliding with you like stars, disastrous and beautiful and horrendously reverent. By his touch the fervor he felt passed to you, veins alighting with humble worship of each other, and in a moment Gods forsook you gave in. You let him touch you, let him explore each and every crevice, every imperfection and fracture, filling each mistake with a love that flowed slow and ardent in a golden light only he could cast. In one moment you let effervescence flow through you, and in the next you ripped yourself away from him.

"You can't just do that, you know," you said, panting as you parted. In the middle of it all, you'd wrapped your arms around his neck, which you quickly undid, letting your hands fall to your sides.

"I'm never going to see you again, so I thought I might as well," he said in the same bitter voice you'd last heard him with.

"Oh for fucks - I think I've finally narrowed down who you are," you laughed, shaking your head. He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You're an idiot. You're a whole lot of other things, of other..." you drew closer, "... complicated things, but at heart you're an idiot, which is just about the best thing someone can be."

He paused, processing your words, trying to weed out of that was a compliment or an insult, or a backhanded compliment.

"Wow," you muttered when he still didn't seem to get it. Placing your hand at the back of his neck you pulled him close, pressing your lips to his in the way you liked to kiss - slow, gentle... tender. Like silk against your skin he moved with you, soft fingertips running over your jawline as he returned the kiss. Begging silently for more he moved you closer, wrapping you tight in his arms as you smiled against his lips, gifting smaller kisses down his neck till you reached his collar, returning to him when you did. A tiny hum left him, broken and sweet when you pressed your lips to his once more.

"I thought you hated me, I really did," he practically moaned the words, running his hands up your shirt, the cold touch of his hands shocking the heat from your bare skin.

"I did, to be fair," you said, which only garnered a confused look from him. "Unas had to knock some sense into me, but it didn't... didn't really take effect until just now."

"Just now? You're meaning to say you didn't like me until just now?"

"I never claimed to be smart."

The two of you laughed, Ahkmen letting his head fall to your shoulder. Vibrations ran up your neck, and as you ran your fingers through his hair, his laughter calmed to a pleasant hum.

"You won't leave me, then?" He pleaded softly, his thumb rubbing circles into your waist.

"No. I won't leave you, Ahkmen."

[aewriting]

You Can't Jump the Track - Part 6

Here it is on AO3, if you prefer

***

Michael’s had second, third, tenth thoughts about this meeting today. Maybe he should have just gotten in his car and headed straight back to Albuquerque. He, he’s a genius. Like, whether he reconstructs a fucking spaceship or not, he’s going places. He’s going to get grant funding, going to get hired, going to get tenured somewhere. Like, he has a massive advantage. His brain, it just… it just works better than human brains, when it comes to this shit.

But… but would he ever be satisfied with anything other than putting his ship back together, finding some answers about where he’s from? It’s the whole reason he’s an astrophysicist, the entire purpose behind all his years of school, all the effort he’s put in. He didn’t come this far to let Alex Fucking Manes, of all god damn people, get in his way.

They said they’d meet at 10:15, at Bean Me Up. Well, Alex said they’d meet at 10:15. Michael had wanted to meet at 9, like a normal person, but Alex had shot that down. “Too crowded,” he’d said. That was the whole point of this, though – a public place, less chance of Alex getting all twitchy and shooting him, knocking him out, drugging him… take your damn pick. Michael had acquiesced, though. Didn’t mean he was going to go in unprepared. It’s 10am, and he’s fully planning to get the lay of the land before Alex…

Alex is already here. Parked on his ass at a corner table, back to the wall, looking jumpy as hell. Michael heaves a sigh and walks over to him.

Alex narrows his eyes. “You’re early.”

“So are you.” Alex shrugs a shoulder, and Michael looks down at his mug. Coffee, black. “I’m going to go get something.”

He orders a latte and two pastries. Can’t hurt to try to butter Alex up, get him to let his walls down at least a little. He goes to pay, and the woman at the counter shakes her head. “On the house,” she says. Michael frowns a little, not understanding. She flicks her eyes toward Alex. “You’re with him, right?” Michael gives a small nod, and the woman nods back, leans in a bit. “It’s good he’s out. It’s… it’s been a long time since he’s been in here.”

Something… something in Michael’s chest catches, as he hears the woman’s words. He knows he can’t really stare at Alex right now, can feel his gaze boring into him as it is, but he just… he wishes he knew what happened. No, more than that, he wishes that whatever happened to Alex had just… never happened. He’s not sure if he should include himself in that wish, too.

He musters up a smile for the cashier and leaves a nice tip, then uses a little hint of power to balance everything and walk back to Alex’s table. Because he can. It had taken hours to get his powers back, even after he’d safely returned to the hotel room last night. Scientist that he is, he’d taken little samples of blood and urine as soon as he’d gotten back, and had stashed them in the room’s mini fridge. At the time, he hadn’t been sure if he was even going to stay overnight. There were only so many places to stay near Roswell, and Alex was a local, surely knew them all. If he did decide to sic his dad or the government on him, it wouldn’t take them long to find him.

Dammit, though, he wanted that piece of the ship in Alex’s bunker. He wanted the pieces at the Emporium and the warehouse, too, like Alex had mentioned. And he wanted to know what was on Jim Valenti’s computer. The way Alex is sipping his coffee, glowering at him, he’s still not sure if he made the right choice.

“Want a bearclaw or a cinnamon roll?” Michael asks, spreading out his offerings.

Alex stares at him. “You have a preference?” Michael shakes his head, and Alex grabs the cinnamon roll. Chews it greedily.

There hadn’t been much food at the cabin. Fresh food, anyway. Lots of canned goods. And he hadn’t seen the fridge. Just doesn’t… doesn’t seem like Alex really takes care of himself all that well. Michael frowns. Not that he has a ton of room to talk. He mostly just lives off of takeout, at grad school. He’s so busy at the lab that his apartment’s mostly just a crash pad. A place to sleep and, very occasionally, have sex…

Fuck, he shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. He takes in Alex’s appearance. He… he’s still Alex. Even with the long hair, the, the injury, the facial hair…

Wait.

Michael narrows his eyes. “You, you trim your beard?”

Alex’s eyes widen momentarily before he looks down. Avoids Michael’s gaze. “I… a little. Was due for it.”

It’s neater. Michael can actually see Alex’s jawline, the shape of his face. In fact, Alex’s whole appearance is a little more… put together? He’s wearing a thick flannel shirt, and his hair looks freshly washed.

“How’s the cinnamon roll?”

“It’s good.”

“Bearclaw’s good too. You come here a lot?”

Alex scoffs a little. “No.”

Michael looks over toward the counter and inadvertently locks eyes with the cashier, who is watching them with a hopeful look on her face. Clearly embarrassed at being caught, she looks away quickly, and Michael smirks. “Well that’s interesting, cause the cashier gave me all this for free once she figured out I was meeting you.”

Alex rolls his eyes a little. “Yeah, that would be Gina. She’s worked here a while, even back before…” He trails off. Reaches for his coffee mug, then pauses and fixes Michael with a flat stare. “They had a big parade for me here, when I got back. After I got hurt. Whole damn town knows who I am.”

Michael quirks an eyebrow. “Bet you love that.”

Alex gives a dark little laugh. “You know it.”

They sit quietly for a few minutes after that, just eating their pastries, drinking their coffee. They observe each other, too. Michael sees how Alex scans each new person that comes in the coffeeshop, watches the way he tracks Michael’s every movement...

“Didn’t know that you’d actually meet me here today,” Alex finally says.

“Almost didn’t,” Michael replies, voice serious. “After how yesterday went…” He leans in. “You can’t do something like that to me again, okay? Not if we’re gonna work together.”

Alex’s eyes widen. “Is that what we’re doing? Working together?”

Annoyance flares up. “You tell me, Manes. I’m sitting here at the place of your choosing, at the time of your choosing, after a… less than warm welcome yesterday.”

Alex seems a little chastened at that, bites his lip. “Yeah.”

Michael looks at him expectantly. “Just ‘yeah’?”

Alex’s brow furrows. “What is it you want me to say, Guerin?”

“Um, sorry, maybe?”

“Fuck…” Alex mutters. “Look. You were on my property, you tell me you’re…” he drops his voice, “not from around here, I find out that Jim had a fucking bunker below ground where he was hoarding spaceship parts and a computer with some pretty advanced security features on it, trying to keep god knows what hidden?” Alex is flexing his hand almost unconsciously. “It was a lot.”

“Yeah,” Michael says tightly.

Alex sighs. “I’m running some shit on the computer as we speak. I’ll probably be through the encryption by the time I get back, and I’ll know more about whatever Jim was trying to hide.”

“You’re really not going to apologize?”

“Jesus…” Alex mutters. “I’m sorry, okay?” He leans back in his chair, glares at Michael. Then all too suddenly, he’s raking a hand over his face, into his hair. “Look,” he says, voice low. “I’m kind of fucked up. The military, my dad, my leg… it, it all kind of did a number on me, okay?” He shakes his head. “I’m not, not great with people. Never was, really – I mean, you remember high school, all the bullshit?”

Michael frowns. “That, that wasn’t you though, it was everyone else.”

Alex pauses at that, and there’s something in his face, something almost… surprised? It’s gone quickly, though. “I, I don’t spend a lot of time around people. Don’t trust them.”

Michael gives a half-smile. “Well, lucky for you I’m not a person, then.”

It startles Alex, Michael can tell, to the point where he actually laughs a little, takes a long sip of coffee. “Guess that’s true,” he finally says. And for a moment, Alex’s gaze drops away from Michael’s eyes, moves down to his lips, his neck, his chest. Alex swallows hard, then, and looks down. Takes another sip of coffee. “Look, Guerin, I am sorry about the way I reacted yesterday. It was overkill, and it definitely… definitely got us off on the wrong foot, especially if we are going to be working together. I feel like, like we should start over.”

And somehow, Michael can sense that this is a big deal to Alex. That this admission is costing him something, and he wants to reward it. “Okay,” he says, voice softer now. He clears his throat a little, and affects an overly surprised face. “Oh my god, Alex Manes? Dude, it’s been like ten years! How’ve you been?”

Alex gives him a confused look.

“Can’t believe I ran into you here, man – what are the chances?”

And Alex seems to get it now. Rolls his eyes, but plays along. “Michael Guerin, right?”

“That’s me,” Michael says. He takes a breath. “Always has been, Alex. Really.” He swallows. “What have you been up to, these past ten years?”

“Joined the Air Force.”

“No shit…”

 They talk for over two hours. Almost three. Gina is beaming.

If the purpose of today’s outing was to build some trust back up, it’s working. Michael gets to hear about some of Alex’s military buddies, some of his travels, and Michael shares information about his research and his life in Albuquerque. They avoid hard topics. They’re both tentative at first, but by the end Michael sees some of Alex’s old dry wit coming through, some of the snark from back in school.

Then Michael’s stomach rumbles. It’s loud, and he knows Alex hears it, too. “What do you say we go by the Crashdown? Get some lunch?” Michael suggests.

And all of a sudden, Alex’s face shutters. “It’s probably crazy right now, with the lunch crowd.”

Michael frowns a little. “It… it’s Roswell. How crazy could it be?”

Alex sighs. “Listen, I’m glad you came here today, but I’ve got leftovers at my place I should probably eat, so…”

“Seriously?” Michael sighs. “Is… do you want, like, a break from me? Or is it something about the Crashdown specifically?”

Alex looks uncomfortable. “It’s not you, Michael. It’s just… god, it’s just that, since I got back, I just… I don’t like it when there’s a bunch of people, you know? It’s hard to keep track of everyone, and I can’t just like, relax, okay? It’s a bunch of PTSD shit that makes me real fun to be around, so I just spare people the pleasure.”

Michael purses his lips. “How ‘bout takeout?” Alex looks at him. “I didn’t just come back to Roswell for the first time in ten years to not have the enchiladas.”

Alex looks thoughtful. “Where would we eat it? My place? Your hotel?”

Michael shakes his head quickly. “No. Don’t get me wrong, Manes, this morning was real nice. I feel like we made some progress, you know? But I still don’t want to be in a room alone with you.” Alex huffs a breath. “There still that park, though? By city hall? With the picnic benches?” Michael looks down. “Used to eat dinner out there sometimes when the weather was nice and I had no place to go…”

He chances a glance at Alex. Any irritation that was previously there is gone now, and he’s looking at Michael with full attention. “The park sounds good,” he finally says, softly. “Enchiladas sound good, too. It’s been a long time,” he murmurs. He frowns then, looks at Michael. “You mind going in to pick them up? I, I’ll give you money for them,” he adds quickly. “It’s just that Arturo, he’s Liz’s dad, Liz Ortecho?”

“Sure, I know,” says Michael, and of course he knows. How many times has it been now that Liz and Max have gotten together, broken up, come back together… But shit, does Alex know that? Michael is trying to keep Max and Isobel off the radar as much as possible, and the Liz connection makes it harder to do that.

“She and I were close in high school,” Alex says, as if Michael doesn’t remember. “Haven’t talked to her in a really long time, but if her dad sees me, he’ll definitely want to talk, probably try to comp my meal, and I just…” He sighs wearily. “It’s been a long day for me already. Like, this is probably more people than I usually see in weeks, and it’s not even 1pm.”

“I’ll get the enchiladas,” Michael says. “But you do have to answer one question first.”

“Okay,” Alex says warily.

“Little Green Man Sauce or Red Planet Sauce?”

[meganshinsou-tm]

Shared Walls. (m)

↳ chapter ten: like father, like son

❧ genre: pro-hero shouto, coworkers to lovers, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: 

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

"Shouto, you gotta let me leave the nest! Haven't you had enough of me already?"

You giggled trying to escape the strong and warm clutches of your crush. The two of you laid in bed all day and talked, watched tv and only got up to eat and go to the bathroom. It was nearly midnight now and the two of you had work the next day, Todoroki having to be there much earlier than you. After spending the whole weekend in his care you were well enough to be on your own again and go back to your apartment but Shouto wasn't having it. A smirk crossed his features as he tugged your shirt tail and pulled you into his arms again, nuzzling your neck with kisses and pouts as you sat in his lap.

"Not even close to enough," he finally answered.

You smiled and took the hero's face in your hands, brushing his messy locks out of his face and squishing his chunky little cheeks together making him furrow his brows and hold your wrists.

"Roki, it's not like we won't see each other at work tomorrow!"

He pulled your hands from his face, still holding your wrists and brought his lips close to cheek. 

