#But again they’re adults. Law is a grown ass man who can make his own decisions. LOL

[shima-draws]

How can you ship Law and Cora? They're like father and son ??? -🦐

It’s never explicitly stated their relationship is familial and if it were I wouldn’t dream of shipping them. Grabbing what I said from an older post here lol but Cora’s not exactly a father to Law because Law had a father he loved and cherished and there’s no replacing him—so Cora’s something else. Something…more? Just more. Or different. Their relationship is never really defined which is part of the appeal for me! Some people choose to interpret their relationship as familial, I see it as something else. Again Law already has a dad and yet he didn’t spend 13 years of his life trying to avenge his dad or his family in general, it was just Cora. Which speaks of MAJOR devotion that is different from what Law feels towards his family, to me!

Feelings can change and develop over the years so I see Law’s determination to avenge Cora (which is borderline obsessive let’s be honest lmao) eventually leading to him realizing he had some sort of feelings for him. And in an AU where Cora is alive and they reunite after everything that went down, there’s an opportunity for them to get to know each other as adults and see how much they’ve changed over the years. It’s really all just personal opinion at this point haha some people may feel differently than I do and that’s okay! You don’t have to agree with me. If you see their relationship as father/son that’s fine. I see them as equals who are so devoted to each other that there’s potential for a deeper kind of relationship. It’s in the eye of the beholder so to speak lol

But yeah like I mentioned in my tags if you’re uncomfy you can just block/blacklist the tag 👍 I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea which is totally fine and understandable so that’s why I brought it up to begin with :’)

[tsuumu]

hq boys and their part time jobs.

yet another unseries headcanon post made by yours truly! unlike my last one which you can find here, i won’t be involving every single major hq character so that’s just a heads up!! i can’t always envision stuff fully with every single person...

kageyama tobio: this boy thought that applying to work part-time at a sports shop would be fitting ‘cause of his love for volleyball, completely unaware that this would involve way too much social interaction and tolerance???? like he thought he’d just have to look like someone who does sports and occasionally restock yoga mats but these loud ass kids are coming up to him asking for this that and the other for sports he’s never heard of. suddenly he regrets the entire thing. plus, he has no idea how to use the cash register and it’s his worse nightmare to ring up items without wanting to stomp a hole into it to get the customer’s change.

hinata shoyo: shoyo went straight for the pet shelter because he’s in love with playing with the little puppies. this boy will full on roll around with them, stuff them under his shirt so their heads poke out and just.. intergrate and become one of them... the doggies love him so much n always clamber to sit on his lap because hinata treats them with so much love and kindness!! customers looking for pets often joke about taking him home bc he’s just as excitable and friendly as the actual dogs. he’s also really good at convincing people on the fence to get a pet and explaining their individual personalities because he knows them so well :(

nishinoya yuu: he said: supermarket assistant so he could ride around on the carts, intimidates literally every customer with his ungodly enthusiasm but is determined to help EVERYONE, he’ll run around the store taking people where they need to go but only if he actually remembers where they’re situated. otherwise this boy is like “yeah they’re just... that way.” and bolts in the other direction. gets along with all his colleagues and tells them all about his tournaments with karasuno. he’s not the star employee but it wouldn’t be the same w out him.. often asks the manager if he can taste test the market’s pastry section to which he is rejected every single time.

tanaka ryuu: he’s convinced working in his local gym was him in his element, he wears that tag thing like a badge of honour and just walks around showing people he works there instead of actually doing his job??? he’s also overly enthusiastic and will sometimes cheer on the people working out as if he’s some kind of zealous personal trainer and everybody is like “literally how old is this guy??” he’s surprisingly awesome at reception duty because he’s always chatting to regulars about how they’re doing... the practical side like schedules and paperwork he leaves for someone else, everyone just puts up with him bc he’s a mood setter.

sugawara koushi: don’t get me started on this boy as a teacher’s assistant, like he helps little kids out with their work, tidies up the class during their break times and reads them stories?? he’s THAT senior boy who’s the biggest sweetheart and seeing him handle kids so well is like ... does he want some of his own ?? i’d like to offer my expertise he’s always got a smile on his face, gets along with all the staff much older than him, he’s like this perfect boy they all dote on and he gets super flustered saying he just really likes helping out the children and making them smile. often brings them little snacks too and they all call him big brother BYE.

tsukkishima kei: he does some low-key shit that’s kinda wholesome like working with the eldery or tutoring kids but prefers for literally nobody to know about it because anything he does outside of school is his business. he does it because it’s good pay, there’s not much else to it. if anybody found out he’d be super irritated tbh it’s just an invasion of privacy to him but eventually wouldn’t care because every kid is getting part-time jobs these days.

oikawa tooru: bye he’s THAT guy who got his job at a retail store because he’s pretty. like he has no real interest in clothes or anything but he takes the job as a place to validate himself when girls come up to him purposefully to flirt. he’s winking and laughing with them and also NOT actually doing his job but he brings in customers so at least he’s somewhat useful. doesn’t know how to fold clothes or hang stuff on hangers properly for shit and everyone lowkey wants to kick his ass but he’s actually very friendly and outgoing even if he has no clue what he’s doing. keeps asking if bra sizes come in small, medium and large and everyone just tells him to shut up.

iwaizumi hajime: when picking a job he was like “well what am i good at?” and went from there. he ended up as the local pool’s weekend lifeguard because he had the qualifications and time. again, everyone his age just tries to hit on him and he’s annoyed because it distracts him from the actual purpose of his job. he takes it seriously and impresses his colleagues with his swimming talent and knowledge on first aid. iwaizumi lowkey scares the little kids and they’re kind of afraid to ask him for help so he’s been working on looking a little more friendly.

kuroo tetsurou: kuroo as a tennis instructor assistant or just something sporty other than volleyball because he’s a multi-talented king?? like he’s not a professional by any means but he helps out the youth club and gets along with kids a few years younger than him. fills in for refs at tournaments, makes sure equipment is safe to use and is SUPER good at cheering club goers up when they lose or fail or can’t seem to do it correctly. he often refers to his experiences as nekoma’s captain to relate to them and they really admire his resilience and ask him to tell them more stories!!

kenma kozume: had to be dragged out to do a part-time job. was absolutely against the thought of it until hinata mentioned a friend of his who’d moved to the prefecture near kenma got a job at this new game shop. he was like fine and applied. he just kinda sat and people asked him questions about the games but he refused to do any further socialisation or actual grunt work like shelving, he quit pretty soon after, he just wanted the money to buy a game he ended up purchasing on his way out lmaoo

bokuto koutarou: he was dead set on having a volleyball related job, fukurodani have a club for junior players from all over the city to come and practice together. he was like?!? “and nobody told me??” he’s perfect for it as the captain and ends up as a secondary coach. he shows off A LOT and like kuroo, encourages the kids when they’re down. except kuroo is a more sit down, hand on shoulder, casual talk kind of guy. bokuto gets ridiculously sentimental and tells them dramatically about his lowest memories as captain when fukurodani lost and the kids are genuinely as emotional because of he way he tells it??? idk but they love him and he’s a ball of passion that keeps them going.

akaashi keiji: we are talking pretty waiter at a local gormet restaurant that gets tipped SO MUCH for his true professionalism. knows how to handle every situation with ease and is super calm, doesn’t care at all if someone from his school is there. he’s really just chasing that bag and he’s doing it well. bokuto often picks him up after his shifts so they can do stuff together but akaashi requests it be something calming since he’s tired after work... bokuto is like,, “so no to rock-climbing? alright i’ll reschedule..” the other waiters lowkey HATE the fact he gets tipped so well and they try and figure out his secrets. he has none. he’s just good at his job. i could see kiyoko working a similar job or somewhere lowkey like a flourist or bakery. she’s equally as professional and admired.

ushijima wakatoshi: ANY JOB. give this man any job and he’ll be able to carry it out like he’s been doing it since he popped out the womb. often mistaken for a grown adult so he gets jobs pretty easily? very very professional and aims to do everything perfectly. i think he’d also prefer a vb related job just like bokuto but something that could really get him somewhere big, smth to do with olympics like a paid internship for them .. can you even intern for the olympics lmao?? maybe something for the japanese team. it’s a lot of work to balance school & intern life but he’s very comitted and knows it’ll benefit him in the future. (kageyama was fuming when he found out he could have done that instead of his current gig).

tendou satori: has a job he’s very under-qualified for but somehow pulls off. he’s chilling at the hospital or law firm three times a week after classes or somewhere ridiculous but he’s doing just fine!! doesn’t actually do professional work n helps with small things but it impresses the hell out of everybody he tells, has no interest in persuing those careers but it’s fun for him, he gets paid VERY well for a boy his age and his personality creates a nice, talkative atmosphere in these seemingly tense environments.

miya atsumu / osamu: they both work at a café for novelty because they’re these handsome, athletic twins and it’s a thing that brings people in. they do a lot of fan service stuff and osamu is EXCELLENT like he was made for this job but atsumu is awful at keeping his cool. osamu will be chatting up customers, trying to persuade them to order more and atsumu is having a heated tustle with the coffee machine that’s broken down for the third time that day and it really ruins the magic osamu is trying to create. atsumu has probably sworn loudly. has probably almost been fired. he’s bad at playing along and flirting because he literally just wants them to leave so he can sit down lmao. osamu uses the pastries in the café as inspiration for his own at-home baking fiascos because it’s a stress-reliving hobby.

terushima yuji: he’s that boy in shoe shops that tries to sell you sneakers and he knows literally everything about them even when you really didn’t ask... looking to hit on girls that come in because shoe knowledge is obviously very sexy! alternatively you might catch him in a tattoo shop or sumn real appearance based and he definitely remembers all the regulars and greets them like they’re close friends, we’re talking inside jokes. always seems to know what tattoo people are looking to get purely based on their appearance and initial impression...

the list of unemployed:

yachi: too scared to do ANY job that requires interaction, she’s plagued by it.

hoshiumi: fired for picking too many fights with customers.

kyotani: EVEN WORSE THAN HOSHIUMI though he was strangely very efficient at paperwork.

suna: quit on the first day because it wasn’t what he expected and he doesn’t care about money that much.

lev: his family are like.... rich?? n nobody really expected it but he’s like yeah i really do not need one of those lmao.

yamaguchi: broke things, spilt things, smashed things. he really was trying his best..

aone: intimidated customers too much so they let him go (he was just STANDING THERE.. he deserved better).

sakusa: local venues are filthy, ushijima got the internship spot, no other job interests him enough to persue.

[the-tubbo-admisitration]

What happens in the base...

2

Techno was training Tommy, the kid was surprisingly good at it- he at least had the rage down. Techno noticed that Tommy was using sweeping motions a lot and put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t swing like that, you’ll end up permakilling someone like that. If you have to swing, do it towards the neck in a beheading motion- across the chest will almost definitely permakill someone.”

Tommy nodded and sighed. “It’s a habit…”

“It’s a bad habit.”

Tommy stared up in the piglin's eyes, noting the perfect honesty and a caring gaze, he sighed again. “It’s not like I'll ever fight anyone; you and Wilbur always jump in front of me.” He huffed and crossed his arms, dropping his sword. He might be a kid but he still wants to fight, he’s not that bad at it.

“And that’s exactly why.” Techno sighs, stabbing his sword into the dirt and adjusting his crown, frowning down at Tommy. “You’re too emotional, and you’re a child- more at risk.”

“I’m not a child!! I am a grown ass man!!” Tommy yells, clearly angry. “I fought in the war Techno! You didn’t!! Don’t talk to me like I’ve never touched a sword before!”

The piglin sighed, nodding. “I know you did Tommy, but you had more men on your side back then, there’s only three of us so we need to be more careful.”

Wilbur spoke up from where he’d been watching. “Plus we’re fighting with Schlatt not Dream, they’re two very different men; Dream has honour, Schlatt has-”

“Tubbo.” Tommy spoke up, interrupting Wilbur. “Schlatt has Tubbo. We can’t just wait it out like some sort of cold war when that bastard has my best friend wrapped around his finger.” His fists were clenched and he looked furious at the mere thought of Schlatt manipulating and controlling Tubbo.

Techno and Wilbur shared a look, they both knew how close the boys were and how much this must hurt the both of them. But they also knew they had to be careful with Schlatt, the man was unpredictable. It was Wilbur who spoke up, putting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort the teen, offering a caring gaze.

“Tommy I know you’re scared for Tubbo, but we have to move carefully, Schlatt has ears everywhere and no one can move against him without great consequences- he’s got a prison block remember?”

Techno nodded and added. “Ran by the child.”

Tommy glanced between them, angry but knowing that they were right, if he simply moved now- it would hurt Tubbo more in the long run. He knew in his heart or hearts that Tubbo knew what he was doing, Tubbo was a lot more capable then he let on- Tommy had seen this first hand. He knew Tubbo could wait it out, with all the patience of a saint and do what he can for the people of L’manburg because that just who Tubbo was, quiet until given power- then a force who would rival even Schlatt. Tommy knew that Schlatt would be unable to pass any law that opposed Tubbo or his ideals, it would be easy to move against Schlatt in the long run if Tubbo was given just a little more power. He just nodded at the two adults who watched him curiously, they could see he’d gotten an idea by the way his face had broken into a grin. He turned to Wilbur with a face Wilbur hadn’t seen since the war. “We need to talk to Niki.”

“Why?” Wilbur asked, his interest rising by the way Tommy picked up his sword and sheathed it.

“Schlatt is gonna need a first lady right? If she’s got the title again then she can help Tubbo reduce the influence Schlatt has as president. More members of the cabinet means less power falls to the top of the ladder.” He grinned and raised an eyebrow, clearly challenging Wilbur to find fault in this plan.

Wilbur found that fault rather quickly. “But Niki hates Tubbo?” It was a horrible fact but a fact nonetheless, Niki genuinely believed that Tubbo was evil- Wilbur couldn’t see why she would ever believe that the little guy could be evil.

Techno was the one that shot down Wilburs complaint. “Wouldn’t her duty to L’manburg come before any petty squabbles?”

“I wouldn’t call her theories about Tubbo a ‘petty squabble’ Techno.” Came from the trees, a small fox in a revolutionary outfit trotted over, carrying three little cloth bags.

Wilbur squeaked in joy at that. “Fundy! My son!” As he rushed over to hug the tiny critter, Fundy loudly protested to that and eventually got put back down. “Ah sorry Fundy, I’m just so happy to see you!”

Tommy glared down at the fox. “What do you mean her theories aren't just hate for Tubbo?”

Fundy sighed and sat down. “Well first off, he’s been inviting Eret over a lot and she thinks he’s been using Eret’s position and loyalties to his own advantage,” he paused to note everyone’s expressions; Techno looked unbothers, Tommy looked so offended and Wilbur looked like he was considering it. “He’s been confiscating supplies and was the one to order that Niki be locked up when she refused to waste her supplies on a community farm.” He looked once again at their expressions.

Tommy was first to retort, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t be stupid, he’s litrally just doing his job Fundy, that doesn’t make him evil.”

Techno nodded. “Yeah he just sounds like the law enforcement.”

Wilbur sighed. “Well did he take the supplies on Schlatt’s orders?” When Fundy shrugged he sighed. “Well then we really can’t tell.”

Tommy scoffed. “Tubbo’s not fucking evil, what’s wrong with you?”

Wilbur just sighs at that and Turns to Fundy. “So what brings you here?”

Fundy smiles. “Ah!” He pauses the three bags forward. “Niki made you guys some lunches if you want them? This one’s for wilbur, this one is Techno’s and this one is Tommy’s.” He pointed each bag out, smiling. The trio take their bags and murmured thanks as they search through said bags as soon as they grab them. Fundy just chuckles and salutes to Wilbur before running back to L’manburg.

[seadragonjade]

Chapter 3: A Shadow’s tomb

I am so sorry that this Chapter come in so very late guys. I got distracted by other things and kept putting it off. So again so sorry about that. I will be posted chapter 4 but not for a a bit of time but it would be as long as this wait was hopefully. Pictures will be posted along with Chapter 4. Also this has be reposted since I freaked out when I didn’t know how to put read more but thank you to the person that helped me. 

Words: 22739

*Next Day: July 19 Tuesday* 

*Beep* *Beep**Beep**Be-* The alarm got cut off by the young Jaden-Drake Etheren hitting the snooze button. He groaned as he got up. “God! I hate getting up for school!” He groaned out as he got up and went to his closet. “Too bad you gotta.” Draco the bearded dragon said as he crawled out from bedding that was right near the tank. 

Drake sighed as he turned his head to the smirking dragon. “Don’t give me that look or I leave you behind.” “Wait, no!” The dragon was a little bit shocked when the green-haired teen said that. “C’mon already sleepy head. It is best for us to not miss the subway.” Xander said as he pokes his head in his friend's bedroom right when Drake was putting on his uniform. “You do know we can take my car right. Traffic ain’t that bad during this time.” Drake told his friend as he turned to face him. “The early bird catches the worm.” He shrugs as he walks away. “That really doesn’t answer me.”

After Jaden got fully dressed and got his shoes on he grabs his bag with Draco in it and heads out the door with Xander. “You do know I’m not a crazy driver like Tanner and Randy. I was the only one who was allowed to drive when Draco is in his jeep form. Sooner or later we’re going to drive in my car.” The shorter teen states as they head to the subway. Xander just shook his head as they got in the crowded subway and headed for Shujin. As soon as they got to Shujin they headed straight to their respective classes. 

*Time skip: Lunchtime*

Once lunchtime rolled around Jaden headed to the board where it showed everyone's grade in their own year. Jade sighed as he looked at the board. “Huh, not bad. Got to remember that their grading system is different from America's.” Drake muttered to himself. “I see that you got that you passed all your exams. Great job Drake-kun.” He heard a male voice say from behind him. The green-haired boy turned around to see Akira standing right behind him. “Oh, thank you Akira-kun.” He told him with a small smile and a pinkish tint of blush on his face. 

Akira chuckled at how Drake acted. “Oh, yeah. Awesome job on getting into the top tens by the way.” He told the taller male as they walked off to go find Ryuji. “Hehe, Thanks.” He said giving Jaden a smile. Once they were down the stairs they saw Xander, Ryuji, and Mishima waiting for them. Once they got to them they began to have a conversation.  “We were busy. It’s not like I could focus on studying.” All the boys looked at Ryuji. “Hey, it’s not my fault my scores suck, right?” Ryuji said, looking at them. Akira just shooked his head at Ryuji. “Mate...I’m not even going to say it.” Drake stated as he shook his head. “What?” Ryuji asked. 

Drake again shook his head. “Alright, I get it is my fault. Anyways, there’s something more important here, Mishima…” Ryuji said, looking at him. “You want to ask me something about the internet, right?” He asked looking back at the blond boy. “Yup, I’m gonna be straight with you here, do you know who Medjeb is?” “You weren’t kidding about being direct.” Mishima states. “Well, I suppose the news about Medjed and the Phantom Thieves has caused quite the commotion…” He continued. “They started out as hackers of justice but now they only look out for their own self-interests. That’s all I know. They were the group I texted Kurusu about yesterday.” He tells them. 

“Nobody’s sure actually who belongs to Medjed. Well, it looks like things’ll be the Phantom Thieves’ word debut, no?” He finishes off with a smile. “Dude..” Ryuji said as he put his hand on his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll be rooting for the Phantom Thieves. I’ll get the forum mobilized as well.” He smiled. “Now if we’re done talking here, I really must be going. I’ll see you guys later.” Mishima walked away. “So that was fruitless…” Morgana stated as Mishima walked. “Agreed.” Xander said as he shook his head. “I second that.” Drake said cracking his neck a bit. “Wonder if anyone else got any info.” Ryuji said as he took out his phone. The others did the same. 

Ryuji: Mishima was pretty useless, you guys get anything?

Makoto: I tried asking my sister, but it seemed as though she didn’t know very much about them. 

Makoto: She doesn’t specialize in cybercrime, after all.

Drake: I tried asking my brother over the phone but all I got was. “Why the hell you worrying about some dumb system. Worry about you and your friends.”

Ann: I tried looking into them too, but I didn't come up with anything.

Ann: There are really just no leads.

Xander: We are up against an enemy that we don’t know of. It would be difficult to use the Nav.

Yusuke: It seems so.

Yusuke: Hm, our opponent is truly elusive. 

“No luck.” Ryuji sighed out. “Medjed, hm?” Morgana pondered. “It seems we won’t be able to deal with them by ourselves”  “I wonder what they could really be.” Draco sighed out. 

*Time skip: Afternoon*

“I know summer vacation is due to begin next week, but I have an unfortunate announcement.” Ms. Kawakami began looking at the whole class. “We’ll be holding an emergency assembly on Monday the 25th. Please come to school that day.” She finished. Everyone began murmuring about the whole situation. “Great.” Drake signed out, flopping onto his desk with his arms sticking out. “Settle down.” She scolded the class. “We’ve had many strange incidents: the psychotic breakdowns, students being dragged into crime rings…” She explained. “Hence, Principal Kobayakawa has instructed all teachers to caution the student body. This is inconvenient for us too, you know? Having to find things to warn you about so suddenly.” She explained. Once she was done explaining Akira, Ann and Drake took out their phones. 

Ryuji: How’re we gonna find Medjed?

Ann: I’m not sure. No matter how hard I look online, all I find are unreliable rumors.

Yusuke: They have carried out corporate terrorism, yet they still manage to elude arrest somehow.

Yusuke: Kaneshiro was a lot of trouble, but this is turning out to be a much greater ordeal.

Drake: That sounds like a lot of famous people back in America.

Xander: We would just have to wait. It is difficult to attack someone if you can’t see them.

Ryuji: Did we bite off more than we can chew?

Akira: They're too big.

Makoto: Yeah…

Makoto: We don’t even know whether it’s a single individual or a large conglomerate of people.

Makoto: And even if we do manage to get a lead, what do we do from there?

Ryuji: Damn, this stuff’s really not going so good...

Ryuji: That’s prolly why my exams’re going to shit.

Ann: You know those are two separate things, right?

“‘Damn, this stuff’s really not going so good…’ Mwehehe…” A young teenage girl said as she read off the group's texts. “Clues on Medjed, huh?” she smirked.  

The school bell ranged and all the students started to grab their stuff and get ready to leave while some got left behind to chat with friends. “If we can’t identify who it is, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s wait till they make a move.” Morgana stated to Akira. “Although I would love to stay and chit-chat with you I gotta go. I have stuff to do with my older brother and I got to meet him somewhere. If you see Xander tell him I got to meet up with my brother.” Jaden sighed as he began walking away. “Alright. Do you also want me to let Boss know that too?” Akira asked, looking at him Jaden nodded as he headed on. He went past many students on his way out. 

He sighed as he walked off the campus. Was it a good idea not to tell Xander I’m going to see Taka… He thought to himself. He walked past Xander who was looking around the area. It seemed like he was looking for someone. Jaden didn’t pay any attention as he walked past his friend. “Hey, Xander.” Draco said, causing the green-haired boy to stop in his tracks and turn around to see his friend. “Huh, oh didn’t notice you guys there.” He said walking up to them. “Don’t worry, I didn’t notice you either. Draco did though. Anyways, what are you doing?” Drake asked his friend. “Well, I was looking for someone. There was this person that I knew online from awhile ago. We were pretty close; she apparently goes by the name Alibaba. She is an excellent hacker so maybe I could ask her to help us.” The taller out of the two explained still looking around. Jaden looked at him. 

“Well, first I don't believe you face time together so you don’t really know what she looks like. Second, she might not even go to this school. Third, she was probably a grown-ass man that was catfishing you. I mean she could be real and fourth, that’s most likely not her real name.” He explained to him with a long sigh. “That would have been true but aren’t you forgetting something?” Xander stated after looking at his friend. Drake looked at him for a minute then realized. “Shit, yeah. Thanks, oh also want to meet him?” Jaden said to his friend. “Yes but that is not what I meant. I was talking about my eagle sense.” He sighed as him and Drake began walking. “One of the games that we played involved voice chat. Since then I have been using eagle sense since we arrived here trying to see her unique tone. From the sound of her voice, she appears to be a girl mostly younger than us.” He sighed again. “No, I didn’t forget about your eagle sense. I’m just saying be careful. Japan isn’t like America. I mean look at the law for the age of consent. 13. So she could be an adult.” He sighs out. “But age can be revealed through a person’s voice. It is rather difficult to explain but whenever I hear people speaking, a younger person’s voice tends to not have voice cracks of different magnitude, some noticeable others difficult to hear. And with Alibaba, her voice was girlish with voice cracks that I can see.” He explained to his older friend. Drake shook his head and sighed. “Whatever, mate. I can sense you’re not lying about this situation. But still...do be careful.” He told him with a sigh as they headed on.

Once they got home they dropped off their bags and quickly left with Jaden grabbing his car keys and them heading to the car. Jaden-Drake’s car was an impala 67 Chevy black. The car was big but from what the inside looked like it could hold up to six people if needed. They got in, Jaden in the driver seat, Draco in a bag next to him, and Xander in the shotgun. They got in and headed out the parking lot and then to the street. The car ride was full of silence between the three of them. Being sick of the silence Jaden turned on the radio and put it on a station he thought was good enough. “...I am not scared you're going to tell me. I’m not scared of the beast and the belly. Fill this cup with ambition. Paint this town with my very own vision.” Xander started singing. Drake just sighed as he heard his friend start singing. 

Man, it’s been quite some time since I sang in front of the others...Maybe I should start singing in front of our new friends...He sighed again as they pulled up to a white building that looked strange to Xander. “Woooaah, I've never seen a building like this before.” Draco stated as his head was out of the bag looking at the building. “It’s a studio building. Meaning where they have photo shoots and movie scenes.” Drake stated as he walked towards the building. “What a building, talk about a skyscraper?” Xander said looking at the building while following his friend. “Wait, a studio that is one building?” Draco asked. “I’m used to seeing multiple buildings being a part of a studio place.” Xander exclaimed. 

Once they entered the building, both the tan boy and dragon were amazed to find a longed area and a receptionist. “Excuse me, but I don't thi-” She was cut off by Drake showing her his I.D. “Don’t worry he’s with me. Can you tell me what floor Takato Saijo is on.” He asked her while he put away his I.D. “Oh, Right. Sorry, Ethren-san. I didn’t recognize you. I give you the floor Takato-san is on.” she stated as she began typing away on the computer. Xander and Draco both stared at him. “What?” Drake asked his confused friends.  “The receptionist seems to know you.” Xander pointed out to Drake. “I’ve been coming here since I was a baby. A lot of people know me here...I also just realized I could have texted him which floor.” He’d facepalm. “That would have been wise.” Xander responded. “Here’s the floor he’s at, have a good day young Ethern.” The lady stated as she gave him a piece of paper with writing on it. 

“Thank you, follow me mate.” Drake stated as he walked away. The three of them entered the elevator and Jaden pressed the button. “Alright, I’m going to tell you guys something. There are going to be actors in this room and some will assume that you're a fan of them. If you want to talk to them and they are rude to you, you have my permission to be rude back. They know me because of my brother and know I don’t take shit. Trust me when I say they won’t do anything to you. They know how my brother can get.” He explained with a sigh. “Oh, and Draco you can’t talk to us in front of them. I'm fine with you talking when it’s with my brother. Also fair warning he does know about the whole Metaverse thing so if he asks you anything about the Metaverse, you can basically say anything about the situation, but don’t talk about the times I get hurt. He is really protective of me.”  He finished explaining to his friends. 

“Don’t worry I will be careful with what I say.” Xander smiled at his friend. Drake smiled. “Thanks, mate.” Once they got to the floor the doors opened to reveal another lounge area with a vending machine. Jaden walked out and headed right. Xander followed him as he entered the door. Upon entering it, Xander and Draco saw a whole staff of actors, carmamen, and dictators. “Cool.” Draco hissed out. Drake chuckles as he walks in further with Xander following close behind. They walked past people not even batting an eye at the three of them. 

Once they were at a table with one of the actors sitting there with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. He had black hair and was wearing nice, dark clothes. “Hey bro.” Jaden said looking at him. “Hey, Drake. I see you brought a friend with you.” The black-haired actor said looking at Xander. “Yep. Xander, this is my older brother Takato Saijo.” Jaden said. “Hi, Takato. I am Jaden’s best friend. It is a pleasure to finally meet.” Xander said as he bowed a little. Takato smiled a little as he nodded. “Hmm, nice to finally meet you as well Xander.” Drake smiled as he watched the exchange. “That kinda reminds me, how's Junta doing?” The teen asked his older brother who sighed after that. “Clingy as ever but we’re working on that. Thankfully.” He answered his brother truthfully. He smiled at his brother's comment. He shifts his attention to the set in front of him, where the director was giving orders. “Now I must ask you two, since I know you’re good friends with him and of course, are like brothers. How is Damien?” Takato asked as he closed his eyes again. Jaden froze on the spot as Draco and Xander looked at each other. Xander looks down with a sigh. “...He..He’s no longer with us.” He tells him while still looking down. 

Takato opened his eyes and brought his attention to the both of them. “Oh...I’m sorry to hear about that…” He paused for a second, then looked at his younger brother. “I knew how close you were to him. Just remember he’s in a better place now.” He said with an awkward smile. “Yeah….”Drake sighs. “Can we just change the topic, please?” He said softly. “Yeah of course. Um...Oh, how's working in the Metaverse?” The dark-haired male trying to change the subject quickly. “Kind of good, besides that incident. Have been helping people out here and there.” Xander explained. “Well, that’s always good to hear. Hey little bro, do you-” Takato was cut off by the director telling him it was his part to do. He sighed and shook his head. “Well, I’ll see you guys later then, I have my part to do.” He said as he got up and walked away. “Welp, that’s our cue to leave. Come on, mate.” Drake said as he headed for the door with Xander right behind him.

*Time skip: Evening*

Jaden was in the shower while Xander was in the living area when he got a text.

Yusuke: So I looked.

Ann: Did you find anything?

Yusuke: As you know, Medjed is a god that appears in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Ann: Huh?

Yusuke: Its name apparently means “the smiter”.

Yusuke: It seems nobody is actually sure that Medjed is a real name.

Yusuke: On top of that, almost everything else about him is unknown.

Yusuke: Even his form is unattainable.

Xander: An enemy who is unseen.

Xander: It’s going to be rather difficult to get them

Yusuke: Right. An unseen god that flies through the sky and shoots from his eyes...

Yusuke: He truly is an elusive being.

Ryuji: Dude.

Yusuke: Everything about his existence is shrouded in mystery

Ryuji: Wait. 

Yusuke: Fundamentally speaking, ancient Egyptain art always depicted gods drawn in a side profile.

Yusuke: However, Medjed is facing straight ahead in all depictions of him

Yusuke: Taking all of this into account, he seems to be quite the alien being

Akira: Well done.

Ryuji: Hey, there’s nothing to be impressed about.

Drake: Well unlike you there are people who would love to hear what Yusuke has stated.

Drake: Fuckin’ dumbass

Yusuke: I hope that information was at least somewhat useful.

Makoto: Indeed it was.

Yusuke: Should I look into more?

Makoto: That’s enough, thank you.

“Well, I know who I’m going to talk to when it comes to mythology.” Drake said as he walked out with a towel around his neck. “Do you mean Inari?” Xander asked his friend as he watched him sit down on the couch. “Yep.” He smiled.

