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silverstarfics · 6 months ago

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I was so determined to write something for this week’s @thunder-pride bingo square that I literally wrote this fic while having a minor allergic reaction on a plane - in other words there are definitely mistakes in this but please pretend not to notice them oops. Anyway, this is a longer fic than I'd usually post on here, so I recommend reading it on AO3 but I know some people prefer Tumblr, so here we are :))

AO3 link

Stray glitter itched under his left eye, his flag kept getting snagged on his baldric, and he could feel sweat prickling at the base of his spine despite the temperature regulator in his suit, yet Alan had never felt more comfortable in his own skin. His cheeks physically ached from so much smiling. He didn’t think he’d stopped grinning since he’d landed Tracy One on American soil two hours earlier – and no, that wasn’t just because he’d been reunited with his boyfriend. They hadn’t intended to spend practically three months apart – which had been a difficult adjustment after sharing an apartment for the past year – but the end of Alan’s semester meant he was officially back on the IR roster for the summer… just as a busy spell of rescues struck.

Technically, he was here on Official International Rescue Business: representing them at one of the world’s largest Pride parades. Usually, Gordon would have played the role, dressed up in yellow, pink and blue with an unholy amount of glittery body spray decorating not only his skin but his uniform. This year, Alan had taken up the reins. He secretly suspected his family had conspired to give him some downtime – because summer break was supposed to be restful, especially when you were an overachiever who’d decided to double major – and a chance to hang out with Brandon. He’d been instructed to have fun. Literally, Scott had texted him so.

Scotty: Have fun and enjoy your chance to be a dumb 20-year-old.

Scotty: Not too much fun though. You’re representing IR.

Alan had replied: so, on a scale from John to Gordon how much fun can I have?

Scotty: My level of fun only minus the daredevil risks.

Scotty: Just don’t get arrested, that’s all I ask.

“Coming to you from the Pride event of the year,” a loud voice declared dangerously close to Alan’s ear, jolting him out of his thoughts, “I’m here with a bi icon AKA my boyfriend-”

“Really?” he interrupted. “That’s how you’re introducing me?”

“Oh my god, fine.” Brandon hooked an arm around Alan’s neck and dragged him within view of the camera. “I’m here with International Rescue’s one and only Alan Tracy.”

“Better,” Alan accepted, trying to repress the urge to sneeze as Brandon’s flag drifted across his face. “Are you filming or livestreaming right now?”

“Filming,” Brandon assured him. “I’ll edit stuff out later, so you can relax.”

Alan flung his arms out to let his own flag billow in the light breeze. “Oh, I am so relaxed.”

Brandon, on the other hand, looked set to launch into orbit. He’d downed nearly a litre of soda since he’d met Alan at the airport and had chased it down with cotton candy and churros; he still had cinnamon dust on his face and it looked like extra freckles. The sugar rush had hit him around the same time as his adrenaline spike when music had begun to blare from speakers up-and-down the parade. He’d already had several fans come up to him for selfies and signatures which had only added to his energy levels. Even now, he was bouncing on the spot.

“Brand,” Alan tried to hiss, then raised his voice to be heard above the clamour of music and chatter and the swell of live instruments around them. “Brandon, dude, chill.”

“I am so frickin’ chill,” Brandon announced gleefully. He grabbed Alan’s hand and laced their fingers together, rising onto his toes – he hadn’t stopped complaining since Alan had hit the growth spurt that had placed him above Gordon and Virgil – to pull him into a kiss. “See? Chill.”

“Uh huh,” Alan deadpanned. “Super chill.” He frowned at the taste of sugar. “Did you find more candy? Where? And how? I swear you haven’t left my side.”

Brandon levelled the camera with a conspiratorial look. “All geniuses have their ways.”

“I’m cutting you off.” Alan reconsidered his words. “Ew, gross. You’re making me sound responsible.”

Brandon flicked his red baldric. “I feel like responsibility and IR are a joint package.”

“You’ve seen my astroboard stunts.”

“Good point.”

The parade began with an explosion of colour that reminded Alan of the infamous occasion when Gordon had accidentally upended Virgil’s palette mid-painting session. International Rescue had been assigned to the group of NGO floats, so he wasn’t expecting many people to point him out from the crowd. Maybe he’d gotten too used to his life on campus; after the initial buzz, no one cared that The Alan Tracy of International Rescue was a part of their ranks. But to his surprise, there were easily hundreds of people cheering and waving banners directed at him – or at IR or at his family: at least two signs asked for Kayo’s phone number – as the procession marched through the streets. Brandon captured everything on camera, including Alan’s shellshocked expression which prompted several internet comparisons with various memes.

“Hey, hey, Alan, look up.” Brandon cupped Alan’s face, tilting his head to glimpse the livestream of the parade on the giant screens above them. “Better smile, dude!”

“Oh my god.” Alan’s voice pitched into a humiliating squeak. He cleared his throat and fixed a grin on his face as the cameras stayed on him. “Okay, so this- this is a thing that’s happening. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.”

“Breathe,” Brandon teased. He raised their linked hands into the air, prompting another chorus of cheers from the crowd. “People love us! And they really love you, so quit freaking out.”

“I am not freaking out,” Alan protested, then proceeded to do exactly that as a weight crashed into his legs from his right. He staggered and caught his balance against Brandon’s shoulder.

“Woah,” Brandon mumbled, switching off the vlog. “Hey, lil dude. Where’d you come from?”

If the fact that Brandon had turned off the camera weren’t warning enough, his sudden change in pitch from overexcited delight to soft concern would have informed Alan that the new limpet clinging to him was definitely child shaped. He glanced down to glimpse a mop of tawny hair and an adoring, toothy smile. The kid had to be around eleven, certainly no older than twelve, with rainbow face-paint and a shirt emblazoned with Thunderbird Three.

“Hey,” Alan greeted, struck by the baffled urge to laugh. He knelt down to place himself at the kid’s level – honestly, his new height just kept causing problems. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Leo.” The kid – Leo, Alan mentally corrected himself – rocked on his heels as his grin grew impossibly wider. “Sorry for… you know. Running at you and jumping onto the float and stuff. But I really wanted to say hi, ‘cos you’re, like, super cool and you’re kind of my hero, so, um, yeah.”

Brandon leaned down over Alan’s shoulder to whisper teasingly, “Aw.”

Alan elbowed him. “Shut up.” He turned back to Leo. “That’s awesome, buddy! It’s great to meet you. Are you here with someone? I don’t want them to think you’ve gone missing.”

Leo gave an emphatic nod. “My mom.” He pointed in the vague direction of the crowd. “She’s out there somewhere.”

“Oh, boy,” Brandon whistled. “I know where this is going.”

Alan tousled Leo’s hair, then stood back up. “So, I’m thinking…”

“…We should search for the kid’s mom?” Brandon concluded with a fond eyeroll. “Yeah, okay.”

After a brief discussion with the other representatives on the float, Alan made his excuses, then clambered down with Leo perched on his shoulders and Brandon close behind them. The kid kept chattering, hands anchored in Alan’s hair and his heels drumming against Alan’s chest; it brought back treasured childhood memories of the times Alan had sat on Scott’s shoulders as his brother picked paths through crowds. He was aware of Brandon sneaking photos of their silhouettes to send to the family, all dressed up in sparkles and flags and IR blues.

Leo’s mom looked suitably ruffled. Her face was flushed with a mixture of humiliation and horror beneath the shimmery sheen of glitter spray. She fretted her hands in the hem of her t-shirt – pale blue with a supportive motherly caption that made both Alan and Brandon look away – as she began to utter so many apologies that they tripped over one another.

“I am so, so sorry.” She caught Leo’s eye with a warning stare. “He didn’t mean to disturb you. I only took my eyes off him for a second- Leo, have you apologised? Say sorry right this instant. I can’t apologise enough. Thank you so much for bringing him back. It’s just that you’re his hero, you see. He’s been obsessed with the Thunderbirds since he was only so high-” She gestured at her hip. “-and when you came out… Well, you’ve been a healthy role model for him. His hero, really, and- And I should stop rambling and let you get back to the parade. Leo, get down here.”

Alan crouched down to let Leo clamber from his shoulders. He wasn’t sure how to act in the face of such praise – the word hero was tossed around frequently by civilians but it was usually addressed towards elder brothers and on rescues, not a public setting – so settled for some terrible pun outta Gordon’s handbook and laughed nervously while Brandon rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it.” Alan offered Leo a fist bump which the kid readily returned. “He’s been no trouble.” He feigned a serious tone. “I have an important question though: which is the best Thunderbird?”

“One,” Brandon declared and instinctively jumped outta reach before Alan could kick his shins.

Leo wrinkled his nose. “Three, duh.”

“Correct answer.” Alan patted him on the head. “I just had to check.” He grinned at Leo’s wide-eyed, starstruck expression. The kid kept looking at him as if he were a dragon, although perhaps a unicorn would be a better comparison given the rainbows painted onto his baldric. “Maybe don’t run off without telling your mom next time though, okay?” He lowered his voice to a secretive whisper. “I think you scared her. You might want to say sorry.”

Leo’s face fell. “Sorry, Mom. I wasn’t thinking…”

“Clearly,” she replied dryly. “But I think we can let it slide just this once.” She straightened up, craning her neck slightly to meet Alan’s gaze – and nope, he still wasn’t used to that one, it was so weird, how did Scott and John live like this? “It’s his first Pride.”

“Oh, heck yeah,” Brandon cut in. He held up a hand. “High five, lil dude! That’s awesome!”

Leo met his high five with a resounding smack. Alan observed their interaction, fully aware that he probably had the heart-eyes that he’d been accused of on so many occasions by nosy siblings, but hey, whatever, sue him, it was a cute sight. He tugged absently at the edges of his flag as warm affection spread outwards from his chest. Cameras clicked around him as people filmed – hey, it’s the guy from International Rescue – but somehow it didn’t bother him anymore.

“Really,” he continued, forcing himself to turn back to Leo’s mom. “Leo’s a good kid. You should be proud of him. I got super overexcited at my first Pride too. It can be kind of overwhelming.”

She gave a light laugh. “It’s all he’s talked about for the last three months.” She lowered her gaze, voice softening as she hesitated, then confessed, “He was scared to come out to me. I don’t know how I ever gave him that impression – Lord knows I kick myself every day for making my baby think I wouldn’t accept him – but when you came out… He said that if you could be brave enough to tell the world, he could be brave enough to tell his mama. So, thank you, Alan. Truly.”

And-

Wow.

Okay. That was… a lot.

“You’re so emotional,” Brandon teased, prodding Alan’s bicep. “This is why Goose says you have golden retriever energy, dude.” He skimmed his thumb over Alan’s palm, a swift, inconspicuous show of support. “We should probably get back to the parade, but it was awesome to meet you.”

“Of course.” Leo’s mom snagged her son’s shirt. “Say goodbye, Leo.”

“Bye,” Leo chirped, then threw his arms around Alan’s middle. “Thanks for… everything.”

Alan let Brandon lead him through the crowd to a café. They found a quiet corner at the very back, tucked away in a shadowy alcove beside a potted plant and an old Pacman machine. Brandon briefly vanished, then returned with a glass of water and a chocolate chip cookie. He slid both across the table to Alan, then waited expectantly, all wide eyes and furrowed brow.

“Thanks,” Alan replied after a minute. He took a sip of the water, then drained it in one as he realised how dry his mouth had become. “I don’t know why that threw me so much. Like, it was a really nice thing, so why am I…?” He held up a shaky hand. “…you know?”

“’Cos it’s a big deal,” Brandon said quietly. He bumped his sneaker against Alan’s beneath the table. “You’re allowed to be rattled by it, Al. It’s a good thing, but it’s still a lot. Like, I can still remember the first time one of my viewers told me I’d inspired them. I’m pretty sure I threw up afterwards, so you’re doing better than me. Then again, I was like fifteen, so…”

Alan split the cookie. “Want some?”

“It’s like you don’t even know me,” Brandon sighed, grinning as he snatched up half. “Let’s chill here for a few minutes, then we’ll head back out, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Leo was right, you know?”

“What d’you mean?”

Brandon’s smile was the soft, secretive kind, usually reserved for places without the threat of cameras. Alan had gotten to see it almost daily since they’d moved in together when he’d started at MIT, but it still left him mildly breathless.

“You’re a good role model to a bunch of kids like him.”

Alan ducked his head. “You think so?”

“I know so,” Brandon corrected. “Now eat your cookie so we can get back out there.”

Much, much later, after they’d flown back to the island and washed off most of the glitter, Alan had chance to process everything. It made him happy but also nervous at the same time. Like, woah, he was someone’s role model? Kids considered him to be their hero? That was wild. He said as much, airing his thoughts aloud while Virgil clattered around the kitchen and Scott picked at the bowl of chopped pineapple that was intended for the evening’s pizzas.

“It’s just so weird,” Alan continued, drawing his legs up to sit cross-legged on the bar stool. He’d changed into sweatpants and a hoodie that he was pretty sure he’d stolen from John at some point after his sixteenth and had subsequently grown into. There was still glitter caked onto his cheek despite the fact that he’d attacked it with a makeup wipe. “Like, me? I still feel like a kid.”

“You’re Scott’s twenty-year-old child,” Gordon joked as he sidled through the patio doors and made a beeline for the pineapple. “He’s never gonna see you as an adult. Trust me, I’d know.”

“I’m not that bad,” Scott protested half-heartedly.

Gordon patted him on the back. “Smotherhen.”

“Irresponsible guppy.”

“And I wear that title with pride.” Gordon dropped onto the stool beside Alan. “Speaking of pride, how was it? Brandon didn’t give me any of the good gossip. I need details, Allie-gator.”

Alan frowned. “Did you torture my boyfriend? Is that why I haven’t seen him all evening?”

“Nah, that’s ‘cos Penny abducted him. They’re conspiring. We should both be scared.” Gordon tossed a cube of pineapple into his mouth and shot Virgil an innocent smile when his brother heaved a grand sigh and stared pointedly at the pizza bases. “Anyway. Pride. Details. Go.”

“A little kid said Alan was his role model, so Al’s spiralling,” Kayo summarised from her perch on the opposite counter, nursing something strongly alcoholic. “Now you’re all caught up.”

“Aw.” Gordon propped his chin in his hands. “That’s kind of adorable.”

“That’s what I said,” Virgil interjected. He prodded at the bowl of cake batter in his hands, then reached for a baking tray. “Do I leave this as vanilla or add cocoa powder?”

“Add chocolate.” Alan dropped his head onto the counter with a groan. “It’s weird though. I feel… like a fraud, I guess. I don’t have my life together. I survive on pizza pockets and Red Bull.”

Scott glanced up. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Only during finals. I’m mostly a functional adult the rest of the time.”

John’s hologram blinked into life above the projector. “Before you spiral any further, you should know that the internet loves you. Footage of the parade has ended up online. You’ve not just inspired one kid, but a lot of people.”

Alan tossed his hands up. “How is that supposed to make me feel any better? That’s so much more pressure.” He slumped onto the counter. “I just… You guys were my role models, right? And you did a pretty good job-”

“Thanks,” Gordon said, just as Kayo added, “Everyone apart from Gordon did a good job.”

“-so, I’m really happy to be inspiring people but also I don’t want to mess up.”

A contemplative silence settled over the kitchen.

“You’re not going to mess up,” Scott said after a moment. He slid the pineapple out of Gordon’s reach, then moved to stand beside Alan’s seat. “Hey, look at me for a second?” He placed his hands on Alan’s shoulders and offered him a reassuring smile. “All you need to do is keep being yourself. Try your best, stand up for your beliefs, and you’ll do just fine, Allie. Besides…” He tousled Alan’s hair. “You’ve been our hero for just as long as we’ve been yours.”

“Gordon’s not included in that,” Kayo called. Gordon made a crude gesture in her direction. She flung an arm at him. “See? He’s just not role model material.”

Scott ignored them. “You’re doing great, Al. I’m proud of you.”

Alan swallowed the lump of emotion in his throat, then asked, “Can I make a Pride joke?”

Scott sank onto a bar stool beside him and dropped his head onto the counter. “Wake me up when the pizza or the cake is ready, I can’t cope with the terrible puns that are about to happen.”

“Oh, but Scotty,” Alan began.

Gordon let out a wild laugh. “This is gonna be so much fun.”

#thunderpride #thunderpride 2024 #thunderbirds are go

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milkuvvayy · 27 days ago

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✧ describe your MCL profile! ✧

thank you @mclmora for this template! (i know it's old but i found this yesterday and i absolutely had to do it)

✧ user’s profile! (foreshadowing of my loml lol)

i didn't include everything from the original template because i don't have an OC of my candy. i usually use my colors irl (brown hair and blue eyes) and otherwise dress her how i want lol

edit: i just noticed how i said i use brown hair but i'm only use them in one avatar here djkhs. i swear that i usually always wear brown wig

favorite flirt(s): Rayan !! Castiel

player since: 02/07/14

✧ currently playing: Love Life, Rayan route

────── · · · ·

✧ high school life – episode 38/40

flirts’ lom levels (add a 💘 next the character you put “crush” on!)

nathaniel: 56%

castiel 💘: 110%

lysander: 92%

armin: 73%

kentin: 96% (i didn't even like him, tf-)

questions for you ♡

which club did you pick?

gardening. i'm not sporty + Jade was cute

which is your favorite episode?

uh oh, i don't remember. i played too long ago

which non-dateable character do you like most?

Violet, Leigh (wasted opportunity for him)

────── · · · ·

✧ university life – completed

flirts’ lom levels (add a 💘 next the character you put “crush” on!)

nathaniel: 100%

priya: 100%

castiel: 100%

hyun: 100%

rayan: 💘 110%

questions for you ♡

what do you think the removal of kentin, armin & lysander?

i was sad, mainly for Lys and Armin since i liked them but especially sad for those who had them as their main flirts. also 5 episodes for their spin offs are too few ): and they removed them to add Hyun? no hate, but he's so boring lol, i don't understand. they could have kept one of them instead of putting him

which one is your favorite episode?

mmh, i don't know. maybe episode 19, the scene with Rayan was so sweet, i cried

is there something you don’t like about this season?

apart from things forgotten by Beemoov, i don't think so? maybe i would have preferred to see Rayan even more in his role as a professor but other than these things, UL is my favorite version!

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✧ love life – in progress, episode 9

flirts’ lom levels (add a 💘 next the character you put a “crush” on!)

nathaniel: 25%

priya: 25% (i'll probably lower it even more with the next few episodes since i know what happens)

castiel: 40%

hyun: 60%

rayan 💘 100%

eric: 35%

questions for you ♡

how do you feel about eric’s character?

he's okay, but i see him more as a friend. i just hate that they added him as an option for cheating. i hate cheating, tf is this, bruh

which one is your favorite episode?

///

did you enjoy the way the story turned out/is turning out?

NO. "love life" my ass. i spent more time with Rayan when we had to hide than now that we live together 💀 and i hate how beemoov made certain characters change, it's like they forgot about their personalities (also happened with new gen so i'm not surprised) and the rushed things (like the wedding. i'm far from that point but i know how things were handled). the only reason i'm playing LL is for Rayan, otherwise i wouldn't have even started it.

────── · · · ·

✧ alternate life – in progress: Kentin (for the moment i played AL only on my US account!)

lysander: complete

questions for you ♡

how do you feel about his new design?

i love man with long hair <33 overall he's nice and handsome but his face it's too long, so it's a little bit off

what do you think of his character development?

i think Lys hasn't had a big development, he remained more or less the same, but more adult. at the same time he has always been the most introspective and mature since HSL. his story is soothing and calm, just like him and i felt like i found what i was looking for and my home, playing its spin-off and the relationship between Lys and Candy is so sweet, solid and mature and WE LOVE THIS !! (+ he remained as sweet as ever. sweet guy >>>). in general this man it's a green flag

(i could write more but i would end up talking about his spin-off in general and that's not the point of the question)

kentin: third episode

questions for you ♡

how do you feel about his new design?

meh, i don't like it so much. again, there's something off

what do you think of his character development?

too early for me to give an opinion, i want to finish the episodes first

armin: complete

questions for you ♡

how do you feel about his new design?

the best design of the three, although i liked the old one too. still disappointed they didn't give him a mullet

what do you think of his character development?

i like it a lot! a lot of people didn't like how things were handled, but i think it was totally in line with the character and it made sense, also to give a chance for growth. Armin is still the same jokester as before (i also love that he kept a smirking teasing expression which is so him + his being sweet and flirtly), but he’s not a boy anymore and it's clear that the break up made him grow up as well. His route is completely different from the others two. While he did grow up and became more mature, his story isn’t as much as getting to know him, while getting to know who Candy and him are together and if they can build something solid and long-lasting. With Lys and Kentin we get a finished product, with Armin we get a work in progress, that makes his route more beautiful, realistic and dynamic. We see both Candy and Armin grow during the story and i also love Candy in this route (i went a off topic so i'll stop writing sjkdhs)

────── · · · ·

here’s three non-dateable characters i like!

honorable mention: Morgan

────── · · · ·

general questions ♡

how did you discover the game? i honestly don't remember…

which one is your favorite special episode (ex: halloween 2011, easter 2012, ect)? i skipped some because i stopped playing for a while and the ones i played i don't remember well, sigh. in general i would say summer and Valentine's events, but i also liked some Christmas ones and one Easter one (i'm relying on the illustrations at the moment). for example Valentine's Day 2020 just because Rayan is wearing glasses 😋 yummy (Beemoov why didn't you make him wear glasses other than that event? i feel robbed)

have you played the spin-offs? if yes, which one was your favorite? Armin and Lys

drop your favorite outfit(s)! i never save them so i tend to forget them 😭 but the ones in the picture at the start (UL and AL) are my favs!

#amour sucre #my candy love

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blasphemousgoggles · 1 year ago

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Strange Mr. Qi Part 2

A Mr. Qi x Reader, I might have to make more parts.

Warnings: Mr. Qi is the warning (Stalking)

Edit: Part 3 Added

He’s blue. Not in a sad way but in the way that he is literally blue. Now you had seen many things before, all sorts of strange monsters but you had never once seen a blue man. Other than that time Clint had to drink one of those Joja Colas for a commercial and got food poisoning but that's besides the point. You highly doubt that Mr. Qi would be drinking those liquid abominations. While strange you suppose that he was at least a very lovely shade of blue, a beautiful pale blue that you can see in the sky or maybe in an aquamarine from the mines.

He was tall enough that you had to crane your neck to look at him, his hair was a deep purple just above his shoulder and his hands were clasped behind his back. You couldn’t see his eyes due to them being covered by his amethyst lenses. He dressed very extravagantly, he wore a sleek button up and slacks, the fabric of his clothes looked like space itself. Blue, green, and yellow stars were glistening in and out of existence, a bit like a Christmas tree. To top it off he was wearing a wide brimmed hat that appeared to be made out of the same cloth of his outfit. While not traditionally, he was… really pretty Oh. Nah. Not happening. It's the weird stalker blue man, my guy. Walking red flag but blue. Why are you like this, out of all things to think about? Why. Get that thought out of your head. Better yet don’t think. Perishing the thought, you quickly avert your eyes away from him, he most definitely noticed that you hadn’t greeted him yet.