"But at work I can't do this," he softly said kissing down your skin and jaw. "Or this," he breathed as his teeth nipped your skin.

You sighed, thoughts getting hazy and your control slowly dissipating. The man already knew all your sweet spots and ways to make you melt, using them to his own advantage. A growl escaped your lips and you quickly turned to lick his cheek, Shouto immediately stopped, releasing your hands and wiping your drool from his skin with a bewildered look.

"You licked me!"

"Sorry, but I can't think logically when you do that, it's not fair!"

Shouto groaned and rolled his eyes, making you laugh at his sassiness and playfully push his chest. He smirked and took your hands in his, brushing his thumbs over your soft skin and bringing both hands to his lips to kiss them. 

"I'll let you leave under one condition."

"And what is that Roki?"

"You come back!"

A smile crossed your face, your heart doing flips inside your chest. Removing your hands from Shouto's you placed them around his neck and pulled him closer, placing a kiss to his lips and making him hum, his hands running up your back and holding you as close as humanly possible to his body. You nipped at his bottom lip before pulling away to break the kiss, leaving him leaning forwards wanting more as he tried and failed to recapture your lips.

"I think I can handle that Shouto. Now, would you be so kind and escort me back over to my place?"

The next morning came quickly and it took everything you had to roll out of bed and get dressed. Until the thought of seeing Shouto made you immediately perk up and hurry along. After quickly dressing, you hurried out the door, locked it and ran down the stairs. Once at the last step your eyes looked up and your body halted when a familiar massive figure came into view that stood outside of the revolving door. A smile played on your features as you pulled the collar of your coat close around your face and walked out of the building.

"Mr. Todoroki?"

The #1 hero turned at the sound of your cheerful voice, his sea blue eyes shining at the sight of your small body walking towards him with a wave. A smile crossed his own face, to other people the smile may have seemed god awful but you knew he wasn't one to smile much and appreciated the effort he put into the expression.

"I thought I told you to call me Enji," he replied.

"I'm sorry 'Enji', I'm just shocked to see you here, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

The man took a step back and motioned his ginormous palm to a blacked out and very lavish SUV. Quirking a brow and looking at him, he chuckled and opened the backseat door. "I'm here to bring you to work (Y/N)."

After protesting frantically Enji insisted that you get in the vehicle and he would explain on the drive over to the agency. You sat in one of the bucket seats of the warm vehicle and looked around. Enji sat in the other seat, his hair grazed the roof and you had to cover your mouth as a quiet snicker came out. The driver was very silent, in fact the whole vehicle was silent. You removed your jacket and placed it in your lap and looked at the hero. 

"So did Shouto put you up to this?"

Enji smirked as he seemed to be typing something on his cell, making you giggle again from the sight of the small device in his hand before he placed it back in his coat pocket and looked at you.

"Something like that. I also had a say in this. Until your attacker and whoever else is out to get you are caught, then you'll be escorted to and from work each day unless Shouto is able to do it himself. As one of our employee's and someone whom my son deeply cares for, it will be not only our responsibility to protect and keep you safe but also everyone at the agency."

You were grateful honestly but the thought of being a burden on not only Shouto and Enji but now all the heroes of the agency made you somewhat pissed off. Enji noticed your fist and jaw clenching as you went to reply but he held up a hand cutting you off.

"I won't discuss this matter any further, it was ultimately my decision to make and implement. I know you must feel like you're now a burden on everyone but you're not, we are only doing our jobs as heroes and as your work family."

You huffed and nodded, feeling conflicted by his words. He got it right, you felt like a burden but you also felt safe. That word he used, family, never meant much to you but it was comforting. There was no point in trying to go head to head with Endeavor but that didn't mean that you couldn't with his son. You took out your phone, immediately typing away.

➥ RokiRoki: We're having a little chat when I get to work.

You hit send and shoved the phone back in your bag, crossing your arms and looked at the window.

"So, how about breakfast," Enji suggested before instructing the driver of where to go. 

You looked at the hero with squinted eyes. He noticed the questionable look you gave him and shrugged his massive haunches.

"What? It's the most important meal of the day."

Shouto impatiently paced back and forth before the desk you sat at most of the day. Haru sat behind it trying to look busy as he stole glances at the hero every now and then with a quirked brow. This was the most that Shouto was at the front desk and he seemed anxious, something that he never displayed around his employees.

"Uh – Mr. Todoroki, can I help you with something," the black haired male finally asked getting aggravated with the hero's pacing.

Before Shouto could apologize he heard the sound of his father's booming voice and looked up towards the entrance of the agency. Trailing right beside Endeavor was you, looking up at the massive figure as he talked. Your cheeks were full as you chewed on food, a massive breakfast sandwich in one hand and a drink in the other. You wore an olive trench coat, t-shirt tucked into a pair of high-waisted light washed jeans and your hair in a top knot.

Shouto smiled, you were adorable today. Haru noticed the sudden change in the male and looked in the direction he did and clicked his tongue.

"Oh Mr. Todoroki, you've got it bad!"

Shouto chuckled at his employee's comment, you and Enji entered the building. Endeavor noticed his son and gave him a hearty "good morning". Shouto replied and looked back at you, his smile slowly fading. You looked at him with narrowed eyes as you took an aggressive bite out of your sandwich and tapped your booted foot.

An exaggerated "ooooohhh" came from Haru and Enji looked between you and Shouto. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned to his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

"I'm going to my office now. By the way, I got you breakfast too but ... she has it. Good luck!"

You walked off away from the desk and down the hall, Shouto just stood there and looked at Haru, searching for answers on what to do. 

"It's probably about the whole 'I have to be babysat on my way to and fro work' thing. Go after her!"

The two-toned male nodded and quickly walked after you. The sound of your boots clicked against the hard floors, the bun of your hair bouncing with each step you took. You pushed the door to the stairway that lead to the roof of the building and stomped up them until another door came into sight and you opened it, letting sunlight flood into the dimly lit stairwell.

Shouto followed you out onto the rooftop, both of your feet dragging in the rocks. You walked to the rail of the edge of the building, placing you're the cup you held on it as Shouto walked up next to you. You handed him a small brown bag, he took it and rested his elbows on the ledge and removed the sandwich from inside it. The chilly wind blew as you both ate silently and looked over the city, listening to the people and traffic.

"You know, I don't 100% agree with this arrangement Shouto. I don't like that the heroes are now having to add protecting me to their list of duties."

Swallowing his food, Shouto grabbed the cup placed between the both of you and took a drink. The hero didn't know what he was expecting, coffee or tea but it was hot coco.

"(Y/N), I've told you already, everyone here has a grown to love you and they're doing what they would do for any other coworker. We're a family here and we look out for each other. I'm sorry if my request seems to be intruding, but I'm not comfortable with you riding on these trains back and forth alone, at least not until Lucas and his friends are dealt with and I can be certain you're out of danger. I'm not letting one more goddamn thing happen to you!"

Taking the last bite of your food, your hand balled up the wax paper that held it together and shoved it into your coat pocket with a groan and shake of your head. You took the cup of coco from Todoroki and drank from it. 

Shouto heard a sharp hiss from you and turned his head to look in your direction. The cup was quicky pulled from your lips and you placed your hand over your mouth, cursing. The hero sighed and placed his food on the ledge, taking the cup from your hands.

"That shit is hot!"

"Yeah, it's hot coco. Didn't you blow on it before drinking it?" Shouto retorted nonchalantly.

You hung your tongue from your mouth, letting the cold air try and soothe it. "Well you just took a big gulp of it like it was nothing, so I assumed it was cooled off enough but I was wrong."

Shouto smirked and saw a bright red patch on your tongue where the liquid burned your taste buds. He grabbed you by the waist, pulling you closer. You grunted and braced your hands on his strong biceps, "Roki what the f – hmm!"

Your question was cut short when his lips softly collided with yours, making your eyes flutter shut and your body relax into his hold. His tongue slipped between your teeth and rested on top of yours. Suddenly, you felt your tongue being soothed as his muscle turned ice cold and lightly massaged. The inside of your mouth was cool but he could feel your entire body was inflamed with heat as he placed his free hand on the back of your neck and deepened the icy cold yet hot kiss. 

Todoroki slowly broke away and looked at you. Your cheeks and tip of your nose and ears dusted pink from a mixture of the cold and blood rushing to your head.

"Is that better darling," his stoic and sweet voice asked, his thumb brushing your cheek.

"Goddammit Shouto! You did it again, I told you I can't think straight when you do something like that!"

"Just get over it already (Y/N). There's nothing to think about on this topic anymore anyway, that's final."

Your lips shut and your eyes narrowed, with a groan you finally nodded and agreed. Shouto smirked with pride as you submitted to him yet again with just the tone of his voice and look in his eyes. 

"Yah, you and Enji sound just alike you know that?"

He placed a kiss on your forehead and gathered your coco and his food before reaching out for your hand. Rolling your eyes with a smile you took it and interlocked your fingers, walking towards to the door back into the agency.

"You Todoroki's always gotta get the final word huh?"

"Something like that!"

[princessofgayskull]

dude, I think Thor just wing-manned you

A Catradora gym au for the She Ra Pride Exchange! @spop-pride-exchange​

Summary: Catra just wanted to work out. Catra just wanted to bet the crap out of a punching bag before she had to teach yoga. She wasn’t expecting to come into the gym she worked at only to be nagged by her boss and then be approached by a strange dude who “supposedly” looks like Thor. And she doesn’t want to go out with his lesbian sister.

aka, when the God of Thunder/Lesbians is around, lightning strikes twice.

word count: 7.5k

read on ao3: x

dedicated to (and there was a little bit of a mixup so I’m just gonna go for it): @sweetlykissedadora​ - a lovely mutual, and @sweetlykissed just in case ;)

sfw, but warning for cursing

story under the cut!

“Ugh, Leon, you call that hit?”

“You call that keeping the fucking bag still, Ramon?” Whipping the stray curls catching the sweat on her face back, Catra bounced on her heels and curled her fingers deeper into the cotton tape coating her palms before throwing another punch. Her fist met hardened and coarse material, pain exploding in her knuckles and riveting down her arm as she threw another one with the other arm, and another, and another. Breathing in, she savored the rush despite the soreness settling into her shoulders and let herself fall into a pattern.

“Damn Catra, I’ve never seen you this sloppy.” Lonnie laughed as the punching bag rattled underneath her gloved grip. “You need to call it quits after twenty minutes?”

“You know for a personal trainer, you fucking suck.” Catra’s knuckles collided with swaying material ( keep the dumb thing still, Lonnie) again with a whap!

“I didn’t say I was your personal trainer, Leon.” she chuckled.

Catra rolled her eyes and stepped away from the bag, wiping the sweat from her forehead. Her form may have been sloppy today- not that she was going to admit that- but Lonnie’s salty insults were so much sloppier. Hands falling to her knees, Catra took advantage of her lazy taunts to catch her breath. “Doesn’t mean you get to screw with me- or is that just something you do with all your clients?”

“Well my clients sure as hell aren’t as sloppy as you. You look like an old lady who just tried to go up a flight of stairs. You need your walker, Catra?”

“Fuck you Lonnie.” Catra panted as her arms wobbled and her grip on her knees tightened. Okay, maybe she would admit- when no one was looking or listening or could perceive her in any way- that she was new to this. Never before in her life had she cared whether or not she could throw a “proper” punch, not when it landed whatever pervert or bigot or combo of the two was stalking her in the hospital with a broken and bloodied nose.

Catra was fine with her preferred methods of expunging all her pent up anger: running until she vomited or dancing until she tore something. Course’ her professional boxing roommate and her room mate’s MMA fighter to be didn’t give a flying fuck about that and after two years of listening to Scorpia and Lonnie critique her “strength work” Catra doubled down and hit the punching bag, literally, before she hit one of them.

Scorpia had been the only person Catra trusted to instruct her with all this punching crap, cause despite being the assistant manager at the gym and a personal trainer, Catra trusted Lonnie just about as far she could throw her. Plus Scorpia was a gentle giant, praised for her soft yet constructive teaching style; after years as a gymnast, Catra was so fucking down with abusive critique and was ready to try the opposite.

When Catra walked into The Horde, their gym, forty five minutes ago to squeeze in a short lesson with Scorpia before her class that evening, she was met with Lonnie stacking branded water bottles at the front desk and the news that Scorpia had to rush back to their apartment because Entrapta set it on fire, or flooded it, or something . Honestly Catra zoned out after that to whack her head on the front desk and send Lonnie’s precious water bottle tower tumbling down.

Wrapping her hands with her teeth and fishing in her bag for her bluetooth headphones (cause fuck airpods) , Catra walked over anyway to the worn down Everlast in the sketchier part of the gym, hellbent on beating it for a while to Halsey’s new song. She’d done this with Scorpia enough times to know how to hit a dumb leather bag by herself. Except Lonnie didn’t think so, ‘cause apparently she decided she had nothing better to do than to abandon her shift at the desk and come nag the hell out of Catra.

“I don’t need your help.” Catra sneered as the sharp, familiar pain in her lungs began to subside, using her shoulder to shove the massive bag into Lonnie just to catch her off her guard and off her footing. Course she had to dodge. That no fun bitch.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like that.” Lonnie crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. “You sure Scorpia’s teaching you right? ‘Cause I’m starting to think she’s being too soft on you-”

“You tell her that then. She’s your girlfriend, not mine, Ramon.” Muscles straining in protest, Catra pushed herself off her knees and brought her fists back up. Ugh, how much longer was Lonnie gonna make her do this? At this rate she was gonna kill her arms before her class, which meant she’d have to strangle Lonnie with her fucking feet. Afterall, it was just as easy as using her hands. Because Catra was flexible like that.

“Look, your problem isn’t your speed, your arc is too wide- here, let me show you,” Coming around to Catra’s side, Lonnie put her arms up in position and just barely whisked Catra’s nose- “WATCH IT!”- as she made a sizeable indent in the punching bag.

“Get it?”

Catra rolled her eyes. No she did not get it. The only thing she got was how dumb this shit was. Really, she had to know how to throw a punch? None of these doofuses could even touch their toes, but Catra had to know the right way to hit something so she wasn’t the embarrassment of the gym? What a fucking scam. “Yeah, it’s much clearer now. You’re such a good teacher. Scorpia is such a lucky woman.”

“Just hit the damn bag, Princess Sarcasm.”

Wham!

