#'they gave him just enough rope to hang himself with; just enough freedom to fall.'

[artwithoutblood]

Dorian can't be happy, Satan's orders.

Ahh, so it was Satan who did it. I wonder if he's the tall radiant man. And apparently Dorian doesn't know him (mentioned in old lore)?

I'm curious. If Dorian was somehow to achieve some measure of happiness... if he managed to be patient enough with the Fallen, if they chose to stay and were able to be content... Would Satan then have to intervene?

But I think he just let Dorian have the Fallen because he knew it wouldn't be a problem.

It seems that this hell favours efficiency, and Satan might feel even fighting with Dorian and denying him things directly is an antidote to the drabness. Doing that could even give Dorian the energy of a frustrated goal and encourage him to challenge Satan or behave in inconvenient ways.

He may just not want to or particularly care to get into it.

So Satan initially slapped the muzzle on Dorian to make life miserable without really engaging and left him to monotony, and later maybe just allowed him to pine for the mortal he couldn't have.

But when Dorian took matters into his own hands, challenging the order of things or sneaking around the rules, Satan knew he didn't have to do much.

Dorian had been left in a situation where he would become bored, isolated and peevish, feeling abandoned. Circumstances where he would become his worst self. It encouraged desperation, impatience, unrealistically built up expectations, suppressed emotions that might burst out at the wrong time and lies that could become exposed. Then he was allowed to take a victim that would arrive traumatized, confused, in denial, and possibly defiant.

This would probably result in a bad ending similar to what we saw. It's not reliable that the Fallen would comply or adjust quickly, so there probably aren't many chances for poor Dorian to get the rosy outcome he wants.

And instead of being energized by anger and injustice at Satan for denying him, and rebelling even harder, Dorian is left demoralized and remorseful. Blaming himself for the consequences of his own actions and feeling emptier than before.

Whether it was malicious or not, intentional or not, Satan won without lifting a finger. Gave Dorian enough rope to hang himself. The nascent challenge fizzled, the order of the circles was upheld.

...As formidable as he is I think Dorian is not the smartest or scariest thing in hell. There is absolutely a a bigger fish here. 😨

can't draw the reply because all of my computers are out of commission, so we're....y'know.

Satan did not put it on him, but everyone jokes that he did. There is no reason for Lucy to bind when he himself is bound. Covered in ice, beautiful blonde hair that's near white, blue eyes that turn yellow in the sunlight. While Satan and Dorian have never met, I like to think that their interactions would be very much the "kind of silly guy vs serious guy who is amused by the silly." Something somber.

I think the relationship with the Fallen would fall apart no matter what. I fear it would be doomed.

Dorian's freedom is easy to get. He has to die again. He cannot die in the monotony, when he is bound to a world that repairs his body for him (for if he is injured he may use the ash as blood). He has never been injured past a few scratches. The ash patches itself even outside. There was a time when Dorian did not do his job. It burned him.

But perhaps he does not...mind the pain now.

The bigger fish is deep within the ice, not what sits on top of it.

[gayconfessioncas]

...

[my-kindred-spirit]

Which is your favourite flower, Kaz?

Summary: Two years after the ending of Crooked Kingdom, Kaz and Inej enjoy a well-deserved moment of peace and happiness in Kaz's farm, surrounded by the beauty of nature. They reflect on their past and the healing they've done, as well as on their feelings for each other. 

Pairing: Kaz x Inej 

Basically, this is just pure FLUFF!!!

INEJ

Inej had always loved looking at the sky. When her mind was still young and naïve, she used to imagine herself walking between the clouds on a white sparkly tightrope, leaving behind her a silver trail decorating the silent sky. She used to dream of her spirit hanging in the air and her soul flying free in the blue infinity of the firmament, with a smile printed on her face and the lightness that is conferred only by liberty sculpted in her heart.    

When her mind was trying to survive the horrors that Fate had destined to her, Inej still looked at the sky. Ketterdam’s sky was grey, opaque with the steam of the cities and almost threatening in his abyssal vastness. It wasn’t arid though. It was very much alive, reached day and night by the laughs of the tourists wandering through the narrow streets of the Barrel, by the drunken songs of the men wasting themselves in the taverns and the joyful or frustrated shouts of the ones playing in the gambling halls. But the sky was also the inevitable witness of the desperate pleas of people being defrauded or robbed, of the painful cries of some poor souls abandoned by the Saints and doomed to a fate of violence and sorrows, of the desperate sobs of girls violated in the brothels. 

Read it on AO3 here!

The sky had never been reached by the Wraith’s voice though. She liked to contemplate it in silence, sitting on Ghezen’s thumb and savoring all the memories of when the clouds looked softer. She had actually hanged in the air and flied as the most elegant and gracious of the birds, but her stage had been roofs and chimneys, not clouds. Her curtain had been a grey and opaque sky, not a bright and azure one. Still, she had defeated gravity, even if not how she had dreamt as a child.

Now that her mind had known pain and had wandered even through the world’s darkest meanders, Inej still loved looking at the sky. She liked to remember both the acrobatics she had performed on the rope, admired by her proud family, and the brave stunts she had succeeded in as the Wraith, with Ketterdam’sky as her sole witness. She liked to admire the blue intense sky towering on the True Sea and the azure one inundating with light and hope Kaz’s farm.    

 It was early June and the clouds looked softer than ever. The sun burnt high in the clear azure sky and his shiny rays softly tinged the boundless meadows gold. 

Inej let her eyes part from the sky and wander around the immense verdant meadows surrounding her, which stretched as far as eye can see and finally got lost between the vague trembling lines of the horizon, in a pyrotechnic explosion of colours. She admired the flowery fields and the carpet of grass she was sitting on, embroidered with the golden light of the daffodils, the white purity of the daisies, the gentle pink of the roses, the purple of the wild geranium – her mother’s favourite flower- and the strong blue of the irises, which reminded her of the unforgiving waves colliding with her Wraith. On the distance she could see the orchards tinging the landscape pink: she recognized the light-pink petals of cherries, the darker pink and orange flowers of the peaches and then the white and pinkish heart-shaped flowers of the apricots, slowly falling to the ground and leaving place to the orange velvety drupes.

The fresh floral perfume was inebriating and the delicate scent of grass, soft and faintly damp under her touch, graced her nostrils and intoxicated her thoughts. A soft symphony of birds singing reigned in the colourful heaven and lulled her, accompanied by the gentle tune of a light pleasant breeze, the soft murmurings of the creek beyond the orchards and the melody of... of feets approaching her.

 “You have picked some flowers.” Inej turned around and watched Kaz nodding to the wooden basket full of flowers, while slowly sitting beside her. This Kaz’s voice, Kaz Rietveld's voice, was not as raspy as Kaz Brekker’s one. He wasn’t even using the cane, which he had come to find unnecessary for walking on the soft grass.                                                                                                          This Kaz, her Kaz, had longer hair on the sides and brown highlights, result of almost three weeks spent in the sun. He had even tanned a bit and gotten freckles all over his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose, and the corners of his mouth seemed to be turned up in a smile more often than not. He was wearing simple black breeches and a loose white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. No coat, no hat. No gloves. His eyes, however, were the same colour of bitter coffee as always.

“Wylan helped me earlier.” Inej observed Kaz eyeing the flowers with a troubled expression and then slowly lifting his head to look at her. “I've never given you flowers.”  

  KAZ 

“You have picked some flowers”.  Inej turned around and Kaz swore he had felt his heart stopping. The sun rays caressed her chocolate skin and framed her beautiful face. Oil black lashes fanned over her cheeks and a light breeze ruffled her silky dark hair. Her obsidian eyes resembled the darkest of the abysses and Kaz craved to forget himself and die in his pitch-dark immensity. Her vivid eyes sparkled as the brightest and most vibrant of stars and Kaz ached to live eternally and enshrine that light in a golden casket.

To Kaz, she didn’t look real, not for him. To Kaz, she looked holier that any of the Saints she devotedly believed in, so stunning that he thought he might just break down and cry if he looked at her any longer. Enveloped by the rainbow of flowers and trees, she looked like a picture painted by Purity itself, with the colourful palette of kindness and hope and the silver brush of strength and determination.

Kaz couldn’t thank any God enough that she was real. He jealously cherished every moment in which his eyes were graced with the sight of her elegant figure and kind smile, as he had never seen her before, as he would never see her again. He had learned to welcome and appreciate even the feeling of his breath catching and mouth drying whenever he looked at her, whenever he was a boy again, sure that there was magic in this world.

To Kaz, looking at Inej felt like dying. It felt like he couldn’t hope nor ask to breathe the same air of a heart so kind, a soul so hopeful, a mind so strong. It felt like being lost in the vastness of the universe, like navigating the tumultuous waves of the True sea, overwhelmed by feelings he never knew his hearth could fell, stunned by a fate he didn’t believe he deserved. It felt like being consumed by her, for her.  

To Kaz, looking at Inej felt like living. It felt like he could hope to walk this land as a better man, like he had managed to pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. It felt like having been hurt and then healed, like the sorrows and ghost of his past wouldn’t persecute him for evermore, like life was worth living. It felt like being whole, like the void in his soul had been filled by her, for her.  

To Kaz, looking at Inej felt like looking at the sun, like being warmed and burned, overwhelmed by a powerful oxymoron of emotions, a powerful oxymoron of life and death. To Kaz, Inej looked like the sun. To Kaz, Inej looked brighter than the sun.

“Wylan helped me earlier.” Kaz looked at the wooden basket full of flowers and a sudden realization striked him : flowers, he had never gifted her with flowers. He had given her a knife, sure, but he had done it for his own personal purposes, for turning her into his Wraith. Now they had been staying in Johannus Rietveld's farm for almost three weeks, literally surrounded by flowers, and he had never given her any. Would she have wanted him to? Would she have liked a gift that would have reminded her of her happy childhood, and not of the violence she had been forced to face? Would she have liked a gift that he would have given her had they met in another life, had they been Inej Ghafa and Kaz Rietveld, instead of the Wraith and the Bastard of the Barrel?

He shifted his eyes back to hers and murmured weakly, “I’ve never given you flowers.” Inej looked taken aback for a moment, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, before quickly recomposing herself and setting her face into a stoic, indecipherable expression. She looked straight into his eyes, pursed lips and brow furrowed, and Kaz knew he was inevitably about to enhance the list of his unforgivable sins. “Kaz”, her voice came out unbearably severe and disappointed and Kaz knew he would have gladly chosen death if it’d mean he would never be the one to bring that tone in her angelic voice again. But then her lips twitched almost imperceptibly, like she was trying with all her might to hold back Kaz’s final death sentence, and her eyes gleamed with… amusement?

A laugh, she was trying to hold back a laugh. How Inej managed to turn Dirtyhands, the brain which had broken into the Ice Court and destroyed one of Ketterdam’s most powerful man, into a lovestruck fool was downright beyond him. “Inej”, he sighed defeated and her whole face lighted up with delight, before she carefreely threw her head back and released the most infectious and crystalline of laughs. Now Kaz was sure he was going to die, mercilessly killed by the most beatific sound which had ever reached his ears, undeniably annihilated by the same laugh he craved for all-day long and graced his dreams every night, by the truest and most profound essence of her.

Her eyes sparkled with sheer love and a warm, affectionate smile enlightened her features: “Kaz, you gave me my Wraith, you found my parents for me, you restored my freedom when I thought there were no hope or salvation left for me”, she cooed fondly and tenderly, “do you honestly believe I would be upset because you never gave me flowers?”. Kaz felt his lips immediately turning up in a sincere smile and, not trusting himself with words, slowly shifted his hand and brushed his knuckles against hers, asking the permission she immediately granted, sliding her smaller hand into his callous one and entwining their fingers. It was always like this between them, a game of continuous asking and giving permissions, of constant gaining and offering trust, a game he genuinely believed they were slowly yet effectively winning.

“Do you want to know what my father used to tell me when I was little?” Inej asked softly, while lovingly drawing little circles with her thumb on Kaz’s bare hand.

“Another Suli wise proverb?” he smirked.

“No, Kaz”, she playfully rolled her eyes, “not another of our useful proverbs. He used to tell me that there would have been many boys to bring me flowers, but that only one would have known my favourite flower, or song or sweet. And that even if he’d have been too poor to give me any, he wouldn’t have mattered, because that boy, and him only, had earnt my heart.”

Kaz’s heart leaped with joy: he knew. He had never given her flowers, but he knew her favourite one, he knew. “Dahlia. Your favourite flower is the Dahlia, the red one. You told me when we saw one in the flower stall in Goedmedbridge, remember? We were following those Dime Lions. You said you liked it because it appeared elegant and graceful, but that the red colour made it look also somewhat powerful and strong.”, he blurted out with the excitement of a child. ”And your favourite sweet are those chocolate biscuits Nina made you try when you visited her in Ravka last summer. The ones she had cooked modifying Matthias's Fjerdian recipe.”

“And my favourite song?”

Hearing Inej’s trembling, touched voice snapped Kaz out of his frantic enthusiasm, his grin softening into a lovely crooked smile and devotion gleaming in his eyes. “You don’t have one. You can’t choose between all the lullabies your mother singed to get you to sleep.”

  INEJ 

Inej didn’t answer. She tightened her hold on Kaz’s hand, but didn’t answer. She fought the urge to cry – if from happiness or gratitude or emotion she couldn’t say-, but didn’t answer. She looked into his strong tea brown eyes as if he was a miracle of her Saints, but didn’t answer. She couldn’t, for the life of her, find her voice, because this boy, this man, had earned her heart.  

She had fallen for Dirtyhands under the grey sky of Ketterdam, the man who had freed her from a cage of horrors and humiliations and had given her, if not happiness or safety, a new perspective, a new possibility at life. She had fallen for the man who, as first thing, had refused to call her with that grotesque, demeaning name Tante Heleen had given her, but had asked for her real name, for how she wished to be called. She had fallen for the Bastard of the Barrel, the man who had taught her how to fight and defend herself, how to become powerful and even dangerous, how to make others respect her. She had fallen for the man who had never wanted to own her or annihilate her identity. She had fallen for the man who, even if hadn’t promised her that, had always protected her, whatever the cost.  

Then she had slowly came to know Kaz Rietveld and had fallen hard for him too. She had fallen for the boy who looked sincerely ashamed after being scolded by Mr. Fahey, for the boy who fought everyday against his demons and was willing to defeath them to be with her. She had fallen for the boy who smiled light-heartedly and laughed freely, for the boy whose eyes glowed in the sun and gleamed with a nervous yet warm devotion while braiding her hair.

She had fallen for the man who wanted her and wished to dedicate himself to her, without gloves, without armour. She had fallen for the naive, sweet boy Kaz had once been and for the man revenge and greed had shaped, a crow mercilessly remindful or who had wronged him, but also of who had been kind and fair. She had fallen for who he was becoming, a man who had known pain and hatred, but was willing to open the rusty gate of his hearth to love and friendship.

She had fallen for Kaz Brekker, the man who had returned her the liberty which had been violently snatched from her and had found her beloved parents. The man who had encouraged her ambitions and supported her constantly in her fight against the slavers.

She had fallen for Kaz Brekker. She loved Kaz Brekker, and he had earned her heart. He possessed her heart.

“I can braid your hair, if you’d like. I… I could add the flowers.” Hadn’t she just been thinking he owned her heart?

Her voice still failed her, so she resolved to nod. She watched Kaz shifting a bit to sit behind her and heard his breathing deepening. After a few instants, Inej welcomed the cherished feeling of Kaz’s long fingers caressing her inky hair with a gentleness that didn’t surprise her anymore. She felt him dividing the hair into three even parts, before crossing the left section over the middle one and then doing the same with the right section. As always, he worked in silence, section after section, strand after strand, breath by breath, brick by brick. The first times he had braided her hair, Inej had felt Kaz's fingers trembling and his breathing fastening, so she had started to ask him what was on his mind, to distract him, or she would tell him stories from her childhood, to soothe him.

Now, his fingers didn't tremble anymore and he was rather succesful in controlling his breathing, but Inej still whished to hear his concentrated voice. She still wanted to explore the gears of his psyche, to navigate the thunderous stream of his thoughts, to know the forbidden ruminations of his complex mind. “Wha”, she coughed, clearing his throat, “What are you thinking right now, Kaz?”

“I thought you'd never ask.”, he chuckled, and Inej could perfectly figure his mischievous grin.

“Kaz.”

“Darling Inej, treasure of my heart, I'm thinking about how it's taking me forever to braid all this hair. I swear I'll cut it, one day or another.”

“You wouldn't dare!”, she cried out in mock outrage, repressing a laugh.

“Would you slit my throat with Sankta Alina while I sleep, if I cut it?”

“You have to ask?”

“Then no, I wouldn't dare.”, Kaz answered with an exaggeratedly fearful tone that really didn't suit him.

They kept silent for a moment, pursing their lips, before giving in and bursting out laughing until tears rolled down their cheeks with amusement. “I never knew Dityhands was so easily scared", Inej sputtered out between laughs, “he is such a chicken, isn't he?”.

“Stop making me laugh Inej", he sniggered, “or I'll get confused and will have to start the braid from the beginning. I'm doing a delicate operation here while you just sit and laugh, you know?”

“Sorry, sorry", she wiped a tear from her left eye, “but you still have to tell me what you are thinking about.”

They slowly calmed down, quieting their breathing and setting into a comforting silence. Inej, however, had felt Kaz’s fingers slightly tensing up and when his hand shifted to take a geranium into the basket -after having secured the braid-, she asked again. “Kaz, tell me please.”

He took a deep breath. His fingers trembled. “I’m thinking if this is how it would have been. If we hadn’t become Dirtyhands and the Wraith, that is.”

Inej’s heart gave a painful squeeze. “Kaz”, she started soothingly, “we-.

“Would you want us to be only Kaz Rietveld and Inej Ghafa, sitting on the grass and enjoying the sun, while I braid your hair? Would you want me to be able to touch you as every man touches his girlfriend? Would you- ”

“No, Kaz, I wouldn’t.”, she brusquely interrupted him, “I wouldn’t.”. She swiftly turned around, took both his hands in hers without giving much thought to caution and permissions, and looked straight into his eyes with the determination of who allows for no replication. “I wouldn’t, Kaz. I wouldn’t because, if we hadn’t become Dirtyhands and the Wraith, we would have never met. And even if we had met, we wouldn’t have been who we are today, and believe me when I say I’d never change who we are, for anything in the world. It’s not Kaz Rietveld the one I’m in love with, you know. I’m in love with him, with Dirtyhands, with the Bastard of the Barrel.” Inej swore he’d never looked that dumbfounded, but she wasn’t quite finished. “I’m in love with Kaz Brekker. I’m in love with you, Kaz. As you’re in love with the Wraith, with Captain Ghafa, with Inej. Aren’t you, Kaz?”, and this time she didn’t even try to hold back the tears.

“Inej”, he murmured with a devotion who made her feel holier than the Saints she believed in, “Inej”, he repeated, while slowly untangling his right hand from hers and lifting it to her cheeks. With the gentlest touch, he captured her tears with his fingertips and delicately wiped them away, one by one. “Inej”, and if she could have bottled the sound of her name being so tenderly whispered by his lips and gotten drunk on it every night, she would have. ”Inej”, he delicately cupped her right cheek, while his other hand went to softly rest on her neck. “Inej”, he got closer to her and Inej thought her heart might just jump out of her chest, “Inej”, and he slowly lowered his head, lips hovering over her cheek. “Inej”, and his crimson lips brushed the tip of her nose, his hands slightly tremulous. “Inej", and his warm lips captured a tear rolling down her left cheek, and then another and another. “Inej", and his soft lips grazed her forehead, while she lifted her trembly hands and delicately yet eagerly rested them on his wrists. “Inej", and she had barely a moment to register the lonely tear falling from his left eye, before she finally felt the cherished pressure of his moist lips against hers, both familiar and new all at once. And a rainbow of colours and emotions exploded behind her closed eyelids.

In this moment, when Kaz's lips were pressed against hers, Inej knew that she'd never be the same again, that she'd never forget the taste of him, that she’d never give anything for granted, that she'd never stop fighting for what is good and just in this twisted world. In this moment, while she could feel the faintest brushes of tongues and the most sheer connection of hearts and souls, Inej found herself floating away, knowing nothing but Kaz, his smell, his breath, his hands on her skin, his hearth throbbing madly in his chest. In this moment, when he finally met her where she had been waiting for him, Inej thanked all her Saints and treasured the arduous path that, after years of battles and sufferings and anguish, had allowed them to live this precious instant, this precious everything.

When they finally pulled away, hearts gone mad with joy and euphoria, Inej looked into Kaz's blissful eyes and gave him a watery smile: “Which is your favourite flower, Kaz?”

A/N:  Hey guys, thank you so much for reading!!! What do you think Kaz's favourite flower would be?? Tell me in the comments!