“Er- yeah, you too I guess…” you sound way too shaky man, pull yourself together then you can ask some questions. His smile widened and you can see the pearly whi- OH BOY does he have sharp teeth. You break out in a cold sweat, why are his teeth like that? It makes his grin look so much more menacing than it should, like you feel like you're gonna get eaten alive with those teeth. Please stop smiling. “Tell me do you know why I singled you out?” You frown, honestly you had no idea. You shake your head. “You've got the 'spark'… that's why I singled you out.” What. You furrow your brows “Spark? Sorry I don’t understand what that means.” Clearly he finds your confusion amusing because he starts chuckling. “What spark? The conduit of mystery, of art, of exploration… People like us have a responsibility to keep the world alive, to give folks a taste of the extraordinary. He then bent down to look at you better. “You see, kid, the world's like a bowl of rice. It's got substance, but it ain't worth nothin' without a good, zesty sauce. That's where we come in.” He gestures. Did this guy just compare you to a sauce? And you're now noting that he calls you kid a lot, why? He can’t be that much older than you. He continues to speak, “Didn't you ever wonder who put those treasure chests in the old mine shaft?” Now that catches your attention, you look at him quizzically, “Yes I have, but why would you leave them there?” he grins much more normally now, his voice deepens “I like to give people surprises. You'll understand someday. Just keep doing your best and never give up.” He straightens up and looks down at you. That was actually pretty motivating, your nerves were calming down just a bit with the added distance. “Thanks. I think. I mean I appreciate your- uh faith in me. Your quests made me feel more entertained in a way and you showed me that there's more I don’t know in the Valley.” Mr. Qi smiles softly, he looks as though he's about to say something so you quickly add “Also, I have to ask you some questions. I am a bit confused on a few aspects.” Mr. Qi doesn’t turn to look at you but he tilts his head to your direction and raises an eyebrow. “How did you get my information? Like on the club card you somehow got a photo of me and my full name. Are you keeping track of me somehow? What's the point-” He places his pointer finger on your mouth and shushes you like a child. Rude. “Dear, I can’t answer all of those questions right now, it would ruin the intrigue and excitement.” He smiles and removes his finger away from his mouth and points to a bear shaped machine. “That can answer one of your questions however.” with that he waves you off.

#mr qi #mr. qi #sdv #stardew valley #mr qi x reader #mr. qi x reader #poorly written

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ancha-aus · 1 year ago

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The Skeleton House

Related to my story/fanfiction.

When I first started working on the chapter (chapter 64) where Sans and Frisk explored their new house. I had no idea what to write and no view for it myself. So like the nerd that I am. I decided to first make one on the Sims. Then use that as a blueprint to write with.

It worked perfectly and I got through the chapter no issue.

Then someone asked if they could see what the house looked like and I figured 'Sure. I can just make a tiny post and like upload the picture in the sidenotes.'

TURNS OUT! The Sims did in matter of fact NOT save the house that I made, anywhere. So that plan was a bust.

So obviously. I figured it would a great plan to REMAKE the house.

Turns out. Making it from text -> house is a lot harder than the other way around.

I was just going to show the finished results but I guess you all can see my struggle:

Try 1. I ended up deleting it as I could not make the layout work as I wanted and I decided I wanted more space to work with. Just in case.

So I went to look through the houses that were there to figure out which family I could evict and house I could bulldoze (Gotta love the Sims)

I ended up going for a house in Windenburg:

I picked it because there were no direct neighbors and no direct roads which worked for my emergence and so my overall idea.

So I bulldozed the lot and I got to work with the basic layout on the groundfloor.

At some point I was happy with the overall layout. You will see the upper left change a bit.

Once I was happy with the groundfloor I added the overall layout for the first and second floors as well. I also decided to struggle on the staircase for about 20 minutes to get a hole around the top part of the stairs.

This is the only picture I got where it is obvious but damnit I am proud of it and it deserves the spotlight. But I spend 20 minutes on it so it deserves the mention. No I did not do the same with the second staircase. I don't enjoy suffering.

After that I made a bit of a sandy path to the front of the house and I added some windows and lights, mostly to make it light inside to enable myself to see what I was doing. I have eben making small edits to the overall layout and shape but it remained mostly the same.

The next view updates go fast because I got in the decorating zone and I just kinda went.

Tada! The groundfloor! Some of you will notice it is slightly different than the house in the story. Mostly this is how I imagine it will eventually look. After the guys also made it a bit more there own: Blue circle: The first guestroom. I made all the guest rooms generic. mostly because I don't hate myself and was not in the mood to make them all different. Green circle: Groundfloor bathroom Purple arrow: The area that is different from the story. In my head the guys will end up renovating the house a little which means they will sacrifices one of the guest rooms for another staircase to the library that does not yet exist. White arrow: the dining room. I wanted to use a bigger table but the Sims does not HAVE bigger tables thant 3X1 and I couldn't find a good one that should look like a big one if you place them next to one another and I wasn't in the mood to try and make it work with moveobjects on cheat. At elast the number of chairs is enough Red circle: The pantry. Obviously in the center by the staircase you see the living room. Top right is the kitchen. and bottom right is the hallway and enterance to the house.

That was the rundown of the groundfloor!

First floor lets go!

Okay here we go!

Purple circle: The library that was added later by the guys, before that part of the house did not exist. Green circle: General bathroom Blue circles: five guestrooms Pink circle: Frisk's room and they bathroom, bathroom has a door both to the hallway and to their room. I want to add that I added the non-binary flag above their bed but you can't see it clearly but I want everyone to know it is there I swear. Yellow circle: Sans' room with bathroom, bathroom does not have a door to the hallway.

The top floor is honestly boring but to be complete I will show you

I did not decorate all the rooms because I didn't know what to make them all yet. The center room is just the bedroom for Horror, Killer, Dust and Cross. It is honestly just a room with a giant bed in it because all they do there is sleep and otherwise they are either on the bottom floor or in the garden.

Now. The garden.

As you saw with the tour of the house, the garden is still very empty. Not for long!

Here is the front garden and the roof. Fun fact. the roof is actually rather easy and If you are struggling with adding one because of the windows. If you use a slightly smaller window and put it as high as possible you get a little bit of wall under the window. Then, when you add the roof you can make the tip of the roof lower. Then it is a matter of making it smaller until it fits under the window. No cheats required, just some patience.

Anyway, that were the roofs. The garden was just me adding the sand path with the terrain editor. Digging a river type thing with the dig tool and add water tool. I made a tiny pit where I added a volcanic pit, just for flavour to serve as a firepit. Then I just added a buttload of trees and plants and waterstuff.

Some of it even lit up which made me very happy.

But that is it! the Skeleton Estate!

Final overview shot:

For those curious it took me about 5 hours to remake it (Not counting the 2 hours with the failed attempt at the start)

I will probably never use the house in the Sims but it is there and I actually saved it this time so hopefully if I even need the reference again I don't have to rebuild it again.

#AncientsAU #AncientsAndChampions

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cupids-cringe · 2 years ago

Text

OK SO BEFORE I SHOW THE ALTERNATE DESIGNS FOR THE HLVRV HEADCANONS I WANNA SHOW OFF THIS IDEA I DEFINITELY STOLE FROM MERKLINS AND THAT WAS THAT SINCE OUT OF THE GAME PLAYER HAS NO INVENTORY ON HIM AND WOULD LIKELY HAVE A BAG TO STORE HIS TRINKETS

AND

YES!!!

YES HE WOULD!

i gave him a satchel with little wing decals that he stores all his cool trinkets and the occasional bird that sneaks in to hide all cozy and his crowbar- before he eventually gets told he can't take a WEAPON everywhere with him in the real world- thankfully theres no xen aliens here so not much reason for one anyway

AND WITH THAT OUT THE WAY, ONTO THE WAVE 1.5 OF MY HLVRV HEADCANONS

to start i have alternate designs for Player, Kittle Freeman and Loverboy which are edits of their drawings in the previous post and then i have Neo and Spork

i'm currently working on something else but i would LOVE to do characters like Darnold, Benry, Sleepless,,etc because accidental multiverse hoppers have a lot of family and of course the episode 2 Gordons

(notes and Neo & Sporks below)

Player

- literally just the HEV suit, used this as a base for Kittles design

Kittle

- made his hair a bit messier and more spiked in comparison to Players original hair

- a bit of blood and stuff splattered on him from how Kittle is definitely one of those players who would go killing random things hes spawned in after hes done and/or ‘got home from work and is going to take his frustrations out killing random ai and blowing stuff up’ without consequences (until yknow the ais sentient and theres consequences)

and also due to godmode would just go through the maps not taking any damage when he was shot at or activated a planned sequence but still getting splattered with blood

- the circuits on his eyes are also further down his body and suit and would spread faster and cover more when he gets angry or overwhelmed (for a while now i’ve liked to think the circuits can react to his emotions so something really strong like anger would make the circuits freak out and branch out more)

Freeman

- based on his suit in In Your Dreams!! he matches with his family now!!

- the spiralling pattern on his cane is squid tentacle inspired and the paint glows in the dark cos i thought that was neat

- grey hairs,, unlike Doc its, unfortunately, stressed induced rather than a side effect of green goop

Loverboy

- so. many. PINS. this is still just a HANDFUL of his collection!

- his hairs filled with a lot more heart shaped curls and he often ties it in a lower ponytail or wears down, sometimes he puts hairclips and little decorations in it to match his pins!

- i think the several hundred hearts do a good job explaining themselves-

-and of course like B he has his name written on his earrings

NEW ADDITIONS: NEO AND SPORK!!!

Neo

- sort of mashed together 2 different refs i had of them and took the bone pattern from the trousers of the 2nd and instead turned it into a patch he stitched on, along with a clown patterned patch (this is specifically the clowngender xenogender flag)

- decided to make their hair a bit less spikey and more flowy ?

- pronoun badge!

- the shoes are based on his 1st design, the trousers are a little more blue just to try and break up all the dark greys and make the nails and shirt seem less out of place, kept the classic playstation hoodie

- his nails actually match with Swaps!

Spork

- i gave them earrings now- The one shown on the right (left??) ear is a pin and i did draw the other but it didn't look right as Sporks hair actually covers their ears so i drew over it

(and it was a lightbulb like on their hlvrv sprites)

- added a few more buttons to the cuffs of their shirt also

- i gave them a pocket with a notebook that they use for random notices, ideas and as a schedule diary

- (usually) safety pins worn are a way for the wearer to let people know they're a safe person for people who are often discriminated against or afraid, its a way to show you are safe, a symbol of solidarity and thats why i gave Spork one

#hlvrv headcanons #part 2!#hlvrv #cupids cringe #my art

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7fckingidiots · 4 years ago

Note

Would you be alright with writing some HCs about the brothers and a MC who's a trans guy? Sorry if it's a tall order or too vague, they're a big comfort for me and I'd like to see what ideas you have bcs your headcanons are fantastic ;w;

HELL YEAH DUDE!!!! IM ALSO TRANS!!! AH!!!!! demigirl rights :3 but i also find a huge comfort in the boys and i hc all of them as trans because no one can Stop Me •• but i really hope you enjoy these and remember you’re valid and i care u so much! Also i hope you don’t mind but i kinda made it gender neutral so every trans folk could enjoy!

The Brothers With A Trans MC

Lucifer

He didn’t know until you came out to him honestly. He knew all his other siblings were trans but with all the work Diavolo gave him and adding new students from different realms on top of that he hadn’t really had time to notice any minor changes in you.

He feels guilty about this and immediately makes sure(like everyone else)to ask for your pronouns, name, and how you would like to present yourself from now on.

Fixes your ID cards and your papers with Diavolo right after dinner

God. He’s such a dad and he gets you things that have your new name on them. You wake up to see you have a new pencil case with your name embroidered on it with matching pencils. God.....he’s so weird i love him so much

Asmo does most of your clothing shopping but for formal wear he takes you shopping! He’s not about to buy you some cheap tux or gown ok it’s gonna be over 2000 grim and he’s gonna get you three of them STOP HIM

He’s not the best with verbal affection so he writes down notes that are like “you looked very handsome/pretty today.” or when he first starts writing them they’re like “you’re a boy/girl/kid. i’m proud of you.” Thank u mr morningstar

You want surgery or to start hormones??? He will stop all his work with Diavolo and spend forever looking up things for you, he wants you to be as safe as possible(pls he almost fainted after he realized you’d have to give yourself a shot like everyday dhdhdhjdhd hc that demons/angels don’t have to do hormone therapy i’m so JEALOUS)

Practices saying your pronouns in his study when you first come out. He just wants to make sure you feel as safe as possible in his care(and he remembers how terrible it felt to be misgendered)

Guess what....he loves you no matter what :)

Mammon

You’re blind as hell if you couldn’t see his top scars but I respect it

King DOES slip up on your pronoun change but always immediately corrects himself. Satan has a spray bottle that he sprays Mammon with when he does it. Mammon is NOT amused but the same can’t be said for Belphie.

Gender affirming activities??? Oh yeah like robbing a bank?? That’s pretty gender neutral and trans right?? Yeah!!! Wow such a good supportive brother.

If you want you can wear the formal wear Lucifer bought you to the said bank heist. Boom trans rights

You can practice painting his nails or doing his makeup if you’re too nervous to do it on yourself first!! Dw if it’s bad he also can’t do makeup or paint nails so once you let him return the favor you’re both laughing and Asmo is distraught.

KING at dying hair he will get you whatever you need and if you want an entire different hair cut entirely he’s ON it

Very used to being Loud and Brash but if you need someone to talk to about anything really he always calms down and sits down to listen to whatever you have to say.

Lots of gendered gifts from him. This said for men??? Oh ok adds to cart. Oh pink??? For ladies??? yeah that can go in there too

You’re never gonna believe this.....But he loves you and supports you :)

Levi

He was the first one to come out to you at the house!! He was just so excited! Same hat!!!

Gets literally any video game where you can design the protag/have custom pronouns and will play games like that with you for hours

Would you like a pride flag.....for u.....He has too many.....Please take the trans flag please he has no room....he bought in bulk for a pride event and didn’t consider the consequences of his actions

Miku binder but irl. He will get if for you but unironically.....thanks King. He just likes binders with patterns and i respect IT

Dysphoria?? He gives you his hoodie bc that was his trademark dysphoria hoodie and i GUESS for you he can share............he would give u anything just ask nicely he’s sensitive

Reads any character that matches up with your gender and is like!!!!! That’s you!!!! OMG!!!! You in da IRL

Goes back and edits his tweets if they use your old name or pronouns(also has he/they in his bio. this is for nothing just makes me :D)

If you haven’t chosen your name he’s gonna suggest so many fictional characters. POV levi kin assigns you.

You listen to music together that just has Trans Vibes.....maybe u cry together but there’s no judgment!! It’s just nice :)

God it’s wild but! He loves u and thinks ur great :)

Satan

Enby Satan. That’s all :)

He’s very quite about it, he supports you! He’s just not loud like his brothers

He brings you book about gender studies and LGBTQ history that he thinks would interest you(there some of his favorite books and they’ve made him feel the most comfortable in his gender)

Gives you a name list if you haven’t named yourself yet! He cares about you and wants to make sure you have the right name that suits you

He’s the one that tells you that it’s ok if you’re still figuring it all out, learning about yourself is a very tricky process and if anyone knows that it’s Satan

Any of the brothers would kill anyone who misgendered you but with Satan that shit is ON SIGHT

Asks you how you know and what were the signs that gave it away to you, but only if you’re comfortable telling him!! He just finds everyone’s experience interesting and would like to know yours as well.

Spells for fucking DAYS Satan personally kills body dysphoria the best he can(mainly bc he’s HIGHKEY afraid of you getting surgery he hates knives so much)

Makes your comfort food for you when you’re feeling down about yourself and will read whatever you want to hear outloud to you.

!!!!!! GET THIS !!!!!! He loves YOU :0

Asmo

Fucking excited!!!! This means you two are going to buy so much clothing together and he gets to style you let’s GO

Buys you whatever you want but he will make you try it all on so be CAREFUL what u wish for.....ur gonna be there till the store closes yeah......

Paints your nails with the trans pride flag!! Also does your makeup and gives you tips on how to look more masculine or fem!!

VOICE LESSONS

He will help you lower or raise the pitch of your voice if it KILLS him. It eventually becomes like a mini class after school

Helps with internalized transphobia! Hes dealt with his fair share and knows how awful it can be and he will NOT being having you experience that as well we r practicing Self Care now

Picks apart any one who misgenders you until they’re crying he has NO fucking time for that behavior in this HOUSE

Sometimes self care is eating whatever you want and sitting in the dysphoria hoodies while watching chick flicks with Asmo

He likes dressing you up but he’s always sure to set boundaries so he never puts you into something that makes you feel uncomfortable

ALSO edits his posts and takes down anything that makes you uncomfortable!!

He loves you so much!!!!

Beel

another one to hand you The Dysphoria Hoodie and it’s very large and comfy!

he’ll help you make out a work out routine that will help you get the body you want and it makes him really happy to work out with you :)

he’s gonna hold your hand if you have to take shots and will give you puppy eyes if you don’t let him. He’s just worried!!!! He wants to help

stands behind you whenever you’re nervous about coming out to someone, he will NOT have someone making you feel bad or misgendering you

he’ll see food with trans pride colors and gives it too you, probably doesn’t even know what it is half the time but it made him think of you so he makes sure to get it for you

he doesn’t trip up on any of your new pronouns or name and makes it seem like he never even knew them. dead name???? what’s that??? a type of sauce?????

will let you vent to him whenever needed and will always make you a sundae after you’ve finished. it’s comically huge but it’s tasty and does make you feel a lot better, thanks beel

makes sure you remember to take off your binder if you’ve been wearing it for more than eight hours! and if you’ve been wearing heels to feel more fem he reminds you to take those off too and has a pair of slippers for you in his room that you can wear instead

hey! get this! He loves you so, so much :D

Belphie

you’re trans? ok kid join the club. he doesn’t make a big deal at all

are you still gonna cuddle with him and join him in his quest to make lucifer’s life difficult? yeah? ok then cool what’s ur name

if he hears someone misgender you he waits till you’ve left the room and just kills whoever did it, dude’s unhinged what did you expect from him honestly

he’s actually really curious about any hormone therapy you’re on and likes listening to you rant about it to him. he likes seeing your face light up and it partly reminds him of lilith

calls your hormones something stupid like “oh dude, your gamer girl juice arrived.” or “hey your little man potion is here.” ...thanks belphie

will NOT let you sleep in a binder or push up bra!!! not healthy!! let ur chest breath guys

like mammon, he gets you gendered gifts but they’re so fucking weird? you didn’t need a girls version of a collectable hot wheels set???? he got you blue lightning mcqueen sheets?????? those EXIST here????!!!!! when does he even shop......

introduces you to new people like “this is our resident boy/girl/human. they don’t do much but i think they’re cool.”

he really does care about you but he remembers when he came out he just didnt want people to make a big deal about it so he’s just doing what would have made him feel the most comfortable, but you can still see how much love he has for you when you look into his eyes

he loves you, so, so much :)

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gravelyhumerus · 4 years ago

Text

Criminal Minds College AU - Chapter 6

Title: “I may just take your breath away”

Relationship: Jemily

Summary:

The team takes on trivia. Emily strips in front of JJ. It's quite an evening for all.

Slow-burn Jemily college AU where they live across the hall and despite all odds, the universe pushes them together. AKA they’re silly gay babies who pine after each other for months.

Read it on AO3

Tumblr: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, (bonus scene), Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Epilogue

“Come on, Jayje,” Penelope whined. “It’ll be good for you to go out.”

“I’m sick,” JJ said, fake coughing. “And I need to get a head start on my project for my new media course. It’s worth forty percent.”

“Bullshit.” Penelope said, “I know for a fact that that isn’t due for two weeks. Tonight is NOT the make or break point in that assignment for you.”

JJ sighed.

“You need to get out. See the world. Do more than just play soccer, work out and do homework. You’ve been hiding since your break up. It’s not healthy.”

She had told herself she would stop avoiding Emily after she had figured out what her feelings were. Despite JJ’s realization that it was a genuine crush, that JJ truly liked Emily, JJ needed to also be sure that she wasn’t simply rebounding onto someone nearby.

Someone pretty and smart and kind and who lived right across the hall.

“It’s trivia night JJ,” Penelope said, “and we have Spencer on our team it’ll be fun.”

JJ sighed, looked up from where she lay on her bed.

“Fine.”

“Make yourself pretty, you know who will be there,” Penelope replied, turning back to her make-up mirror to finish applying her purple lipstick.

“Yeah thanks for that,” JJ said sarcastically, “I saw what you did there.”

“Who, me?” she feigned innocence.

JJ changed from a plain t-shirt to a tighter, low cut long sleeved blue shirt. She then took her hair out of a ponytail, brushing it out before tucking it carefully behind her ears. On principle, she huffed the entire time, so that Penelope would know that she wasn’t happy about the situation, despite the butterflies in her stomach at the idea of seeing Emily again.

She took care to apply some eyeshadow, some blush and a pink lip gloss that tastes like strawberries. There was something intimidating about Emily. She looked so… put together. With Will, he never really noticed, or cared, if she wore makeup, but Emily definitely would.

God. This was stressful. Is this what liking girls was like? If it was, JJ was not sure she was cut out for it.

At least she was going to be on home territory, as trivia was their thing, something that Penelope and JJ had been doing since their floor was forced into going back in first year.

JJ was working hard at learning to relax a bit. Between maintaining her grades, soccer, and her new job editing press releases for the student government, she was already being pulled in multiple directions. A night out would be fun, she reminded herself.

She tried to quell her nerves at going out with Emily. It wasn’t a date or anything. Just friends hanging out. JJ’s friends and Emily’s friends. Penelope’s meddling was further tying her to the girl across the hall by blending their friend groups.

While half of her mind wanted this to happen, wanted to see Emily all the time and have an excuse to see her, smell her, hear her laugh…. JJ frowned as she realized that her crush complicated everything. Emily was already across the hall, and if she admitted her feelings, and they weren’t reciprocated, she would run into her all the time. Now, with Derek Morgan befriending Penelope and Spencer, and all of them going out together, JJ’s silly crush could send ripples across more than just her own life.

JJ ran her hands through her hair, worrying about the possible ways she could fuck this up. She did not entertain the possibility that Emily could possibly like her back. First of all, she had no idea if she was straight or not. JJ didn’t even know how to tell.

JJ glanced over to Penelope, who was finishing up her makeup sitting at her desk, looking into a small mirror on the desk. JJ knew Penelope was queer, as her roommate was not shy about it whatsoever. In her mug full of pens was a pride flag from last year’s pride parade. It was in June, so JJ had been back in Pennsylvania then, but she remembered seeing the joy on Penelope’s face in the photos she posted on Instagram. Penelope wasn’t the person she knew that identified as queer. In fact, Spence had recently told them that he was bi. It wasn’t like JJ was not aware of the community, she thought she was just supporting LGBT+ issues on principal, and for her friends.

She hadn’t considered that when, in her politics class in high school, she was viciously debating on gay marriage for someone like herself. The topics always felt distant. Like something that affected someone else. She was so certain in her heterosexuality that she had joked about it to Penelope earlier in their friendship.

The token straight friend, she had said. So much for that.

“Pen,” JJ said, trying to force a neutral tone to her voice, and failing. “How did you know you weren’t straight?”

Penelope turned and simply stared at her for a long moment before giggling and saying: “Are you finally realizing you have a crush on Emily Prentiss?”

JJ sat up in her chair.

“What?”

“Aw darlin’,” Penelope said to her, tilting her head, ”You barely talked about your break up. You were too busy literally running from your feelings for her ever since you ran into her at the library. I had to finally ask her out for you.”

“I–” JJ stuttered. “I talked about my break up.”