It was a good four or five minutes of Catra bouncing back and forth on her feet and driving her fist at leather she imagined to be the ugly ass face a certain former bitchy gymnastic coach before Lonnie gave up drilling holes into her form with bored eyes and chimed in with more cryptic advice. “Wow you suck at this. Were you watching my demonstration?”

“Ugh,” Catra threw her sore hands up. “yes, I watched your ‘demonstration.’ Don’t give me that look! It’s not like I’m Kyle, okay? Flinging my arms around like some incel spaz? No! And you- you suck at training! Seriously, is there no one else in this dumb building who can ‘help’ me?”

“Nah, Rogelio is re-cleaning locker rooms cause Kyle ‘cleaned’ them yesterday, so you’re stuck with me. I can go get the incel spaz himself if you want-”

“No!” Catra blurted out way too damn loud, turning the attention of everyone working out to her. Damn it. “You sic’ing Kyle on me is worse than having to do this for another thirty minutes.” Or an hour. Or two. Or forever.

“Yeah, you’d probably just end up hitting him.” Lonnie nodded, grinning at the prospect of watching their co-worker get the crap beat out of him via Catra. Grabbing her water bottle from where it lay on the floor, Catra nodded as she took an extremely lady like gulp, letting the water that didn’t find her mouth travel down her neck and into her cleavage, enjoying the cool feeling as she reminisced about giving Kyle a black eye. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’d almost ripped him in half; failure to properly mop (seriously, what kind of fuckboy couldn’t even mop right?) the studio she was for a Zumba class she was subbing in for led to her falling less than spectacularly on her ass in front of a classroom of judgemental rich white woman; Not that those women would ever dare look at her wrong again after that class, ‘cause they all got the pleasure of watching Catra drag Kyle into the studio by his ear and then twist his limbs in ways only hers were practiced to bend. Rogelio was pissed. He stared her down after the class dispersed, all with vouchers for a free guest. No words were needed between them. All he had to do was glare at her as long as it took to send uncomfortable chills of guilt down Catra’s spine straight to her stomach.

So, Catra swallowed her pride, grumbled as she got some ice from the employee break room, and handed it to Kyle with a tight lipped apology (she never got one, by the way, for the giant pile of water her left for her to dance straight into) and it had abso-fucking-lutely nothing to do with the fact that Rogelio could use his leverage with Octavia to get her fired.

Thinking back to Rogelio’s massive overreaction to the last time she dared mess with Kyle, Catra blanched in the moment and full on choked on her water. “Please don’t tell Rogelio I called his boyfriend an incel spaz.” she said, coughing up water violently between words while Lonnie threw her head back and fuckinng cackled.

“As funny as that would be to watch, I need you working here ‘cause I don’t know anyone else who can teach chair yoga.” Lonnie leaned into the bag after her obnoxious as hell laughter finally died down.

Running her tongue over her teeth, Catra soaked in the vindication.  It wasn’t every day Lonnie could admit that Catra paid the bills at The Horde, ‘cause all anybody else could do was lift weights. Her skills were un-fucking-paralleled around here. “Speaking of chair yoga, how much fucking longer do I have punch this dumb bag ‘cause unlike you infelixable meatheads, I need every part of my body to teach-”

“Oh shit! There he is!” Lonnie didn’t just interrupt Catra’s super justified question, she did so by swinging the wholeass punching bag into Catra’s body.

“Fuck! What the hell Lonnie?”

Catra stumbled to get back on her feet as the bag creaked, swinging back and forth, but Lonnie didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response. She just kept staring off into the distance with eyes sparkling and her mouth slightly agape. Letting out a dramatic, yet still unheard sigh, Catra made a big display out waving her hand in front of Lonnie’s face and asking, “Uh, what are you staring at?”

“He’s back! That guy I was telling you about!” Lonnie snapped out of her stupor long enough to explain what the hell was going on. Catra followed her direct line of sight only to find herself staring at just another muscley guy lifting weights and breathing in that awful, inefficient way that made her want to puke her guts out. All these ‘My Body is a Temple idiots’ but they treat their lungs like shit? Ugh, gross. Shuddering at the sound of another heaved groaned, Catra turned away from the weight section as the clang! of the bar hitting metal hit her ears. God, this is why she had her headphones in all the fucking time in the land of Grunt Central Station.

Catra put on a bored stare (it wasn’t hard around these idiots.) “So?”

If Catra was being completely honest, when Lonnie talked she did everything in her power to drown her out, so she actually had no memory of talking about tall, blond, and average straining under his weights over on the opposite side of the gym. Lonnie just wanted to talk about gym stuff like schedules or memberships or how Catra was not supposed to be looking on the local shelter’s adoption site at cats.

Or she wanted to talk about Scorpia because that’s how people in relationships operated. But the Scorpia talk made Catra want to scream, vomit, and tear her god damn curls out all at once; as begrudgingly happy as she was forcing herself to be for her friend and co-worker, their dopey, sappy relationship was a walking, annoying reminder that no woman would ever love a BPD nightmare like Catra and that she was going to die angry and alone, like everybody said she would. Sue her for tuning her boss out and missing the story about this random and fascinating stranger who looked like everyone else in their gym. Seriously, minus the affront to God that was Kyle and the occasional twunks in her yoga classes, there was not a single man in this building that did not have the same basic, boring-ass physique.

“Don’t you think he looks like Thor?” Lonnie waved her hand toward the weights like she was imitating Kyle that one time he accidentally did coke.

Thor? What? What the fuck, how much of that dumb conversation did I miss?   “That depends, which one is Thor? God Lonnie, how many times to I have to tell you that I don’t give a fuck about the Avengers or the MCU or whatever it’s called!” Now that was a conversation Catra remembered, because they had had it a million times.

Lonnie and Scorpia were movie people; they loved to watch and marathon and discuss and dress up as characters. It was lucky they’d found each other, ‘cause Catra on the other hand, couldn’t care physically give a damn. She just couldn’t sit through them without almost dying of boredom. But since Lonnie and Scorpia started “going steady” as Scorpia so gag-inducingly put it, Lonnie would crash their apartment, kick Catra off the TV while criticizing her for watching only one thing ever (“I can’t help it if every TV show except Bob’s Burgers is moronic, okay?”) and put on some stupid movie.

If Catra could stomach it- the movie, the Scorpia and Lonnie, the Entrapta whispering notes in her phone like it was recorder, she would stay and watch, reveling in how her dumb comments pissed everyone else in the apartment off. Most of the time though she gave up before Scorpia finished burning popcorn in their microwave and went for a run/hang out with all the outdoor cats in their neighborhood. Lonnie and Scorpia, to gear up for that Endgame movie, had been streaming all twenty something gross Marvel movies for the past couple of weekends, so suffice to say Catra hadn’t spent a lot of time in her own freaking home. Catra couldn’t help it if she felt the need to be an asshole about the whole MCU thing; it was her TV and her living room too.  

“Thor is the one with the hammer. Blond hair, chiseled jaw, played by Chris Hemsworth? Jesus, Leon you been living under a rock?” Lonnie lifted a judgey eyebrow at her and Catra rolled her eyes so far back in her head they almost got stuck. Well I definitely haven’t been living in my own damn apartment with you around all the time!

“Don’t they all look like that and have some stupid weapon or something?” snorted Catra as she reveled in Lonnie’s frustrated expression. Served her right. Catra was talking to the same woman who called her a nerd for three weeks after she’d memorized all 84 asanas.

This time Lonnie got to have a grand eyeroll. “You watched Ragnarok with us! The third one?” Of what? “You said you liked actually liked it and weren’t just saying that to make Scorpia feel better.” When Catra just blinked at her, fully enjoying Lonnie’s frustration- that’s what you get for not letting me punch shit in peace- Lonnie threw her hands up. “It’s the Thor movie with Cate Blanchett. Remember? You wouldn’t shut up about how hot she was? God, that was annoying.”

“Oh please, it’s not like you weren’t right there agreeing with me or talking about how you wanted the girl with a sword to step on you.” Catra took another swig of her water.

“No, that was still you Catra.” Lonnie shot back, “You’re the one with that weird fantasy about women with swords.”

“They’re hot, Ramon! Fucking sue me!” Catra brushed the comment off as she threw her head back, her tied back curls bouncing off the damp skin of her neck, throwing her water bottle back down on the ground. At least Lonnie wasn’t still riding her ass about her form anymore (she could thank Thor over there for distracting the trainer) and Catra’s near dead arms could just hang limp at her sides. Ugh, tonight’s class was going to be a bitch.

“Tessa Thompson can get it, don’t get me wrong- uh! You got me off topic! Damn it, Thor got up. Where’d he go? Hey, what do you think he was benching?” Lonnie swung around the bag straight into Catra’s face trying to look around for where this mystery man might have gone off to. Probably the water fountain, duh. Or a shower. Lonnie wouldn’t follow him in there, would she? Nah, she’d just throw Rogelio in there while she made Catra clean all Thor’s gross smelly sweat off the equipment.

Catra scoffed and pushed Lonnie back. “Like I care what “Thor” was benching. And if you’re so interested in this guy, why don’t you just look him up in the system?”

“Ugh, I can’t do that! Octavia says it’s illegal or some shit.” Lonnie sighed, earning a bewildered what-the-fuck look from her co-worker. “Rogelio and I tried to look up this chick who looked like Brie Larson in the system. Octavia found out and said it’s some kind of violation of privacy, which I do not get cause this is a gym! There’s no privacy here! I literally watch people take off their shoes and socks on in the freaking lobby almost every day. Disgusting freaks.”

“Ugh, why would you bring that up?” Now Catra was really going to throw up now. Like projectile vomit, blow chunks straight onto Lonnie. That brings back memories of gymnastics.

“Damn it! I really wanted to get a picture with him and rub it in Kyle’s face that I met Chris Hemsworth! What, he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!” Lonnie protested when Catra sent her a smug look and snorted again.

“Whatever, Lonnie, he’ll probably be back tomorrow because he’s obviously a basic dudebro with nothing better to do than stare at his muscles the mirror all day, so you can probably just save your groveling until then.” Catra stuck her tongue out, leaning in to turn the mockery up to 11, before a dangerous thought flashed in her mind. One about how much Lonnie gushed over 80’s action figure’s muscles, something she did not normally do unless that muscled specimen was her girlfriend.  “Ramon, you better not be going behind Scorpia’s back with this Thor douchebag,” Catra flashed her abnormally sharp incisors at the fitness trainer, “‘cause if you do anything to hurt her, I will fucking dismantle you in your damn sleep! I swear to fucking God you will wake up burning in insense and gasoline and tied up in every fucking yoga mat I can find-”

“Jesus, Catra!” Lonnie shouted, straight up pushing Catra into the bag as she went deeper and deeper off the crazy, neverending deep end of hers. “I’m not cheating on Scorpia! I just wanted a picture with the God of Lesbians, that’s all! Well, a false god ‘cause I don’t really think that was Chris Hemsworth. Guess I’m just gonna have to wait for our Comic Con roadtrip up to San Diego.”

“Lonnie, could you do me the amazing favor of standing here and then staying absolutely fucking still so I can hit you, instead of this emotionless sack of leather?” Lonnie’s dumb story about their Comic Con trip- like Catra needed anymore reminding of that- shut up anymore dangerous thoughts about cheating or affairs or exercise equipment that was flammable. On a second, more rational thought, Catra doubted Lonnie would be the kind of person to cheat. Yeah, she annoyed the crap out of Catra, but she took Scorpia as she was, something not a lot of people even tried, not because she pitied her or had some nasty ulterior motive, but because she legitimately enjoyed spending time with her. And like Catra, Lonnie hated pretty much everybody else.

Catra doubted she’d ever find something like Lonnie and Scorpia had. Lightening only struck once, and this time it struck two people that weren’t her. Well deserving people, but still, it fucking sucked. Ugh, she was gonna die alone. Her hypothetical cats were all gonna fucking eat her.

“Ugh, Leon, you’re no fun! Why can’t you appreciate how cool it is that a fake Thor is coming to our gym?”

“Because that’s literally the lamest sentence I’ve ever fucking heard and I am a bartender who has to teach yoga because I still can’t make my damn rent!” No longer were any of these gym rats allowed to give her shit about that when they were stalking celebrity look-a-likes in their free time.

The next time Lonnie or Rogelio or Octavia or Kyle, if that vaping asshole had a deathwish, brought up how she’s actually a giant softie ‘cause she liked doing yoga- something Scorpia recommended she start in place of therapy (none of them could afford it) after she the epic mental breakdown of the century her senior year of college and set Coach Weaver’s car on fire, as well as a bunch of other shit- she was going to bend herself into a flawless handstand, ask them if they’d stalked Chris Evans yet, and walk away, backwards, on her hands sticking her tongue out.

“Pfft, it’s not lame.” scoffed Lonnie. “You just don’t know how to have fun. Is there a yoga pose that will get that stick out of your ass?”

“Why, so I can shove it up yours? Seriously, how the hell is watching random people exercise fun?” Catra practically screamed, running her nails down her face like she was trying to claw all her skin off.

Lonnie crossed her arms and planted her feet, 100% committed to her stupid crusade at this point. “It’s not a random guy! I’m talking the fake God of Lesbians! That’s basically your whole religion, Catra! Hey, maybe he can help you get a girlfriend since you’re always bitching about being alone and all.”

“What?” Catra squealed with as much indignation as possible. How dare Lonnie bring up the harrowing fact that she was single and refused to mingle ‘cause that was fucking gross and picky as hell and also a nightmare of a human being “I don’t need anything from the crusty ass, dick for brains, piece of-”

“Uh, Hello?”

Shit!

Whirling around straight into Lonnie at the sound of an unfamiliar masculine voice, Catra tried to keep the fuck together when she realized who had audacity to approach her while her back was turned. Are you fucking kidding me? Tall, blond, and basic had decided to make a surprise appearance just to scare the shit out of her, sweat drenched towel draped over his moist Nike shirt and airpods in hand.

Catra did her best not to visibly gag; whether it was the musky smell (why did she work at a gym again?) or his pit stains about to make her barf water and stomach acid at his feet was completely lost on her. Despite the kind-of-sort-of friendly smile on his face and his relaxed posture, all Catra could do was stare at his extended hand like it was the deepest offense in the world.

“Hey, you’re Catra, right?”

“Uh-”

“Yeah, this is Catra.” When Catra turned her head to look at Lonnie, she was met with a traitorous smirk and devious eyes that said this is what you get for talking shit about the fake God of Lesbians! How dare you besmirch our lord and savior!? For a split second, Catra wondered if Fake Thor might enjoy watching her murder her boss in cold blood.