[glimmerglanger]

Sooo, I got this prompt from @anstarwar

Hi! I just stayed up til o’dark thirty finishing MYB and just had to hop over and say WOW. Love your writing! If you’re still taking prompts for supplemental stories I’m super curious what happened to Bly when he “woke up?” I just can’t help but think it’d be so devastating for him....I wanna give him a hug....anyways thank you!

AND OOOOF. Well, it’s not going to be a...happy time? For anyone? You’re probably going to want to give him more of a hug after this?

This snippet deals a lot with mind-control related trauma, being forced to kill someone against your will, suicidal ideation/a suicide attempt, and survivor’s guilt. People don’t always handle trauma in a neat and tidy way. This is… NOT neat and tidy, anger is one stage of grief, and something people who are hurt lash out, so lots of warnings for all of that. Past Blyla. A lot of hurt.

~~~~

Bly had some information to work with, by the time the thing in his head just stopped working, between one breath and the next. The thing had controlled his body for a timeless stretch, piloting him around the ship, to his quarters and to the bridge.

It read all the reports issued by the Imperial Command, and so Bly saw them, too.

He’d read that the Vigilance had been taken, taken by traitors in a mutiny, and he’d wanted to cheer, because of course Cody had found a way out, a way around the things in their head. 

He’d read that the Emperor wanted the heads of CC-2224 and the traitor Kenobi and so he’d known, too, that General Kenobi had somehow survived. That Cody had been strong enough to - to not pull the trigger on the Jedi he loved.

Not like Bly, who had leveled his blaster on Aayla’s back and squeezed the trigger and--

He wished he could grab his blaster again, but his body fought him, over and over again, until it just stopped. 

Bly was standing on the bridge when the thing in his head just...went away. There was no warning, no way for him to prepare. One moment, there were restraints around every piece of him and the next they were just gone.

Someone whimpered, across the bridge as Bly stared forward, breathing raggedly, swaying on his feet. His hand moved, automatically, towards the blaster at his hip. His fingers curled around the grip and he had it in hand before Ambler hit him around the chest and bore him to the floor, panting, “Don’t - don’t - please.”

“Get off of me,” Bly rasped out and they were poor first words, ragged and wet. He couldn’t breathe properly. His eyes stung and burned. The entire world had gone blurry. He reached for the blaster again - he’d shot Aayla in the back, his General, his everything, he’d shot her in the back and--

“I can’t,” Ambler said, knee on Bly’s wrist, the weight making his fingers spasm open. “I can’t, sir, I’m sorry.”

And Bly tried to say something, anything, else, but the words wouldn’t come, not for a long time.

#

Ambler refused to give Bly his blaster back, even after Bly got his breathing under control. Bly stared at him, the initial surge of emotion that had come with freedom fading away. He could control it. He had to control it.

Ambler had done the right thing, Bly decided, behind his helmet. He had things he needed to do, before he-- 

Made up for things.

He shook that thought aside. His brothers needed him. They didn’t have a General anymore - he’d seen to that - which meant--which meant they needed Bly to keep them safe. To help them figure out what to do.

He cleared his throat, ignoring the tears drying all over his cheeks under his helmet, and ordered the nat-borns on the ship restrained. And then he started looking for the Vigilance. Cody had gotten them free, he had no doubt. Somehow, the crazy son of a bantha had freed them all, and--

And he was wanted by the Empire. Kriff, they were probably all about to be wanted by the Empire.

Which meant they needed to be together. They’d be safer in greater numbers. “We had a message about some kind of attack on Kamino,” Burr said, from across the bridge, as they tried to figure out where to go. “But the message got cut off.”

“Head there,” Bly said, his voice a ragged mess. It was as good a place to go as any.

#

They found ruination on Kamino, but no sign of Cody or the Vigilance. No sign of any of their little brothers. Whatever had happened on the planet was long over by the time they dropped out of hyperspace.

But there was a buoy, tiny and transmitting on a strange frequency. Circuitboard decoded it while Bly sat in his quarters, staring at the wall, trying not to think of anything, definitely not the way Aayla had looked in his bunk, blue skin peeking out from beneath drab gray blankets, lekku curling softly with pleasure, and--

The buoy was transmitting coordinates, Circuitboard said, when he commed Bly. Bly looked down to find that he’d torn his sheets into long strips. He’d been twisting them, winding them into a long rope.

He stared down at his shaking hands, just for a moment, and gave the order to head to the coordinates, rising to his feet. He felt he should be on the bridge, at least for the start of their journey.

By the time he got back to his quarters, someone had taken away the damaged sheets. They’d taken away a lot of things. The room looked almost bare. Prickle - his new medic - was waiting inside the room, arms crossed, and said, “I can stay in here with you, or you can come to the medbay with me, the choice is yours.”

“Do what you want,” Bly told him, hollow inside, and curled up on the bare bed, not thinking about Aayla’s fingers stroking over his brow or the marks on his cheeks or--

Or anything else.

#

Cody left them a trail of breadcrumbs to follow, like they were playing one of the hunt-and-find games they’d indulged in back on Kamino, years ago. Cody’d always been better at hunting than hiding.

Maybe that was still true, because Bly found the Vigilance in orbit around an ugly gas giant on the borders of Wild Space, a small little flotilla around it. There were two other Venator-class ships by the Vigilance, and for a beat Bly wondered if the entire thing was an Imperial trap, his he and his brothers were about to be shot out of the sky.

He didn’t raise their shields. 

And a moment later familiar voices came over the comms, shouting words of welcome and relief.

#

Cody insisted that Bly come over to the Vigilance. Bly wasn’t sure he technically had to obey Cody’s orders, anymore, but if anyone was in charge of all of them, it had to be Cody, and so he went. 

He stared at the wall of the shuttle, even after it landed. He managed to get to his feet when Cody opened the rear hatch, turning to look at his brother - his batchmate - opening his mouth and then closing it again, before asking, “How the kriff did you do it?”

Cody looked back at him, expression tightly controlled, and said, “It’s a long story.”

Bly just stared at him. He felt...hollow inside. Cody winced, a little, and then exhaled. “Come on,” Cody said, reaching out and gripping his shoulder, “I’ll tell you.” 

#

Bly listened to all of it. He had a feeling, deep in his head, that Cody wasn’t going into the details, but it didn’t really matter. Bly got the gist of it. Cody really had saved his Jedi. Nearly blown up his head to do it, but he had, while Bly had drawn his blaster and--

“Where is he?” Bly asked, sitting in General Kenobi’s quarters - the ones Cody had been living in for years - and staring forward, eyes burning.

“On the bridge,” Cody said, with a little shrug. 

Bly nodded. He remembered what Aayla had looked like, last time she’d been on the bridge, her eyes tired as she looked over holos, one hand bandaged from a fall, lovely and alive and--

“I should get back,” Bly said, standing, because his men were in Cody’s care, now, and, obviously, Cody would take better care of them. Cody’d almost killed himself, proving that, while Bly had just raised his blaster and pulled the trigger and--

“You’re going to stay here,” Cody said, like it wasn’t even a question, in the same tone that had led to them fighting more than once when they were shinies on Kamino, Cody always thinking everyone should just listen to him-- “Catch me up on everything. Get some rest, for a day or two.”

“With all due respect,” Bly said, tone too flat to be sharp, “I’m rested plenty.”

“I talked to Prickle,” Cody said, and Bly wondered why, staring forward, not looking at Cody, even when Cody tried to step into his field of view. 

“That so?” Bly asked, trying to muster the energy to care and failing. He should have cared about them whispering about him behind his back, but he just--

Didn’t.

“That’s so,” Cody said. “And so you’re staying here.”

“Fine,” Bly said, gaze flicking momentarily towards the blaster at Cody’s hip. “Whatever you say, sir.”

He caught Cody’s wince out of the corner of his eyes, and a part of him wanted to apologize immediately but-- He’d done so much worse. Things he’d never be able to apologize for, he’d lifted his blaster and--

“Good,” Cody said, firm. “Let’s get some dinner.”

#

Bly pushed mush around his plate. He ate a bite, maybe two. His appetite had died with everything else that mattered, systems and systems away from where he currently was. 

Cody made noises about him needing to eat more, but he’d just have to live with what Bly could manage, unless he planned to bring in a tube and force it down Bly’s throat. Maybe he would. Bly considered the idea dispassionately.

In the end, Cody just frowned over him and took Bly back to his quarters. Cody brought along an extra meal, and something in Bly’s gut twisted hard, just looking at it. He felt like there was something inside him, a dam, perhaps, and that it was starting to crack, all down the middle.

He didn’t want to know what was on the other side of it.

“Why don’t you get in the fresher,” Cody said, and Bly shrugged. The fresher looked the same as the one he’d used for years. There was even a Jedi robe hanging on one of the hooks along the wall and for a moment he could imagine--

But it wasn’t Aayla’s. The weave was too heavy. And she’d preferred darker, richer colors. Earth tones. He stared at his fingers, clenched in the fabric, and made himself release it with a shudder. He took off his armor. Set it aside. Stepped under the water.

Aayla had loved the decadence of a water shower. She’d insisted he join her in one, more than once, the two of them wedged in together, laughing as they jostled for space and it always ended with her in his arms, hands sliding on the slippery walls, her fingers clenching at his shoulders, and--

He’d shot her. In the back. Hadn’t even hesitated. Ordered her body pushed into a shallow grave and she’d probably been ravaged by scavengers and--

Bly jerked out from under the water. He dried off, pulled back on a set of blacks that looked clean. Cody’s, he assumed. They mostly fitted; after years of different experiences, their bodies were no longer exactly the same. They’d built muscle differently. Some of them were stronger than others.

Cody had managed to fight the thing in his head.

And Bly had--

He tried to hold together the splintering dam inside his head, stepping back out into the main room. He wondered where Cody expected him to sleep, and the consideration fell out of his head when he realized they weren’t alone anymore.

Cody was sitting on the end of the bunk, talking to General Kenobi, low and earnestly. And Kenobi--

Was alive. Standing there in his tunic, his hair with more white in it around the temples than Bly recalled, a lightsaber on his belt. And seeing him split the widening cracks in Bly’s chest even further. He felt his jaw grinding as Kenobi looked up and over at him, inclining his head a little as he said, “Commander, I’m...so sorry, I--”

Kenobi cut off at a sharp, ragged-edged sound. Bly realized after a moment that it was coming from him. Laughter. 

Kenobi shifted his weight back, just a little, as Bly rasped out, “You’re sorry?”

He was distantly aware of Cody standing up, reaching out and putting a hand on Kenobi’s stomach. But that seemed like it was happening somewhere else. Everything, the entire world, was Kenobi’s expression, his too-wide eyes and the way all the color had washed out of his face. 

“Bly,” Cody started, and Bly felt his mouth twist up, felt the last little pieces of resistance in his chest wash away. 

“You’re sorry?” Bly repeated, taking a step forward. “She’s dead and--you’re sorry? You?”

Kenobi took a step back. “I--”  

“It isn’t fair,” Bly snapped, moving closer, and oh, it wasn’t, nothing about this was fair, it was brutal and wrong and -- “She’s dead, and you’re still here. Still just fine, aren’t you? Just like always? And you’re sorry?”

Cody stepped between them, one hand extended out towards Bly, mouth moving when he said, “That’s--”

“Why did you get to live?” Bly demanded, trying to bat Cody’s hand out of the way. Cody grunted and reached to grab him. “When she died? Why couldn’t it have been her? Just -- it should have been her, not you, she was--”

His words cut off when his shoulders hit the wall, both Cody’s hands in the front of his blacks, something dark and snapping in Cody’s eyes when he snarled, “That’s enough. Not another kriffing word, do you hear me?”

Bly opened his mouth, and never got a chance to say anything, because Cody jerked back from him at the sound of retching from the fresher. Cody swore, viciously, and pushed him against the wall again. “You stay right there,” Cody snapped, heading for the fresher, reaching for his comm and spitting something into it that Bly didn’t hear.

When Bones showed up, a few moments later, to collect him, Bly went along willingly enough. Whatever anger had moved through him had dissipated as quickly as it had come. He just felt… empty again. Completely empty.

[dreamsafterhours]

⚠️ tw: weapon use, mentions of blood

1:07pm: “well, you’re not cod.”

it was not the silky smooth skin (scales?), nor the somewhat fascinating slits for gills flaring in the creature’s shock that first caught your attention. not even the wriggling tail, shimmering golds and greens and blues even in minimal sunlight with every movement.

it was the eyes. the wild young eyes that defied the status of prey and established itself as a living being, not just a body of meat and bones. there was a soul there, so hungry and alive, barely containing the storm behind them.

it was startling how such fire could come from a child of the sea.

thetis had blessed you today with your first close-up look at a real merman, suspended above you in a fishing net. still hissing and thrashing, it bared its teeth at you and the crew, fighting for freedom, but only managing to tangle itself further in the process.

"lucky catch?" first mate!johnny mused, shrugging his shoulder.

"didn't think we'd see merpeople in these waters," quartermaster!jaehyun muttered.

cook!chenle was shaking his head. "we can't eat that," he said, arms crossed over his chest.

"no shit," pirate!haechan replied, "we've all heard the stories — men's blood freezing up in their veins." he shuddered. "don't know about y'all, but i'm not about to have my blood turned into slush."

your crewmates' words hung about you like the low-hanging clouds on a still day, and yet you couldn't take your eyes off the creature, so very clearly out of its element.

to see such a beautiful, fatal beast struggling in such a way under your hand, exposed and vulnerable — so wonderfully voyeuristic and intimate, you couldn't help but become intrigued by it. him.

his eyes had turned from furious to panicked as the net was lowered down onto the deck, grabbing at the ropes and swiping desperately as if his claws could cut through in such a time.

you still had yet to say a word, still stunned with awe as he spilled out onto the wooden deck along with the rest of the catch — but found yourself lunging forward as you saw your crew stepping forward to handle him however they planned.

hand at your sheathed cutlass, you stepped in front of the merman, turning to face your crew with a daring glare.

"you won't touch him," you warned, raising your chin to challenge anyone to question your authority.

jaehyun let out a sigh and motioned for the others to step back. they begrudgingly obeyed, just as the captain's quarters opened and captain!taeyong, your brother, stepped out on deck.

"what's going on there?"

"merman, sir," cabin boy!jisung piped up, "pulled up the fishing net and there he was, sir."

"merman, you say?" taeyong repeated, taking his time down the stairs. "you mean that boy?"

looking back at him, your jaw dropped as the boy's tail seemed to melt away, fins into flesh and bending into knees — real knees, ankles and feet and all — right before your very eyes.

the boy's face was twisted with nausea and pain, and you realised he must have been enduring the sensations of new limbs being created in real time, bones fusing and scales sinking into skin, then splitting into two separate legs. you winced as he visibly fought back a strained groan of agony.

you took a second to process the transformation before you as the crowd parted for your captain like the splitting sea as he approached. you clenched your jaw when he signalled you to step aside, but you did so cautiously nevertheless.

crouching in front of the naked half-boy, taeyong ignored his (weaker) warning hiss and held a short blade under his chin, tilting it upwards so as to get a better look at his gills as they vanished, fusing back into the skin of his neck. he took a long gasp of air, strained with the position he was held in.

"now, what's a pretty thing like you doing in our fishing net?"

instead of replying, he snapped at his hand, jaws opening to reveal a normal, human set of teeth. instead of flinching, however, like most of the crew, your brother gave him a warning of his own, stabbing downwards at the half-boy's no-longer-webbed hands. the blade caught the gap between his thumb and finger, which would have pinned him to the deck had he still been in his merman form.

your grip tightened on your cutlass' handle as the creature yelped in shock. "taeyong, enough!" nudging him hard out of your way, you reach down and pull the knife out, throwing it aside. you turn on your brother, recovering from his fall. "get away from him," you snapped, only to be met with laughter.

"what's it to you, whether it dies or not?"

"you'll leave him alone, and that's that." you tried to put as much finality as you could into your voice, half-worried it wouldn't be enough — but to your surprise, taeyong snorted and gave you a nod.

"suit yourself," he placed his hands on his hips, "what would you have us do with it, then? leave it in the sun to dry?"

the merman let out a low growl at that suggestion, but you ignored it.

"we let him go."

pirate!jaemin threw off his shirt to drape over the shivering boy as he was hauled up onto shaky new feet, legs buckling and knees giving in with the first few steps he took.

as soon as he could take certain steps, taeyong ordered for the plank to be taken out, and they were quick to usher him onto it to drop back into the sea. he hadn’t helped at all, squirming profusely in protest all throughout.

the boy's previous feral ferocity had long since gone, and his eyes now screamed of a strange panic and fear. glancing from the horizon to his feet and the waters below and back, he seemed to be hesitating. wasn't the ocean his home?

you didn't dare move a muscle in anticipation until he looked desperately over his shoulder, staring straight at you — begging for mercy from the only person who had granted it to him.

pure instinct launched you forward, stepping onto the plank and tiptoeing over to him, ignoring your crew's exclamations behind you.

"it's okay," you called out, "you can come back."

the boy clutched at the shirt, wrapping it tighter around himself as he trembled in cold, beautiful face twisted in anguish.

"come back with me," you beckoned, reaching your open hand out. "i can protect you."

you realised you didn't even know for certain that he knew what you were saying, but your eyes seemed to say enough for him. he managed a shaky step towards you, then another, and another, until he was within reach for him to take your hand (albeit tentatively).

the plank was nowhere near wide enough for you to support him side by side, so you offered your arm and shoulder for him to grab onto and lean on as you led him back onto the ship. the crew allowed enough space for him to collapse to his knees almost as soon as he climbed back on deck, and you ordered for jisung to bring him a new outfit.

soon, the crowd dispersed, returning to their duties — you looked up from helping him put on a clean shirt to taeyong, grinning down at you.

"you'll be responsible for it from now on," he said.

"i know."

"good," he nodded slowly, seeming to be proud of himself.

you fastened the last button for him and examined his face as he stared down into his lap.

"do you have a name?"

the boy's pale lips twitched, like he was trying to form words as you had done.

you repeated your question, softer and slower.

you didn't know what voice you were expecting from him, but it was more melodic and fragile than you could have ever imagined.

"renjun," he murmured, "my name is renjun."

—

part two

[jawritter]

Let’s Get Lost

Summary: Jensen takes you on a date to the local corn maze in lue of Halloween, and the fall season with every intention of getting lost. 

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Reader

Warnings: Agoraphilia kink (public sex kink), Smut, outdoor sex, fluf, language, unprotected sex, dry humping? Sex on a bet. That’s pretty much it I think.

Word Count: 2743

A/N: This fic was beta’d by the lovely @miss-nerd95! Thanks so much love!! I haven’t dropped a Jensen Ackles one shot in a long time, so I figured in light of Kinktober, it seemed like the thing to do. LOL. As always please do not copy my work! Feedback is golden! I hope you guys enjoy this one!!

Want more? Check out my Masterlist, and if that’s not enough become a patreon, and get exclusive fics as well as make request! 

**MASTERLIST**   **BECOME A PATREON**

The night air was turning crisp as the sun sank down past the low hanging clouds, casting long shadows of the trees along the highway as you stared out of the windshield in front of you. Jensen’s free arm slung over the seat with his hand resting on your shoulder, his bowed legs that you loved so much spread in a relaxed seated position and a pair of shades resting on the bridge of his nose as he drove down the fairly empty road out of town. His fingers drum lightly on Baby’s steering wheel to the sounds of Zeppelin that filtered through the speakers. 

This was by far your most favorite place in the world to be. The front seat of Baby with Jensen’s arm caging you protectively against his side, hints of the season’s change thick in the air  which was blowing through the open windows. 

You didn’t get to do this often in Texas, where cold days even in fall were few and far in between. Jensen’s work schedule was also part of a huge problem as far as nights out alone could go. Thankfully, even though he was somewhat of a well known celebrity in Austin, people were pretty respectful, and when they saw him out they didn’t hover too much. It was a blessing in a big way, not many people in his line of work had the freedom to do things like what you were headed to do tonight together without bringing a whole security detail. 

Tonight was the night before Halloween, Jensen had wanted to go to the local corn maze in town. It was something the town did every year, and it was something that you always looked forward to. There were always hayrides, and little old classic games like horseshoes, and even an archery competition. People would come out with their kids, or just on a date like the two of you were doing now. The goal was to make it through the corn maze without getting lost… or not getting caught… depending on just what you had in mind.

“You’re quiet tonight.” Jensen observed as he pulled onto the dirt road leading to the corn maze and festivities ahead of you. 

You let your head fall on his shoulder as he circled around the open field to try and find a spot to park Baby that was out of the way. She was a good bit bigger than most of your average cars, and he cared for her just as much as Dean had. 

“Just enjoying the evening,” you tell him. Honestly he could have kept driving your around and you would have been content just to be with him. 

“Well, we’re here, so let’s get lost,” he said, pulling the ball cap from the backseat and slipping it over his hair, wiggling his eyebrows at you playfully. 

You give him a playful push on the chest in return, and laugh as his fingers slip around your waist, pulling you to him and peppering every inch of skin he could reach with little kisses.

“Jay!” you squealed, trying to wiggle your way away from his grasp as he continued his assault. “Stop!”