“So to answer your question,” Penelope said, matter-of-factly, “I realized when I had my first crush on a girl, just like you’re doing now. Don’t worry about it too much, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

JJ’s jaw had dropped.

“Babe, you came home one night babbling about how she taught you French,” Penelope giggled, “You might as well have held up a sign.”

JJ buried her face in her hands.

“Oh god,” JJ said. “Am I gay? What am I?”

Penelope walked over and tossed her arm around JJ’s shoulders, pulling her into a hug.

“Aww baby’s first girl crush,” she cooed, “So happy to witness it first hand. You might be gay! Or bi, or something else. Don’t worry too much about the terminology right now.”

Unfortunately, JJ was worrying too much. About not just the terminology.

Even if Emily was gay, or bi or whatever, she wouldn’t like someone like JJ. She was always a bit of a tomboy, barely knowing how to do make up and dressing like she was going to practise most days. JJ always felt a bit awkward when she dressed up, feeling most at home in joggers and a hoodie.

Emily, on the other hand, was all elegant with her pretty black hair, her perfect eyeliner and the way she always looked out together when she went out. Moreover, Emily was cool. She listened to music on vinyl and her bookshelf was filled with classic novels and smoked cigarettes. She lived in multiple countries, spoke more languages than JJ hoped to ever learn.

Emily’s mom was an ambassador. She had a nanny growing up. She had a single room and was paying out-of-state tuition. Well, her mom was probably paying her tuition.

JJ could only afford to be here because she was on a soccer scholarship, and barely had enough money to cover her caffeine addiction. The surprise small stipend from her new student government job was probably the thing keeping JJ from applying for a job off campus.

Emily would never like someone like JJ, she thought.

After checking herself in the mirror one final time, she looked at the time. 6:54. Emily and her friends would be there soon, and if JJ knew Spencer well, he would be showing up in just under a minute.

There was a knock at the door. She was right.

“Hi guys!” He said, entering their dorm room and taking his customary seat on the very edge of JJ’s bed. “Am I dressed properly? I wasn’t sure what to wear to a bar.”

He was wearing a button up, with a beige sweater vest over top, with slacks and converse to complete the outfit.

“Aw Spence,” JJ said. “You look great, I promise.”

“Remind me to take you to the mall to get some party clothes,” Penelope quipped.

“Those were two contradicting statements,” he complained.

Once Penelope had finished adding rhinestones to her makeup look, they opened the door to find Emily flanked by two boys, waiting in the hall.

Derek Morgan, JJ recognized, but the other one JJ hadn’t met before.

“Hello all!” Penelope called out from inside their room.

“Hi Derek, Emily,” JJ said politely, “I’m not sure we’ve met–“

She reached her hand out to shake the new boy’s hand. He was tall, with a shock of black hair and a serious expression on his face.

“I’m Jennifer, but my friends call me JJ.”

“Nice to meet you,” the boy said with a small—almost non-existent—smile, shaking her hand with a firm, confident grip. “I’m Aaron Hotchner.”

“His friends call him Hotch,” Derek piped up punching his shoulder in a friendly way.

“He’s pre-law,” Emily informed her, “we have a bunch of classes together.”

“I do not have that much experience with trivia,” Aaron admits, rubbing his shoulder and feigning injury.

“No need!” Penelope says, rounding up on the group, “Spencer here is basically a genius. You’re just a warm body.”

“I just have an eidetic memory!” He said, piping up from in the room.

With introductions complete, they headed to the small pub just off campus. It was a squat brick building tucked between a restaurant and an old book store. It had a nice back patio in the warmer months, and each Monday was trivia night.

Just inside, the bouncer drew big xs on their hands to indicate that they were underage, which were all promptly wiped off once they were inside and found a table. The atmosphere inside was relaxed, the staff not really caring if people were drinking underage on a Monday night if they didn’t cause trouble.

JJ loved this bar. It was old, with exposed brick walls and large wooden rafters over their heads. The ceilings were low and the bar was packed and loud, making the place feel cozy, yet not quite claustrophobic. On weekdays, it was mostly locals or upper year students, as their peers were more likely to try to drink underage on the weekends. The crowd was quite a few younger adults, with the occasional older couple or group of middle aged women having a girls night.

They found a table big enough for their group by just to the right of the bar, tucked out of sight, far from the bouncers. The six of them squeezing tight onto the rustic booth and shrugging off their coats.

Trivia started at 7:30 pm, so they still had time to get settled and acquire some drinks. JJ was squished between Penelope and Emily’s friend Aaron, who was explaining that he played forward on the men’s hockey team. JJ knew he seemed familiar, realizing that she and he had probably crossed paths at athletics functions.

“Did you guys rub the marker off your hand?” Spencer asked, too loudly, receiving a chorus of shushing in response.

“Dude,” Derek laughed, “Not so loud you’re gonna get us kicked out!”

“What do you mean?” He asked, the classic Reid obliviousness shining through.

Emily tossed a casual arm around his shoulders.

“You see,” she said, “we would like to drink this thing called alcohol tonight. If we have an x on our hands, we don’t get served.”

She pointed to the x on his hand.

“Speaking of which,” Aaron said, standing up, “I’m grabbing a beer, who’s with me?”

“Me!” Emily jumped up, with Derek on her heels, “What are you guys drinking? This rounds on me!”

JJ balked, drinks here were expensive. Did Emily actually want to buy them drinks? Or was she simply being nice. JJ should say no.

“Vodka cran, por favour!” Penelope responded before JJ could politely decline. “JJ drinks beer, and Reid will take a soda.”

“What kind of beer?”

“Whatever’s on tap,” JJ said sheepishly, feeling guilty about someone spending money on her. At the same time, with JJ’s baby face, there was little chance the bartender would buy that she was already 21.

“Root beer please!” Spencer called out after her, though Emily had already turned around, following the boys over to lean against the bar.

The bartender, a gorgeous young woman with shoulder length brown hair was serving Emily, leaning over the bar. Her eyes were rapt with attention as Emily ordered, even giving her a once over before she left to make their drinks.

Emily seemed to flirt back, but JJ could not hear what she said, the two women going back and forth for a few moments, their attention hardly broken by the other patrons.

JJ felt jealousy flare in her stomach.

As Emily’s fingers grasped the glass, the other girl’s hands lingered, and JJ watched the bartender wink at Emily before turning towards the other patrons. Emily had a cropped tank top, with a plaid shirt on top. Her tight jeans gripped her long legs, and her heeled boots gave an extra inch or so to her already impressive height. She looked hot. The bartender clearly saw it too.

She tried to push back that jealousy. She had no right to be possessive, Emily and she weren’t dating, or anything, they were friends. New friends.

“Your girlfriend is so good to us!” Penelope cooed, breaking JJ out of her thoughts.

JJ felt a blush spread across her face.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” she sputtered.

“Have you told her you like her yet?” Spencer asked.

“Guys,” JJ exclaimed, “this is not the time. She’s right there.”

“She has not,” Penelope replied. “Even though it’s so obvious that Emily likes her back.”

“Pen!” JJ said as she buried her face in her hands.

“Spencer you wouldn’t believe it!” she continued, unheeded, “Emily brought her cookies to the game!”

“She was just being nice!” JJ said, peeking out from between her fingers.

“She didn’t give me any cookies,” Spencer pointed out. “And we spent almost three hours in class together.”

As he said that, Derek, Aaron and Emily returned with not only alcohol, but also nachos and fries for the table. JJ, too polite to protest when being offered food, and who had the appetite of an athlete, dug in. She took a guilty sip of her beer, and felt Emily’s eyes on her.

Did Emily like her back? That couldn’t be true. JJ was just… Jennifer. JJ. No one special. Not like Emily. JJ decided not to linger on that thought, it wasn’t like JJ would risk their friendship by admitting she had feelings anyways.

“You know,” Spencer said between mouthfuls, “I’ve never done trivia before, but I’ve been told I’d be good at it.

“No shit, kid,” Derek replied, talking through a mouthful of nachos, “You talk like a textbook.”

Spencer looked like he was unsure whether or not to take that as a compliment.

“What are the topics?” Emily asked.

“They don’t tell you until you get here,” Penelope replied, “Someone should be by with papers and pencils.

As if summoned, a tall girl with short black hair came by, dropping off a pencil and a paper, split into four quadrants with ten blanks on each page.

“Who wants to write?” JJ asked, looking around the table.

Hotch was busy scanning the page for the topics: science, television, sports and music, and he didn’t realize the activity going on around him. Everyone, including Reid somehow, (Derek helped him) had stuck their finger to the tip of their nose, the official sign for ‘not it.’

He looked up, seeing the fingers and without comment he grabed the pencil.

“It’s for the best,” Emily said, “My handwriting is illegible.”

“Can vouch for that,” Derek laughed, “It’s like half cursive half something inhuman.”

Emily punched his shoulder and took another drink.

“So how does this normally work?” Hotch asked, gesturing towards her paper with the pencil.

“Question, two minutes to write down your answer, no phones,” Penelope replied, “Then we swap with a nearby team to mark it! And so on for four rounds.”

“There’s prizes,” JJ added. “Whoever gets the most right in the end wins, we hand in the sheets to the MC to enter.”

“Sweet,” Derek said.

“We need a name,” JJ said, looking up.

“The twinkies,” Emily blurted.

“The… twinkies?” Hotch repeated, incredulously.

“I don’t know,” Emily muttered, “I panicked.”

The group burst into laughter, which Emily laughed along with. She was a good sport.

“Let’s get Quizzical,” Penelope offered.

“I don’t get it,” Spencer said.

“Quiz me, daddy,” Penelope tried again, winking at Derek.

“Settle down now, little lady,” Derek said, laughing.

“We’re not doing that,” JJ laughed.

She wasn’t sure who looked more horrified at the idea, Spencer or Hotch.

“Counter intelligence,” Derek proposed instead, it has a nice ring to it and works with the trivia premise.

“That’s funny,” Penelope said. “And seems ok for the prudish ones amongst us.”

Hotch wrote that down on their page.

“Hello everyone,” the MC said through a microphone as the music quieted, a hush fell over the bar, with everyone listening to the women speak. “My name is Tara and I’ll be your MC tonight.”

Tara was beautiful, with curled hair tucked behind her ears and a friendly smile, she was tall, wearing high heels making her stand tall over the seated audience. JJ thought she might be a student, as she looked a bit familiar.

“Hi Tara!” Someone yelled out from the other side of the bar.

Tara chucked, “Hello Dave. Welcome all to Trivia Night at O’Keefe’s, we have brand-new questions and prizes for you. Are you excited?”

The audience whooped, Hotch pulled the paper close to him and readied his writing hand, taking a quick swig of his beer to prepare himself.

“We’re going to start off with some science questions,” the MC said.

The group looked expectantly at Spencer, who looked slightly nervous.

“First question,” Tara announced, “We’ll start by looking outside of our planet, at the others in our solar system. Scientists have long been able to calculate the masses of most planets, including Earth. It has taken longer to measure the masses of Venus and Mercury, primarily because these two planets lack what?”

“Moons, obviously,” Spencer said, too loudly. Other groups clearly overheard, writing the answer down on their cards.

“Reid,” Penelope scolded, “You’re on our team. Whisper please.”

“Sorry,” he murmured, taking a sip of his soda through a small straw.

“Question two: of what material is a rhinoceros horn made?”

“Bone?” Derek whispered to them, “They look boney.”

“That’s actually a common misconception,” Reid replied, “They’re actually composed of keratin, which is essentially hair.”

“Huh,” Derek tilted his beer in acknowledgement. Hotch wrote that down.

“How many hearts do octopuses have?”

“Three!” Emily hisses, before Spencer has the chance.

“Nice one,” Hotch murmured back to her.

“I like cephalopods,” Emily said, as explanation.

JJ desperately wanted to comment on that, but the game moved too quickly.

The next few questions were rapid fire, covering everything from the speed of a sneeze, to the surface area of the lungs, to the oxygen in the atmosphere, to which letters from the alphabet were missing from the periodic table (the answer was J and Q.)

JJ perked up when she heard the last question: “What are people who study or collect butterflies called?”

“Lepidopterists!” She said, triumphantly before the MC even listed the options.

Everyone looked at her, surprised about her beating even Reid to the punch.

“I- uh,” JJ stammered, “I collected butterflies as a kid.”

JJ caught Emily smiling at that. She looked away, embarrassed.

Next was music, which, between Hotch and his impressive understanding of dad rock and Penelope’s encyclopedic knowledge of current pop music, and Derek’s well-rounded passion for all genres, they did fine. Reid pouted, as his eidetic memory doesn’t quite work for things he hasn’t read.

JJ, unfortunately, was not any help. JJ liked music, but she did not bother memorizing facts about writers or sampling or anything like that. She just liked listening to it.

After that was sports, and that topic went by quickly with JJ, Derek and Hotch answering the questions with a high degree of confidence.

Hotch, who was already writing aggressively and getting into it, wrote more and more excitedly, and on the second to last sports question—about the composition of a baseball—he snapped the lead off the pencil right off.

This caused sheer chaos.

With no writing utensil, one more answer to write down, they scrambled. JJ shrugged helplessly, typically known as the mom friend in her group, she felt bad that she had nothing to offer. After a moment, Penelope discovered a fluffy pink gel pen she found at the bottom of her purse.

“Is the ink pink, too?” Hotch asked, raising an eyebrow.

He tried writing. The ink was pink and sparkly.

“Yes, sir,” Penelope replied.

“Did you just call me ‘sir’?”

“I don’t know what came over me.”

During the brief intermission between Sports and Television, somehow the Salem witch trials came up in conversation. (It was actually because Penelope had mentioned the Blair Witch Project and Spencer misheard, but that’s neither here nor there).

“She was four?” JJ demanded, “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Oh I read about this,” Penelope said, “Dorothy something, she was accused of witchcraft alongside her mother.”

“Dorothy Good, also referred to as Dorcas Good, was only four years old when she was arrested in 1692. According to her accusers, she had allegedly bitten them on their arms. She was actually placed in jail and interrogated by Salem officials where they took the fact that she had a pet snake as proof that she was a witch, as the snake would serve the role of her animal familiar.”

“She was a child,” JJ said, horrified.

“Yup,” Spencer replied, unfazed. JJ frowned but continued writing.

The last one was television, which was very clearly Penelope’s favourite.

“Friends ended in May 2004 after how many seasons?”

“Oh I know that one,” Hotch said, “Seven.”

Hotch wrote that down in pink ink, the fuzzy pom-pom danced as he wrote.

“Amy Poehler, Rob Lowe and Chris Pratt worked together on which US comedy series?”

“Parks and Rec,” Penelope said, “Parks and Recreation, God, I should rewatch that. Such amazing girl-power vibes in that one.”

“What were the names of the two government agents played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in the 1993-2002 series X-Files?”

“Special Agent Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully,” Emily said with a smile.

“Wait, you too Prentiss?” Derek said. “Nerding out with Reid tonight.”

“Guilty as charged,” Emily said, “What can I say, I’m a sucker for Gillian Anderson.”

JJ’s mind stuck on that comment. Was she simply a fan of the acting? Or was she implying some sort of attraction to the actress. JJ did not ask. Her mind was wandering for too long, all while looking at Emily, that she missed the next question.

Whatever it was, Hotch was informing her that the answer was ‘72 survivors’.

Questions about Saturday Night Live, The Office, Scooby-Doo and a few old-timey shows that they didn’t recognize followed.

“The last question for the night!” Tara announced, “It’s been lovely being your MC for tonight. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. You ready?”

The crowd cheered.

“Ok this one’s for all the nerds out there: what sci-fi series premiered in 1966?”

“Star Trek: The Original Series,” Reid hissed, struggling to keep his voice down. “Which was the beginning of a franchise that has now lasted over fifty years, spanning nine television series, thirteen films and assorted shorts, video games and novels.”

“Ok Mr. Spock,” Emily laughed, “Thank you for your brain.”

“Spock’s Brain is actually one of the best episodes in the Original Series,” he replied, JJ couldn’t tell if he had made a joke or was simply spouting another fact.

As trivia wrapped up, and the scores were being tallied, the bar roared back to life, with music booming and the attendees milling about near the bar, back at the darts and grouping around the tables.

She found herself chatting with Hotch and Penelope, about some question they were unsure about, but her eyes were fixed on Emily and Derek. Derek had a hand in the small of Emily’s back, guiding her past the crowd near the bar.

JJ wondered if there was really something more there, despite Penelope’s encouragement of her crush on Emily. Maybe she was already into Derek? He was very affectionate with all of his friends, especially Penelope, so maybe it was nothing. But still, Emily seemed to be reciprocating.

But the hand didn’t leave, it held her close, almost protectively, something a boyfriend would do.

JJ turned away, pushing the thoughts away and slamming the last of her third beer, scanning for where Spencer had run off to after the game wrapped up. He was seated with two other people at a table near the back, talking excitedly at them while they looked at him with rapt attention. Out of curiosity, she wandered over.

Maybe she can hang out with Spence as she banished the strange feelings of jealousy burning in her chest.

“Return to tomorrow?” the girl asked Spencer, leaning over the table in excitement.

“Return to tomorrow, season two, production number fifty-one,” Reid replied, “An alien named Sargon takes over Kirk’s body while two others take over Spock and Dr. Mulhall.”

JJ frowned, she had no idea what he was talking about, but recognized that it seemed like the plot of an episode of Star Trek.

“Alien races appearing?”

“Trick question, a race is never identified. Sargon is a disembodied mind?”

“Dr. McCoy quote?”

He looked stumped for a moment.

“Five, four, three, two-”

“I will not peddle flesh, I’m a physician!” He concludes enthusiastically.

This all appeared to be an extension of his trivia game. JJ was happy that he was making friends, despite him worrying that he wouldn’t fit in at a bar, he seemed to have found his people.

JJ gave him an affectionate pat on his shoulder before passing, on her way to the dart board. With Reid occupied, Derek and Emily flirting at the bar and Hotch and Penelope hitting it off, JJ decided to show some random boys up.

It would make her feel better.

There was a pair already at the board, tossing the darts fairly inaccurately. JJ asked if she could join, batting her eyelashes in a way she knew would grab their attention quickly.

They immediately welcomed her in, handing her some darts. She hit the nineteen, twenty and dead centre in quick succession. The rush of the game kept away her earlier feelings of jealousy, centering her in the moment and her goal.

The boys were floored. JJ was good at darts.

She played three rounds, slamming them each time easily. Amateurs. They were drunk, aggressive with their throwing, all force no finesse. Typical men.

After the third round, they left for the bar, offering to grab her a drink to celebrate her win, she followed close by, knowing better than to leave a drink unattended, but also not passing up the opportunity to drink for free when it was a silly boy paying.

Maybe she should rebound after her break up and sleep with a random man. She looked at the man in front of her, he was tall, with dark hair and hazel eyes, wearing a tight fitting white shirt. His companion had sandy brown hair and dark eyes, but neither of them were stirring anything in JJ’s heart. Both were objectively attractive, but neither were the beautiful brunette that lived across the hall.

JJ accepted her drink graciously, knowing she had to fill another few minutes of small talk before it was appropriate for her to rejoin her friends.

The one boy was telling her about darts, in detail, despite the fact that she had informed him that she did know how to play, and had just beat him at the game.

“Can I steal JJ from you guys for a sec?” She felt a hand on her bicep and Emily’s sweet voice in her ear.

JJ turned and the taller girl was next to her, her hand resting lightly on her bare arm, feeling electricity where their skin touched.

“Uh, yeah,” the brown haired boy said, JJ didn’t remember his name, “Of course.”

JJ smiled apologetically before allowing herself to be led away.

“Thought you could use an out,” Emily whispered in her ear, “You looked bored.”

“Thank you,” JJ replied. “I was.”

They stopped further down the bar, standing close, with Emily looking down at her, their hips brushing each other. JJ could smell her perfume over the ambient smell of alcohol, bar food and the old building.

“Men,” Emily laughed, “Am I right?”

They laughed. JJ wasn’t sure exactly what she meant but she thought she got the gist. JJ gulped down a sip of her drink, a vodka soda that the boy had chosen for her.

“Speaking of, are you and Derek, uh,” JJ asked, nervously, “A thing?”

Emily’s eyes widened, and her lips tugged into a smile, she began to laugh.

“Derek Morgan?” She guffawed, “Absolutely not, that boy is like my brother. Oh my god, JJ you thought we were together?”

JJ felt herself sigh a breath of relief, hoping that it was not visible on her face.

“I just saw how he was at the bar,” JJ explained, “I just assumed.”

“Oh that,” Emily smiled, “I asked him to basically pretend to be my boyfriend, a beard if you will. Keeps guys hands from wandering.”

JJ frowned, that she could empathize with.

“But no, we’re very much just friends.”

JJ looked over to their table: Derek, Hotch and Penelope were currently playing a game that seemed to consist of tossing coins into Reid’s empty soda can.

There was a comfortable silence for a moment, both girls listened to the music, standing closely, closer than they needed to.

Emily ordered them another round, and by that point JJ had given up protesting, realizing that this is just what Emily did.

Grabbing their drinks, Emily handed JJ’s to her. They smiled and raised their glasses in cheers.

“To new and old friends,” Emily said, “and to us winning at trivia!”

“I can drink to that!”

Both accidentally raised their arms too enthusiastically, their glasses crashed together. Emily’s grip slipped and the glass went tumbling out of her hand, right onto JJ. She was suddenly damp and sticky, the liquid soaking through JJ’s thin shirt.

“Oh my god,” Emily gasped, “I’m so sorry.”

“Shit,” JJ gasped, putting her own drink down onto the bar and stepping back. “It’s ok, it was both of our faults.”

“Let’s get you to the bathroom,” Emily said, with a hand pressed to the small of her back, leading her away from the bar. As an afterthought, Emily grabbed JJ’s drink and carried it with them.

A few people gave her concerned glances, one patron offering her a small napkin that did basically nothing. JJ wasn’t mad, it was fully an accident, but now she was just desperate to dry off.

Now, JJ was acutely aware of Emily’s hand on her lower back. Warm and firm, it guided her into the bathroom.

As soon as the door shut, the silence made JJ’s ears ring. Emily had turned to the paper towel dispenser, yanking probably four feet of it off and bunching it up before handing it to JJ.

It was a small bathroom basically just the room, one sink and no hand dryer, much to JJ’s sadness.

JJ hoisted herself up onto the counter, taking the paper towel from Emily, patting her shirt hopelessly. The alcohol soaking into the cotton and leaving the shirt a noticeably darker blue. JJ sighed.

“I’m such a klutz,” Emily said apologetically. “My mom always was on my case for it.”

“It’s not your fault, Em,” JJ said, “it was an accident.”

Emily grabbed more paper towels, moving closer and helping her, patting on the shirt, over her stomach.

JJ held her breath, realizing that Emily was so close. JJ could look up, see Emily’s face, looking concentrated, with her perfect red lips right there. Her strong hands were carefully dabbing at her shirt, fussing over JJ in a way that made her heart skip a beat. Emily’s collarbones led down to her chest, visible with her low cut chest. JJ felt herself blush, looking up to the ceiling, feeling embarrassed at these thoughts.

JJ’s top hadn’t changed much, besides it feeling a bit less damp, it still showed the liquid clear as day.

“This is doing just about nothing,” JJ sighed, clearing her throat. “Maybe I should just go home. It’s getting late anyways.”

“Nonsense,” Emily said. “You can wear this.”

JJ’s jaw dropped as Emily shrugged her plaid shirt off her shoulders, revealing her tank top underneath and handed it to her. JJ took it, dumbly, closing her mouth but saying nothing.