“I’m Adam.” Fake Thor introduced himself and once again, pushed his hand forward. Ballsy, considering the daggers Catra was staring into his empty skull. Oh, she could take this ‘Adam’ down in three fucking seconds; less, if he did what Catra thought he was about to do. Okay, what’s it going to be, Mr. Bimbo? You came over to ask me to come look at your collection of Dave Matthews vinyls in your Star Wars theme man cave or invite me to happy hour at a dirty TGI Friday’s? Ugh, these fucking meatheads are so predictable they take all the fun out of it.

Catra yawned and leaned back into her hips. “Okay?” At that moment she swore she heard Lonnie’s jaw drop. Oh, this? This was fucking sweet. Lonnie stalks him all day- possibly for longer than a week just to get a stupid picture with someone who wasn’t even who they thought he was- and he approaches Catra instead. Lonnie’s precious God of Lesbians picked a whole ass, different lesbian- to be a disgusting, horny man with, but still, Catra was going to be rubbing it in her dumb face that she got to turn fake Thor down, not any of these other lame idiots!

“You teach the yoga flow class right?” he flashed a perfect smile at her and Catra, miffed he wasn’t reading the do-not-fuck-with-me vibe she was oh so famous for, swallowed and showed him the canines in her own mouth. Why was he asking her about a class? There was no way ‘Adam’ had ever stretched into any warrior pose ever without pulling something. And Catra would have remembered him sauntering into the studio and knocking everything and everyone over with his giant, sweaty body.

“Yeah? Why do ask?” Catra glanced down at her fingernails. This was taking too long.

“Um, so I haven’t taken it,” yeah, that much was obvious, “but my twin sister has a couple times.” Adam- and Lonnie- perked up at the mention of his sister. Oh my God. That must be where this dull, useless conversation was going at a snail’s pace towards.

“She’s actually taken a couple of your classes, like restorative yoga and another one that escapes me, oof that’s embarrassing.” Everything, from the carefree movements of his shoulders to the wild gesturing of his hands, plus his chill tone, showed Catra that he was just gonna go ahead and act like they were close friends. What the hell is his game here? Catra wondered.

“Sorry about that. I don’t know if you know her, she usually stays in the back ‘cause she’s not very good and she has like, a perfectionist problem. And an anxiety problem. That’s why she’s taking yoga in the first place, you know, to be less high strung. Anyways, got a little off track there, but I wanted to tell you that she thinks you’re a really great teacher.” Adam broke his spiel off there with a wink.

What the HELL does that mean? Catra curled her fingers into tight fists. To keep from indenting Adam’s perfect jawline or to indent Adam’s jawline, she had no fucking idea.

While she was trying to keep her own sneaker out of this strange guy’s ass, Catra tried to think back to her classes the past few weeks ad searched her memory for a woman that looked like him. A blonde, young woman in the back. There was no way, Adam was fucking with her. Catra definitely remembered blue eyes that deep and the kindest smile that made her forget that the world was a fucking cruel and intent on killing her.

Adam, hellbent on screwing with her more, then way to casually added, “She talks about you a lot, whenever she gets out of class. I think she kinda has thing for you.”

Of course Lonnie- who was still just standing there for some reason- just had to burst out laughing and then scramble to turn that noise into a cough before a) Adam and his flawless eyebrows suspected anything, and b) Catra kicked her in the shin and earned a disappointed lecture from Scorpia for hurting her “Lonnie-Boo.”

“Anyways…” Adam continued, narrowing those baby blue eyes of his before relaxing into that annoyingly cordial posture, “I overheard you guys mentioning you were lesbians? I mean, I wasn’t eavesdropping but-”

“We were just being loud, we get it a lot.” Uh, no we don’t! This is fucking weird! Catra indulged her panicked thoughts as Lonnie cut Adam off. Then, to take things to an even weirder level, Lonnie leaned her way and whispered “Oh my God, Catra, he is the God of Lesbians.”

“Well, Adora- my sister- she’s also a lesbian. And- and she’s single.” Catra sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. How were Lonnie and Adam both looking at her with the same eager as fuck expression? And how could she knock both of them unconscious at the same time? And god fucking damn it! Why couldn’t Catra remember this angelic, goddess, gay twin of his?

“She had a friend emergency today, but she usually works out the same time as me. She’ll be here tomorrow.”

Lonnie just had to speak up, she just had too. Because the universe hated Catra and took every opportunity to make her life shitty. “Oh? I think Catra will be here the same time tomorrow too.”

What. The. Actual. FUCK?!!?

“Awesome!” Adam gave a little fist pump. “I gotta go, but it was nice meeting you, Catra. And uh, you too.” He finger gunned in Lonnie’s direction as he pirouetted on his sneakers, walking backwards towards the exist. Mouths agape, Catra and Lonnie watched him stick his airpods back in and jog out the sliding doors, like this was just another normal day at The Horde.  

The fake God of Lesbians left behind the most fucking awkward silence between Catra and her boss/improtu and unwanted personal trainer. They must’ve stood there in disbelief for at least three minutes, the only sounds of people working out behind them Catra wanted to speak- she really did before Lonnie started talking some serious bullshit- but no matter how many she played recent events in her head could Catra come up with anything to say other than "Uh, what the fuck just happened?”

“Dude,” Lonnie smacked her arm and cackled, “I think Those just wingmanned you!”

~

“So are you gonna do it?”

“Uh, do what?”

“Work out with the the God of Lesbian’s gay twin sister?”

“Leave me alone, Lonnie.” Catra whined into her hands.

“Woah, woah, woah, wait- the God of Lesbians? You mean Thor? He doesn’t have a twin sister.” Scorpia interjected. Ugh, when did she get here? “I mean, recently in the comic books the mantle of Thor has been given to a woman, but I don’t think Marvel has confirmed her sexuality.”

Fuck me. Catra couldn’t even get a moments peace after her studio class that her co-workers always seemed to forget included her bending over a fucking chair in multiple, unnatural ways for a whole hour. Probably because none of these asshats could do it or even bothered to try. Legs pulsing with pain, she slammed her yoga mat down on the Welcome Center desk and stole Rogelio’s empty chair five minutes after she dismissed everyone in her class.

Rogelio could stare her down all he wanted when he got back, Catra didn’t care at this point. She just wanted to fucking rest before she had to get her aching body out of the chair and go work the closing shift serving alcohol she couldn’t even drink (dumb stabilizing meds) at Erelandia but Lonnie was, apparently, not going to drop this whole idiotic Thor-thing. Didn’t help that Catra’s brain hadn’t dropped the topic either; she was completely spaced out trying to teach, too busy scanning the attendees for a familiar hot blonde.

It also didn’t help that Scorpia was also here, probably to pick up her loud mouth girlfriend.

As Catra moaned into her hands again, she heard a fucking weasel pop out of nowhere and loudly insist “They didn’t make Thor a woman!”

“Uh, yeah they did, Kyle.” Lonnie countered back without missing a beat. Catra looked up only to open her eyes to the horrifying sight that not only had Kyle shown up, but Rogelio was there too nodding in agreement with Scorpia and Lonnie. Great. Now everyone was here.

Channeling his inner asshole, Kyle demanded to know “How would they even do that?”

“She was given the hammer, Kyle!” Scorpia said, like it was obvious. “Whoever holds melnor, mielnar, mjiler-”

“Take your time, babe.” Lonnie rubbed her girlfriends arm as her face scrunched up trying to pronounce whatever stupid name Thor’s hammer. Just to show what she thought of the whole conversation, Catra let out a long, and loud, dramatic sigh.

“Millie…your?”

“No you guys,” Oh so now Lonnie was going to elaborate. “not the real Thor!”

“Melanin?”

“Uh, duh, he’s not real.”

“Shut the fuck up Kyle.”

“Melon baller?”

“I’m talking about that guy who looks like Thor. You know the one that’s been coming to our gym for awhile?” Lonnie clarifications sent a ripple of “ohhhhs” through the group. “Turns out his name is Adam, and he has a twin sister! He wants to set Catra up!”

A sudden force over took Catra and almost threw her out of the chair the second Lonnie finally shut her blabbermouth. One minute Catra was fine, she was relaxed if not irritated with her choice of friends, the next minute she was being suffocated by Scorpia’s giant mutant arms. “Oh Catra, this is amazing news!”

“GET…offme!”

Scorpia ignored the squealing and squirming, taking the obnoxious show of friendship up an unnecessary notch by rocking her limp body back and forth. “You have finally have someone to go out with! And she’s probably hot if she’s related to Thor!”

“Fake Thor.” coughed Lonnie as a reminder.

“We can finally go on double dates-”

“Auggh!” Catra twisted Scorpia’s arm over her, “I’m not going out with Not Thor’s gay sister!”

Scorpia’s face fell into that pout that always made Catra feel like she’d punched in the stomach. “What- why not?”

“‘Cause she’s not real, duh! ” Catra threw her hands up, her curls flying everywhere around her head like a crazed halo. Look, Catra understood that she was suspicious to the point of like, actual paranoia, and that it just came with her brand of crazy, but she also knew when someone was flat out manipulating her, i.e. lying straight to her face. She’d only dealt with it her entire gymnastics career.

Adam didn’t show picture and only said his sister’s name once. Catra, whose studio was full of wall to wall mirrors that allowed her to seeeverything, would’ve remembered a stunning lesbian copy of him. This was bullshit, is what it was.

“What’s her name again?” from across the desk, Kyle asked with piqued interest.

“Adora, or some other obviously made up name.” Catra rolled her eyes so far back in her head it hurt, “God, he didn’t even try-”

“Found her.”

“WHAT?” In a quick and graceful blur, Catra, Lonnie, and Scorpia rushed over to the other end of the desk were Rogelio was bunched over Kyle typing into the computer.

“Yeah, Adora Smith.” Kyle shrugged, pointing to the monitor where Adam’s sister’s information was pulled up in their membership database. “It looks like she mostly comes as a guest with Adam for the past few weeks- huh, Adam’s last name is Walker, what do you guys think that’s about? Oh, here’s her picture.”

Kyle didn’t have to gesture to the screen. Catra was already staring. Fuck, she’s gorgeous. And so his twin. Piercing blue eyes, blonde ponytail, amazing flawless skin. Stunning, warm smile that almost Catra melt right into a puddle right then and there. Pull it together, Leon! Try not to act like you’d throw all these people under an actual bus just to get to know her.

“Not my type, but she’s pretty.” commented Lonnie.

Pretty? She’s the reason faces were invented, you idiot!

“Well, that’s relief-”

“Oh my God, shut up Scorpia, I remember her!” throwing her hand back, Catra’s hand met Scorpia’s boobs- Catra was aiming for her mouth, wasn’t her fault her room mate was 6’2”- and pushed Kyle out of the seat and onto the floor, making Rogelio squeal in horror. “Remember, Adam said she was taking some of my classes but that’s why I thought it was total bull, ‘cause of course I would have remembered her!”

Catra gestured wildly as Scorpia and Lonnie raised their eyebrows in tandem. “But Adam was right, she was in the back and I remember ‘cause she kept needing extra help. She was like a baby penguin trying to learn how to walk! Like she fell on her fucking face, twice. It was awesome!”

“Well it sounds like she made an impression.” Lonnie smirked and Scorpia didn’t even wait a beat to pile on.

“Yeah, Catra! Dumb blondes, that’s totally your type! You should go out with her! Hey, I bet she needs some one on one help.”

“Not gonna happen.” throwing up her defenses without a second thought, Catra hissed back at her friends.

“‘Cause you’re a chicken?” Lonnie raised her eyebrow, just asking to be decked in the jaw. What a perfect opportunity to see if Catra’s training had come through.

“No, ‘cause-” I’m unstable. I’m fucking insane, medically speaking. I’m good at like, one thing. And, oh don’t forget, I’m completely, totally unlovable. “Uh, whatever, you guys probably don’t even care,” she muttered the last part under her breath, just in case Scorpia heard and made a big deal out of proving her wrong.  

“Okay well, I’m gonna need you to come in around three tomorrow. Kyle’s calling in sick with mono again, that dumbass.” Lonnie sighed, leaning onto the desk.

“I am? I’m what?” blubbered Kyle as Rogelio pulled him off the floor.

Three? That’s around the time I came in today- ARE YOU SHITTING ME? “Seriously? Fuck you, Lonnie!”

“Melvin-jorge. That’s it!”

~

“I cannot believe you, Adam!”

After dragging her ass to the gym at exactly three p.m- because she fully believed Lonnie would have her fired and banned from the building if she didn’t at least strike up some form of conversation with this girl- Catra was trying her best not to think about twins or Thor or whatever disaster was about to go down as she halfassed wiped down equipment when she heard Adora walk in. At least she assumed it was Adora; she wasn’t sure who else would yelling Adam’s name randomly with like, that much annoyance.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be like that Adora!”

Oh, so it was Adora. Having a full on argument with her twin brother in the middle of their gym. Catra resisted the tormenting desire to turn around and forced her focus to the wipes crumpling in her hand as she ran them down leather seat of their ergometer. Don’t, don’t, don’t don’t you fucking turn around and stare like a creep Catra Maria Leon!

“We’ve talked about this,” wow, she sounds pissed. That’s hot. “You can’t go around setting me up with random woman you think is gay! Not every girl at a gym is gay, Adam!”

Having to literally sink her teeth into her tongue, Catra stifled a laugh. So Adora was upset about this whole thing too? Guess they had that in common.

“Catra is a lesbian! She was yelling about it with her trainer!” Adam insisted.

This is what I get for not keeping my fucking mouth shut. At least he didn’t bring up how we called him Thor and Fake Thor over and over and over again.

“Plus, you have a thing for her Adora. I know because you wouldn’t shut up about how  pretty and smoking hot she was and how she smells like cinnamon! That’s way too much detail for me!”

The more Adam described how Adora had described her, the more Catra’s face was overcome with a tingling heat that spread from her face, to her neck, to her chest. Still, she refused to turn around. Even if she dying, dying to see the look on Adora’s face.

“By the way, how many times did you fall in class? Like seven times? Klutz.”

Adora scoff echoed all through the gym. “I’m not the klutz, you’re the klutz! And by the way, I didn’t fall on accident, my balance is impeccable! Coach Hordak once made me bounce a soccer ball on my head for a mile! And, get this, I did it for two! That’s how good my balance is!”

She was falling… on purpose?

“Did that man ever let you sleep?”