“Fine,” he said, releasing you with a deep chuckle. “But you better not go astray out there tonight, sweetheart. You never know what might happen in the dark.” 

The mischievous, pantymelting smirk that he gave you let you know exactly what he had planned by coming out here tonight and you weren’t surprised, but you weren’t gonna give in that easy, at least while you were still in the car.

“Jensen,” you hiss as the pair of you get out of the car, and start making your way towards the that was forming at the mouth of the corn maze where people were getting their bracelets stamped and paying the admission fee. “We are NOT doing that here. There are too many people and we can get caught!” 

“That’s all part of the fun, baby girl,” he said, giving you a wink and stepping up in front of the small table to pay for your admission. 

You narrowed your eyes as the back of his head as he paid the lady at the table, and was handed two red paper-bracelets. 

Jensen was a country boy through and through, all those years in California had done nothing to take the Texas out of the man. He was a gentleman, and a total sweetheart. He’d give the shirt off of his back if someone needed it more than him, and he had the most electric and admirable personality you had ever saw in an individual. The one thing that you never expected to discover when you first started dating was his public sex kink.

You were pretty sure it had everything to do with the thrill of almost being caught. You discovered it when he literally fucked you in the crowd at a slipknot concert. Thankfully the flashing lights and the dark arena made it hard for the crowd to see anything but the stage, and you got out of that without getting caught. 

And then there was the time the two of you did it in the girls bathroom at Jared’s bar, and even in the back of the movie theater three weeks ago. 

He was also the kind of guy that liked to take you home and make love with you where no one was watching. Those were when the sweet, intimate moments happened, the ones that let you know just how much he loved you, but this little kink of his was just for additional fun, and how could you deny him that?

“Okay everybody! Here are the rules!” a heavy sat man yelled at the top of the line, wearing overalls, a straw hat, and looking every bit like something that rolled out of a redneck comedy. 

“No running, no booze, no wandering off of the trail, no trying to sneak into the shake in the middle of the corn maze. If anyone is caught doing any of these things you will be asked to leave! Signs are set up through the maze to let you know where you are, and there are food trucks and games set up on the other side of the corn maze! You guys have a great time!” 

With that he threw open the ropes that were held up by two pools at the top of the maze, and the line started to move. Jensen’s hand laced with yours as people broke off in groups in the maze, looking around he took the path that seemed to have less people going in that direction, purposely taking the wrong way. A mischievous smirk that was put there by Satan himself to tempt any woman who saw it plastered all over his face. 

“Jensen,” you said, giving him a playful shove as the two of you made your way deeper into the corn maze. “I know what you’re up to mister.” 

“I am the poster child of innocence, sweetheart, you misjudge me,” he said in mock offense. 

Standing up on his tiptoes Jensen got a good look at his surroundings. Even though the corn was way over your head, Jensen had a clear shot of the field around him if he stretched far enough. Damn him and those long bowed legs. 

You rolled your eyes dramatically, and shook your head. Knowing that whatever Jensen Ackles wanted, he got, not that you were going to complain - much, and you could already see the well-defined bulge forming in the crotch of his dark-blue jeans that left little to the imagination as it was. 

“Oh you're  innocent? Yeah, then I must be Virgin Mary.”

Narrowed green eyes moved around to meet your gaze as straight, white teeth sank into his lower lip, the former shamelessly roaming your body in an almost predatory way that made you shiver. 

“Oh baby, you ain’t no virgin. I made sure of that.”

You swatted his chest when he winked and walked ahead of him further up the trail, the sun sinking lower as the two of you made your way deeper into the maze. 

“I’ll tell you what,” Jensen said, grabbing your waist, and pulling you close to his chest just in case listening ears were close by he couldn’t see. “You take the lead and if we end up at the end of the corn maze, we can go home and I'll have my way with you there, but if we get lost on a dead end and I win… I get to have my way with you right here.”

It was your turn to narrow your gaze at him as the excitement danced behind those forest green orbs that were staring down into your own. The excitement was almost contagious as it  radiated off him.

“You already know we’re lost, you can stretch to see over the corn,” you tell him accusingly. 

“Actually, we’re so deep in here that I can’t see any way out, and it’s getting dark,” he said, procuring two small flashlights out of his back pocket that you didn’t even know he had stuck there. “So it’s fair game, unless you're too chicken about getting caught if you lose.”

If there’s one thing you weren’t, it was a coward. Now you couldn’t back down from the challenge and he knew it. 

“Fine, I accept,” you tell him, poking him in the chest and watching as a wicked smile spread across those lips that were just daring you to kiss them. “But if I win I also want to go on a hayride before we leave.” 

You knew Jensen would want to get out of here as soon as you hit the exit if you won, his patience to get your pants off would be worn almost completely thin at that point and you wanted to drag out this victory for as long as you could.

“Lead the way, Y/N/N,” he said, giving you yet another smirk that made your knees weak. If you weren’t trying to make it at least a little hard for him you’d probably have given in already. He’d been in the mood all day, but where was the fun in that?

You thought you were making headway, you thought you were actually getting out, until you rounded the corner and found yourself standing in front of that damn shed they were talking about, and a sign that said to turn around and follow the signs for the exit.

“Dammit!” Stamping your foot you turned to see a very cocky Jensen, who was leaning against the sign biting his lip as if he had every right to stand there looking like the cat that caught the mouse. 

“Looks like I won, baby girl, but I have to say, if you were going to lose, wasn't this a good place to do it?”

Pushing himself off the sign he was leaning against, Jensen stalked towards you with an almost predatory stance, closing the distance between the two of you in just two short strides. His lips collided with yours as he backed the two of you to the little shack, not stopping until you hit the wall, your flashlights long forgotten on the ground as his body dominated your own. 

Your hands twisted in his hair, his ball cap on the ground next to your feet as he kicked your feet apart and nibbled on your lower lip, pressing his clothed length against your center. You gasped as his fingers started to make their way to the button on your jeans as he grinded himself down against you, creating a delicious friction that only got better as he harshly shoved your pants from your hips and kicked them out of the way before resuming his teasing. 

“Jensen,” you gasp as he increased the pressure of each thrust of his hips, the denim of his pants moving the thong that you were wearing against your swollen clit in a way that already had you panting. “We’re going to get caught, they said to stay out of this place.”

“We’re not in it, we’re outside of it, and if you can’t keep quiet baby girl your gonna be pretty embarrassed when they find us here,” he said, his teeth scraping the shell of your ear as his fingers wind their way around your legs and hoist you up to put even more pressure on your center.

It was all you could do not to make any sound, your legs already shaking as he continued to drive you crazy, and he hadn’t even pulled his dick out from his pants yet. 

“Come on baby, let go, all you gotta do is come, and then I’m gonna fill you up right here, you want that don’t you? Want me to fuck you right out here in the open like this, where anyone can see us, see who you belong too. Don’t you baby girl?”

You nodded furiously as he quickened his pace. He was pressing against you just right as he continued to drive you crazy. 

“Then let go, baby.”

His teeth sank down on your pulse point, and that was all it took. Your orgams hit you like a wave, your walls clenched around nothing as he slowed down his ministrations. When you finally stopped shaking Jensen pressed his weight against you to hold you up and freed his cock from his confines, moving your ruined thong out of the way and shoving inside of you with ease, your walls tightening around him as soon as he was fully seated and both of you let out a groan as he stretched you. 

“Fuck, so fucking wet, Y/N. Gotta keep quiet baby girl, or this party ends before it can get started.”  

 You nod at him and he slowly starts to pull out before slamming his hips back into yours, his hand slips between your body and rubbing harsh circles on your clit.

You held a scream in as Jensen’s cock slammed into you with mapped out accuracy, hitting that spot deep inside of you only he seemed to be able to find. Low grunts and breaths mingled as he kissed you in order to swallow the sounds you were making, your body already barreling towards its end as your walls fluttered around him. 

“God, I need to feel you sweetheart, let go,” he said with a strained voice, as his own pace started to falter and your walls squeezed him as your orgasm hit you like a freight train. 

Two more thrusts and he stilled inside of you, filling you up with hot ropes of cum as his body twitched and he whined into your neck. Aftershocks of your release still rocked your body as you ran your hands through his hair, waiting for him to come down from his high. 

“Fuck, I needed that,” Jensen said, his breath fogging around the two of you in pants as he slowly removed his now softening length from you, and helped you stand on shaking legs. “You okay, baby?”

Nodding at him, you reached for your pants, but he was faster, helping you step into them before zipping his own, his lips finding yours in a much slower, softer kiss. 

“Okay, we need to get out of here, it’s getting cold,” you tell him as he laced his fingers with yours, and led you toward the exit, stopping to shrug out of his denim shirt, which left him in his fitted black tee and handed it to you to put on. 

“Okay, but first that hayride you wanted, and maybe a funnel cake,” he said, kissing your entwined hands as he led you towards the end of the very eventful corn maze. 

"You really want to go on a hayride with me?" you asked him hopefully.

"Of course I do! Besides, we can always get lost again on the way back to the car."

"You're terrible, you know that," you rolled your eyes, looking up at him as you reached the exit of the corn maze. The sound of kids running and music playing invaded your little happy bubble you'd been surrounded in as you made your way back to reality. 

"Yeah I know, but you love me anyway."

And you could honestly say that you, with everything in you, loved that man for all he was.

Forever tags: @deanmonandnegansbitch​ @hayleeharling​ @flamencodiva​ @coldmuffinbanditshoe​ @bxbyizzy​ @dirty-pan-goblin​ @itmejado​ @supernatural3002​ @teresa-67​ @thoughts-and-funnies​ @deanwanddamons​ @rvgrsbrns​ @bi-danvers0​ @onethirstyunicorn​ @i-love-superhero​ @akshi8278​ @lyss-dw79​ @magssteenkamp​ @lemondropirwin​ @squirrelnotsam​ @hobby27​ @spnbaby-67​ @mrsjenniferwinchester​ @defenderrosetyler​ @screechingartisancashbailiff​ @thecreatiivecorner​  @aflamboyanceofgays @vicmc624​ @busy-bee-angel-misska​ @justanotherwinchester​ @brilovesdeanwinchester​ @idksupernatural​ @lyarr24 @amandamdiehl​ @love-jackles-37-blog​ @miraclesoflove​ @Waywardsistershy @emoryhemsworth​ @dean-winchesters-gardian-angel​ @softsebastian​ @tatted-trina6​

[rocorambles]

Timeout - Part 2

Pairing: Kageyama x Reader

Genre/Warning: Yandere, Unhealthily controlling behavior, Toxic Relationships, Isolation

Summary: Kageyama just wants to take care of you, so why won’t you just behave?

Requested by Anon

Part 1

You don’t see the basement ever again and your night there fades from your mind like a bad dream as Kageyama and you fall back into a comfortable cadence together. You love him with all your heart, you truly do. You love going on jogs with him even as your legs tremble from exertion and sweat glistens your brows. You love watching his eyes light up in excitement as he sets perfectly to Ushijima and turns to you with a wide grin on his face after his team scores a point. You love watching his brows wrinkle in concentration as he takes painstaking care to cook both of you a healthy meal. But even as you smile fondly at the sleeping figure next to you and trace random designs on his rising and falling chest at night when the two of you lay in bed, there’s a slight pang in your heart as your thighs clench and you wistfully think of the last time the two of you had made love. It seems so long ago and you can’t even clearly remember the last time the two of you had even kissed. Sure, he lets you hold his calloused hands as much as you want and allows himself to be drawn into your embrace, but it’s not enough. Surely there’s nothing wrong, nothing disgusting about you wanting more physical intimacy with your long-term boyfriend that you share a home with, right? But Kageyama’s always been strict and restrained when it comes to all types of pleasure and in turn, he holds you to the same restrictions, making sure neither of you become too self-indulgent. 

You try to push it to the back of your mind, successfully laying it to rest as you enjoy the time you spend with your lover. You don’t necessarily agree with Kageyama on everything, but you know everything he says and does comes out of love and care for you and if the only penalty is less sex and a little less freedom, so be it. Every day feels like a routine and at first you fidget and itch for more, but you quickly settle into the comfortable monotony of your shared life, finding tranquility in the steady and constant flow. Which is why you’re startled to say the least when you’ve already got your bags packed, ready to tag along with Kageyama as his team travels for an away game this weekend, but Kageyama just smiles at you and tells you to put away your things. 

“You’ve been so good recently that I figured you might like some alone time to catch up and hang out with your girlfriends. It’s been awhile since you’ve seen them, right?”

Confused, but excited, you eagerly nod and Kageyama’s heart warms at the way your eyes sparkle. He’d have to thank Hinata for the idea later. Unknown to you, the two had briefly ran into each other and caught up, sharing about their relationships and he’d been surprised when Hinata had casually mentioned that his girlfriend was out of town, spending the week away with some friends and having a “girl’s trip”. He found the idea of you being away from him for so long with people he didn’t know very well unsettling, but as Hinata continued to rave about how healthy it was to have some time apart and how nice it was to have your own same gender friends to chat with, he pondered the idea more. Hinata certainly seemed happy and content with his relationship. Maybe there’s something to be said about this crazy idea after all.

But Kageyama’s not nearly as lax as Hinata and there are some rules and agreements set in place before he heads out. Be home by 10pm. Call him when you wake up and before you go to sleep. And the hard rules both of you live by still stand. No drugs. No alcohol. You can’t help but think he sounds even more strict than the summer camps you’d been to as a child and that it seems silly for a woman in her 20s to have a curfew, but your excitement at being able to hang out with all your girlfriends helps you fling those thoughts to the side as you hurriedly rush to your phone and message your friends. 

Kageyama didn’t have anything against your friends, but he was insistent on the two of you always being together in your free time, leaving little room for you see you friends in person, so your phone explodes with messages as your friends quickly eat up the opportunity to have a long overdue girls weekend with you. That Friday night, despite the fact that the bed is colder than usual and overwhelmingly large without Kageyama’s presence beside you, you fall asleep with a smile on your face, your heart warm and aflutter at the prospect of seeing your dearest friends for the first time in ages. 

The sun has barely risen, but you’re already wide awake and scouring your closet for the perfect outfit to wear, finally settling on a sweater and jeans paired with a strappy set of heels you know Kageyama disapproves of, always worried that you might twist your ankle. But today’s a special day and you know for a fact that these heels make your ass and legs look amazing. The morning flies by as you prance around the empty house to an upbeat playlist, going through your skincare routine and applying makeup for the first time in months. You usually save it for special occasions and date nights, but when Kageyama had realized how unhealthy restaurant food was, eating out became a thing of the past and the two of you mostly stayed at home becoming homebodies. Satisfied with your appearance you make your way to the restaurant your friends had chosen for brunch and after a flurry of warm hugs and giddy greetings, all of you sit down and peruse the menu. 

Your friends gleefully look over the brunch cocktails and look at you in surprise when you order a cup of coffee instead. It’s such a different choice than the college senior partier in you would have made all those years ago, but when they question you about it, you just laugh it off and tell them Kageyama doesn’t approve of drinking, so you’d cut it out of your life after the two of you started dating. A knot forms in your stomach at the concerned looks they send your way and share among each other and you try to assure them that it’s fine, completely normal couple behavior, but they aren’t having any of your excuses and the knot tightens as their interrogation continues. 

“He doesn’t let you drink at all?”

“He monitors and controls everything you eat?” 

“He times how long you sleep for every night?” 

“You guys haven’t had sex in months?” 

You slap a hand over your friend’s mouth as that scandalous question comes out louder than intended, but you bite your bottom lip as you slowly nod in response and you can feel warmth rising to your face as tears threaten to overflow from the looks of pity being directed at you. The friend whose mouth you’re still covering gently holds your hand on her face and brings it into her lap before quietly asking, “Is Kageyama also the reason we never see you anymore?” and that’s all it takes for you to quietly sob when realization hits you and you see Kageyama’s toxic control for what it is. And yet, a small part of you can’t help but defend him, and you try to reason with your friends, telling them that he doesn’t mean for any of it to be toxic, he doesn’t mean to be a control freak. He just does these things because he cares, but your words fall flat even to your own ears as you suddenly vividly remember the cold, lonely night in that basement. Your eyes narrow and you sharply wave to a nearby waiter.

“Let’s change that coffee to a mimosa.” 

You’re all successful career-oriented women and yet, all it takes is a few, okay maybe more than just a few, rounds of drinks for all of you to feel like you’re back to your senior college days and you’re having the time of your life. Your belly is aching from how hard you’re laughing and there’s a constant buzz in your body, in your soul as the alcohol takes effect and you can’t stop the loopy smile on your face. You don’t remember who was the ringleader, but all of you somehow find yourselves shopping for clubbing outfits as you get roped into a girl’s night out and as you stare at your reflection in a changing room mirror, pleased by the way the strappy number highlights your curves and barely covers your chest and ass, you briefly worry about Kageyama’s reaction to you being out so late and drinking, but you scoff, empowered by the liquid courage running within you and your re-found confidence. 

The night is a blur of shots and dancing. Your tolerance for alcohol is barely existent and you don’t remember much other than your feet aching from standing on your heels all night, being sandwiched between your girlfriends on the dance floor, and a jolt of irritation at feeling your phone continuously vibrate as Kageyama tried to reach you. Yet somehow you make it safely back home and you promptly collapse on the soft sheets, not bothering to remove your makeup, clothes, or shoes as you fall into a deep slumber.     

You wake up hours later with a groan, a raging headache pounding at your temples as the sunlight begins to filter in through the windows. You groggily sit up and attempt to get out of bed to completely shut the window blinds when you freeze as you lock gazes with cold blue eyes. Nauseous, completely sober, and still dazed from exhaustion, you tremble as Kageyama continues furiously scowling at you, unable to muster even an ounce of the courage you had yesterday.

“32 missed calls. 53 unanswered texts. And 1 response from you, finally.” 

Your heart sinks at the photo on his phone and you can only stutter incoherently at the hazy photo your friend had taken of you with a drink in your hand and the middle finger flipped at the camera. You finally try to explain that it was just a joke, that you had too much to drink, but you’re caught off by more harsh words. 

“I try to do something nice for you and what do you do? Go against the few rules I gave you and mock me to my face.”

You scramble towards him, momentarily forgetting about the heels still on your feet and you stumble to the floor as he grabs your phone and clutches it tightly in his grip. 

“Wait, Tobio. I’m sorry! Don’t take away my phone. How would I even message or call you?” 

“You don’t need to message or call me, not when I know where you are 24/7.”

And you flinch. You flinch at the sound of your phone being crushed to pieces, crushed beyond repair as his foot repeatedly stomps on it. You flinch at the look of cold indifference he pins you down with as you scream for him to stop, scream out apology after apology. You flinch at the feeling of his hand roughly grabbing you by the wrist and dragging you to the room you’d desperately tried to forget. You flinch at the biting cold of metal encasing your body as he chains you up once more. And finally you bitterly sob as he walks away from your bound body, turns off the light, and closes the door with a resounding bang, leaving you alone in the dark and isolated prison with no intention to release you anytime soon. 

[brattyfics]

First of all, your work is like amazing! And; 166: “ Okay.. This is new. ” 188: “ Mine. ”166: “ Okay.. This is new. ”- for ez pleasee

166. Okay this is new 188. Mine 77. Are you jealous? 170. Bend over

So I combined two different prompt requests because they were both for EZ and seemed to tell a story together. This ended up being way longer than I intended (almost 2K words), but it’s finally finished. I didn’t use the clubhouse for a setting because that’s been done before but I understand choosing a different setting sort of de-personalizes the requests. I always kind of create an entire backstory as if it’s an OC out of habit. Do you guys like it? Do you not? Let me know.

Hope you all enjoy :)

You poured drinks into cups in an attempt to be a good host. All around you people chatted, talking about how good it was to see each other and how nice your new place was. You were in the middle of hosting a housewarming party with your closest friends and family in attendance.

Ezekiel was outside on the grill, firing up the meat he brought from his dad's shop. Angel, Coco, and Gilly accompanied him, bringing the meat inside in shifts.

You stop to take a breath for a minute, looking at your nearly full living space. Everyone seemed to be having a good time but all you could think about was the mess they’d be leaving behind.

EZ entered through the sliding glass door with his brothers behind him, bringing in the last of the food. He placed a kiss to your forehead as he passed, silently reminding you it would be fine. You’d find a way to rope the guys into helping you at the end of the night together.