*Time skip: 7/20: Early morning*

“And here comes another hot day at school.” Jaden sighed as he waited for his friend to get in his car. “Yay and boo!” Draco said with a smile. Jaden chuckled as Xander got into the car and they drove off. As soon as they got to the school, Jaden parked his car in the student parking lot and they headed inside the school building. Once inside there they heard conversations about the Phantom Thieves versus Medjed. All three boys rolled their eyes at the comments. “I wonder who is going to win. The Phantom Thieves or Medjed.” The boys walked away not wanting to listen to more. “I hate that this is what people are talking about nowadays.” Draco hissed out. “They are people bored out of their minds there's nothing we can do about it.” The green-haired teen stated. “We just plan out our next move.” Xander said as they headed to their homerooms. “Right.” 

*Time skip: After school*

The Phantom Thieves have a meeting and Akira shows them the text messages that Alibaba sent to him. “Considerin’ he mentioned stealin’ hearts, he knows, doesn’t he?” Ryuji said. “Seems so...” Makoto. “First of all she is a young female and second of all how do we really know it’s her.” Xander stated, getting a little huffy. “Wait what?” Ann said. “That’s his old friend and he gets defensive when someone talks trash and, or doesn’t know anything about his friends, just continue.” Drake said with a small sigh. “Anyways, how were we found out?” Yusuke said with a hint of anger in his tone. “I wished I knew…” Drake said as he sighed. “Well, he may have traced our chat log…” Makoto stated. “How careless of us.” Yusuke said “It’s not really our fault. Hackers are hackers, we can’t really stop them.” Drake explained. “But how would he have known these details with just that?” Makoto asked. “Do you think that there is another cause?” Yusuke pondered. 

“Yeah. I’m not sure why, but that’s the feeling I get.” Makoto told them in a soft voice. “Hey, is it that easy to look at someone’s chat log?” Ann asked them. “Normally no. But unless they’re hackers or just really good at technology.” Draco said looking at Jaden for confirmation. Drake nodded his head at the young lizard. “I don’t know much about it myself, but...it’s probably not impossible, I think?” Makoto sighed out. “How’s it done?” Ryuji asked her. “Maybe they extracted our phones’ data?” She answered. “It’s a lot more complicated than that, so it’s a lot harder to explain than you think.” Xander told them, shaking his head. “Why’s Akira getting an error when he tries to reply?” Ann asked. “Perhaps the receiving end doesn’t exist.” Makoto stated. 

“That’s possible?” Ryuji asks in surprise. “Don’t ask me everything. I told you that I don’t know much about it.” Makoto told him. “Wait. Might this be, from what Jaden and Draco kept on telling us, is referred to as hacking?” Yusuke asked, looking at the green-haired teen and yellow bearded dragon. “Yes. Again it’s a lot harder to explain then it is to show, and I’m not much of a hacker myself. I just knew people that did this sort of thing.” Drake sighed out as he explained. 

“Then, does that mean this guy’s a hacker!?” Ryuji asked. “Yep. Like I explained, mate.” Drake said. “I don’t get high-tech stuff! What does this all mean?” Morgana shouted. “An unknown hacker contacted us!” Ann told him. “I see. I don’t really get it.” He said. Akira shook his head a little bit after the cat said that. “Then is this person Medjed?” Yusuke asked. “I doubt it, considering he says he wants to “deal” with them.” Makoto said. “That is, only if we take his words for face value.” “True…” Yusuke agreed. “Hey...Wouldn’t it be great if we got this guy on our side?” Ryuji pondered. “That’s...not a half bad of an idea.” Drake said. “But we know nothing about his identity at all. We can’t trust him.” Makoto said, looking at the both of them. 

“I don’t think it’s a bad deal though…” Ryuji said. “I see where both of you are coming from.” Drake sighed. “But I agree with Ryuji. An enemy of my enemy is my friend as the saying goes.” The green-haired boy pointed out. “Even if Alibaba turns out to be a criminal? I am not helping anyone of that sort.” Yusuke stated. “Oh, right. That wouldn’t be good.” Ryuji sighed out. “We have no other choice though. Alibaba is our only way of beating Medjed.” Xander explained to the group. “I have to agree. It goes to say don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Right now we’re judging something based on second-hand information. Aren’t we a group that’s the opposite of that?” Jaden stated to them. Everyone nodded in agreement. “Although, the ‘I’ve prepared the necessary too’ part makes no sense either.” Morgana stated. 

“Could this be a prank?” Ann asked. “He knows an awful lot for it to be a prank.” Makoto responded. “If he knows who we are, won’t we get caught?” Ann asked. “No. If he wanted to report us, I think he would’ve done it already.” The brunette stated. “He must have some sort of objective of his own. He did offer us a deal, after all.” Yusuke said. “I’m certain he’ll contact us again.” He finished. “There’s no telling when he’ll do so, though…” Makoto said. “It’d be best if we stay together if something happens, we can act at once.” She told them. “I have to agree with that. Who knows what would happen if we don’t.” Drake sighed. “Yeah. So, somewhere we can wait and hide for long hours…” Ann stated. “How about Leblanc?” Makoto said watching everyone nod. “Alright, let’s go then.” Akira told the group as they walked off.

 *Time Skip: Evening*

The group walked into Leblanc to see Sojiro leaning on the counter holding a note looking at it. Akira looked puzzled as he walked up to him. Once he walked up to the black-haired adult he put the paper down and looked at him. “...Oh? What’s with the big group?” He asked looking at the group. “Good evening. We were thinking about putting together plans for our summer.” Ann told him. “Hm? Well, I don’t see why not. Just don’t cause too much trouble.” He said to them. “This old man’ll get going and leave you kids be. All right, the store is all yours.” He said as he walked towards the door then leaves. Once he left, they ordered food then sat down at a table. Their food arrives and they set it up at the table then just start talking. The T.V was on which was airing a news channel. 

“We have late-breaking news on Medjed, whose notoriety rose since their statement the other day.” The T.V.’s news reporter said. “Just moments ago, a new message has been released on their website. They have announced their victory over the Phantom Thieves. Medjed also warns any Japanese citizens who praised the Phantom Thieves to stop doing so. We will report any further actions by Medjed as they arrive.” He finished off. “Oh, come on! It’s in English!” Ryuji shouted as he checked his phone. Drake just chuckled as he shook his head. “Let me see. ‘The Phantom Thieves remain silent at our questions. This proves that we are just.’” Ann read out loud. “‘People of Japan, wake up. You must not worship the Phantom Thieves.’” She continued. 

“What!? That’s bullshit!” Ryuji shouted. “Keep listening.” Yusuke told him. “‘We will discipline any who worship them. The punishment is the confiscation of possessions. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.’” She finished. “That’s what it says.” She told them. “What does that all mean!?” Ryuji yelled. “They’re saying that they’ll target sympathizers of the Phantom Thieves.” Makoto stated. “For someone that wants to get rid of evil they sure are punishing that they will hurt people that don’t follow them. Sounds just like a cult.” Drake signed out. “Confiscation of possessions, hm?” Yusuke said. “Perhaps bank accounts or personal information...Either way, it won’t be anything pleasant.” Makoto stated. “Why the hell are we being singled out!?” Ryuji yelled out. “Like hell, I would know.” The green-haired teen huffed.  

“Perhaps all they care about is labeling the Phantom Thieves as crooks.” Makoto stated. “That all this wouldn’t have happened had the Phantom Thieves not existed.” She continued. “That’s complete bullshit.” Ryuji stated. “Talk about a troublesome organization that we’ve been targeted by…” Morgana stated. “Isn’t there anything we can do?” Ann questioned. “I don’t really think so.” Xander sighed out. “It’s certain we can’t do anything about this on our own…” Yusuke said with a saddened expression. “Hey, so what’s this letter about? We don’t need any more trouble.” Ryuji said to Akira. “It’s rare for you to get something like this.” Morgana said. Akira picked up the letter then took out the card. He then observed the envelope. 

Nothing seemed strange about it.  “What could it be?” Xander pondered. Akira put down the red paper. “A calling card?” Morgana asked in confusion. “Anything else in there!? Who’s this from anyway?” Ann said. “No, there wasn’t anything else in the envelope and I don’t really know.” Akira sighed out. “There’s no stamp on it. Someone must’ve directly dropped it into the mailbox…” Makoto said. “Could have been Alibaba?” Yusuke asked. “That reminds me, he did mention something about preparing the ‘necessary tool’...” Morgana stated. “Don’t tell me..Is this what he was talking about!?” The blue-eyed feline asked. “What the hell’s goin’ on here?” Ryuji said. “All we can do at the moment is wait for Alibaba’s orders.” Makoto said. “Let’s brace ourselves and stand by...in case anything comes up.” 

“I’m going to repeat this: an enemy of my enemy is my friend. So I guess we’re allying it up with them.” Drake stated. “Oh dear…” Ann sighed out. 

*Time Skip: At Jaden and Xander’s apartment*

“Man, I don’t really like this Alibaba person...Oh, no offense mate.” Drake started as he looked at Xander with a sheepish look. “None taken.” Xander sighed. “Kay, anyways. I wonder if they're just using us to get some recognition.” The short teen sighed out once he plopped himself on the couch. He thought for a bit while sighing again. “Man, this reminds me when we first formed the Hidden Ones. Heh, man, we didn’t understand who to trust and when to trust them.” Drake sighed. “Man, I miss those days.” He sighed again. 

He closed his eyes as he started to remember the days with the Hidden Ones. To him, it seemed like a lifetime ago. He sighed again. Draco looked at him with a knowing expression. “We can’t change the past. All we can do is look towards the future as you always tell us; The past is in the past and the future is in the future.” He told his human friend who chuckled at him. “Yeah, you’re right, I always do say that.” He agreed. “Just think of the friends we have today.” The dragon smiled. Speaking of other friends I wonder what Akira is doing. Drake blushed as he thought of the Phantom Thief leader. “The sight of love. Rather funny to see in your eyes.” Xander chuckled as he sat right next to his friend. 

“S-shut up, and what do you mean by that?” Drake asks him while his face was turning red. “My eagle sense is getting stronger and every time it is always to see your vivid feelings towards Akira.” Xander smirked as he watched his friend become even redder. “W-what?! Dude?! N-no, I don’t...” Drake stammered trying to think of a way out. “You are digging your own hole of embarrassment.” He continued to smirk at him. “Fuck! I can’t help that he’s just too freakin’ cute. Or the fact that everything about him is just so hot. Or how kind he is...He’s just...great…*sighs* I’m helpless aren’t I?” Drake asks as he flops a bit on the couch. 

“Yes, yes you are.” Xander told him. The shorter teen huffed a bit. “*sighs* What makes it worse is the fact I don’t know if he feels the same way.” He said as he bites his lip a bit. “You will just have to wait for the right moment.” The tan male told him. “Yeah, you're right. Anyways, we better get started on our home, god knows we have to before summer break.” Drake explained as he stretched. “Shall we begin?” Xander asked as he grabbed their bags. Jaden chuckles as he grabs his and gets his homework out while Xander does the same thing. 

*Time Skip: 7/21 Early Morning*

They were in Jaden-Drake’s car on the way to school at a stoplight. “Man, I hope today’s not going to suck.” Draco sighed as the two teens were looking out of the window. “Same here. I just hope nothing bad happens. Let’s face it we already have enough stuff to worry about.” Drake stated with a sigh that showed how tired he really was. “I also wonder if everyone’s alright. Learning we have to listen to Alibaba must be hard on some of them.” He huffs out. “We are basically pawns to her right now.” Xander explains to the two of them. 

“*Sighs* I feel bad for you the most mate. You two must have become good friends.” Drake said as he started the car again since the light turned green. Xander looked at his friend then sighed. “Heh, it will be fun when she realizes that it is me that she messed with.” Xander chuckled. Drake smiled and shook his head. “That’s going to be fun when we see her face to face as she realizes who you are...Did you ever give her your real name, mate?” He asked, looking at Xander. “No, my username was either ScarcenXD or Scarenknight.” He explained. Drake nodded as they made their way to the school.

*Time skip: Morning*

Akira, Ann, and Jaden-Drake were all in their class doing what they would normally do. Ann, listening to the teacher, Akira, somewhat listening to the teacher, and Drake, taking a quick nap. Everything was quiet till Akira's phone buzzed. Upon hearing this Morgana popped his head out of his desk. “Hey, your phone’s buzzing!” He told Akira. Akira checked his phone. “*sigh* It’s just Ryuji.” The cat said. The bearded dragon ignored the whole thing as he made sure Drake was still asleep since he stayed up too late the night before. Akira read the text messages to himself and shook his head a bit. He put his phone away and went back to doing what he was doing. While Draco tried walking Drake up to no avail.

*Time skip: Afternoon*  

They were back in class listening to the homeroom teacher. Thankfully Drake was fully awake and listening to Ms. Kawakami. Akira’s phone buzzed for what seemed like the fifth time that day. Drake shook his head while Morgana sighed. “Ryuji again? He just never shuts up, does he?” He huffed out. “Sounds like someone I know.” Draco mumbled as he curled further into Jaden’s desk. Said teen shook his head as he watched Akira check his phone. This time Akira kinda seemed a bit surprised by what Jaden could see. “So, it was really from this guy…” The feline said. 

Drake quickly understood what was going on and shook his head. I’ll learn about this later from Akira. He sighed to himself as he went back to listening to the teacher. “Tell him. We need the name of the target.” He heard the feline say but choose to ignore this time. He started nodding off to sleep until he heard Morgana speak again. “So he threatened you, then just took off!?” What the hell? He thought to himself. “And Sakura..? I feel like I’ve heard that name before…In any case, we should let everyone know about this.” The blue-eyed feline stated. 

Drake nudged Akira a bit. Akira turned his head a bit and saw the green-haired teen looking at him with a confused and worried expression. “You okay, mate?” He asked the fluffy, black-haired teen. Akira looked at Jaden and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Just, Alibaba texted me again. See.” Akira said as he showed Drake without the teacher noticing. “Huh, geez. We better watch out then and find out whoever this kid is.” The young teen sighed as he leaned back into his seat preparing to fall asleep. “And whoever this person is, that needs a change of heart, I hope they're ready for that.” He yawns as he falls right to sleep. 

Akira watches the other male for while he is falling asleep. He chuckles at his friend’s continues to keep falling asleep in class. He’s adorable when he falls asleep in class. I wish I could help him fall asleep better at night. The black-haired boy said as he smiled at the thought. I wonder how he would look in my arms. He smirked to himself. He continues to watch him for a few more minutes before going back to what the teacher was talking about.

*Time skip: After school*

“We’re gonna get reported if we don’t do this? What the hell…” Ryuji said after being shown the text messages from Akira’s phone. “‘Futaba Sakura’?” Ann questioned. “Wasn’t Sakura…” Makoto started. “It’s Boss’s last name!” Ann finished it for her. “Does he have any family?” Yusuke asked. “Boss has a kid...that really doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.” Drake said with a heavy sigh.  “Does he?” Morgana questions. “I don’t really know.” Akira said as he put his hand on his chin. 

“For reals!? How laid-back are you!?” Ryuji snapped at him. “Hey, it’s not his fault for not asking Boss in the beginning if he had any family. I mean it is kinda rude to ask that.” Jaden stated, glaring at Ryuji. “Wouldn’t you normally be introduced at least? I mean, you ARE living at his place.” Ryuji said. “Well, his situation does make things difficult…” Yusuke said. “True, why would someone trust a kid who has a criminal record, it is only us that know that the charge is fake.” Xander stated as he looked towards each member of the group. 

The teen green-haired right next time to him nodded. “If I was a parent in his situation, I wouldn’t want them near my kid. Ah, no offense Akira-kun.” Drake said, looking at Akira with a blush of embarrassment in his face. “None taken.” He said as he chuckled a bit. “Anyways, the calling card was delivered to Boss’s house; it’d be more natural to assume this is all related.” Makoto stated. “One of the reasons for that is because Alibaba mentioned nothing about “which” Futaba Sakura. Perhaps he thinks that the name alone is enough.” She said to them. 

“That makes sense.” Morgana said. “I believe it’s adequate for us to think that this is the doing of someone close by.” Makoto said, looking at the group. “I see.” Ann said looking at her. 

“I don't know how Alibaba got a hold of Akira-kun’s smartphone information. However, since he’s ordering us through chat, I do feel as though he’s taunting us.” Makoto explained with a sad expression on her face. “You mean, this might just be a prank?” Ryuji asked, looking at her. “I mean, look at his demands.” She pointed out. “Pay me if you don’t want me to leak who you really are-that I’d understand. But he’s telling us to steal someone’s heart without explaining why.” She explained to them. “So we’re being tested?” Yusuke asked. “I don’t really believe that we are.” Drake said. “Regardless, I think we should ask Boss about Futaba Sakura once.” She said. 

“That’s probably for the best. There’s nothing else we can do at the moment, and Chief might have an idea on what this is about too.” Morgana said. “I’ll check the school’s roster just in case.” Makoto said. “He will probably be mad at us if we were to ask about his family member.” Xander explains to them. “We don’t have a choice in the matter, mate.” The green-hair teen explained. “With that aside, we must make sure Boss doesn’t figure out who we are. We’ll have to go about this cautiously.” Yusuke said, looking towards his friends. Everyone nodded. 

“Well, I guess we’ll see you later. Also, good luck Akira-kun. I bet you’re going to need it.” Drake said as he patted Akira. “Also, boop.” he said as he boops Akira on the nose then left with Xander shaking his head following behind him. Everyone just chuckled or shook their heads as they left. Aside from Akira who stood there blushing a bit. Holy shit that’s adorable. I want him so badly. He thinks as he grabs his bag and walks away. 

“Don’t even think about it Jaden.” Xander said as he jokingly glared at his short friend. Drake just chuckled. “What’s the point when I know you're going to dodge it.” He told him. Draco just shook his head at the two human’s banter. “You two are strange people, but I love you two for that.” The bearded dragon smiled. 

“And you are a strange pet, but we love you for that.” Xander said with a smile as well. Draco looked at him and stuck his fork tongue out. Drake shook his head at the two of them. “You two are ridiculous. But will be my good friends no matter what.”  He states as the trio walk into the school parking lot and get into Drake’s Impala and drive away to their shared apartment. 

*Time skip: Evening*

The two teens were doing their homework when they got a text on their phone.

[Phone convo]

Ann: Oh, I just remembered!

Ann: Akira, were you able to ask Boss about Futaba Sakura?

Akira: I tried…

Yusuke: So, no results. Could there be a reason as to why that was?

Makoto: Hm. Alibaba might be our only hope of defeating Medjed.

Makoto: I wish we could get some info about Futaba out of Boss.

Ann: But trying to force it out would probably have the opposite effect.

Yusuke: To be honest, I owe a great deal to both Boss and Akira.

Yusuke: I don’t wish for this to be a source of discord between them. 

Drake: I owe Boss for allowing me to work for him and Akira whenever he needs it. 

Drake: So I got no complaints with finding out the hard way. 

Ryuji: Yeah, I know just what you mean!

Xander: We have no other choice.

Makoto: It’s probably best to wait for Boss to bring the subject himself. 

Jaden-Drake yawned as he laid on the couch a bit. “This is going to be difficult for us isn’t it?” Jaden sighs. “Most likely.” Xander said.

*Time Skip: 7/22: Morning.*

“Summer vacation starts the day after tomorrow, but don’t forget…” Mr. Ushimaru started up. “There's an urgent assembly on Monday. We’ll be taking attendance. There’s been an unusual number of strange incidents this year. Don’t do anything stupid over break. Got it? Don’t someplace shady like the red-light district, and don’t go to the beach after dark.” While he was stating this all, Drake was dead asleep on his desk with his arms crossed and his head to the side laying on them. “I wanna go to the beach...I wanna jump in some cold water…Seems like we won’t be having fun on our summer break for a while…” The blue-eyed feline said. “That’s true. But all I want to do is take a nice long nap under a shady rock under the sun.” The yellow lizard said as he responded to Morgana's statement. 

*Time Skip: After school*

Drake went to hang out with his older brother, Takato, while Xander was at the school's front looking for someone. He didn’t notice a certain red-haired girl with a ponytail behind him. “Audiotori-Senpai!!” She yells as she jumps a bit. Xander jumps a bit out of surprise then turns around to meet her. In his left eye was fading from its blue glow. “Ohh...what a pleasant surprise Kasumi-san.” He states looking at the redhead. 

“Hi, Audiotori-Senpai.” She said with a sweet smile on her face. “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me today?” She looked at him. “Sure my schedule is open for today.” Xander said with a smile. “Awesome, let’s go.” She said as she walked away with Xander following her. They both walked to the subway and had a nice chat about their school work with Xander cracking a few puns like he usually does with Kasumi laughing from them. Xander smiles as he watches her laugh at his puns. He appeared to have been more relaxed at the moment. 

This whole exchange was making him more relaxed from everything that was happening recently. He smiled a genuine smile. They made it to their stop and got off and continued walking towards the beach. The beach was thankfully not as crowded as it usually was. “Come on, let’s go Audiotori-Senpai.” Kasumi said with a smile as she walked towards the sand with a skip of joy. 

Xander chuckled as he followed her. “Alright, wait up.” He said as he walked behind her. They continued until they got to the sand. “Do you just want to sit and talk some more or have our swimsuits on and have fun in the water?” She asked, looking at him. “Well, the choice is up to you.” He told her. “Well then, let’s just sit and talk more.” She walked towards one of the tables then sat down. 

Xander followed her and sat across from her. “So how long have you known  Etheren-Senpai?” The red-haired girl asked, looking at him. He looked at her and smiled. “We actually go a bit, I think it’s been two or three years now. We didn’t know each other at first but when our other friends knew that both of us liked similar games, they decided to introduce us to each other.” He explained to her. 

“Wow, that’s so cool. You guys seemed like really good friends so I just wanted to know a little bit more about your guy's relationship. Also, how long are you guys going to be here in Japan for? Also, why did you guys transfer to Shujin?” Kasumi asked, looking at him with a smile. 

“Well...For the first question: might be for a year or three. And to the second it’s a bit complicated.” Xander said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, it’s all right you don’t have to explain to me right now if you don’t want to. It’s kind of the same situation for me as well.” She said with a little sad expression. “Which...I guess you kind of know a bit of it.” Xander looked at her and sighed. “Hey come on now.” He smiled as he put a hand on her cheek. “Smile my dear, you are never fully dressed without one.” He closed his eyes and smiled some more. 

It took him a few moments to realize what he was doing when he opened his eyes to see a little blush on Kasumi. He chuckles awkwardly as he takes his hand away from her cheek with a barely noticeable blush on his face. “Whoops, my apologies.” They look away from each other for a little bit. “I-it’s alright. I-I don’t really mind.” She said while she was still blushing. 

They sat there in an awkward silence not knowing what to say after that. Why did I do that, I was blinded by her cuteness. Why?! Why?! I am such a fool. He thinks as he starts blushing a little bit more. Why did he do that? Was there something on my face? Oh god, why did he have to look good when he did that. She thought as her blush became darker. Before any of them could speak or make the situation even more awkward Xander gets a text on his phone. 

Drake: Hey, I’m heading back home from Taka’s place. Do you want me to pick you up from wherever you’re at or do you want to take the train?

Xander breathed out of relief as he picked up his phone. “Uh Kasumi, I need to check something real quick.” He states as he looks through his text messages. “Oh, it’s fine.” She breathed out as will. 

[Phone convo]

 Drake:  Hey, I’m heading back home from Taka’s place. Do you want me to pick you up from wherever you’re at or do you want to take the train?

Xander: Go on ahead and pick me up.

Drake: Kay, where are you so I can come get you?

Xander: By the beach.

Drake: Kay I’ll be there in a few.

Xander: Kay.

He puts his phone away and looks at the redhead. “Sorry, but I have to go right now. Jaden-Drake needs help with something.��� Xander said as he gets up and grabs his bag. “Oh, okay. I need to get to my practice anyways. So, I’ll see you later.” She states as she does the same thing. What a relief, probably won’t tell Jaden-Drake what happened. He thought with a sigh. 

“See you later Kasumi.” He said as he began walking to the parking lot to wait for his friend. His face was still red from embarrassment. Calm down already, just concentrate. He activated his eagle sense trying to find the green-haired male’s car. Meanwhile, Jaden-Drake had just parked and threw his head back with a grunt. “Shit, Taka worries too much.” He sighs out. Drake looks around trying to look for Xander. He sighed to himself again. He sometimes hates waiting by himself for his own personal reasons. 

He grabbed his phone to text Xander he was there when there was a tap on his driver window. He looked to his left to see a strange-looking man looking in. Drake already knows where this is going to go. He ignores this man and texts Xander.

Drake: Hey, I’m here.

Drake: Find me fast. There is a strange man at my door and you know how I can get.

He puts his phone down and rolls the window down so he can speak to him. “Yes. Can I help you, sir?” The confused but straight face teen asked the man who was over his window. The guy smirks at the short teen. “Well, hello there little lady.~ Why yes, you can help me.~” The guy said as he leans down so he can get more of a good look at Drake. 

The green-haired teen can smell the smell of beer on him. Great, this is a drunk dude. Just great. He thought to himself as he sighed and looked at the older male. “Okay first. I am a guy. Second what type of help do you need?” He asks as he grabs his metal knife just in case. “Well, you don’t look like a guy. You look like a very pretty girl. A girl that needs something to fill her.” He smirks and it clicks in Jaden’s head what he wanted. 

The young teen cringed as he looked at him. “Mate, I am male. Dick and all. Also, I’m 16. You can’t just go and when someone asks you for help to tell them that they need to have something fill them. Also, you're drunk so I’ll be calling the police.” The short teen said as he began to grab his phone to text Xander to hurry when the man grabbed him. “I don’t think it’s worth the time to bother the police.” He said with a smirk. 

Jaden smirked as he opened his door. The man thinks that the teen has finally agreed to do what he wants. He lets go of him so he can get out of the car but once the teen does he punches the man right in the face then kicks him. The man grabs his face and looks at the teen with surprise. “Don’t try to touch someone that can easily kill you. Well, don’t try to fuck someone at all.” The teen said as he watched the man get up and began to run. 

He smirks to himself as he sees a small dagger fly right past his head and hit the guy in his baggy pants keeping him from running. “Don’t worry it isn’t my Spear of Leonidas. This one is not lethal, it will just make him stop.” Xander said as he smirked when walking up to the car. 

Drake shrugs. “I know. Anyways, let’s get out of here.” The teen huffed as he got back into his car with Xander following to the shotgun. They backed out and drove away. “Well, to get the nasty-ass man out of my head. What were you doing at the beach anyways? I don’t remember you being a beach person. I mean, hell, I have asked you if you wanted to go but always a no, so why did you go now.” The teen asked his friend while he looked for an album to listen to on his phone but kept his eyes on the road. 

Xander did not look at his friend, instead he blushed and looked out the window without the other noticing. “Well...The sounds of the ocean is something I always find soothing.” Xander lied to his friend without really thinking. The green-haired teen sighed when he heard that. “I get it but you don’t have to lie about something but if you're uncomfortable with telling me then you don’t have to tell me.” Drake stated with a huff and left it at that.

*Time skip: Evening*

They made it home and went to their rooms without saying another word to each other. Drake sighed as he dropped his keys on his bedside table then went to his desk to start on his new animation project when his phone buzzed. He opened up and saw it was from the group.

[Phone convo]

Ryuji: Yo, how’d it go?

Ryuji: You find out anything about Futaba Sakura?

Ann: I’ve been wondering about that too!

Akira: Tell you tomorrow.

Ryuji: Woah-ho.

Yusuke: So you did learn something. Fine work.

Ann: I knew we could count on you

Makoto: Akira-kun, thank you

Drake: That’s great mate.

Drake sighed as he sent that text. He really dislikes the idea of going into someone's personal life without their permission since it wasn’t any of his business. He goes back into his project without another thought. He was about to call it quits for the night so he could get some sleep and do something else when he got another text. 

He checked if it was a scam when he saw it was from Akira. The green-haired teen blushed and almost fell out of his seat. What!? Why is Akira texting me!? What time is it?! He thought as he checked the time. His phone showed it was 8:15. He looked relieved but still confused. 

[Phone Convo]

Akira: Hey, Little Dragon, how are you feeling?

Drake: Little dragon?

Akira: Well…

Akira: It’s my...It’s my new nickname for you. 

Akira: Do you not like it?

Drake: No no. I love it, it’s just that this is my first time having a nickname that wasn’t from my family or a shorter version of my name.

Akira: Haha. Okay, okay.

Drake: Anyways, to answer your question, I’m feeling fine thanks for asking.

Akira: It’s alright. I just want to make sure you are feeling your best.

Drake: Aw, that’s sweet, mate.

Akira: Yeah, I know. Anyways, I have a question to ask you.

Akira: Would you...Would you like to have a sleepover at my place? Or would mind if I stay at your shared apartment?

Drake: Um, sure. I wouldn’t mind at all. I don’t really mind where it is as long as Boss knows I guess.

Akira: Great. I’ll have to talk to you in person about the time and place.

Drake: Alright. 

Drake sighed happily to himself with a small blush on his face. Akira had just asked him to sleep over at his or the shared apartment. He sat there rolling on his bed a little bit with joy. He doesn’t remember being this happy before, besides getting to see old family he loved or getting presents as a kid from anything. Drake and Akira texted until 10:30 where Akira convinced him to go to bed. 

Drake smiled and chuckled at his friend’s concern with his sleeping habit. He smiled at the thought of being next to him when sleeping. I would love to be in his arms cuddling up to him and feeling his warm body against mine. He thought to himself as he began to fall asleep.

*Time Skip: 7/23: After School*

Everyone was at the hangout to talk about what Akira knew. “A woman was threatening Boss?” Makoto asked. “Yeah, she was going on about domestic abuse and taking the case to court and stuff…” Morgana explained to everyone. “I don’t know how it is in Japan, but when you want to do that you need a lot of legal evidence, not just the basic information. So, in other words she can’t do that without evidence.” Jaden explained to them. “That is true, you can’t take a case far without solid evidence.” Xander agreed with his friend. “....” Makoto sighed to herself as the three of them made their statements. 

“What’s up?” Ryuji asked Makoto. “It’s nothing.” Makoto said as she looked at the male blond. “So to summarize what you told us, Futaba is Boss’s daughter, and he’s abusing her?” She asked looking at the feline and the fluffy black-haired boy. “I don’t know him very well… Is he really the kind of person who would do that?” He looked at her and sighed. “There’s no way.” Akira said. The brown-haired girl nodded. “I would like to believe so as well, but we don’t have any conclusive evidence, do we?” After she said that Akira’s phone pinged. “Is it Alibaba!?” Morgana asked the messy-haired boy. Everyone gathered to watch the text message. 

[Phone convo]

Alibaba: I’ve given you a calling card and told you the target’s name. You should be ready for this.

Alibaba: Why aren’t you doing it?

Alibaba: I told you I’d help you if you stole her heart. What seems to be the hold up?

Alibaba: I also said I’d report your identity to the police if you didn’t help me.

Alibaba: Are you OK with that? I’m serious here.

Yusuke shook his head with a sour expression. “What a selfish person.” He stated. “Well, he does have information on us…” Makoto said. “Anyways, this Futaba he’s talking about have a Palace? If so, we’ll need keywords to get it. Try messaging him about ‘em.” Ryuji told Akira. 

Akira: Tell me her keywords.

Alibaba: Keywords?

Alibaba: What are you talking about? 

Alibaba: Are you just saying random stuff to dodge the issue?