Emily turned around, clicking the lock on the door, and leaning her shoulder against it, just in case. She took a sip out of JJ’s glass, casually, as if JJ was not about to take her shirt off behind her.

Emily’s back was to her, but JJ sat, frozen, holding this new shirt in her hand. JJ pulled her wet shirt off, very aware of being naked in front of Emily. Well, shirtless, with her white bra visible, but still feeling incredibly naked.

She quickly buttoned up the plaid shirt, it was oversized and a warm grey with hints of green and navy, feeling very incredibly soft.

Warm and dry, JJ felt the shirt envelop her in what felt like a hug. A hug from Emily.

JJ hopped off the counter and smoothed out her new shirt, Emily’s shirt. JJ folded up her wet shirt and held it in her left hand. The other girl turned and looked JJ up and down, with an unreadable expression on her face.

“You look good,” Emily commented.

“Thank you,” JJ managed.

They stared at each other, for a moment, the room filling with a tension that made her shiver. The music thumped from the other room, but JJ’s heartbeat was deafening. She had accidentally stripped a layer off of Emily, and desperately wanted to take more off of her. Emily’s black tank was riding up, revealing a small strip of her stomach above her high waisted jeans. Emily’s face was flushed from the alcohol, her pale skin becoming pink on her cheeks and nose. JJ thought back to that morning when she had caught Emily in her PJs, of what she knew was under her shirt. This too hugged her curves, revealing hints about what lay beneath.

“We better get back,” JJ found herself whispering.

The bathroom was small, so the two of them were packed together in the tiny space. Emily suddenly leaned forward, closing the distance between them, reaching her hands out towards JJ.

JJ’s heart raced, unsure what to expect. Was Emily going to kiss her? No. Why would she? Oh my god what if she was?

Emily’s hand carefully fixed her collar, tugging on it slightly.

“There,” Emily whispered, “you’re perfect.”

JJ closed her eyes at the feeling of Emily’s hands on her. Sighing slightly.

She chastised herself for being silly. Emily was just fixing her collar. Being a good friend.

“Let’s get back,” JJ said.

“If we have to,” Emily replied. JJ tried not to read into that too much.

They returned to their table, squeezing back in tightly with their overcrowded group of friends. They were in a heated debate about the Zodiac killer. Neither girl knew how the conversation got there, but Emily immediately joined the conversation.

After a few minutes, and after quite a few sly looks from Penelope, the MC tapped on the mic, gaining the audience's attention.

“We officially have a winner!” Tara announced, “With 36 points, it’s Counter Intelligence!”

Their table erupted in cheers. They had won! There were a flurry of high fives, hugs and fist bumps in their celebration.

Tara, the MC came over to their table to congratulate them. She told them that they had beat out the second place by one point.

“Impressive work everyone,” Tara said, “that’s close to a high score, and these were hard questions.”

“We have a great team,” Penelope said with a grin.

“I can tell,” Tara replied. “Are you all going to come back next week? It’s Halloween themed!”

They looked at each other, then nodded at her. It was a plan.

“See you then!” Tara said.

She gave them their prizes, which were mugs with the bars logo printed in white on the green mugs. She would treasure it.

JJ finds herself yawning, catching the eye of Emily, who said: “we better get JJ to bed, looks like she’s fading.”

Please, JJ thought sleepily, resting her drunk head on her hand, take me to bed.

Sitting down, JJ’s five or so drinks had hit her hard, and she dreaded standing up and risking stumbling. She was drunk. JJ wasn’t a light weight, but over their time at the bar, she had gotten quite a bit of alcohol into her system.

“Come on, sweetheart,” JJ could feel Penelope grab her arm and hoist her up. JJ leaned on her, feeling a warm affection for her friend in the moment.

Together, they walked home in the cold night air. Laughing, chatting and walking together amicably, all holding their prizes in hand. JJ leaned into Penelope’s side, feeling warm despite the chill of the air. Something felt incredibly right about that moment, those people.

She didn’t want it to end.

They went their separate ways from Hotch once they got to campus, bidding him farewell, not before Penelope added him to a group chat titled “The Team 🕺” in reference to their trivia playing. Hotch promised he’d join them all again next week.

Once they climbed the stairs to their floor, Reid continued up to his room and the four of them found themselves trying to quietly return to their rooms without getting caught by the RA.

Despite being served for the entire night, if they got caught drinking underage they would get in a lot of shit, especially Derek and JJ on their athletic scholarships.

Muffled whispers and giggling filled the air as they walked through the common room.

Derek hugged them all goodbye—he seemed to be a hugger JJ surmised—and went to his room down the hall.

“Oh!” JJ said, spinning to face Emily in the hall. Penelope had already entered their dorm, with the door closing behind her. “I can give your shirt back tomorrow! I can… er… wash it for you. It probably smells like beer now.”

Emily gazed at her, from over her shoulder as she unlocked her door, looking JJ up and down.

“Keep it,” she said. “It looks good on you.”

JJ would swear she saw Emily wink at her, but couldn’t be sure.

Emily disappeared into her dorm room, and JJ went into hers.

She slept with the shirt folded neatly next to her pillow, the smell of Emily’s perfume filling her senses as she dreamt.

#criminal minds #criminal minds tv #jemily #gravelyhumerus cm college au #emily prentiss x jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #cm #prentiss x jj #jennifer jareau #fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #fanfic #FINALLY HAVE AN UPDATE FOR YOU #its almost 7k #enjoy :)#my post

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universal-casey · 5 years ago

Note

64. Did they ever change their appearance? So has America ever tried defying Soviet the first few days/weeks by taking off his blindfold, trying to change his flag back (idk if that's a thing), etc.?

America was defiant for all of a week. He would continually paint over the hammer and sickle with blue paint, stitch his old flag onto the sash while putting a big X over the gold symbol, he would wear his sunglasses, the whole shibang. He was so defiant that other countries were pretty sure America would be back to his old self in a matter of days.

Until he lost his eye.

Soviet had gotten fed up with America’s continual push back and so he mercilessly ripped out America’s right eye. That was a signal that pushed itself into Ame’s head. Soviet wasn’t messing around. Of course that didn’t stop him. America pushed back a little more and suddenly Soviet broke Ame’s mental state and reduced him to little more than a shell of what he once was. Of course, none of the other countries know why America suddenly changed. They only know that he started wearing a blindfold and listening to every word Soviet said like it was coming from God himself. And now we have the Soviet America you all know. The soft spoken, scared, obedient country.

Also! Just a wee bit of my headcanon. So flag changes aren’t actually a conscious effort of the country themselves. They kind of just happen. There’s been a few times where the country hasn’t even noticed their face is different until someone points it out. Countries can have an idea that a flag change has occurred however. There are a couple clue-ins. One: a takeover, such as America’s case. Two: Cases of extreme emotion (characteristic of revolutions and breaking off from unions), such as America’s flag change from the Union Jack to the circle of stars during the American Revolution. There’s also pre-takeover America’s unique case of adding stars to his flag. Taking a new state into his union would add in another star, so America became acutely aware of that fact. (America America America)

Bonus shitpost

Edit: Just realized i severely fucked up Ame flipping the bird. I have a headache and am not fixing it

#country humans #countryhumans #countryhumans america #countryhumans au #countryhumans ask

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armywriter2605 · 5 years ago

Text

Theirs- Chaper 5 - OT7 x Reader

Genre: Mafia AU! BTS; Yandere AU! BTS; Angst; Fluff; Smut (not yet); OT7 x Reader

Warnings: Cursing; Mature Content ; Mentions of abuse and bullying; Yandere BTS; Gore; Stalking; more to be added throughout the series

Words: 3k +

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

Tag List :

@themisses777 @snowythellama @i-am-canada-13 @honeycutelove @im-a-space-child @minhyunie-lovely @kawaiimusiccollection @perfectlyfangirling @technicolor-blues @karissassirak @decafe-jeonseagull @cherryicy123 @blackpanther4550 @ahslde @bangtanlove16 @joyful-jimin @beach-bitch-bitch-beach @sjt-kpoplover @letmebefreeblr @kaykay-loves @someslightobsessions @ttimeawayy @snowythellama @taerifficocean @bts-edits-bitch @saywheaaat @namjoonsslutakakoreanmanswhore @aretha170 @moxxie84

GIF NOT MINE

For 20 full minutes you hadn't directed any word to the 7 boys who constantly tried to get you to talk to them. You just had too much to think of. How long had this been going? How could you have not noticed it? How did they manage to hide it so well and exactly why did they hid such thing from you? You snickered to yourself as they parked the car in the garage. Of course they would hide this. Only a crazy person would openly tell their best friend such thing.

"Is something funny, Y/N-ah?" You hear Jungkook asked from next you. You stared at him for a couple of seconds before you shrugged and got out of the car, heading for the elevator that would take you to their apartment on the top floor.

You were the first to walk into the apartment where you headed straight for the living room. You knew you eight would have a long conversation and for that, you would be seated. The seven boys closely followed you and once you sat down in one of the couches, all the boys besides Namjoon sat down. You cleared your throat and looked up at Namjoon who stood in front of you.

"Start explaining then."

You were expecting for Namjoon to explain to you everything, like he always did, yet the one to start talking was Jin, who now also stood up.

“We work in a mafia/gang, whatever you want to call it princess. Namjoon is the leader, as you must have caught on.”

You waited for him to tell you more, explain everything but after that he just went quiet, like there was nothing else to say.

"Just that? When did this start, why are all of you a part of this, why didn't you tell me anything and why the fuck are you so fucking calm with it?"

You noticed how Yoongi sighed and rest his cold hand on your knee and giving it a squeeze. It was almost like he was telling you to calm down.

"We all met when we were kids one day at a park. We all played cops and thieves and after some time we all came to the conclusion that we just loved to play the thieves. It was all innocent fun games, but then when we met you, we realized that we needed to have the ways to protect you no matter what. To have all the money to provide you with everything your heart may desire and of course, make you happy. So, while you, Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung were at school, me, Jin-Hyung, Namjoon and Hoseok would steal and rob small stores. Then we started to become bigger. We started to have more people want to work for us, more people who wanted to join us. With that, we and our crimes grew. If you're wondering why we were never caught is because we were always very careful and always planned everything carefully. No one besides the people who work for us knows it's us behind everything and we rarely show our faces, only to deals or important things. As to why we kept this from you is because we knew you wouldn't like it. You wouldn't accept it, love. We're sorry you had to find it out this way though."

You listened to Yoongi's words carefully, as they were a mirror that could shatter and cut you anytime. Once you noticed he was done talking, you slowly nodded your head understanding why they would keep it from you, yet what lingered in your head was why would they do this for you. You didn't even hung out with them that much the first year you got to know them.

"Why?... None of you even knew if we would become friends. None of you even knew if I wanted to be friends with you. Why would you do this? You didn't even know if we would keep on being friends…Why do you do this? Why do you even continue to do this...?"

“Everything we do, we do it for you sweetheart. We would take care of you, no matter if you wanted or not. From the first time we laid our eyes on you, you became ours. That's why we had to find a way to make sure you were always going to be okay."

You looked at Taehyung like he was a monster with two heads. Did you have no say in the matter? Couldn't they see how big of an issue this was? It was like they were completely captivated with you.

"It's like you're all fucking obsessed with me! You seriously can't keep thi-"

“We love you.”

You heard Jungkook's voice fill the room, like it echoed through the walls and made you immediately turn to him, not wanting to believe the words that had just been spoken. What did he mean we? Did he mean all of them? What if it was only a trick to make you forget what had just happened?

"Don't you dare to say those words in a time like this. You…none of you get to say that, okay? You don't get to do that to me…"

You rested your face on your hands as you closed your eyes and sighed, not knowing how to keep this conversation going without going to the extremes. They were still your best friends; you had no doubt in that, but they were revealing to be people that you hadn't notice before. Perhaps you had been blinded by everything, yet now that you thought of it, all signs were right there. How overprotective they were, how they did everything for you, how it literally looked like they lived for you and your well-being. The flags were waving right in front of your eyes, yet it was like you had lived with your eyes closed until now. All the money and how people in school distanced themselves from you whenever one of them was there.

"You're right. We're obsessed with you angel…you're the one who drives us crazy and to our limits. But we love you and you can break down right now in here, but I won't stop myself from telling you the truth. That's what you wanted, right? That we told you everything and all our secrets."

You looked up to Hoseok who stood next to Namjoon, both looking down at you. It was like you were somehow seeing their true colors yet at the same time you weren't. Like half of their face had been covered with a mask of the other half. Were you the one who was overreacting? Couldn't they see the whole picture here?

"Then tell me the whole truth, Hobi! Yoonie said that your crimes grew, right? In what way?"

"Munchkin…please. Let's just drop this. We're sorry that we didn't tell you the truth, but we're the same boys you met at the arcade. We're us."

Jimin's voice was clearly full of hurt. You could also see it in his eyes. How glassy they looked and how he tried to stop his lips from pouting. You could easily see he was about to cry.

"Tell me…I need to know. I'm so done with secrets and lies and just everything. Just tell me already."

"Babygirl, we've done the worst you can think of but everything we do is for you, okay? Like Jimin said, we're still the same. Nothing needs to change."

“You kill people, Joonie?”

"NO! We have yes, but it's not like we go on killing sprees. We only kill those who deserve it. Believe us. For you, we would do anything yes. But we're good people.”

“You’re all monsters …”

You stood up from your seat, your eyes fixated on Namjoon who stared at you without blinking. You loved them, yet to know that they have taken lives perhaps for no good reason at all was completely disgusting and made you sick to the stomach. In your mind, the boys who always welcomed you with a smile and loving eyes were no longer the same. It was like they had been beautiful white roses until now, yet their color had now been tinted with red from all the blood that they must have shed.

"Don't you dare call us monsters. We've done everything for you. Don't you fucking dare to call us monsters when all we've done is take care of you and make you smile! Don't you FUCKING dare, YN!"

Taehyung was now standing up, his eyes not leaving yours. You could see he was angry, how tight his fists were closed and his white knuckles gave it away and his tone was now much darker than usual.

"Well, I'm not smiling now, am I Taehyung? I don't think I am!"

“Why are you fucking overreacting? You’re making this so fucking shitty, Y/N! Stop it”

“Stop it!? YOU KILL PEOPLE, TAEHYUNG. YOU SHOULD BE IN JAIL! JAIL, TAE!!”

"We did this because you told us you wanted the perfect life! Remember?! You said you would love anyone that was able to give you that! LOVE US THEN, Y/N."

You stared wide eyed at him as memories now filled your head.

Flashback on

You were sitting down on your bed watching a movie. You had been bored all day since the boys told you they had a couple of things to do and couldn't hung out today. It was Saturday which meant then you would have to stay the all day alone since your parents were both working.

Flashback OFF

“I was 15, Tae! 15 years old! I was a kid. So was Jungkook, Jimin and you! All of us were... You did this because of a damn text?”

“YES! NO! For fucks sake, why can’t you understand us?!”

You let out a deep sigh and sat down again on the couch. What were you supposed to do?

“I’m trying! I really am! I am...”

“Does that mean you don’t love us? You said it was only a text...you don’t love us? We love you and did everything but you don’t love us?”

“Minie...that’s not it.”

“Then you do loves us, right Y/N-ah?”

“Kookie...I mean... I thin-”

“Right? You can’t just not love us. We’ve given you everything. Everything. Saying you don’t love us now would just be really mean, disrespectful and unthoughtful. Imagine if you were in our shoes? We’ve loved you since kids and this is how you say thanks to us after everything? Not very nice, right?”

You stayed quiet and looking down at your knees, not wanting to face any of them. Since when did Jungkook start talking like that? Why were you starting to feel guilty? He was right in a way. They had done a lot for you. Even the house you were in was theirs. The least you wanted was for them to feel like you weren’t thankful for everything they had done for you.

“So, do you love us, baby?”

“I guess...”

“Good! Since this is dealt with, let’s get something to eat. Yoongi help me in the kitchen!”

Jin left the living room followed by Yoongi who kissed your cheek. You were left alone on the couch as the boys went either to take showers, help in the kitchen or change their clothes. Was it always gonna be this way? You were confused as to how you just gave easily up. Maybe you had to have a talk with each one of them, maybe you should try to understand them.

You were making your way back to your bedroom after you decided that you weren’t hungry when you felt a pair of arms drag you from your way, holding you tight against them.

“Hobi...”

“Sunshine, don’t let it bother you. I know Taehyung was a bit mean, but you know how he gets when he’s hurt. He’ll apologize tomorrow, don’t worry. Keep in mind that we’re still us. We love you. You love us. Let’s not make a big deal around this because it is not a big deal. Nothing will change regarding us.”

“It is a big de-”

“It’s not. Let’s go see if Jin-hyung, Yoongi-hyung and Jiminie need help.”

“Yeah sure, let’s go...”

Preview Chapter 6

“Stop fucking controlling me. If I wanna go, I’ll go!”

“You’re ours. And you’re not fucking leaving this house!”

“Fuck the both of you!”

“Oh, you wish, sweetheart.”

“T-Tae...ah...Kookie please...”

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jojoreadwhat · 5 years ago

Text

feel my caress so soft and gentle | g.l. x fem!reader

a/n; hi, so this was flagged. So I’m just re uploading it. I also tweaked and edited this so somethings may have been added or removed. Also this is a little taste of what my writings will look like from now on, aesthetically. Lots of pictures and such cause I can’t stand myself for pretty things. Anyways, enjoy! x

prompt; Rough day calls for a goodnight between Gwilym Lee and fem!reader

words; 2k

Warnings; unprotected sex, dirty talk, sweet sweet sweet fluff, strong language

Inspiration;

•••

Your body jolted lightly as your car came to a stop at the red light. Moving your free arm to your driver’s door window sill, resting your head on your hand. Aimlessly staring past your dashboard at the other side of intersection, impatient to pass to continue on your silent route home. In the years since you learned how to drive, you never once drove without the car radio on.

After a day like today, you needed the peace of mind.

You couldn’t believe the day you had at work. You’ve experienced bad days before but not like this one. It made “when it rains, it pours.” look more like a storm. You worked two other people’s jobs aside from your assigned job. Your hands were still numb from all the handwritten invoices you had to create.

Getting out at nearly 9pm, five hours more than your usual clock out. Exhausted, upset. Your stomach in rumbles from someone’s pizza left in the office kitchen you had for dinner. Which was probably payback for having to take a rain check on dinner and a movie with your boyfriend, Gwilym Lee.

You felt terrible when you called him to cancel your plans for the night. You both were looking forward to it. Gwilym being the sweetheart he is, kept insisting that it was okay and he understood, which you appreciated but you still felt bad.

The house was dark. Not a light except the one from the bedroom. Indicating that Gwil must’ve been waiting up for you.

You sighed to yourself, gathering your things and switching off the car. Quietly closing and locking up your car to not disturb the block. You lazily made it up to your front door, fumbling with locks before you let yourself in.

“Gwilym! I’m home!” You called out, taking your heels off, hanging up your bag and dropping you keys in the catching dish.

You heard no answer, maybe he had fallen asleep. But then it came to you, usually Gwilym slept without anything lit in the room.

Suddenly you noticed ambient sounds playing.

What was he doing? You thought to yourself.

You climbed the stairs quietly, reaching the top, seeing that same an amber glow from the window earlier peeking through the cracked door.

Creeping lightly to the room, you opened the door, your eyes widened but in awe. As they followed a choir of lit candles, scattered all over your room.

The mixture of lavender and eucalyptus invading your senses. You inhaled slowly, allowing the relaxing scents to takeover.

“Hello, my Love!” Gwilym greeted, breaking the stillness, “You made it home.”

Following in the direction of the thick accent of your favorite Welshman. Who had just came out of the master bathroom, shirtless. Watching as faint bits of steam followed behind him, accentuating his toned build and tall frame that was gravitating closer to you.

Your eyes slowly moved from his broad chest to his crystal blues as they met yours, feeling tiggles erupt in your stomach like always when he smiled sweetly down at you. His hand met the back of your neck as he leaned down to kiss your lips. Your hand wrapped his arm in attempt to keep him close, missing him all day. As it deepened momentarily.

“What’s all this for?” You began, then. Gwil chuckled lightly, “A treat after your hectic day.” kissing the top of your head.

“Oh Gwil, You didn’t have to do all of this, I don’t–“ you went to continue, but Gwilym had shut you down lightly. Knowing very well of what you were about to go on with.

Looking down at you now, “Do not start with that nonsense.”

“You had a rough day and you deserve to be treated better.” He smiled, sincerely. Moving the loose hairs around your cheeks to pepper a kiss or two to your pretty face.

“I love you.” You muttered. Smiling now, your hand gently making its way to his cheek. That was overlapped with his much larger own. “I love you too, Y/N” planting a kiss to the palm of your hand before bringing it to his chest.

“Now,” he spoke again, “there’s a perfectly warm bath prepared for us, starting to get cold.”

You felt your cheeks match with the warmth settling in your chest. Smiling uncontrollably as Gwilym lead you to the bathroom.

—

After relaxing and conversating over wine, giggling until your fingers pruned. Gwilym had another thing planned, a massage.

You lied, face down on your shared California King. Your back exposed to him with your towel covering your bum.

You waited as Gwil looked for the oil he just bought. A little nervous as you overthought your reaction (you’re a ticklish bean) but you couldn’t help the need for Gwilym hands to be all over you.

“Ah, found it.” He exclaimed, breaking the silence. You shifted your head propped on your hands.

Watching him walk over to the nightstand, wearing nothing but his briefs, not able to stop glancing at how nicely they hugged.

“The lady at the store said this is a bestseller.” You giggled as you watched him smell it, looking like he might agree.

“Guess we’ll find out, huh?”

He smirked, “Ready?” He asked again and you probably nodded a little too eagerly but he didn’t make anything of it.

You felt the side of you dip as Gwil climbed up, maneuvering himself to straddle your legs weighing below your bum. “Might be cold.” He noted following the sounds the liquid passing the nozzle.

You gasped as Gwilym’s oil covered hands met the bottom of your back. “You alright, love?”

You simply nodded and Gwilym slowly but without hesitation, beginning to move.

His hands started from the bottom and began shifting upward till they reached your shoulders. Covering your back in oil. An oil that smelt heavenly familiar but you couldn’t roll off your tongue like your moan did.

Gwil worked on spots of your back that you didn’t know were in need until they were met. His large hands, contouring to you, firmly but yet so delicately like you were glass.

You tried hoarding your sounds as he worked on you, almost viciously, biting your lips from preventing them to leave. Trying not to sound so desperately lost in the feeling.

Being together for a year and a half worked in favor for Gwilym. Who knew you were in a one woman war of your own. Smiling unnoticeably above you, taking advantage of where he had you and retreating back to lap over those spots.

Starting from the bottom once again, upward, painfully slow this time. Kneeding your extremely intense spots, before smiling bigger now when you supressed a moan that got away.

“You okay, love?” He asked, once more. Knowing damn well that this was torturous. You nodded, biting your lip again.

Becoming anxious as you felt the bed dip on the sides of you, “I think your hiding something.” He admitted, feeling his lips meet the skin in the middle of your shoulders. Causing you to gasp at the sudden contact.

“What do you need?” his breath grazing the back of your neck as he hovered behind you. You didn’t want to ruin this by being needy and eager, but you didn’t have a choice.

You needed him.

“I need you. I need you to touch me.” You confessed, finally bringing your eyes to find his. He watched you, his eyes moving from yours to your lips and back again.