You and Ezekiel had been dating for nearly a year and you were always surprised at how he managed to support and uplift you in ways you never would have thought possible.

Despite the laughs and raised voices, you heard a knock at your front door. Answering it, you found your friends from work had finally arrived. Among them was your best work friend, another female friend of yours, and a male you recognized from work but didn’t really know.

“I hope it’s alright I brought him. We were all together tonight anyway and I figured you wouldn’t mind.” You shrugged, stepping aside to let them in. As the four of you made your way into the living room, you found out his name was Brian.

“Nice place.” He complimented, looking around.

“Thank you.”

“You live alone?”

You nodded, distracted by one of your guests talking animatedly, drink sloshing back and forth against the sides of their clear cup. You excused yourself to stop the accident waiting to happen, not realizing you had unknowingly declared yourself single in Brian’s eyes.

It was the truth, you did live alone. As in love with EZ as you were, the two of you hadn’t reached that stage yet. You understood he still needed time to adjust to the world as an adult without the baggage of a super serious relationship. He spent the majority of his nights with you, but technically, you didn’t live together.

Once you resolved the drink crisis, you attempted to rejoin your work group. Brain told you the other two had gone off to use the bathroom, leaving him alone in a room full of strangers. You pitied him, settling down on the couch next to him, making small talk while you waited for them to come back. He seemed nice enough, but you felt yourself grimacing when he hinted at hanging out. It would never happen but you didn’t want to burn any bridges at your job so you soldiered through it with a smile.

In the meantime, the guys teased Ezekiel, warning him to go get his girl before she got snatched up by the gringo. Coco made kissing noises while Angel thrust his hips dramatically. He knew they were trying to rile him up and that being jealous of this random guy was irrational, but he couldn’t help himself. He wondered who the guy was. One part of him thought he wasn’t important if you had never introduced them. Another part of him thought maybe you had kept the stranger away from him on purpose.

Ezekiel trusted you, but he lived a whole other life you didn’t know much about. Sometimes he was gone for weeks on runs. You never asked him for details. He thought it was so you could maintain plausible deniability, but maybe you liked him being gone for long stretches of time. If he could transport drugs, occasionally kill someone, and then come home to you as if nothing happened, surely you could fuck someone else and smile in his face afterward.

The male stranger’s body language said to EZ you were familiar. His whole body faced you, he leaned in too close for EZ’s liking, and he seemed to hang on your every word. He didn’t touch you or do anything outright disrespectful, but EZ could tell when a man wanted to fuck a woman. The combination of drinking and grilling all day in the heat was leading him down an unnecessary path of anger.

You were just about to explain you were taken to Brian when you caught EZ watching the two of you with a vested interest. He wore a scowl on his face, his eyes drilling imaginary holes in the back Brian’s head.

Okay...this is new. In almost a year, you hadn’t seen EZ get jealous. More often than not he was easygoing because he was secure in what you two had. That combined with the prison stint taught him to control and hide his emotions better than most people. He wasn’t the type to lose it all over a fist fight, at least you thought so. The dangerous look in his eyes made you unsure.

You loved him too much to play around with his emotions and freedom so you excused yourself, joining him in the kitchen. Brian looked confused at first, but it all clicked in place once he saw you talking to the Kutte clad group of men. He turned to face in the opposite direction, wanting no part of the M.C.

“Are you alright?” You asked sweetly, hands wrapping around EZ’s thick midsection. Angel, Coco, and Gilly catcalled the two of you while you rolled your eyes. Angel wore a sly smile on his face, surprised to see his little brother’s feathers ruffled. It wasn’t anything malicious, he would just enjoy teasing EZ about it later.

EZ wore the same pissed expression on his face, not phased by your cute gesture or the guy’s being extra. You pouted, leaning up on your tiptoes to kiss him. You were shocked when he moved before you could reach his lips, your pucker landing on the corner of his mouth instead.

“Are you being serious right now?” You hissed hands dropping from his waist to cross over your chest. The boys quickly excused themselves, stalking off to find anything other than watching you two fight to do.

“Were you serious over there?” He gestured angrily to where you had been sitting before. The work group had reassembled, three sets of eyes watching your every move.

“Are you jealous? I don’t even know him, I was just trying to be nice!”

“What do you think?” You frowned at his tone. EZ never spoke to you that way. You grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the bathroom. He went without a fight, but you could hear him grumbling under his breath. As soon as the door closed, he was right on your heels. You reached out to push him back, his body heat combined with your own rising temperature too much.

“What is your problem? You---” His hand caught your wrist before you could push him back. You expected him to drop it, but he held on, roughly pulling you into him.

“Bend over.”

“Huh?”

“Bend over. I’m not gonna tell you again.” You shivered at the tone in his voice. He wasn’t playing around.

You bent over in front of him, grabbing your ankles as the bottom of your ass peeked out of the dress you wore. Whack! He smacked your ass harder than ever before while you jumped forward.

“Oww!” One of your hands went back to soothe the sting while the other supported your weight kept you from falling.

Whack! He rained down another blow on your other ass cheek. You whimpered at the rush in your panties. You vaguely remembered people were in your home, biting down on your lip to muffle your sounds as tears pricked at the corners of your eyes.

Whack! Whack! He spanked you again and again until he was satisfied. Your panties were drenched, clinging uncomfortably to your folds.

EZ flipped your dress up over your hips and waist until it hung off the top half of your body, shielding your view of his legs. Your eyes could only see the fabric of your dress, but you heard his belt unbuckling and pants hitting the ground. His actions made you anxious, your heart thudding in your chest. You listened closely, hearing the telltale signs of him rolling on a condom. You wiggled your hips, hoping it would entice him to hurry up.

It worked. He roughly pulled your panties down your hips, shocked to find how wet they were. The two of you had tried a lot of things but you were still learning each other. EZ was a gentleman, followed your lead and let you tell him what you liked. He spanked you if you asked for it, but never in anger or as a punishment before. You didn’t even think he had it in him.

You tried your best not to drool while he poked at your entrance, working his way past tight resistance. A few shallow thrusts were all the preparation he gave you before hammering into you. He pulled you up so you were standing, not leaning against his chest but not bent all the way over anymore either. One hand held your hip so you couldn’t get away from his deep strokes, the other hand latched tightly on your shoulder, pulling you back onto his fat cock over and over.

Strangled moans fell past your lips, your hands clenching and unclenching around nothing as you struggled to take all of him. Your hands ghosted your own body, pinching your nipples for a distraction from the brutal pounding you were receiving. Eventually, your hands found your clit, relieving some of the tension in your stomach.

Pain and pleasure compounded, your eyesight blurring as you came hard, coating him in cream. Like lighting it blinded you and like thunder, it deafened you. Somewhere deep inside you hoped you weren’t screaming out loud for everyone to hear, but in your sex-crazed state you couldn’t tell.

His thrusts became choppy as he neared his own release. Your wet fingers slipped down to cup his balls, needing him to follow you over the edge before he killed you. Death by dick on your obituary would embarrass your family.

“Mine.” He repeated the mantra, grunting loudly. “You’re mine.”

With one final thrust, he burst, seed filling your womb. You scrambled to get away from him, crawling towards the bed. Whack!

“Okay! I get it, leave me alone.” You whined, pouting at his aggressive behavior.

“Say it and I’ll leave you alone, Princessa.”

“I’m yours, daddy.”

Taglist

@woahitslucyylu @briannab1234 @sheeshgivemeabreak 

[nanagoswife]

Bending The Law - Part 10

Summary: Roman comes to save you but at what cost?

Warnings: swearing, mentions of death, mention of serious injury

“Zsasz, have you found anything yet?” Roman noticed how worried he sounded. At the moment, he didn’t care.

“No.”

His phone buzzed on his desk. Quickly he went over and answered, “What the fuck have you done?”

“Hello to you too, boss.” Michael chuckled from the other end of the line. “You’ll be glad to know that Y/N is still alive.” He really was.

“What the fuck do you want?” Roman was really trying to maintain as much composure as he could. For your sake.

“How about you come to me, alone. Then we can talk with Y/N witnessing it all. Consider her out presiding attorney. If not, I guess my old friend will no longer be able to please you anymore.”

“We don’t have to do this, Michael.”

“Oh we do. And you better hurry. Listen.”

Through his anger, he listened. Quietly, he heard you crying and then a scream was ripped from you after what Roman could only assume was a slap. What the fuck had Michael done? His anger only grew.

“The sooner you get here, the more time she may have to live.” Before he hung up, he told Roman where to meet.

He dropped the phone to the floor. His breathing became shallow.

“Victor, get ready. I’ll tell you the plan later,” he said as evenly as possible. Zsasz had left without another word. Good.

He went to his pedestal. The mask sat in all of its glory as he slid his hand over the surface. Raising it up, he slid it from the stand. Admiring it a moment longer, he slipped it over his head.

No more games were going to be played.

Zsasz and some men would be ready. They were going to get you back.

~ ~ ~

You didn’t know how to feel anymore. Betrayed, devastated, confused, and so much more. Not to mention doubt.

Doubt had filled you. You doubted that, if what Michael has said is true, you meant enough to Roman for him to come get you.

Confusion. What did Michael hear that made him think he would be abandoned, or left hanging? There was nothing that you heard or saw that gave that impression. All Roman did was speak very highly of him.

There was your colleague, your friend. He never deserved to be caught up in this. The only reason he was in this situation was because you asked for his help. Now, his vacant expression is all you see. His blood splattered across your face.

On top of it all, betrayal. Never would you have thought Michael would do this. Not to you anyway. You saw him as a brother, and you knew he saw you like a sister. You guessed that was no longer the case. It didn’t stop it from being painful.

Cutting off your thoughts, a man came over and cut the ropes that held your legs. He then proceeded to make you stand and pushed you towards where Michael walked back in.

“Time to see what he has to say,” Michael sneered. Another push came from behind you, and you followed.

Walking outside, it was starting to get dark. Looking around, your eyes landed on the infamous Black Mask. You knew how this was going to go.

Without much warning, you were practically thrown to your knees. Pain shot through them at the gravel ripped your skin. You could see Roman’s eyes move to you.

“Alright, Michael, I’m here. What do you want to discuss?”

“First, take your fucking mask off. I’m not that fucking stupid.”

Before he did, his gaze met yours. There was something in it that helped reassure you. You watched him take the mask off and place it carefully on the ground. His eyes never left yours.

“Now, what the fuck do you want, Michael?” You could tell he was trying to keep his anger at bay.

Something that you didn’t originally notice was that there was a gun aimed at your head. This explained why Roman was being so careful now.

“I would like to know why you’ve been trying to get rid of me,” Michael blurted.

Roman looked shocked. “What do you mean? I was trying to give you more fucking freedom. Now I see that might’ve been too much.”

“I’ve been building up on my own without you knowing for months. After that little stunt, that would’ve been the perfect way to get rid of me, wasn’t it?” Michael yelled. You flinched as you saw him take out his own gun and point it at you.

Roman’s eyes never left Michael. He was going to face this himself. “That was a slip up. If I or Zsasz were there, it never would’ve happened. Besides, I knew you were building your own faction. I was actually proud of you.”

Then, you heard a click. Michael had pulled the hammer back. At any moment, he could pull the trigger and it would be done.

“Why the fuck would I offer you my best lawyer? Why do you think I did everything in my power to keep you out of fucking jail for so long? If I wanted you gone, I would have just killed you right then and there! Not just leave it to fucking Gotham PD!” Desperation started to fill Roman’s voice. Most of all, his anger was starting to come out again.

For a moment, you saw Michael’s gun drop. It only raised back up and he struck the butt of it to your head, causing you to yell out in pain.

Then you heard Roman, “Fuck this. Why did I think we could negotiate?” Looking up, you saw him quickly draw his gun and shoot Michael. Many more gunshots were suddenly heard accompanied by screams and yells of pain.

When you felt a hand on your shoulder, you flinched. You relaxed when you looked up and saw Roman. He was kneeling beside you, cutting the ropes that held your hands.

“Come on. We have to go,” he said as he helped you up.

“But what about-”

“I didn’t shoot to kill. Besides, I already have it covered.”

All you did was nod. You looked over and saw that Michael was only writhing in pain.

Holding you close, Roman brought you over to the Rolls. Someone came running up behind you and handed Roman his mask before he slid in beside you.

After he put his mask into the passenger seat, you all but launched yourself at him. He wrapped an arm around you and pulled you close. One gloved hand gently rubbed at your wrist that was raw from the rope.

Your head throbbed painfully. You definitely had a concussion. Roman pressed a soft kiss to your temple. Tears once again began to fall.

He brought your face up and wiped them away with a gloved thumb, giving you a comforting smile.

“I’m sorry about your colleague,” he said gently. You buried your face back into his side. That wasn’t something you wanted to think about right now.

“He was a good friend. I’m just sorry I ever got him involved.”

Once again, he brought your face up to meet his, “You could’ve never seen this coming. I’m sure he knew what he was risking when he agreed.”

“Roman?”

“Yes?”

You had to ask. The thoughts that were brought up earlier couldn’t just be shoved aside. “Have you been sleeping with anyone since all of this started?”

“No. Did he say I was?” You could hear a twinge of anger cut through his comforting tone.

“He didn’t say it directly, but he made me think you were,” your tears started again.

He gave a slight sigh, “Y/N, I will tell you this now. I value the importance of loyalty and honesty. I will never lie to you. Nor have I.” He brought his hand up and wiped away your tears again.

Cupping your cheek with that hand, he leaned in and gave you a soft kiss. You melted into it.

When he broke the kiss, he looked into your eyes and placed his forehead to yours. “Come to the club with me. I have a doctor who’ll check on you.”

You gave a small nod. After this, you didn’t want to be alone.

@stardancerluv @madmax2003 @jaydenwoo

[brutal-nemesis]

E&T: Tongue Tied

When I said I was almost done with part 2 I meant it （⊙_⊙）

We finally meet our whumper!!! I love her I’m so excited :)

←Previous - Masterlist - Next→

Ingredients: manhandling, collars, tongue whump/gore, choking (on a liquid)

Rough hands pulled Erebus out of his fitful sleep, forcing him to stand. The men from last night had come back, and after they removed the chains from his wrists, they pulled him out of the cell. They steered him down the hall, one of them gripping each of his arms, and into what Erebus had known as a breakroom for the guards. All the furniture had been pushed against the walls, with the exception of a single chair in the center of the room. The men shoved him into it and secured his wrists to the armrests with rope. Erebus didn’t struggle, figuring it wasn’t worth it, but he was growing more scared by the minute. 

“What’s going to happen to me?” The men ignored him as they tied his ankles to the chair. Erebus tried again as they stood up and started to walk towards the exit. “Please, please just tell me what you’re going to do to me, I can’t-” He was cut off by the door slamming shut, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Sighing, he looked down at his wrists, wiggling them in the restraints. He’d never been tied down like this before. The chains they put on him in the cell at least gave him some freedom of movement, but now he was completely trapped. He didn’t like it, didn’t like it at all.

Erebus looked up at the sound of the door opening. A small woman with short brown hair walked in, humming quietly. She smiled excitedly when she saw him. “You must be Erebus!” She hurriedly put her bag down on the table behind him and came back around to examine him. He really, really didn’t like the way she looked at him, eyes methodically scanning every inch of his body, the way one would look at a horse or a piece of meat. Her eyes finally made their way up to his, and this seemed to snap her out of it. “Oh, right, I’m Neteri.” She stuck out a hand, and, after realizing he couldn’t exactly shake it with his wrists tied to the chair, awkwardly clasped his right hand for a moment. “I’ll be, uh, preparing you for this afternoon.”

“Wha-what’s this afternoon?” Erebus asked nervously. Neteri waved her hand dismissively.

“Never you mind. I’ve found it’s best you don’t know what’s coming beforehand. The anticipation can make things so much worse.” She grabbed his chin, tilting it this way and that. “And I already like you enough not to do that to you.” 

“Uh...thank you? But, can you at least tell me if it’ll hurt?” Erebus craned his neck to look at Neteri, who had moved behind him to rummage in her bag. “It’s just, I don’t even know what the emperor wants with me. Why he didn’t just let me go.”

“Well, you’re not exactly the first, Erebus.” Neteri said as she pulled out the ribbon tying Erebus’s hair up, sending long black locks spilling down his back. “And yeah, it’ll hurt eventually. Not quite yet, though.” Erebus, in trying to process everything she had said, didn’t quite register what she was doing until he heard the snip of shears far too close to his head. 

“Wait-” he blurted, but it was already too late.

“Aw, you attached to your hair? Sorry, bud,” Neteri said as she kept cutting it off. “Orders are orders. I always have to do this. So I’m not bad at it, at least.” Erebus didn’t respond, trying as hard as he could to hold back his tears. It was stupid to cry over, it shouldn’t matter, not after everything else that had happened. But he loved his hair, it was soft and warm and it had always made him feel like a prince. 

He supposed that was the point of cutting it off.

“There you go, all done,” Neteri said, ruffling his far-too-short hair. “I don’t have a mirror on me, but I promise you’re still plenty cute.” Erebus didn’t exactly find this reassuring, especially since he still wasn’t sure if this woman considering him “cute” was a good thing or not. He wasn’t sure what to expect next, but the feeling of something leather wrapping around his throat wasn’t it. Once it had been firmly secured around his neck, he realized what it was. A collar. As if the humiliation of all this couldn’t get any worse. Part of him wanted to protest, to squirm and yell that he was a prince, that she couldn’t just just do this to him, but that wasn’t true anymore, was it? So what was the point? This, at least, he could accept quietly, telling himself it was simply a necklace and not…he didn’t want to think about it.

Neteri had come back around in front of him. She had put on leather gloves and was holding the pair of shears she had used earlier. “Now, I’m going to...oh, I might get in so much trouble for this,” she muttered, hanging her head. “No.” She turned around and lightly slapped her cheeks with her palms. “No, I’m going to do this. I deserve it. It’s not that far off from what the emperor wants. Okay,” she turned back around to face Erebus, brandishing her shears. “Any last words?”

“Wha...I thought you weren’t going to kill me?” 

“No, no, of course not. You can live without a tongue. But if there’s anything you wanted to say…?”

“My tongue? Why do you have to...please, please no,” he pleaded as she started to move towards him. “No, no, no, plea-” her gloved hand grabbed his tongue and pulled it out of his mouth. He tried as hard as he could to pull it back in, squirming as he felt the cold shears against his tongue. In one quick motion, the sharp blades severed his tongue, and pain exploded in his mouth. Hot blood spilled out, flowing down his throat and out his mouth. Erebus tried to lean forward to avoid choking on his own blood, but Neteri pushed him back and shoved a hand in his mouth, the light of a spell dancing on her fingertips.

The sharp pain throbbed and pulsed with new intensity for a moment before quieting down, reducing to a gentle throb. The bleeding stopped, and once Neteri’s hand was out of his mouth, Erebus doubled over, coughing up the blood that had nearly suffocated him. His mouth was so empty, it felt wrong, so, so wrong.

“Okay, okay, you did it.” Neteri rubbed his back as the coughing subsided. “Just two more things left today and then you can rest. And then hopefully…” she trailed off, her hand resting on the back of his neck. On the back of his collar. Erebus really didn’t like the implication. As nice as she seemed, something felt very off about Neteri, and he was terrified at the prospect of falling into her clutches for good.

He didn’t realize how much he had left to lose.

Next→

Tags: @dramaticcollapse @thehopelessopus @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @ohmywhump

[purplerose244]

Winter Wonder

Hello there! Here’s my gift for the Lukadrien Winter Gift Exchange!! Thank you so much @lukadrien-winter for organizing the event, I really liked writing this one! This is for Zane_is_not_on_fire on Instagram, I hope you like it! 💜

Summary: One would think that, at least for Christmas, there wouldn't be any major unexpected and possibly dangerous events occurring in the life of a random civilian such as Adrien Agreste. Wishful thinking of course. Does the blonde mind? Not in the slightest.

Also on the AO3

Adrien was starting to see a pattern.

Despite trying to live a normal life at the expense of his father’s passion at keeping him locked into that crystal cage he happened to call home, ever since the Stoneheart incident that had shaken all of Paris – the one that had welcomed the city’s new beloved superheroes, Ladybug and the amazing Viperion… no favorites of course –, Adrien had gotten involved into this brand-new supernatural affair way more than he would had expected.

These akumas, that was what they were called? Were apparently people overwhelmed by bad emotions; controlled by a sad excuse of a man under the villain identity of Hawkmoth. And apparently, a good chunk of these extremely upsetting feelings was owed to the same blonde model whose face was plastered all over the city.

Bubbler? That guy Nino he had met once during his one and only day in a normal school, that had tried to throw him a birthday party – yeah he was awesome like that. Volpina? That girl Lila did not like how he had seemed way more interested in superheroes instead of her. Copycat? A sculptor in love with Ladybug that had wanted to put him into troubles after getting into a little embarrassing argument, something about Viperion not being tall enough in the statue – yeah, bad like that.