“No, he didn’t, and you know what, I’m not gonna let you sleep either after this! And you are so uninvited to Best Friend Squad Netflix nights!” Catra heard a whack! and Adam yelp.

“Glimmer will invite me back! And you have to get back out there, Adora! It’s been, what, like a year and a half since you and Serenia broke up?”

This time, Catra let herself turn around. Okay, she moved her neck to the side like three inches. Part of her was curious to see if they’d seen her. The other part of her just wanted to stare in wonder at Adora for pretty much the rest of her life.

“Ugh, don’t bring that up, this is not about that!” With every word Adora yelled at her twin, Catra came closer to making that 180 that would allow her to see the two of them. And for them to see her. “This about you being weird and just going up to random people to see if they wanna go out with me!”

“Look she’s right over there, why don’t you just go talk to her? Because I don’t think your face can take much more damage from you falling down in yoga , Adora.” Damn, Adam. Maybe I should introduce you to Lonnie ‘cause you’d be great friends. I kinda wanna be friends, what the hell?

At this point, Catra didn’t know what else to do with her body but stand there with her hip cocked and her arms crossed, an amused smirk on her face. Didn’t matter that her neck and chest were still on fire and her heart was beating like she’d just run a fucking mile.

Adora looked away from her brother, only to catch Catra’s waiting eyes, and given the way she squeaked, threw her hands in her face, and walked/tumbled back towards her brother, Catra maybe got the vibe she wasn’t expecting her to be literally right there.

“Hey, Adora.” Catra gave a little sultry wave, the corner of her mouth upturned, unsure of what the hell had just come over her. Seriously, was she fucking possessed? Or was Adora just so freaking cute and so much better in person that she could ever imagine and was maybe, maybe worth taking a chance on? Also, the chance to embarrass her just to see her face turn red was something Catra couldn’t resist .

A panicked whine slipped from Adora’s lips as she bumped into Adam’s shoulder. “I hate you, I hate you, and I wish we’d stayed separated.”

“Yeah, yeah, hate you too. Now go get her chief.” Catra didn’t see what happened next coming. But she should have, given that mischievous sparkles Adam got in his eyes. The next thing she knew, Adora was shrieking, Catra blinked, and then fell to the ground as a body slammed into her. Holy shit! Catra’s teeth caught her tongue as she hit concrete hard, pain exploding through her sore body. What the FUCK just happened?

When Catra opened her eyes, a nasty cocktail of shock and pain paralyzing her muscles from making any kind of move, she looked down to find Adora exactly in her lap, muttering “Ow, my ass.”

“Uh…”

Adora’s own shocking blue eyes flew open and in them, Catra could see the exact second she put everything together in that pretty little head of hers. “Oh, oh! I’m sorry, I- that was, ah man.” she scrambled away, out of Catra’s lap- hey, wait!- and let out another embarrassed whine.

Lifting her head up to glare at the ceiling, Adora whispered, “I hate you Adam.” before taking a deep breath. “I- hi, I’m, um, Adora.” she stuttered, blush overtaking her pale skin. Catra smiled. Oh, she was cute.

“Catra.”

“Yeah, I know I’ve been taking your classes- I, uh” Adora’s closed her mouth and fiddled with her fingers as she bit back a smile. A really beautiful smile. “I’m sorry, I’m really bad at this.”

Snorting, Catra added. “Trust me, you’re not the only one who’s totally out of her comfort zone right now.”

“Do you wanna just work out? Like together?” she asked, bright smile still on her face. Getting up on one knee, Adora extended a hand.

“Yes!” Catra replied way too quickly, having to slap on a less desperate as fuck approach, “I mean, yeah I’d like that.”

As Adora led her to the treadmills, Catra heard Adam claim in victory, “Yes! My work here is done. Oh man, where did my airpods go?”

Catra stifled a laugh. Some God of Lesbians/thunder. Hmm, thunder right and storms and shit? Catra thought to herself as Adora started going on about how annoying and intrusive Adam could just generally be, maybe with him around, lightning can strike the same place twice.

Thank you so much for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it Lily! Likes and REBLOGS are always appreciated!

and once again, thank you to those you organized this event! Happy Pride!

[thankchaosforspellcheck]

Genius omens au

(aka a Girl Genius/Good Omens crossover because I’m not gonna stop being on this kick until something better comes out.  Which nothing has yet.)

So I’ve got at least 2 ideas for this AU, first one goes like this:

Crowley and Aziraphale are both low-rung minions for competing families.  Neither are from canon, and while one of them prides themselves on the “help” they spread to the local commoners, the other on the chaos. (they are both pretty chaotic, honestly).

Gabriel and Beelzebub are top-ranked minions who mostly handle all the paperwork.

The actual sparks never appear.  The spark for Aziraphale’s family (who is essentially god) is too busy producing brilliant inventions to help the world... and then forgetting to include any instructions or telling anyone how they work.  (She actually does this on purpose, as a bit of an experiment to see if anyone will ever actually ask her how they work & to see if they can work it out on their own)  Meanwhile, the spark for Crowley’s family (Lucifer) creates horrific inventions meant to insight chaos and disaster on all those who are within it’s aim!  ...Which would be a lot easier to do if he had neater handwriting.  Or used less obscure scientific terminology.  Or didn’t spill coffee on half of it!

So Aziraphale & Crowley’s jobs are essentially to go out and try to figure out how the inventions work without getting themselves killed (the latter bit’s more for Aziraphale for Crowley, honestly.  And even then they only say that because they’re the “good guys”, not because they actually mean it), as well as to try to prevent the neighboring family from using their’s.

They are surprisingly good at their jobs though.  

Like, weirdly so.  

Everyone kind of assumed they were gonna be dead within the first week like all the past minions were.

(what they don’t know, is that they have 2 advantages on everyone else: 

1. they met almost immediately and both went “oh shit he’s hot, hEY WHY DON’T I HELP YOU WITH THAT” and not only figured out how each other’s devices worked, but also realized that they negate each other (ex: one is meant to end world hunger, the other is meant to cause massive famines, together they make all the farms have solidly mediocre years)

2. they are actually both minor sparks, not that either has realized it yet.  See, Aziraphale’s breakthrough was probably the quietest breakthrough in the history of the world and Crowley just kinda vaguely sauntered his way through a breakthrough, and everyone else was too distracted by the latest disaster to notice (Aziraphale’s breakthrough sparkwork was a quick fix he did on the flaming sword he was given by the family spark (It was so easy, I hardly needed to be a spark to do it) which he immediately gave away to the Spark’s daughter (who’s as mundane as you get) since she’s going to be traveling through the wilderness with her husband. Crowley’s was the Bentley, which is a horseless carriage he bought off a passing spark and fixed up in his spare time (look, there was barely anything wrong with it.  I just did a bit of tinkering here, welded a few wires together there, and after some polishing and a good wax she was good as new!  Took me forever to finish ‘er anyways, a spark’d hardly take an hour to do what I did).  

Both of them have noticed that the other is a spark and revert to minioning when the other gets in a fugue.  Neither notices when the other is minioning while in said fugue, and they never actually bring the sparking out up.  Because they’re idiots.

Now, The second idea (under the cut because boy howdy did this get long!):

They are both still oblivious minor spark minions (because I just think think this fits them really well)  But this time it’s with some known families

Crowley is a Heterodyne Jager, though not one of the ones that’s particularly noticed by people (not one of the oldest, but not young enough for, say, Bill or Barry to have seen him take the Draught)

You know how 99.9% of Jagers take the draught because they are just so devoted to the cause and want to serve the Heterodynes for the rest of eternity?  Well Crowley’s that .1% that did it because everyone else was chanting “DO IT DO IT” at the time and he was just like “Welp, it’s not like I have anything else to do” and downed it.

(He’s possibly the only spark to take and survive the drought, no one has any fucking idea so he’s just considered as one of the minor foot soldiers.  Which is probably all the better for him, since he would have been on a dissection table in 5 seconds flat otherwise)

He looks more or less like he does in the show, just with scales under his clothes, black claws on his hands (which he generally hides with gloves, and some fairly small (for a Jager) fangs.  He definitely still has sunglasses, and if asked claims either “they look cool” or “I’ve got an eye condition and I don’t want a spark to make it worse or put lasers in” depending on who he’s talking to and how much they’ve annoyed him.  He also grew some black wings some time after he drank the draught (which, if the Heterodyne knew about, they would be extremely interested in) which he keeps under his clothes and extremely close to his back.

He also doesn’t have too much of a Mechanicsburg accent since he kinda just fucked off on the first mission out of town and away from the Heterodyne that he could get (look he loves his master and thinks they’re creations are fascinating but that doesn’t mean he actually wants their attention)

he’s also part of the same batch that Beelzebub, Hastur, and Ligur came from and hates all of them.

Meanwhile, Aziraphale is a minion of the House of Valois, and has been for quite some time.

See, around the same time as Crowley was made a Jager, someone from the Storm King’s line (probably a von Blitzengaard)  Decided that enough was enough and they were going to make their own Super soldiers (but prettier! and with wings and a melodious voice like an angelic choir and-!)

Aziraphale was the only survivor.

(He was not what the creator was aiming for.)

He also looks more or less like he does in canon, with beautiful white wings and white curly hair.  He looks strangely normal for someone who went through a version of the draught, honestly.  He does, however, still have the increased strength, durability, stamina, and whatever else the brau includes.  It just showed up at a much slower rate, so it was put down as a bad job and discarded.

(the reason he survived is because he was the only one out of all the subjects who had even the vaguest of sparks.  I think the duality of this is nice.  One survives in spite of his spark, the other survives because of it)

So when he fails to be Angel Incarnate he gets a disappointed dismissal from his creator and gets sent out on some away mission he’s meant to never come back from

(he doesn’t, but it’s only because he met Crowley on the way there)

Several Generations later, they are wandering around the wastelands, vaguely hear about the Heterodyne boys recalling all their Jagers and turning over a new leaf, shrug, and disguise themselves so that they can follow the kids from a distance (because they’re still his Heterodynes dammit).

(or at least that’s Crowley’s reason.  Aziraphale’s reason is that Crowley’s there and that’s good enough for him at this point)

They keep this up on-and-off for a good while whole events with the other and the attack at the castle happen and they lose track of them.

Crowley’s a bit worried, but figures he might as well just wander around the Wastelands like the others are and if he finds them, he finds them.

He was not actually expecting to find either of them

So you can imagine his surprise when Barry shows up near him one day with a toddler following him like a lost duckling.

So he does what any reasonable Jager would never do, and immediately goes up to the two and introduces himself and his husband TRAVELING COMPANION as everything but a Jager and Jager-knockoff.

Barry is, of course, paranoid at these complete strangers that seem vaguely familiar in the weirdest of ways, but they both seem genuinely nice and they both hate the other with a passion so he settles into an uneasy trust.

They both end up showing him their wings and explaining that they’re constructs who were made in such a way that they are immune to wasps.

(Crowley offers to demonstrate by eating one.  Barry hastily declines)

They start traveling together and, after that uneasy trust settles into an easy one, he asks if he gets whatever signal that made him decide to start tracking down the Other solo

But Punch and Judy aren’t there.  He never managed to run into them at all,

Crowley and Aziraphale, however, are.

Part 2:

Agatha Crowley-Fell has had a very normal, if interesting, life.

She’s raised by her two fathers (uncles, they insisted for a good long while until she points out that they’ve officially adopted her and they’re as much her parents as her biological ones are, and that she doesn’t think they’re replacing them, just adding to them (to which the respond with hugging and crying)) in Beetleburg. 

one of which works as a librarian at the local college (where he is more then happy to help anyone who needs anything besides books.)

an unofficial elective is “how to borrow a book from Mr. Fell”.  Everyone who passes gets hired by the university on the spot.

Crowley, meanwhile, owns a flower shop where all of the plants are guaranteed to be vibrant and spotless! (or else)

Occasionally, they’ll come to her right before bed and ask to see her locket, “to keep it in the best shape possible” they say.  One will take it to another room, while the other sits with her and sings a lullaby until she falls asleep

it’s always back on her neck come morning.

As time goes on, her headaches slowly get better.  She’s still never able to finish a project, but it pops up less during mild excitement or frustration.

They’re still incredibly annoying though

And then comes the day when her locket is broken and the Baron comes to town, and her life goes from tame to disastrous in a matter of hours.

[ukthxbye]

WIP Distraction Prompt: cake, summer, pining

It's done! yay!

I Put On The Act

on ao3 

“Happy birthday, Martha!” Molly beamed as she entered 221b, cake carrier in hand and hugging Mrs. Hudson with her free arm.

 “Thank you, Molly dear,” Martha beamed back and then gasped as she looked down at the cake. “Oh, you shouldn’t have! Could have picked up a cake anywhere,” she smirked  and laughed as she took it from Molly, “Though your cakes are scrumptious so I am not going to complain.”

 Molly blushed, “Thank you, I hope you like it. It’s a new recipe I tried out.”

 Martha laid a hand on her arm, grinned once more and took it into the kitchen, pausing to show it off to John and Mary and Rosie as she passed by.

 Sherlock stood at the window, but instead of his usual facing it to look out, Molly felt his eyes on her the entire time since she entered the door.

 Bloody hell why can’t he just look out the window like he always does.

 But she attempted a smile at him and he returned it as he closed the distance between them.

Something akin to a comfortable friendship developed since he was acquitted from Magnussen’s death, especially in the lab. But having him closer than she expected here now, her hearts’ hurried pace suggested of feelings that never went away. And she couldn’t help but realize it now.

 “Hello,” he said lightly. A pause and he looks away toward the kitchen. “Thank you for baking the cake. I am sure it is quite delightful, like much of your baking.”

 “It was nothing I mean I wanted to try a new recipe and I know you love ginger...I mean I think everyone here does, we all eat ginger nut biscuits more than anything else and I saw a ginger and lemon cake recipe and just thought everyone would like it maybe,” she kept her smile unassuming as she could manage but inside she felt the awkwardness eating away at her.

 Why can’t you just use your mouth like a normal person around him? 

In fact, she knows she can. She has in the past, but those were moments she had an advantage. She never felt the advantage here in 221b in his dominion.

 “Perhaps you want to help me with tea? if we don’t intervene Mrs. Hudson will be making tea on her birthday which would be an injustice,” he asked jovially. Something akin to cheerfulness crept into his eyes as he looked back at her. Somehow she found it off-putting since it wasn’t about a murder. Well, that she knew of anyway. But she felt a little more at ease as she shrugged off her coat and nodded, following him into the kitchen.