“What’re we supposed to do about this?” Ann asked with a worried expression. “We'd be able to figure out Alibaba’s identity if we could just meet with him… Try asking him if there's any way we could meet up.” Morgana said to him.

Akira: Let’s meet somewhere.

Alibaba: Meet? With me?

Alibaba: That will be difficult.

Alibaba: I have reasons for not being able to go out.

Alibaba: That’s why I’m contacting you like this.

“He can’t go out?” Morgana asked

Alibaba: Wait I get it.

Alibaba: You steal people’s hearts directly… That might make things difficult.

Alibaba: Extremely difficult.

Alibaba: One moment.

Alibaba: I’m thinking…

Alibaba: Ok. It’s a shame, but I’m calling this deal off. Stop looking into Futaba Sakura.

Alibaba: Forget this ever happened. I won’t report you to the police either, don’t worry.

Alibaba: Sorry for taking your time. Now if you’ll excuse me...

Akira: Wait a second.

Alibaba: I said the deal’s off!

Alibaba: We’re never going to speak again. Don’t expect me to contact you anymore either.

I can’t find an account to send a response to. All I get back is an error message...Akira thought while they still looked at his phone. “Huh…? Did he just shut the whole operation down?” Ann asked shocked after what she just read. “This doesn’t make any sense… Not only can Alibaba not go out, but he won’t let us meet Futaba either?” Morgana said. “Well, it’s none of our business now. We can’t contact him anymore.” Ryuji stated. 

“But...what do we do about Medjed? We won’t be able to get Alibaba to help us with them now.” Ann said. “I don’t know. It seems that we’re on our own for now.” Drake sighed as he shook his head. “Seems like it.” Xander stated with a sigh. “Maybe they were just prankin’ us.” Ryuji shrugged. “They made that huge declaration, but they ain’t done nothing since. I bet we got ‘em freaked out.” The blond stated. 

“You mean they backed out because they’re afraid we’ll change their hearts?” Morgana asked. “Yup. And now it’d just make ‘em look lame if they came out and apologized.” The blond male stated with a smile. Drake shook his head and sighed. “But-” Makoto tried to explain but was cut off by the blond. “I guess with Alibaba and Medjed outta the picture, can we just say this case is closed.” He smiled out. 

“...You do have a point. I guess it is safe for us to relax a little” The Makoto sighed out. The short male shook his head “I don’t think so. I get the feeling that’s not it. I believe there’s more than meets the eye here.” Drake explained to the group. They all looked at him. Ryuji shook his head. 

“Oh yeah, remember Kaneshiro’s Treasure? Prepare to have your minds blown! We got one hundred and fifty thousand yen out of it.” He shouted out. “Holy shite.” Drake said. “That’s awesome! We can really go all out with that kinda money!” Ann said happily. “Yeah! Let’s make up for what happened at the fireworks festival!” The blond smiled. 

“We gotta go eat something fittin’ for the Phantom Thieves’ worldwide debut!” He declared. “Where would be good?” Ann asked hungrily. “Ooh, how ‘bout sushi? I could really go for some eel too!” Ryuji suggested. The green-haired teen’s stomach growled out. Signaling that he was hungry. “Heh, I guess that works with me. I'm kinda starting to get hungry with all this talk about food.” He stated while rubbing his stomach. 

“The best method is to fill yourself on ginger before beginning to eat sushi. That is my master technique.” Yusuke said. Everyone looked at the blue haired teen. “You don’t need to do that this time. Actually, definitely don’t do it, okay?” Makoto told him. Drake shook his head. “Yusuke please don’t do that cause ginger is used for cooking different dishes and you’ll get sick if you eat too much of it. Hell, that's what happened to my family on Christmas.” He explained. “Yeah… probably best not to do that Yusuke.” Xander told the taller male while he looked at him. “I’m all for sushi! You’re okay with that too, right?” The feline smiled. Akira just chuckled and nodded. “Sushi’s fine.” He said. “Then it’s decided.” Morgana meowed out. “All right! We’ll go tomorrow night!” Ryuji said. Everyone nodded in agreement. 

*Time Skip: Evening*

Jaden and Xander were in the living room watching a random movie when they got a text on their phone.

[Phone convo]

Makoto: I wonder if that Medjed business was just a prank.

Makoto: Now that I think about it calmly, it’s strange that they haven’t actually done anything yet.

Makoto: If their goal is to target the Phantom Thieves, they should want to be acting now, given our fame.

Ann: Huh. When you put it that way, it kinda makes me wonder too.

Ann: Especially after they taunted us theatrically like that.

Yusuke: Yes, however, it would be best for us to come up with a countermeasure regardless.

Yusuke: For now though, we should cautiously enjoy the sushi. That is all we can do. 

Akira: Yeah.

Drake: I have to agree but, still…

Ryuji: But that’s no fun…

Makoto: Hm, Yusuke is right.

Makoto: I’m sorry for bringing this up. On the day before our celebration party too…

Ann: Cheer up, Makoto! We’ll be eating sushi like kings tomorrow!

Yusuke: I hope one person in particular is on their best behavior. I’ll refrain from saying who though.

Drake: I second that.

Xander: I third that.

Ryuji:...You better not be talking about me!

Jaden just started laughing after the text message was sent. “Damn, That’s too funny.” He said as he shook his head. “Well...who else would it be?” Xander mutters to himself causing Jaden to laugh even more. “HAHA, damn it dude why do you have to do tha-HAHAH!” The green-haired teen stated as he continued to laugh while trying to calm himself down. “Because I can.” Xander said with a smirk on his face while he watched his friend calm down from laughing. “Damn, it’s very rare to get me laughing like that, fuck.” Drake sighed. His friend shook his head at that statement. “I have done it several times.” Xander said while he looked down at the green-haired teen who was sitting on the floor by now.

*Time skip: 7/24: Daytime*

The next day, two people were standing around talking in what looked like a common area for a police building. One was a female wearing a black business suit and the other was a young male that was wearing his school's summer uniform with a striped tie. 

“You seem quite busy, Sae-san. I take it you’re stuck in the middle of everything?” The young man said. “The Phantom Thieves made a mockery of us when they brought down Kaneshiro… And to make matters worse, Medjed, who has been dormant for some time now, just declared war on them. How much more can they screw us over?” The woman, Sae, stated to the young man. “Stress is bad for the skin, you know.” The young man said to Sae with a smile. 

“Did you come all this way simply to be sarcastic?” The Sae young woman stated. “How about you listen to my deductions for a change of pace? You may think it absurd… But don’t you think the case you’re pursuing and the actions of Phantom Thieves overlap somehow?” The young man asked with a calm voice. “What are you basing this off of?” Sae asked, looking at him. “The one point of commonality across all cases is how those involved have an unforeseen change of heart.” He explained to her. 

“I’ve suspected that myself, but those suspicions are unfounded.” She told him. “I told you at the beginning that this was only a deduction. These ‘just’ Phantom Thieves are riling up the public. However, that is a disguise. Their true goal is terrorist action by way of psychotic breakdowns… Is that too much?” He asked her. “There’s nothing at the moment that falsifies that claim. Have you mentioned this to the police?” Sae asked him. “I’d never tell them such things. The only value I have to me is in their mobility and organizational capabilities.” The young man explained. The young woman turned and fully looked at him. 

“Hm, it seems having you lend me a hand has paid off.” She said to him. “I’m glad to hear that. What about your case, Sae-san? Did you learn anything from the guardian of that mental shutdown victim’s daughter?” He asked her. “Nothing at all.” She sighed out. “I see. Now, what should my next action be for our victory?” He said. “Handle the Phantom Thieves. Without remorse. Use any means necessary to win. That’s how I would deal with them.” Sae told him. 

“*Chuckle* Very well.” The light brunette said with a smile. “This seems to be fun for you. Are you on to something?” Sae asked him. He shook his head. “No, not all. Well then, to our victory.” He told her. The young light brunette male waked away leaving the young woman to herself. 

“*Groans*” Drake makes a noise as he is on the phone. Draco jumped in confusion. “Is Drake okay or...?” He asked Xander, who was sitting on the couch waiting for him. “Isn’t this him on a day to day basis?” Xander asked looking at the bearded dragon. “Well…” “Taka-kun, it’s fine. I’m just going to be with friends eating sushi.” Jaden-Drake told his older brother. 

“Well, I just want to know where you're going for the fact of Medjed. I’m worried since you're a part of the Phantom thieves, I just want to know that you're safe. Look, I know you're 16 and you’ve been here before, just be saAAAAfe- CHUNTA!!!” Takato yells through the phone. The three of them tried holding back laughter as they heard the black-haired male yell. “Make sure you're safe, kid. I don’t want Takato-sama to worry about you too much. You know how he can get it.” Junta said as he held Takato. 

“Hey. Don’t talk to my brother like that when I’m on the phone with him.” Takato yells a bit. “Huh, what are you talking about? What did I do wrong?” His lover asks. Drake chuckles at the two’s banter. “Okay, okay. I love you two bakas.” He chuckles as he hangs up on them. He sighed once he did so. “Man...Every day is getting harder and harder for him to worry less and less about me man.” He said as he shook his head. 

“Is he always like this?” Draco asked the green-haired human. “Most likely.” Xander answered for him. “Well, with that out of the way. Let’s go get sushi!” The short male shouted. The others chuckled and shook their heads. They all walked out of the apartment and to the parking lot to get in Jaden’s car. 

*Time skip: Evening*

The Phantom Thieves were at the sushi bar eating their favorite dishes. “Man, the flounder is outta this world! That texture…” Ryuji drooled as he spoke. “I-I don’t see any prices listed here…” Yusuke said all worriedly. “It’s called market price. Don’t worry ‘bout it; we got the cash!” The blond male told the blue-haired male with his mouth full. Drake chuckled. 

“Man, I have never been to this type of place unless it was a buffet. It’s more cooler than I thought. Any thoughts, mate?” Drake asked his friend next to him. “This restaurant is nice.” Xander said as he ate. “Sooo gooooood…” Ann drooled while she ate. “Hey, is the fatty tuna ready yet?” Morgana said, wanting some fish. 

“Hold your horses. And don’t talk!” Ryuji told him. “Hey, he and I want our food.” Draco hissed at him. “We get it but you're not supposed to talk to you, butt.” Drake told the dragon off. “By the way, Akira-Kun... Is Boss really the kind of person who would abuse someone?” Makoto asked, looking at the black-hair male. 

“That again?” Ryuji puffed out. “I can’t get it off my mind. Especially if it means he could be taken to court…” The young brunette explained. “I understand and get what you're going on about but it’s something we can not help. Boss isn’t someone that seems like he would abuse someone.” Drake explained to her. “It’s very hard to be a bystander in a situation like this.” He sighed out as he continued to eat. “What kind of person is he? Do you truly believe he’d do such a thing?” She asked Akira. 

“No chance.” Akira shook his head. “He doesn’t seem like the type.” Drake nodded in agreement. “I have to agree with Akira with that. Even though I worked with him for almost about a month I don’t sense that he is a bad person.” The green-haired teen explained. “If it’s really true about the abuse, he’d be a no-good jerk pretendin’ to be a guardian.” Ryuji told them. 

“Maybe the chief is the one who needs a change of heart…” Morgana meowed out. “Ooo, I agree with that.” Draco hissed out to the feline. “Wait, it might be too early to jump to conclusions about Boss’s behavior.” Xander said, putting his hand up, stopping the group a bit. “*sighs* We are.” Drake nodded. “Hold on a sec! About that… I actually got curious after our conversation… and checked his name in the Nav.” Ann explained. “Sounds to me like there wasn’t a hit.” Makoto said. “Right. Anything beyond this is his family’s problem. We probably shouldn’t get any more involved.” Ann explained. Drake nodded. “That’s basically what I’ve been saying this whole time.” He said as he put salmon sushi in his mouth. “Wait… You think Alibaba could be Boss’s ex-wife!?” Ryuji stated. 

Everyone looked at him with questioning looks. “He musta cheated on her, and that’s where Futaba came from.” Ryuji explained his reasoning. “Doubtful.” Ann said. The green-haired teen slowly looked at him. “This is one of the reasons why I question a lot of men’s brains sometimes.” Jaden states while shaking his head. “Your imagination has run rampant.” Makoto states with closed eyes. “How foolish.” Yusuke says agreeing with the two of them. 

Akira nodded in agreement while Ryuji looked away. After that, they all went back to eating their food. “Still, this is delicious. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it before.” Yusuke said with a small smile. “Hmm, I’m going to agree with you, mate.” Drake said. “Man, and it’s all thanks to us bein’ the Phantom Thieves-” Ryuji was about to finish when he cut himself once he saw everyone looking up. 

Drake tried to hold back his laughter. “Crap.” Ryuji said. “U-ummm… Ph-Phan… Fantastic! This sushi is delicious!” Makoto said, trying to make a quick save. “Y-yeah! The fish is so fresh!” Ann said, making a quick statement to save her. “Hmph. Everywhere we go, we hear about these Phantom Thieves.” An arrogant sounding woman said, looking at the man right next to her. “What rubbish.” The haughty man that was sitting next to the arrogant woman said. 

“Think about where we are, Ryuji.” The light blond female scolds at the yellowish blond male. “Sorry, it just kinda slipped…” Ryuji told her. “Think before you speak, boi.” The short, green-haired teen explained. Xander looks towards his friend. Drake looked back. “What?...It’s true.” He defended himself. Xander keeps on staring at him. He hints for the fact that Jaden also does the same thing. “Oh, wait hey!” “My apologies for bringing up Boss again. We should just enjoy the food.” Makoto said. Everyone went back to eating their food.

The group finished up their meal and went out of the sushi place. “Xander and I will meet you guys at Leblanc, seeing that I don’t want to leave my car anywhere.” Drake told them. “Unless you want to go with them, mate, then I don’t mind.” He said looking at Xander. “I will tag along with you.” Xander told his shorter friend as he shrugged. Drake nodded with a statement. Akira looked at Jaden and smiled. “Alright, we’ll see you at Leblanc text me when you get there. So we know that you guys are safe.” Akira said to them. I really don’t want anything bad to happen to you. He thought to himself. 

Drake chuckled and walked over to pat his head. “We’ll be fine. It’s not like in America where a lot of people were shitty drivers...Well, I can’t really say that.” He mumbled to himself as he patted his taller friend's head. Akira blushed as he watched Jaden pat his head with a bright smile on his face. Akira chuckled as he watched Jaden mutter to himself. 

He grabbed Drake’s hand so he could stop patting his head. Drake stopped talking to himself when he felt a hand on his hand. He looked up and saw Akira holding his hand and blushed. Akira still held his hand as he put their hands down to their sides. They stayed like that for a few more moments. “Um, dudes?” Ryuji said after a few more seconds of the two of them holding hands. 

Both teens realized what was happening and quickly got their hands away from each other blushing while doing so. “Um, Well...See you at Leblanc...Bye!” Jaden blushed as he ran straight to his car leaving a blushing Akira behind with a very confused group of friends. Xander smirked to himself seeing that he now has teasing material. “See you guys later.” He waved off as he grabbed Drake’s bag with Draco in it and followed the blushing Drake. 

The rest of the group were at the subway station when they heard a young male’s voice. “Niijima-san! What are you doing here?” A familiar-looking pleasant boy approached the group. “Akechi-kun…” Makoto said, turning to face Akechi. “Akechi?” Ryuji stated as he turned to look at Akechi. Ann and Akira followed after him. “You’re the ones from the TV station...Could it be that you’re friends of Niijima-san?” The young man asked them. 

Yusuke turns around to face him and the group. “Do you know this guy?” He asked the rest of the group. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Akechi. Glad to make your acquaintance, Yusuke Kitagawa.” He told the tall, dark blue-haired male. “How do you know my name?” Yusuke asks Akechi. “Well, because I’m a psychic, of course.” The light brunette told him with a smile. “Haha, I’m only joking. In truth, I’m a rookie detective. You’re a former pupil of Madarame, right?” He explained with a small smile. 

“I have actually just recently joined the investigation team looking into the Phantom Thieves. Did you see that Medjed has declared war on them?” He asked the group. “War?” Ryuji asked. “Their website was updated just a moment ago.” He stated to them. “For real?!” The vulgar blond asked. Ryuji took out his phone to check the website. “English again…” He groaned out as he checked the website. Ann took out her phone so she could read the post. 

“Wait what!?” Ann shouted as she looked at the post. “What’s it say!?” The blond male asked her. “Hm? Why do you seem so agitated?” Akechi asked the two of them. “Oh, um…” Ann started to think of something to say. “She’s, uh… a huge fan of the Phantom Thieves. A total nutjob for ‘em.” Ryuji quickly stated saving Ann at the last moment. 

“Hm, I don't know how wise it is to be a fan of groups like them.” The light brunette male said. “What is with these comments?” Makoto asked, looking at him with a stern look. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to butt into your conversation. But I must say, this is an interesting group. Prosecutor Niijma’s sister, an ex-pupil of Madarame, and a few Shujin Academy students… It seems you’re all connected to the Phantom Thieves. Perhaps you have better intel than I do. Ah, yes. I wanted to ask you something.” He said looking at the group. The group looked at him right after he said that. 

“Regarding this whole Medjed commotion… If you were one of the Phantom Thieves, what would you do?” Akechi asked them. “Ignore them.” Akira told him with just a single answer. “That is unexpected… Only a small minority of people believe that is the best decision.” Akechi said. “Sorry to disappoint, but we’re just normal high school kids. If anything, we wanna hear what you gotta say, Mr. Detective.” Ryuji said in a condescending tone. 

“...My profiling of the Phantom Thieves has led me to believe they are a group of juveniles. They have a relative amount of free time after and a hideout to slip away to.” Akechi explained to them. “Furthermore, considering Kamoshida was their first target, it seems they began activity around April. In a way, all I’ve said about the Phantom Thieves coincides with the group you have here.” He finished off looking at the group with a strange face. “What, you gonna report us? This isn’t even the full group, the rest are waiting for us.”   Ryuji said but regrets saying the last bit as soon as he said it. “Shit.” He cursed quietly. “Ryuji.” Ann quietly scolded at him. 

“So you have other friends that are part of this group. Interesting. Also, I didn’t say I was being suspicious of you.” Akechi said. “Good to hear.” Akira told him. “Hahaha, it seems you’re not perturbed in the slightest. You really are an intriguing one. I lack your calm mannerisms… but don’t you think my deduction is an interesting one? I bet we’d make a great team if we worked together.” He chuckled out with a wink. “What!? The hell’re you sayin’!?” Ryuji snapped at him. 

“Well, this has been a valuable point of reference for me. I hope to see you all again. And I wish to meet those other friends of yours.” Akechi stated. He then walked off leaving a very confused group behind. “What was that about?” Ann asked as soon as the group turned around to look at each other. “Do you think he’s ascertained our true identities?” Yusuke asked them. “Nah, couldn’t be. Right?” The blond male said. 

“I’d like to say that it’s simply us overthinking this, but… it may be best to be cautious from now on. We shouldn’t forget that Alibaba was able to discover who we are.” Makoto explained. “True, but it’s not as though he had tangible evidence to prove that discovery. Just keep acting normally.” Yusuke said. “More importantly, things are getting serious with Medjed!” The light blond female stated. 

“Oh yeah! What’d they write!?” Ryuji asked her. “Here I’ll read it… ‘We are disappointed in the people of Japan and their belief in the Phantom Thieves’ false justice. Hence, we shall proceed with our plan to cleanse Japan. This process will commence on August 21st. As a result, the Japanese economy shall suffer devastating damages.” Ann finished reading that part of the post. “For real…?” The blond male said. “Keep going.” Makoto told her. 

“‘However, we are magnanimous. We will give the Phantom Thieves one final opportunity to repent. As proof of this repentance, we demand that they reveal their identities to be public. We will attack if these demands remain unmet. The future of Japan rests with the Phantom Thieves. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil…’ That’s what it says.” Ann finished. “Sounds bad…” Ryuji said. 

“In other words, if we don’t unmask ourselves, Medjed will attack Japan… correct? It seems they are quite the attention seekers...” Yusuke stated. “What are we gonna do about this?” Ann asked. “If only we could get in contact with Alibaba.” Makoto said to her group. “Our only clues... are Boss and Futaba. Anyways, it’s too damn hot out here. Why don’t we head to Leblanc already? We can talk more over there.” Ryuji explained. They all nodded as Akira texted Xander to explain to Drake and Draco what was going on. 

Xander and Jaden-Drake were very close to Leblanc. Joking around in the car when Xander got a text. “Well, this is bad.” He stated as he looked at his phone. “What? What is bad?” The green-haired teen asked as he looked at the road. “Medjed is claiming that if the Phantom Thieves don’t unmask themselves the future will be very grim.” He explained to him. “WHAT!?” Draco and Drake shouted in unison as Drake quickly slammed on the brakes as soon as he heard that, causing Xander’s seat belt to tighten up on him and Draco to almost fly out. 

His face was shown with shock and was as white as a ghost. “Be careful. Dude.” Xander shouted at Jaden. “Yeah. Sorry, but what the hell...This is like America all over again.” He sighed as he hit his head on the steering wheel. “Just don’t act as aggressively.” Xander sighed as he fixed his glasses and seating position. “Yeah...You're right...Geez” He sighed as his friend shook his head. “It’s just, how the hell are we going to handle it this time?” He begins with his eyes on the road again. 

“Last time we barely made it out cause we ended up turning their heart around. This time though we don’t know who they really are...Man...this is going to be tougher than what I was really hoping for.” The old Hidden Ones’ leader signed out from the memory of stress that the team and himself endured. “I don’t know what to tell you. We just have to wait to see what happens.” Xander explained calming his friend down. The other nodded and sighed. 

“Yeah...yeah you're right...sometimes I wonder why you didn’t become the leader of the Hidden Ones.” The green-haired teen sighed as his other friend chuckled. “You know that I like working behind the curtains while you enjoy the spotlight.” He smiled at him while Draco chuckled. “There is also the fact that you have more experience with being a leader than anyone that was a part of our group.” Draco smiled at Jaden. Drake chuckled after hearing that. “Huh, that’s true.” 

Once Drake and Xander drove up to a parking spot and headed towards Leblanc. Drake sighed as they walked in to see the group was already there. “We went through all sortsa options on our way here, but… Looks like we got no choice but to ask for Alibaba’s help.” Ryuji said to the others. “Question is how do we get in touch with him?” Ann asked with a look of defeat. “He cut off all contact with us after that misunderstanding. Then again, if we manage to steal Futaba’s heart, he may attempt to reach out to us once more.” Yusuke explained. 

“But we don’t have any clues on what her keywords are.” Morgana stated. “Dammit, Alibaba! Where the hell are you!?” Ryuji yells out in frustration. “Actually, he may be closer than we think.” Makoto said. “Huh?” Ryuji questioned. “How so?” Xander asked, looking at her. “Hypothetically speaking, even if we stole Futaba’s heart...How would Alibaba know that the deed has been done? Would he truly be able to discern that just from cell phone messages?” Makoto asks. Everyone looked at each other. “You mean he’d have to meet her in person?” Morgana asked. 

“Alibaba was able to deliver the calling card here. On top of that, he can check on Futaba’s condition. However, according to the circumstances he put forth, he’s unable to meet with us. This leads me to believe that if it would be bad for him if we were to see the two of them together. It seems to me that...Alibaba may in fact be Futaba herself.” Makoto explained to the group. “For real!?” Ryuji asked in shock. 

“So she’s asking that we steal her own heart!?” Yusuke asked in surprise. “I’m going to say this...I am not surprised one bit.” Drake signed out with a huff. “Maybe she wants us to save her from the scars of her abuse? That would be hard to ask directly.” Ann said. “I’d like to meet with Boss… He lives nearby, right?” Makoto said. Drake and Xander look at each other. Draco shakes his little head a bit. “I know where his house is.” Akira said. 

“I agree. It’s real late though. What’re we gonna tell Boss when we get there?” Ryuji asked her. “We’ll say this take-out sushi is a gift for him.” Makoto said. “But my fatty tuna…!” Morgana shouted. Draco hissed a bit. “Don’t give him any of my fish.” Drake sighed.  “I don’t think this is a real good idea. I understand that we need to help her but going into Boss’s private life. Now that is just wrong on so many levels.” Drake shook his head as he looked at the group. 

As much as he knew it was true that they needed to know, it just didn't feel right to him. He can’t really describe it, but something was telling him that something bigger was at play. He sighed as he heard Ann speak up. “No complaining.” She looked at the three of them. “Let’s all go together. Boss may get the wrong idea if Akira-kun and I show up alone.” Makoto said to them. Everyone nods. 

I still don’t think this is a good idea at all. But what choice do I have in the matter anyways. Drake thinks to himself. Xander notices his friend's concern. “This is our only way of knowing Futaba, like it or not.” Xander said to his friend as they walked out. Drake sighed and shook his head. 

*Time skip: Boss’s place*

Yusuke rang the doorbell near Sojiro’s door, but nobody came...again. “Nobody is answering, but the lights are on...” Makoto stated. “Maybe he thinks we are marketers.” Drake joked to the whole group. “Think she’s nappin’?” Ryuji said. “Even Boss would’ve woken up with how many times we’ve rung this doorbell.” Ann said annoyed. “I would think Futaba would have answered by now if she were here too.” Morgana sighed. 

“Ah, the gate is unlocked.” Yusuke pointed out. “Dude, you can’t go openin’ other people’s stuff like that.” Ryuji stated to Yusuke. “But look. The door seems to be slightly open as well. I wonder why. That’s rather careless...” The brunette said with confusion. After she said that a thunderous noise was heard from the sky. 

The Phantom Thieves looked up at the sky a little. “Whoa, it sounds like it’s going to rain...We should get inside!” The black feline stated with a serious voice. “...Do you think that’s okay?” Makoto asked. “Prolly?” Ryuji asked. Drake just shrugged. “I used to do this with abandoned houses when I was still trainin-AH.” He was cut off by Xander elbowing him in the gut. 

“Gonna rain for quite a while. Might as well go in.” Xander shrugged, then glared at him, who’s tempting to flip him off. “My apologies, Boss!” Makoto whispers. Six of the Phantom Thieves walked inside quickly while the other two fell behind in a slow walk. “WTF! Why did you elbow me, mate?” Drake whispered so the others wouldn’t hear.  “Would they not be suspicious if you were in abandoned houses?” Xander scolded back at him. 

The green-haired teen shook his head and sighed. “Whatever.” He mumbled while rolling his eyes. “Hello, sir?” Makoto said. They waited for an answer from him only to get nothing in return. “He’s not out, is he?” Makoto asked. “The door ahead is open, and I can hear the TV.” 

“I hope he didn’t pass out or something… I mean, Boss is kinda old, ain’t he?” Ryuji told them. “I’m a bit worried. Should we go in and check on him?” Ann asked. “I have no clue if that is a good or bad idea considering the fact we did enter without anyone’s permission, but might as well ‘cause if we don’t, I know for a fact that I will later regret it if we don’t.” Jaden sighed out. For the fact that I have morals of making sure everyone is alright and well. He thought to himself. “Please excuse us…” Makoto stated nervously. 

They walked further inside the house to look for any sign of life. The group continued until they heard the sound of thunder, the lights turning off following afterwards.  “AAAAAA!!!” Both Ann and a young female screeched. Draco, Jaden-Drake, and Ann jumped a little after hearing that. “Meep.” Drake meeped. “A scream!? What was that!?” Makoto questioned in fear. “H-How should I know?” Morgana scarcely asked. 

A few seconds after the black feline said that and the grouped calmed down, just by a little bit, they heard a thud coming from somewhere near them. “Did you hear that!?” The brunette asked the group in a scared voice. “H-Hai…” Drake said in all but a whisper rubbing both of his two arms. “What could it be?” Xander asked, looking around. “Let’s get out of here, please? Can we just go?” Ann the others terrified. “What’re you freakin’ out for?” Ryuji asked her annoyedly. 

“I-I-I’m not freaking out!” Ann said with a stutter at the beginning. “W-well it’s either this or the rain. I rather choose being freaked out a little bit rather than being soaked.” Draco hissed out at her with a beady eye glare. “Could it be Alibaba? I mean, Futaba?” The blue eye feline stated. Right after Morgana said that Ann ran back down the hallway past Jaden, Xander, and Draco who all shook their heads as they walked down with Yusuke and Ryuji. 

Drake sighed as he started calming down from being freaked out. Maybe I can ask Akira if I can just stand behind him or next to him at least? He thought to himself. “Um, sorry… Can I hold your hand?” He heard the older female ask the taller male. Drake froze in place when he heard that. He turned around to see Makoto holding on to Akira’s upper arm. He sighed as he shook his head. 

Man, I wanted to do that...Great... Drake pouted with a soft sigh. Can’t always get what you want, I guess. He thinks as he walks next to Xander. Next, they heard a door creak opened. “Eek!” The brunette screams screeched. Jaden, Xander, and Draco shivered a bit. 

“I can sense someone’s presence…” Yusuke said. “I have to agree.” Draco said. “Who is it?” Makoto asked with a hushed worried voice. At first, she looked at her leader then to another side of the room. “Who’s there!?” This time she was even more freaked out. “I can’t take this anymore! I’m leaving!” She yelled out of fear. 

After she stated that there was a noise coming from somewhere that they didn’t know. Makoto slipped down after hearing that. Drake was looking everywhere for the noise while pulling out his kunai slowly. Xander looks around as well and pulls out one of his daggers. Makoto tried getting up but she couldn’t get up. “N-No… My legs won’t move..” she stated out of fear. 

All of a sudden Makoto, Akira, and Morgana felt a presence behind them. They slowly turned their heads to see a dark figure with big white refelted eyes. The next thing everyone knew, lightning flashed revealing a girl with black-framed glasses and orange-colored hair. Even if that was the case, it still terrifies the living daylights out of Makoto. “Aaaaaah!” Both the brunette and the girl screamed causing the girl to run back into the room. Right when Makoto screamed she fell onto the floor and held onto Akira’s leg. 

“Alibaba! Futaba!” Ann yelled to the girl while Makoto quivered. Drake put his kunai away so he can cover his ears from all the girls yelling. Thankfully I’m not freaked out anymore...but I am now going to go deaf because of the screams. He sighed to himself. “Hey! C’mon, where are you!?” She shouts at where the girl once stood. Xander shakes his head as his shorter friend takes his hands off his ears and checks if Draco was alright. 

The poor bearded dragon was curled way back into the bag thanks to all the yelling by both girls. “You’re a hacker, right? Just show yourself!” Ann yelled again. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry! PleasesavemeSis…” Makoto stated in a whimper. Drake saw the situation at hand. Fuck, I got to do something to calm the girls down so that way Draco isn’t scared. Poor little guy. Before the green-hair teen can say anything to try to defuse the situation there was a voice that came from behind them. “Are you okay, Futaba!?” The voice of Sojiro yells through the front door. 

“Crap, he’s home!” Ryuji said. Both him and Yusuke ran down that hall with Ann following right behind them. Drake, Xander, Akira, and Makoto stayed where they were with Drake facepalming as soon as Sojiro opened the door and ran partly in. He looked down the hallway, seeing a group of shadowy figures. Unaware of who they were, Sojiro becomes defensive. “Who the hell are you!? Don’t move!” He yelled at them.

“You hear me!?” Sojiro yelled again. Drake and Xander were just shaking their head at the situation, as Boss turned the flashlight that was in his hand. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msosorrySis...Somebodypleasesaveme…” Makoto kept on repeating. She hadn’t yet noticed Sojiro, who had entered the room. 