Before his chuckle filled the air, “Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?” Kissing your shoulder, lightly as he stared at you. Waiting for a different answer.

You turned away, sheepishly. Closing your eyes as you gained courage. Before turning back and meeting his blues again.

“I need you to touch me.” You repeated, “fuck me. Hard and slow”

Your eyes never looking away as you both stayed silent, feeling no shame at what you commanded. Smiling deviously as you felt that he needed the same to be met as it rested against your bum.

Without a word, Gwilym readjusted himself above you. His one hand closer to your head now as the other found it’s way to the towel covering you. Now being thrown across the room and a sharp chill hitting your body, gasping once again as your bum gravitated up against Gwil’s thigh.

“Quite ambitious are we?” He chuckled, his hand slowly meeting the top of your ass as it further down.

You nodded, eagerly. Finally getting what you wanted. You practically purred when his hand grabbed your ass. Giving it a squeeze before he snaked his hand around your front and elevated you closer to him.

“Stay up.” He said, beginning to rise with his hands all over you. Up and down your back, following with an array of light kisses.

You were about to grow more impatient until his fingers found you. “Oh!”

Surprised by his swift movements. His long fingers invading your folds, feeling how slick and wet you were for him.

“Aw, Love. You’re soaked.” He pouted at you, “You should’ve spoke up.” He said, feeling bad as this night was for you. Kissing your temple as he then didn’t waste another minute, finding your clit and sending you over.

You immediately pressed your face further into the pillow, your bum following and moving to Gwilym’s touch.

He watched you, intensely. As you moaned loudly now, whimpering and his name sounding sing song off your lips.

Gwilym was growing harder at each sound you made, how you moved in his touch.

His lips meeting your back and your cheeks as he helped you chase your high. Before resting his forehead to between your shoulders.

Running slow pressured circles onto your clit with the pad of his thumb, catching you off guard when his middle finger thrusted into you. Gasping at the sudden action.

He worked in and out of you slowly at first, feeling the knot in your stomach beginning to form. “More, p-please!” You barely could pronounce, Gwilym obliged, pushing his ring finger into you and picking up the pace. Your legs beginning to shake, violently as your climax grew closer and closer.

Gwil became aware, lowering his mouth to your ear. “That’s it love,” He muttered, nibbling at your lobe “Let go for me, Y/N. Come on my fingers.”

The sultry sound of his voice was enough to tip you over the edge. Collapsing onto the bed as Gwilym helped you through your orgasm that overwhelmed you to no end.

Gwilym’s lips never left your skin as you came down from your high. Crying out from the lose of his fingers from your cunt. You weren’t ready for it to be over.

“Please don’t stop.” You said with any bit of energy you had left. You heard his soft laugh from behind you. “Are you sure?” Making sure due to all the work he had already done to overwork you. “Mhm, yes. Please.”

“What do you need, love?” He then spoke, running a finger over your back as he waited for direction.

“I need you inside of me,” You said, “please.” Practically begging.

Gwilym’s questionable look softened as he lower his face to yours, “You need me to fuck you into the mattress, pretty girl?” You nodded, fastly and no sooner was Gwilym discarding his brief. You stayed the way you were, front first into the mattress as he climbed back up and over you again.

Placing his hands on either of you to steady himself. Gwilym then thrusted into you, slowly and deeply. Waiting momentarily as you lied still adjusting to him. Gwilym peppering kisses all over your neck and back for reassurance. Soon enough, you told him you were alright and now you were both in overdrive.

“You’re doing good, love. So so good.” Gwilym encouraged.

Gwilym’s hot breath was covering your neck as he groaned and moaned, fucking you slow.

Colliding with your own and the friction between you too, echoing throughout your room. You can’t count how many times you screamed out Gwil’s name. How many tears that had slipped past your eyes from the overwhelming pleasured state you were experiencing.

Your hands scrambling from the sheets, the pillows to Gwilym’s hair as he ravaged you. Beginning to feel the coil in your stomach as your walls around Gwilym’s cock were beginning to clench.

“Baby, I’m g–” you were beginning to dialect until Gwilym stopped, pulling out right after. You were on the verge of tantrum when he swiftly turned you to lie down on your back. Immediately entering you again and picking right back up where you left off.

He wrapped your legs around his waist, You bucked your hips to him. As he dropped his head into your crook of your neck, leaving you lost in his moans. He worked up the strength to move his lips to yours before they trailed to your ear.

“Don’t come without me, love.” He commanded, breathlessly. “I’m almost there.”

His eyes half-lidded as they never left yours. Your hands clawing at his back and his finding their way to yours, holding them near your head. Gwilym then began to pound into you, hard, bottoming out. Your body bouncing beneath his. And his steady shifting your bed frame as it rocked against the wall. As he drove both closer to where you needed to be.

Soon your head fell back as you met your orgasm. Screaming everything and his name, almost incoherently as it washed over you. Your back arching off the bed, Gwilym not even a second after yours met his own. Coating your walls and riding you both out. Kissing you over and over as you both professed how much you loved each other.

Completely enthralled. Before he collapsed onto the other side of you, immediately pulling you to his chest. Listening to each other come down and your breathing even out. As you prayed for more bad days and good nights.

#bohemian rhapsody #mine #borhap #gwilym lee imagines #gwilym lee smut #gwilym lee fluff #gwilym lee x reader #gwilym x reader #gwilym lee headcanon #gwilym lee blurbs #slutforbritdick

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bbrandy2002 · 5 years ago

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High Times in Cordonia

Wacky Drabble Prompt #12: You know that's not what I meant.

A/N: I haven't written anything from my Two Men and a Baby crew in...well...I don't know when. I kinda miss the old bunch and their shenanigans, so, I thought I would give it another go for old times sake. If I write anymore from this series, and Im sure I will, the new name will be "The Royals". Sorry if this is a bit rusty.

Summary: Liam and Drake find some pot and contemplate the options for getting rid of it, obviously by smoking it.

Warning: Drug usage and cursing.

Word Count: 1280 (not too much over the limit)

Liam and Drake had spent the better portion of the day putting away gifts from Riley's baby shower. The second largest bedroom in their quarters just happened to be Leo's old room and this was the one chosen for the nursery.

The most the housekeepers and the decorators found while transforming the former prince's room into the baby's was a few used condoms, a couple nude pics and a crusty cigar. The Queen, herself, at 8 months pregnant, had scrubbed and sanitized the room for two days, ridding it of any last lingering remnants of her brother in law. Riley was insistant that the essence of Leo be purged from that room before her innocent baby enter it.

"What do you think this is?", Liam asks while holding a small, baggie in front of himself that he found hidden in the back of the nursery closet.

Drake yanked the baggie from Liam's hand and opened it with a sly smirk before sniffing its contents, "I think...I THINK..it's pot".

Liam rips the bag back from Drake's hands with an annoyed expression, "Back off Cooch, I found it first", he said as he shuffled past him to the other side of the room, holding his stash closely to his chest.

"Cooch?", Drake raised a brow attempting to stifle a laugh, "Did you just call me...Cooch?, he asked with a chuckle.

Liam continued sniffing the contents, passively listening to Drake, "You know... that guy from that show you and Riley watched the other day, you sound like the sarcastic, sweater vest wearing one...Cooch".

"I think you mean Chandler and, my god, how are you the leader of this country.......fucking Cooch", he laughed heartily, continuing his mockery.

Liam rolled his eyes then grabbed a stuffed bear from the dresser, throwing it at Drake, who swerved out of the way at the last second. "Okay, so you've had your laugh, are we doing this or what?".

Drake's eyes widened with surprise, "Whatdya mean...like, smoke it?"

"No, I thought we could paint our toe nails with it, of course, smoke it".

'Who's being...Cooch, now, Your Highness...besides, we both know you won't do it. Maxwell begged you for years to try it with him and you were always...", Drake stiffens his posture and deepens his voice, " that stuff is a gateway drug mister and I will not succumb to peer pressure, heh heh heh".

Liam lets out a loud sigh, rubbing a hand over his face, "Well...it is you know and I don't sound like that". He walks over to the rocking chair and slumps down into it, still clutching the baggie. "Its just....I'm getting ready to be a father.."

"Experts claim that is the best time to start a drug habit", Drake interrupts as he sits on the floor in front of Liam.

"You know thats not what I meant", he replies as he sits up in the chair. "Its just that the most daring thing I've ever done is sneak out of the palace on a cronut run, I just want to do one last crazy thing before, you know, my baby gets here".

Drake scratches the back of his neck, shaking his head, waiting for Liam to come up with some logical plan for getting rid of it, just as they did when servants found other Leo stashes around the palace. He looked up at Liam, who seemed to almost be asking him for permission with those sad blue eyes. He certainly didn't appear to be changing his mind, nor, unsure of his decision.

"Fuck it", Drake groaned, "I'll see if Maxwell left any papers in his guest room".

20 minutes later.....

Both men are sitting criss cross applesauce on the floor of the nursery, each with a lengthy joint between their thumb and forefinger. The room was filled with billowy smoke that reflected off the light from the small giraffe lamp on the dresser.

Liam looked down at his joint, disappointment written on his face, "Do you feel anything yet? I don't feel anything".

"Maybe this stuff is too old", Drake took another hit, coughed, then paused for a moment, "maybe this stuff is too old".

Liam laid back on the floor flat, taking in a deeper draw this time before blowing, albeit- unsuccessfully, smoke rings. "You know what Drake, your name sounds like ssssssnake...did you ever think that a snake is really just a tail with a face on it".

"Yeah...yeah...tail is a snake...I've thought about it....a lot", he replies while trying to touch his nose with his tongue.

"Hey Drake?"

"Hmm".

"I wonder if the Japanese flag is really a pie graph of just how Japanese, Japan is?"

Drake runs his fingers down his chin, contemplating Liam's wise observation before snapping his fingers and pointing at him, "OR! Its a giant pepperoni, you know how the Japanese are with their pizza's and shit".

Liam nods, eyes having not blinked in over 20 seconds, "True that".

The guys spend a a few more minutes, waiting for the effects of their marijuana to start. Both deciding it was futile, they felt completely, normal.

10 minutes later....

"Drake, get the hell down from there!", Bastien yells up at Drake who is in the palace ballroom, perched on a chandalier.

Liam stumbles out of the kitchen entrance into the ballroom, a rare commerative edition bottle of Cordonia's finest bourbon that was given to Constantine 25 years ago in one hand and a triple cheeseburger stuffed with cheese doodles in the other. He suddenly stops when he notices Bastien looking up at the ceiling. He then walks casually over to him, taking a loud crunchy bite from his burger, smacks his lips a few times, "Wha dup?"

Bastien glances over at Liam, then does a double take, "Geezus, Your Majesty, are you feeling okay?".

"LIAM..watch this!!", Drake yells down as he starts swinging back and forth, small pieces of the ceiling falling like dust to the floor. He starts singing, "IIIIIII, wanna swing..from the chandalier...from the chandalier-IER!", his voice raising 5 octaves higher.

Liam gasps, "Oooooo, I wanna do that too", he tosses the bottle over his shoulder, shattering it, and thrusts his cheeseburger into Bastien's hand, "hold my burger dude". As he starts to climb the large metal ladder, Bas grips his feet, not allowing him to move any further up.

Liam cocks his head to look at his head guard, his face and shoulders lowering, "Awwww Bas, you dropped my cheeseburger...not cool man"

"Your Majesty, please come down and I will take you to the kitchen and get you a new one", Bastien pleaded.

"Don't listen to him Li, he's just trying to keep you from getting hurt, BUZZKILLER!!!!". Drake's own voice startles himself and he loses his grip and crashes onto a table below, "IM THE FLYING NUN....ouch".

Bastien releases Liam's feet and dashes to Drake, who landed onto the table next to him.

"Drake! Drake!, can you hear me son?", Bastien asks frantically as he looks over him, searching for blood or broken bones.

"Bas?", he asks weakly, his red eyes seaching Bastien's.

"What is it Drake?"

He smirks, "You gotta a wittle boogie in your nose".

Liam hops off the ladder, scoops up some random cheese doodles, before reassembling his cheeseburger and biting into it, "Mmm...T to the A to the S T E Y..girl, you tasty!".

The loud sound of the palace smoke alarm system blares, emergency lights strobing near the exits, illuminating the ball room with flashes. Bastien gets a call over his walkie talkie, "Sir, the Queen reported a small fire in her quarters, located within the nursery. She is safe and being escorted out by Mara, however, she says she thinks there is also a skunk in there".

Bastien rolls his eyes, "Its not a damn skunk, just, get everyone out and I'll meet you outside with His Majesty, over". He turns to Liam who is sitting in a chair, lapping up cheese and grease from the sleeve of his hoodie, then at Drake, who is trying to look at his own eyes. "Alright, Cheech and Chong, let's continue this little party outside". He carefully hoists Drake over his shoulder and pulls Liam up by his hoodie, dragging him to the exits.

"I'm the Cheech, huh, Bas?", Drake asks while hanging limply over his shoulder".

"King Liam Chong", Liam nods, "I like it!...hey wait...my cheese doodles...Bas go back...my cheese doodle...cheese doodles Bastien...cheese doodles.... Bas...IN THE NAME OF GODDAMN CROWN, MY FUCKING CHEESE DOODLES!!!"

Wacky Drabblers: @emceesynonymroll @burnsoslow @dcbbw @sirbeepsalot @janezillow @katedrakeohd @jessiembruno @pedudley @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @romanticatheart-posts

Permatags not listed above: @drakesensworld @ao719 @hopefulmoonobject @eileendannie @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore

Im still missing a ton of people from my perm list, I don't know where I saved the list, so so sorry about that. If you want removed or added just let me know.

#wackydrabbles #king liam #drake walker #trh fanfic #trr au #choices trr #trr fanfic #trr drake #trr #the royal romance drake #the royal romance fanfic #choices the royal romance #the royal heir

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highfivecalum · 6 years ago

Text

Dark In Your Heart {CEO!CH} 3

Previous Chapters: One Two

◈◈◈

Calum had a love-hate relationship with his job. Sure, he loved being the boss and loved being in charge, but his dream job wasn’t being the CEO of the most well known book editing and publishing company. Calum always wanted to be a singer, always wanted to be something more than he was, but his dream never panned out. Instead, he took over his grandfather’s company after he passed away six years ago. And there he was.

He loved a lot about it, but he absolutely hated the fact that his new assistant, Madeline Thompson, the green eyed beauty, was the one woman he was not able to stop thinking about. All he thought about since she stepped into his office and into his life one week ago was her.

It was maddening, really. Madeline was maddening.

“Good morning, Mr. Hood.” Her sweet, angelic voice brought Calum back to reality. He looked up from his phone and at his new assistant, sitting so perfectly at her desk in front of his office, and smiled that smile that caught his attention from across the bar just a week prior.

“Mornin’.” Calum barely spared her another glance before heading straight for his office. He noticed the two cups of coffee on her desk and waited for her to bring it to him.

Maddie did just that, standing up and grabbing his black coffee before pushing his office door open and setting it on his desk. She licked her lips nervously and moved her hair over her shoulder, finally being able to show off her neck without worrying about the hickeys showing. It had taken a while, but they had finally faded.

Maddie knew she had no reason to be nervous around him, he assured her everything was fine between them, but she still was. He was intimidating, confident, and sexy. He made her nervous, that much was obvious.

“Do you, uh, do you need anything else?”

“No, Maddie. That’s all.”

She nodded her head silently and Calum listened to her heels click against the floor as she exited his office. He looked up through his eyelashes and bit his lip to suppress the groan that threatened to leave his lips at the sight of her ass looking incredibly amazing in the dress she was wearing.

Calum was fucked.

◈◈◈

“Hi welcome to Hood Publishing.” Maddie grinned up at the two, tall, handsome men in front of her, Luke and Ashton, two of Calum’s best friends. They were tall and handsome just like him, Maddie thought. “What can I do for you?”

“We’re here to see Cal. He in?” Luke asked, shoving his hands in the pocket of the leather jacket he had on. He checked her out, not even trying to be smooth about it, and his smiled widened as she smiled up at them.

Cal. Maddie could only guess that he was referring to Calum. She smiled up at the them and nodded her head. “Uh, yeah. He’s here. Go on in.”

“Thanks, ma’am.” Luke winked at her and he and Ashton made their way into his office like they had multiple times before. They always showed up out of the blue, mostly when they knew that Calum wasn’t that busy. They hated interrupting him, but they rarely saw him, so they took every chance they could to see their best friend. “Cal! My man!”

Luke and Ashton sat down, kicking their feet up on his desk, making him scowl, and making themselves at home. Luke pulled out his phone, mindlessly looking through social media and replying to some texts and emails while Calum and Ashton talked and caught up. Luke showed up at Calum’s building more often than Ashton did. Calum wasn’t telling Ashton anything that Luke didn’t already know.

“Why’s your assistant look so familiar?” Ashton pointed his thumb behind him, motioning to Maddie sitting at her desk since they had left the door open, much to Calum’s dismay. Calum always preferred to have his door shut for privacy, especially when his friends were there, since they- mostly Luke, were loud and ignorant.

Calum dropped his pen, hiding his face in his hands, and letting out the loud groan he had been holding in since he saw Maddie this morning looking just as good as ever. Luke and Ashton exchanged looks with each other, eyebrows raised and amused smiles on their faces. They knew Calum to be stressed about work, but work was not what seemed to be stressing him out that day.

“You good, brother?” Ashton asked worriedly.

“It’s the girl. She, Maddie, is the girl.”

“Um,” Luke chuckled. “Not sure what that means.”

“The girl from the bar last week. The one who came home with me?” Calum spoke, jogging his friends memories. Their faces said it all. They knew exactly what he was talking about and they almost couldn’t believe it. “The one I told you about? Yep. She’s my fucking assistant.”

“Okay, wow.” Ashton exhaled a breath. Now he was stressed and so was Luke. They knew that Calum hated mixing business with pleasure, and even though it wasn’t intentional, it had still happened. And they knew Calum had been struggling internally with it, not being able to talk to anyone about it since he hadn’t seen any of his friends since that night. “Wasn’t expecting that.”

“Well, you’re fucked.” Luke didn’t try to sugarcoat it.

“No shit, Hemmings.”

“Why don’t you just fire her?”

Calum sighed. He had debated that once he first saw her in his office, but she was such a good assistant so far, he couldn’t afford to lose her and try to find another. “I thought about it, but I can’t. She’s actually good at her job, you know? She’s on time, she’s super detailed with everything, she gets my coffee from Dunkin Donuts instead of Starbucks, and gets me and sausage biscuit instead of bacon like everybody else did-“

“And she’s a complete fucking stunner.” Luke added, interrupting him with a shrug of his shoulders. Ashton snorted, although it wasn’t all that funny, but couldn’t help but laugh at Luke’s bluntness. Luke Hemmings was the most blunt out of all of Calum’s friends and sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad.

“Yeah. There’s that, too.” Calum wanted to scream.

“Welllll,” Luke dragged on. “If you’re not hittin’ that anymore, can I?”

Calum could have killed him for saying that. If he couldn’t have her, no matter how badly he wanted her, his friends definitely could not. Call it selfish, call it possessive, call it whatever you wanted; Calum wasn’t letting that happen.

“Get the fuck out of my office, Luke.” Calum glared at him, chucking his pen at him and staining his white t-shirt he had on.

“Hey!” Luke frowned, hands held up in surrender. “I was kidding.”

◈◈◈

Calum flagged down the bartender, ordering a much needed whiskey and downed it in one gulp, acting as if it was a shot rather than a full drink. He ordered another, and another, before joining his friends at the table they found in the middle of the crowded bar. Friday night life night in Seattle was always fun, and although Calum was getting older- approaching twenty-seven in a few months, he still enjoyed going out and enjoying the night with his friends.

“What’s up his ass today?” Michael Clifford, Calum’s other best friend, asked Luke and Ashton.

Calum was in his own world; bobbing his head up and down to the music playing, looking around for a girl that would meet his needs for the night (and help get his mind off of his assistant that he had been constantly thinking about), and chugging down drink after drink.

“It’s my assistant,” Calum finally spoke up before Luke or Ashton could.

“What about her?” Michael furrowed his eyebrows. “She tryin’ to get into your pants?”

At that, Luke, Ashton, and even Calum laughed. Laughed at the irony of the situation and how clueless Michael was, but still somehow had a clue. “Doesn’t need to try to. She already did.” Calum grumbled.

Ashton saw the confused expression on Michael’s face and before he had the chance to ask, Ashton told him the situation Calum was stuck in. “She’s the girl Cal had a one night stand with last week. The same morning he got to work and there she was. Hungover, covered in hickeys from him, in all her glory.”

“No!” Michael gasped, always being the one to love gossip. “You’re fucking with me.”

Calum scoffed into his glass and tilted it back, squeezing his eyes shut as the familiar taste of whiskey burned his throat as he swallowed it. “Wish I was, Mike. Wish I fuckin’ was.”

Calum tuned his friends out as they talked about it, about Maddie, and his eyes locked on a girl across the bar; blonde hair, brown eyes- the opposite of Maddie. Calum slammed his glass down on the table, causing his friends to flinch, and he cracked his neck while he stood up.

“Gonna go fuck someone else to get her out of my mind. See y’all later.”

Calum tried. He went back to the girls house, the girl whose name he didn’t bother to ask for, and tried to fuck the memory of Maddie out of his head. He tried to keep his eyes open the whole time, tried to stare at the girl who looked nothing like Maddie and engrave her in his brain instead, but it didn’t work. He didn’t even bother to stay the night.

To say Calum was fucked would be the understatement of the century.

◈◈◈

Taglist: @novacanecalum @cosmocalum @roselukes @kinglyhood @cantbehandled-ever @hereforlukescruff @astroashtonio @monsteramongmikey @gosh-im-short @emma070900 @youmaycallmemrshemmings @cakesunflower @asht0ns-world @singt0mecalum @lockthisheartinchains @cheyenne-in-wonderland @babyurart @blahehblah @inlovehoodx @softboycal @hopelessxcynic @ashtoniwir @calumsmermaid @curly-cal @callllumhood @rexorangecouny @kurtsflowergirl @cocktail-calum @lukewarmwoda @meganmisc @neonweeknds @kenopsia-falcon @blue-sunset-oreo-lover @foolishcal @ayee-style @itsmeempar @outofmylimitcal @mariellelovescupcakes-blog @post-traumatic-mess @damselindistressanu @tapolesarebabyturtles @noswagswag @scarapoison @sugarcoatedcalum @notsooperfect @trustmeimawhalebiologist @klb967 @pettybassists @littlebear1353 @cal-king @kinglyhemmings @cthoodsthetic @melanindarling @5saucewho @marghood @manicpanicbaby @colormekaykay @omgitsclarice @geeksareunique

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oveliagirlhaditright · 4 years ago

Text

My dark Kairi story/KHIV story chapter four: “I Do Not Fear Death”. World: PotC’s Dead Men Tell No Tales.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456412/chapters/62293999

Author’s Note: So… I think I decided with the Enchanted chapter—and am carrying it over with the rest of this story—that the Disney worlds aren’t going to be one-to-one what happens in their movies, since KH was at its best when it didn’t do that (like with KH1).

Also… when I was first reading this chapter, I felt like Pip wasn’t in it enough—so I kept adding in scenes—but upon editing it, I realize he’s in it TOO much and it’s kind of annoying… But I felt like I couldn’t really cut the scenes out. Like, I decided right when he was about to meet Riku, that he’d been in it enough and that I wasn’t going to have him in it the rest of the chapter… but then I realized I meant to have an introduction between him and Riku right there—and I didn’t want to risk forgetting to do that later, if I left it out here—so I had to change my mind about that. So… just suffer with it in this chapter, I guess (I’m sorry:(). And hopefully it shouldn’t be this bad in the future ones.