It was a mess every time it happened. Routine broken, city in panic, getting kidnapped by a rush of wind in his room, those kinds of things. But there was still a little positive aspect about these troubles, something that even right now, while hanging on the top of Le Grand Paris luxury hotel all tied up like a damsel in distress, he couldn’t help but enjoy.

It was one of the few chances he had to go outside. No homeschooling, no loneliness, no awkward solitary meals. Just him, the chilling air of winter, the Christmas concert getting evacuated under his eyes, and this overwhelming feeling of freedom.

“Ladybug, Viperion, you’ve finally arrived!” And a villain, of course, he almost forgot about the villain. With his flamboyant white appearance and the frozen tears on his cheeks, he looked like a theatre kid ready to deliver his monologue. “I am Frozen King, here to bring you the eternal winter, so you will all feel as miserable as I do!” And just as dramatically as one would have expected, he raised his arms to the night sky. “My friends will talk to me again, my parents will stop arguing, and I will finally watch Kitty Section play with Adrien in it, just how I wanted it!” Ah, here he had hoped at this point he had nothing to do with this. Being famous was really frustrating sometimes… most of the time… pretty much all the time.

Ladybug and Viperion were standing right in front of them. If it hadn’t been for the tense situation and this ferocious wind that made sitting on a rooftop even more unsteady than it already was, Adrien would have appreciated how the snake superhero’s suit was brightening up, covered in sweet white snowflakes.

“Frozen King, let go of him this instant!” Ladybug said with her yoyo out, a glare on her face that screamed confidence. “We understand that you’re hurt, but this isn’t the way to solve anything! If you give up now, we won’t attack you! But you must stop!” A rushed wind blew in her face.

“Shut up! I don’t care! This is who I am now, and you will all feel like me!”

Ladybug blinked, frost on her eyelashes, turning towards her partner.

“Told you diplomacy wasn’t going to work. Diplomacy never works.”

“Give me a break LB, if I don’t know if they can be saved, I wasn’t gonna let them get pummeled to the ground.” Viperion shined a grin towards her, holding out his harp with a sharp look into his eyes. “I’m sorry my friend, but we can’t let you do this. I happen to know a certain captain that wouldn’t be very excited knowing the entire Seine has turned into ice.” His smile fell when his eyes lingered over Adrien, and the blonde felt his entire body shiver. The cold had nothing to do with it. “Also, I don’t and will never condone the kidnapping of a fellow musician. Especially a pianist as good as him.” Holy cow, he knew him and his music and Kitty Section and he knew HIM. “One last warning, your highness. Let. Him. Go.”

Huh. Weird. Viperion was notoriously bad at talking, that was why pep talks and speeches were usually Ladybug’s thing. Today he looked a little more focused. More than Adrien at least, between his hero, a villain, and the wind that was getting even stronger.

It was actually starting to push him. He quickly pointed his feet down.

Frozen King didn’t seem to notice.

“Stop telling me what to do, stop assuming you’re sorry for me! If you were, none of this would’ve happened!” He screamed, more tears fell and froze, and an absolute cyclone of ice manifested all around him. “I deserve something good in my life, I do!! And if no one will give it to me, I will take it myself!!” He jumped towards the two superheroes, agitating a long whip that looked suspiciously like a very long ticket.

The thought should had given the blonde some kind of clue as to how to defeat this guy. He could at least give these heroes half a hand. Then again, he was a little more worried about the fact that he couldn’t feel the roof underneath him anymore. Adrien gasped when he realized he was floating midair because of the tornado and tried to push himself down. But then the clash between titans was happening nearby, and the winds reacted to their leader’s distress. Like an earthquake in the air, Adrien felt himself being shaken and turned, until his body was pushed a little too close to the edge of the roof. With that saying, way over the edge.

He had fallen off a building before. A ridiculous number of times even, especially considering he was a secluded kid, that was just what Paris was like lately. But it wasn’t exactly something you get used to, so the scream came on its own. The cold air rushed as hard as ever. Adrien closed his eyes, dreading the impact. Fear prevailed; regrets took over. What of his father? What of the band? What of his friends? What of his life?

What of his Luka?

The wind stopped for half a second before returning, and Adrien landed on the soft snow underneath. He shily opened one eyes, looking around. There was a white road covered in snow to catch his fall, soft and cold. And there was one superhero wrapped around him, soft and warm.

… Wait.

“Are you okay, Adrien?” Viperion looked up at him, hair riled up, eyes still widened and lovely and- did he just jump from a building to catch him?!

Adrien gaped for half a second, having to remind himself how to speak words.

“Yes- No- I mean-! I-I’m fine.” The snake superhero smiled warm enough to melt the snow.

“Good.” He shamelessly wrapped his arms around him once again, melting him. “I would hate to lose such a bright and talented person.” The line felt joking, his tone was anything but. If Adrien had ignored how his own body was involuntarily shaking, he could’ve felt him trembling as well, hard, like he was catching his breath after one big scare.

Which had been falling. It had been falling, right?

Adrien swallowed before tentatively hugging back, feeling the fainted sigh of relief coming from him. This was surreal. It felt comfortable and warm and so, so surreal.

“You saved me.”

“It’s kind of my job, yes.”

“You just fell off a-”

“You did too, at least I have superpowers to protect me.”

“Is one of them making decisions in cold blood?” He really couldn’t help that one, and he felt oddly proud of himself when Viperion let out a laugh. Maybe because of the adrenaline, that line made some kind of sense.

“… Thank you.” The snake superhero nodded, backing away with his hands over his shoulders before finally going over the rope all around him. He got up after untying the knot, helping him stand up with a hard pull – that just added consistency to his fantasies about just how strong he was under the costume.

On the roof, Ladybug was taking care of Frozen King pretty smoothly. Viperion gave the scene a quick look, grinning.

“Good, she’s got this. We got the plan down before arriving, and now that we have time, I have to get you somewhere safe.” He extended a hand towards him. “Come here, let’s go.” Weird, Adrien’s daydreaming was a little too vivid today, to the point he could actually hear it. And see it. And touch it- holy everything it was actually real.

“… Huh?” Viperion laughed. Again, that wonderful sound.

“Frozen King is kind of obsessed with you, so we better go somewhere else for a little while. Don’t worry, when everything is over, I’ll make sure you get back home safe and sound.” Everything had sounded very appealing to Adrien until that very last part. Then again this guy didn’t have to know. “So, you ready?” Never mind this, never mind his heart screaming yes even before he managed to grab the hero’s hand.

“Of course.” It was rough yet warm, despite the scaley appearance. He didn’t have the time to marvel at the discovery that he was pulled forward, right onto the firm chest of the hero, who looked extremely satisfied by his decision.

Adrien felt just as accomplished right now. And hot. So hot, was it actually winter?

Viperion smirked at him.

“Here we go.” He shot him a wink and picked him up effortlessly, an arm under his knees and another behind his should- okay his daydreaming was getting very intense right now. “Hold on tight.” Oh well, who was he to contradict a real-life superhero and not pull his arms around his neck to get dragged to some mysterious unknown place. That was always going to be a better Christmas than the one that was not waiting for him at home.

Nobody, absolutely nobody.

Adrien bit down a grin, he held on perhaps a little tighter than needed – all for safety reasons of course, heh heh –, and nodded, welcoming that blossoming feeling of happiness inside of his chest with wide arms.

It probably should have not been this satisfying taking flight, hoping to stay away from his own house as much as possible. Yet even in the embrace of the chilling cold Adrien found himself impossibly relieved. His mind filled with light after a day spent hoping and glooming.

Viperion jumped right onto a nearby building, running over the rooftops effortlessly, and the blonde could barely take in the sights around him. Paris shone with infinite lights and colors. Snow covering the city with wonder. Being here, right here, away and free, was like a shiver and a tickle cold and warm, confusing and exciting and so very real.

It didn’t last for long. The next thing he knew they were falling in a perfectly controlled direction, landing onto the ground in front of a familiar looking bakery. Finally, the hero put him down. Finally, and sadly. Adrien had to held back a sigh of disappointment, that vanished when Viperion’s beautiful laugh shook him again.

Without even realizing the blonde grinned back.

“What?” The superhero covered his mouth, shaking his head, eyes on his head? “… Is it my hair? Right, it’s probably super messy.” He could almost hear the synchronized choir of despair from all the hairdressers from his photoshoots. He reached up to fix his hair.

“Oh don’t, you look good.” Viperion grinned, tilting his head as to give him a good glance. “It actually suits you; you look rebellious. You should try it more often.” All of the sudden Adrien had the impellent urge to take all of his goody two shoes appearance that got him so far into the fashion world and toss it forever under the sea. For no reason at all.

Adrien curled one of his locks around his finger, feeling his face warm. So very warm.

“I don’t usually jump over buildings with a superhero.”

“That can change.” This guy seemed to love to aliment his imagination, especially by implying that this wasn’t meant to be a one-time thing. That sneaky snake. “Alright, I know that the Dupain-Chengs won’t have a problem keeping you hidden until it’s safe. After everything is solved they can call someone for you, a friend maybe.” Oh. He was grateful that he didn’t mention his parents, but that felt like a line a little too calculated. Like he knew. Weird. “So, you can get home safe and sound as soon as possible. How about that?”

He blamed the cold, the chill in his bones and the freezing atmosphere that he was sure was waiting for him at home, but Adrien couldn’t pull up the usual perfect mask of a smile, sighing deeply, feeling that this, like everything else, was only temporarily.

“I’m not really in a hurry.” Despite that, he tried to force a grin. “I, um… we’re not that festive, so there’s not exactly a whole Christmas party waiting for me at home.”

Viperion froze. Sincerely taken back. That was an unusual look on him.

“I… I thought you weren’t at the concert because you were celebrating with your dad.”

“I mean, he did get me a present. A whole box, actually.” The blonde hesitated for a second, suddenly self-conscious about it. “Chinese books, a bunch of musical sheets, volumes filled with France’s history, oh and Tomoe Tsurugi’s ‘Art of the sword’,” He grimaced the ghost of a smile. “Which is pretty cool… it probably would have been better if it wasn’t filled with notes on how to improve my form, but still.” Alas, the need to cover his father’s actions was stronger than him at this point.

Viperion blinked, looking more and more upset. That was a bad look on him.

“What about the rest? Family dinner? Decorations? Christmas activities, you know that stuff. I can see you playing Christmas carols with the piano.” That did sound lovely, so Adrien simply shrugged with a little grimace on his face. That apparently didn’t sit right with him. “… Wait here.”

As fast as ever Viperion went inside the bakery, too quick for Adrien to break from his trance and follow him – maybe he needed to take fencing classes with superheroes, just to learn about that kind of speed and reflexes. It barely mattered since the superhero reappeared after only a minute, holding a little package with a bow on it and a cute little reindeer plush with a red nose and freckles. “It’s not exactly a full Christmas party, but at least it’s… sweet?” It was a box of gingerbread cookies, neatly positioned inside a Christmas themed package. “You deserve a bit of joy, you know.” His eyes were sincere, his actions too.

It took everything inside of Adrien not to tear up. He swallowed a sudden lump of emotions building up, taking the present, and smiling with everything he had.

“Thank you.” He whispered gratefully. Adrien peaked over at the window, noticing the owners of the bakery all giddy and excited, making him laugh. “You went in and out pretty quickly, I thought you were going to get stopped by your Fanclub or something.”

Viperion snickered, leading him near the building, out of sight from Frozen King.

“My Fanclub is nowhere near as big as Ladybug’s, nor as passionate.” Adrien begged to differ. Superfluous stating that the superhero was in presence of an honorary admirer of his.

After pausing for a moment, Viperion spoke up, “Did your father ask you to skip the concert?” Oh. That question was so sudden it left him speechless for a second. The blonde couldn’t help the sudden shiver as he nodded. “You know you should say no sometimes, right? You don’t have to agree with him every time just because he’s your father. You’re your own person.” That was such a standard line, he had heard it many times before. From Kagami, to Ivan, to Juleka – yeah, even Juleka found the voice to tell him, that said something about the truth of it –, to Rose, to…

Adrien smiled sadly, sighing.

“My friend Luka reminds me that all the time, more than anyone else.” Thinking about him right now filled him with the usual giddiness, mixed with guilt. “… He must really despise me right now.” Was that a gasp from the hero? Hard to tell, he was fantasizing a lot today.

“Why would you think that?”

“He didn’t respond to my messages at all after I flaked out on him.”

“I’m sure he was just busy, between all the people he had to entertain and the sudden akuma attack.” Adrien was sure his face told it all, and Viperion quickly smiled at him, hands raised. “It’s fine, all of the members of Kitty Section are perfectly safe and evacuated.” Adrien let out the longest sigh in his life. “I’m sure your friend didn’t call because of that. I bet he’s worried about you as much as you are about him.” That voice of his would have made him believe in anything.

Adrien let his eyes fall onto the box, thinking of his phone he left at home after getting kidnapped. Thinking of the charming guitarist he hadn’t been able to see tonight.

“I hope so. The last thing I want is for him to hate me.”

“Hey, he would never. Maybe he was angry, a little disappointed, but I’m sure he doesn’t hate you.” Viperion smiled at him, with so much endearment into his eyes it was hard to watch. “You’re impossible to hate.” There was really no bound on how magically unbelievable this moment was. “Besides, is it really that important what this guy thinks of you?”

“Absolutely.” Without missing a beat his words erupted, and Adrien felt warm all over again. Because he was saying this to the superhero he was so starstruck with. Because this night was already different from what he would have expected. Because everything was still so new about the world outside his mansion, but only one thing could make his heart race as it was now. “I really wanted to spend Christmas with Kitty Section… to spend it with him. Luka is special like that for me.” It came out more smoothly than he thought. His feelings were always confusing, talking barely helped. But it was Christmas and he was away from home and he didn’t want to think for once.

It felt surreal nonetheless. Like Viperion’s uncharacteristically shocked face, for the second time in that same night.

“… Really?” His voice lost all of his low tune, turning into the sweetest, most hopeful sound. Still as vibrant as the ocean. Bright as shimmering stars.

Adrien could only nod, charmed by him.

But distracted by someone else.

“I guess my heart knows better than me? I can’t lie to myself, I’m just a little slow at realizing what I want. And I think I finally got it.” He smiled, mindlessly tapping the box. “I like his rebellious look while also being the calmest and most controlled person I know. I like the way he sings for me whenever I’m feeling sad without me even asking for it. I like the absolute nonchalance when he asks me to skip fencing practice to come and play with the band… I like him, a lot.” He couldn’t feel the cold anymore. But he could, in fact, feel the superhero’s eyes absolutely glued on him. Making him realize the sudden reveal out of nowhere. “Ah, uhm, sorry.” He didn’t regret it. And for some reason that felt even right. “I-I don’t know why I told you all that.”

Viperion seemed to be having none of his uncertainty. He instead leaned towards him, eyes too intense to look at, and Adrien became increasingly aware of his pink lips cracked by the cold. He pushed away the thought, because it wasn’t right. He was enchanted by this superhero because of that, he was a superhero. That was it, the blonde’s heart belonged elsewhere. Yet…

“How long have you been feeling like this?” There was something different in his voice. Like he lost all the willpower to make it look mightier and superhero-like.

Adrien swallowed, eyes dropping on his red cold hands.

“Maybe… maybe ever since we first met? It was also the first time I’ve managed to ditch my schedule, because I really wanted to see the Music Festival. I stumbled onto his ship after I heard awesome music. I tripped, he helped me up, and all of the sudden I was in his band.” He giggled, feeling hotter and hotter. “He welcomed me like it was nothing… it wasn’t nothing to me. I’m sure I wasn’t completely gone back then, but it was a start. It just got stronger and stronger from there.” Viperion’s eyes were getting piercing. Oppressing even, to the point he felt scared to look up. “I… I’m sure you understand but just to be sure… can you keep the secret?” He snickered nervously, moving his fingers. It hurt, they were cold.

Viperion gently took the box from his hands, gingerly putting it down on the ground, before taking his hands together before Adrien could even think of an annoyed reply. Adrien couldn’t help shaking madly, a sudden feeling overwhelming the cold. Those eyes were getting absolutely impossible to ignore, but he couldn’t look up. He was irrationally scared, he couldn’t move.

Viperion was close, so close he heard the smile curving his lips.

“Cold?” The blonde barely managed a weak nod. “I can help you with that. Close your eyes.” A questioning noise was all that came out of him. “Don’t worry. Please, close your eyes for me.” His words turned into the sweetest request and Adrien found it absolutely impossible to deny it. He closed his eyes, swallowing, feeling the hold leaving him. “Sass, scales rest.” A sudden light drew a purple spot on his black sight. Magic? Superhero stuff? All he heard was the guy in front of him moving a little. All he felt was something incredibly warm and soft slipping into his hands, two gloves a little too big for him but wonderfully welcoming.

Viperion grabbed his hands again, rubbing them with his thumbs. The numb cold covering was melting down, a sign of relief grew onto the blonde’s lips. Only to stop midway when he felt a warm breath on them.

This moment, this entire night really was unreal. Adrien embraced the entirety of it, sinking further into this kiss in a dreamy sigh. Soft. Everything was so soft about this guy, like he had been made to sooth and welcome everyone that came in contact with him. It irritated him a little. Because he wanted this for himself, he wanted to be the only one to hold this harshly onto his hands, the only one to know how gentle and reckless he could be on a random Christmas night.

It was his first kiss, of course it was. And of course, after a time that was in any case way shorter than he would have liked, he was already out of breath. When they parted he perhaps sighed a little too strongly against the other’s mouth, cold air filling his lungs. The sudden chilling sensation awakened his senses, making him suddenly aware of the long fingers curled around his, the softest familiar laugh in front of him, and the faint yet absolutely evident scent of moss and kindness lingering under his nose. A little above where he had been kissed.

Another wave of warmth almost made him gasp, and Adrien beamed with his eyes still closed.

“You…?” Another peck shut him up, making him hum in delight.

“Merry Christmas, Adrien.” There was happiness into this voice, pure and breathtaking, followed by the quickest footsteps that soon got lost into the random noise of the night. And only then, when there was clearly no one waiting in front of him, the blonde opened his eyes.

He looked down. So caught up in the moment, he hadn’t realized that into his warm hands, wrapped up around very familiar looking black gloves, the box of cookies had been put back. Along with a neat paper, with a little yellow bow on the corner. A sheet. A song, with a title.

‘Sunshine’.

Adrien grinned, tears burning into his eyes. So much happiness it was too much. It was new, overwhelming. He wanted to know everything about it.

“Merry Christmas, Luka.”

[ablackfangirlwrites]

Aizawa was beyond annoyed

He had been interning at this hero agency for a while and it was his last year at UA

And he wouldn’t call himself arrogant or anything but part of him

Felt like a job like this was beneath him or at least he wasn’t going to learn anything from it

It was basically a glorified babysitting job

Some big politician was going to be in town and they had a daughter

And somehow it became his job to watch her

The whole thing was silly according to him

He would be doing this while his friends were outgoing on bigger missions and getting real experience

And he felt that he could be doing something way better with his time like that

So he wasnt that interested in every little detail the higher ups were telling him

He got the basic point you weren’t allowed out of the hoteroom while you were in town and he and another hero would be stationed with you and taking shifts

Easy enough

But when he saw you he got a feeling this job was going to be anything but easy

For one he had assumed you were a young child

But you differently weren’t

You had to be about his age

But you had an air about you that just screamed trouble

It was a complete contrast to your father who walked beside you

He walked like he demanded respect from everyone and that he was an important person

You just looked like you were irritated and couldn’t be bothered to listen to them when they were telling you the plans of the trip

“Eraserhead” he acknowledged you telling you his name but again you weren’t playing attention

This was routine for you for the last few years of your life

You went somewhere with your father (it wasnt like you had a choice)

And hed lock you in some hotel room because it was safest there until it was time to go somewhere new

You couldn’t remember the last time you were actually home

But at this point in your life you didnt care anymore

It was clear that this would be your life until you went to college in the fall

Something you couldn’t wait for Cause you knew you’d finally have some freedom

One of the other bodyguards tried to make a small conversation with you but you rolled your eyes

“You dont have to talk to me. All you have to do is show me my prison for the week.” You told him with your arm crossed looking it the window

Your father cleared his throat, “you all have to forgive her, y/n tends to be cranky after a long flight.”

You only clicked your tongue as a response

Aizawa hadn’t said anything

But he had already judged you

Bratty, spoiled, mean, and probably moody, and simply not pleasant at all.

This was going to be so annoying

When you all got to the hotel you and your father went your separate ways

And Aizawa simple followed you to your room, “If you need anything I’ll be out-.”

You slammed the door before he could finish

You had been to japan a few times before so you knew the area

So you had no plan to stay in