Sojiro realized who they were and calmed down. “You? What’re you doing in my house?” He asked them. “Ah…” Makoto finally calmed down and realized the situation that they were in. Drake just sighed as he mentioned Xander that they stay put. “You’re…” The older man was trying to find something to say but was interrupted by Makoto. 

“Oh… G-Good… evening, sir… We… didn’t mean… to intrude.” The brunette stated. “Niijima-san!” The black-haired adult said as he looked at her. “Wait, are you two dating?” He asks the both of them. Drake looks in between the to and tries to hold back a bit of laughter. Xander watches and does the same. The young brunette shook her head. “W-We’re j-just friends!” She exclaims. Akira nodded and agreed with her as he slid glances to Drake who was still trying not to laugh. 

“Friends nowadays get that close to each other?” He asks them. Drake just loses it and starts laughing a bit at the whole situation finding a funny story to tell his mom later. “That’s not it! This, um...Things happened… and..” She tried explaining the situation as she was getting up from the floor. As she did so Drake started laughing at the situation. Drake calmed down once the others walked in. “You kids are here too!?” He asks the rest of the group.

Ann was the first to speak before Drake had a chance to after he was calm enough to speak. “Um, we brought you some sushi, but nobody answered when we rang the bell… The door was unlocked too.” The blond female explained quickly, continuing as she continued explaining. “We could hear the TV though, so we got worried you might have passed out or something…”

After she finished Sojiro looked at them confused. “The door was unlocked?” He asked them. “Yes.” Ann told him. “...I do that sometimes. Guess I’m getting old.” He sighed. “Aw. Don’t worry about it. My family is like that sometimes as well.” Drake explained with a smile. Xander nodded in agreement with that statement. “Well, that makes me feel less old then.” He chuckles at that. “Um, excuse me. There’s something we’d like to ask.” Makoto said to the gray-eyed adult.

Sojiro turns his attention to the young brunette again. “Hm? You wanna ask me?” He asked her. Makoto looks back to where the girl once stood. “There’s someone else living here… isn’t there?” She asked. “Yeah…” The older man with glasses paused for a moment. “My daughter” He finally said. “Could she be Futaba Sakura?” Makoto asked.

“You told Niijma-san too!?” Sojiro asked Akira a bit loudly in front of the others. Akira was looking down the whole time while Jaden had moved next to him and put Draco near Morgana to calm him down. “U-Um… is there any way we could meet with Futaba-san?” The brunette asked the adult. “I think we may have frightened her earlier, so we’d like to apologize if at all possible…” She explained. “Well… that’s…” He crossed his arms and closed his eyes trying to think of a way to explain.

Everyone was looking at Sojiro. “Is she sick?” Makoto asked him. “No, it’s not like that.” Sojiro stated, answering her question. Everyone stood around for a short moment as he shook his head and sighed. “I don’t want you all getting the wrong idea…” He explained to them. The older male sighed again. “I shouldn’t have kept this a secret from you.” He told the group of teens in front of them. “Let’s talk at my shop. She’ll hear us if we stay here.” They all nodded and followed him to Leblanc.

*At Leblanc*

Everyone stood or sat around Sojiro who had pulled up a cheer that was at his bar. “Now, where do I start? Futaba’s mother and I knew each other long before Futaba was born. Her mother was a bit of a weird one, but we got along well for some reason…” He explained to them as he continued. “She was sharp-witted, somewhat stern, a little socially inept, but always carefree… She truly was a great woman.” He smiled to himself as he explained.

“I see…” Makoto said. “When something piqued her interest, that’d be all she focused on. She always worked deep into the night. I thought that’d change after her kid was born, but after having Futaba didn’t do much.” He explained. Drake chuckled a bit after he heard that. “If I’m going to be honest here that sounds like how my mom gets when she finds something she's very interested in.” The green-haired teen explained with a soft smile on his face. Sojiro chuckles a bit after hearing that. “It sounds like Her and your mother would have gotten along just fine.”

Drake nodded after hearing that. “I’m sure they would have, sir.” He smiled as Sojiro continued. “Even with that, she always took good care of her.” He finished that off. “Working and watching over a child at the same time sounds rough…” Ann said, sounding sorry for Futaba’s mom.  “I guess raising Futaba alone turned out to be tough on her in more ways than one…” Boss explained. “What about her father? Didn’t he at least try to help her in all of this?” Akira asked him with a few side glances in Drake's direction as he asked that. “There wasn’t a father.” Sojiro bluntly told them.

“Do you mean…” Yusuke asked while Jaden looked at him with a ‘Really, that’s the question to ask him right now’ look. “Well, there probably was one. I didn’t know him though. She never said a word about him, either. She was single when she gave birth to Futaba, and single when she raised her. They were an ordinary, loving family. You could really tell how much she cared for Futaba.” He sighs after stating that.

His face expression became more upset after he sighed. “But one day, she left… leaving Futaba behind.” Sojiro said to the group. “Did she die…?” Akira asked him with a sadden expression. The older adult male took a deep breath before speaking again. “Yes. She committed suicide.” He said softly but still loud enough for everyone to hear. “Suicide...!?” Ann said in shock. “Holy crud.” Drake said with a widened upset expression.

“Threw herself into the street, right in front of Futaba’s eyes…” Boss explained the upsetting news to the teens. Drake froze in thought for a second right after he heard the fact. “Shocking doesn’t begin to describe that…” Makoto stated with her jaw dropped. “That’s gotta be devastating for a kid.” Ryuji stated. “Yeah, the death of any family member is devastating, especially to a kid.” Xander sighed. “So…” Sojiro began, thinking of something else to say.

“Well, a lot happened after that, but I ended up taking custody of Futaba… First, she was so depressed she...she wouldn’t even talk to me.” Sojiro explained. “Was that because she couldn’t get over her mother’s suicide?” Ann asked him. “I kept talking to her though, and she started opening up to me little by little. That’s when I found out… Futaba blames herself for her mother’s death.” He explained to them. “What!? But why!?” Ann asked in shock. 

“That part she’s never told me. I wanted to know what led her to believing that, but I decided not to rub salt in the wound.” He explained. “Then, a few months ago… She started getting real scared, even when nothing was happening. She’d say things like, ‘I hear voices…’ and ‘Mom is looking at me…’” He told them.  “Visual and auditory hallucinations… Have you taken Futaba to a doctor?” Yusuke asked Sojiro. “I wanted to, but she refused. Even when I had a doctor come, she locked herself away in her room. Since then, she’s become what you’d call a shut-in.” He explained to them.

“She won’t take a single step outside the house or even try to see other people.” He stated. “What about you?” Yusuke asked standing up more and turning to him. “She doesn’t even let me come into her room.” Sojiro tells them. “That’s pretty harsh…” Ryuji said. “Futaba is, well, a unique girl. She’s so quick-minded that conversations with her tend to jump from one topic to the next… It seems like she’s always coming to conclusions in her head. There’s a lot I don’t get about her...” He said. 

Makoto nodded to Boss’ statement about his daughter. “So yeah… her situation is why I couldn’t let you in my house.” He explains to Akira while he turns towards him. “Don’t worry about it. You had your reasons, so I understand.” Akira explained to him. “Thanks.” Sojiro smiled at the black-haired teen. “What Futaba needs is a safe where nobody will threaten her. Somewhere she can be at ease. That’s why I won’t do anything she doesn’t want. I don’t make her do anything she’s unwilling to either.” He states as he gets up to stand from his seat.

“Then again, I know that’s no way for her to live. It’s all I can do though…” He said with an upset look. “What does Futaba want?” Akira asks him. “I’m going to agree with Akira on this. Do you truly know what Futaba wants from her point of view and a parent’s point of view?” Drake asks, looking at the older male. “I don’t know. She just asks me for things that she wants, like food or these complicated books… Well, that’s that. So can you just… leave her be?” Sojiro asks the teens around him. They all nodded in agreement. Well not all of them. Drake sighed as he heard Sojiro’s explanation. 

Like we’re going to... We need to help her… No teen should be shut in to believe that they were the cause of her mother’s death. Drake thought as he looked to the side of him. “I’m gonna head back then. You all had better head home soon too.” He tells them looking at each of them. He then walks past Akira, Makoto, Jaden-Drake, and Xander. Once he left, Akira took the seat that Sojiro was just sitting on and sits down. Drake walks up and stands behind him leaning in just a bit.

“I feel awful for prying into his personal affairs…” Makoto stated. “No way in hell he’s abusin’ her.” Ryuji stated. “The reason why Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother.” Ann claimed. “So, she’d like to discard her feelings of pain, but can’t do anything about it herself.” Yusuke said, adding to the conversation. “Will changing her heart really help her, though?” Ann asked looking off somewhere. “If we can help her, we may be able to stand up to Medjed.” Yusuke stated, standing up. 

Drake sighed as he thought about it. Not everything is easy to fix. “Maybe changing her heart will help her out, but having her help us out right after helping her is kinda of a dick move if you think about it.” The green-haired teen explained. “It makes us seem selfish.” He sighed out. “But we are in a tough situation, we do need her help.” Xander said. “Still…” Drake sighed out while looking at everybody. “It’s possible, but I believe we should have a better plan.” Akira sighed. “Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace? Let’s check.” Ryuji said.

Akira took out his phone to the Nav to see if Futaba did have a Palace. “‘The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura’s house.’ Is that gonna be enough?” The blond male. “Candidate Found” The nav said after Akira put the name in. “What the…?” Yusuke asked in shock. “She’s got one...” Ryuji stated with widened eyes. “So someone can have a Palace even if they’re not evil?” Ann asked with shocked confusion. “Hmm, yeah. We knew someone that had a Palace but they were the nicest person you’d ever meet.” Drake started as he motioned between him and Xander. 

“Oh... that one.” Xander said, remembering the Palace. “Hey Morgana-” Ann was about to talk to the black feline but as the group looked around themselves, they didn’t see him. “Where’s Morgana?” The light blue-eye female asked as Mona was nowhere to be found. “I haven’t seen him for some time.” Yusuke stated. “So, ever since we went inside Boss’s house?” Makoto asks. “...Somewhere ‘round there. He’ll be fine though. He’s a cat after all. The trains’re gonna be shuttin’ down for the night soon, so we should prolly be headin’ home.” Ryuji said.

Everyone nodded in agreement to Ryuji’s statement. “We have to go to school in the morning, after all.” Makoto told them. “Ohhh, right. The urgent assembly.” Ann groaned. “Tomorrow is going to suck then.” Draco said with a sigh. “Now I wish Morgana was here. Hmph” Drake rolled his eyes at the dragon. “An assembly? What about?” Yusuke asked. “Shujin has been garnering a lot of attention ever since Medjed called out the Phantom Thieves.” Ann sighed out while explaining. 

“So, they need to remind us not to say arbitrary stuff online and add more fuel to the fire.” She finished. “We’ve gotta meet up for every goddamn little thing. Talk about a pain in the ass.” Ryuji stated, annoyed. “I mean, it is our fault.” Ann said sadly. “It really isn’t. They’re just trying to find the littlest excuse to explain to us what we should do and shouldn’t do. I understand that the rules are different from an American public school but they’re still looking for an excuse to explain what we already know.” Jaden explained with a heavy sigh.

Xander just shrugged and shook his head. “Might as well go with the flow… I guess.” He sighed out. “Anyway, let’s contact each other afterward.” Makoto said.

\\\\

////

‘No way in hell he’s abusin’ her.’ The recording of Ryuji’s voice stated. During their discussion the orange-haired girl listens in while typing on her computer. ‘The reason why Futaba wants her heart stolen must be related to what happened to her mother.’ ‘So she’s like to discard her feelings of pain, but can’t do anything about it herself.’ ‘Will changing her heart really help her, though?’ ‘If we can help her we may be able to stand up to Medjed.’ ‘Maybe changing her heart will help her out, but having her help us out right after helping her is kinda of a dick move if you think about it.’ 

‘It makes us seem selfish.’ ‘But we are in a tough situation, we do need her help.’ ‘Still…’ ‘It’s possible, but I believe we should have a better plan.’ ‘Hold on a sec. Do we even know if she has a Palace? Let’s check. “The Futaba Sakura that lives at Sojiro Sakura’s house.” Is that gonna be enough?’ ‘What the…?’ ‘She’s got one..’ ‘So someone can have a Palace even if they’re not evil?’ ‘Hmm, yeah. We knew someone that had a Palace but they were the nicest person you’ll ever meet.’ 

‘Oh... that one.’ ‘Hey, Morgana-’ Right after the recording of Ann saying the feline's name, he jumped out from behind the computer, causing Futaba to yell and Morgana run out the door. 

////

\\\\

Jaden-Drake, Xander, and Draco were all in the front seat of Drake’s Impala. It was silent at first while they were getting home from Leblanc. “Alright... So you guys never told me why you guys can’t tell the others why you're so skilled and know a lot more than you're leading on…” Draco paused biting his lower lizard lip looking for the right way to put it. “You're also keeping the others hidden from them including Him… You need to open up to them...they're really nice to us.” Drake took a deep breath and sighed.

He looked over at Xander. “He’s right, mate... We told each other we wouldn’t keep secrets from them but we are...so why are we?” Drake asked, fully looking at him after he stopped at a red light. Xander looked out the window for a bit before he spoke. “It’s rather difficult for us to be open right away, we have only known them for a few months. I am just trying to be safe.” Xander explained to the both of them. “It’s not right man...they give us so much trust so far and what have we given them...little to none. Hell, we can’t even tell the people we like that we like them because of it... We have to tell them!” Drake yelled as he looked back at the road and drove since the light was green. 

Drake's eyes were starting to water due to the fact that he wants to be with Akira so badly. Xander looked at him full view now. His eyes flash from his light brown eyes to a brownish gold eye color to back to his original color. “It just… people are too unpredictable, you could have your arms open to someone and a few days later they could stab you in the back and take everything from you. I had that happen to me and I… I…just don’t want that to happen to any of us.” Xander shot back at his friend.

He was met with a dirty glare as they made it to their parking lot. “And you think you're the only one. I had that happen to me twice. TWICE!! And you already were a part of the second one...So do you think I don’t know or don't understand. Hell, I had my cousin because of this whole same situation. I don’t want that to happen again.” The green-haired male told him, reminding him why there wasn’t a third person. He was getting really upset. He stopped the engine of the car and grabbed his bag with the partly scared bearded dragon in it.

Draco went deeper into the school bag to avoid the two humans arguing. Xander huffed as he got out as well and shot a glare at his short friend. “I… know… such a thing… experiencing… hell.” Xander said, starting to act differently than from, his usual self. Drake looked and rolled his eyes. WTF is going on!? Drake thought, not realizing what was going on. “Well, it’s not like you’ve experienced it twice in your life or even have your own clan brother, who was supposed to be the leader, backstab your trust when he knew that he could trust your family here. But no, he wants you to continue your training in New York than to follow your late Sensei’s last wishes.” The multicolor-eye teen snapped back at them as they walked into their apartment building.

Once they were inside, they went into the elevator as they continued to argue. “I… know. We…all experienced things that we didn’t want to…” Xander stated, struggling to keep himself from switching. Both of his friends noticed this as they got to their floor and headed straight towards their shared apartment. “I get it dude, but you're making it about yourself and that is not a good thing to do seeing that we both transferred here for a better start and a better life.” Drake states as he unlocks the door.

“We need to let go and find a different path in life.” He put Draco down on the kitchen counter and turned towards his friend. “I mean, it’s not like we’ve killed anyone we really care about in the past. It’s just that we-” With a blink of an eye Xander had a dagger at Jaden’s neck. “Didn’t kill anyone we cared about you say? Anyone we cared about you say?! I ENDED UP KILLING MY OWN SON!!! I WATCH as his eyes started to go pale. Do you know how it feels? As you are trying to kill someone in order to protect your son. As that man pushes you into sinking a dagger into your son’s heart!? DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS!?!?” 

Drake's eyes widened as he fully realized that his friend wasn’t there in that moment in time. He wasn’t fully scared, seeing that this has happened before with others including this man, but never like this. He raises his hands up to where his head was. “Bayek please calm down. I didn’t know that you killed your son but please that was in the past and I am sorry for bringing it up like this.” The short teen stated calmly trying to reason with his friend's other personality. 

“You don't know how it is to have your own family’s blood spilt by your own hands. I had to KILL every… single… one of those bastards that breathed that day in Siwa.” The voice of Bayek said looking at the teen straight into his eyes. The teen sighed a bit and looked around to find a way to escape until his eye landed on the bearded dragon on the counter. His eyes widen in fear of what they just did. 

“Listen, I know how it feels to lose a family member but you need to let go of me because we are scaring someone very close to us.” Drake stated as he motioned to the terrified creature on the counter. “What are yo- oh… it is happening again. Why do I feel…so…lighthea-” Right after Xander regains control he drops the dagger and faints onto the floor. “Wha-Wha-what was that?” Draco asked, still shaking in fear.  

Jaden-Drake sighed as he fully looked at the shaking creature. “It’s something that we didn’t want you to know...and by we I mean them and I.” Drake sighed as he shook his head. It was something they hoped wouldn’t come to this. “Them? What… What do you mean by that?” The black-eye bearded dragon asked the calm teenager as he picked up his friend and led him to the couch.  Xander was starting to fall asleep as soon as he hit the couch. “I…will expla-” He started to snore right after saying that.

Jaden sighed as he grabbed the little creature and went to his room. “So… What happened out there?” The dragon asked again as Drake set him down on his desk and he sat on his bed. “ Listen, we, well Xander, really didn’t want you to find out this way. We were waiting for the right to at least talk about it with you…” Drake bit his lip trying to find a way to describe what the lizard just saw. “What... What you just witnessed...was one out of three different...personalities that Xander has..” Drake signed out. 

Darco looked at the human with his head tilted. “Three personalities...like one of the personality disorties that you were explaining to me?” He asked Drake as he sighed. “Not really. Xander hates this side of himself. He is going to have to explain to you when he wakes up. I can’t really-” He was cut off by his phone ringing. “Who’s calling me at this hour?” The green-haired teen grabbed his phone. He checked the caller ID to find that his grandmother was calling him.

Drake's eyes widened and he cursed under his breath. “Damn it, why now?” He asked with a sigh. “Look, we’ll talk about this later. I have to take this call.” The green-haired boy looked at Draco, who was still sitting on the counter. He is then moved by Drake and placed on his desk while he hits the answer button. “Hello?” “Jaden, Jaden, this is grammy.” His grandmother states through the phone receiver. “I know grandma. I have you on my caller ID.” 

This isn’t the first time Drake’s Grandma had told him that it was her and it wouldn’t be that last. “Well, how should I know that. Anyways, how are you and Xander holding up in Japan?” His grandma asks him. “Good, good. The school work here is hard, but hey I’m getting the hang of it.” He tells her with a small smile. Here it comes. He sighed out. “How are you doing in math?” There it is. “Drake?” “Yeah, I’m still not good at math. I mean, I’m not failing but I’m not getting the best grade either.” 

“Really, Drake why aren’t you great at it. Your father is a mathematician, why can’t you be?” His grandma tells him. Drake just stayed silent with a sigh. “Hello, Drake, are you still there?” “Yeah, grandma I am. Look, I will get help for math. I know a few people that can help me. Changing the subject though, I have a friend that is into art as well as I am and is really giving me inspiration that I need to continue wanting to take art as a career.  I am really happy about that.” He explained with a grin on his face.

Drake’s smile fell as soon as he heard what he’s been hearing from her for months “Oh, that’s nice to hear but shouldn’t you choose a different career path. I know that you want to but I believe you should go this root.” His grandma explained. He bit his lip as he tried to think of a response. “I’m sorry, but I want to be an artist and this is the path that I want to take.” He sighed out as he tried to hold his tongue back from snapping at her. I’m not dad. Stop comparing his past with my present. He thought “I know but listen, I don’t feel like you're going to get anywhere if you-” She was cut by her grandchild sighing out. “I’ll talk to you later grandma. I have to get some sleep because the school has an assembly tomorrow and I need to get up early for that.” 

Drake could tell his grandmother was surprised at this news. “Really, weren’t you supposed to start summer break tomorrow?” The eldrly woman asked him. “I do, it's just that we have an assembly explaining to the students not to be stupid ‘cause of what’s going on in Tokyo right now.” He sighed out. “Well alright. I will speak with you later, bye sweetheart. I love you.” “Yeah, love you too, bye.” He hangs up and groans. 

He puts his hands on his face and falls to the bed. “Goddamn it.” Drake sighed out. He stays like that for a few minutes then gets up and grabs his motorcycle helmet, jacket, and keys. Then, heads out the door without a word to anyone. The green-haired teen goes down to the parking lot to his motorcycle. 

Drake starts the motorcycle up and speeds out of the parking lot and into the quiet city streets. He was going to drive through the city to clear out his thoughts. Having done this time and time again he rides through parts of the city that seem lively during the day but are so quiet during this time. He doesn’t know where he is heading, all he knows is that he needs his head cleared. 

He stopped at a place where parts of the city could be seen from far away. He proceeds to take his helmet off, watching the city. “The city always looked so beautiful from this view, huh?” He smiled not expecting any answers. “This isn’t really you get to see.” “It sure is. Now speaking of sights that are rarely seen, what are you doing here Jaden-Drake?” A voice of an adult male said right behind Drake.

Jaden turned around, about to throw a shuriken when he saw who was talking. “Whew, you scared me, mate.” He sighed out as he turned to the male that was right behind him. “Please don’t do that because I can hurt and or kill you easily like that and I don't want that.” He chuckled. “Yeah, wouldn’t be a good thing, huh.”

*Time skip: 7/25: Early Morning*

“Man, I wish we didn’t have to go to this dumb assembly.” Draco hissed out as he stuck his head out of Drake’s bag. “Well, it’s cause of the stupid school wanting to scare us into following its rules. Like usual.” Drake stated as Xander and him followed the other students. “They just want to make sure that the students don’t say anything dumb to the press due to the whole Kamoshida and Kaneshiro incidents.” Xander said as they moved a head. 

“That too, but still it’s not like the press would want to ask some of the students. It’s not like we have any relation towards the Kaneshiro one.” Drake stated. “Anyways, are...are we not going to talk about what happened last night?” Draco asks the two teens. Drake bit his lip and looked at Xander. Xander rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Tis, not the time for that. Too many people could be listening.” Xander explained.

Drake nodded in agreement. “Hmm, I agree. When you're in our line of work you don’t know who you can trust outside of your group. That’s a fact that is true.” The green-haired teen started looking around. He goes into a whisper where only Xander and Draco can hear. “Trust me when I say you don’t know when an enemy is hiding in the shadows.”

Draco rolled his eyes at Jaden-Drake as he made his statement. “Well can you at least tell me where you ran off to last night?” The bearded dragon asked. Drake sighed and bit his lip. “There is a time and a place for everything now is not the time.” Xander stated. Draco huffed and nodded as they entered the school to hear murmurs of students compiling. 

*Time skip: Daytime*

After the assembly, the Phantom Thieves sat around Akira’s room eating lunch. “Man, that assembly had me bored to tears.” Ryuji stated. “I basically fell asleep through the whole thing.” Drake sighed out as he put his head down on the chair. “Huh? Did you have school too, Yusuke?” Ann asked him. “I’m doing laundry, so these are the only clothes I had to wear.” Yusuke explains. “I can relate.” Drake said, raising his hand.  “You really should buy a couple more outfits…” The blond female stated to Yusuke.

“Come now, we didn’t gather here to make small talk, now did we?” Makoto asked the three of them. “Let’s get to Alibaba’s case.” “Well then, I’ll start. It looks like Futaba was listening in to Leblanc.” Morgana stated. “But, why would she want to listen in on the cafe?” Ann asked. “I have no idea.” The feline stated. “It’s just like Boss said… She’s a tough nut to crack.” Ryuji said. “In any case, her hacking skills will be absolutely necessary if we wish to stand up to Medjed.” Makoto stated. 

“Going by what she has told us, we may even be able to identify who they are.” Makoto continued. “We’ll have to trust in her skills for now, then.”  Yusuke said looking at the table. “Anyway, we found out that Futaba has a Palace… but someone who isn’t evil have one?” Ann asks. “That does not matter. A Palace is the materialization of distorted cognitions brought about by strong desires… That’s all.” Morgana stated. “It just so happens that a lot of warped people turn out evil.” 

Makoto closed her eyes out of worry. “She’s so young though… The pain she’s gone through must be the cause of her distortion.” She stated. “Maybe that has something to do with why she calls herself Alibaba.” The blond female stated. “According to the chief’s story, Futaba has auditory and visual hallucinations, right?” The feline started up. “There’s a chance those are related to some important memories she’s holding. It’s hard to explain… but those memories may have been warped by the distortions.” Morgana tried his best to explain with what he could.

“Basically we just gotta steal her Treasure, right?” Ryuji stated. “Well, yeah.” Morgana stated. “So do we all agree about taking on Futaba’s Palace?” Ann asked. “She asked us to do so. I don’t think that part is an issue.” Makoto began. “If we heal Futaba’s heart, it will not only help Boss, but she can then assist us with Medjed.” She stated. “I agree.” Yusuke said. Xander and Drake nodded in agreement. “Likewise, mate.” Drake said. 

“I’ve been wonderin’ about how Boss said ‘a lot happened’ after Futaba’s mom died too.” The yellowish blond male stated. “Hold on a second. Our investigation of her Palace may not go like anything we’ve done up to this point.” Morgana explained. “Why’s that?” Ryuji asked the feline. “Having an individual ask you to steal their heart is an extremely irregular case.” The feline started. 

“There’s no telling what the Palace ruler’s disposition will be like, or the distortion that’ll be there. We may run into some unforeseen situations. Do you still want to go in?” Morgana questioned all of them. “Yeah, let’s do it.” Akira said to him. Drake nodded in agreement. “I agree. I don’t believe we really have anything to lose for.” The green-haired male said. “All right. Let’s just make sure we’re cautious.” Morgana told the group. “Well, let’s get crackin’ on those keywords, huh?” Ryuji said. 

Makoto pushed her hair back and looked around the group. “The ones we have at the moment are ‘Futaba Sakura’ and ‘Sojiro Sakura’s house’” She explained. “We got the ‘who’ and the ‘where’ so all that’s left is the ‘what,’ right?” Ryuji asked them. “That would be correct.” Drake shrugged. “Let us try going to their house first.” Yusuke stated. “Boss is busy running the cafe, isn’t he? We should make sure he doesn’t suspect anything.” Ann told them. 

The rest of the group gets up and heads for the stairs. While Akira and Morgana stay behind a bit to talk. Drake just looks at the two then heads down with the rest. “Speaking of important memories. Do the two of you think I’ll everything back if...if I was like you guys?” Draco asks. “You know besides being human. Being confident, strong, and not afraid of taking a risk?”

Drake and Xander looked at each other then back at the bearded dragon. “We have to just wait to see.” The tan teen tells Draco. “I’m going to have to agree with Xander. We really don’t know what the future holds, for right now we just have to sit and wait.” The green-haired teen explains. Draco just nods at the two's reasoning. “Anyways, hey Xander, how do you feel finally meeting your online friend in real life?” The dragon asked. “It will be fun.” Xander smirks as Drake just chuckled.

The Phantom Thieves made it to Sojiro’s house. Ready to go into the young Futaba’s Palace. “Now, the last keyword…” Makoto muttered. “She’s a shut-in, so we just gotta figure out ‘what’ she thinks her house is. If she can’t get out, maybe a prison?” Ryuji asks. The nav stated it wasn't correct. “Perhaps a labyrinth with an unknown exit?” The dark brunette suggested. Again the nav stated that the answer was not correct. “Hmm… Maybe an oasis?” Ann pondered. The nav stated that it wasn’t the right one either. 

“Nothing so far. In that case, how about hell?” Yusuke asks. Drake looked over at the slender man. “Dude.” He states. Akira shakes his head as the nav states permission is denied. “We don’t have nearly enough clues…” Ann sighed out. “If only we could ask her directly…” Yusuke stated. “We can. C’mon, let’s go see Futaba.” Ryuji declared. “But what will we say to get in?” Makoto asked. 

“Whaddya mean? We’re sneakin’ in.” Ryuji said. Which causes Jaden to smirk. “I like your style.” He tells Ryuji as he wraps his arm over Ryuji’s shoulder. The blond male chuckles at the shorter males action. Xander just shakes his head. While Akira side glares Ryuji. “You both have to be joking.” Makoto stared at them in disbelief. “Won’t the door be locked for sure this time?” She asked. “I’ll take care of that. Oh, and I figured out where Futaba’s room was when I snuck in last night.” Morgana said. 

Makoto looks up at the feline. “What if we run into Boss, thought? There’s no way we’ll be able to avoid his questions.” Makoto explains. “He’s at work now, so I think we should be fine.” Ann explained. “Gettin’ cold feet, Makoto? Don’t worry, it’ll be nothing. We’ve gone through loads of shits like this already.” Ryuji tells her. “Yeah, just remember I’ve done this stuff before loads of time. It gets easier the more you do it.” Drake explained. “Ditto.” Xander said. 

Makoto looked around the whole group then closed her eyes and brought her hand up to her chin. “...This is our only choice, right? I suppose Futaba did get in contact with Akira-kun… Perhaps she’ll at least be willing to speak with him…” She said. “...Very well. Let’s do this.” The brunette sighs out. Everyone nodded in agreement. They all walked inside Sojiro’s house and followed Morgana to Futaba’s room.

The group stood in front of a door that had a sign and caution tape around her door. “This is Futaba’s room.” Morgana told them. “Futaba-chan? You’re in there, right?” Makoto stated as she knocked on the door. “There’s no answer…” The blue-eyed feline states. “Futaba-chan. Are you there? I’m sorry for being startled and screaming yesterday. It was so dark that O got scared.” The brunette tells Futaba through the door. 

“No reaction whatsoever.” Yusuke states. “I mean can you blame her this is most likely the first time in at least a few years she heard other people’s voices besides her caretaker.”  Drake explained while looking straight at the door. “This is gonna be hard…” Ryuji sighed out. “You're listening, right, Alibaba?” Makoto tries to reach out for the fourth time. Right after that knock, Akira gets a text on his phone. “Is it Alibaba?” Makoto asks Akira while he pulls out his phone. 

After Akire checks the message on his phone, Makoto turns to the door. “You’re Futaba Sakura, aren’t you?” She asks again. “She’s not responding again.” Yusuke says. “Does she not like us saying her name?” Ann asks. “We don’t have time to dally around. We need her keyword before dealing with Alibaba’s identity.” Morgana snapped. “We want to learn more about you. If we don’t do so, we can’t steal your heart. The reason why we came here is because we need the keyword to enter your Palace. That’s why we want to talk with Futaba Sakura herself, and not Alibaba.” Makoto explains to Futaba.

Drake lets out a sigh. “She’s right, chickareta. We really do want to help you out here.” He tells her. “You don’t have to show yourself. Just answer some questions for us. Chat messages are fine.” Makoto adds on. 

Futaba/Alibaba: Ok

“All right then… Our leader, the guy who lives in Leblanc’s attic, wants to speak with you. We’re counting on you, Akira-kun. Try and get a keyword out of her.” Makoto tells Akira. 

Futaba/Alibaba: What do you want to hear?

Akira: How's living in this house?

Futaba/Alibaba: It’s painful…

Akira: Why not go out?