Swallow Chapter Four: I Do Not Fear Death

Sora’s PoV

'Kairi... I can feel that you’re looking for me', Sora thought, alone in his prison in a certain place. 'I'm... somewhat worse off than I even was in that Game now... But I know you'll find me. And thanks for never giving up on me.”

And having thought everything he needed to at the moment, Sora succumbed to the familiar lull of sleep again and dreamed of life…

Kairi’s PoV

In order to be strong, Kairi went to one of the hardest worlds she’d heard of from Sora: the Caribbean/

And while she should have been happy about the connection, she'd perhaps found to Sora in the last world... the Princess of Heart couldn't help looking back at what she’d done in Faith and Angel’s world, and only feeling despair. She felt horrible about how she'd treated Angel—and Kairi feared that she still might be led to do that same sort of thing, and it scared her. And she wanted to apologize—but there was nothing she could do about it now. Especially not when Pip was shivering in Kairi's pocket in discomfort, obviously feeling her intense emotions too strongly. So Kairi decided to instead focus on the matter at hand.

And the moment Kairi did just that, she thought that something was wrong... because there were no pirate flags on the sea at all?

"Do you think this can possibly be the Caribbean then, Pip? Given the story I just gave you about this place?" Kairi asked her new friend, who was stroking his chin thoughtfully at her question.

How Kairi wished that Riku was here with her, to help make sense of things (and Sora)... because despite their somewhat rocky relationship, they were still (sadly) closer now than they had been in years…

And Kairi'd so very nearly called Riku, just before she'd heard from Sora in Giselle’s world... but how could she have, when her lust and jealousy had led to a “Heartless version” of Sora there? Surely Riku would have been disgusted by her actions again…

But Kairi opted to not think of any of that now... Instead, she focused on that she was near a bell, that Sora had perhaps described to her once. So, this was Port Royal, then? And the reason there were no pirate ships nearby was because they would be shot on sight, and the pirates hanged for their crimes?

Before Kairi could think about any of her questions much more, she heard a massive ruckus and turned her attention that way. It seemed that the people here were trying to execute a girl about her age?!

Kairi felt her blood boil for that, as she remembered how women had been treated in some places Sora had told her about: worlds so bad, that he hadn't even wanted to think about them. But with how much Sora loved this place, it couldn't have been one of those. Could it?

"Whoa, Kairi!" said Pip, as he jumped onto her shoulder now. "I can literally feel you getting redder in your anger. Calm down, alright?"

"S-sorry!"

But if Kairi was being honest with herself? She now hated this stammering, uncertain version of herself, too. Perhaps her being anyone was just a lose-lose situation, then…

"Pip, we've got to go save that woman!" Kairi shouted, as she ripped at her dress from New York, so she could better run and fight in it. "Time is of the essence!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

And Kairi ran towards the guillotine in the town square. And even from far away, Kairi took in the book the woman was holding—that looked like it had stars on it... stars like the worlds—and prayed that this lady could help her find Sora.

...

The first thing Kairi saw when she was in a sea of people that made her feel very anxious, was that Captain Jack Sparrow was also being tried! It had to be him, based on Sora's descriptions, Kairi thought. The man before her had somewhat dark skin, with eyeliner around his brown eyes and above his mustache and a slight beard? Those were all descriptions that Kairi had heard for Jack. The princess also noticed his dreadlocks, clothes that tried to be fashionable despite being tattered, and his ridiculously large hat.

Kairi ran towards him instantly, and cut off the guillotine that was now mysteriously hanging from his neck. But she knew she wouldn't be thanked for it.

"Come on, Mister Sparrow!" Kairi cried, as she took his hand in hers and began leading him away. "Let us save that woman—and the boy who’s with her?—and be on our way!"

"…That's a fascinating sword you have there, missy. You wouldn’t happen to be a Bonnie Lass of Zola’s, would you? And if you are… by God, you and your lot haven’t aged a day.” Jack spoke to Kairi, as he punched a guard here and ducked under soldiers there, all while apparently examining Destiny’s Embrace.

And while Kairi wanted to be annoyed that he would just assume she was Sora's girlfriend because she had a Keyblade like he did, she was too busy to debate him.

Because a boy who had a light much like Sora's, was about to get a sword through the heart for trying to aid the girl in the blue dress! And Kairi had seen enough pure-hearted boys die, thank you very much... even if she had also been close to killing one herself.

The Light threw herself between the boy and girl, and the ten lances that were coming their way. And she thought that if she died this way, at least she'd go out a hero like Sora had... and maybe she'd even be put out of her misery and get to see him in some sort of afterlife.

But just when Kairi thought it was over for her, because she felt some blades going through her even as she tried to dodge them, she was pulled up and over them... and lived, and joined the ragtag group that had just formed.

And Kairi was eager to follow the older man who had just joined them, telling the group—Captain Jack in particular—that he had the Pearl just before them that they could board, but of course Heartless had to show up at that exact moment... and the nasty Neoshadows, too.

"Oh, fine!" the brunette bellowed as she began to impressively attack the overly-large Shadows with the chains that had bound her—all while Kairi used a quick cure spell on herself, and used aeroga to send some of their enemies flying away from them--"I see you want to grab at me just like men do, and I will give you the award that I do to them."

The boy who was not unlike Sora to Kairi, blushed—as if thinking the woman was talking about him?—and informed her to, "Focus on the fighting right now, Miss Carina," as he kicked at some of the Heartless.

Jack, meanwhile, was stabbing them through their stomachs.

And Mister Gibbs—Kairi was assuming it was Mister Gibbs, anyway—was hitting some over the head with the butt of his sword. But even with all of this, they were getting nowhere fast with the Heartless and the soldiers.

So Kairi put a barrier around herself and her new friends—so nothing could get to them as they ran—and the moment they were aboard the boat, she was instantly demanding answers from Captain Jack. "You- you were right. I am Sora's girlfriend... and he's been lost. Do you think there's anything here that might save him? Especially since he was sort of lost to the sea? Because my name means that... and he died for me."

Jack looked at Kairi with sympathy, she could see, but it was the girl in the blue dress—Carina—who answered Kairi as she seemed to size her up in an excited manner. "The Trident of Poseidon will serve you well, I think, and I'll help you find it. I'm trying to use it to find my father, and Henry is trying to get it to free his own, who is supposedly the Captain of the Flying Dutchman."

Kairi was about to go talk to Henry at this news, but she didn't know if she would've been ecstatic to talk to this son of Will and Elizabeth or not, since those two’s story was so similar to hers and Sora’s, but Kairi didn’t even get the chance to find out how she would have felt, because Mister Gibbs cut off any conversation post-hate, as Jack glared at him. "We will not be going after any legendary artifacts today. It's more than enough that I have Jack here at all, given his bad luck and lack of pulling any weight lately. And I won't be making any of it worse, by repeating the past.”

Almost immediately, Captain Jack Sparrow jumped in to argue, saying, "But we need to, mate, to stop Salazar. You remember his horrendousness from what I've told you, aye? Help me defeat him, and there may be an old magic compass in there for you."

And while those two were fighting over that, Pip jumped onto Kairi’s head and began fighting for her sake, just as it looked like two other male pirates had been about to? "Yo, old man,” said Pip. “Listen to the ladies—and who I'm assuming is your captain—here. For one thing, Kairi's been through enough and deserves her boyfriend back."

But unfortunately, no one was taking Pip seriously... as the captain looked at him with the most displeased look Kairi had ever seen, and deadpanned: "Great. Something else like the monkey Jack."

Kairi sensed that her friend was upset for being so easily dismissed—and she wanted to be there for him, like he just had been for her... but she was too busy making sense of something, that almost had her throwing up over the deck... She'd traveled at least twenty years into this world's future... which shouldn't have been possible, because Henry had just been born when Sora was here a year ago... and now he looked like an adult. That must have been what Jack had been getting at earlier. How had she managed to mess up traveling here so badly... or was this a good thing? Had her heart connecting with Sora's led to this?

Still feeling overheated and like she was going to be sick, Kairi ripped more of her brown dress off with one hand while she held onto the railing of the deck with the other. Near instantly, she felt great about how cool she felt and she breathed a sigh of relief, as Pip went back to hiding behind her hair… and Henry put a hand on her shoulder? "Miss, are you okay?" the young-man questioned. And was it Kairi, or did he sound like he'd gotten used to saying that kind of thing lately, with how easily he could have made her swoon if her heart didn’t already belong to Sora?

"I'm fine... I just noticed something. It's no matter.” And if the look Jack was giving her was any indication, he must have guessed the same thing she had... or just thought Sora was the luckiest man in the world, for having such a young-looking girlfriend.

"Anyway, Henry… out of all of us, I get the sense that Mister Gibbs will only listen to where you want to go. So direct us somewhere ‘nice’, I guess. But once we find the Trident, we’re going for it.”

And then Kairi went over to where the man with the fake eye—and his bigger pal—were stationed, to try to figure out how to help man such a ship.

…

It was when Kairi was being reminded (since she’d known some of this stuff from home) that the left side of the ship was the port and the right was the starboard, that Carina joined Kairi on the deck for fresh fruit and regarded her with a smile.

Meanwhile, the pirates Pintel and Ragetti—who Kairi had recently learned the names of—were kindly trying to fish for her.

"You look like you could use some cheer. Jack Sparrow has convinced Mister Gibbs that we do need the Trident, to defeat some fiend named Salazar, so we're headed in the direction I believe it’s in. And here’s how we're going to find it." And Carina pulled out the starry diary that Kairi had spied earlier, but up close she could tell there seemed to be some ruby encrusted into it.

"What is this, exactly?" Kairi questioned, as she sat up from where she’d been sitting so she could see the book better. "Jewels from the earth here? Do you think the Trident was buried under ground where these ar-" But Carina was already shaking her head “no” before Kairi had completely finished asking that question.

And seeming curious about what Kairi was talking about, Pip came to see what was going on. And Carina shook her head at his appearance, in a sort of bemused manner. “Somehow, I can believe about your talking pet here, but not these monsters Henry is blathering about. Anyway... I was left at an orphanage by my father... and he left me this journal. The cover of it represents constellations, and is said to lead to the Trident of Poseidon, and surely my father. And after studying star charts all my life, I know where this constellation is in the sky… and so we’re heading out that way.”

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kairi queried, as she decided to make herself more useful by swabbing at the deck some. "Wait, actually... what was it you were saying about monsters?"

"She was only speaking of the worst kind," said a voice from beside Kairi's ear. It was Jack... and he seemed grim, as opposed to the usual happy-go-lucky and devil-may-care attitude Kairi had gleaned from him thus far. "Salazar: a ghost who's an enemy of all pirates... including you, lassie."

"A ghost?" Pip asked the question that Kairi had wanted to—and it made her smile--but when she had visions of what this ghost might look like, she definitely didn't smile. He seemed half-human and half-ghost, and parts of his hair and clothes were being torn away from him, into the other realm, as segments of him remained. And that black, villain-type smile from him...

Kairi swallowed, in realizing she felt torn apart like him she was: because didn’t she want to be both a Pure Light and someone who had a cruel heart now?

"You see something, don't you?" Henry asked, as he came up beside Kairi now, clearly having taken in her mystified look. "You see something, the way that I can almost see visions of my parents when I look at you."

Utterly confused, Kairi was about to ask why Henry should see his family when he saw her... but then she thought it must have been because Sora had helped shaped their lives... and she and Sora were very much the same since sharing the paopus. So perhaps that was the reason?

"I-" but just as Kairi began speaking, the nightmare she had just seen came to life as day turned into night: the electrified ghosts appeared out of the ether, and walked through their own ship and onto the Black Pearl. And before Kairi knew it, she was being held captive by Salazar and was the defenseless girl once again.

"You were never the gentleman I was, Sparrow," Salazar drawled in a chilling whisper, that made gooseflesh appear all over Kairi's skin, as she tried to get out of the chokehold he had on her. "So, you surely believed that women on a ship were bad luck. So why do you have two here now? Surely they're liabilities... like this."

"...Please," said Kairi, as a single tear sled from her eyes. "If you really are—or were--just like you say... let me go. I'm not even fifteen yet. And I'm on a mission to save someone..."

And he let her go so fast, that Kairi was first mad she hadn’t tried that same thing on Master Xehanort… But then she was furious that she hadn’t even tried to attack Salazar here, so she charged him now… and swiftly paid the price for it, as Pintel and Ragetti—who had missed everything that was going on, and were happily presenting the fish they’d caught for Kairi—were stabbed through the middle, by Salazar himself and some of his lackeys. And they were coming for the rest of the crew, too, when Jack made the wise decision to careen the ship into an area where you could still see daylight and they were vaporized.

But Salazar, in being far too clever, jumped into the dark ocean with the rest of the crew and disappeared for the time-being, as Kairi ran over to her new friends and tried to heal them again and again and again… but to no avail.

This was what she got for embracing her darkness, wasn’t it? Kairi decided as she cried. Why had she ever thought it was a good idea? And yet… she couldn’t let it go, either. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t fight the type of it that was settling into her veins even now, like a cancer, as it begged her for revenge against that man… and she wanted to comply.

“Salazar won't let such a thing happen again," Jack quietly warned them all, as they already began the horrible price of trying to give the two lost pirates a sea burial… Why did death have to be so final? Kairi pondered whilst she shook all over. "It was an accident on his part. The Pearl's speed—to allow us get close enough to the setting sun, coupled with Salazar's shock… it won’t happen again. When he strikes again, and he will, it’ll be fully at night, and when he feels he’s had enough time to nurse his wounds. So, we must be ready. And I’m sorry that I’ve gotten you all into this.”

There was a side of Kairi that wondered if something else had saved them... Sora had told her that the goddess Calypso had blessed him with the power of the sea always being his—or something like that—and she wondered if Sora had been watching over them, and he’d made the waves carry them away in that moment. But she didn’t say it. Not after her friends Pintel and Ragetti died because of her own stupidity, she certainly didn’t—as she wrapped her arms around her torso and just tried to keep herself together right now.

"We need to get to the Trident of Poseidon now. Forget a day’s rest and all of that," said Henry, with an urgency that Kairi had never seen in him before, but that reminded her again of a certain leader: her Sora. Henry seemed to be speaking when Carina couldn’t here, as she was clearly too shaken to talk of the quest that meant so much to her. Instead, she seemed about to go hide in the captain's cabin… or perhaps in her own head. "It's our only chance against Salazar... because believe you, me, I've faced him before and it will especially be no picnic next time. Perhaps with it, we can free our fathers and they can help.”

In the background, away from all of them now, Mister Gibbs was laughing... but to Kairi, he seemed to be doing so without humor. And as much as it somewhat bothered Kairi that he still clearly didn't want to help out, now that they were in whatever they were in... she also felt bad for him. He hadn't wanted to assist Jack for this very reason, so perhaps he would have been well within his rights to refuse.

"Then get back to following the star charts I gave you,” Carina urged. “I’ll hold lantern light over them, so you can do just that.”

No one objected with what Carina had to say, but rather adhered to her commands… all while Kairi stayed locked in her trauma. It seemed to be the story of her life, and she hated it.

"You should go talk to Carina," Pip tried to persuade Kairi now, as he lovingly braided what was left of her hair. "She seemed spooked."

"I know, I want to," Kairi agreed. "But she's busy helping Jack navigate—because I guess it’s Jack now. Gibbs is too drunk to steer—didn’t you here?"

So Kairi went to speak with Henry instead. Not because she sensed she needed to, or anything like that, but rather because she wanted to. She still felt her furious emotions like a festering disease inside of her—and she thought she might do something stupid, like kill some harmless White Mushrooms if she didn't try to calm herself down.

"Henry," Kairi said, as she got in an assembly line beside him, so they could get done whatever needed to be done while still talking. "Your parents knew my boyfriend Sora... did they ever mention him at all?"

Henry smiled rather bitterly for Kairi's words, and it only took her a moment to realize why. Of course! Will hadn't had a chance to be a large part of Henry's life. How foolish she'd been, to forget that.

"Henry, I'm sorr-"

But he was already lifting a hand up in a sign of peace. "I get it, Kairi. Don't fret. Bad memories just returned to me for a moment there. Forgive me. But, yes: my mother in particular spoke of a strong and kind young-man named Sora who had helped them out. Mother thought he had a true heart... and trusted him much more than she did Jack. "

And if anything could have lifted Kairi’s spirits and made her think she was doing the right thing to try and bring Sora back, it would have been what Henry just said. And so Kairi smiled her own secret grin, and spoke. “…Henry thank you so much for those kind words here. You have no idea what they mean to me. And to return the favor, I’m going to tell you that Sora talked to me about your parents. He said how brave and strong your mother was, and how he was proud of her for that… And he was so sad about what happened to your father, and hated that he had such a fate... hated that your parents did, really. And I know Sora would have loved to meet you like I now am. He probably would have thought that you're a mix of the best parts of both your parents." Kairi knew that she thought that... from what she'd heard about Will and Elizabeth from Sora, anyway.

It was somewhat weird for Kairi to talk about Sora in the past tense in such a way. A few months ago, she would have rebelled against the very idea or it. But the Princess promised herself that she only spoke in such ways now, because she would bring him back.

"…Thank you for that, Miss Kairi. Thank you." And Kairi thought that Henry might have said more—Pip was cutely motioning with his hands that he should—if a ship hadn't rammed into the Pearl that very moment.

Fear stole its way into Kairi’s heart, as she thought Salazar must have been back already… but it wasn’t him.

And then Kairi was flying backwards—nearly over the edge—from where this boat was still ramming itself into the Black Pearl, but she thankfully regained her bearings… and not by grabbing onto the railing, like her weak, past self would have, but by summoning her Keyblade and digging it into the deck, until the Black Pearl had righted itself again.

“Oy! You’re wearing a getup similar to that of those Organizers… wonderful,” Jack moaned from beside Kairi, as he surveyed the scene. The person who now seemed to have everyone aboard’s attention, was the man standing on his decent sized, navy blue ship, who wore sky and snow colored robes large, a strange unicorn mask, and had long and silver hair, much like Riku’s old style.

“Who are you?!” Mister Gibbs demanded, as he glowered across the way at the man with the same colored hair as him. Kairi wondered if he was trying to find a camaraderie with the man, since they arguably seemed to be about the same age, to tell him that that he shouldn’t be acting like this… but Kairi couldn’t be sure. “And can you get your stern out of-“

At those words from Gibbs, Kairi noticed Carina laugh for some reason. But then she quickly became unsettled again, though not as much as she had been in having to admit once and for all that ghosts existed.

“I swear if you’re with The Master of Masters—or Organization XIII, like Captain Jack suspected—I’ll-”

But Kairi was cut off when the man literally threw dolphin Heartless her way. One had even smacked into Kairi’s chest, with its razor-sharp fin, and cut a deep gash into her… this day—for it was nearing day again—just kept getting better and better, and Kairi was fairly certain she was just numb at this point. Oh well.

The redhead slashed at every Heartless she could see—and all of her friends were taking a page from her book; Carina was even bravely hitting them with her shoes—but she wasn’t foolish enough to let the man go without answering her.

“Why would you send dolphin Heartless my way?! I’m assuming you know my name means ‘sea’, and so you’re making a reference here… but does that mean you want to hurt me? I thought your ‘Master’ wanted me to use my anger!” Kairi was taking a shot in the dark here, that he was one of the Master of Masters’ pawns, but she thought that he must be. Since the Master of Masters was the only one (until this guy) who was wearing a robe since they’d defeated the Organization in the Keyblade War.

And in another meeting with the Master of Masters that Kairi had had recently, he had told her that he had five followers… all of which who had an animal motif. Why he had told her this crucial information, Kairi wasn’t sure… but she was starting to make some guesses about it all.

“Because my Master isn’t yet sure what he wants to do with you… Kairi, is it? He says that you often cast a great darkness, but also a great light. If it were me, I’d end the threat that you are now… but he’s gentler than I am, so here I test.” The man’s voice was deep and strong, and it reminded Kairi a lot of what Leon had sounded like in the short time he’d helped to take care of her.

And despite how Kairi had been trying so hard not to cry lately (even after others dying because of her, because sadly… what else was new?), she nearly did here… in learning how much she must have fallen to darkness—for this man to be saying this to her—and she wondered what sort of plan of the Master’s she was allowing to fall into place by being this way.

“But why?!” Kairi demanded. “Why be so wishy-washy about me?! What’s-”

But Kairi didn’t get her answer. The Heartless—that were not truly being defeated by her allies, because only Keyblades could do that—were now using their blades to put holes in the ship. Great.

"Miss, Kairi: can you use that special blade of yours to stop this?” Henry asked, as he plunged a sword through a Heartless’ would-be-heart… but only for it to pop up again beside Jack. Kairi dived over the pirate’s head to stab at it—imagining how Jack may have done this to protect Sora in the past, and thus she was paying him back for protecting her boy—and sighed.

More and more Heartless were coming—though Kairi didn’t get it, since the man didn’t seem to be summoning them… odd—and she was trying to destroy them as fast as she could, before they came back (how were they doing so so fast?!) and made more holes appear in the boat.

She used some of her pearl magic to get rid of ten going towards the Crow’s Nest here (well, as best as she could, anyway, since some of them were flopping away from her attacks as if they were break dancing), and used fire to get at some coming for Carina’s hair, and was about to do a third thing… when a mast fell down and landed on the Pearl. And with the massive injuries the Black Pearl had already sustained, it was now being split in two—while everyone screamed—until…

Until that man teleported onto the center of the wreckage and used a force field to keep the Black Pearl from breaking even more, and to even stitch parts of it back together.

“What are you doing?!” both Jack and Gibbs demanded; the words had very nearly been on Kairi’s lips, too, or at least they would have been if she hadn’t seen where Mister Unicorn was going with this.

“You want me to fight you to prove myself, don’t you? Well, here I am!” Kairi exclaimed, as she stood on opposite ends of the man and readied her Keyblade. “Let’s go!”

But Carina took Kairi by surprise. “No,” she said, as she put a hand on her shoulder and walked past her. “You did enough for us in defeating… those things. Let me do this for you!”

“No!” Kairi protested. But the… the monster—he could be no less to Kairi—had already cast a shield around Carina and himself, so no one could get to them.

Carina was being clever—in trying to find a good place to kick Blue in the shins, it looked like; and was the monster actually giving her a chance to do so?—but it wasn’t enough for Kairi. She summoned Thunder, not even caring that she might strike herself, to try and break the barrier and get Carina out of there.

“Here! Let me at it!” Pip shouted, as he got to the top of said barrier and attempted to clobber it with his paws. “I swear I’m good at things, other than just writing. And I don’t want the lady to get hurt!” And Kairi couldn’t believe that some of what Pip was doing was working… he was creating pressure points on the top of the shield. So, what was this? A power of friendship thing, or-

But Kairi didn’t get to finish that thought—or to warp-strike to the top of it like she would have liked to—because just then the fiend had summoned a Keyblade and stabbed at Carina’s arm. And he severely injured it—blood was sliding down down down her arm, as it seemed about to come off—and Henry was bellowing Carina’s name at this point, as he punched the force over and over again, thus creating more wear in it.

Carina wasn’t one who was helpless, however—not even in situations like this—and Kairi could tell she was going to attempt to press the monster’s eyes back into his skull, as he aimed for her neck, if she didn’t do anything.