As soon as you got the chance you called your friends that you had in the city and you set off

Aizawa just sighed deeply outside your door

At least you didnt seem like your were interested in making his life a living hell

At least that’s what he thought but he didnt know how wrong he really was

It was when Aizawa came back for his second shift that he realized something was up

“Has she came out at all?”

They just shook their head, “Shes been pretty quite.”

“Have you checked on her?”

They shrugged, “I’ve knocked a few times but no answer I’m sure shes just sleep.”

Aizawa didnt think anything of it but something in his gut told him he should

A little after the other hero left

He knocked on your door to check on you again but no answer

He felt like he should have known better but he’d go to open the door only to find the room empty

“Y/n?”

He called out your name a few times but no answer

But then saw that your window was open

And like something straight out of a movie he saw you used your bedsheets as a rope to escape

Dread covered his face

He was done for

What was he supposed to do? How was he going to tell them he lost you?

Did someone kidnap you? How long ago did you leave?

So many questions ran through his mind

But before anything else he had already jumped out the window and started his search for you

You couldn’t have gone far

And you weren’t

You went out with some old friends and was hanging with them in a local club

You had no business being there

But this was the most fun you had in months

Aizawa was a good tracker so it was just his luck that it didnt take long to find you

He just thought of all the places a teenager would go

So that brought him to the club where he saw you dancing on the floor

He sighed in relief

At least you were safe

But that relief was short lived as he approached you

Because as soon as you saw him you took off

It was annoying enough to have to leave and find you

But now he was going to have to chase you

You were fast but he was faster

He followed you all the way out of the club and after having enough

He used to capture scarf to catch you

You faced him enraged

“Let go of me!”

“No way, do you have any idea how much trouble you could have got in? That you could have got me in?”

“That’s more of a you problem. Now let me go.” You said fighting against him but you couldnt set yourself free

“Not until we get back.”

And so he dragged you back to the room

He was lucky no one was there to see him bring you back

Once back into your room he let you free but he didnt make any move to leave himself

“You can go now.”

“Theres no way I’m letting you leave my sight. You could have lost me my job.”

You narrowed your eyes at him

You were going to leave again but you saw it was going to be a lot easier said than done

The next few days would go by dreadfully long for you

Aizawa watched you like a hawk

It was almost impossible to do anything with out him being 10 feet away from you

Most if the time whenever you were out you could escape

But Aizawa wasnt having any of it

He was going to be a hero and he wasnt going to let you or anyone else get in his way

“How’s your babysitting job going?” Hizashi teased him one day while he was at school

Shouta only rolled his eyes and just explained how much of a pain you were

“Have you tried to talk to her? You know shes pretty cute. I saw her in the news.” He went on talking

But Aizawa didnt care

He didnt want to know you but part of him did have to admit you were very nice on the eyes

But one day something changed

Maybe you were just bored when you saw him just sitting in your room

But you started a conversation

“What’s it like going to UA?”

Aizawa was surprised by your question

Up until now you seemed to have hated him

But he answered your question anyway

Which lead on to more talking

Which lead to a new appreciation for each other

Aizawa learned about how much you had traveled with your father and had never been to a real school or a stable home

And that you hated it

He actually felt bad for you

He couldnt imagine living like that and having someone always watching you

No wonder you were always trying to run away

It would the night before you were going to leave the country again that Aizawa was talking to you out on your balcony

It wasnt like the two of you were friends now

But you did have to admit Aizawa was funny and you liked him

Not to mention he was hot in a tired bum type of way

“So I guess this is the last night of me babysitting you.”

“I guess it is…”

Dispite starting off so rough the two of you did grow closer In a last few days

“So you gonna give the next guy as much trouble as you gave me?”

You laughed, “Of course. And besides the only reason why I stopped trying to run away is because you aren’t ass boring as you look.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes, “Sure…it wasnt because I’m actually good at my job.”

The two of you went quite, “I dare say I’ll even miss you Aizawa.”

Aizawa looked at you, “do you think you’ll be back?”

“Donno… I start college back home in the fall…who know what will happen till then.”

Aizawa just nodded “Well, if you do come back…I dont think I’ll mind babysitting you again.”

“Nice to know…”

The tension between the two of you was thick

And you being bold moved over and kissed him

He was shocked at first but he quickly recovered

The kiss was light at first but quickly got intense

But you pulled away when you heard someone knocked on your door

The two of you didnt speck the rest of the night

And when morning came he would be with the team escorts you to your plane

You stop and secretly gave him a piece of paper with your number on it “Keep in touch eraser.”

You whispered in his ear and wink before boarding the plane

Aizawa didnt know what to think at first he assumed the moment you shared last night was because you were lonely

But now…he wasnt so sure

He just gave you a little smile as he saw you bored the plane

And he’d laughed to himself you were really a lot of trouble

[kumeko]

Prompt: Kitty/Kurt, Kitty breaks a leg and Kurt tries to keep her entertained, X-men Evo

A/N: For @wombatking, for @marveltrumpshate charity event! It’s been ages since I thought of X-men and evo and this gave me a good excuse to rewatch it.

…

…

…

…

Full disclosure: Kitty Pryde liked living in the Xavier Institute. Loved it even, and why not? She was away from her parents, which meant she was away from their nagging, chores, or even that disgruntled look they gave every time she wore something a little revealing. And if she missed their food or them, well, she could always pop by for a short visit and leave before it turned into an argument. Honestly, parents were only needed full time when you were a kid—a teenager needed minimal babysitting.

 Sure, there were adults at the institute, professors of a variety of strictness levels who sometimes gave ridiculous tasks. Or would err too heavily on the side of punishment, though that was manageable when someone used their superpowers. Still, they didn’t breathe down Kitty’s neck and she imagined this was what being adult must be like: freedom. They got up on their own, had breakfast, school, and then afterschool was whatever.

 The best part, of course, was the fact that she could hang around her friends (and boyfriend) whenever she wanted to. They lived in the same house! If she wanted a slumber party, they could have one any night of the week. If she sucked at a class, there were so many people to tutor her. Movie nights, parties, dancing—she didn’t wait till someone’s parents were gone to do this. Well, maybe for parties, but still.

Kitty Pryde had a lot to like about the Xavier Institute. A whole checklist she was running through her mind, trying to remind her way she was living in this endless boot-camp of a dorm. It was okay that she had to wake up at 6 almost every morning to go on an obstacle course. Or that her weekends were filled with fighting in the danger room.

 It was all perfectly fine.

 Kitty gritted her teeth as she pulled herself up the rock-climbing wall. Bullshit. That was all bullshit. This was just torture. Maybe Professor Logan was just a sadist. It’d explain why she had to go through this hell every day. She understood why they couldn’t do it after breakfast (there had been a lot of cleaning that day), but after school would have been fine. She needed her beauty rest.

 “Why am I doing this?” she bemoaned, brow furrowed as she studied the wall above her. They couldn’t have a normal wall, with colourful grips to pick. No, that was too easy. Instead, they were scaling the sheer-side of a cliff and while Kitty was certain it was possible to find the tiny ledges and pull herself up, she was equally certain that this was on hard mode and only someone like Scott could do it perfectly. To make matters worse, she could feel Logan’s glare on her. No doubt he was muttering something about her taking too long. At least they had a safety harness, so she didn’t have to worry about plunging to her death.

 “Because we have to?” Kurt replied wittily, hanging off a rock nearby. He grunted as he pulled himself up, his lean muscles looking like they would snap at any minute. For someone who trained every day, he had almost no muscle definition. Maybe it was related to his mutation.

 Kitty loved her boyfriend, she really did. She would also throw him off this cliff if she didn’t have to deal with his jokes again. “Kurt.”

 He must have heard the warning in her voice because he immediately apologized. If he weren’t currently dangling off a tiny ledge, she was certain he’d be rubbing his neck sheepishly. “Sorry, sorry. It is very annoying to do this every day.”

 “Super annoying. The worst,” she complained, gritting her teeth as she pulled herself up. She had been wrong. There was nothing good about living here. Even if she had to deal with her parents, at least at home she wasn’t put through a hellish survivalist course.

 “At least it’s not the danger room?” Kurt offered, his tail curling up slightly at the memory. “There’s not enough time to wash off the soot.”

 “That’s only because you keep getting zapped,” Kitty replied, taking a deep breath and relaxing slightly as she just stayed where she was. Oddly enough, this wasn’t as tiring as it had been the first time around and she had to reluctantly admit that her arms were toned. Wait till she hit the beach this summer.

  “That was just because I—” Kurt cut himself off, a mystified expression on his face. “Why am I doing this?”

 “We went over this already.” Kitty snorted, amused. “It’s cause Logan sucks.”

 “No, I mean.” Kurt stopped climbing too and gestured at himself with a free hand. “I can just teleport there.”

 “Oh, that’s right!” She could only blame this spectacular brain fart to the fact that it was still just 6:30 am and she wasn’t fully awake. Apparently that wasn’t a legitimate excuse to not do the training, no matter how many times she’d pleaded her case to the professors. “Hey, take me up with you.”

 Kurt nodded, excited. “Yeah! We can get there in a snap—”

 “Sometimes we want to surprise our enemies with our attacks and not the smell of rotten eggs,” Logan growled up at them from the ground, crossing his arms. Despite the distance, his voice rang through loud and clear. “Now you two lovebirds better start moving.”

 Kurt stiffened and almost saluted before remembering where he was. Grabbing the ledge again, he shouted, “Yessir!”

 “Yeah, yeah,” Kitty grumbled, rolling back her shoulders before reaching above her. Satisfied at ruining whatever little happiness he could find, Logan ambled off to search for more hearts to crush. She stuck her tongue out at his back. A childish move, sure, but that was really all she could do when her teacher was a hulking mound of muscle and swords.

 “Hey, Kitty, how about we go on a date today!” Kurt suggested, already three feet above her. Fear always made him move fast.

 “A date?” She raised a brow. It had taken him months to ask her out, and now he was casually asking for dates as though it was nothing. From here, she couldn’t even see how red his ears were getting.

 “Yeah, that always cheers you up, right?” She didn’t have to see his face to know there was a sunny smile on it.

 Now her face felt warm. Must be the exercise. “Definitely. Sure.” She had never realized how simple she was before this. He was just asking for a date and already her mood had improved. Grinning, she grabbed the ledge above her, hoisting herself up.

 Or at least, trying to hoist herself up. Her harness refused to move along the line, locking her into place. “Huh?” she muttered, utterly perplexed as she looked down at her carabiner and harness. A tug on the rope didn’t fix anything.

 Biting her lip, Kitty looked up. Kurt was too far away now to help. Below, Logan had already gone off to a different obstacle on their morning course. It was just her and the cliff now. Maybe she could try going down instead. Grabbing onto a small crack near her hip, she tried to lower herself.

 Her harness stubbornly refused to move.

 “The hell. You will fucking work,” Kitty snarled, tugging on the rope insistently now. This was idiotic. It was way to early in the morning for this sort of crap. She had to get to the top to do yet another ridiculous obstacle and only then would she have earned the right to a shower and food. And she had to get that before Jean did, because she took forever in the shower.

 A stupid harness wasn’t going to get in the way of that.  “You’re going to get tossed in the trash. Logan’s going to rip you to shreds.”

 The rope eased and Kitty smirked. Ha, she should have known threatening to sic Logan on them would work. Even inanimate objects knew better than to cross Wolverine. Blinded by her victory, Kitty didn’t notice that her rope had eased a lot, the rope slipping through her harness as she leaned back to study the cracks above her.

 It was only when she was staring at a bright blue sky instead of a grey rock that she’d realized she was falling. Flailing, she tried to grab the wall, the rope, anything, but it was too late. She plummeted to the ground, barely able to make a strangled cry for help before her feet hit the ground with a heavy thud. Somewhere inside, she felt a small snap before she stumbled backwards and fell flat on the ground.

 “Fuck,” she swore, dazed.

 She shouldn’t have threatened the rope.

[flightfoot]

Divergent Points - Feast

AO3/FFN

Previous installment: Divergent Points - Weredad

Turning Points

Inspired partly by this conversation I had with @fearlessinger

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plagg curled up against Adrien, purring. It’d taken a long time for Adrien to fall asleep.

He didn’t blame him. He’d be having nightmares himself for a long time after this.

Plagg had been separated from a lot of his cats. Most of the time, it was bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s hard to be around a person a lot who wasn’t COMPLETELY despicable and not grow to care about them, at least a little.

On the other hand…

Tikki got the “nice” wielders and the “nice” powers. Sugarcube got paired with idealistic, inventive users who would quickly become fast friends with her. At worst, they’d see her mostly as a tool.

But at least she wasn’t usually considered a THREAT.

Plagg’s wielders tended to fall into two categories; the cautious wielders and the unrestrained wielders.

The cautious wielders were usually wielders he was assigned to by some outside force. The Order of the Guardians, for example. He might get to pick among a few different candidates if the person in charge was extremely generous, but this was a rare privilege.

The most dangerous kwami were rarely allowed that kind of freedom.

 And he was considered the most dangerous of them all.

Those cautious wielders were chosen for their ability to temper both their destructive impulses and his own, keeping him on a tight leash. They were rarely outright malicious about it, and if he really, truly wanted to he could probably leave… well, most of the time.

But then he’d have to leave his friends behind. And if the person was mistreating him badly enough that he was at the end of his rope and WANTED to leave…

The monk who had created the Miraculous in the first place in order to allow Kwamis to physically manifest, had also built a safeguard into every Miraculous, just in case the spirits he was trying to pull into the physical plane turned out to be malicious.

Not a totally unreasonable precaution, but it screwed him and all the other kwamis over. They’d never figured out a way to undo the compulsion, and he suspected that most of his wielders hadn’t really wanted to, either.

If his wielder was terrible enough that he wanted to bolt? It was very rare he’d be able to.

He sympathized with poor Nooroo. He’d been in that position often enough.

In those cases, he was lucky if he just wanted to leave because he felt stifled or ignored or unwanted, and his wielder was just enough of a jackass that they wouldn’t let him go or listen to him.

The unrestrained wielders were often far worse.

If he ended up with one of them, it was usually due to something going horribly wrong. His ring falling out of the Miracle box and getting lost, for instance, like what happened to Duusu and Nooroo. Or more commonly, being stolen from one of his other wielders.

With the wielder being either random or an outright thief, he’d rarely had a good time with those wielders, at least not for long. Some of them could be okay at first, giving him more freedom than he’d normally have and not treating him like he was about to launch a cataclysm at any moment.

But they were often the worst ones, because unlike the cautious wielders, they often became corrupted, if they weren’t already. The power to destroy ANYTHING, very, very easily, was a heady power, especially in the wrong hands.

He was often glad to go back to a cautious wielder after his miraculous was inevitably removed from the offender. The cautious wielders wouldn’t make him kill anyone.

Over time he’d just… tried to stop caring. Make light of destroying the dinosaurs, of sinking Atlantis, of any mistake he’d ever made, and it wouldn’t hurt as much to have it thrown back in his face.

Then he was given to Adrien.

At first, he thought this would be just like the other cases where he was assigned; given to a cautious wielder who’d be nice enough, but was ultimately there to control him. Yeah this kid was a lot younger than his usual wielders – while some of the other kwami were assigned to kids for bonding purposes, the Order of the Guardians usually assigned him to adults, who wouldn’t be influenced or persuaded by him as much – and he hadn’t been raised as a monk or even really been vetted much, but Fu had chosen him. Considering how cautious and fearful Fu was of Plagg going out of control, he doubted that the monk would’ve chosen any sort of loose cannon or free spirit as his wielder.

He’d underestimated Fu’s desperation and lack of vetting.

When Fu’d said that he’d found the right wielder for him, he’d known that Fu wouldn’t have been able to look deeply into the wielder’s background or get to know them – they were operating on only a few hours of notice. It’d made him pretty nervous about the type of person he might get, honestly. He’d seen even people who appeared nice and kind slowly become corrupted and dangerous over time.

With only having a few hours to research? There was no telling whether the wielder would be decent even at the outset.

Turns out, Fu’s actual vetting process wasn’t even THAT extensive. Wayzz had told him later that Fu had just randomly tried to walk into the middle of a busy street to see whether anyone would help him, and decided that the first person to help should be Tikki’s wielder. For finding Chat Noir, he just randomly acted like he was super frail, dropping his cane and pretending he couldn’t get up, and waited to see who’d help him. Adrien did, so Fu decided that he’d be Plagg’s wielder.

Honestly he was lucky that Adrien was as famous as he was, otherwise Fu wouldn’t have been able to find out where he lived. At least with Marinette, he’d been able to see her leaving her house beforehand.

…Okay, maybe he was being a little harsh on Fu’s vetting. He genuinely had almost no time to work with, and his tests at least established whether that person cared about the APPEARANCE of being a kind, helpful person.

Plagg shuddered. It was a good thing Lila hadn’t been around at that point. She probably would’ve passed the tests. She at least knew it was a good idea to appear helpful and kind. Made it easier to manipulate people later.

But it hadn’t been Lila.

It had been Adrien.

Even the first time he met Adrien, he liked him.

The kid was bright-eyed and thrilled to see him. Still, just because he was thrilled right off the bat didn’t mean much. Plagg had wanted to make a good first impression – they’d probably be working together for awhile after all – but also test him a bit. Feel out where the boundaries were and how controlling Adrien would be. So he gave a little test. Flying around the room trying to eat everything sounded like a great way to test his patience and his new wielder’s problem-solving capabilities.

Also it was just plain fun. He’d never have been able to get away with this in the temple!

Adrien had gotten annoyed, but nothing worse than that. Had to compliment the kid’s acrobatic skills too. The leap off his climbing wall was impressive, to say the least.

He’d given Adrien the usual spiel about not telling anyone about him, keeping his identity secret, his powers, etc. Well, maybe wasn’t fast enough on explaining his powers. Kid jumped the gun a bit on that one.

After he’d told Adrien some basics about the Miraculous, he’d gone and spread toilet paper all over his room. To his surprise, Adrien didn’t seem to care much. Around that time he’d realized that while Fu may have thought that he’d given Plagg to a cautious wielder, that definitely wasn’t the case. A cautious wielder would’ve lectured him about making a mess, probably in that calm, authoritative voice they often had. Better than the yelling he’d gotten from some of his unrestrained wielders at least.

And then…

“But I'm stuck here! I'm not even allowed to go to school! What good is a superhero who's imprisoned in his own house!”

That was the first glimpse he’d gotten of Adrien’s frustrations.

The first glimpse of the similarities between the two of them.

Their imprisonment, their caution, were for different reasons. People feared Plagg and tried to, if not imprison him, control and restrict him at least. Adrien’s father (and Plagg used that term in a loose sense) at least claimed that he was imprisoning and controlling his son to try to keep him safe. Considering how he acted whenever Adrien did something that was perfectly safe, but that didn’t benefit Gabriel and ESPECIALLY when it threatened his control? He had his doubts. Plagg had had enough wielders justify enslaving him as “keeping everyone else safe from destruction” that he knew the type.

At least Adrien had the Dupain-Chengs now. He may not have been willing to run away to stay with them permanently – yet – but they were there for him. He had a safe place to go with adults who cared about him as a person rather than what he could do for them.

Sadly, he couldn’t say that about any other adults in Adrien’s life. Gorilla came closest, but even then the most he’d really been able to do was look the other way when Adrien needed a bit more freedom than he was technically allowed. He wasn’t really able to give him the support he needed.

Plagg winced a little. While he’d given Adrien some support even early on, he tried not to give too much. Get too attached. The kid was nice and a lot more fun than most of his other wielders, but… well, he’d been burned a lot.

But Adrien had a way of worming his way into even Plagg’s cheese-obsessed heart.

He’d get annoyed with Plagg, but never in a way that suggested he was a burden or unwanted.

He genuinely enjoyed spending time with Plagg, even if most of it was just Plagg sitting around eating cheese.

Most importantly, Adrien NEEDED him. Not just for his abilities – though for that too – but as a person.

Adrien was lonely. Even when he did get to hang out with his friends – which wasn’t as often as he liked, and was prone to changing at a moment’s notice – he still didn’t feel comfortable showing all of him. He had a lot of feelings he kept repressed, that he felt like he HAD to keep repressed, because that’s what he’d been taught to do. And if he stepped out of line where his father could see… well, it wouldn’t be the first time that Gabriel had threatened to pull him from school.