Futaba/Alibaba: I can’t leave this place

Futaba/Alibaba: I’m going to die here.

“Wha… Die?” Ann asks

Futaba/Alibaba: Is this going to continue? 

Akira: Die?

Futaba/Alibaba: That’s right. I’m definitely going to die here.

Futaba/Alibaba: This place is my tomb.

“Tomb?” Makoto asks. “You think that’s it?” Ryuji asks. “Try entering ‘tomb.’” Morgana tells Akira. “Input accepted. Searching for route to destination.” The Navigation voice stated. “We got it…!” Morgana smiled. “Yay.” Draco cheered.

Futaba/Alibaba: Was that enough?

“Yes. It was plenty. You haven’t forgotten your promise of helping us if we complete your request, right?” Makoto asks Futaba.

To be continued... 

[songandashadow]

Monthly Fic Rec - October

hey guys! I haven’t posted anything in a long damn while, but life’s been stressful. Doesn’t matter now though, because I’m back and about to give you a rec of all the awesome fics I read this month! Main pairing: Harry/Louis unless stated otherwise. Please don’t forget to show these fics some love and leave kudos/comments if you want! Let’s get to it. :)

***PLEASE ALWAYS READ THE TAGS FOR POSSIBLE TRIGGERS***

⸙  'Cause You May See Me In Different Bodies by lookingfortherainbow | 2k

“So, what’s your actual name?’ The curved eyebrows go up, those deep blue eyes go wide, and Harry waits patiently. “What, you mean--you mean, like, my preferred name?” “Same thing, isn’t it?” A raspy chuckle follows that, and Harry inhales the whoosh of minty cologne that floats his way when the customer scratches at the nape of his neck, over the hair that has gone shaggier since he last saw him. -- Harry knows the customers at the drug store he works at a little too well--except for the one that wears too many Adidas clothes.

⸙  always be my baby by orphan_account | 3k   [log in]

Harry is Louis' baby. Harry also wants Louis' babies.

⸙ this town's just an ocean now by louistomlinsons | 31k

“I have really great friends. Do you remember Louis? You guys were always hanging out when you were growing up.” Harry remembers Louis. Harry remembers Louis. Suddenly, his throat feels way too dry, despite the ice cream he keeps licking at. He chokes a little on a chocolate chip before saying, “I, uh. I remember Louis.” Her face brightens. “We have dinner every Sunday. He owns the house now. His parents moved further north, and he wanted to stay here, so they just gave it over. Now if you want to worry about someone being lonely, that’s who I worry about.” inspired by watermelon sugar, featuring picnics on the beach and boys being dumb

⸙ deleted your number (so i can't call you) by tofiveohfive | 9k

Harry wakes up to a voicemail.

It’s Saturday morning and it’s raining, a barely there drizzle. He sees the notification as soon as he picks up his phone from the bedside table, bleary eyes making it hard to distinguish the words. He’s got a few instagram mentions, a couple unread texts, but what really stands out is the “Missed Call and Voicemail”.

From Louis.

Or the ten hours before Harry comes home to Louis, and the five hours after he does.

⸙ Barefoot in Blue Jeans by indiaalphawhiskey | 24k    [log in]

AU. Louis Tomlinson is trying desperately hard not to fall for his son’s au pair, but he can’t, for the life of him, remember why.

475. The hope that this fear is unfounded.

⸙ growing pains by crybaby | 63k

‘Harry Styles? It’s Louis Tomlinson. About the job,’ he pauses, ‘Would you be able to start this coming Friday?’

Harry Styles is stuck. He’s just broken his mum’s heart by dropping out of law school, lives with his childhood best friend-turned boyfriend-turned best friend again, and his greatest prospect at the moment is his casual arrangement with Nick.

Until Nick gets him a job as a nanny for the summer, resulting in multiple attempts at ignoring feelings, questioning morals and sexuality, pining, and the obligatory angst that comes with a Movie Star falling for his nanny.

⸙ No Such Thing As Second Choices by slashter | 29k 

main: louis/harry/liam

Harry is the calming rain, the peaceful serenity, the cleansing fall of water that makes Liam come alive and Louis is the thunder, the lightning, crashing and booming and shaking Liam to the core.

[Or the one where Liam falls in love with two men on a computer screen; real life, however, is a lot more complicated]

⸙ You Make Me Wanna Scream by dimpled_halo | 5k

Louis’ stomach flutters as he reads the words. Harry wants to “kick it up a notch”. His mind automatically comes up with different possibilities.

Hey Harry,

I’ll bring over some things and we can discuss them in more detail and determine from there what you feel most comfortable with trying.

See you Saturday,

Louis

Louis wants to ask him how his week is going and learn more about his life but he keeps it professional. He can’t get attached no matter how good of a potential sub the guy may be. With a long sigh, Louis resumes his lunch trying his best not to picture Harry tied up while he paddles his lickable ass.

⸙ Talk Dirty To Me by BriaMaria | 13k    [log in]

They were both naked. And that seemed, again, like a catastrophically bad idea, but here they were anyway. Naked. In the dark. Only a few feet apart.

It hadn’t even been a discussion. The minute Harry flipped the lights off, they’d both shucked out of their clothes as if they’d been on fire.

“Alright darling,” Louis said, his hand wrapped loosely around his own cock. “Just remember, start slow. Lots of descriptions. Light on the hygiene, heavy on the compliments. You’ve got this.”

As if Harry were about to compete in some kind of athletic game. __

Or the one where Harry is absolutely terrible at dirty talk so he asks his best friend to teach him. And the one where Louis knows it's a catastrophically bad idea but agrees anyway.

⸙ Here to Stay (here to Play) by SadaVeniren | WIP

Larry Kinktober 2020

New chapter every day. New kink every day.

⸙ Overwhelming by KrisStylinson | 13k

He groans and squints at the feet of whoever he’s bumped into. All he sees is a worn pair of tan boots that lead up into a pair of long, long legs. He sits up, sighing, and rubs at his eyes; there’s a hand in front of his face so he grabs it and allows this stranger to help him up.

He blinks once, twice, and can’t believe his bad fucking luck, because of course he slammed his entire body into a pretty stranger. Not only that but—he smells the air once to confirm his suspicions—a pretty, sweet-smelling, alpha stranger. Fantastic.

Pretty stranger opens his mouth. “I didn’t concuss you, did I?”

Louis is an omega attending university to get his degree and most definitely not waste his time with unimportant things such as finding a mate. Harry is the alpha who manages to unwittingly mess up that plan.

⸙ Face Your Fears by SadaVeniren | 92k

Harry is a single father, pretending to be a beta after his alpha mated him and left him. He’s getting by just fine raising the twins when Louis walks into his bakery. Too bad him and Louis will never be a thing.

my notes on this fic:  I fucking cried so much. beautiful, angsty rollercoaster of emotions. #fave

⸙ Just Jump by jaerie | 9k

Finally, after years of suffering alone, the insurance plan at Harry's new job covered omega heat services. As a grown omega adult, it finally felt like the right time to try it out. And, since taking an entire week of heat leave would really put him behind at work, using a service to shorten it seemed like a responsible decision. At least that’s how he rationalized it. He was nervous about his decision but it was too late. The doorbell rang.

“Hi!” The alpha said again and Harry took the hand he offered and shook it firmly. “I’m Louis from Omega Services. It’s nice to meet you.”

⸙ Cameras Flashing by juliusschmidt | 81k

With his breakout single platinum three times over and his second album still selling out in stores around the world, Louis Tomlinson has made it to the top. However, his position as Pop Heartthrob of the Decade is threatened by the edgier, more artistic Zayn, who happens to be releasing an album a week after Louis’ upcoming third. Louis needs something groundbreaking- scandalous, even- to push past him in the charts. Much to Louis’ dismay, his PR team calls in The Sexpert.

Consulting with PR firm Shady, Lane and Associates pays the bills so that Harry Styles can spend his down time doing what he really loves: poring over data. On weekends and late into the evenings, he researches gender, presentation, and sexual orientation, analysing the longitudinal study that is his father’s life’s work. That is, until his newest client, the popstar with the fascinating secret, drags him off his couch and frighteningly close to the spotlight.

As the album’s release date approaches, will Tomlinson and Styles be able to pull off the most risky PR scheme of the millennium and beat Zayn in sales or will the heat of their feelings for each other compromise everything?

⸙ reach the heavens own blue by loubellies | 21k

He steps up to the plate, eyes glazing over as he watches Harry chew sunflower seeds, his jaw moving obnoxiously and exaggeratedly. His eyes drag down Harry’s body, settling on his large bulge, accentuated in those sinful pinstripe pants. The lines cut across it just right, curving where he’s thickest. Louis wants to crawl across the dirt on his knees and just take what Harry gives him.

Louis shuts his eyes for a moment, opening them to find Harry staring at him with a smug expression. He fucking knows. Louis gets into position and waits for the pitch. He swings when Harry throws, missing the ball just barely. Strike one.

or Louis is a Boston Red Sox and Harry is a New York Yankee.

⸙ He's Got So Much Fucking Hair by Queer_and_trashy | 7k

Professional hairstylist Louis for years has had a bit of a celebrity crush on Harry Styles the gorgeous queer model who just recently came out as genderfluid. So when he gets the opportunity to work with his dream partner on one of the coolest projects of career he might be a little flustered.

Aka Harry does the Another Man photoshoot and Louis is gay. Also, they're both trans because I can. Was written for hltransenbyficfest may it rest in peace

⸙ Worth the Wait by lovelarry10 | WIP

“Harry, you’re scaring me. Why did you need me to come home? I don’t mind, not if you need me, but… tell me what’s happening, love.”

“I…” Harry cleared his throat, but still the words wouldn’t come. His shaking hand reached down and pulled out the picture, his breath coming in shallow pants as he handed it to Louis, who took it from him, frowning down at it.

“Whose is this?”

Louis’ blue eyes met Harry’s green then, and Harry knew he had to tell the truth.

“It’s mine. Ours. I’m pregnant, Louis.”

*****

Louis and Harry had long ago come to terms with the fact they couldn’t have children. Rapidly approaching their forties, they’re settled at work, and more than happily married.

Life, however, has other plans for the Tomlinsons.

⸙ Meant To Be (Arse First) by Anonymous | 4k

Zayn groans in response, and Louis can hear the slow rustle of his bed sheets in the background. “Is it another ‘you woke up in the back parking lot of a Tesco’s with no pants and I need to come get you before the cops do’ panic or more of a 'I can stay in my bed and lend you an ear’ kind of panic, because I drank a lot more than you did last night, Lou.”

“Uhh,” Louis replies eloquently, “more like an 'I have two giant, blood red handprints on my naked arse, and no, they aren't from a good shag’ kind of panic.” ------ Or the one where your soulmate mark appears on your body where they first touch you and stays there until they touch you for the first time. Aka the one where Louis's soulmate must like bums.

⸙ planting seeds of love. by 4ureyesonly28 | 5k

When little Harry first sees the boy dressed in all green, with mismatched blue and red socks and the huge crown of yellow petals around his head, he doesn't know that he's just laid eyes upon the love of his life.

⸙ Her by jaerie | 7k

The buttery swipe of a high quality lipstick was almost a sexual experience in and of itself. This time a deep colour with purple undertones which drew out the emphasis of long, dark lashes and perfectly contoured cheekbones. It was a look for loose and styled curls, feeling the classy formal nightclub vibes reflected back from the mirror. The silky plum coloured slip dress would be perfect to debut. The tags still needed to be cut free from the new garment that hung in the closet, but tonight was the night to set it free.

When Harry gets home, she can finally be who she wants to be. Letting someone else in always feels like a distant daydream to her... until it suddently isn't.

⸙ at last, at last by suspendrs | 41k

“Come with us,” Tommo says, stopping at the other end of the gymnasium, near the doors. “Don’t let them make you suffer any longer. Come with us, and be human.”

Before Harry has even finished thinking it through, he’s on his feet, gaining the attention of every single person in the gymnasium. What has he got to lose, anyway?

Or, Harry is born into a cult in a post-apocalyptic world, and Louis is the leader of the rebel group tasked with the mission of shutting them down. Together, they make a rather effective team.

⸙ don't you call him baby by Femstyles | 8k

But now, eleven months later, as his Uber pulls up outside the bar, Harry thinks he can absolutely handle this. He's going to walk into Liam's birthday party where the ex-love of his life is also going to be and he's going to show Louis that he can be a mature adult about everything that’s happened in the last year.

Or the one where Harry is absolutely doing fine and is definitely not still hung up on Louis. Except he is.

⸙ the anticipation of knowing you by sweetrevenge | 13k

Hello Neighbor! Just wanted to let you know that you were having sex so loud and scarily I called our building manager and security officer because I thought you were hurt. P.S. I sent them away when I heard you yell ‘cock’. I’m sorry that I heard that, but I wanted you to know in case they stopped by to check on you or something. Sorry! Your neighbor Louis Tomlinson in apartment #306

After Louis overhears his next door neighbor having sex, he doesn’t really expect anything but awkward hallway encounters to come from it. Instead, he’s surprised to find himself in a whirlwind pen pal relationship with the sweet, albeit loud, baker next door.

⸙ Into the Deep Below by writeivywrite | 18k

Louis can’t help but stare, his heart in his throat, because he’s never kissed anyone like that. It’s the sort of passion people ruin their marriages for, that they get tattoos to remember, and it hurts to look at because he wants to taste it, to get between them and feel the burn of it on his lips.

Surfer AU written for the prompt 'Les Misérables: the guide, the chief and the centre'

⸙ So Wonderful and Warm by SadaVeniren |3k

“I’m going to die,” Harry whined as she buried her face in her arms.

“Silly Harriet. What did you expect her to wear to the pool?” Niall said it loud and uproariously and Harry saw the way Shawn looked over at them from where he was pretending to tan.

She reached back and slapped blindly at his hand. “I don’t know. Trunks and a tank top? A one-piece? Not-” she gestured towards the object of her current pain. “that!”

That - for the record - was one Louise Tomlinson, dressed in a red bikini.

aka Harry is a useless lesbian who pines, but not for very long because this is a pwp.

⸙ You, Who Never Arrived by abrighteryellow | 42k

That was him, Niall.” He claps a hand over a disbelieving laugh. “My soulmate – the person I’ve been waiting for since I was nine years old. That was him on the other end of the phone.” “But it can’t–” Niall stutters, unsure of what to do, how to put a stop to this. “That wasn’t real.” “Wasn’t it?” Louis rushes past him, zipping up his fly. He grabs a black denim jacket from a hook near the door. “Then who did I just talk to?” “Where are you going?” Niall demands as Louis pockets his keys and swings his front door open. “I just have to get a look at him. I just have to see, that’s all!” “You’re not serious. Louis, it’s already late.” “He’s at the airport. Fifteen years I’ve been expecting him around every corner, and now he’s half an hour away. I can’t just sit here.” “Bu–” “I’m not going to do anything crazy, I promise. I just–I have to see him. This is my chance. Maybe my only chance.”

Louis Tomlinson is days away from marrying a perfectly nice podiatrist when he gets a phone call that changes everything. Or, the Only You AU in which Louis has a soulmate and it's definitely not Harry Styles.

⸙ Home (It's You) by sunniskies | 28k

When Louis left his high-powered life in the city to settle down in the suburbs, he had hoped to one day fall in love and start a family. He certainly didn’t expect to meet the omega of his dreams within five minutes of moving in.

He also didn’t expect the love of his life to hate him so much.

Or, Louis and Harry are neighbors who can't seem to get along...until they fall in love.

⸙ Vanilla Extract by Maelstrom_Roots | 3k

"When quarantine had started, Harry had been the cool one. But sometime in the last week, a panic had begun to grow inside of him. It had started out small, a niggle of worry deep inside his brain, but had since metastasized into something hungry and unpredictable."

Or: Harry takes a trip to the grocery store, and then freaks out about it.

[kob131]

https://rwdestuffs.tumblr.com/post/616806790896680960

Ironwood: Yells, screams, rants extensively, shoots things, breaks things

He never screamed, he never ranted, he broke like one thing (a chess piece) and shoot one guy (who in his mind was trying to stop him from saving people).

Yeah, Ironwood is emotional. He’s a fucking veteran Huntsman fighting a war that he was lied about by the man he trusted and the allies he thought he had. He also kind of just had HIS ONE GOOD ARM FUCKING SCORTCHED AND HIS PARANOIA CONFIRMED. Pretty fucking understandable, you shouldn’t be misrepresenting him.

Fandom: Clearly this man is a rational, logical person who is making his decisions based solely on cold reason. RWBY is being too emotional.

Who the FUCK has argued that James is operating under cold logic? He’s not, of course he’s acting under emotion.

What are you even saying?

RWBYJNR: Lies, cheats, steals, rants about a politician trying to do his best to protect a kingdom from going to shit, and also harassed a kid when they’re lied to

You know, Psyga, it doesn’t help that not only are you ALSO misrepresenting shit (They never cheated, the stealing of one airship pales to the numerous DEATHS that would have been caused, they didn’t rant and ONE PERSON  messed with Oscar while the LEADER RUBY comforted him) but you yourself are guilty of this shit (Lying, cheating and stealing? Gee I wonder who else does that? *cough* RWDE *cough*)

Fandom: Clearly these group of well thinking, mentally scarred teenagers are rational, logical people who are making their decisions solely on reason. Ironwood is being too emotional.

Again, WHO IS SAYING THAT? Also, implying that Ironwood isn’t basically a walking mass of mental scars.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe grown men in charge of armies should be held to a slightly higher standard than teenagers, rather than the other way around?

Has it occurred to you that they’re both adults, they’re both fucking up and everyone screwed Salem’s pooch here? Honestly the only guy doing good is Ozpin. Yeah, he started this mess but he did some damn good work before Cinderella.

Also no Psyga, I am not supporting your hypocritical ass. “they’re taught to be pinnacles of man kind’’ By the headmasters....which includes IRONWOOD.

I laugh at the idea of James “A few city blocks”   Ironwood trying to do the best to protect his kingdom. Especially when he peaced out and decided to scarper not cos of Salem but due to a chess piece, all while ignoring the fact he had Salem agents on his stupid little rock already to instead focus on shrieking at RWBY a bout loyalty. 

The same James “I’ll promote you all to Huntsmen, I’m the one to tell my subordinates the truth first and I SUFFER FROM PARANOIA AND PROBABLY A HOST OF OTHER MENTAL SCARS” Ironwood right?

I mean you support Yang Tumblingxelian because ‘uwu vagin- I mean PTSD’ so SURELY you support Ironwood RIGHT?

Also, he freaked out about a chess piece because it’s SALEM’S SYMBOL. Its like saying “Oh its not Hitler it’s just his CALLING CARD”. And no shit James is calling out Team RWBY, he trusted them and they lied to his face. You know, the same position Team RWBY was in with Ozpin.

Plus Ironwood himself lies and steal in regards to supplies from Mantle and rants too, except unlike RWBY he doesn’t have nearly as good of an excuse save for the fact he’s surrounded himself with enablers and refuses to accept or seek out help. 

Amity? Yes.

Supplies? Where? Robyn says they should be going to Mantle, that doesn’t mean they’re Mantle supplies. Show me where it was shown, said or explained he TOOK the supplies.

Also, what enablers? People who put their trust in him? That’s like saying Team RWBY were enablers for Ozpin: it’s the Ace Ops and Winter’s fault for not looking out for their leader, just as it was James’ issue for not looking out for Ozpin.

Like seriously, nothing is ever done to show RWBY as unstable or irrational, at best they are uncertain which is frank;y better than Ironwood or Opzin’s “I know best” attitude because it means they are open to changing rather than breaking the moment they run into a problem their methods can’t solve. 

Changing, like going from opposing lying to lying themselves right AFTER knowing how bad of an idea that is.

This is the fucking Yang/Adam situation all over again, removing fault and agency just because you don’t like the other side.

We also literally see their rationales, they need to get he lamp to Atlas before either Salem’s agents find them or it potentially lures Grimm in. They make a good plan that only doesn’t work out cos the local general decided t bust out a super mech and prance around screaming and they still hung around long enough to help solve the problem that idiot created. 

Strange that you don’t their talk of telling the truth....

When it comes to Mantle their rationales for why its awful and Ironwood’s decisions are wrong are explained both morally and in terms of practicality, Ironwood sometimes listened but usually ignored them cos he’s an arrogant ass. 

Or, you know, he’s been lied to numerous times, he’s in immense physical pain right now, his mental issues are being played on and he’s in a rushed, fucked if you do fucked if you don’t situation.

You know, WHAT THE SHOW FUCKING SHOWS.

On one side is a pack of teenagers dragged into a lot of nightmarish shit they were in no way ready to deal with, who are trying to work together and find a way to save the world. They do this despite being horribly traumatized, physically dismembered in two cases, having to fight off their abusers (to the death in one case), all the while admitting they’re in over their head, they’ve made mistakes, and trying to fix them and generally improve things.

The other side is a military general blatantly abusing his political power to deprive a city of critical resources, leaving them exposed to man eating monsters, declaring martial law to stop the rest of the government from stopping him from outright abandoning the people of that city (and the rest of the planet) to those monsters, ordering the cold-blooded murderer of an elderly woman to steal her magical powers, ordering the arrest of a group of teenagers and one older man because SOME OF THEM vocally disagreed with these actions, then shot a teenage boy for politely disagreeing with him, with the intent being that the boy would die from either the bullet of the long fall that followed. He does all this while insisting he’s being logical, that he’s making the hard choices on everyone elses behalf, and that he is always right. While hallucinating, ranting and screaming about disloyalty, all of which because he failed once (And that’s ignoring how he backstabbed several supposed friends before that traumatizing incident.)

A. Ironwood is also dragged into this by the same metric.

B. James is ALSO in over his head. Everyone not named ‘Ozpin’ is and Ozpin BARELY qualifies.

C. And James is being abused and used too!

D. ��physically dismembered in two cases’ One and *taps Ironwood’s metal arm*

E. To try and help EVERYONE he’s ‘depriving resources’ because shit ain;t infinite.

F. Aas opposed to the genocidal, ancient witch CONTROLLING the man eating monsters?

G. And the other option? Have everyone DIE in his eyes.

H. Cold blooded murder...that she agreed to of her own volition....

I. You misspelled ALL as SOME. As in, ALL of the protags disagreed with him.

J. ANd you know, trying to stop him.

K. You know, like literally everyone else

M. He never hallucinated, ranted or screamed

James Ironwood is a coward and a traitor to the Kingdom of Atlas. On top of that, he is an entitled little shit that neglected his responsibilities to the civilians of the Kingdom, and then was so fucking arrogant that he was actually OFFENDED that people were angry with him for not doing his job. Quite a lot of that can be blamed on the culture of the Atlas military, of the demands of blind loyalty and yes-men creating an echo chamber without him even noticing. But in the end, he made the decisions. He decided the people of Mantle are an expendable resource, months or even years before Cinder broke into his office. He decided to order the murder of an elderly woman, to overthrow his government, to arrest anyone that dared to disagree with him, and to personally shoot a boy in cold blood. 

You want to know the twisted part? I think those of us that admit Ironwood is in the wrong actually respect him more. We can see how he came to this point, the cultural indoctrination, the dangers of military culture, the PTSD he’s clearly suffered since Beacon... We can feel sympathy for a fallen hero. Those who support him continue to insist that he’s in his right mind, that all his decisions, from volume two onwards, have all been completely logical... And what kind of person would that make him?

Oh fuck you with that “Because I disagree that makes me better bullshit.”

You didn’t portray a fallen hero, you portrayed a flatter version of Adam, denying Ironwood’s reasons, glorifying Team RWBY and painted it black and white.

And before anyone claims I am supporting Team RWBY:

Actually look up my opinions of them on my blog. Or hell, this single post. I think both parties are at fault for the situation here for their own flaws. ANd I feel sad for both them.

The conflict in the fandom, however?

[alliswell21]

This was a prompt I saw @lovely-tothe-bone had posted. You know me, I suffer “shiny-red-ball syndrome” or actually “puffy-tail-plot-bunny Syndrome”

Anywho... Rated M for language and adult situations. Modern!Everlark. Also, I stole a line from @mega-aulover and I’m not sorry! 🙃

The Garage

The Panem Mockingjays were in the Super Bowl for the first time in history, a true Cinderella story of perseverance and teamwork that brought them to play against none other than the legendary Capitol Mutts, who were getting the beating of their life! 27 to 3 with only thirteen minutes on the clock and one timeout left.

The trophy was in the bag, and it was beautiful!

The Mockingjays were in possession; the Mutts ran an aggressive defense, but the Mockingjays’ quarterback sidestepped a tackle and scored a 30 yard touchdown.

The whole room in the Everdeen home exploded in cheers!

Katniss had been squirming half the evening in the loveseat she occupied with her best friend, Peeta Mellark, and decided she couldn’t take the tension anymore. She had to do something about it.

Looking around, Katniss stood up and motioned Peeta to follow her. She put a finger to her lips to shush him, then wrapped her hand around his, and pulled him out of the den, where their families were celebrating raucously the victory they could practically taste.

“Where are we going?” Peeta whispered harshly, trying not to trip over his feet.

“Somewhere quiet, where we can be alone for a minute.” She responded in a similar tone. “Now, stop walking so loudly, would you?”

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly, and really tried to step lightly on Mrs. Everdeen’s pristine hardwood floors.

They made it to the kitchen, but instead of turning left, to the staircase leading upstairs to the bedrooms, Katniss went straight, out the kitchen door to the backyard, and on to the detached garage.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Peeta asked nervously.

The garage was Mr. Everdeen’s pseudo mancave, complete with a mini fridge, a rickety couch and an ancient TV set on top of his work bench. Their fathers hung out there for hours drinking beer, working on projects, deploring sports statistics and generally gossiping about whatever it was grown man gossiped about.

Katniss winked and closed the garage door with a click behind them.

"Our parents are so drunk, they won't even notice we left. Calm down." She told him as she fell to her knees, making quick work of his fly and undershorts.

Peeta tried to argue— honest! but Katniss was fast with those clever fingers of hers— her mouth on his cock shut him up quickly.

Peeta stood there uselessly, struggling between watching her suckle his dick while pumping the parts of him she couldn’t fit in her warm little mouth, and letting his head fall backwards and enjoy the ride until it was his turn to reciprocate the favor; and Lord in Heaven, did he wanted to reciprocate!

She had really gotten good at this, he thought when feeling the telltale tingling at the base of his spine. He was so close!

He couldn’t help his slow, whiny moan, “Katnisss… fuuuuck!” His eyes squeezed shut, his hands grabbed onto some surface he’d knocked his ass against when he started coming into Katniss’ gloriously wet mouth.

It wasn't until the door opened, that his eyes were able to focus again... on the angry face of Mr. Everdeen as he took in the sight of his daughter’s full mouth.

“What the fuck is this?!” The man slurred loudly.

Katniss scrambled to her feet, somehow blocking her father from seeing Peeta tuck himself back into his pants. But nothing prevented the man from watching his daughter wipe the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.

It only took the man a surprising two steps to cross the garage and reach his child. He was about to grab her upper arm when Peeta pushed her behind his broader frame.

“I can explain!” Peeta shouted fanning out his arms to shield the girl.

“You can explain? What, how the two of you stabbed me and everyone else in the back by sneaking around like this?” Mr. Everdeen’s bloodshot eyes were crazed, spittle flew everywhere out of his mouth. “You can explain you disrespected my home and my daughter by taking advantage of her under my nose?”

“He didn’t take advantage of me!” Katniss protested ducking under Peeta’s outstretched arm to face her father. “I wanted to do it. I brought him out here ‘cause we like each other… a lot!”

Sensing danger, Peeta grabbed Katniss by the waist and shoved her out of the way. “Sir, I swear is not like—”

“You little shit!“ Mr. Everdeen took ahold of the boy’s collar and yanked him away from Katniss.

She leapt forward, scratching at her father’s wrist. “Stop it! Let him go!”

“What’s going on?!” Another man’s voice boomed in the chilly room.

As if the situation wasn’t mortifying enough, everybody spilled out of the house and crowded around the garage’s open door, watching the scene with wide eyes.

Mrs. Everdeen rushed forward to pry her husband’s fingers from Peeta’s crumpled, stretched out shirt.

Mr. Everdeen rounded up on his neighbor and best buddy, “I’ll tell you what’s going on. I caught your back-stabbing son defiling my daughter!”

“What? That is preposterous. Our Peeta is a good boy. He would never do such a thing. It was probably that wild child of yours that threw herself at him.” Said Mrs. Mellark in that condescending tone she liked using even on her own family.

“I beg your pardon?” Mrs. Everdeen dusted her slacks exaggeratedly. “Katniss isn’t wild!”

“It’s that boy of yours! I knew his innocent, helpful, quiet kid next door facade wasn’t to be trusted! He better not had gotten my baby pregnant, or there will be hell to pay!”

“First you’ll have to prove it’s his. I’m more worried my son could’ve contracted something!”

“How dare you insinuate—“

“Enough!” Bellowed uncle Haymitch, whom usually had his moments of deep wisdom when really inebriated. “Y’all are acting like a bunch of morons! All you’re accomplishing with this yellin’ is making your kids even dumber than they already are.”

Ouch!

Everyone stopped bickering at once, looking rightly shamed and partly stunned by Haymitch’s outburst.

“Now, there ain’t enough booze in this house to make freezing my ass out here, worth watching y’all bitch over two fucking 18 year old college students who’ve been glued at the hip since I can remember, doing the horizontal lambada together.”

Nobody argued, so Haymitch continued.

“I’m not saying what the Boy and Sweetheart did was smart, it was in fact pretty stupid. But you too did dumb shit as horny teenagers,” Haymitch glared a both sets of parents, now blushing. “Give the kids credit, they’re legally adults. You’re blind if you haven’t noticed them making puppy-dog eyes at each other. Is sickening!

“I’m starving, and it’s too cold for this shit!” Haymitch burped, “I’m going inside now.”

Peeta and Katniss were wrapped around each other during the hullabaloo. But slowly loosen their hold to face their family.

“I’m not… pregnant.” Katniss squeaked. “Not even a small chance.”

“Neither of us has any diseases.” Muttered Peeta scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Not much chance for that either.”

“How can you be so sure?” Mr. Everdeen snapped, still not ready to let his anger go.

“What are you using for birth control? You can’t depend on condoms alone,” Declared Mrs. Everdeen.

“Mom!” Exclaimed Katniss scowling, “Geez! We are not actually doing it! What Daddy walked in on— and believe me, I wish he’d never seen that— is as far as we’ve gone.”

She peered up at Peeta and he smiled down at her, squeezing her hand in his.

“Look,” Peeta exhaled and then faced their parents. “We are sorry we didn’t say anything before, but we knew you guys would react… exactly like you did. We can assure you, nobody has anything to worry about. But just to put your minds at ease...” He took a decidedly shaky, deep breath and confessed, “We are still… virgins.”

“TMI, dude! Nobody needed to know that!” Called Peeta’s middle brother. His girlfriend’s bulging eyes followed the shit show with interest.

Peeta threw his brother a withering glare, but it was Katniss’ fourteen year old sister, Primrose, who answered.

“Oh please! Why the Hellman’s real mayonnaise are you here then, Rye?! You didn’t protest our parents belittling Katniss and Peeta in front of everyone, when Daddy interrupted their private moment! Grow up!” The teen crossed her arms over her chest petulantly.