 Martha had the water boiling already when Sherlock told her to get out and go enjoy some time with Rosie and Molly shrugged at her with an agreeing smile. They set to work without a word, as he handed her the teapot and she placed the tea bags in as the kettle finished. He inspected the cups and placed them on the tray as Molly finished and set the pot to steep.

 His arm brushed her side lightly as he reached for a plate of lemons. He continued setting up the tray with no pause, but she stared down much too long at the place where his arm grazed her, studying the sensation it caused.

 “Are you ok?” Concern filled his voice as he returned to her side.

 She took a deep breath, unsure of why this affected her now.

 Bloody hell, I’m better than this.

 “Yes sorry, got lost in a thought there for a moment, you know how it is,” she feigned calm as she began filling the sugar bowl, but dared not look him in the eyes. She knew a deduction was possible still but not as well as he could if he looked in her eyes right now.

 He moved on from the subject and she helped finish the tray and brought it in the room, serving everyone their tea from a small temporary table set up. Mary asked about her family, and she and Molly cooed at Rosie in her carrier.

 Sherlock soon emerged from the kitchen with a candle ladened cake all lit up. Mrs. Hudson’s cheeks went scarlet as they all sang her “Happy Birthday.” Molly felt her nerves ease and pure joy at seeing this wonderful woman be appreciated. John offered to cut the cake and Sherlock gave Martha a kiss on her head, as she affectionately patted his arm.

 How could anyone not know he loves? He loves Martha like a second mother.

 Molly’s face fell into a soft contemplation of his nature until his hand in front of her broke her concentration.

 “I assume the baker wants to taste her own creation?” he asked holding out a slice of cake to her, a soft small smile crept into his lips as she turned her eyes up to his.

The others in the room already had theirs and were enjoying it in quiet. Molly held his gaze as she took the plate from him. She brushed his hand, scarcely knowing why she chose to, knowing the earlier effect of his touch. Small hopes she could produce the same in him. She smiled back and he turned away.

 “Oh, this cake is delish!” Mary exclaimed.

 John nodded enthusiastically with a mouth full of the confection, wiping crumbs.

 “Absolutely refreshing on a warm day like today. Lord, the summer is going to be a scorcher,” Mrs. Hudson grinned.  

 Molly blushed, “I just followed the recipe...well maybe a bit more ginger than they asked for.”

 “Perfectly balanced, excellent work Molly,” Sherlock complimented as he shoved another large bite into his mouth.

 “Lots of love put into baking always makes it special,” Mary grinned slyly, looking in between Sherlock and Molly.

 Wait…

 But she didn’t get the thought completed as Mary rose and kissed her swiftly on the cheek and hugged her tightly. Martha stood and mirrored Mary’s kiss on the other cheek and a quick hug.

 “Thank you. You are an absolute doll,” Martha smiled as she pets Molly’s head, righting a hair that strayed in the hugging.

 Mary and Martha turn their attention to Rosie sitting in John’s lap. Molly rose from her seat, grabbing a couple of plates to take to the kitchen. But she nearly ran into Sherlock’s chest.

 “Oh sorry just taking these--”

 “I’ll get the plates.”

 “Thanks.”

 “No, thank you...for the cake and your help,” he said softly, and she looked up into those all too blue eyes again.

 She held her breath as her eyes fluttered shut as he got closer. He leaned his head down and kissed her cheek. The right one this time and a wholly new sensation to her. Third time and yet so different than those before. Did he linger? It always felt so to her, but time stopped every time; it was so rare. This one not an apology or an approval of her happiness with another like a goodbye. It was wholly theirs on even and happy terms. She barely opened her eyes enough to see him smile warmly, take the plates from her unsteady hands and brush past her into the kitchen.

 She gulped, swallowing the new nerves and focused on Rosie.

 With a big open grin for the baby girl, she asked Mary if she could hold her. Mary happily obliged and took it as a chance to finish her tea. Molly carried her over to the sofa and laid her in her lap to make faces at her. Pushing away thoughts of the kiss and the other moments for the pure joy of Rosie’s smiles at her helped for but a minute.

 Rosie turned her head suddenly and Molly followed her gaze to see Sherlock approaching them. He held out his arm to see if she wanted to go to him, and she only smiled snuggling into Molly.

 Molly bit her lip to keep from laughing but Sherlock’s fake frown was too much and a snicker escaped.

 “It’s to be expected. Children are not my expertise,” he said plainly as he sat gently beside Molly.

 “And here I thought you were an expert on everything,” Molly smirked.

 Ah, there is that advantage again. She felt more confident and comfortable even though he was sitting very close.

 “But I could use your expertise for something other than children,” he said pausing before taking his mobile from his pocket.

 Molly caught the gist of what he was saying and covered Rosie’s ears.

 “We are not going to talk about a murder victim, with her sitting here,” Molly protested.

 Sherlolly huffed in irritation but changed his face quickly to something akin to a puppy dog look.

 “Please? I’ll be vague about details.”

 God, why does he have to ask "please."

 She sighed, “Ok, besides it will be good practice in the future for you.”

 Sherlock frowned, turning his head in confusion.

 “For as Rosie gets older, I mean,” Molly added, feeling her own perplexion at his reaction.

 “Yes...yes of course,” he replied quietly, adjusting his jacket.

 -:- 

“So has anything ever happened between them?”

 Mary sipped her tea as she spied over her cup Sherlock and Molly sitting close together on the couch playing with Rosie. Mrs. Hudson had gone down stairs to take a birthday phone call from her sister.

 John looked up from his mobile. “Hmm?”

 “Sherlock and Molly, has anything ever, you know, happened between them?” 

John scrunched his face up in confusion, “Naw, just friends. I mean she clearly had a massive crush for a bit but still, she dated others. A crush on Sherlock Holmes isn’t an unusual thing apparently anyway.”

 “Apparently.”

 She sat in quiet contemplation for another moment. 

“But he has and does use her place as a bolthole at times?” 

John, only half interested in the conversation as he scrolled his mobile, replied, “Yeah, I mean they are friends.” 

“Of course,” is all Mary said.

But John knew the tone and put his mobile down. “What are you getting at? Because go ahead and get there maybe?”

Mary put on an innocent face, “Just making observations that’s all.”

 “For the record, the only one I have seen him even show an actual passing interest in was Irene Adler, though, again, this is Sherlock Holmes we are talking about. It’s not his thing.”

 “Mmhmm” is all Mary replied with another sip of her tea.

 John turned where she could see his face and he could see her better.

 “Mary, if you are trying to matchmake...”

 She laughed lightly, “It’s much too late for me to intervene at this point.”

 “Yes it is, so stay out and leave them be. If they were going to be a couple I am sure it would have already happened.”

 She shook her head at him.

 “What?”

 “You see, but do not perceive, John Watson.”

 He sighed, “Look, Sherlock is a dangerous and unpredictable man at times. A recovering addict at best. Molly is the epitome of domestic life. She has a cat, dresses like she is working with her grandmother’s closet, though I do think that has improved some, but still. She is quiet nights at home by the fire and he is running into buildings on fire.”

Mary patted his hand, “There are the ones, a type that makes sense if we list the obvious but at the same time, we could never be truly happy with. “

 His face remained blank so she continued. 

“We also have the type that doesn’t make sense but we want it anyway,” She bit her lip. “Maybe they are better or smarter or kinder or more stable than we could ever hope to be. We feel at a disadvantage and yet... we want it anyway. Perhaps we just keep it to wishful thinking. Oh, but what a terrible thing to do, no?”

John furrowed his brow, watching Sherlock and Molly playing with Rosie, making funny faces as she giggled. They sat with their sides touching, and even John could observe the look on contentment on his best friend’s face.

 He murmured, “Yes...perhaps a terrible thing indeed.”

[demyrie]

I'm curious but why did you delete JAM? It was one of my favorite JxD fics and I never got to finish reading it.

ahhhh oh dear, yeah, that happened.

So, for everyone arriving, I wrote a fic called Just Another Mission for the Jak and Daxter game series, and Jak/Daxter pairing. Yes, the green haired elf protag with the fuzzy orange thing, which btw used to be a human and was a human in fic. I think I started it when I was maybe 14 (yikes omg) and a few years ago, I deleted it, and I don’t delete fics.

Rant and personal history ahead, but tldr; i deleted this particular fic because:

1) I became more and more uncomfortable with the way I’d treated certain characters without giving them respect or resolution (throwing around things like domestic abuse while being too young to properly understand What I Was Doing or How to Answer Very Triggered Friends Who Had the Misfortune of Reading This I’m So Goddamn Sorry, as well as falling into that Not Like Other Girls slash fan ditch of treating female characters like shit/obstacles to the main pairing WHICH IS JUST ******) as well as personally uncomfortable portrayals of obsession and taking advantage of people that turn my stomach to this day (see reason 4)

2) i got way in over my head with my own writing/style which was so obtuse and self-indulgent that I felt a great amount of shame over it, including the attention it had gotten, and the way it went to my head and turned me into an egotistic little shit. I was an asshole peacock and I regret it. There was a break where I got waylaid before the final confrontation in the fic (see reason 4, also a very bad time to get held up in any narrative) and when I returned to the story, i nearly cried because it was such a mess and I didn’t know what I was saying anymore. Finishing it was a struggle and I even remember one JnD fan friend being like “hey this chapter seemed really curt??? short?? not like you” and I was like YEAH THATS NOT ME ANYMORE god i hope

3) there was a sort of ... anti-JxD surge in my little pool from people I really respected and it made me think i was doing something wrong even just remembering it, so I cut off that memory.

4) it coincided with two ugly relationships in my life that marred it, and I just wanted it gone for my own mental health.

So anon, I’m very sorry that you never got to finish it. I had good intentions in mind and gave them a happy ending where they realized they loved each other, even if the journey there was difficult. 

It both touched me and broke a piece of my heart when someone came to me years ago and asked me why I had deleted it, saying the story had given them the courage to come out as gay to their family. In that moment, overwhelmed with how ProblematicTM the whole story was, I was really struck with just ... how subjective our world experience is, and how so many things can mean so many different things to every single soul and how terrifyingly VALID peoples experiences are, no matter how they come by them. We’re all so unique and convoluted, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure -- and one man’s trigger is another man’s key to Becoming. But no matter how inspiring, I couldn’t bring myself to repost it. 

Hopefully this will be the only fic i ever delete with relish. Jak and Daxter will always be a good memory for me, regardless. Thanks for the ask, anon.

(even more) personal stuff below the cut. tw for stalking, harassment, manipulation and emotional abuse.

So.

Im a firm believer in stories living beyond their authors (something that JK rowling doesnt seem to understand iykwim). I don’t normally delete past works, because while I wrote them, I also know that they’ve outgrown me as most narratives do: people are absolutely allowed to enjoy what they want to or need to, not just because I think said thing is reflective of my current work or jives with my current stage of life. 

However, JAM was a particular Thing that Had to Go.

The timeline is hella fuzzy to me because I’ve blocked a lot of it out, but I was coming out of middle school and struggling with my mental health. On the real life side, I was stuck in a situation with a close friend of mine who was very fixated on us being in a relationship and the pining was loud enough to hear from the other side of the country. Wounded people pleaser that I was, I flipped (exhaustingly) back and forth between “i dont like you like that” and “but I want you to be happy so what if I tried liking you like that?” and there was massive amounts of hidden hurt and resentment and tension and abandonment complex activation and just ... a strangling of anything that made our friendship good for either of us. 

Also she was a she. So. Yannoe, gay is difficult.

This definitely burnt me out on the “best friends pining” trope and is probably legit the ONLY reason I’m not equally in the erasermic and erasermight camp haha. That trope feels claustrophobic and draining to me, so I leave it for others to enjoy.

It also coincided with a married 45yo adult man luring me into a “platonic, ecstatic, boundary-breaking, you-are-my-beautiful-young-muse, words cannot express how much I love you” creative type relationship that inevitably turned possessive, domineering and manipulative. Within the bounds of the Renaissance Faire community, I thought he was a safe person and he was not, and his constant reassurance that I wasn’t like other women my age was absolutely hypnotizing to a undeveloped soul who really, really wanted to be special.

We traded poetry and tarot card readings over email. He bought me manga and shared stories about his time overseas and in the service. He made me props to go with my renaissance faire character and showed me where to find cheap leather so I could piece things together myself.

He also stalked me and owned me for the better part of a year and I only realized it once he started harassing a dear friend of mine overseas, whom I was visiting, about a package that he’d sent, which apparently he’d covered in original poetry to let me know how much he loved me But Not In a Hetero or Sexual Way Bro, so of course he didn’t want it to get lost in the postal system. So what is he going to do? Note my friend twice a day asking if its arrived until she inevitably, tearfully spills that this guy is stressing her out and who is he anyway?

My horrible secret was out, which only sounded horrible when I explained it to someone else. I realized this man was trying to follow me wherever i went and I got so fucking angry that he was messing with my friend that I had to stop it.

(He called me a cunt when I broke it off with him on the phone in the dark on the floor of my bedroom in the middle of the night so my parents wouldn’t hear, then sobbed and said he was sorry. I was so dissociated from the rush of anger and helplessness that it took for me to actually MAKE the call that all I could do was wiggle my foot and watch it in the reflection of the mirror on the back of my door, and think maybe I was a cunt but I wasn’t his cunt anymore. So there. 

Afterward I slammed my forehead into the mirror a few times to make sure I’d actually done it and it wasn’t a dream.)

During all of this, I was writing this stupid fic. I think. Honestly, I don’t fucking know, but I can’t think of it without thinking of him and how i was devoured.

The stress of hiding this “totally wonderful but NORMAL PEOPLE DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT WE HAVE!!!!” grooming shit from my parents was gutting me alive, and I was so far gone RE: worthiness/autonomy that I didn’t even consider why I BOTHERED diffusing his petulant accusations over notes on deviantArt again and again as he baited me into shit just to explode over how I didn’t love him and I figured out another way to soothe his engorged and tarry ego without explicitly lying that I loved him too. 

He made me regret my silver tongue and way with words as I used it to defend myself again and again, and crushed my love of writing. I would pace the neighborhood for almost an hour several times a week, claiming I was ‘exercising’ but really trying to understand why i felt so trapped, or where the lines between love and hate lay, or why I wanted to cry all the time, as i low key tried to get hit by a car just to force something to change in my life and jolt me out of his smothering, needy nightmare of constant texting and emails and notes. I couldn’t fucking flinch without him knowing about it, and asking me if I was okay. For this reason, I react very poorly to people fretting over me at length, and loudly. I get angry and feel violated, or just pinned to the floor by someone Performing their love on me with no real regard for my health.