And Kairi was sick of this—sick of all of this!—because even though she’d been in and seen horrible wars before, it had never been as brutal as this… the people hadn’t attempted to end each other in such horrible ways. It was so much… too much. And it seemed to Kairi that after Sora had been taken out of the world, all light had died with him.

And so Kairi found herself screaming for unicorn man’s fate—she couldn’t believe it!—just as Jack and Gibbs had decided to try and help Carina, instead of trying to save the sinking Pearl at the moment.

“Carina, no! Stop! Please stop! I don’t- I don’t want this amount of bloodshed, and neither should anyone!” Kairi wailed.

Carina listened to what Kairi had said and stopped—and she wore a look on her face there, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d been about to do, either—and fortunately, Unicorn Man didn’t use Carina’s distractedness as a way to defeat her. Instead, he began to make the barrier dissipate as he bowed to her. “You’ve done well, Princess Kairi. The Master will be most pleased. I’m Ira, by the way.”

But not caring about any of that in the slightest, Kairi found herself leaping into the air so she could get to Carina faster now that she was able to go in that direction… but just as she was, someone was diving down and reaching for Carina, too… and the idiots they were, they couldn’t change their trajectory in time and ended up hitting each other instead of getting to Carina.

And feeling a concussion coming on, as she smashed back down onto the deck—but saw him getting up much easier, and already fixing the sinking boat with his own magic—Kairi couldn’t help feeling irritated with the figure.

“Riku, why are you here?!” she snarled. “Did you not trust me by myself here? I swear I’m fine! You may be messing up our chance to find Sora this way… if he’s sending me to places for me and just me.”

And Kairi felt awful after those words had left her mouth—of course she did; and she thought that if that Ira had still been here, he wouldn’t be giving her his blessing anymore—but she also couldn’t deny it was true. But how horrible had she become, to always be hurting Riku like this (she could see it in his eyes), whilst he only built her up these days?

“Kairi-” Riku began, as he helped Henry get Carina to her feet… and now everyone was staring at her. Great.

Kairi bit her lip, and again resisted the urge to cry… or to punch Riku in the arm like she had used to.

“Kairi, I swear I didn’t come here to spy on you. Master Yen Sid said that he sensed a certain power, and I-”

Except that Kairi didn’t believe him. How could she, when she’d been being babysat since everything had started when she was fourteen? the only time they hadn’t babysat her was during the Keyblade War, but maybe they should have. Maybe if they had then, Sora wouldn’t be- he wouldn’t be.

Now, Kairi had thought she’d gotten better and stronger this past year… but now it was apparent that Riku (and perhaps others?) were scared of her darkness. And so, it was back to being babysat again.

She also honestly felt like he was here to steal her spotlight, like always.

And with the strong array of emotions she’d felt since coming here, Kairi was done with it. She was done with everything.

So, before anyone could say anything more to her, or judge her, Kairi leapt into the air and began gliding away… to some island a ways away from them all. And she heard Riku calling her name as she did so, and Jack saying how she’d suspected that Sora would go for a nicer girl… and now she did let all of her emotions out.

…

On the island—that housed rum for some reason; and how Kairi was tempted to try drinking some now, to drown all her sorrows—Kairi fought back the urge to destroy the White Mushrooms around her, like she’d thought about doing before… since for whatever reason, there just happened to be some on this island who were dancing around her and asking for magic.

She probably would have slaughtered them in her fury, if she wasn’t trying to find her old self again, since everyone apparently hated who she was now… and maybe they were right for it.

“Sora,” Kairi spoke to her boyfriend now, as she clasped her hands together and raised her head towards the sky—hating herself for this, too, because why was she acting like Sora was in heaven? She was going to find him before he got there. She was!—“Part of me wonders why I’m bothering with all of this. I’m so different now… maybe you wouldn’t love me anymore. Not that I only want you back so you can love me. I want you back even if you hate me… but I wish I knew how you’d feel about this, even if I don’t think I’d change who I am now… even if you asked.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Kairi thought she could see some ghostly image of Sora nodding his head and smiling at her… thought she knew it was all in her head. But it still made her feel better, so she got off from the log she’d been sitting on and flew back to where the Pearl was.

Well, the Black Pearl wasn’t exactly where it had been—how glad Kairi was, that ships were slow compared to some of the vehicles she’d seen in other worlds now. And when she got there, she saw Barbossa standing beside Jack and among everyone else?! That’s who Kairi assumed it was, anyway, based on Sora’s descriptions of everyone in this world (had she mentioned that this was Sora’s favorite world that he’d been to?)

Kairi landed down in the ship and summoned her Keyblade. She may have been above fighting innocents now, but she also wasn’t going to suffer a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Kairi knew that Sora had said Barbossa had changed for the better the last time he’d been here, but she also didn’t want to risk it.

“It’s okay, Kairi. We’ve got it figured out,” Riku said, as he came up to Kairi and slung an arm over her shoulder. And she appreciated that he wasn’t telling her to dismiss her Keyblade…

"Missy, I'm her' because I promised Salazar Sparra's head. But given that it's still on his shoulders, that there must mean I'm helpin' him with a plan to keep it there, don't it? So, I would quiet yer suspicions if you really want to find the Trident of Poseidon."

Kairi sighed when she’d heard this Barbossa’s explanation of things, but for once it wasn't an aggravated sigh. This captain had rightly pointed out she was too trigger-happy lately, and so she'd calm down.

And Pip, seeming to sense Kairi's resolution, climbed up her arm and patted her shoulder, too, before he went beneath her hair again.

Kairi would have liked to talk to Captain Barbossa more—to try and get them through this little hurtle, as she wished she could have talked to many people on her last adventures. Because maybe that could have helped solve a lot of issues—but before she could, the water below her was literally being ripped in half (so that Kairi was thrown to the other side of the Pearl, as it tried to be torn apart itself… again).

And as it happened, Kairi could see that Barbossa’s eyes were all for Carina. And she had a lot of suspicions there… but she didn’t have time to deal with that right now.

“Kairi!” Riku yelled her name, as she began falling back into the ocean as a part of the ship finally completely broke off and began tipping over. But she refused to be saved by him—or to ever need rescuing again—so she stuck her Keyblade into the part of the boat that was still active and pulled herself back up. And she fell into Riku’s arms as she made her way back towards her friends… but this time, she didn’t care. She’d managed to help herself… and it felt good to be appreciated like this.

But Kairi couldn’t dwell on maybe having fixed her relationship with Riku for too long. Captain Jack and Barbossa had managed to get what was left of the Pearl to a nearby island, and Henry and Carina were getting off there and jumping into the opened-up ocean beneath them, and Kairi meant to do the same.

And before she knew it, she was in that area—with Riku once again shouting her name, as he followed after her—for she had used a variation of Sora’s “quick run” in order to get where she was faster. But though Sora had moved in circles in order to do that, Kairi mostly moved in a straight line… and Riku seemed to be copying Kairi to try and do the same thing. Kairi would have laughed at all of this, if things hadn’t been so sad lately.

Once they were on the ocean floor, Riku asked her the million munny question. “Kairi, what are we doing here?”

Kairi didn’t answer at first. And she could tell by his hurt face, that he at first thought she was doing it out of spite. But as she let Pip climb out onto her arm, she swiftly showed him that wasn’t the case. “Riku, meet my friend Pip. Pip, Riku.”

“Nice to meet you!” Pip exclaimed, as Kairi saw him get into Riku’s face so he could see him better. “Make sure our girl here keeps a good head on her shoulders, okay?”

“…Right,” Riku answered. “Nice to meet you.” And while Riku seemed to do better meeting Pip then Sora had always thought he would with his friends Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet—and whoever else—Kairi could tell he still wasn’t thrilled. And here she did laugh… because that was Riku for you. And she was so glad to have him after losing Sora. She was.

“To answer your question, Riku,” Kairi responded, as she began running after Carina and Henry now—since something seemed to be going on up ahead—“we’re trying to find this Trident that has powers over all sea curses… and I’m wondering if it’ll save Sora, since he gave his life for me. And my name means that.”

While Riku began running with her, Kairi tried to gauge his reaction to her words. How did he feel about Sora having died for her and not him or any of the others? Kairi didn’t know the answer to that… and she selfishly didn’t know if she wanted to. Whatever the answer, it would probably make her hate herself more.

But Riku didn’t really react to her words in the slightest. He simply clenched his fist and muttered, “Let’s go get it, then.” And suddenly he was taking off faster than even she had been.

And up ahead… Kairi saw Salazar—how had he gotten here so fast?! Carina had just figured this all out! Was it because he was a ghost and could teleport?—had seemed to possess Henry and had the Trident, and was attacking Carina with it!

And Kairi understood why Salazar would do this… he knew that if Kairi’s friends got ahold of the Trident, he would be destroyed… so now he was trying to show Carina that if she wanted that weapon, she’d have to kill Henry to get it.

Captain Jack Sparrow darted past Riku and Kairi now, and was fighting against the possessed Henry for his and Carina’s sake. And Kairi had never felt so moved by him.

“Let the boy go, Salazar,” Kairi could make out the captain saying with a calmness that belied the situation. “Your fight is with me… I destroyed you and your men years ago—gave you a fate worse than death, even—and mayhaps I apologize for that. But even so… fight me.”

And Salazar was battling Jack now…. while Carina seemed desperately to reach out to Henry’s heart. “Henry, I know you’re in there…” she cried, while trying to get in edgewise, so she could try and grab the Trident from “him” while Salazar was preoccupied with his number one enemy. “Think of all we shared, and fight back!” Carina pleaded.

“Kairi,” Riku said now, as he spun her away from the scene before her, so she could focus on the matter at hand. “Maybe you should do the same that she’s doing… if you sensed that Sora might be here—and you know how Yen Sid and I think he’s trying to go to worlds you might be in. So, if you came here, he might be—then try contacting him, too.”

And Kairi would’ve—perhaps again becoming the girl who used to try and use light and do support from the side—if she hadn’t just then heard a voice she now somehow knew so well, whispering behind her ear.

“Really, Kairi? Really? You’re so easily going to go back to the delicate girl you were before your beau sacrificed himself for you? I’m disappointed.”

“Leave her alone!” Riku stepped in between the Master of Masters and Kairi, probably so she could continue to try and reach Sora, she thought. “She’s not going to fall into your plan! She’s not going to-”

And Kairi wasn’t going to do that. She was sick of her friends and herself following the Organization’s plan!

So she decided to just completely ignore the Master of Masters for the time being, and instead went to help Jack and Carina against Henry. “I think you were getting through to him, Carina,” Kairi said, as she gave the other girl a one-armed hug before jumping into the fray. “Keep at it… and I’m sure things will work out. But at the same time… you’re a smart girl. If you want to use your head and work something else out, I believe in you there, too.”

“I wouldn’t believe in anything you say, little girl, since I bested you earlier.” And before Kairi could say anything to that—or try to parry his incoming strike—she was stabbed through the stomach by Salazar. (And was Kairi imagining it… or was Riku trying to teleport to her side now, while the Master said an exasperated “Wow”?)

But she’d become too strong to be “bested” so easily… as she was still impaled on the sword, Kairi grabbed a hold of the butt of it and used it as leverage to throw Salazar—who was still holding onto it—hard to the ground. She then did a quick curaza spell to fix the damage. But she still didn’t feel one hundred percent yet.

“Are you okay there, lass? I may have misjudged you,” Captain Jack asked, as he knelt down beside Kairi and put a hand over her wound.

“I don’t think so!” the Master of Masters bellowed towards Riku, as he froze him in place so he couldn’t get to Kairi? What? Did he think the help she was getting from Jack was more than she deserved? Kairi had before thought she didn’t hate anyone more, than those who kept her away from Sora, she now imagined that those who kept her from Riku were just as annoying.

“Hold on, Riku!” Kairi called his way. “I’ll give you a panacea, and-”

But Kairi lost her train of thought, when she saw Carina had again taken a page from her book. She’d jumped towards the possessed Henry, not even caring for the weapon that was in her way, and though it seemed to nearly slice her side to smithereens… but she was able to wrest the Trident out of Salazar’s hands with this motion, and she was using it instantly. “As the one who now has power over all the sea, I command you—gods and goddesses—to release all your curses!”

But perhaps the Trident in and of itself was a curse, because it turned into water… never to be seen again, Kairi presumed.

Then, the sea above them all began to close… and Kairi thought she might faint. She was too injured to make a Corridor of Light to get herself and her friends out of this. And though she supposed Riku could try and use a Corridor of Darkness again—if worst came to worse—she knew the ill effects that it would have on everyone.

And now the Master of Masters was laughing without humor. “I have no desire to have a watery grave. You all work this one out. And Kairi… continue to be strong. Otherwise, I’ll have reason to kill you! And who wants that?!” As soon as he’d said those words, the Master of Masters was gone… but amazingly, he’d let Riku out of the spell he cast on him before he did—maybe he had plans for him, too—and Riku noticed immediately what was happening and muttered a curse.

“We have to get out of here… now,” Kairi stated the obvious. She quickly healed Carina, and then went to Carina’s side to help her pick up an unconscious Henry. What she’d done with the Trident had freed him, so now Salazar was standing in front of everyone again in all of his hideous, undead—yet human—glory.

Captain Jack had just motioned for Gibbs—who was still in the ship above them—to send the anchor down, so they could all ride it to the surface… but now Salazar and his crew were trying to kill all of their enemies, so they couldn’t get to it first.

But there was no guarantee they’d even survive if they made it to the surface, since sooner or later they’d have to face the fate they’d missed out on long ago. And Kairi had to wonder what kind of desperation drove Salazar… was it what existed in her heart now?

And to try and get to her new friends and to save them before it was too late, Kairi warp-striked to try and get back on what was left of the Pearl, so she could then pull them up. And she could tell that Riku was doing the same thing, having been inspired by her to do so. And he was rescuing Jack and Henry before she could blink... Kairi, then, went to rescue Carina... but it was all over.

For just as she had gotten Carina to the surface, Salazar had grabbed ahold of Kairi and was ramming her into the water wall beside her, as the pathway began to close above her. "If it weren't for foolish people like you, no one would have to suffer!" he hisse.

Kairi wanted to argue that—because maybe she was becoming better again—but was unable to, with how much pain she was in and the water filling up in her mouth.

Kairi tried to get her Keyblade into a position where she could use it... but then she accidentally dropped it into the wave and was losing consciousness.

Above her, Kairi could hear Carina screaming for someone to save her... but then Carina starting to change her mind when it became clear that someone was going to have to sacrifice themselves to fulfill her wish.

"What am I to you?!" Carina cried. And Kairi heard the voice of Barbosa answer "Treasure", before he willingly fell on Salazar—and towards his death—to free her from his hold. And then Kairi felt Riku sharply tugging on her arms to bring her to safety, as she sobbed.

…

For the first time in what felt like ages to Kairi, she had chosen to be selfless and stay with her new friends for a few months—foregoing her search for Sora for that long—to help them deal with the aftermath of everything that had happened.

Captain Jack was the easiest. It seemed to Kairi that he was... just lonely, in seeing Will and Elizabeth—and Henry and Carina—together, even if he was secretly happy for them. And once Kairi learned that there was an "Angelica" in his past, she helped chart a path for him to find her on "Rum Runner Island"—the island that maybe she had unwittingly found?—since he still didn't have his magic compass back.

And Jack looked at Kairi with something like warmness in his eyes, when he chose to shake her hand. "Yer a good lass, Kairi. Don't let anyone tell ya different. And you go on and remember it yourself, savvy?"

"Savvy," Kairi replied, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes--since she thought it was proven with Barbossa’s death (and perhaps Pintel and Ragetti’s before that. And- and Sora’s), that she wasn't very good at all.

And it was Mister Gibbs who seemed to notice Kairi was feeling this way. He told her not to feel too bad about Barbossa, since at least she’d tried to help everyone—unlike him, in his eyes. It seemed to Kairi that Gibbs hated his own inaction on this recent quest of his now. Something she could relate to—and since he thought Barbossa had been happy to give up his life for his daughter’s good spirits, anyway. Kairi didn’t have much to say to that, other than trying to put two-and-two together to try and figure out where the compass Jack had lost was at. He’d promised it to Gibbs, hadn’t she? Kairi swore to the man she’d figure it out and come back and get it to him. Someday.

After that, Kairi had gone with Henry, Carina, and Riku to meet Will and Elizabeth. And her heart soared for Henry and Elizabeth being reunited with father and husband respectively... but Kairi wished Sora could have been here, too, with the Trident having been destroyed… but he wasn’t. And Kairi could tell that Riku was just as upset about it.

For days, Kairi trained with Carina—to help her learn how to fight, as Carina now wanted to be a pirate—and while the other lady had informed Kairi that she didn't at all blame her for her father's death, she didn't seem to sense that Kairi thought people around her in general seemed to die, and didn't comfort her about it. But Kairi thought that it was more that Carina just didn’t know how to, since as a scholar… she seemed to spend most of her life in her own head. And that was fine. Kairi got it. Maybe she’d even been the same in the past, somewhat.

Henry, like Gibbs, was there for Kairi, however. One day, when she was jotting down some things she thought Destiny Islands did better in terms of sailing to help the people here, Henry interrupted her.

"You can't blame yourself, you know," he gently reprimanded her, as he laid a hand on her wrist. "I used to blame myself for my parents' situation... and told myself that if I hadn't been born, my mother could have freed my father from his terrible fate long ago, and not be trapped in a life she hated... But I also knew that my parents loved me, and that the lies we tell ourselves can be the deadliest. So you know that, too."

And it was after Henry told Kairi this, and she felt light return to her heart once more, that she finally decided to leave the Caribbean. She'd been dreaming of healing these people, but here they had done that for her.

"You know..." said Will, as Kairi was about to leave alongside Riku, with a knapsack over her shoulder. "Even though I was dying at the time, and it was hard to tell, Sora was very angry about what Davy Jones did to me... and even then, I assumed it was because he didn't want to be taken away from someone, like he didn't want me to have to be taken away from Elizabeth."

"And when Will went missing in searching for the Isla de Muerta, it was Sora, Donald, and Goofy that I trusted to help me find him, not Jack. And I suppose it could be because Sora reminded me of Will—of us—if he had someone like you waiting for him at home,” Elizabeth added on to her husband’s claims, as she winked at Kairi.

"Thank you," Kairi said shyly, before making the rash decision to hug the spouses. And though it clearly shocked them both, they swiftly hugged her back. They were parents, after all.

And to partly thank Will and Elizabeth for that and so much more, when Kairi just happened to see barnacles under their bed, she took them outside and burnt them... so the memory of this Davy Jones would hopefully leave them alone forever.

And it was when Kairi was outside on Elizabeth’s (and now her family’s) beautiful green island, that she found Riku sitting there as he let the wind dance over him.

Pip bound up to Kairi then, as it looked like he'd just been on the gummi ship with Riku, and he excitedly told her, "Kairi! What happened with the Trident seemed to give Riku a vision! He says Sora's in a world of... data? Though apparently, it's not the Tron world or Datascape, whatever that means. Isn't that good news?!"

And trying to hide the fact that she was sad Riku had seen this and not her, too—because hadn't Riku and Master Yen Sid and Riku theorized Sora was trying to get to worlds she'd like?—Kairi sat down beside him and said, "Then I guess we should see if Cid can get our phones to search for worlds with data."

#mine #my work #Shanna writes #my writing #swallow #kairi #sokai #kh #kingdom hearts #swallow chapter 4 #swallow chapter four #chapter four #chapter 4 #long post

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vertanimeni · 5 years ago

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the ice will start to break, the day will fade away (6/18)

Summary:

“Have you heard? The Elephant of Caocin has committed high treason!”

From Trikru’s most reputable war hero to Trikru’s most wanted traitor, Kova found themselves stripped of their titles and trapped between a clan that wants them dead and a camp of invaders - the same ones who kidnapped and tortured their brother.

But Kova was willing to do anything to stay alive and keep their family together.

Pairing: Bellamy/Grounder OC

Word Count: 5,428

TW: Canon typical violence, violent flashback, healing/medicine.

A/N: Hi hi! After some convincing from my friends, I decided to post this series here :D I’ve already finished with season 1 and half of season 2, I’m just in the middle of re-writing and editing. If you’re reading through my blog, the read more does not show up due to Tumblr’s new formatting, so please click on the post itself. I’ll be updating every other day at 12pm EST. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!

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vi. irreconcilable.

“Everyone gather around!" Clarke summoned the camp to the platform where she and Bellamy stood. He prepared to explain the events leading up to the situation of having a grounder as a neighbor until Clarke spoke first. “With the help of two grounders, Lincoln and Kova, we attempted to make peace with one of their leaders.” Her words started low rumbles of whispers throughout the group. Clarke paused. Unsure of what to say next, she needed to come up with a reason for Kova’s stay without alarming them.

As if on cue, Bellamy spoke up. “Due to miscommunication, the meeting didn’t work out as we had hoped. I know this is difficult and, trust me, I understand why you’re all angry. We have a lot to talk about, especially after last night."

“But since Kova helped us, the grounders consider them as a traitor.” Clarke surprised herself with how flawlessly she came up with that excuse. “They were injured in the process and had no other place to go, so we brought them here.” The murmuring in the crowd increased and some people grew agitated. "Think of it this way." Clarke raised her hands up. "They could help us find a better water source and food, maybe even teach us about the land."

"How do we know this grounder won’t try to kill us while we’re asleep?” One shouted out, adding gas to the flaming panic within the group.

“Because they were injured. They can’t do much.”

“But if you all feel unsafe, we can have them hand over all their weapons and stash them away. By having them around, we can get valuable information in order to survive. And if the grounders come, we’ll have the upper hand with them. Are we good?”

The whispers cooled down after Bellamy’s reassurance. After all, he hated the grounders more so than anyone else in camp. If he had agreed to this, then there must have been a good reason. The muttering stopped and most of the camp were nodding their heads in agreement. There were a few who still despised the idea, but none objected.

“Great.” Clarke clapped her hands. “Now let's talk about the ship from last night.”

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Red bathed Mount Caocin. Kova found themselves in the middle of a mountain path, dried trees and leafless bushes lining the edges. They felt fabric rustle at the top of their head. They realized it was an all too familiar hooded cape tied securely across their shoulders. Panicking, they tried pulling at the end of the strings to no avail. They tried pulling the cape over their head but the string tightened underneath their jaw.

They gave up and took note of their surroundings. Other warriors ran up the path, paying no mind to Kova even when they stepped in their way. Yet deep in their gut, they knew these weren’t their warriors. Sloppy foot work, unbecoming of a warrior of Trikru, capes similar to Kova’s covered their entire faces and bodies, denying Kova even a glimpse of who they could be.

But the warriors had the Trikru insignia stitched into their capes. Who else could they belong to?

Thus, Kova followed their fellow warrios up to the edge of the path.

The Azgeda army stood at the foot of the mountain, holding their flag on a pole, a symbol of war, but none of them had any visible weapons. 'Why haven't they followed us up here yet?' Kova found themselves asking.

Strange clicking noises came from behind. They turned around to face their fellow warriors, only to find the wind blowing their capes to reveal the forbidden ancient weapons. Guns.

Shots rang out. Kova flinched and squeezed their eyes shut, bending over to protect themselves. But no pain arrived, and neither did the bone crunching bullets.

The Trikru warriors they had fought along with for years disappeared, and now there was only one person in front of them. The brother they love fell to his knees in front of them, collapsing into a puddle of rainwater and mud, his blood mixing with the elements below him.