Maybe Prim felt a tad jealous and kinda out of sorts seeing her secret crush’s girlfriend at her house, but nobody messed with her sister and brother-in-law on her watch! The thought made Prim looked guiltily at her parents; but then she remembered how they’d been screaming, blowing things out of proportion, and felt smuggly vindicated. She could still hold a couple of secrets for her sister without blabbing.

“Everyone should be happy Katniss and Peeta are together. They love each other and will keep each other safe! Uncle Haymitch’s right, you guys are just selfish.” Primrose turned on her heels so fast heading for the kitchen, her long, blond braid smacked Rye on the chest with a dull thud.

Mr. Everdeen sighed. “I’m still angry with you both. And I still think you were disrespectful. But I guess Prim’s right. We’re lucky Katniss is not bringing home some lazy hooligan with a criminal record. I just wished…”

“I know, Daddy.” Soothed Katniss still holding Peeta’s hand. “I’m sorry. We both are.”

“We, all are.” Said Mrs. Everdeen sidling with her husband. Then she turned to the Mellarks, “I think we all owe the kids an apology. And each other.”

Everyone apologized for the things they said and promised to be more supportive and less reactionary, despite still being disappointed Katniss and Peeta hid their relationship from them.

“Well, that was terrifying.” Peeta whispered shuddering when their families finally left them alone.

Katniss chuckled. “I know. I wonder if we should’ve told them this all started ‘cause we got shit-faced and eloped two weeks ago?”

Peeta smiled wryly, wrapping an arm around his “for-now” wife. “Nah. My mom would’ve gotten an aneurysm. She’d probably drag us to the hospital to get tested for STDS, pregnancies and DNA. In that order.”

“Yeah but, they would’ve calmed down when we told them we were getting an annulment.” Katniss said a little unsure.

“About that…” Peeta trailed off catching Katniss’ curious eyes peering up at him from his chest. “What if… we just kept… married?”

Katniss bobbed her head, although there was nothing to consider, really. “We could apply for housing together.” She offered.

“Share expenses.”

“Go further... than oral?” The question came out high pitched and ragged.

Peeta breathed out a sigh of relief, he wasn’t the only one thinking about it.

He nodded readily. “Together?” He bit his lip, and pulled a black pouch out of his pants pocket. A ring with an iridescent pearl on top spilled into his open palm.

Katniss’ eyes widened, but she lifted her left hand, spreading her fingers apart so Peeta could slip the ring in place.

Admiring her new jewelry, Katniss smiled.

“Together!” She confirmed rising on tiptoes to kiss her “for-Always” husband in the lips.

[corescorner]

So That New Video Huh?

Okay holy shit, I’m gonna do an analysis for it. I’ve never done this before and no one literally has ever asked me to do this but youre getting it anyway cause this is the only place I can gush about this so freakin deal XP

First off, I woke up at two AM cause I’m A Disaster like that, and was greeted with this wonderful video. So naturally I make a pot of coffee and some Crofters toast and get on with my analysis.

Also! THE SWEATERS AND SCARVES! I WANT ALL OF THEM! On that note huge preesh to my Mum -even though she’ll never see this- who’s helping me buy one of the sweaters even though she doesn’t have to cause I’m a Grown Ass Adult ™ with my own money. Kind of. 

Anyway on with the analysis! Under the cut cause Daaaaaaaaaaaamn is it long.

- Thomas' jacket! I want it.

-That ad intro though XD 

-RAAAIID!!

-I be a real floozy XD

-Don't trust an old viking like me: Thomas Sanders (you know, the youtuber)

-PIrateS DiDn’T ReallY TAlk lIke ThIS! Reexamine your cultural biases!

-'what the hell is that accent?' going a liiittttle Remusy voice there Tommy.

-his ears scrunched down by the helmet and the beard string...

-Hahahahahaa, masculinity is a prison!

-SANDERS ASIDES! Nice.

-OKAY SO, this is literally the first thing I did when waking up and my mind was not ready for them TO BE HANGING OUT ON THE COUCH, suffice to say I had a mini freakout to myself and then excitedly continued.

-THE ONSIES I WANT VIRGILS!! THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE

-a florida dwelling man, who never leaves his house. Good point XD

-Romans immediate Sass™ Love It 

-Virgil’s Just As Sassy Thumbs Up. Hyello!

-*gasp* ohmygoodness it’s all Frozen. Oh whoever could have predicted that! Roman... Please.

-Virgil’s eye squint at Roman when he announced 100% of the votes were frozen and Pattons excited cheering even though he just said he didn't vote for it so there's no way it could have been 100%

- Now that I think about it, if Roman didn't rig it, I think they'd probably be at a standstill with, ya'know all their votes being on what they wanted to watch. 

-mmnnmmmnnn falsehood. It was so calm this time. soft falsehood.

-Paton’s incredulous 'too childish?!' he says this like he's recently seen Logan wear his and he's like 'what, but what'

-how can Thomas feel B.A.D with his inner D.A.D We👏 Get👏 It👏 You're 👏Adorable!

-VIRGIL: I CAN THINK OF A FEW WAYS. PATTON’S SAD LOOK!

-redirecting his attention to something good.... or neutral.

-ROMANS SASS

-Who among us can forget the absolute bop that is...... this weird ice cutting song. Roman with the sarcasm.��

-Pat: pretty cool/what it’s a chilled out groove! Lo: I might need you to leave. 

-Virgil's constant just Overthinking™ and not actually paying attention to the movie really. Mood.

-WHOS KID IS HE?! WHY DOES NOONE NOTICE THEY’RE LEAVING HIM

-some things need time.... Like evolution! Cute Nerd Alert.

-Patton blowing on his drink

-I ALso LOve you Olaf!

-VIRGIL’S LOOK AFTER THAT

- no you’re mine now

-I love that Roman commentates on movies he watches cause that is 100% Me

-’the heart is not so easily changed’ Lo: No it isn't. Pat: Hmm? 

-’but the head can be persuaded’ Ro: Can it though?

-’fear will be your enemy.’ Virgil’s looooooook T.T

-Pat and Ro: JOOOOAN! Virgil and Lo say nothing. Thomas:..... Joan... 

-it’s making me too aware of the passage of time! Ooooooof big Mood™ bro.

-REMUS!!! :D

-Of course he's naked, cause why wouldn't he be, they're all in their comfortable clothes.

- they're gonna die at seea! :D

-I sleep in the buff. Thank you Remus. No seriously, good to know.

-Virge: Did i screw everything up? Ro: No I threw out your vote so you couldn't do that. ROMAN!

-Patton’s head bob in agreement about missing the hand drawn movies

-Roman’s actual misunderstanding that virgil wasn't talking about frozen being the wrong decision.

-Verge: How are you telling me to settle into something right now when you've taken your sweet time to settle into things that you were uncomfortable with in the past? Virgil with the shaaaade.

-Pat: I just think we should all relax. Virge: You do realize who you’re talking to  right?

-Virgil's genuine confusion if Lo is asking him that question cause hes always so literal and then proceeds to tell him the number anyway.

-’why have a ballroom with no balls?’ Remus’ snicker, same.

-Just give in to the raunchy jokes Thomas, it's funny.

-Roman imitating Hans’ 'evil plotting face'

-Ro in Dude Bro Voice: aw man yea I’m so fucked up on chocolate fondue I don’t even know what im sayin right now

-All of the others smiling at that. Is Roman doing this to make them smile?

-Patton whines, Logan: Is something wrong Patton? UM Logan asking about FEELINGS Cute.

-there's no way shes coming out of this situation without trust issues. Mmmmmmyea.

-Ro: except for the footprints behind you. Lo:HEy YEa!

-Pat, quietly: don’t let them in don’t let them see. PATTON! SOMEONE HUG DAD PLEASE

-Virge: he may have been an idiot back in the day, but hes not anymore... Virge, are we talking in double meanings here?

-Lo: she shouldn't let go of more of her clothing that’s for sure, shes gonna freeze to death. Lo, she has ICE POWERS. I'm sure she’s fine. The cold never bothered her anyway.

-Logans confused, what about a bridge? Metaphors Lo.

-Pat: let it go! Ro: lie low in our kingdom of ICEolation, come on paton don’t go for the low hanging fruit.

-Lo: There’s a storm out tonight!? Well, obviously Thomas has to stay home why are we debating this. No, Lo honey, it’s still a metaphor.

-Lo: you think this castle has a lavatory? Pat: ICE TOILET! Ro: or a bed? Pat: ICE BED! Lo: this place sounds awful.

-Pat: his thing with the reindeer? Lo: outside of nature's laws? Re: he DEFINITELY FUCKS THE REINDEER! I THOUGHT THE SAME THIIIIIING.

-Ro: If OnLy ThErE wAs SoMeOnE OuT ThErE wHo LoVeD YoU 'hans evil plotting face'

-Logan pointing out Romans constant shade at he movie.

-UM! THIS IS HOW I SHOW MY LOVE UM EXCUSE YOU, My Prinxiety heart.

-Romans complete legit reason why Ana should have been saved by Olaf.

-Virge: I bet he’s talking about you right now. THOMAS' FACE.

-Pat: Thomas has talked about him to other people. Patton likes gossip?

-Ro: WERE ALL GOSSIPY BITCHES SOMETIMES!

-Logan AGREEING that they’re gossipy bitches XD

-OKAY I LOVE THAT RO IS THE ONE WHO SWEARS THE MOST

-Patton pointing a logans points in agreement

-VIRGIL IS SPIRALING, deep breaths kiddo!

-Virge: just think about it. Thomas: LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE

-Virge: he trusted you enough to share a history that he wasn’t proud of with you. Again talking in double meaning here Verge?

-Virge: ‘he wouldn’t have gotten around to some of the stuff you wanted to know about on his own. More backstory to unlock mayhaps?

-Logan doing the countdown thing to help with the anxiety.

-Thomas going along with it without question, Virgil.... kinda going along with it?

-Virgil’s soft ‘.... blinds...’ after naming things that were like existential crisis things XD

- Thomas and Virgil tasting the same thing? Do they all taste what Thomas tastes? Or were they eating together?

-Lo: You are safe. T.T Loooooooogaaaaan

-LOGAN TOTALLY OWNING THAT THOMAS CALLED HIM COOL! CAUSE YOU ARE!

-Virgil’s soft look when Thomas is talking about adjusting and then saying that he still thinks theyre friends! UM again with the double meanings?!

-Thomas: things will be alright between us. PATTON LOOKS AT VIRGIL Cuuuuuuute

-Roman’s metaphor that makes no sense to the situation.

-Thomas: thank you Roman, that’s barely applicable.

-and then his look of 'you're welcome' XD

-ROMANS SASS!!

-Logans list of Elsa’s powers

-Patton nodding along to it and then his 'yea it all checks out' XD

-Logan’s thoughts on Arendales military being just Elsa cause of her powers.

-Virgil’s soft smile and sigh.... ‘Too bad we didn’t go to that party.’ VIRGE!

-Anxiety music starts, what if your soulmate was there and now you’re never gonna get another chance to meet him

-Ro reaching in Virgil’s direction OH SHIT OH SHIT!

-Oof youre freaking out princey there Virge

-Lo: watching a film is too passive of an exercise to allay Thomas' troubled thoughts, Virgil’s cute shrug and thumb nail biting like 'welp'

-DECEIT!!!!!!! ROMAN WHY DO YOU HAVE HIS HAT DO YOU HANG OUT TOGETHER, WHY WERE YOU IN HIS ROOM WHY WAS HE NOT WEARING IT WHAT WAS HE DOING WHEN YOU STOLE IT!

-Dee: I was looking for this! So he doesn't always lie, that’s good to know.

-Virgil’s HISSING! Okay sure, but he wasn't even talking to you man calm down XD

-Dee: DONT TOUCH MY SHIT *finger waggle*

-Romans face! Like, yep I saw this coming and i did it anyways, and I’m probably gonna do it again in the future.

-HOW OFTEN DOES ROMAN RIG VOTES?

-Logans interest in rewriting Frozen

-Ro: no. yes. I don’t know what you’re asking. Roman, it was kinda self explanatory XD

-everyones expressions when roman is talking about how he’s gonna rewrite it.

-YEA YOU LET THOSE CREATIVE JUICES FLOW!

-Virgil’s little ‘aw hell yea’

-REMUS: eh not my kind of fanfiction! WHAT FANDOM DOES HE READ FOR!? DOES HE READ STUFF ON HIMSELF AND THE OTHER SIDES!?

-ALSO HE’S RIGHT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUCH NEXT TO LOGAN NAKED, HOW MUCH CAN LOGAN SEE?!

-I’m going to bed. IN THE BUFF. Yes, you’ve stated this before XD

-everyones contributions to the fic

-Pat: I see your point Virgil, but how about this: nobody dies.

-Joan at the end XD Joan should do more ads with Thomas, they’re great.

-Thomas: you just do it XD

-LOGAN APOLOGIZING TO HIS ONESIE! MY FUCKIN ASS YOU HAVE NO FEELINGS YOU'RE APOLOGIZING TO AN INANIMATE OBJECT MY DUDE!

-So this is obviously after DWIT, cause of Remus’ appearances and Logan’s ownage of being called cool. But is it right after? Or is there gonna be a prequel type video next that happens before this and exactly after DWIT?

-Thomas being sad hurts me.

-Did I mention how much I LOVE THAT THEY’RE JUST CHILLING WATCHING A MOVIE HOW OFTEN DO THEY DO THIS!?

-Logan drinking his... coffee? Kinda drinking it. If they taste what Thomas tastes(??) does it happen the other way around? Probably not right? Or is it one of those things where it’s a phantom taste or craving type situation?

-Roman lounging on a bean bag chair in front of an actual chair, yea same.

-BUT ALSO VIRGIL SITTING ON THE BACK OF THE COUCH. I do that too much, or like on the arm.

-Logan just fuckin wearing dress shoes like they’re not just at home on the couch watching a movie.

[cowandcalf]

Meta on Steve aka "Smooth Dog" – a short character study

Steve McGarrett and his way with women. The answer to this you'll find in his youth.

In season 10, Steve reveals an uncharacteristic streak we haven't seen so far. He's uncomfortable and insecure when it comes to the task to ask a woman out on a date. He's downright shy and he squirms as if the assignment he needs to face is too big and an emotional steeplechase. He likes to take things slow. He wants to wait for the right moment and he hates being pushed because he kind of isn't ready. At all.

And the reason why he hits this invisible wall as a grown adult in his forties is because he has never had to learn how to do it. It's his first time ever that he needs to be charming, forthcoming and that he has to dig up courage to approach a woman and to ask her out. What Steve experiences Danny has undergone in his youth as a teenager. And I guess, most of the grown men from the Five-0 task force made the same experience as Danny. But not Steve. Steve has never had to fight for attention or to fight for being seen.

If you want to understand why Steve acts quite insecure when it comes to women and asking them out for a date you have to go way back into the years of his youth.

Actually, I start with Steve in High School. Steve's a jock. Steve's a quarterback. Steve's the best quarterback Kukui High has ever had. Steve's a star! He's the most wanted guy at school. He's the secret dream of almost every girl (for sure also the dream of some female teachers) which visits Kukui High.

Steve might be a shy teenager. He might have some difficulties to act cool and collected around girls. He might be blushing and stuttering and he might also hide behind the back of his friends he hangs out with. He eats in the cantina, and he might have no idea what to talk about with girls who always giggle and glance his way. He has Mary as a bar and he doesn't even understand his little sister. He fights with her and he knows she's a girl and that he loves different stuff. But her world is quite a mystery to him. He rather sticks around with his friends and pals, his surfer guys and his ohana.

Yes, they're at the beach. They surf, they meet girls. It's normal to see everyone in swim trunks and bikinis, to be in the water, to chill together. Everything comes very naturally.

But the most important puzzle piece is Steve the quarterback! Steve, the jock! Steve the outstanding, good-looking, very handsome, super trained, awesome talented and super cute jock! Steve is hot as fuck! He's a dream version of the beach boy, surfer boy comes true.

Hawaii, High School, Football – the holy trinity. And the king is Steve, like their famous, undefeated quarterback. He even pulverizes all of Chin's school records. He's even more famous. Steve is the freaking catch!! Even if he feels uncomfortable with the fame he has to carry and he has to deal with. I'm so sure he also loves it because all girls (and boys and teachers, male and female) admire him. Look up to him, love him, cheer for him, drool over him… damn, Steve's the jackpot!

And he knows it!

Steve works out tons. He looks fabulous. Tanned skin for miles and miles, trained, hard abs, a radiant smile, a shy attitude, fierceness on the gridiron, determined and dedicated to his task. He's a freaking wet dream for every teenage girl in the schoolyard.

And then there are Friday nights! Play nights! It's football madness and this adrenaline rush that comes with the great entrance of the player who fight for Kukui High. The boys are warriors out on the field. They get celebrated like kings! The crowd is cheering and Steve kicks ass on the field. He pushes his team to the max, makes them win.

He's a fucking badass and a sexy star!

And guess what? On the benches, at the sidelines, in the spectator area, there are girls as far as the eye can reach. They scream they cry, they cheer and they yell Steve's name. And some of them have banners with Steve's name on it and hearts! And don't forget the cheerleaders! Wow! Sexy girls, trained and skilled and so into their football team they support. And there's always the cheerleader queen who normally gets to win the quarterback of the football team.

I'm so sure of it, Steve got kissed many times after a game. He never had to fight for attention. No, on the contrary, he was almost harassed with attention, with praises and with girls who would love to have sex with him, kiss him, flirt with him. Steve is always surrounded by girls who want to be near him because he's the star quarterback of Kukui High.

The girls surround him in clusters!

And if a girl behaves difficult, demands too much, Steve moves on to the next one. He's young. He's bursting with strength and testosterone! He can have any girl he wants. He can have the High School cheerleader queen. That's the jackpot, man!

Smooth Dog is on his way.

Now, change of scenery. His mother dies. He and Mary get send away. A tragedy takes place and alters Steve's soul. His emotional growth comes to an abrupt halt. He swallows the pain and hurt, fear and emotional agony because his father sends him off to the mainland.

A terrible, hard path starts for young, carefree Steve. The lingering sadness gets added to his character and the hard gushes caused by emotional pain never really heal. He learns to deal with it. He might withdraw and be for himself. I'm sure at Carlsberg he hides behind sports and physical exhaustion to find some peace, to set his mind to rest. He's a brilliant student and once he accepts his fate he digs his heel into the ground and just takes off because that's how he's wired.

He moves on. He grows into a strong, quiet, wonderful young man. His energy is radiant. He's surrounded by this faint hint of adventure, sadness, and strength. Warriors and heroes are made from that material. Steve's breathtakingly handsome. And he wants to be a SEAL.

I guess he has some girls, who are interested in him. But his mother's death and the separation of his family still eats at his soul. He doesn't have the strength or the interest to deal with a relationship.

And suddenly he's together with strong, young, hungry men. They fight to get through BUD/s. They all have one goal. He sees his comrades fail. He knows only the strongest survive. Steve's a fighter. And he has to prove something to himself.

The deep-rooted doubt is eating at the bones of his soul. His father has sent him away – his only son. Is he loved? Why can't he be with his father? Has he disappointed his father in some sort? Steve will never ever again be free in his heart and his soul because deep down he thinks he has failed as a son.

And the only thing he can do is to be the best, the strongest, the fucking elite guy who proves everyone that he's the one! That he can beat nature and his own will. Every supervisor, every chief, every boss, every drill sergeant turns into his father and he wants to make them proud.

Until he finds Joe and Joe guides him and Steve's hungry, empty heart can rest a bit. But it never really heals.

SEALs are impressive. They are strong and a women's magnet. Steve's a man and he also needs sex, wants sex, has sex. He's healthy and everything is a freaking challenge for him. I'm sure he bets with his friends and SEAL buddies which girl he takes home tonight. He doesn't have to go looking. Again, the girls and the women hunt them. The female gender gets drawn to strong warriors, lonesome fighters with this handsomeness and this sad streak around the eyes. Steve's a jackpot once again.

Smooth Dog is born.

And he doesn't treat the female sex so nicely. He grows up in a world where orders, obeying and giving orders, asking for obedience is on the daily agenda. He serves and he has one aim. To be a SEAL, to be an elite soldier. He will get forged in hell of terrible training schedules and exclusive ops and drills and exercises and deployments.

Women and how to deal with them happen on the sideline. Steve can't develop the finesse that's needed to really deal with the female sex. He gets to know the women who also join the Navy and the military. And those are just as many exceptions to the rules as every other person in this military world. It's a unique universe with different rules and laws.

And Steve doesn't have any difficulties to find a way to flirt and to be with a woman because he's again a star. He's a SEAL. He's special and hot and an incredible catch. Steve doesn't really pay attention to it. Because his focus is on the task, on the ops, on the mission, and on his brothers.

And there are some adventures we know of. He's not interested in a relationship. Even though, Steve's emotional and he falls quickly for someone, the pull towards to serve his country is way bigger. He doesn't want to settle.

And then he meets Catherine. And Catherine endures a lot of Steve's demanding attitude. The way he uses her for his own good, for his work as the head of Five-0 demands a meta on its own. Cath just bears and takes everything Steve's dishes out. He's not always so friendly and nice and loving with Catherine. But he doesn't have to work for it either. Catherine is there, always, whenever Steve calls, and orders and demands, she delivers. They end up in a relationship Steve doesn't really work for. It just happens.

(Not gonna move further into this direction. That's for another time.)

So, let's sum this up.

The whole tragedy ends with the way Cath and Steve break up. Steve starts to realize what kind of a woman (in a good way) he has had over all those years. But he missed out so many clear signs. Anyway, he's alone again and for the first time in like forever he realizes there are not that many women just gathering around him without him doing something for it.

But he's still young and bursting with energy and strength. And he meets Lynn and their first date goes down like a freaking drill on a paintball weekend. Steve has fun. He's the hero again and Lynn is smitten and just a frightened and a bit in shock. Lynn teaches Steve that he has to give his fair bit to this relationship and Steve also learns with Lynn that he can't just move on like he always has.

Lynn is a breaking point where Steve realizes for the first time that getting a woman is work, keeping her is even harder work and having a well-functioning relationship is almost impossible to manage. It dawns on him that it's not all for granted, that there are women who give zero fuck about a Smooth Dog in cargo pants. They want a man, a boyfriend, who can talk, who doesn't forget Valentine's Day and who loves to go shopping with them.

Steve's not happy. He's flustered, and bewildered and a bit in shock and he doesn't deal with it.

The years move on, time flies by and he undergoes terrible injuries and terrible losses. Ten years is a long time.

But one day he finds himself sitting at the table and drinking his coffee while he tries to ignore the pain in his bones and he asks himself how the fuck does he make a woman go on a date with him.

And suddenly, Steve doesn't have the support any more of being quarterback, being a young warrior, being SEAL, being the tough head of the task force. He's older, he has issues and the women in his world are emotionally grown and very demanding in a way he has never ever delivered.

So, that's how Steve ends up standing in the dog park with Danny and kind of gets cold feet. He just doesn't know how to deal with it. It's like he's living it backward and experiences all the insecurities others go through when they are teenagers. Steve has never learned how to really win a woman over just with being Steve.

And last but not least. The first person who doesn't take the shit Steve dishes out, who isn't impressed by all his awards and highly decorated Navy career, is one Danny Williams, highly decorated Detective himself. And that's where another story begins.

[musicnoots]

Ice Cream and Aliens - Storming Area 51 (3/3)

Band of Brothers

A/N: The final part. Enjoy I’m tired

Synopsis: After the successful raid on Area 51, the boys head out to eat ice cream and reflect on their adventure.

Part 1 Part 2

Tags: @gottapenny @croatianbagudna @higgles123 @wexhappyxfew @dustyjjumpwings @bandofmarvels @medievalfangirl @curraheev @those-dusty-jump-wings

After the guys stormed Area 51 successfully, the first place they headed to was to the nearest ice cream parlor. Dick wanted to go home, but then Ron said that he could just walk home while the others went to get ice cream, so he complied.

The escape from the highly classified area was very hectic, for most people. Buck’s group ended up leaving first because they got bored looking at all of the shiny scrap metal being displayed on the shelves, but the real reason was because Joe tried to fight the guards for Web. After thirty minutes of him complaining about missing Web and how they shouldn’t have sacrificed him like that, he made a run for it while Buck and Harry were busy taking things and shoving them into their pockets. Joe really didn’t make it that far—he started screaming at the first guard he saw and threaten to punch him as Buck tried to pry the man off the guard’s face. However, not too far behind them, Web was sitting on the floor, being useless while detained by the guards and when Joe saw that, he ran for him, and that was the end of it.

For the other group, their escape wasn’t the smoothest, but at least they left before the guards and security could arrest them. It was after Lewis’ sixteenth photo with the alien specimen that they decided to leave, pockets full of alien stickers and keychains for their friends back home. A lot of them were for George because they felt bad for not inviting him to the trip. They also tried to find an alien toothbrush for Perconte but to no avail. Unfortunately, the group left when Liebgott was dragging Web back to the exit by his hair with Buck and Harry following close behind, screaming Hi-ho silver bitches! Web, c’mon! We’re getting out of here! Bill and Joe followed in pursuit, wanting to leave as soon as possible while Lewis tried to get Ron out of here. The thing is—Ron locked the vault door, so he could have some meditation with the aliens surrounding him, to become one with the aliens.

The boys came sprinting back into the car, filing in like high schoolers trying to get into the lunch line thirty seconds after the bell rang. Lipton took a quick count of the boys, his hand on the wheel and foot on the gas before realizing that Ron hadn’t come back with them.

Fifteen seconds later, they all saw Ron run out of the facility with an alien. An alien. A full grown extraterrestrial that was running side-to-side with Ron as he was its mother.

He didn’t say anything about it when he got inside the car, demanding that Dick get in the backseat because he wanted to sit in the front. Lip floored it out of there, but not driving that fast because he still wanted to obey the speed limit there. He doesn’t want to get a parking ticket.

It was ten minutes on their journey back home that Lip asked Ron what he brought back, and he simply said Alien and that was the end of the conversation.

Now, the men were sitting at three conjoined tables at the nearest ice cream parlor for a small snack after their alien hunting adventure in the scorching Nevada heat. Lipton originally asked everyone to share two big sundaes, but then everyone decided on their own single scoop orders, so he paid for all of them because he didn’t want anyone to feel left out. The most expensive of those orders was Bill who decided it was a good idea to get a deluxe banana split sundae with extra whipped cream.

“I can’t believe you ate all of it,” Buck said to Bill, who was still scraping the bottom of the bowl with his spoon even though there was literally nothing else. “So I take that you guys had a helluva time there?”

“Pfft, I wish. We got aliens in jars, but Nixon wouldn’t stop talkin’ ‘bout his boyfriend,” Joe said, and they looked at Lewis, who was currently showing Dick every photo he took and going in depth about each one while the red-haired major mixed his mango sorbet with his spoon while nodding and mumbling Yes, Nix, that sounds wonderful over and over again.

“At least you got something interesting. All we got was random metal scraps and Lieb complaining about us leavin’ Web. I mean, we had to leave him! He wouldn’t have done anything!”

“I’m right here,” Web, who was sitting right next to Buck said.

“Yeah, and you should know that you would have been useless in that situation.”

“I’m not useless! I graduated from Harvard!”

“Boy, you literally thought we were going to the beach,” Buck said, focusing on his ice cream again before leaning over to Web’s ear. “And I graduated from UCLA, you smart ass bitch.”

Lieb patted his friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Web, don’t listen to him. He probably pours milk before the cereal.”

Web shrugged him off in annoyance. “How does that make me feel better? You make me feel like an idiot!”

“I know, but you’re my idiot. Also, you did think we were going to the beach, you dumb.”

Webster flail his arms in the air. “You were the one who told me that!”

Ever since they got Webster back, Liebgott has been all over him like never before. The last time this happened was when Web was gone for a couple of months to finish his education at Harvard, and when he came back, Joe would not let him go. Literally. He wouldn’t let Web leave the house without him, turn on the stove without adult supervision, or talk to strangers because stranger danger.

His attachment to the Harvard graduate was not as extreme as Ron’s attachment to his new alien.

“Do you like strawberry? Is that what you got?” he asked the alien, and it nodded. Yes, even the alien got a scoop of ice cream. The alien’s ice cream was actually on the house because when the cashier asked for it to pay, Ron simple flicked open his pocket knife on the counter as a threat. “That’s great. I think strawberry is a bit too sweet for my tastes, but I the rocky road is really good, too.”

It was really uncomfortable whenever Ron spoke to the alien, let alone the alien’s presence. When he said that he was going to get an alien and bring it home, everyone was scared. Even Dick feared for the worse. But Ron did get the alien like he said was going to, and it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He has won the game of life. He can retire peacefully knowing that he accomplished something no one can ever.

“Do I need to get the guest room ready when we get back home?” Lip asked.

Ron nodded, eyes still fixated on the alien eating the ice cream. “Yes, please. Also, can you bake cinnamon rolls when we get back?”

Lipton sighed. It wasn’t the alien that stressed him out, it was the cinnamon rolls. They’re just too damn hard to make. “Of course, Ron. Does your friend want any? Should I bake extra?”

“Are we just going to sit here and not acknowledge the fact that Speirs brought a freakin’ alien back?” Web yelled, gathering everyone's attention.

“Web, lower your voice,” Dick warned. He knew Ron too well to know what was going to happen. Guns blazing. Knives on the dining table. Police cars in the front. It was all too familiar, unfortunately. “We’re in a public place.”

However, Web would not shut his trap. He almost stood up, for Christ’s sake. “Wha—How in the world did I get sacrificed for this? You all saw Speirs push me into the guards just to distract them, didn’t you? He didn’t even go with you guys! He went his own way!”

“Well, Speirs is actually helpful, unlike you,” Harry said, mouth full of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

“Oh, you like mint chocolate chip ice cream—what do you know?”

“Pipe the fuck down, nerd,” Bill popped in, almost ready to lash out and beat up the poor kid. “Ron did something none of us could have done, and you have the fuckin’ audacity to even open your pothole? Trick ass bitch—how dare you? He came and conquered, and you got detained and did nothing about it.”

“I am a child of the law.”

“Nerd!”

“Pfft. Whatever. Aliens aren’t real anyways. Ron probably got a mechanical alien.”

That was the breaking point. Ron had enough of hearing this nonsense coming from someone who wasn’t even present to see all of the wonders or Area 51, someone who was much more interested in sharks rather than the glorious creature that are aliens.

Everyone was silent for a brief moment. Dick was waiting for the guns to come out—thank God Chuck didn’t come, or else he’ll have the big guns. Lip was getting ready to restrain Ron, and Buck was unusually nervous which is impossible. He can’t be nervous, he’s Buck Compton!

Ron reached over and slapped Web’s cup of ice cream off the table and onto the floor, the ice cream spilling out of the cup and onto the floor.

“No cinnamon rolls for you,” he said and sat back down.

Web froze. He was dumbfounded, mouth open waiting for the flies to come. It was like his entire world fell apart with that ice cream cup, and all he could feel was Joe’s hand rubbing pentagons on his back, telling him It’s okay, you deserved it, but it’s okay. No one’s perfect.

Meanwhile, Lewis was still trying to explain every photo he took in the facility to Dick. Each photo took him five to twenty-seven minutes to explain because Lewis wanted to go in depth and tell Dick about the background, how he felt, what it’d feel like if he was physically there, and how annoying Bill and Joe were in that moment.