Plagg had been the first person who was always there for him. Who couldn’t be taken away. Who he could express all sides of himself around. Anger, frustration, adoration… everything. Even as Chat, he mostly just let out the part of him he didn’t feel safe showing normally. He still didn’t really show every side of his personality.

Plagg had always been the one who people felt like they needed to teach and lecture.

He’d never needed to be the one to teach and provide support instead.

It made him feel needed. Wanted. In a way he’d never been before.

And this kid…

He looked at Adrien’s sleeping face as he twitched, making small distressed noises.

Plagg snuggled up against him harder. “Don’t worry, kitten,” he whispered. “I won’t leave you. Not forever. I’ll always come back.”

Somewhere along the way, Adrien had turned from just a kid, to being HIS kitten.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the change had occurred. It just kind of… was. But he knew when he first suspected it.

Adrien hated being left in the dark. Feeling like he wasn’t trusted. Wasn’t wanted.

But it wasn’t Plagg’s place to bring him to Fu without a very good reason. Not when Fu could’ve gone to Adrien at any time and chosen not to.

Plus – well, there was a more selfish reason.

He was afraid that Fu would interfere in the bond he had with his kitten. Teach him about how uncontrollable and dangerous destruction was, how out of control Plagg’s powers could get, and that he should keep him on a tight leash.

Even as Adrien’s frustration grew, Plagg still didn’t give in, though he was tempted. And not just by exotic stinky cheeses, though those WERE tempting.

Then Adrien reached the end of his rope. He took off his Miraculous and detransformed, believing that it genuinely didn’t matter whether he was around or not. That he wasn’t needed, that no one would notice or care if Chat just… didn’t show up.

That’s when Plagg realized just how much he cared about Adrien. And how much his kitten needed to hear that. That HE would care if Adrien wasn’t Chat Noir. If he didn’t see him again.

I  will!

Why? Because you won't have anyone to give you Camembert?

Oh, I'm sure there'll be another Chat Noir to give me cheese... but he won't be you. 

That’s what Adrien needed. People who genuinely trusted and respected him as a person, and not as a tool. Who valued his feelings and opinions.

As nervous as Plagg had been about how Fu’s interference could affect his bond with Adrien, he was glad he’d showed up right then. That Marinette had cared about her partner’s distress over the seeming lack of trust – of not even having enough information to know WHY he was being left in the dark – to push Fu into talking to Adrien directly. To showing Adrien that it wasn’t that Ladybug didn’t trust him or believe they were equals, but that it was just Fu’s commands, and it wasn’t her secret to tell.

Even if it meant that Adrien might put him on a tighter leash, if meeting with Fu helped Adrien… well, he’d survived being restricted before.

But that hadn’t happened. In either sense.

Sure, Fu had met with Adrien ONCE – but that was it. Only once. And only after being pressured first.

Plagg kept on waiting for Fu to contact Adrien again. He might not be able to hand out his address – with Marinette visiting regularly, there was too much chance of them bumping into each other – but he could still drop by and visit Adrien. Or even ask Ladybug to arrange a private meeting between him and Chat Noir, if he couldn’t get to Adrien without being spotted.

But he just… hadn’t.

Plagg had entertained the idea of asking him on one of the occasions he himself went back over there, but he doubted he’d get a satisfying answer. It hadn’t seemed worth having a confrontation about at the time.

Even at that point though, he still wasn’t quite ready to tell Adrien everything. He trusted Adrien, he really did, but… well, old habits die hard. He was terrified that this would all end, and Adrien would turn cold and controlling, like some of his other wielders.

Which was why for Nooroo’s birthday, he created a stand-in and didn’t tell Adrien that he was leaving. They were already going behind Fu’s back to do this. Going behind his wielder’s back just seemed normal. Natural.

When Tikki had told him that she’d just told her own wielder exactly what she was doing, he wasn’t surprised. Tikki rarely got the controlling ones. Telling the truth rarely had negative repercussions for her.

Then the akuma happened.

And Plagg hadn’t been there.

When Adrien had needed him most, he WASN’T THERE.

And Adrien didn’t even know what’d happened to him.

He’d flown back to Adrien as quickly as he could.

Finding him imprisoned in his room, alone, desperately pulling on bars he KNEW wouldn’t bend  - he’d known that Adrien feared being imprisoned. That he lived in a gilded cage, one that Gabriel would open the door of occasionally, but that Adrien always had to return to lest he lose that right.

And worse than being imprisoned? Being alone.

Without even knowing why the person he’d cared for, the person who’d cared for HIM, had vanished.

He’d felt pretty guilty after that, especially seeing Tikki and Marinette affirm how much they trusted each other.

Because honestly?

He trusted Adrien too.

He might have hang-ups about his previous wielders, but taking that out on Adrien was unfair. And that day, it had hurt him. Badly.

So when Adrien had told him that he knew what it was like to have his freedom restricted, that he didn’t need to sneak around to leave – that was when he’d decided.

His previous wielders were his previous wielders. They were NOT Adrien.

And it was high time he returned the trust that Adrien had placed in him.

Because Adrien placed a LOT of trust in him. He didn’t even fear his powers! Everyone else was always worried about Plagg going out of control and destroying everything, even his fellow kwamis.

Adrien had never doubted him.

On Heroes Day, he showed no fear or trepidation about Plagg causing a little destruction in the street to let Adrien escape from Gorizilla and transform. He KNEW he could do it. And when he did? When he managed to keep his powers in check himself, only causing as much destruction as was needed? Adrien had patted him on the head and called him his hero.

Now it was time to be Adrien’s hero again.

Carefully, he extricated himself from Adrien’s side. Now would be the WORST time to wake him. Seeing Plagg gone after what he’d just been through? Would be his worst nightmare.

But at least Adrien still had the ring this time. He’d know that Plagg hadn’t been stolen. And he trusted that Plagg would come back.

Still, best to be back before Adrien noticed he was gone.

He looked back at Adrien – his wielder, his best friend, his kitten – and flew off into the night.

Fu was sound asleep when he arrived.

Unsurprising. Feast being around wouldn’t have been conducive to sleep, even if Fu HADN’T pulled his little escapade during the middle of the night.

He was probably exhausted after the kind of day he’d had.

Unfortunately for Fu, Plagg, frankly, didn’t give a crap about that.

If he didn’t want to do this now? Tough luck.

“WAKE UP!”

Fu startled awake, flailing wildly.

“WHA-?”

Wayzz appeared at his side. “Plagg, what are you doing here? Master needs his sleep.”

Plagg growled. “Well, he should’ve THOUGHT of that before KIDNAPPING ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!”

“I had to,” Fu mumbled groggily, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. “Feast would’ve eaten Adrien and Marinette otherwise.”

Plagg glared at Fu, then took a deep breath. “You were willing to put your own life in danger from Feast, but not theirs. You believed that taking their Miraculous was the only way to keep them safe. Fine. I can respect that.”

“What I CAN’T respect is everything you did surrounding that.”

Fu looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“You gave me and Tikki to Marinette and Adrien with almost no explanation, no training, and no support. And I was fine with that at first! Just sink or swim, either they’d manage or they wouldn’t.”

“But then I got to know them better. And I got to CARE about them. Fu, Marinette is drowning in her responsibilities. I don’t get to see as much of her as I do Adrien, but- well, she’s not subtle about it, and Chat’s one of the few people she can open up to about it. It’s gotten better recently since she can talk to Alya and Nino about it as well –“

Fu’s head shot up. “What! Alya and Nino know her identity?”

Oops. He didn’t mean to let that little fact slip.

“For how long?! Marinette knows the rule-“

Oh HELL no.

“THAT IS A STUPID-ASS RULE!” Plagg shouted. The shop shook slightly, his destructive energy leaking out – though thankfully not enough to actually cause permanent damage.

Still, he needed to reign himself in. Destroying Fu – or the rest of Paris – was not on his agenda.

He wanted to shake Fu and make him understand what he was doing wrong, not make him go the way of the dinosaurs.

Once everything stopped shaking, he took another deep breath and continued. “I understand the reason you don’t want anyone else to know their identities. If Hawkmoth akumatized or just had the right mind control akuma take control of that person, their identities could be jeopardized, putting them, as well as Tikki and I, in danger.”

“But you know what? NOT having anyone else know their identities is ALSO dangerous.”

“They’ve both been suffocating, Fu. Marinette in her responsibilities and the pressure to maintain her double life, and Adrien with not being able to really show all sides of himself, and of having very little stable support.”

Fu frowned. “Marinette is a bright young woman who has handled the Ladybug Miraculous admirably, and Adrien seems to have managed well enough before now.”

Plagg bit back some nasty curses. Best not to destroy the shop. Or Fu, he guessed. “Yes, they’ve MANAGED. Which is more of a testament to how resilient they are than anything you’ve done. But the point is, just because they’ve MANAGED doesn’t mean that they should be expected to! They’re only FOURTEEN. They need more support and help than you’ve given them – than you can provide. Alya and Nino give them that. They were able to take babysitting off Marinette’s shoulders, help them sneak out when they need to transform, and just generally have their backs!”

“Wait, so they know not only Marinette’s, but also Adrien’s-“

Plagg flew up to Fu’s face, an inch from his nose. “If you even THINK about taking me away from Adrien again, I will cataclysm you where you stand.”

“Plagg!” Wayzz shouted, dismayed. “How could you threaten-“

“How could I? HOW COULD I?!” Plagg screamed. Vases started to rattle.

Deep breaths, Plagg. Think of cheese. Lovely, delicious, stinky cheese.

After getting a handle on himself, he spoke, struggling to keep his voice level. “You have no idea what waking up to find me gone DID to Adrien. What that’s like for him.”

Fu frowned. “I know he’s your friend, but he survived before I gave you to him-“

Plagg growled, quivering with rage. “SURVI-“

He cut himself off as the shop started to shake again.

“PLAGG, GET CONTROL OF YOURSELF!” Wayzz yelled, positioning himself in front of Fu.

As much as Plagg hated to admit it, Wayzz was right. He needed to calm down.

Mmmm… Adrien with Camembert… Camembert bread straight from the Dupain-Cheng Bakery (seriously why couldn’t they just live there, human laws were stupid)… Marinette and Adrien kissin-

Nope. Nopenopenope. He’d seen enough of that. Those two were gross together, why would that even come up when thinking of calming things?

(He steadfastly ignored the warmth that filled his chest when he saw the two of them finally able to be together and happy. It was warmth from eating tons of cheese bread, that was all).

Ok. Back to yelling at Fu. He NEEDED to understand this.

“Do you know what his life was like before he met me?” Plagg hissed.

Fu blinked. “He’s grown up wealthy, so he’s never wanted for anything – except going to school. He models a lot, though he only started doing that in the past year, after-“

Fu’s eyes widened, realization dawning. “After his mother went missing…” he ended softly.

“Do you get it now? At least that small part of it?” Plagg asked.

“He probably had flashbacks to when his mother disappeared,” Fu murmured. “Thinking that he was losing someone else he cared about, so soon after losing a parent.”

“Yeah.” Plagg deflated slightly. “That hit him pretty hard, but he’s persevered and done REALLY well despite that. Especially considering – well, you know what you said regarding him ‘never wanting for anything’? That’s not true. At all. Him not getting to go to school? That’s the tip of the iceberg. Gabriel – that man does NOT deserve the title of ‘father’ – has kept him isolated from people for basically his whole life. Maybe his mother too, I’m not sure, I’ve been afraid to pry too much. She’s a sensitive topic, and even I know better than to stick my paw in that.”

“Anyway, Adrien’s only friend growing up was little miss cause-of-half-the-akumas-in-Paris CHLOE, and even THAT was mostly because Gabriel saw some value in having his kid be friends with the mayor’s daughter! And once Emilie went missing, he didn’t even allow Adrien to see HER! He was stuck all alone in his room with no one to talk to or support him right after losing his mother. And by ‘stuck’ I mean actually imprisoned, because yeah, Gabriel’s a DICK, and worse than that, he’s a RICH dick who can afford a security system that seals all entrances and exits in his house!

“Oh, and remember when I said Adrien was ‘alone’? Well I MEANT that. His father’s only left his house a handful of times since Emilie went missing, but does he spend any time with his son, who just lost his MOTHER? NO! He constantly makes Adrien cancel or just prevent him from making plans so they can eat together at least, but he only shows up maybe a fifth of the time! No apology, no nothing. Adrien has to drop everything to accede to his wishes, but he doesn’t even CARE enough to apologize on the few occasions when they DO see each other in person! He treats Adrien as an employee at best and an object at worst. He only holds value as long as he does EXACTLY what Gabriel says, and if he ‘fails’ him in any way – doesn’t do quite as well at a photoshoot, isn’t as perfect at piano-playing as Gabriel would like – he’s punished severely, often by taking away his ability to spend time with his friends, some of the only people who DO care about him as a person!”

“I care about Adrien!” Fu interjected, affronted.

“Do you?” Plagg growled. “You’ve only visited him ONCE, after Marinette asked you to. You’ve never asked me what his life was like or how he was feeling or doing, even though I’ve visited here a few times! So tell me, how have you showed that you care?!”

“Master was willing to let himself die to keep BOTH Adrien and Marinette safe,” Wayzz cut in. “Yes, Fu may have made some mistakes, but he DOES care.”

Plagg breathed out. “Ok, yeah. I’ll give him that. He was ready to sacrifice his life for them. But the way he did it – that didn’t exactly scream ‘I know and care about them as people’. He had you KIDNAP me ad Tikki, and he didn’t even give Adrien the luxury of knowing what was going on beyond a quick letter! The only reason he wasn’t completely lost on that was because Marinette texted him with details after talking to Fu, because she was TIRED of leaving her partner in the dark when he didn’t need to be.”

“Fu never gave me or Adrien the chance to protest or argue, present alternative plans or arguments. He never gave us the chance to decide. He just decided that that would be the best course of action, and that was that. No one else’s opinion mattered, because HE’D made a decision. If anyone protested? He shut them up.”

“Well…” Wayzz looked uncomfortable now.

“Oh.” Plagg’s voice lowered, his ears pinning back. Softly, he said, “He did it to you too, didn’t he? Shut you up when you started poking holes in his plan? When you said things that went against his decision?”

Wayzz squirmed, not looking Plagg in the eyes.

“..Yes,” Fu admitted, taking over from Wayzz. He walked over to the turtle kwami, cupping his hands, allowing him to rest in the bowl shape they formed. “I’m sorry, Wayzz. I should never have done that. I truly believed at the time that taking the Miraculous was the best move to protect them, but at the very least, I should never have tried to stop you from talking. To renounce you so I didn’t have to listen to your arguments.”

Wayzz just gave a small nod.

“You see the problem?” Plagg asked. “You care about other people’s lives – I’ll agree with that much – but you keep on forgetting that they’re people, and that they have the right to know information that affects them, to give their input, and to make their own decisions. Yes, Marinette and Adrien are young, but they’re the ones out on the field, not you. They have the right to know whatever they need to in order to make informed decisions – BOTH of them, not just Marinette. She normally takes the lead, and she’s damn good at it too, but don’t dump everything on her shoulders. Let her have support, let her lean on other people. And give other people the ability to provide that support. Yeah, you can’t tell both of them everything – there are some things even we kwami can’t be allowed to know, in case we’re compromised – but you can sure tell them more than you have. Like for instance, what happens when a Guardian renounces their Guardianship?

Fu flinched. “I don’t know how much longer I have before Hawkmoth catches up with me. I don’t want her to worry before then.”

Plagg’s tail lashed. “Oh sure, and you don’t think she might worry AT THE TIME?! I know she’s a superhero, but she’s still HUMAN! And she’s just a kid! I understand not wanting to worry her, but when you plan to dump the guardianship on her lap, she has a right to know what it comes with!”

“And that’s another thing – did you ever bother to really ASK her whether she was okay with being Guardian? Or did you just decide she would be?”

Fu looked at the ground, mumbling. “That’s how it’s always been done…”

“Yeah, and ‘how it’s always been done’ is STUPID,” Plagg said. “Look. Honestly? You’re a decent Guardian compared to some of the others I’ve had to put up with. But that’s not saying much, and Adrien and Marinette deserve better.”

As Fu opened his mouth, Plagg hastily added, “And by that I do NOT mean shove the Miracle Box onto Marinette and skip out of their lives! –well, let’s be honest, out of HER life, you’ve never done squat with Adrien.”

“The sad thing is? I’m not sure who has it worse – Marinette for being the one you shove everything onto, or Adrien for being left in the dark.”

Fu was quiet for a moment.

After a few tense moments, he spoke. “I knew I had failed as a Guardian – that I was never even really a Guardian in the first place – but I’d never realized I’d failed these young people so badly.”

Plagg nodded. “Yeah. You have. But that doesn’t mean you can just skip out because you did poorly. You made this mess. Now, you need to fix it as best you can.”

Fu nodded, determination shining in his eyes. “What do you recommend? Beyond what you’ve already said.”

“Well for one thing, actually try to get to KNOW Adrien. Talk to him, treat him as a person, not just a tool. Let Marinette and Adrien know that the secret identity rule is rescinded, reassure them that you won’t take their Miraculous, and that you’re ok with Alya and Nino knowing.”

Plagg hesitated a moment, but then plowed on. “And… this one really IS more of a suggestion, not an order. But. Maybe observe Alya and Nino and get to know them as well? I think they might also be good candidates for permanent Miraculous, and Nino might be a better Guardian candidate than Marinette. Not because she’s not perfectly capable – she’d make an awesome Guardian I’m sure – but because that’s really too much to dump on her, and to prevent hers and Chat’s relationship from becoming too imbalanced again. Divide the responsibility, so it’s not all resting on a single person’s shoulders – especially when they haven’t agreed to it, and don’t know what all it entails.”

Fu closed his eyes, contemplating. “If you think that’s best, then I’ll follow your suggestions. If there’s one thing this incident with Feast has taught me, it’s to listen to others seriously. And honestly – you’re right. About everything. And… I’m sorry.”

“Apologize to Marinette and Adrien, and try to fix this mess. THAT, will be a sufficient apology,” Plagg said.

Fu smiled. “I will.”

As Plagg flew towards the window, Fu called out, “Oh, and Plagg?”

Plagg stopped, turning around. “What?”

“Thank you.”

Plagg grinned. “Hey, I’ll give you a kick in the butt whenever you need it. Just – don’t need it again, alright?”

He flew off into the night, back towards his kitten.

It looked like things would change for the better.

[aevsfires]

Corona: City of Lights, Chapter 1.

"You killed her," Varian whispered, voice sick with horror. "Rapunzel, you- you killed our-"

"She's not our mother." Rapunzel stared at her hands. There was so, so much red. "She never was."

Rapunzel and Varian struggle to adjust to their new reality, in a world they were taught to fear. But even as steps are made and new bonds are formed, it becomes clear that the City of Lights has a darkness, and it is seeking to consume them all.

On Ao3: READ

Warnings: slightly graphic depiction of a fatal injury and a corpse. Now that that lovely bit is out of the way, welcome! Allow me to explain myself. Shattered was stressing me out. I was rushing myself and wasn't having fun. This is my fun break while I sort out that mess. I'm just going to  jump right into this.Enjoy!

Mother was dead.

The blood-slicked mirror shard slipped from Rapunzel’s grasp, joining crumpled and fading photos in the blossoming pool of crimson on the floor. The warm, sticky liquid seeped into the hem of her dress, clinging to her knees, her hands, her hair.

Rapunzel stared.

Mother’s cold, unseeing eyes stared back, still fixed with a final glare. Red spilled from the gaping hole in her neck.

The wound was anything but clean. The sensation of plunging the shard into mother’s throat stayed with her, digging, pulling, ripping the soft skin until blood spurted from the wound like a fountain. Strings of torn flesh hung from the wound, resting on deathly pale skin, a sharp contrast to the dark red Rapunzel felt like she was drowning in. Those empty, deceptive eyes accusingly watched her, disappointed even in death.

This was the woman she had called mother.

And Rapunzel had killed her.

As the ghastly image sunk in, the last vestiges of anger drained from Rapunzel, leaving behind nothing but blissful numbness. Her body still ached; the small cut on her shoulder oozed and her wrists stung with rope burn; but inside, there was a void. Her heart, fragile as it was, remained whole and protected by walls she didn’t know were there.

Soft, shaking breaths cut through the ringing it Rapunzel’s ears. Something shifted in the corner of her eye, glass clinking with the movement.

Glass. The mirror.

Varian.

Mother had slammed Varian into the mirror-

Rapunzel gasped. Her throat was dry. “Are you okay?”

“You killed her,” Varian whispered, voice sick with horror. “Rapunzel, you- you killed our-“

“She’s not our mother.” Rapunzel stared at her hands. There was so, so much red. “She never was.”

More shifting. It took everything ounce of will she had left to tear her gaze away from the scene before her. Her knees stayed glued to the floor as she turned to Varian. He sat several feet away in front of the fallen mirror frame, having pushed himself off the glass shards littering the floor. He didn’t look hurt, just terribly shaken, fearful blue eyes spilling over with tears as they locked with hers.

“Are you okay?” Rapunzel repeated.

“I- I think so,” Varian said hoarsely, eyes darting between her and and mother. He trembled like a leaf. “What are we- what are we going to do?”

Rapunzel blinked. What were they going to do? Her gaze flickered over the paintings covering every inch of the walls, to the photos scattered across the floor. Proof that their lives had been a lie. Mother- no, Gothel, had lied, telling them of the dangers of the outside world, feeding them fears and insecurities all while keeping them locked up for her own selfish reasons.

This wasn’t a home, this was a prison.

Rapunzel’s gaze landed on the painting hanging over the fireplace. It was one of her newest creations, and her favorite. She and Varian sat together under the stars, gazing upon the lights that appeared only on her birthday.

Mother had said the world was a dark and cruel place, but surely a world that made something so beautiful couldn’t be as bad as she said. If mother had lied about the world, then maybe....maybe they could find their way out there. Safe or not, Rapunzel would rather be anywhere but here, a prisoner to a dead woman’s lies.