This whole time, I was escaping into fandom. It probably saved my life, in one way or another, because I found friends who supported me and made me laugh in the JnD sphere. Especially the friend whose distress caused me to snap and realize This Couldn’t Continue.

This terrible man was the first one outside of my friend group that I showed my writing to, the first adult as well. It was on the dark side even then, but he said it was wonderful and amazing. He teased me for being stuck up in my authors notes on JAM (one of the reasons I’m just getting over ... talking ...) but said it inspired him to start writing as well. He used that writing to imagine hokey sprawling stories of him being a hot rod racer and me being his sexy girlfriend, Very Totally in Love. Why Couldn’t We have Just Met in a Different Lifetime??? not that its a relevant question for my young 16yo friend lol just something dreamers wonder lol lol here why don’t you take this traditional irish engagement ring aka claddagh i bought for you, lie to your parents and say I bought one for everyone in our renfaire group, and turn it toward your heart, to imply that you’re in love, so that I can keep your heart safe for you until you find a boyfriend?

FUCKER YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKER ok I’m done. Fuck.

JAM was a project of mine that spanned a year or two and is intrinsically tangled in those very bad relationships and very bad lessons. I deleted it because I needed to, for purely personal reasons beyond the fact that it was generally bombastic, over-long, tone-deaf and dealt with very serious issues poorly. Due to these experiences, you won’t catch me in a hot minute writing either best-friends-pining or heavy jealousy/possessiveness fic, but everyone else? Go crazy just tag your shit.

so. anyway. isn’t subjectivity actually terrifying? You never know what something can mean to someone else. So just ask, maybe.

Damn, son. Some fics you just can’t repost.

[sugarless--girl]

Day 7: Disaster — fem!Kuroken

Kuroo was a bit of a disaster around Kenma. The dark-haired girl was terrified that someday she’d slip up and it’d all come crashing down that she had the hots for her childhood friend.

Of course she fucks this up by making out with Kenma at a party. God help her poor soul.

Read on AO3

The party was an absolute disaster and everyone knew it. It wasn’t enough that cops were called half-way through the night, oh no—Kenma had to go and make shitty decisions in her inebriated state of mind. Remind her never to go to a frat party again.

When Kenma first woke up that morning, her hangover was painful enough that it left her cursing god and her dumbass past self. Why was she so stupid? After she finally managed to muster up the strength to sit up—trying not to gag a few times—Kenma looked around for her phone. But something else caught her attention—namely the fact that she was completely topless, no bra in sight. She wasn’t wearing pants either but at least she had her underwear. Small victories. She was also in her room, so she at least had enough sense to get back home.

Did Kenma get lucky last night or had she thrown up all over herself? The latter explanation didn’t account for the missing bra though. God, it was cold in this room. She slowly got out of her bed. Her sense of balance was worse than ever and the thought of even bending down to pick a shirt off the ground felt too much. Kenma just rooted around the closet until she found an oversized t-shirt to wear.

She went to the bathroom to get rid of the taste of alcohol in her mouth.  As Kenma grabbed her toothbrush, she took in her appearance in the mirror. Her hair was a total disaster—something she was not looking forward to fixing. She smelt like alcohol and sweat but the thought of stepping into the shower made her head spin. Her eyes traveled to her neck. It had a huge fucking hickey on it.

Who the fuck—?

Kenma pushed the thought out of her head. She’d have a mental breakdown later. She made her way to the kitchen, hoping to find Kuroo. Her longtime friend was standing at the stove with a look of intense concentration. Before Kenma could step closer, the smell hit her and it made her want to throw up right then and there. Luckily, she clearly threw up everything last night as she just gagged. But it did cause Kuroo to turn her way when she heard Kenma hitting the wall.

“K-Kenma! You’re up!!” She said, as she practically jumped out of her skin.

Her friend’s loud voice would’ve been comforting any other time but Kenma only felt, well, pain stabbing her head. “Kuro…..you’re too loud.”

“Ah, yeah sorry.” Kuroo stared at her oddly (probably staring at the hickey) but Kenma wasn’t in the mood to try and read the other girl’s expression.

“Aren’t you hungover?”

“No.” There was Kuroo’s easy going smile. “I actually watch my limit unlike you. Here, drink some water.”

Kenma took the cup and began sipping it. Drinking water was an ordeal itself. Why did she drink so much again?

“Oh, yeah I saw Shrimpy make out with that scary girlfriend of hers. Weren’t you hanging out with her?”

“Yes.” Kenma muttered mutinously, now remembering why she decided to suddenly torture her liver. Kuroo had ditched her to hang with Bokuto so she decided to find Hinata before the party got too hectic. But it hadn’t taken long for Hinata to get distracted by Kageyama, thus leaving Kenma to her own devices. She hated when her friends did this. Drag her to some random party, made her leave her 3DS behind so she could “socialize” and ditch her halfway through. Kuroo wasn’t too bad with leaving Kenma as the black-haired girl usually knew when Kenma was ready to bail but Hinata—despite being well-meaning—tended to get distracted easily.

God, what even happened last night?

“Uh, so you hungry?” Kenma just glared at Kuroo who laughed at her misery.

“You took me back last night, right?”

“Yeah?” Kuroo said, sounding weirdly hesitant

“Do you remember if I made out with anyone?” Kenma wasn’t the type to make out with strangers—not that she judged people who did, but it was definitely out of character for her. Drunk Kenma was more sleepy and cuddly than horny.

Kuroo stood tense at the stove. Kenma blinked as she tried to make sense of Kuroo’s strange behavior. “Was it—one of your exes or something?” That seemed like the only logical conclusion for the odd atmosphere.

“No, I didn’t see who the person was.” Kuroo muttered.

That explained it. Kuroo was doing her over-protective routine again. “Well, I’m gonna go shower.”

Kuroo whipped to look at Kenma. “Eat something first.”

Kenma grimaced. “After my shower.” She could feel Kuroo’s eyes on her and turned to look at the other girl. Kuroo just looked away.

Weird

Last night was a disaster. Kuroo was a disaster.

How the fuck was she going to live with the knowledge that she made out with her best friend? She was a godless sinner that deserved to be burned at the stake. She took advantage of Kenma when the other girl cuddled up to her. Never mind that Kuroo was just as fucked up as Kenma—she still took advantage of her friend’s trusting nature. Kuroo hadn’t gotten drunk in a while now so last night had been bad. A disaster even.

Kuroo had luckily come to her senses and stumbled drunkenly into the bathroom to throw-up the rest of the alcohol to sober up quicker. Never had she been so thankful for her gag reflexes. Of course, sobering up just made her feel worse.

Not to be dramatic or anything but she totally got why people became raging alcoholics. It was way easier to ignore your feelings when you were drunk out of your minds. But you made stupider decisions so maybe it wasn’t worth it.

Kenma knew something was wrong despite being massively hung-over. When she finally recovered she’d probably ask Kuroo what the hell was going on and Kuroo knew there was no way she’d be able to lie to her face like that. She hadn’t ever been able to lie to Kenma. She was just too perceptive. But the other girl knew when to give Kuroo her space so she hoped that Kenma would let it go this time. That was the only reason she got away with not spilling her guts about her raging lesbian crush on the other girl.

She looked down to her frying pan and sighed. It had turned out slightly overcooked during her self-loathing episode—Kenma wouldn’t mind but Kuroo hated making anything less than perfect for her.

Kenma stepped back into the kitchen, toweling her hair dry. She felt significantly more like a human being after properly cleaning up. Her hair—which initially smelled like someone dumped a shot of vodka all over it—was washed and she no longer felt like that one time where she stayed up three days in a row to finish Dark Souls. She did not finish Dark Souls in those three days as it was rather difficult to react fast when you were sleep-deprived. Who knew?

In the shower, she spent a good deal of time wondering who the hell gave her that hickey. Was it a stranger or was it someone she knew? She contemplated asking Hinata about it but figured going to Kuroo would be the best place to start.

Kenma sat down at the dining table and Kuroo placed an omlette in front of her. She was grateful it looked rather plain as the thought of digesting much else seemed like an ordeal in it of itself. Kuroo watched her as she slowly dug into her meal. Kenma’s stomach was beginning to rebel but she wasn’t about to throw up now.

“Good?” Kuroo asked

“Mmh.” Kenma looked up to see Kuroo staring intently at her nails. “Kuro? Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Ah, I already did.”

Something felt off. “Did you see your ex at the party last night?”

“No? Why are you bringing him up?” Kuroo asked with a frown

Kenma shrugged and continued to eat her breakfast. Kuroo’s breakup had been a messy one but not many people knew the details. Apparently Bokuto knew and that bother Kenma. All she knew, herself, was that it had something to do with her.

“Did you see me with anyone?”

“Well I didn’t see you much in the beginning of the party.”

“But you took me home, right?” Kenma pressed.

“Uh, yeah?”

“You didn’t see me with anyone when you came to take me back?”

Kuroo rubbed her neck. “No…”

Wait…. “Did I have hickey at that time?”

Kuroo looked everywhere but at her. Surely not…

“Kuro, did you give me this hickey?”

To Kenma’s mild horror, tears began welling up in Kuroo’s eyes. “I-I’m so sorry Kenma. I’m really sorry. You can—you can do whatever you want with me. I’m just—“

“Wait, wait, wait…so let me get the events in order: you called a Lyft or something and we went back to our dorm. And then we ended up making out on my bed I’m guessing. And then you got horrified and went to wallow in your room, right?” Everything was starting to finally make sense to Kenma. She always felt as though she were missing something with Kuroo. She knew that a kiss wouldn’t bother Kuroo that much unless it had weight behind it—Kuroo hardly cared about kissing Bokuto after all.

“Yes….” If the kicked puppy look was saying anything, then it was clear that Kuroo expected the worst.

“Kuro….how long have we known each other?”

“I-is this a trick question?”

“No—I mean, why would you expect that I’d get mad?”

“Well because you got mad at Lev…”

“You and I both established Lev is an idiot.” Kenma sighed. “I’m just surprised I didn’t notice this about you.”

“Notice what?” Kuroo asked, slowly looking up at Kenma.

“You liking me.” At that, Kuroo buried her hands in her face and groaned.

“I didn’t want you to notice, that’s why.”

“Why? Because I don’t like you?”

Kuroo mumbled something intelligible in her hands but Kenma had an idea of what she was getting at.

“Kuro….you’re the exception to a lot of my rules. It’s why the thing I’m most surprised about is that I didn’t pick up on your crush.”

“Yeah?” Kuroo asked, peaking up from her hands.

“Yeah.” Kenma smiled, “I notice you all the time.”

Kuroo smiled for what felt like the first time that morning and Kenma’s raging headache didn’t feel as bad as before.

[paladin-andric]

Blackheart, Chapter 26: Tourthun’s Legacy

“Basilrin.”

“Yes…?” the still grieving dragon looked down at the knight, fighting to see through his blurred vision.

“You should go back. See if the others are okay. If they are...you can come back with them and regroup. That way we can all stick together.”

The green dragon took a step back from his brother’s corpse, eyes shut. He slowly began to nod.

“Right...father...I should see if he is well...”

He was clearly still reeling from the revelation that his brother was buried in that monster somewhere, that he could have been saved.

It must have hurt so much. Alexander had experienced something similar, but only with fellow soldiers. To have it happen to family, to someone you have spent your entire life with, and loved with all of your heart…

“Basilrin.”

The dragon was facing away, though he glanced back the sound of his name. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry.”

Basilrin winced. “I...I do not blame you. I do not blame anyone. I...I only wish…”

He turned back around, head lowered.

“...that things could have gone differently,” Alexander finished.

“Right.”

The knight nodded.

“I know the feeling,” he spoke, a bitterness stinging his words, “It’ll take time, but...it’ll start to hurt less.”

“Less…?”

Alexander frowned. “It never goes away...but it stops being all you think about.”

Basilrin nodded solemnly. “I see. Thank you, noble knight.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

The green dragon rumbled. “I will return. Be safe.”

“Good luck.”

With that, Basilrin unfurled his wings and launched into the air, quickly flying Eastward and back to the rest of the group.

Now they were but a small portion of the entire group. Four remained at this entrance. Two humans, a kobold and a dragon.

Almost sounds like the start of a bad joke.

The knight sighed and looked back to the cavern. Though he peered intently, he couldn’t see much of anything. Just a large, blank passageway inside, quickly fading into darkness. Beyond the outlines of the walls, nothing more could be seen.

Go inside.

It was…a strange desire. Alexander was surprised at how badly he wanted to see what was inside.

He found himself taking a step forward. Then another. And another.

“Alexander?”

It was Leianna.

“We should move,” he said in a low voice, “All of this will have been for nothing if we don’t take advantage of discovering one of their lairs.”

“I mean...okay? I suppose.”

The knight shrugged. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Senci frowned, slowly creeping over to the two humans. He had been quiet since Julroul died, and only now seemed to be regaining his composure.

“Oh, God,” the kobold muttered, “W-what do you think is inside?”

“Something important.”

The trio gathered close to one another, weapons drawn as they stood at the mouth of the cave. Each one stared ahead, nervously anticipating whatever trials were ahead of them.

Alexander took a deep breath. “Okay...here we go.”

The knight took the first step inside, quickly followed by the Leianna and Senci. Tourthun quietly followed, taking soft steps, as not to shake the earth and cause a ruckus.

The first thing Alexander noticed was that this cavern seemed to be a straight hallway of sorts. It was wide and tall, but seemed to serve only to bring anyone entering to whatever important thing lay at the end.

The next, and only other thing the knight could make out was that this cavern was DARK. With the fog casting the city in shadow, and no lights along the cavern, it quickly became nearly impossible to see.

“Err...Leianna? Senci? Either of you-”

“On it,” Leianna answered. Alexander could hear her fiddling with something for a few moments until a stroke of vision came and went, before the sound of a plume of flames heralded the arrival of light.

The entire area around them was bathed in the dim and red light of a torch, being held up by the cleric herself. The flames danced across the torch and brought clarity to the cavern around them.

As it appeared at first, it truly was a simply hallway, albeit massive so that dragons could fit through it. It was barren and stretched far ahead of them, still in darkness and outside the torch’s light.

“Well...onward, than.” Alexander gave a nod and the group continued moving.

They walked for several minutes, time seeming to stretch on and on as they kept walking with nothing in sight.