“See, here—” he leaned closer to show him the photo on the camera, “I took a photo with this jar of alien specimen. It looks the same as the last one, but it’s not! This one had more alien juice, and you could see Joe’s thumb in the corner because he clearly doesn’t know how to use a camera and—hello? Dick?” He snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “Hey! You’re not paying attention! Pay attention to me!”

Dick was mesmerized by the presence of an alien in the same room as him. He was a nonbeliever, but after seeing it in the flesh eating ice cream, he’s not even sure if he can trust himself! I mean, Ron’s wiping the alien’s mouth of ice cream as they speak. This was the weirdest moment in his life, and he’s not sure if he likes it or not. He’s too scared to answer that.

“Dick!”

He snapped out of his trance when Lewis violently shook his shoulders. “Huh? Oh, sorry...just looking at the...alien.”

“Oh, so the alien is more interesting than me?”

“Well, if you put it that way...” he hesistantly nodded, “yeah. Yeah, Nix, it is.”

Lewis frowned, heartbroken and shocked because he never thought Dick would say that. He thought he was the most interesting thing in Dick’s life. “Oh...okay. But can I keep showing you the pictures I took?”

Dick sighed. “Nix, all fhe photos you showed me are the same—do you have any photos with the aliens themselves?”

“No.”

Dick almost choked on air, and he wishes he did. He stared at Nix like he was a crazed man, like he was a big fat liar that dragged him all the way to Nevada for an alien hunting party but came back with pictures of aliens but not the damn alien itself! “So you’re telling me that you kidnapped me and dragged me to the middle of Nevada for the aliens but didn’t actually meet or touch an actual alien?”

Lewis smiled sweetly.

“I am leaving,” Dick groaned before Lewis pounced on him, keeping him from escaping.

“No!” he exclaimed. “Don’t leave! If you wanted an alien for yourself, you could have just told me instead of acting mad.”

“No, that’s not what I meant—“

“Lip, start the car! We’re going back to Area 51 just for Dick!”

This time, Lewis made sure to take Dick with him to see the aliens.

[teaboot]

Hi there! I want to ask you something, but feel completely free to not do so if it makes you uncomfortable ok? It's because my best friend comes from an abusive house, and I just wanted to understand better about this uncomfortable feeling you mentioned in your last post, if it's ok :)

A warning in advance for discussion of abuse.

The experience of being in an abusive situation as a child is different for everyone, and I can only truly speak for myself.

For me, the process of realizing it WAS abusive took the longest time- much longer than it took to realize instinctively that something about it wasn't normal.

From my memories of being a young child, my first sort of awareness that I was being treated unfairly was when I was tasked with chores, and no matter how hard I worked or for how long, somehow it was never *done*. Cleaning my room, my parent would come in, take a look, and tell me, "it's a good start".

That was the first time I was conciousness aware of my parent being unfair. The first time their actions weren't automatically rationalized as 'they're the adult, they're doing the right thing' before I had the chance to actually think about it. That was an important step, and I was about five years old when the concept occurred to me: my best work does not impress them. They expect more. I must try harder.

From there came a greater awareness, but no deeper understanding. They would yell when work wasn't completed, despite not having made it clear what work was expected. A common order was, "if you see something that needs doing, do it". Perhaps an expectation an employers may have of an employee, but in hindsight, not a fair standard to set for a child of six years.

My solution? The first experiment, and the first act of rebellion: Be Perfect, Always, All The Time. It seemed simple. Do everything I could think of to 'be good', to the absolute maximum letter of the law, and if they came to yell anyways, I could ask them why, and they wouldn't have an answer. They would feel foolish, I would be validated as a good child, all would be right in the world.

It turns out that perfection is impossible. Nobody had told me that at the time, do that was a fun discovery. Not only that, but no matter how close I came to it, it still wasn't enough; even while actively focusing my efforts to be the quietest, politest, hardest-working child, nothing was good enough.

Slowly, over a period of years, I came to the conclusion that meeting their expectations was beyond my ability, and that their praise or approval wasn't something I had any real hope of attaining.

Even then, though, they weren't abusive. Not in my eyes, at least. Abuse was something unspeakably horrifying, not something normal and boring and everyday as simply having high expectations, strict rules, a harsh tone, no respect for personal boundaries, regular threats of bodily harm, invasions of privacy...That wasn't abuse. That was Tuesday, 3:30 PM. The concept of 'abuse' was like... Something that happened to other people, like house fires or car accidents or cancer. They were things that I sort of knew existed, in an abstract way, but not things I associated with myself.

I read a lot of books, growing up. Looking back, it was probably escapism. I woke up to read, read on the bus to school, read during class, during recess, after class, on the bus home, at home, before dinner, after dinner, outside, inside, in the bathroom, in bed, under the covers, and while dreaming. When I was punished, sometimes I wasn't allowed to read. Sometimes my books were confiscated. Once they came into my room and pulled everything out of my bookshelf and onto the floor, then left me to clean up the mess. Books and fantasy were my life more than my life was my life. Later, as I started writing, I'd lose that, too. Stories were the best things in the world, and they became an odd sort of arms race.

It was while reading that I learned the most important things I know and where I adopted my favourite parts of myself- An awareness of others. A respect for strength and perseverance. A resolve to withstand pain and hardship. Self-sacrifice. Kindness. Maturity. Determination.

Books were where I looked to find people I admired, and where I learned to recognize the behaviors of a villain.

Interestingly enough, the characters I wanted to be like and the characters that turned out to be evil did not coincide. At all. In fact, the person I looked up to who acted most like the villains did lived in my house.

So, something was obviously wrong. As the internet came within reach, I had access to stories my library didn't have: fictionpress.net and fanfictiction.net; stories written by people my age for people my age. And a lot of stories discussed things like depression, child abuse, suicidal ideation, self-harm, isolation, etcetera.

Which blew my goddamn mind, because holy shit. Holy shit, that's me. Why is it tagged 'abuse'? That happened to me. Am I being abused? I don't have it THAT bad. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion.

Better look up the dictionary definition of 'abusive behavior' just in case. And 'clinical depression', because geez that seems familiar.

Cue two to four years of on-again-off-again obsessive research into long and short term effects of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse, as well as how to recognize abusive and manipulative behavior in others.

This all led to a very quiet, nagging, persistant realization: Holy shit, am I being abused?

Yes. Yes I was. My parents refused to acknowledge that anything was outside the ordinary, but I became aware of it. Threats. Gaslighting. Holding friends, family, and pets hostage as a tool of control. The physical isolation. The unreasonable standards. The hair-pulling, slapping, grabbing, humiliation, name-calling. Not just me deserving something terrible, but actions I didn't deserve that never should have happened.

And then one day, I went camping.

And somewhere nearby, I heard a father and his daughter arrive in their car to their own campsite, right next door.

And I hear him tell her, "Wow, we made it! Let's have a hug for the trip!"

Nonsense. Long drives happen. Why does that deserve a hug? Sappy and ridiculous.

Then the kid starts running around and screaming. Obviously shitting themselves with excitement. Being a nuisance. Disturbing the quiet. Running ruckshot, not helping the father set up camp at all.

And instead of telling her to shut up and be more considerate, or giving her a job to keep her busy, or hissing something else, he just... Let her. And it was annoying. Irritating. An aggravation that got under my skin like nothing else, because I never would have gotten away with that kind of behavior.

Hell, I never would have considered acting like that at her age. What was she, seven or so? Eight? I knew better at her age. That sort of shreiking and horseplay would have gotten me slapped, and I would have deserved it for being such an obnoxious, ignorant little puke.

Then I realized I wasn't breathing.

I wasn't moving.

I was sitting perfectly still, in a tent, in the middle of the woods, all alone, waiting to jump in.

Waiting to run out into the next camp and intervene.

Because soon enough he was going to get sick of playing the fun dad, and he was going to start screaming, and then he was going to hit her, and I'd have to stop him and make sure she was safe, because she was just a small little kid who was happy to be there and he was a grown ass man who knew better and if he so much as stepped harshly in her direction then I was going to tear his lungs out through his fucking throat, because she doesn't deserve that.

Because she's just being a kid.

Because I was just a kid.

So why did it happen to me?

I spent the rest of my time there hiding in my tent, one part too scared of my own shadow to come out and maybe actually see these people or God forbid talk to them and have to act like I wasn't losing my mind being within a thousand miles of them and an equal part ready to sprint out at a moment's notice if things got ugly the way I was used to.

And through the tarp I heard laughing, and jokes, and the father mentioning a mom coming to visit who apparently shared custody and still stayed friends, and a few more requests for a hug, and the girl put up some arguments over bedtime here and there but not even once did the father even raise his voice.

The screaming never came.

On Sunday morning, they packed up and left, and I never even saw their faces.

It's been a few years since then. I started therapy. Started keeping a journal. Work on cognitive behavioral homework so I can recognize when I'm being a bad parent to myself, so I can be kinder and more aware of my thoughts and actions. It's helped a lot. I still remember things sometimes that bother me, but they don't affect me the way they used to, and I'm not the scared and angry person I used to be.

So, yeah. Seeing something normal and healthy when you're not expecting it can be a bit of a jolt, and it can be a bit extra distressing if you're alone and unprepared.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it helps

[lovemesomerafael]

El Amor Todo Lo Puede          Chapter 56:  Home

Source:  @peter-stone

Chapters 1-55

Laura knocked quietly on the door of Lucia’s apartment in the Bronx, feeling a strange mixture of excitement and sadness.  They had kept in touch, of course, for the two years Laura had been away, although after those first, hellish months, they hadn’t spoken quite as often.  Laura fully expected that they would spend time during this visit crying over their mutual loss, and she didn’t dread that. In fact, she and Lucia hadn’t been able to hug while they cried in all the time Laura had been gone.  Since the crying part was probably inevitable, Laura thought it would be nice to be able to put her arms around Rafael’s mother while they shared their pain.  

Lucia had tried to understand Laura’s need to run away.  At first, she had been confused and a bit hurt that Laura wouldn’t be in New York, where they could comfort one another.  Over the two weeks after Rafi’s death, however, as they had worked feverishly together to do all the horrible tasks that have to be done when someone dies, Lucia had seen in Laura a fear that she herself didn’t feel.  Laura was not only grieving the past, she was also terrified of the future.  Lucia wasn’t. Partly, the difference was that Laura was young, and had to figure out who to be, now that she had been left without the partner she’d chosen to spend her life with.  Rafael’s death had fundamentally changed who Laura was.  That wasn’t true for Lucia.  Losing her child, adult though he had been, didn’t change Lucia’s identity as his mother.  The other difference was that having another child wasn’t an option for Lucia, so she didn’t have to find the courage to try again.  

Over the past two years, something had happened that neither of them had expected.  As much as they had liked being mother- and daughter-in-law, they found that they also enjoyed being friends.  Lucia still felt motherly toward Laura, who also loved Lucia like a second mother.  But helping one another through their greatest loss had also forged a deep, lasting friendship between them as women.  Rafael was always there, between them, a shared love that united them.  But they found that, slowly and in stages, their conversations branched out to involve the rest of their lives, as well.  It was a lovely connection that allowed them to keep Rafael close – the two women who had loved him the most – and also allowed each of them to enjoy the other for her own sake.

When Lucia opened the door, she and Laura hugged (and cried) for a very long time before Laura even crossed the threshold.

 *************

Dinner at Amanda’s had started at breakfast time.  Laura wanted to spend as much time as possible with her friends from SVU, so they’d arranged to meet at the zoo in Central Park, where the kids could play while the parents talked.  Laura was shocked by how much they’d grown; both Fin’s grandson, Jaden, and Amanda’s daughter, Billie, were talking already.  They weren’t speaking full sentences, but they were certainly able to make their needs known.  Amanda’s daughter Jessie and Olivia’s son Noah both had vague memories that they had an “Aunt Lala”, but had really been too young to remember Laura.  It was great fun to get re-acquainted with them, and to discover Jaden’s and Billie’s personalities, made easier by the fact that Sonny Carisi was, by far, the kids’ favorite person and knew everything about them.   As soon as they saw that Sonny liked Laura, they decided to like her, too.  

While the older kids ran around like maniacs and the littler ones alternated between mania and meltdowns, the adults caught up.  Laura had cried as soon as she saw Fin, which she’d known she would.  He tried to play it cool, but the tightness of his hug and the amount of time it lasted told her he was just as glad to see her.

“Any idea what you’re gonna do when you get back to Chicago?”  He asked.

“I have a few leads.  I really loved the work I did for the feds; I might want to do something with computer crimes.  Or maybe I’ll go to the dark side and make a mint working in cybersecurity.  Regular hours, no one shoots at me…”

“Yeah, but you’d never get to go off on anyone.  Remember Reginald Skoggs?  You love that shit,”  Fin laughed.

“Oh, man, I haven’t thought about him in years.  But you’re right, that was fun.  Remember I had to change my clothes before Barba saw all the blood?”  

Fin laughed at that, too, and Laura noticed that the whole group seemed to relax a little, knowing that it was all right to mention Rafael’s name.  

“What I remember is you still owe me fifty bucks for not tellin’ Barba what you did.”  

Laura feigned a blank look.  “I don’t remember that.”

“Yeah, sure you don’t.”  Fin threw an arm around her neck and gave her a rough hug.  “Punk-ass kid.”  

All morning and afternoon, the SVU detectives shared stories of cases they’d worked and listened as Laura told them what she’d been doing.  Laura wanted to hear every story about the kids.  They had so much to talk about that it was actually after lunch by the time the conversation neared the subject of Rafael’s murder.

Olivia moved so that she was walking next to Laura while they headed toward the Polar Circle, where the penguins – the kids’ favorite - lived.  

“I thought we’d get to see you for Randolph’s trial.  I wasn’t surprised to see him plead out, but I was sorry to miss out on a visit from you.”  

“Thanks, Lieu. I knew he’d take a plea.  McCoy was going to bury him no matter what, so I think he just figured he’d save himself the trouble.  For a sweet man, Jack McCoy can be a scary SOB when he’s crossed.”

“Yes, he can,” Olivia agreed.  

“Anyway, it was better that way.  I really wasn’t ready to come back until pretty recently.  In fact, I might have stayed longer, except…”

“Yeah, I heard. You know, until Rollins told me the whole story, I just thought you and Stone were oddly close.”  

“And you were right about that,” Laura laughed.  

While Jaden and Billie napped hard in their strollers, Fin sat with them and napped a little, too. Liv and Amanda kept a close eye on Jessie and Noah, and Laura and Carisi stood leaning on poured concrete rocks, watching the penguins.  

“So I’m looking at all these kinds of penguins, particularly the macaroni penguin, which is really the coolest of penguinkind, and I’m thinkin’ that right there is evidence that God has a sense of humor.”

“Hmmmm. Deep, Carisi.  I don’t disagree, but I’m thinking whoever named them macaroni penguins gets an honorable mention.”

“Yeah, I could go there,” Sonny shrugged.  “And since you didn’t throw me over these rocks into the water, I hope that means that maybe you and God have made up a little?”  

Laura thought for a minute.  “There was this priest in Stockholm, Father Piär. He helped.  Probably not as much as you, but he did OK.”  She bumped Carisi fondly with her shoulder.  

“I don’t know that I helped any, but thanks.”

“Sure you did.  And I appreciate it.  I owe you.” Laura didn’t want the day to turn maudlin, so she changed the subject.  “So I noticed in your emails, you never mentioned any dates.  You didn’t become a monk or something, did you?”  

“Nah,” Sonny blushed.  “I just like to play things close to the vest, y’know?”

“Well, don’t. Tell me.  I want to know you’re happy.”

The smile on Sonny’s face, and the crinkles around his bright blue eyes told Laura that he would never want for romantic companionship for long.  “There’s no one special right now, but…  I’ve kinda been thinkin’ I’m getting a little old for dates.  Dean got married, you know.”

“I hadn’t heard that!”

“Yeah, married a surgeon.  They’re in L.A. now.  Anyway, I’ve been thinking I might be in the market for someone, you know, more permanent.”

“Any candidates?”

“Not right now. But who knows?”

“Just don’t get serious about anyone until I get to check them out.  Don’t rely solely on Amanda’s judgment.”

“If I have to wait until Amanda approves someone, I might as well hang it up right now.”

The rest of the afternoon went on like that, everyone enjoying the day and Laura getting a chance to talk one-on-one with each of them.

At dinner, there was plenty of wine and entirely too much food.  Sonny made something no one could pronounce, but it was so good everyone ate until they couldn’t possibly take one more bite.  Lucia joined them, and they all enjoyed themselves.  To Laura, it felt as though she’d never been away, which was just a little bittersweet, because it meant she kept expecting Rafael to walk in at any time.  

There was a sweet moment when Olivia was telling a story about an argument she and Rafael had, and Noah asked, “Is Rafael the same as Uncle Rafa?”  

Olivia told him that he was.

“I ‘member him,” Noah said.  “He used to sing the pirate song.”  

As much as Laura had needed to leave New York to escape the constant reminders of Rafael, it was lovely, now that she could, to be able to talk about him with people who had known and loved him.  There were a hundred stories about funny, biting comments he had made, demonstrations of his undeniable abilities, and his courtroom coups.  Lucia told some hilarious, adorable stories about him as a child that he would never have allowed her to tell, had he been there.  They all laughed, and shed a few tears, and toasted his memory.  The entire day was as special as any of them had hoped, and it was a perfect way for Laura to acknowledge the life she had loved in New York before she went on to begin a new life back in Chicago.

Amanda waited with Laura and Lucia at the curb for their taxi back to the Bronx.  She and Laura had exchanged many hugs throughout the day, but it still didn’t feel like enough.  They sat, side by side on Amanda’s stoop, with Amanda’s arm around Laura’s shoulder.

“Just remember, you need me to shoot Stone, I can make it look like an accident.”

“I thought it was Rafael you offered to shoot.”

“It was, but you never took me up on it, so I still owe you.  But I’m kinda hopin’ you don’t ever need me to shoot Stone, either.  ‘Cuz you look happy.  And I like seein’ that.”

“Me, too.”

“You take care of yourself, Parker.  You know you always have a home here, if you want it.”

They hugged yet again, both smiling, and Amanda pulled Lucia into the hug with them.

**********

The flight from New York to Chicago had seemed very short after the flight from Stockholm. And now, Laura was home.  She smiled even as tears spilled over, looking out the window of the airplane at the familiar landscape.  

She walked through the concourse toward Baggage Claim.  She reached the main terminal, passed the security checkpoint, and descended the stairs toward the row of baggage carousels, some surrounded by people and spitting out luggage which then circled slowly, some still and silent.  She idly looked out over the scene as she walked down the stairs.

She froze on the last step, her heart doing some sort of somersault in her chest and a large swarm of butterflies taking sudden flight in her stomach.  She whispered an involuntary, "Peter."

She stood, unmoving, staring at the tall, beautiful man standing near the baggage carousel for her flight.  As always, his muscular, athletic build and his square, masculine jaw stirred a deep longing in her.  She stared almost helplessly at him, just as she had done that day years before, when she saw him in the lobby at District 21, waiting for an appointment with Sergeant Voight.  She realized with a surge of love that the pain of missing Peter was over.  She was home now, with him, and there was no longer anything to keep them apart.

His hair was longer than it had been when she’d last seen him.  It looked so good she instantly wanted to run her hands through it. Had he let it grow for her, knowing she liked it that way?  Only when he looked up at her, perhaps sensing her staring at him, did Laura take the last stair and begin to move through the crowd toward him as his face broke into a wide smile.

They didn’t say anything at first as they came face to face, just took a moment to smiled at one another before they wrapped their arms around each other in a long, contented embrace.  People looked at them, some annoyed at these fools locked in a marathon hug in the middle of baggage claim, some grinning shyly at the apparently very happy reunion. Peter and Laura ignored them all. Somewhere in the middle of their embrace, they began to share whispered “I love you’s” among heartfelt endearments.

There were plenty of kisses and laughing as they collected Laura’s luggage and walked, talking animatedly, out to Peter’s car.  With so much to carry - suitcases, Laura’s guitar, her carry-on - they hadn’t been able to hold hands or put arms around each other as they walked, and with each step, Laura found herself more aware of wanting to touch Peter.  She noticed again his hair, just a bit shaggy, and the way it made her think of him in bed.  She watched the sexy way he walked, so athletic and confident, legs wide and striding quickly.  As Peter stored the luggage in the back of a new SUV he’d purchased at some point after he’d returned from New York, Laura stood close to him, just wanting to be near him and eager to have her arms around him again.  

He slammed the gate down and pulled her to him.  As he leaned down to press his lips to hers, she breathed in his scent: a clean, masculine smell of soap and a little bit of musky cologne highlighting a warmer, savory essence that Laura thought of as just plain man.  She reached up, sliding one hand into the hair at the back of his head and using the other to hold him close.  As their mouths met in heated haste, Peter’s arms encircling Laura completely, she felt herself pressed against the back of the vehicle.  She moved her legs to more fully melt their bodies together, feeling lust overcoming her sense of anything beyond Peter. He felt warm and firm, large and muscular, the beginnings of his erection evident as he moved against her.

He broke the kiss when they started to lose control of the sounds being drawn from them and the wantonness of their hip movements.  

“Get in the car,” he growled, and they quickly separated to slide into their seats.  Before even thinking about putting on seat belts, they turned to each other and their mouths met once again for the kind of kisses they really wanted, but couldn’t indulge in publicly.  Their intimate caresses became quickly more serious, more heated, and soon they were both moaning as Peter’s tongue teased Laura’s. Minutes later, Laura slid a hand up the inside of Peter’s thigh.  

He took her hand from his leg, lifting it to his lips and kissing her fingers, chuckling.  “You missed me.”

“I missed you like crazy.  And I want you.  Let me…”

“Not here.”

“Please?  We could get in the back…”

“I am not going to have sex with you in an airport parking garage,” Peter said, a little more gruffly than he meant to, because he was having some trouble resisting her suggestion in his current agitated state.

“It wouldn’t be the first time.  I think it was even this garage.  Remember when you went -“

“That was…  We were in our twenties then.”  He consciously tried to slow his breathing.

“And?  What are you, a grown-up now?”  Laura leaned in and began kissing Peter’s neck, slipping her hand from his and reaching toward his crotch.  “Come on.  I love you, and I’ve been thinking about you nonstop.  Let me touch you…” she purred.

“Stop,” he said, laughing but taking her hand again.  “I mean it.  You can do anything you want to me when we get home.  Now behave.”

She moved back into her seat, pretending to be grumpy as she fastened her seat belt.  “Behave.  Since when have I ever behaved?”  

“Just be patient. I’ll make it worth your while.”  Peter gave her a look that did nothing to cool her arousal.  “I promise.”

Seeing that he wasn’t going to relent, Laura settled into her seat, smiling contentedly. “It’s good to be home.”

“It’s good to have you home,” Peter agreed, reaching for her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers.  

The city looked beautiful to Laura, even in the dreariness of late fall.  There was a weak sunlight through breaks in the clouds, and there were still some trees with bright fall foliage here and there. Mostly, the city looked good to her because she had been homesick.  She noticed a new building going up on the downtown skyline and pointed it out to Peter, asking where, exactly, it was.  When he told her, she scrunched up her eyebrows.  “Wait, doesn’t that mean… didn’t you miss your exit?  I thought you lived in the Fulton River District.”

“I did,” he responded, looking at the road.  “I moved.”

“You moved? You didn’t tell me you moved.  When did you move?”

“A few months ago. Didn’t I tell you?”

“No.  How do you move, and not tell me?”

“I must’ve forgot. I told you, I’ve been crazy busy these last few months.”

Laura frowned. This was strange.  Moving is not something you forget to mention.  “Where do you live now?”

“Wilmette.”

“Wilmette!  You do not.”

Peter smiled and chuckled a little, but kept his eyes on the road.  “I do, actually.  You’ll see.”

“Peter, you… that’s… I can’t believe you moved to Wilmette and didn’t tell me.”

“I thought you liked Wilmette?”

“I do.  We both do.  Remember, we used to talk about living there someday.  That’s why I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“I’m sorry, Sunshine.  Really.  I guess I thought I had.”  He lifted her hand from the console where their clasped hands had been resting and kissed it for about the hundredth time since they’d left O’Hare.

Laura shrugged slightly, but she was still uneasy.  He had told her that he’d been extremely busy over the months since he’d visited her in Stockholm, and with all that had happened between them, maybe he really had forgotten. But it still struck her as a very strange thing not to mention.

Several miles later, Peter exited the freeway and drove through the Village of Wilmette, a clean, leafy, cute midwestern town with lots of small shops and other businesses lining the streets.  He turned into a neighborhood of pretty houses, many of them brick, all set back from the street behind well-maintained front lawns with trees and shrubs.  Most of the houses had flower gardens up next to their foundations, although this late in the year there weren’t any flowers blooming.  He turned into an idyllic, peaceful street and began to slow down.

“You’re messing with me,” she said.  “You bought a house?”

“Yeah,” he said, pulling over against the curb.  “We’re here.”  

The house he pointed to was two a story brick, with copper awnings covered with verdigris over bay windows, one on either side of a rounded front door that sat at the top of a set of two steps.  There was a little patio in front of the door with wrought iron railings on either side. There was a chimney to one side, and it looked like there was another chimney at the back.  Peter got out of the car and came around to open Laura’s door as she simply sat and stared.

“Do you like it?”  He asked, a sweet, expectant smile on his face that almost hid a glint of mischief in his eyes.  

Laura stepped out onto the curb and stood, looking at the charming house.  “You didn’t forget to tell me you bought a house.”

He shrugged, pleased with her reaction.  “Maybe not. Maybe I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Peter, this is your house?  It’s beautiful!  It’s perfect! You really live here?”

“Got the mortgage to prove it,” he said, taking her hand.  “C’mon.  I want to show it to you.  We’ll get the luggage later.”  

When they reached the door, he opened it and then turned to her and lifted her up with one arm behind her back and one behind her legs.  

“What are you doing?”

“I’m carrying you over the threshold.”

All Laura could think to do was laugh.  This was… bizarre.  Unreal.

They stood in a small foyer with a flagstone floor, a little table with a lamp on it just inside.  Something about the table or the lamp, or maybe both, looked familiar to her, but she was so curious to see Peter’s house that she didn’t give it much thought.  The foyer gave onto a short hallway.

The first room they came to was a formal living room with a couch and some wingback chairs arranged around a fireplace.  There was something about the room that seemed…  Then she noticed the painting of a cottage in the English countryside over the fireplace. 

“I have that same painting,” she said, her voice a little unsure.  “I’ve never noticed that in your apartments, did you just get it?”

“Sort of.  Let me show you the rest of the house.”

He led her past the living room to the end of the short hall, which opened onto a large, sunny great room at the back of the house.  The room had a pleasant kitchen separated by a span of granite countertop from a family area with another fireplace.  Laura was astounded, her head swimming at the surprise of Peter owning a house in Wilmette, and the perfectness of the house itself.  

“Oh, Peter, this is great!  It’s… I love it!  Is this actually a wood-burning fireplace?”

“Yep.”  

Again, Laura had an odd feeling about the room.  It seemed like she’d been there before. 

“This is so weird.  I’m having the weirdest sense of déjà vu.  I know I’ve never been here before…  Holy shit, I know what it is!”

She turned to him to find him grinning like a fool. 

“Peter, your house is just like the one we used to talk about.  Remember?  When we lived in that fifth-floor walk-up in Evanston.  Now all you need is a dog named Marshall.”

Peter, now actually laughing, cocked his head toward a sliding glass door that led from the kitchen out to a patio.  “Back yard.” 

Laura felt herself go numb.  Her eyes got big and she just stood where she was, a confused expression on her face.  Her voice was shaky as she asked, “What’s going on?”

Peter went to the door and opened it.  “Come on.  Meet Marshall.”

She almost stumbled as she moved, uncertain and overwhelmed, over to him.  He put an arm around her back, enjoying every second of her reaction, but a little worried this might all be a bit too much.  He led her out onto the wooden patio, which had two sets of steps down to a small back yard shielded from any neighbors by high hedges.  She noticed movement to one side, and her eyes fixed on a red doghouse from which a Yellow Labrador Retriever puppy was sleepily emerging.  The puppy saw Peter and ran to the stairs, a little small yet to climb them easily. 

“Oh, look at you!  You’re so cute!”  Laura hurried over to pick up the puppy, who immediately began to lick all over her face.  She looked at Peter, eyes still wide, confusion and disbelief still very much evident.  “How old is he?”

“She is about three months old.”

“You named a girl puppy Thurgood Marshall?”

“I had to.  That’s the name we picked out.”

“I… what?”

Laura had just enough presence of mind to notice that Peter’s smile was heartrendingly handsome.  He was looking at her, holding the puppy, as though he was a child on Christmas morning catching his first sight of what Santa had brought.

“C’mon, let’s sit here for a minute.”  He sat her down on the stairs that led from the deck to the yard and settled next to her, their legs touching for their full lengths and his arm around her.  

“You OK?”  He chuckled.

“I…  You bought a house.”  She looked up at him just as the shocked, confused look on her face was replaced by something else.  “That picture.”

“Hmmmm?”  He asked, grinning again.

“That’s mine, isn’t it?”

“It was.  Now it’s ours.”

“Did you…?  What did you do?”

“We moved you in.  Everything you had in storage, we moved in here.  This is your house.  Well, our house.”  The grin became a radiant smile.

“Our house.”

“That’s right.  You live here.  With me.”

Peter realized he should have found a way to record this moment.  Her face was registering every emotion that tumbled through her head. He would have liked to be able to watch it again and again, for the rest of his life.  

“But… Who’s ‘we’?  Who helped you move everything in?”

“Do you really have to ask that question?  I could never have finished getting everything ready for you if your whole family hadn’t helped.”

“Our family.”

“Our family.”

“I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know what to say.  Peter, this is…”  She reached for him.  “I’ve been telling you for twenty years that I love you, but I’ve never loved you like I do now.  And not just because you bought me a house.  I don’t know how to say a bigger I love you, but… I love you bigger!  They don’t have a word for how I feel about you.  So how am I supposed to tell you?”  Laura’s eyes were overflowing with tears as she laughed into Peter’s shoulder.

“I know how,” he said quietly.

Marshall had been frolicking around their feet as they sat on the stair, and Peter reached out to her, taking hold of a little white ribbon tied to her collar, which Laura hadn’t really noticed.  He untied it and something that had been attached to it fell into his hand.  As he reached behind himself to take Laura’s left hand, she gasped. He pulled her hand to him and held a small gold band with a solitary diamond shining in the middle just off the end of her ring finger.

Laura laughed again through her tears and said, “Yes.  Yes, yes, YES!”

Peter laughed, too.  “Always so impatient.  I haven’t asked you yet.”

He took a deep breath, wanting to give this moment the seriousness it deserved.  As he looked into her eyes, he said, “I love you, Laura.  Will you marry me?  Will you make a family with me?  Be the mother of my children?” 

“Yes,” she whispered, suddenly unable to speak. 

She watched as he slipped the ring onto her finger.  “Peter,” she gasped, “Is this…  This is…  This is our ring.  From before.”

“Yeah, I know.  We’ll get a real one, I just needed one to propose with.”

“We will not get a real one,” she cried, suddenly finding her voice as she threw her arms around him again.  “This is the real one.  You kept this ring, all these years…  You will have to pry this ring off my finger.”