Their arm hung in front of them, jaggedly, inhumanly, like a puppet on strings, with the pointer finger pressed against the trigger of the gun in their hand.

///

Eyes snapped open, only to flinch away with the afternoon sun streaking sunlight through the crack of the tent’s entrance. Kova recoiled, back pressing against a mattress, and rubbed their eyes with the back of their hands. Their heart pounded in their chest, body alight with adrenaline, yet they couldn’t recall the nightmare that had woken them up.

Maybe that was for the best.

Instead, they tried to remember how exactly they fell asleep in this unfamiliar, orange tent. From what they could recall, they didn’t necessarily “fall asleep,” rather they passed out from the pain shooting up their leg.

Ah. The recollection of last night brought a dull ache from their injury. The ache also returned a hazy memory of the invaders’ leader visiting in the middle of the night with Octavia to disinfect their wound. Slowly turning to lay on their side, they peered under the thin blanket to find bandages wrapped around their calf.

As well as bare skin. Someone had taken off their leather armor, boots, socks, pants, long sleeve shirt, and jacket, folding them neatly to the side, the mask on top. They had been left with their underclothes — a pair of biker shorts and an off-white tank top. “I’ll have to thank whoever did that later. It’s exhausting to take all of that off, even for me.”

They noticed there were important pieces missing from their collection. "Surprise surprise," Kova grumbled to themselves, sitting up on their elbows. "They took away my weapons. Did they have to take the holsters, though?"

They tossed the blanket off and hooked a foot against the side of the mattress to sit up. Grimacing at the new spark of pain, they swung their healthy leg over the bed, then carefully guided the other one to follow. They took a deep breath, preparing themselves to try to stand until—

"Kova?" The tent shifted as someone poked their head in. "You alright?"

They didn’t need to turn to know who it was. They kept their back towards the entrance. “Mn. You can come in if you’d like, Clarke.”

Last night, Clarke had only been focused on disinfecting their wound while Octavia and Raven undressed them. She hadn’t seen anything other than their leg, not even their face.

Which was why her breath hitched at the sight of their tattoos. She had heard of tattoos before, but the tradition was lost on the Ark. An intricate armband circled around just above their elbow. Above the band, there was a thin line of blank skin before a new tattoo began — the ink became trees of a forest, with mountains and valleys ascending up their biceps, and a sun peaked out between two peaks of a mountain.

It wasn’t just the tattoos that surprised her, either. Circular scars took up the skin of Kova’s shoulder blade, too numerous to count. Kova twisted from their seat in bed, their shirt shifting along with them, revealing even more circular scars, as well as five circular tattoos following down their cheek bone. At the base of their neck, they had another tattoo, the exact same one that Lincoln had on his chest.

Clarke only snapped out of her stare when she accidentally made eye contact. “Sorry. Got lost in my thoughts.” She felt her ears and cheeks heat up. “We brought you here two nights ago — you were knocked out the whole day yesterday.”

“Mn. Makes sense. I feel like I slept for a whole day.” Their voice came out in a low, raspy murmur.

“I need to check up on the cut.” She said, raising a medical kit up.

“Go ahead.”

She went around the bed and knelt in front of them, opening up the med kit. Clarke drew the old bandage off the skin and inspected the wound. She felt eyes following every move she made. “It doesn’t look infected.” She looked up at Kova, whose gaze had solely been focused on her face.

“You look tired.” Kova answered her questioning look. “I’m guessing you’ve told your camp about me?”

The heavy sigh Clarke released made her shoulders slump. She started wrapping a fresh bandage over their calf. “Yeah. Some weren’t happy, but I doubt there’ll be any problems. We had to lie, just so you know. I told them that because you helped us, your people marked you as a traitor and you couldn’t return home.”

A bitter laugh filled the tent. “Not a lie.”

Confused, Clarke looked back up at them.

Unaware of the blue eyes fixed on them, Kova leaned back against their arms, their distant gaze boring into the fabric of the tent. “By now, my clan will have raided my tent, my home, everything. Once they know I’m not there, they’ll ask around if anyone has seen me in the past few days. I’ll be marked as a traitor by the time the sun rises tomorrow.”

Her throat felt tight. She swallowed thickly. “Why did you do it, then?”

“Hmm?”

“If you knew your people would outcast you,” Clarke began packing her med kit. “why did you help us?”

“I hope you’re not expecting my answer to be, ‘because it was the right thing to do.’” One glance towards the sky leader proved Kova’s suspicions right, judging by the way she looked away from them. They shook their head, a breathy laugh tumbling out of their mouth. “No, no, my reasoning is selfish. I already had issues with my clan long before you came down, but once you arrived, our relationship snapped. It was a matter of time, I suppose. I needed to get away from them.”

There were no pros to telling Clarke the full story. After all, she was the invaders’ leader first, Clarke second. If she knew Trikru would be after their head soon, she might try to trade Kova in for a peace treaty or something. At least this way, Clarke might feel guilt over Kova losing their clan and allow them to stay permanently, and Kova can help around camp or whatever. It’s a win-win.

“But,” Kova continued, “I would like to be clear about one thing. I may no longer be loyal to my clan, but that does not mean I will be loyal to you.”

“Then, where does your loyalty lie?”

“My brother. And in conjunction, Octavia.”

“Octavia?”

“Mn. She’s my brother’s interest.”

Silence took over the tent.

“…interest?”

“Long story. Ask Octavia if you want to know. You don’t have to worry, though.”

“About what?”

“About me. Seeing as Octavia is part of your clan, my loyalty is as good as yours, even if it isn’t directly. I will not harm anyone here as long as they do not try to harm me. I can help with whatever you want me to help with.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind. And thank you.”

“For what?”

“You saved my life twice. Thank you.”

“…mn.” ‘I took responsibility.’

With that, Clarke made her way to exit the tent. Just as she placed her hand on the flap of the tent, Wells drew it open. They made eye contact but before he could say anything, she smiled ever so slightly and walked passed him. Ever since the incident with Charlotte, their relationship had gotten a lot better — Clarke apologized for how she treated him and blaming him for her father's death, and he forgave her immediately. But they still hadn't talked much. His eyes followed her until she left his sight, and he couldn’t stop the soft sigh that left his lips.

“You alright?” Came Kova’s voice from the inside of the tent.

Wells snapped out of his thoughts. He peeked into the tent and was greeted by Kova’s hunched back. “I should be asking you that.”

Ah. Truthfully, Kova though it was Clarke who sighed. They hadn’t expected this voice. “Yeah, I’m good. Just thinking.” They responded, elbows on top of their knees, the palm of their hand against their forehead. “What do you want?”

“I have water. You want?”

“…mn. Come in.”

Wells stepped around the bed and held the cup of water out. “I figured you might get thirsty.”

Kova skeptically glanced between him and the metal cup in his hand. They didn’t know if anyone might have tampered with the drink. Bringing the cup up to their mouth, they sniffed around it for a moment before taking a small sip. It tasted simply like water and had no type of fragrance. Once Kova felt like it was in the clear, they chugged the drink down.

“Thank you for saving Clarke.” Wells’ voice was gentle.

As they returned the cup with a thanks, they caught a glimpse of his bandaged right hand. The pointer and middle fingers were missing just below the second knuckle. ‘Hmm. Interesting. What kind of camp is this?’ Instead of asking, Kova sent Wells a kinder look, one people rarely saw. “No problem.”

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Wells left not too long after, giving Kova some privacy to change into their clothes. They could hear the bustling of the camp outside their safe little tent, of people talking and laughing with one another, of branches colliding into a pile together, of thick trunks creaking together to form a wall, of water boiling above a crackling fire.

If Kova closed their eyes and ignored the pain in their leg, ignored the tired ache of their muscles, and pretended like the invaders’ were speaking Trigedasleng—

Mn. It felt like they were back at TonDC’s training camp.

They would even bet that the moment they stepped out of the tent, all eyes would be on them, and the invaders would start talking, just as the Trikruvians did back at camp.

Well. At least they wouldn’t talk about Mount Caocin.

(Jump out of the frying pan, fall into the fire.)

They relished in the feeling for just a moment before taking a deep breath and opening their eyes. There was no point in feeling homesick — Trikru was never their home, it hadn’t been in three years.

(Was it ever?)

They secured their clothes, tied their dreads back and the mask on (better safe than sorry) and stood at the flaps of the tent. Neither Wells nor Clarke mentioned anything about allowing them to leave their tent. Hell, stepping outside would be a whole lot easier if they had been told they were a prisoner. But they were neither prisoner nor guest.

Kova dealt with this before. They handled the side looks of warriors and civilians alike. They had knives shoved in their back by the same warriors they considered friends and kept walking. They handled the glare of the Chief and the interrogation of the General.

They could handle a couple of kids watching them.

Taking a deep breath, they let their hand push through the curtain and ease it open. Rays of sunlight attacked their eyes. They shielded themselves from the light with the other hand and stepped across the threshold.

Only a few delinquents glanced at them, and from that group an even a lesser amount of them outright stared before they went back to work.

…huh. Alright. Kova had been expecting more backlash—

Something crashed into their right thigh. Startled, they looked down only to find a young girl stumbling back, eyes shut, rubbing her forehead. If Kova hadn’t been wearing the mask, the young girl would have seen the worried look they had.

Instead, the young girl looked back up to apologize only to make eye contact with a very tall stranger wearing an absolutely terrifying mask. She gasped, eyes widening in fear as she stepped back and tripped over her tiny feet. She squeezed her eyes tight as her world went sideways, thinking ‘oh no, Fox just washed my clothes yesterday!’ and prepared for the crash—

One warm hand delicately wrapped around her wrist while another pressed against her back, helping the young girl steady herself. The moment the stranger’s hands retreated, she hid her face behind her hands, both in embarrassment and fear. But then she heard a soft laugh, not of mockery, but of fondness, affection, warmth, and she couldn’t help but peek through her fingers, watching as the now crouched stranger tipped the mask over their head, away from her view.

“You alright?” The stranger tilted their head questioningly before reaching up and picking a few leaves caught up in the young girl’s curly locks. “Make sure to watch where you’re going. You bumped your head quite hard.” They smoothed the back of their finger across her forehead.

“I’m okay, it didn’t hurt me that much. Sorry.” She mumbled, looking down at her worn shoes.

“Apology accepted. I’m sorry, too.”

“For what?”

“I scared you.” They reached back and untied the mask, letting it drop into their hand, making sure to keep the face away from her. “If I had known there were children here, I wouldn’t have worn it.”

“I’m not a child!”

“Is that so? How old are you then?”

“I’m seven.”

“Oh, I see, you grown grown. My apologies for calling you a child.” Kova looked down at their mask before offering it to the girl. “It’s pretty scary, right?”

Hesitantly, the young girl nodded, a small smile forming. “I’ve- I’ve never seen a mask like that before.”

“Mn. It’s my brothers. Do you want to see it? It’s less scary when there’s no one behind it.”

“Sure—!”

“Emmie!”

The young girl (’Emmie?’) snatched her hands back, startled, and whipped around.

Now that their little bubble had been popped, Kova realized the entire camp had been watching their every move like a hawk, as if they would hurt the child. Their set their jaw a little tighter than usual.

A pair of legs appeared at the corner of their eye, Emmie unwillingly behind them. Kova raised their gaze. The pair of legs belonged to a man, a familiar one at that. Ah. He had been there at the bridge, as back up—

Their eyes landed on a bandage plastered against his cheek. They were hit with an influx of memories and realized a lot more happened yesterday. Kova stood from their crouched position, face suddenly very serious.

Emmie didn’t like it. But before she could say anything, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist and pull her away. She looked up and found the hand belonged to Fox. Just before Fox pulled her around the corner, Emmie yelled, “Pretty stranger, see you later!”

Kova didn’t have low self esteem, but while they didn’t see themselves as ugly, they wouldn’t have used the term ‘pretty,’ either. They were caught off guard for just a moment, but before Emmie was dragged around the corner, they managed to respond with, “Mn, see you.”

They turned their attention back to the man. Their eyes unconsciously landed on the bandage once more before darting away in guilt. “My apologies for yesterday. I—”

“Whatever.” The man cut them off, leaving them in shock. He continued, “Clarke wants a word with you. Go to the dropship. I heard you already know where it is, right Kova?”

Still in shock at being cut off and his foul tone, his implication went over their head. Their jaw tensed, forehead creasing. “I was trying to apologize.”

“Don’t care. Go to the dropship.”

Kova opened their mouth, but before they could get a word out, the man turned away, heading to the location in question. They had to take a deep breath, silently begging the Gods to provide them with all the patience possible. Just before they could take a single step, Bellamy spoke over his shoulder. “And from now on, keep the mask on and stay away from the kids.”

The mask, they can understand, but something malicious settled in their stomach at the last half of his sentence. Their hands clenched at their sides. “I would rather die than hurt a child.”

Bellamy stopped in his tracks. “Good thing you won’t have to do either, since you’ll be staying away from the children.”

He kept walking.

Instead of arguing, they followed his footsteps, tying the mask back on. They were more angry at the implication of what they would do to the children rather than the order itself. But then again, they would never let Lykrian, Artigas, or any of the other TonDC children near an invader.

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Once the two arrived, Kova couldn’t help but take note of the dropship’s design. After all, the last time they had been here, they were too busy with saving their brother to notice the harsh lighting, the seats along the walls, most taken out of place and leaving behind an imprint. Boxes were now stacked neatly in one of the corners, rather than haphazardly like they had been last time. Kova followed Bellamy to the back and found Clarke sitting at a table with six empty seats and a cup of what seemed to be tea.

While Kova stood by the entrance and bowed their head, waiting to be invited, Bellamy simply sauntered in and plopped himself in the chair across Clarke’s.

“Come in, sit.” Clarke patted the chair next to her.

“Mn.” Hesitantly, they pulled out the chair between her and Bellamy. She nodded, and they sat down, back rigid. “I was told you wanted to see me.”

“I wanted to go over what happened at the meeting before the grounders attacked.”

Before Clarke could say anything further, Kova interrupted. “I believe you have it the wrong way — Trikru did not attack first.”

“Jasper said they were ready to shoot Clarke down.” Bellamy said, crossing his arms, sending him his best glare. “We were protecting ourselves.”

“Did you not have your sights set on the Lieutenant?” Kova questioned without sparing a glance towards him, preferring to stare straight at the wall. “Just as your back up had their finger on the trigger, Trikru, too, notched their arrows in preparation. That does not mean they would have attacked without prompt. I told you on the bridge that guns weren’t allowed,” they directed their words to Clarke, “the causalities on Trikru’s side far outweigh what you have here.”

Standing from his chair, Bellamy scoffed and walked away from the table to pace around the tent. Kova wondered if he did that a lot. By the way Clarke sent him a worried glance every minute or two, it seemed so.

“Speaking of unprovoked,” Clarke continued. “Anya said something along the lines that we had attacked Trikru unprovoked too many times to be considered unintentional. Do you know what she was talking about?”

“…A few come to mind.”

“A few?” Bellamy let out a bitter laugh. “A few? What kind of bullshit — we’ve been here for less than two weeks, what could we have possibly done to them—?”

“Shall we start from the beginning?” Kova’s sharp tone interrupted him with a chill he hadn’t felt by anyone before. With every point, they counted off a finger. “Crossing the forbidden river, almost alerting the Mountain’s fog, risking the lives of many hunters and living animals, and then—”

“When was that?”

“When you first landed. I believe you had sent out a scavenger team. You were there too, now that I recall.”

It took the two invaders to realize what they talked about.

“What, Jasper? When he swung over the river?”

“Mn. Across the river is a no access zone. We’re not sure why, but that area around Mount Weather triggers an acid fog from the forest and passes a good kilometer or two past the river. The day Jasper crossed was when the hunters and gatherers were out.”

Bellamy seemed to have pieced whatever pieces he had together, and his face contorted in anger. "Then were you the one who speared him?!”

Immediately, Kova shook their head. “I heard of the incident, but it was not me.”

Noting Bellamy’s face, Clarke diverted the subject. “What else did we do?”

“After you landed, you destroyed large portions of the forest, burned down the Srathme Springs and the village with it—”

“Anya mentioned that. I already explained that was an accident. We had to send fireworks up to save our people still stuck on the Ark.” There were not many ways of excusing yourself from a mass murder, intentional or not, and this was not one of them. It sounded more of an excuse than a reason. “Our people in space — on the Ark — were running out of oxygen. 300 people volunteered to sacrifice themselves so the others can have more time. We had a radio to contact them so they didn’t have to lower the population, but it, uh…” She sent another look near Bellamy's direction, one he didn't notice. “It didn’t work.”

Truthfully, Kova hadn’t been paying attention to her excuse, but the way her tone faltered and how Bellamy tensed caught their attention. “Oh? And why do you keep looking at him for?”

Bellamy snapped his head towards the two. Clarke looked away guiltily. Kova kept their face as neutral as possible as if they hadn't exposed the invaders' leader. "What, did you mess with the radio or something?”

Clarke stiffened. Bellamy looked away. Neither responded.

“Hmm. Interesting. Well. Either way, your radio would have been useless.”

That caught the invaders' attention. “Why?” Clarke asked.

Kova looked down, picking the dirt from under their nail casually. “I'm not sure what the exact science is behind it, but radios don’t work around these parts, specifically Trikru, Azgeda, and Sangedakru, but I think parts of Podakru, Ouskejonkru, and Boudalankru that are closer to us also have the same issue. Something about the lingering radiation.

“Regardless, people died at the Srathme Springs. The remaining villagers were relocated.” Kova continued. “The Springs had also been heavily damaged, which means no mining or mineral collection. With one move, you managed to kill both Trikru’s people and its economy, especially in its sword making and arts. Congrats.”

Bellamy placed both hands on the back of his head, restraining a groan.

Clarke swallowed thickly. “Anya also said something else. Something about the library?”

Kova stilled completely. They turned their head towards Clarke, blinking a few times with wide eyes. “What?”

“What?”

“What happened to the library?” Their fingers tensed against the wood of the table.

“She didn’t say it completely burned down, but it had been heavily damaged from the fire. Why?”

Kova leaned over the table, dropping their head into their hands. “I didn’t hear about that. Fuck.”

“Watch your fucking language.” Bellamy snapped.

Clarke ignored him, inching closer towards the grounder. “Why, is it important?”

They couldn’t bare to look at dead people walking. They let out a heavy sigh. “How badly did you need the peace treaty?”

Well. If that wasn't ominous, Clarke didn't know what was. “Pretty badly, we didn’t know there were people alive here. If we did, we would have been more careful.”

“Too late for that.” Kova muttered.

“Will you just tell us what’s going on?” Bellamy snapped again, fists clenching.

“The damaging of a major library, like the one at Srathme’s village, is considered as one of, if not the most heinous way of declaring war.” Kova shook their head, scrubbing their face with their hands. “I should have known. No wonder the Lieutenant and the General had been planning for war since. I though they were just preparing for the worst case scenario.”

“War? Over a library? Why is it so important?” Clarke asked.

“When the Foresakening happened, naturally most books perished from both radiation and age. The previous commander, Rha, tried to destroy the little remaining knowledge we had left under the guise of ‘moving on from our past.’ We all knew he wanted to paint his version of history instead of what really happened, and the elders wouldn’t have it. After his downfall, all books were ordered to be preserved and copied, but minor libraries simply carry the copies of the preserved books. Major libraries hold both the copies and the original texts. They are also the epicenters of the copiers.” Kova pulled away from their hands, leaning back in their chair. “Meaning, you messed up real bad.”

“What should we do?” Clarke asked.

“Fuck if I know.” Kova threw their hands in the air in frustration. “You won’t get whatever treaty you want — hell, I’m shocked they didn’t shoot you on site back at the bridge.”

“Clarke!”

The group turned in their seats. One of the invaders had interrupted, calling for the leader from outside the dropship. “Myles keeps vomiting, can you check in on him?”

“Yes, I’ll be out in a minute!” She called back. She stood, but just before she left, she tapped Bellamy’s shoulder. “You two talk. I’ll be back in a second.”

While the two nodded, the moment Clarke left, they fell into silence. Bellamy had sat back down, but refused to even acknowledge their presence.

“Name.”

Bellamy faced them with a confused look. “What?”

“You never told me your name.”

“…Bellamy. Octavia’s brother.”

“…mn.”

“…”

They fell back in silence.

Bellamy grew frustrated. “Well?”

“What?”

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”

“You know my name already. You said it before.”

They weren’t wrong, but wasn’t it polite to introduce yourself? Ooh, Bellamy almost cursed them out on the spot.

Suddenly, Kova started talking again. “Our current commander, Lexa. Her campaign was almost solely based on restoring the libraries. If she knows what happened, she won’t let you get off free.”

“We have guns, I’d like to see her try.” His tone full of arrogance, he couldn’t help but lean back comfortable in his chair.

“Do you think this is a joke?” Their words were almost as sharp as their glare. “Are you willing to kill more people than you already have?”

Bellamy stood up, knocking his chair back. Kova followed his actions, hands tensing by their sides.

“Hey.” His tone deepened in warning. He stepped closer to the grounder, although he couldn’t help but hesitate when they didn’t move back like he expected. “Watch your mouth.”

“You know, I don’t think I will.” That hesitation was all it took for Kova to take up the rest of the space between them, pressing the tip of their finger against his chest to push him back lightly. It was only when he forcibly took a small step back did Kova realize that they were a good few centimeters taller than him. Good. They could practically tower over him with the way they were acting. "At the bridge, you and your friends had the same job as those scouts did. Trikru’s scouts didn’t shoot first. But why are you and yours so adamant on villainizing my people?” They leaned in, anger flashing in their eyes. “They aren’t the ones who killed over — What did Clarke say before? 300 people?”

A hand wrapped around their wrist, and Kova found themselves being back into a table, the edge pressing against the back of their thighs. Their nostrils flared in anger, but before they could growl out a warning they suddenly found themselves far too close to his face, their breaths mingling with his. But that wasn't what shocked them.

No, what shocked them was his pale freckled face, one of malnutrition and stress than the lack of sun, his dark, hooded eyes, prominent bags and lines underneath that screamed exhaustion.

It was Kova's own face looking back at them.

One of grief, of remorse and regret.

Unconsciously, they backed up, nudging the table askew.

“I already know what I’ve done. I have to live with it now, and I don’t need someone like you to remind me.” As much as Bellamy tried to seem threatening, he felt on the edge of falling apart.

Kova rarely stuttered, and while this wasn't a stutter, the hesitation behind their words made them uncomfortable. “You…feel guilt?”

His hand subtly relaxed around their wrist, loose fingers curling around their pulse point. Bellamy opened his mouth, but before he could answer, the sounds of footsteps entered the main area of the dropship. Bellamy stepped back and sniffed, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand, and turned away.

The curtain's cutting off the main area to the small corner shifted. Kova attempted to lean casually against the table, crossing their arms. The area where his hand had been felt hot to the touch.

Clarke appeared. “Everything okay? I was worried you two would bite each others heads off.” She joked before returning to her place next to the table. While she continued to talk about the meeting, Kova was still reeling over what just happened. They absentmindedly rubbed their wrist a few times before snapping out of their stupor and joining the conversation.

When Kova glanced at Bellamy, he turned away.

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#bellamy x oc #bellamy blake #bellamy x reader #bellamy blake imagine #bellamy blake imagines #bellamy blake x oc #bellamy blake x reader #the 100 #the 100 imagines #the night our stars aligned (and our breaths touched)#my writing #writeblr #wip fanfic

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