“How big is this place…?” Leianna wondered out loud.

“Only one way to find out,” Tourthun spoke in a near-whisper.

The knight began to sweat heavily. The heat from the torch next to him, combined with the surprisingly warm and humid cavern interior was making him burn up inside his suit. He could feel his clothes underneath all his layers of armor being soaked with sweat as they ventured deeper and deeper into the cave system.

“Mmm...very warm,” Senci noted, sounding quite pleased.

“Indeed,” Tourthun replied, also seeming cheery about it.

Ah, they’re cold-blooded, aren’t they…? Well, actually I don’t know. Never learned about that sort of stuff. Huh.

Though their conversation was light, Alexander felt...wrong. There was something in the air, something that made the hairs on his arms stand up and his breaths to be quicker and shallower.

He could feel an overwhelming sense of dread deep in the pit of his stomach. Something terrible was just around the corner.

That feeling didn’t go away as he marched on, and it seemed the others could feel it too. Their chatter died out and there was palpable tension between them.

“Leianna?”

“What?” Her response was little more than a bark. She was on edge, to be certain.

“Something’s wrong.”

The cleric grunted. “I can feel...a great evil here. There’s something dark in these walls.”

“M-maybe we should go back!” Senci squeaked, “Then we can return with everyone else and all do this together!”

Alexander paused. “That’s...not a bad idea.”

“I guess so,” Leianna said with a sigh, “Don’t want another screw up…damn it, fine. Let’s go.”

As they turned to begin walking back however, they were frozen to the ground in shock.

Past Tourthun, back where they had come from...were figures standing in the shadows.

There were so many, and their outlines stood against the dim light of the entrance far away.

Everyone was silent, Tourthun included. For several long moments, the group and the shadows stood motionless, staring at one another.

After a few moments, Leianna slowly stepped forward and held her torch out. The light crept forward, bathing the first line of figures in light.

Demons.

Not the corrupted, demons.

Dozens of them. Standing shoulder to shoulder. Varied in appearance. Various shades of red, purple and black. Some resembling monsters and beasts, some looking like the demons from most tales heard by the masses.

And this was just the first row. There were so many more in the shadows, figures blocking out the small glimmers of light from the outside.

There must have been hundreds of them.

“You’ll be going nowhere,” a deep voice called out. It was unmistakable. Alexander could recognize it as the demon from Tourthun’s cave.

The red dragon took action immediately. He whirled around and unfurled his wings, launching past the group in a blur. As he passed, his claws reached out and snatched them up, taking hold of them as he sped down the cave.

Alexander couldn’t see anything with his vision obscured by the massive talons of the dragon. As he sat curled up, movement locked by Tourthun’s tight grip of him, he heard that all too familiar explosion of magic.

The accursed beams of death that ate away anything caught within.

He could feel Tourthun whip to the side just as the explosion rang out. It seemed as luck would have it, the path suddenly took a sharp turn, providing them cover against the demons for a time.

The knight could hear many voices, all wrong sounding. The cacophony of unholy noise made him shudder as they flew further inside.

He wished he could just SEE what was happening, being in the dark and unable to know whether they were safe or not began to infuriate him as they ventured ever deeper, Tourthun twisting and turning as he continued flying down the great path.

After some time of this, Alexander felt shock as the claws around him let go, leaving him to drop to the ground with a noisy clang.

The knight shook his head and began to climb back to his feet, looking around as he did so.

They were in what appeared to be a massive, square room. The entire place was lined in a bizarrely patterned stone, runed and glowing red. It was mostly barren...except for a few key items.

In the middle of the room, a large, glasslike protrusion rose from the ground, mist pouring free from it. It greatly unnerved Alexander. Something about it made him shiver just from looking at it. There was an unnatural light from its gleaming specks and angles.

Nearby, a robed figure was sprawled out on the ground, face and body obscured by their robes. They were the only other person in the room.

At the far end of the room, away from the entrance...a trapdoor was sitting, closed and unassuming.

“Tourthun…? Where are we?”

“This is...the end of the cave,” the dragon answered. Something about his voice conveyed a terror the beast couldn’t keep hidden, as much as he tried.

“Who’s this?” Alexander asked, walking over to the robed figure. Leianna moved up as well and flipped the prone person over.

It was a woman, and undoubtedly human. Her face was aged, though not elderly. Her gaze was blank, and her body was motionless.

“Leianna, is she…?”

The cleric placed a hand on the woman, eyes closing as she readied her magic.

“She’s...dead,” the cleric spoke, sounding shocked, “Out here in Julroul’s hideout...who in the world…?”

Tourthun’s eyes widened. “That...that is her!”

“Who?” Senci asked.

“The one I spoke of! The woman I saw!”

“The sorcerer…” Alexander said breathlessly.

“She died…?” Leianna shook her head as she examined the now dead woman.

“That...what was she doing here? What the hell was she doing here? And how the hell are we gonna find out now?!”

“She was holding this.”

Leianna held up a large, blue stone. It was larger than the palm of her hand, and seemed to radiate a faint light.

“Huh.”

“Friends…”

Tourthun still carried that frightened, worried tone in his voice.

“I do not mean to alarm you, but...there were no other paths in the caves. This is the only place it led to, and there appears to be only one exit…”

Leianna looked over to the trapdoor. “Ah, great! Let’s take the stone and go, than.”

As she began to walk towards the door, she froze.

“Wait…that means…”

“Tourthun can’t fit,” Alexander finished.

The dragon let out a nervous chuckle. “Well, I can simply…”

Tourthun walked over to the trapdoor and raised a leg before slamming it down into the wooden door, only…

As the wood burst apart, the dragon was suddenly knocked back with a bright spark of light.

“Huh…?”

The dragon reached down and tried to smash up the floor again, and once more, the ground flashed and his claws bounced off of the stone harmlessly.

“The...the demons have wrapped this room in protective magics.”

The dragon was starting to panic, now. Alexander could tell. He too started to worry. That meant that the only way out was...though hundreds of demons.

The dragon clicked his talons against the floor in thought before he stood up straight. “Ah, if I were to…”

He threw himself against the wall. He was thrown back, the wall showing no damage whatsoever.

The dragon then threw himself into the air, smashing in the ceiling in desperation...only to fall back to the ground without so much as a scratch on the earth that held back one of the mightiest beings in Deaco.

The dragon looked around in a furious panic. “I...there is...perhaps…”

“Leianna, your scrolls!” Alexander exclaimed, “The ones you saved him with before!”

For a moment, the knight’s heart fluttered with excitement...only for his joy to be shot down with a shake of the cleric’s head. Her face bore the look of absolute defeat.

“That...that was the only one I had. We...can’t warp.”

“Than that means…”

Oh, no. No, no, no, no NO.

Tourthun gritted his teeth. “I see...I can understand now. I...I cannot leave with you.”

“No,” the knight cried, “No, Leianna, dispel the magic!”

The cleric leaned down and placed her hand on the ground, divine energy flowing through her. The knight could hear several curses muttered under her breath as she worked, beginning to look tired already.

She stopped and stumbled back, giving the dragon a wide berth. “A-attack it.”

The dragon lifted up his claws high in the air, and swung downward with all of his, might, the entire earth shaking as his massive claws collided with the ground.

The great display of draconic power gave the group a brief sense of hope...only for the truth to be displayed as the dragon took his claws away from the impact area.

A single, tiny bit of stone was chipped, and nothing more.

“I...I’ve never seen such powerful wards in my life,” Leianna uttered, sounding completely spent.

“Oh my God..” Alexander stepped back as he saw what this meant.

Tourthun let out a shaky whimper as he came to his own conclusion.

“F-friends...I...I think this is...where we part ways.”

“NO!” Senci bellowed, “No, never!”

“There is only one escape from this place, and I cannot enter it.”

“No…” Leianna shook her head. “No, there must be something…”

“You...you should go,” Tourthun said softly. His eyes glistened, wet with forming tears. “They will be here at any moment.”

“We can’t just leave you,” Alexander whispered, feeling terror course through him for the first time in quite a while.

“It...it seems you have little choice.”

“NO!” Senci screamed, “No, no, no, no! I will NOT run away! I-if you can’t leave...I’ll stay!”

“Do no such thing!” Tourthun said angrily, “I forbid it!”

“We can beat them if we work together!” the kobold insisted.

Leianna shook her head. “Senci...there were hundreds. We could barely beat one with everyone else there.”

“This is not a winnable battle,” the knight agreed meekly.

“You...you can’t be serious!” Senci cried, tears forming in his eyes. “You aren’t really going to abandon him!”

“It is the only way for you to survive,” Tourthun answered sadly, “There is no other way.”

“There is ALWAYS another way! We can do it, together!”

“Senci…”

“Stop it! Stop giving up!” he wiped at his eyes, looking at the others angrily. “If...if you won’t stand by your friend...than I’ll just do it myself!”

“I told you to LEAVE!” Tourthun bellowed, “I command you, Senci!”

“NO! I won’t leave you! You can’t make me!”

“My death is in vain if you do not escape!” The dragon growled, “Do not betray my wishes!”

“B-but...but we’re friends.” Senci looked up at the dragon, wracked with grief. “Friends...friends stay at each other’s side to the very end.”

“The world is at stake,” Tourthun retorted, “You have to survive, so that you can close the Blackheart. Senci, please...let me go.”

“N-no...no, this isn’t right...this isn’t right!”

Leianna came up from behind and wrapped her arms around Senci, quickly pulling him away.

“H-hey! Stop! Let me go!” the kobold yelled, kicking and struggling as the much larger cleric began to drag him to the trapdoor.

“I’m sorry.”

“Leianna! I thought you cared! I thought you were good! That you didn’t abandon your friends! Stop it...STOP IT!”

“S-sometimes, you can’t do anything. You can’t always solve everything.”

Senci began to wail and cry as he struggled against the cleric. “Nooooo! No, he needs us! He needs our help! You’re abandoning him! Y-you’re gonna let him die!”

“I know,” Leianna answered, her own voice sounding as shattered as Senci’s.

As she cried, Alexander too could feel tears run down his face. Was this really who they were? People willing to let their friends die so they could save their own skin?

Had they really saved Tourthun all those times, just for him to be lost so pointlessly?

“Tourthun…” Alexander could hear a deep-seated sorrow in his voice that he couldn’t recall ever hearing before.

“My dear friend.”

The dragon looked down on the knight, tears flowing down his muzzle and dropping onto the ground. Despite that, he was smiling widely.

“Tourthun...I...I can’t...”

“Do not feel so bad. I...I had little to look forward to in the outside world. Besides...” the dragon looked up to the ceiling, smile widening.

“I...I can finally be with them again. I can finally see mother and father again.”

“Oh, God, Tourthun…”

“I apologize for wasting your time. I only wish I could have been of some actual help.”

“Y-you were amazing, Tourthun.”

“Nonsense.”

The dragon looked over to Senci, who was still screaming and crying as Leianna brought him to the trapdoor.

“Hurry along now, my dear friend. You need to put some distance in between yourself and the demons.”

Alexander could hardly believe it. This was really happening. This was really the end.

“I...Tourthun...I’m sorry we failed you.”

“You did nothing of the sort. You saved me so many times. It is only natural my luck ran out eventually. Besides...you made my final days wonderful. No one ever let me speak of my woes so.”

Alexander could only shake his head as he felt tears and a burning heat in his face.

“Hurry now...hurry! I will hold them for as long as I can. You MUST survive. The entire world is counting on you! Humanity, and all life is in YOUR hands! You must escape!”

The knight slowly began to back up, towards the exit and his companions. “Tourthun...I...I won’t let you be forgotten. I’m going to tell everyone, once this is over. The entire world will know of Tourthun, the Hero of Palethorn! I swear on my life!”

The dragon smiled wistfully, tears still flowing freely. “I appreciate it. Farewell...my dear friend. Bless you.”

“Tourthun...I’ll never forget you.”

The dragon watched him go, holding his smile as Alexander reluctantly climbed down the ladder under the trapdoor.

“Good luck Knight Alexander, hero and friend. I am honored to have met you.”

The narrow and winding rooms underneath the main caves were dark and claustrophobic, though no one dared even give that a second’s thought.

Senci still cried and screamed, begging to be let back. Begging for them to protect Tourthun. Leianna forced the kobold along with a sort of grim sorrow, looking utterly crestfallen at the small lizard’s pleas.

As they continued making their way through this small system of underground rooms, hoping to find another route out of the caves, Alexander couldn’t help but feel immense shame at his actions.

Senci was right. They should have stood alongside Tourthun. Friends stood up for one another to the bitter end. They should have fallen alongside their friend and left Andric, or one of the others to take up the mantle of their quest instead.

“P-please! He needs us! There’s still time! Please, we have to go back! We have to-”

A familiar noise cut Senci off. It was that sound. The one they had all grown to dread.

The explosion signaling a magical beam of pure death.

Immediately afterwards, the loud, bellowing cry of a dragon rang out. There were no more sounds after that.

Though he couldn’t see it, Alexander’s ears told him all he needed to know.

Tourthun was dead.

Senci broke into hysterics, wailing and screaming at the sounds above them.

It was too much. Utterly overwhelmed, all three of them collapsed to the floor, consumed by grief.

Alexander shook, slamming a fist into the wall beside him. His fury flared up as he stewed over one of the most bitter realizations he had even been forced to accept.

What he had been trying to avoid since the siege all that time ago, had just happened again. He had failed to save those counting on him.

“Those demons...I’ll kill them...I’ll slaughter them all!”

While his anger at the injustice burned fiercely, his sorrow ran even deeper. He swallowed hard and shook his head, fist still resting against the wall.

“God damn it...GOD, DAMN IT!”

He huffed and quivered in silence as Senci kept crying, Leianna sitting in silence, hands wrapped around the kobold and tears flowing down her face.

The knight looked back to where they had come from, still in disbelief and struggling to accept that this was real.

The dragon had done so much for him. They had fought together, he had brought them to wherever they needed to go. They had shared intimate details with one another, encouraged and promised to aid each other, both excited to become one another’s friend in the outside world. They had spoken of past, present and future, and become entangled in each other’s lives.

And now he was gone.

The knight shook his head, nose running and eyes watering, all hidden under his helmet. He took in a ragged breath as he thought over all how excited the dragon was to become a protector of humanity, to live among his friends in Havel again.

He thought of all the great and wonderful things the dragon would have done, if he had only been given the chance.

He thought about how unfair it all was.

He thought, and thought, and thought.

“Tourthun…I only wish...that things could have gone differently.”

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