Swallowing, Rapunzel turned back to her brother. “Pack a bag,” she said, her voice eerily calm.

Varian sounded uncertain. “Rapunzel, I-“

“Only bring what you need.” She hated how she sounded. She hated how she felt. There was no grief, no fear, no overwhelming sense of regret from killing her mother.

She felt nothing.

It was a betrayal of the worst kind. How could she kneel here, in the blood of the woman who had raised her, and not feel any of that? To not feel at all? She didn’t have to hold back the tears Varian was no doubt fighting, because crying was impossible. They were free, free, and despite the corpse beside her, all Rapunzel felt was relief.

She hated herself for it.

Across the room, Varian let out a broken sob. “Why?”

Why? Rapunzel was wondering that herself. Why had Gothel stolen them from the lives they should have led? Why had she tied them up and promised to make their lives hell? Why had she hurt Varian? Worst of all- why had Rapunzel not hesitated to kill her?

Honesty would be the simplest answer.

“I don’t know,” she confessed. The tired smile she gave didn’t reach her eyes. She opened her arms. “But everything’s going to be okay, I promi-“

She tried to lie. She really did.

Varian didn’t let her. He rushed into her, knocking the breath from her lungs. Rapunzel instinctively pulled him close to her chest, letting him break apart in the safety of her embrace. He quickly reached up to cling to her dress, burying his head in her shoulder as ragged sobs racked his small body.

“I’m sorry.” Rapunzel’s expression crumpled, heart finally breaking in the knowledge that she was the only thing keeping Varian from completely falling apart, and she was the reason he was hurting in the first place. It was because of what she did, there was no doubt. She had killed their mother- their kidnapper, and he had been forced to watch.

Apologies would never be enough. Rapunzel uttered them anyway. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I scared you. I’m sorry.”

Varian clung to her harder, mumbling through his tears, “it- it’s not your fault,” he choked, “you were just- just trying to protect me.”

“You still shouldn’t have had to see that.” Rapunzel ran her fingers through Varian’s hair, rubbing comforting circles on his back. Tears pricked her eyes. Not tears for Gothel, no, that part of her was still thankfully numb. She cried because her little brother was hurting, because everything they had ever known was a lie.

It was a horrid nightmare, one Rapunzel wished they could wake up from. But that wouldn’t be any better. She didn’t want to go back to that, as much as it had cost them, Gothel had never been good to them. Not really.

Rapunzel rocked Varian in her arms, soothing him as his muffled cries slowly subsided. They couldn’t stay. It wasn’t safe here anymore. But it wasn’t like they had anywhere to go.

There was always the city Gothel spoke of. It couldn’t be far- Gothel had always made her trips in less than a day. Finding it might be harder, but Rapunzel suspected it was to the east, the direction the lights came from.

It was a long shot, and a risky one, but they had to try.

In her arms, Varian sniffled. Mind made up, Rapunzel gave him a gentle squeeze and pulled away, keeping her hands firmly on his shoulders. She searched his red rimmed eyes. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Varian nodded unconvincingly, curling a pale, quivering hand around her wrist. Rapunzel let it drop. She didn’t want to push him, not now. Guiding his wandering gaze away from Gothel’s body, back to her, she brushed a few stray tears from his cheek. “I’m going to figure this out,” she promised, pressing a featherlight kiss to his forehead. “Go pack. And clean yourself up,” she added, grimacing at the bloody handprints she had left over his shirt.

After a minute, Varian nodded and released his desperate grip on her. They helped each other stand in silence, blood squelching as they pulled themselves free from the puddle. Rapunzel kept a hand on Varian, more to steady him than herself. With all this blood, she was surprised he hadn’t passed out. She herself felt queasy. It had to be shock.

Rapunzel hugged herself as Varian disappeared into his bedroom, leaving her alone in the living room with their kidnapper’s corpse. She was freezing, a draft she hadn’t noticed before wandering in from the broken window. Her feet, hands, and hair were sticky with drying blood, especially her hair, dragging in the gory mess.

Rapunzel carefully gathered it up, wincing as it snagged on a loose nail. It was long, over eight feet. Gothel had never let her cut it. She brought home container after container of bleach, serums, and conditioners to keep it blonde and healthy. Rapunzel had spent countless hours of her life on monthly split ends trims, washing, drying, and brushing, all to please her.

Wash your hair, Rapunzel....your roots are growing out, Rapunzel....dear, trim those ends.... her hair was like a noose, cutting off her air, her freedom.

Rapunzel moved before she had even decided. She almost slipped on the blood soaked wood in her mad rush to the kitchen. She snatched up a pair of scissors, darted back through the living room, down the hall, and into the bathroom, leaving bloody footprints in her wake.

Her hip throbbed from where she crashed into the sink, but Rapunzel ignored it. She raked her fingers through her scalp, tugging her hair into one hand. Raising the scissors, Rapunzel looked into the mirror.

Her reflection made her want to throw up. Hollow, haunted eyes stared blankly back at her. The skin on her wrists was red and chafed. Blood that wasn’t her own coated her hands and hair.

Her long, blonde hair.

This wasn’t her. This was who Gothel wanted her to be. This was a broken girl who had suffered years of abuse at the hands of a monster, letting herself be shaped into something she wasn’t. Her hair was nothing but a chain tethering her to an empty life.

She wanted it gone.

Gone, just like Gothel. Gothel, who had lied. Gothel, who Rapunzel had loved. Gothel, who she had killed to secure her and Varian’s freedom.

Gothel, who only ever loved her hair.

Rapunzel burst into tears. And as they fell, so did the chains around her heart. She could feel again. She was free.

Scissors poised to slice through her bonds, Rapunzel faced her reflection. She was tired, yes, and hurting beyond comprehension. But when she looked in the mirror, all she saw was a bold, strong soul with vibrant green eyes and deep brown roots staring back. This was the real her.

Rapunzel started cutting. 

[spencapenca]

The Misfits Chapter Three!

Trigger Warning: Internalized homophobia and religious trauma, neglect, mention of death of a parent(s), alcohol addiction, swearing, use of marijuana, and a panic attack. Word Count: 3,350 Feel free to review, and leave a comment or criticism! Update: I am thinking I will update weekly or bi-weekly on Thursdays! I am trying to get in the grove of a posting schedule.

The time had come, midterms. With the group stressing through the AP Psych midterms Dave offered his house to study despite being conscious of the size. It just made sense, his parents weren’t home and they always had food. The agreed time was 4:00 that afternoon, they would study for a few, grab dinner, and study until later. The group figured if they combined their knowledge, they would be able to finish their study guide-- in which it was made clear that completing it would almost guarantee a passing score. The group also knew that with Spencer there it would be easier, and they may get done sooner. They really should have started to study sooner, seeing as how the exam was in three days. Spencer walked through his household in the dark, as his mother had forgotten to pay the bill again this month. The young boy tried to figure it out, he tried to figure out how to make his mom better-- it started with pleases and finished with her cold, long fingers backhanding him in the cheek, resulting in a purple bruise he passed off as hitting his face on a doorknob, or getting elbowed by one of the bigger kids. He noticed his mom was in a trance, staring out of the window and muttering to herself. He then saw her pacing nervously over the worn carpet with cheap liquor in her hand, a cigarette with a long cherry burning down the stick. He tried to step in and stop her, so it hadn’t become uncommon for Spencer to go to bed with a small bruise forming from where she would slap him, accusing him of spying on her only for her to forget it the next day. He tried to convince her to drive him, but she accused him of spying for them again, and he realized that it there was no way that she was gonna drive him. So he set out to walk, peering at the angry sky through the window. He used the little data that he had on his phone, of which his deadbeat father still paid despite his absence to find the way to Dave’s house. He rarely used it, not liking the technology because of the fear his mother instilled in him.  About a block into his journey he paused and looked up into the dark sky, seeing the furious clouds, and felt a few raindrops fall onto his thin face. His long-sleeved shirt that was much too thin for a rainy October day became increasingly wet.  He started to shiver, walking faster now to make his body warmer. The rain started to come down harder and he brushed the too-long hair out of his eyes that were now becoming soaked. He jumped as thunder clapped and thought to himself ‘this is going to be a long walk’ Sandy stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame as a dark pungent liquid sloshed around in a dirty cup. JJ stormed out of the house, infuriated.  Her mother’s drinking had gotten unbearable, she kept finding empty liquor bottles in the garbage, tabs on the floor, and the freezer was more stocked with vodka and tequila than it was food. Quite frankly, she couldn’t do it anymore. She needed the escape. She needed freedom from the suffocating sadness in her house. So naturally, she called Emily and of course, she came for her. They sit in awkward silence until they arrive at Emily’s house and sit on her bed. The smell of the alcohol burned into her nostrils, as she tries to cleanse her senses with the calming lavender sents of Emily. “Ugh! I fucking hate living there! There’s too much shit” JJ rants, her voice quiet but venomous as the stress pulsates off of her. She looked miserable in the clothes she was wearing. Tight and form-fitting-- though it looked great, it was most definitely not something that she should be in when she was this upset. So the first thing Emily did was go to her closet and find a pair of black sweats followed by a dark yellow hoodie that just about swallowed JJ. “You look miserable. Go change and we’ll talk.” Emily said softly, trying to lighten the mood but failing. JJ nodded with a small huff and went into her bathroom, changing quickly into the clothes that smelled like Emily, her senses calmed as a small smile spread across her face.  The blonde came back out and plopped onto the bed next to Emily, tension thick in her chest. As if Emily can feel it, she hands her a medium-sized joint burning slowly as smoke comes from its end. “It will make you feel less… well just less. Just trust me.” Emily watched her expression as she sat up and took a small slow drag from the burning paper. JJ did what felt natural and inhaled only to cough. “That’s okay, try again.” And so she did. A couple of times until she felt an unfamiliar calm wash over her senses. Not necessarily high, but definitely calmer. She passes the joint to Emily before flopping back down, “I hate living there. All she does is drink. All. Day. She works from home and drinks. She cooks… well orders shit food, and drinks. She is turning into my grandmother and it is terrible. Everything changed when… when she died… Nothing is the same! Is it too much to fucking ask?!” She rants as small affirming nods and hums come from Emily, “I mean, is it TOO much to ask for your mother to be sober enough to realize you’re not even home!? Or that she’s driving in the car still?! Is that really too fucking much?” “No… no it’s not. I’m sorry... Is there a way you can talk to your dad?” “No. Fucking asshole left. Left me in this shithole.” “I’m sorry JJ... I truly am. Let’s just focus on something else.” And so they did, they smoked and laid close, relaxing while watching a movie or two until it was time to go to the study group. Aaron had been preparing for this day, books scattered along his bedroom floor soft music in the background. He puts everything aside for his brother Sean, who seems to be having school issues of his own, Aaron reminds himself of the man he has to become. His father had left, thankfully-- so he had to become the man, the father figure. To raise his brother when his mother couldn’t. He tried his best to be a good brother, a good son, a good student. These tests were important to that. Crucial. After this, he could relax a bit, let loose as he let Dave take the ropes. Sean LOVED going over to Dave’s, he got to experience the childhood that every kid could ever want over there. Not only that, but it gave Aaron the opportunity to relax and let go, letting himself be a teenager. He would get to hang out with his friend and let go of the responsibility. When he took Sean over to Dave’s with his, he would allow his brother to play with the games that the wealthy teen’s house was stocked with, Sean was able to be a kid too. It was really just healthy for the both of them. Derek and Penelope had been driving for a while, drinking sugary drinks from Starbucks, and holding hands. They decided to have a date day before the study group since they didn’t have much time alone anymore. Though this time was slowly coming to a halt, “Derek… is that Spencer?” She asked, seeing a small figure, shivering in the rainy weather. “I’m sure it…. It is, isn’t it?” He responded, slowing down to the drenched figure Spencer looks over nervously and sees Penelope and calms down, seeing Derek’s window roll down, “Hey kid… why are you in the rain? It’s freezing out there!” “I uhm… I was walkin to Dave’s… for the study group tonight.” Derek looks over at Penelope with a worried glance. Why couldn’t the kid's mom drive him, and how the hell was he getting to school every day? He takes in a breath and nods to his back seat, “Get in Spence, you can just stay with us until the study group. Okay? We were about to grab lunch, are you hungry?” Spencer contemplates for a second before nodding “ ‘M sorry… Your car is gonna get all wet” He mumbled, climbing into the backseat as a crack of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder sounded overhead. He jumped and closed the door as Derek reassured him it was perfectly fine. Penelope looks back and sucks her teeth “Der, you have a hoodie right?” She asked, smiling to herself as he nodded. “Here Sug, take off that wet shirt, put this on, it will keep you warm.” She told the young boy, his hair flush against his forehead as it dripped with small droplets. “Okay…” He responded, pulling the wet shirt off and quickly reveling in the dry comfort of the hoodie that was much, much too big for him. The group went to lunch and then to an arcade, and then--just for Spencer, they went to the big library, allowing him to check out a few books. Derek and Penelope were worried for him, worried for his condition because they noticed something else, a purplish, yellow bruise forming on his cheek that was an obvious handprint. Something was going on and they were going to figure it out. They weren’t going to leave this alone, not this time. Not after the clues that they have seen. Not after the lack of food, dirty clothes, and unkempt hair. Not to mention the ripped shoes and broken pencils.

The groups started to flow in, Aaron and Sean first, then JJ and Emily-- who were still a little buzzed, and finally Derek, Penelope, and Spencer. The first plan of action was the homework packet in which they had due for the midterm. It was a prep packet that was every bit of fifteen pages long, covering everything they had gone over or talked about in the past nine weeks. Little bits from previous exams, of which they had weekly, and questions over the 5 chapters of the textbook they have started to read, front to back. After a while Spencer looked over at Emily and scooted closer to her, a small sniffle forming. He was already starting to get a cold from the rain. He was so nervous to go home, what if his mom came out of the episode and realized he wasn’t there? What if they wouldn’t take him home? How would he get the cold that he caused to go away… how would he clean his clothes? The water bill hadn’t been paid… he had run out of water. His train of thought was broke when Emily naturally rubbed his back with her free hand and smiled softly, not that she would let anyone see it; however, despite her attempts to hide it, JJ noticed and blushed. God, that smile was like crack to her. Addicting. After quite a few hours and rumbling stomach noises, Dave had decided it was time for a break, and for pizza. Though, choosing what kind was not easy. There were many raised voices, and each time Spencer tried to speak up, he was spoken over, making him shrink down. It was too loud. A hand flew up-- innocent of course, just Derek patting someone on the back but it caused him to flench and yelp. Suddenly, all eyes were on him, he was quivering like a wounded puppy, covering his face with small tears forming. His chest felt tight, his breath hitched, but then sped up rapidly, his lungs heaving with each breath. The sight made the noise stop immediately. Emily spoke softly, kneeling beside him “Hey bub, what’s wrong?” He shook his head and sat on the floor slumping against the wall as he shook. Fear taking over his responses, and his fight or flight making him freeze instead. Soon enough he muttered two words “I’m okay.” Two words he muttered way too often, his personal mantra. Emily took into account the noise, knowing how he felt about loud sounds, and how to fix that. She nodded and pulled him into her lap, holding him close, and covering his ears with her hands to muffle the sound around them. With the silenced sound and the comforting scent sent around him he curled up in her lap, his messy curls fanned against her pale chest as he breathed with her, his eyes fluttering closed. The group looks at each other worriedly. Normally Spencer wasn’t like this. He was sensitive, jumpy sure, but he never reacted like this. He never flinched. They sat silently before being jumped out of their thoughts with a ring of the doorbell. Pizza. No one moves for a moment, looking around in before Rossi scrambles up, clumsy but quiet. He tips the delivery man more than he would like to admit and sits the boxes in the middle. “Eat, but be quiet. Don’t wake the kid.” He warns Spencer's head perks up with the smell of the pizza, looking around sleepily “ ‘za” he says, a small sleepy grin on his face. Emily smiles and rubs his back, cutting a glare at Derek who was almost gushing at them, “Yeah kid, pizza. Eat some, then I think Derek over there is gonna get you home to your mama.” She says softly, not expecting him to tense at those words. “I don’t wanna go home…” he mumbled, his voice going stoic, the fear was more than he wanted to deal with. He wanted to stay here with Emily. He wanted to feel safe. Emily glanced at Aaron worriedly, then at Rossi when the silent observer of the room spoke up “Bub, can Spencer stay with us? He’s a good friend, even if he’s younger than me.” Sean speaks up from the back of the room. Aaron nods and glances at Spencer, looking for his word of approval. “Whadyou think kiddo?” “Uhm… Can I please?” He asked quietly, nuzzling into Emily’s chest. “Well, are you sure your mom-” “She doesn’t care. You sure you don’t mind?” He interrupts Aaron quickly, not wanting to explain. Aaron is taken aback at how quickly he responded and he nods, “Sure Spencer. Of course, you’re welcome always.”

Everyone trickled out of Dave’s home group by group, Aaron leaving last. He stayed around because Spencer had fallen asleep again on the couch and he wasn’t about to wake that kid up. It was obvious he never slept with the dark purple rings around his eyes, leaving him puffy. Emily drives back to her house with JJ in her passenger seat. She could feel the tension in between them, the discomfort from JJ’s side. Though it was nothing Emily had done. The suppressed voice in the back of her head ‘don’t do it. Evil. abomination. Wrong.’  A list of the pastors' sermons. The words that he spewed at the conjugation, spewed at her. They cut deep. Every time she looked into the mirror she saw disgust. She sees failure. An imperfection. A giant stamp of hellfire and brimstone. A bubbling in her chest as she felt the impending doom of Sunday morning service. The one day her mom was sober enough to be around other people, but not enough not to be an absolute asshole. JJ was snapped out of her thoughts when Emily tapped her knee “And we’re back to the house. Common up to my room, and we can talk about whatever has been on your beautiful mind.” She says, trying to butter her up and flirts a bit-- it was hard not to at this point. Hard not to let herself fall. Though it did cause an obvious burst of tension between them. “I’m not too sure that you want to know what’s going through my mind right now.” She mumbles, making her way up to Emily’s room and plopping on her bed face down. “Oh, I’m sure I do. I love to hear all of your thoughts. Don’t worry about scaring me off.” JJ let in a shaky inhale “Abomination. Dirty. Disgusting. Evil. Hell bound sinner.” “Woah! Hey! What the hell blondie, what’s happening there.” Emily stutters out, sitting closer to the younger female. JJ looks up with tears in her eyes, “I’m dirty, I can’t help it, but I’m dirty. M-my pastor said and I t-tried to pray it away. I t-tried to be perfect. I thought that if I made myself fall for a Christian boy I would be okay. But I’m not! I’m not okay because girls are pretty and guys are okay. All Christian boys are gross, and I’m TIRED of HATING myself. Leviticus 18:22, For man, shall not lay with a man as he lays with woman for it is an abomination.” She starts to sob out, her cheeks getting heated from the wet tears stinging her cheeks as she sobbed into the fleece blankets. Emily looked over and placed a hand on her back rubbing it softly “You’re okay Jennifer, you’re okay. I promise. You’re not dirty, you’re gorgeous, you’re not disgusting, you’re so amazing and I am so sorry that some man-caused you to feel that. That you have to feel that at all. God… I don’t know him or anything but…. But he loves you blondie. He does, so just fuck the pastors. Love who the fuck ever because you were born that way. You hear me?” She nods and sniffles “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sobbing in your bed. I’m sorry. You’re pretty too. God, you’re gorgeous.” She says too quickly, blushing as she realizes her confession “You’re gorgeous too JJ. Let's get some rest, we can talk about this in the morning, don’t worry about whatever you said that made you get all quiet and we can talk later.” Emily says softly, a smile playing on her features. JJ nods with a small smile, turning so her back is to Emily. She pulls the blanket up to her chin and almost allows herself to relax into Emily’s touch, but she doesn’t and she keep herself close to the wall. Penelope and Derek decided just to stay at Penelope’s house, her aunt wasn’t home and they just wanted to be with each other. They lay in her bed and she rests her head on his chest, grounding herself with the rise and fall of his breaths. Derek carts his hand through her hair silently as he notices her tensity. After a few moments, he finally speaks up “Baby girl, what’s wrong?” He asked softly She takes in a shaky breath, “I just… I just miss my mom… and my dad.” She admits softly, her voice barely above a whisper as if she was afraid of the confession. She had been pondering over the thoughts. She wanted to tell her mom about EVERYTHING, have a girl talk. Just be her daughter again. He nods and kisses her forehead, “I’m sorry baby, I know it’s hard but when I start missing my pops a lot I talk to him. I talk to him about you, school, football… everything really. I know he can hear me, and I can feel him with me. Sometimes it’s a dream, but sometimes it’s just a calm that washes over me.” Penelope nods and sniffles, “I know… I’m sorry for crying all over you. You’re such a good boyfriend, thank you for understanding me and my issues. Thank you” She whispers into his chest Derek nods and kisses her head again “It is my greatest pleasure Penny. You’re so strong my love” and with those words, the couple cuddled and fell asleep arm in arm, limbs tangled in a comforting way as they breathe each other's oxygen, the stress of the world away while they’re in each other's arms.