For the next several minutes, Marshall became increasingly excited because Peter and Laura were paying no attention to her.  They were too focused on each other, laughing, hugging, kissing, and telling each other over and over how much they loved each other.

“Peter, stop.  I can’t!  This is too much.  I’m gonna explode or have some sort of neurological event from happiness overload…”  Laura laughed breathlessly.  “How many of my dreams are you planning to make come true?

“All of them,” he answered.  “Didn’t I tell you?”

[batarangtotheheart]

Neglected

Mel here. just something I whipped up for @protegoparacosm

Royalty. Aurora scoffed at the idea. Sure, some nations could use some leadership. But the stuck-up royals who neglect their friends and family because they focus only on their royal status are what made Aurora's blood boil. Her status didn't mean anything to her. It was more of a bother. She loved the kingdom of Lucis, but her status only caused her pain and neglected feelings. Aurora knew her father and brother love her. But she couldn't remember the last time her father Regis held her. She couldn't remember the last time her brother Noctis ruffled her hair. She hadn't felt part of a family in a long time. The closest to a family she had now was Cor. Many knew him as "Cor the Immortal" or "Immortal Shogun" but Aurora knew him as Coco. Cor was an older man with short, brown hair and blue eyes. He dressed like everyone in the Citadel did; like an old person who never grew out of their emo phase. He wore black pants with a black, skull-printed shirt with black boots that had red soles. When they met she was only a baby. Now she was eight and he was thirty-five. Despite the age gap, Aurora looked up to Cor more than anything. They spent a lot of time together and days with him made Aurora's life a little less lonely. The nickname Coco originates from their special tradition where they eat Coco Puff's every time he comes home from battle. When asked why Aurora explained that she was "treating him for coming home alive to cure her loneliness." As she sat with him and ate a bowl of their treasured cereal, she recalled the day she first met him.

"Aurora!" A desperate call echoed down the hallways. "It's time for your lessons!" A small child, no older than five, peaked from her spot behind a pillar and poked out her tongue at the white-haired older aged woman who gave her lessons each day. She bolted from her spot and ignored the desperate cries behind her. As she ran, she bumped into another pillar and fell down. She looked up from her spot on the floor and shrieked in shock. It was not a pillar, but instead a very tall and scary looking man. "A pervert!" She screamed. The man seemed very panicked as he waved his hands frantically. "I'm not a pervert, you little-" He was cut off by a kick to the lower belt area. He clutched the area and groaned and Aurora used this distraction to run away. "Hey, stop!" The man yelled after her. Aurora grinned as she ran. "Can't catch me, perv!" "I'm not a pervert!" He yelled after her as he started to chase her. She was fast for an eight-year-old, but he was faster. He cornered her, towering above her. Instead of being scared, she just blinked as if nothing happened. "I'm the Princess. Touch me and your ass is grass." The man sighed. This was the princess. Of course. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Cor, and I'm not a pervert." After that, Aurora smiled and nodded. "Cool. Wanna play?" Cor blanked. She trusts too easily.

Aurora snapped out of it and glanced at Cor. She sipped the milk from her cereal quietly. She looked aside at the water from the small pond and grinned at him. "Hey, Coco." He looked up at her. She smirked and pointed to her new mustache formed from milk. "Even I can grow a proper mustache, why can't you?" A deadly look crossed his face and a tick-mark appeared on his forehead."You little-" "Aurora!" His words were cut off by Aurora's tutor. "It's time for lessons!" Aurora let out a child-like groan and set her bowl down. "But Coco just got home! I want to spend time with him." She growled stubbornly. Cor set his bowl down and got up. "Lessons are more important. I'll still be here when you come back." He said simply. His word was the law for Aurora and she sighed dejectedly and walked away with her tutor. Cor watched until they were out of sight and sighed as he picked up the bowls. As he started to walk down the hallways he noticed Drautos, captain of Kingsglaive.  He had short, brown hair and dangerous blue eyes. "You're too close. You are a distraction." He said bluntly. Cor rubbed his hand across his face. He knew this would come up eventually. "I have heard tales of your accomplishments, some I have seen myself. You are a skillful man, Cor Leonis. But you are not royalty." Drautos said carefully. "You should know your place, and keep there." He walked away and the warning hung too heavily in the air. As Aurora walked out of the lessons room, she noticed a head of fluffy black hair and grinned. "Noctis!" She shouted happily. The boy glanced at her before looking back toward a painting that hung on the wall. She smiled despite his ignoring her. "What are you doing?" She questioned happily. "I want to look around. Alone." Aurora noticed his sharp tone but her smile was unwavering. "Why alone? Isn't it more fun to have someone?" Noctis just sighed. "Sometimes. But sometimes it is okay to be alone." Aurora looked at the floor. "It isn't fun being alone all the time." Noctis finally looked at her. "You aren't alone." Her smile turned sad. "Not anymore. I have Cor now!" Just as Noctis opened his mouth Aurora gasped. "Cor!" She took off running, completely forgetting their conversation. Noctis blinked. She ran around everywhere but Cor wasn't to be found. "Coco?" She said quietly to herself, confused as to where he could be. Searching proved to be useless so she went around questioning everyone she came across until she spotted a large, sour-looking guard. She didn't really want to approach him, but her curiosity was stronger than her dislike. "Hello. Where is Cor?" The formalities were non-existant. She was less concerned about proper conversation than she was about Cor. The guard barely glanced but did a retake when he noticed it was Aurora. "He left today, Your Highness. Battle in Corbenic." Aurora teared up. "But, he just got home." The guard looked down, feeling guilty even though it wasn't him who sent Cor away. His apology was ignored as she ran away, back to her room. It was the first time the thought crossed her mind. Aurora spent the next six years with her brother and his friends, Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia and her not-so-secret crush, Prompto Argentum. Despite constant complaints from her brother, she stuck with them throughout the six years and she grew a bond with each of them individually. Which brings this story to her, age 14. About to confess her feelings for her own brother's best friend, Prompto. They sat on a balcony, admiring the stars and talking about anything they wanted. "Say, Prompto..." Aurora said quietly. The boy turned his head and Aurora stopped to admire him. His blond hair shone against the light of the lamp and his blue eyes appeared purple. Her heart beat quicker. "Do you.. ever think about finding someone? To date." She let out. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not really." Her heart dropped. "You don't like anyone?" Her voice was bordering hopeful and she knew it. Prompto's cheeks flushed and he coughed into his hand. "Well... not really. Why are you asking?"

Aurora's eyes widened at his question. "Well..." This was it. The words "I like you" were close to being spilled, but she couldn't bring herself to say them. "I just want to make sure if you did have a crush, that they're good enough for you." She laughed and it sounded truly genuine. After years of sadness, her talent was to laugh as if she was the happiest person in the world. Prompto smiled and wrapped his arm around her. "Thanks, Rora." She cursed herself quietly when her heartbeat quickened yet again but smiled anyway. "Of course, Prom." He left soon after, off to find her brother. It wasn't the second time. Nor the third. It wasn't even the fifth time the thought crossed her mind.

Two years. That is how long she endured the pain of knowing she would never be more than Noctis' sister, a friend, to Prompto. After that night, she was more reclused. She would even go to her lessons to avoid having to see her brother or his friends. She was really alone.

She laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She was 16 now, nearly an adult. She had just overheard plans of marrying her off. She scoffed tearfully. Her? With some stranger she doesn't love? Or even know... The thought was ridiculous to her, but not to her own father, apparently. Throughout the years, she had grown to be bitter toward her own family. Her father cared for her, she knew. He just had a shitty way of showing it. Same for Noctis. The only ones who ever really showed their care fully was Cor and her brother's friends. But Cor was gone and her brother's friends were just that: her brother's friends. She was completely alone, she realized. The thought crossed her mind again. She shook her head. Aurora was going to at least give herself a shot. The next day she sat next to Ignis while Gladio and Noctis fought. Prompto was cheering them both on. She cheered on Gladio because he ruffled her hair earlier. Noctis sweat-dropped when he heard the reasoning. His sister was so easily swayed. When Gladio struck the winning blow, she got out of her seat and cheered louder. Gladio just chuckled deeply. "Guess you're paying for lunch, Noctis." He stuck his hand out to him and Noctis took it. He dusted himself off and sighed. "A deal's a deal." Prompto cheered. "Thanks, Noct! I want some wing-" Noctis cut him off, "Hey! At least wait until we get there!" As Aurora watched them walk away, she realized she really didn't have a place with them. She turned to walk away when she was called by Prompto. "Hey, Rora. Aren't you gonna come too?" She turned and smiled. "I think I'll give Noct's wallet a break. Plus I'm not very hungry." Prompto nodded at this and ran to catch up with his friends.

When Aurora got back to her room, she finally gave into the thought. "Miss?" A tiny maid with thin, brown hair and kind brown eyes shook her. After a minute, the girl got worried and checked Aurora's pulse. A scream was heard throughout the entire citadel.

When Noctis returned, he had expected the usual calm and quiet citadel. Not loud crying and shouting. He got a bad feeling and it intensified after every step. He passed a couple of crying maids who only cried harder when they spotted him. Noctis ran to them. "What is going on? Is everything alright?" He questioned worriedly. The younger maid cried harder and the older put a hand on her shoulder and turned her head from him. "It is Princess Aurora." The maid would be glad she had looked away from the prince because if she hadn't, she would have seen the most grief to ever cross someone's face. Noctis ran. Fastest than he'd ever run before. As he passed each room, his mind floated back to when he and Aurora would run together, racing to see who was the better sibling. He could almost see the little black haired girl beside him, giggling and shouting. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember the last time he had even spent time with her; just them. When he was only a few feet from her door, his heart hurt. He didn't ask the maid exactly what she meant, instead his worry took over and he ran. His footsteps echoed as he walked, and everything else was eerily silent. He stood in front of her door. It wasn't usually closed. She had always left it open so that whoever needed someone knew they could talk to her. She was like that, too kind and trusting. He rested his forehead on the door that separated him from his fate and placed his shaky hand on the knob. He slowly twisted it open and stared. He expected Aurora to be sitting on her bed, giggling about how she pranked everyone again. She wasn't. Her room was completely empty. He stood there for a while until he was called. "Your Highness? Your father requests your presence." Noctis barely nodded in response. He hadn't seen his father in weeks, but surely he had answers as to where the hell Aurora was. He was escorted to the throne room where his father sat on the throne, his hand covering his face. He looked like he was barely keeping it together. Noctis' heart hardened. "Where is she?" He choked out. His father didn't look up, instead he raised his hand and signaled the guards out. Once it was just Noctis and him, Regis looked up and Noctis noticed his red eyes. His heart fell straight into hell and he had a feeling it wasn't coming back. "She's dead." Noctis felt like he had been hit by a truck that carried gallons of grief, and it had just been emptied onto him. He collapsed onto his knees. He stared at the floor on all fours. His eyes shut tightly to avoid the tears that were starting to pour down. "How?" He growled out, grief coating the single word. A white envelope was passed down to him. "Noctis" was etched out in his sister's messy handwriting. Regis said nothing, and Noctis snarled. "You tell me my sister, your daughter, is dead and all I get is a damn envelope? Tell me what the hell happened!" He screamed. His father looked down at him and Noctis swore he had never seen his father so broken. He knew he wasn't going to get anything out of him. Noctis snatched the envelope and walked out shakily. Hey Noct. Sorry I'm not there to tell you this, but I can't. Because I'm, well, dead. DON'T CRY, PLEASE. I'm fine! I don't really believe in Heaven so I don't know if I'll be seeing anyone, like Mom. Please don't blame yourself. I had been thinking about this since Cor left, so many years ago. They were gonna marry me off, you know? I don't even know his name. I was walking toward my next lesson and.. I heard some people talking about me getting married. I wasn't too worried and just thought they were some annoying guys who wanted to marry me. Until I heard Father's voice. He agreed. He agreed to something he knew I would never be okay with, Noct. I knew then that he and I would never really get along. He was another person I crossed off my very short list of people that made me feel like I wasn't alone. I feel bad telling you this but, you hadn't been on that list for a long time.. It wasn't really your fault, you had duties of Crown Prince and then you had your own friends. I was just the annoying little sister. I don't really know why I wrote this letter... Or any of the letters. I guess I just didn't want to die without an explanation. It really hurts, brother. I just.. don't want to hurt anymore. I love you. -Aurora

Noctis clutched the letter closely to his chest. When had she matured so much? Where was he, every time she thought of this? He didn't even remember the last thing he said to her, or what she said to him. Was it goodbye? Was it words of love? He didn't even know. What kind of shitty brother was he? The letter had dried wet marks, and he knew they weren't his tears that stained the paper.

Two weeks later, he finally emerged from his room. He looked different, even sadder than usual. His eyes carried a heavy look, and anyone could tell he was weighed down by grief. He sat at his usual spot away from the citadel, remembering the time Aurora followed him out there. She wanted to play a game, he wanted quiet. He sent her away. The quiet was interrupted by the sound of crunching leaves. He didn't look but he knew it was Prompto. His best friend sat next to him. "I'm sorry," Prompto whispered out. Noctis didn't look at him. "It isn't your fault, Prompto." It was then that Prompto let out sobs. "It was though! She... she left me a letter! She told me, Noctis. She told me she loved me. I told her I didn't like anyone! I basically rejected her, and she suffered because of it!" He sobbed. He put his head on Noctis' shoulder, wailing his apologies. Noctis' face tightened and he cried with him.

Back at the Citadel, Cor was finally returning after eight years of avoiding coming home. He felt guilty as he stared at the doors. Would Aurora ever forgive him? He wondered what she looked like now and if she had ever matured from the child he knew. He opened the doors and smiled slightly. If Aurora ever forgave him, he couldn't wait to tell her about his adventure over a bowl of their treasured shared food. He walks through the halls and spotted his old friend, Yoshi. "Yo!" He yelled at him. Yoshi turned and his eyes widened in surprise. "Cor. You're home." Cor grinned. "Sure am. How are you?" Yoshi furrowed his eyebrows. Last he remembered, Cor and the princess were extremely close. He would've thought Cor would be more.. broken. Yoshi's eyes widened. Unless... "I am fine. How are you, old friend?" Cor just crossed his arms. "I have grown much, as you can see. My time in Corbenic was certainly an adventure." Yoshi nodded. "Cor, haven't you heard the news about the princess?" Yoshi got straight to the point. To his surprise, Cor laughed loudly. "I have. Aurora? Getting married? Never. I bet she is holed up in her room right now, stubborn as ever."

Yoshi sighed, he knew it. "Where is she, anyway? Is she still whining over her lessons? I bet she grew up to be quite a feisty kiddo." Cor chuckled. Yoshi didn't want to be the one to ruin Cor, especially since he just got back from battle, but he didn't want him to hear it from a stranger. "Cor, she died." Cor stopped smiling. "That's not funny. She would never let herself be killed." He growled, glaring. "She would if she did it herself," Yoshi said simply. His old friend scoffed angrily. "Never." He was in denial. "See for yourself, Cor. I wouldn't joke about this. You know that." Cor took off. "Her room is still in the same place!" Yoshi yelled after him. Cor refused to believe it. Aurora? Dead by her own hand? Then again, he hadn't seen her in eight years. He had left her... He knew she was a lonely kid, her brother too busy to play with her. The only interaction she got was from her maids. He remembered the look in her eyes when he first met her. Her eyes held a thousand-year sadness and she looked like she was carrying the biggest amount of neglect and loneliness he had ever seen. And she had only been five. He would've thought she had made friends with how kind and open she was. He never would have thought she had... He couldn't finish his thought.

But of course, he was wrong. He never wanted to be wrong again in his life.

[bucketslutz]

MSR Prompt: Mulder invites Scully back to his apartment for wine and a takeout dinner because they just solved a big case together, and he wants to celebrate. A thunderstorm starts, and Scully discovers Mulder is afraid of thunder.

Submit your X Files prompts here.

A/N: Set sometime in season three.

It was two in the morning and Scully wasn’t quite sure why her partner insisted on her coming over. She was exhausted and spent the entire day finishing paperwork and reports and just wanted to go home and get in her comfy clothes and watch the video she rented three days ago but never got the chance to see. They haven’t ever really hung out before; they spend enough time together on cases that they kind of get tired of each other. He occasionally gets clingy on some, but she just thinks that’s due to their rather spooky nature, and the fact that he doesn’t want to admit he’s afraid of the figurative monsters and aliens they chase. She can see that brief moment of panic on his face (which is hard to detect most of the time) and that’s when she knows some serious shit is probably about to go down. She hasn’t worked with him for too long, but she spends more time with him than she does her family. And, oddly, she enjoys it. She loves the long, quiet car rides to the middle of nowhere just to sit in the car for hours upon hours staking out something that probably doesn’t exist; hearing the crack of his sunflower seeds and the light tap it makes as it hits the ground outside. She loves it when it rains while they’re on a case because he normally forgets his umbrella which causes them to share one and he’s tall enough that when he holds it above his head, it covers hers perfectly. And it’s just another excuse for her to be close to him; to breathe in his scent and enjoy each and every accidental touch….

Dana Katherine Scully he is your partner. Platonic Partner. Nothing more, nothing less. She blames it on his good looks and physique; but they could never work out as a couple…right? At least that’s what she tells herself. She dares not to imagine what life would be like as Spooky Mulder’s spouse; constantly living in the shadow of his conspiracy theories and UFO rants, trying to support children almost completely on her own as he tries to satisfy this insatiable justice for his sister. It’s not what she’s supposed to want in a husband. She steps up to his apartment door and knocks three times and waits for him to open the door. She heard something knock over and the muffled sound of a curse word and she smiles to herself. He grins brightly as he opens the door.

“Hey, Scully, come on in,” he greets, oddly cheerily for this late at night and he steps aside to let her walk in. She enters his apartment and her eyes immediately catch the bags of Thai food on his coffee table. 

“Mulder, did you really invite me over tonight to eat Thai food…at two o’clock in the morning?” she questions with her skeptical brow raised.

“I know it’s late, but we just solved a really big case…don’t you think that calls for celebration?” he asks hopefully, like a child who just asked their parents for a puppy. 

She huffs out and looks at her watch then back at Mulder’s hopeful expression. She has that look on her face when she’s annoyed with something; where her lips are slightly puckered in a serious expression.

“Alright, I’ll stay. But that’s just because it’s Friday and I have nowhere to be tomorrow morning.”

He grins goofily and retreats into the kitchen and quickly returns with a wine bottle and two glasses. She rolls her eyes but sits down on the couch and takes off her coat. Mulder unscrews the cork out of the bottle and it slides out with a pop. He pours two glasses and hands one to Scully. She takes the glass and chuckles lightly before taking a sip.

“What’s so funny?” Mulder asks as he takes a seat next to her.

“I haven’t had alcohol past midnight since I was a Sophomore in college,” she admits, smiling to herself at the memory of her doing slightly more risqué things in her early adult life.

“Did Dana Katherine Scully actually drink before she was of age? Dana Scully broke the law?” he says in feign shock.

She playfully hits his shoulder and takes another sip of her wine. 

“Oh, trust me, I did worse things in college that I’m not too fond of.”

“Ooh…do tell,” he says like a nosy teenage girl.

“Mulder,” she starts, sighing his name. “Let’s just say, I had a few regretful encounters with men…and women,” she mumbles the last part almost incoherently, but Mulder heard the entirety of her sentence. His eyes widen slightly and he takes a long, drawn out sip of his wine and finishes at least half of his glass.

“Mulder, I’m only kidding,” she reassures him and touches his shoulder in confirmation.

“Good, cause I was going to need a lot more wine tonight if that were true.”

Out of the corner of her eye Scully could see the slight flash of blue lightning from outside Mulder’s window. Slowly, the pitter patter of rain could be heard against the roof of his apartment building and against his window. 

“Huh, I didn’t know it was going to rain,” Scully states nonchalantly.

“Me either,” Mulder says as he fills his glass with more wine and begins poking around at his food.

Scully saw another flash of lightning from the corner of her eye then the inevitable clap of thunder. She can see Mulder’s hand jump slightly at the sudden sound as he raises his glass to his lips. His hand shakes as he sets the glass back down.

“Mulder, are you alright?” Scully asks, concern dripping from her tone and her brow furrowed in worry.

He clears his throat, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to get some food in me.”

She nods her head and watches as he nervously picks at his food. She can see his hand tense around his fork at each new clap of thunder. Then it hits her. 

“Mulder, are you afraid of thunder?” she asks, trying to hide her amusement. 

“What? No? I’m a grown ass man. I work for the goddamn FBI, I’m not afraid of no thun-” his sentence is interrupted by another clap of thunder and he pauses and cringes at the sound. 

She looks at him with a knowing look and he looks down at his lap. 

“Mulder, it’s a completely rational fear. Look, ever since I can remember I’ve been deathly afraid of clowns. Believe it or not, more people are afraid of thunder than they are of clowns,” she confesses, and he looks at her with a weak smile. She grabs his hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze and smiles warmly at him. He smiles back and another sudden clap of thunder sounds and he squeezes her hand tightly in surprise.

“Ow! Damnit, Mulder!” she exclaims, pulling her hand away quickly.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to-” he rambles apologetically, and she cuts him off. 

“No, no. It’s alright. You were just scared. I understand.” She smiles reassuringly at him and takes his hand again.

“Mulder, I think you need to face your fears,” she tells him softly.

“What? You mean…right now?” he asks with surprise and concern in his voice.

“Of course. Let’s take advantage of Mother Nature and face your fears.” She stands up from the couch and grabs her coat. “C’mon, Mulder! These fears aren’t going to face themselves!” she calls from the front door.

He stands at the front door of his building and watches as Scully walks outside into the rain with no umbrella and just stands there without a care in the world.

“Mulder, look. It’s not so bad. It’s just rain,” she encourages.

He still looks uneasy though, so she walks towards the front door of the building and grabs his hand to lead him out into the sidewalk. The rain drenches him almost completely in seconds and he cringes at the next strike of lightning and the inevitable sound of thunder. He looks down with his eyes shut tightly in fear.

“Mulder, look at me,” he still stares down at the ground. “Look at me,” she commands more firmly and he finally looks up into her eyes. “It’s just rain. Mulder, it’s just rain. I’m standing right here in front of you, we’re going to be fine.” She smiles warmly at him again and he returns the gesture. He shuts his eyes tightly again at the next crack of thunder. “Mulder, don’t close your eyes. Look into mine.” He does as she says and meets her gaze. 

He smiles again and looks up as best as he can with the raindrops hitting his eyes. 

“It’s just rain,” he states with a grin. 

She nods and begins to giggle uncontrollably.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

“It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m standing here in the rain helping you face your fear of thunder…this isn’t how I expected to spend my Friday night.”

“Is that a bad thing?” he asks, panting slightly.

“No,” she says with a smile. “No, it isn’t.”

[scientifically-strange]

Opportunity

Submitted by: God of the Challenge on fanfiction.net

------

Danny grinned when he came out of the portal, thankful that the council meeting had gone well, and that Walker finally agreed to implement some laws Danny had suggested. While he was the king, and it was a monarchy, he wanted everyone's views on what could be done better as long as it was within a reasonable standard. He had been officially made King a few months prior, right after his eighteenth birthday. He never really thought he was good with his high school government classes, but with Clockwork and Frostbite's help, he had quickly grown accustomed to the politics of the Zone.

He yawned and changed into his human form, not noticing the way his mother's eyes widened as she came downstairs. Not noticing the way she pulled her gun on him with no hesitation. Crying out in pain as he was shot in the stomach by a well placed ectoblast from her gun. He fell to the ground, trying to ignore the large red stain growing on his hoodie. Maddie ran to him, and a wave of relief washed over him before he processed what had actually happened.

That feeling quickly vanished, however, when his mom pressed her heel into his chest, putting most of her weight onto it, making him groan. She placed her gun against his forehead, snarling at him. The it finally hit him.

His mother was the one that shot him.

His mother was going to kill him.

-------

Danny convulsed in pain as electricity ran through his body. He was unable to phase out of the restraints due to them being ghost proof. He had no idea how long he had been their prisoner, but every day he was growing thinner. He could feel his strength leaving him as they conducted their experiments. It couldn't have been more than a few weeks at most, but when they whispered to each other, it sent a chill down his spine, and he struggled more.

"It's time, sweetie," Maddie said, holding up a gleaming scalpel.

Jack grinned as he pulled on a new pair of gloves and grabbed a pair of shears, cutting off Danny's shirt with ease.

"He's all yours, sweet cheeks," Jack said giddily as he watched his son squirm on the table. Maddie nodded and stabbed through his skin with no mercy, plunging the tool next to his right collarbone.

He couldn't help it.

He screamed.

--------

When he woke up he knew he was still in the basement. However, the lights were off, the portal was closed, and his cuffs weren't glowing their usual green anymore. He phased himself out of the restraints and looked around. His parents-no-Jack and Maddie-were lying on the ground, unconscious. Jack had a bleeding head, and Maddie's leg was sticking out at an unnatural angle. He hadn't meant for his ghostly wail to come out, but he couldn't have just ;et them open him up like a frog either.

He looked down at his chest, noticing the scalpel still inside of him. She had managed to make a three inch cut, deep enough to go to his organs, and now it wouldn't stop bleeding. He pulled it out and pressed some gauze to it before heading upstairs. He didn't look back at his parents, or the carnage he cause the basement.

Danny didn't really know where he was going. He just picked a direction and hauled ass. After a whole day he thought maybe he was far enough to rest, but when he looked back and saw the Fenton Assault Vehicle, he was too afraid to stop.

He flew for three days straight, surprised that his beaten body was able to make the trip. They hadn't stopped either, but he couldn't have been more thankful to find a big city where there was traffic and streets to hide him from his parents. Where was he, anyway?

He flew a little higher so he could be above the buildings, and almost slapped himself in the forehead. It was so painfully obvious that he was in New York, what with the Avenger's tower and Empire State Building in view. He couldn't help the grin that grew on his face as he took in the sight.

But he marveled at it for too long.

A searing pain grew on his back as he was blasted to the ground, creating a sort of crater, causing panic. He groaned, trying to lift himself out of it before his parents caught up. He had to get going, he had to leave. He couldn't be caught again.

His shirt had been ripped to shreds by Jack and Maddie, and now it was just a glorified rag around his shoulders. He needed a better superhero getup anyhow, he supposed. He tore the remains of it off, as he finally got his feet under him. But before he could fly away, two people flew down next to the crater. One was Iron Man, who he recognized from TV, but the other woman he didn't know. She had short black hair, cut into some sort of bob thing, and steely eyes. Her wings fluttered a little behind her.

"Who are you, kid?" Iron Man asked, aiming his repulsors at him. The woman aimed her own small blaster at him.

"Listen, I can't stay here, I have to go," Danny said, holding up his hands in a type of surrendering way. he swallowed the lump in his throat, realizing that he was shirtless and they could probably see how marred his skin was from ghost fighting and the experiments. "They're after me," he tried again.

"Who?" Iron Man asked. But before Danny could answer, he was on the ground again, caught up in a ghost net. Jack was on him in seconds, pressing the barrel of a gun against his head.

"Nice try, ghost scum!" He yelled as he picked Danny up by the net. Danny looked to Iron Man, his eyes pleading as he struggled against Jack.

Suddenly he was free again, and when he looked up he saw a small trail of smoke rising from the woman's blaster. His father struggled to get up. Danny scooted away towards the heroes of New York, stopping only when Iron Man flew in between Jack and Danny.

"You do anything bad, kid?" He asked.

"You mean other than existing? No," he replied.

"In that case," the billionaire turned to Jack and Maddie, who had begun helping him up, "you guys better leave." He aimed his hand at the ghost hunters, a feeling of satisfaction going through him when he heard the whine of power in his palm.

"He's a monster!" Maddie cried, glaring daggers at him, then at Danny.

"Really?" The woman spoke for the first time. "Because the only monsters I see here are you two."

Danny had been so distracted by what was going on in front of him that he didn't realize that someone had come up behind him. Not until they were grabbing at the net. Danny immediately started struggling, only to be turned around and be face to face with Captain fucking America. He relaxed at his kind smile as he cut the net off of him. But that smile turned to a frown when he saw the wound on his chest from the scalpel. He turned to the couple, who were now standing, facing Iron man with a hard look in their eyes.

"He's a ghost," Jack spat. "And ghosts are evil! Every single one!"

"Well, I say you're not allowed to lay another hand on him," Cap said as he strode over, shield in hand. "He's under our protection now."

"What he's saying," Iron Man explained, "Is that if you touch him, you're going to have a whole league of pissed off superheroes on your ass. Now, do you really want that?"

They thought for a moment longer before Jack spat at his feet.

"Come on, Mads. Another day."

Maddie followed reluctantly, and they all watched as they climbed into the tricked out RV and drove away.

"Thanks," Danny said, not really knowing what else to say. Cap held out a hand and helped him to his feet, but Danny had been flying for three days straight without a break and it was really catching up to him. As soon as he was standing, he collapsed, right into Captain America's arms, not caring if the transformation rings went over his body or not.

--------

When Danny woke up again, he was in an unfamiliar room, but he couldn't find himself to care. The bed underneath him and the covers on top of him felt to good.

When he finally decided to stand up a few hours later, he noticed that every single bone in his body ached. His joints all popped like he was Tucker after sitting in his gaming chair for too long. He vaguely noticed that he was wearing new clothes, but couldn't bring it in himself to care who had changed them. Obviously someone that was concerned for his well being. How had he gotten here anyway? He had been running away when-oh. That's right. He was with the Avengers. If he wasn't so tired he'd probably be jumping for joy. Instead he followed the directions a creepy, disembodied voice gave him.

He was led to a living room, where there were several adults just milling about. There was the woman he saw from earlier talking with a red headed woman who looked like she could kill him forty different ways just using a paper clip. On the couch there was a blonde guy drinking straight from the pot watching the news with another blonde guy who kind of reminded Danny of Fabio.

"Glad to see you're awake."

Danny turned to see Captain America, unmasked and with a smile. Geez, how many hot blonde guys live here? Danny briefly thought.

"Glad to see I'm in good company," Danny replied, giving a smile of his own. Steve noticed how it didn't quite reach his eyes.

In the corner of his eye he saw the woman and red head walking towards him and Captain fucking America.

"This is Jan and Natasha," Steve introduced. "Over there is Clint and Thor. Jan was one of the ones that helped out a couple days ago."

"Wait, what?" Danny's eyes went wide. "How long have I been out?"

"Three days," Natasha answered easily, giving him a once over. "Looks like you really needed it."

"Oh. Well, uh, thanks," he said lamely. "For the help, I mean."

"Hey, kid," the coffee addicted hero called from the couch, tapping his ear a couple of times and turning a knob. "Are you gonna eat something or wake up Rhodes two floors up with your stomach?"

"He's got a point," Steve said. "When was the last time you had a good meal?"

"Also, can we get your name?"

"Danny, and...I don't know. What's the date?" Danny's voice was light hearted but he knew it didn't work when he saw the worry in Steve's eyes. Danny smiled at him a bit sheepishly.

"How does pizza sound?" Natasha asked, already dialing the number on her phone.

"Like heaven," Danny grinned.

"Hey, Danny," Steve pulled him aside as Natasha ordered pizza. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"No...Not anymore. Those people that were chasing me were my parents," Danny's voice was quiet, melancholy.

"Then how would you like to stay here?" Jan asked. "maybe pull some pranks on Scott."

Danny didn't know who Scott was, but the idea of pranking anybody sounded fulfilling. he smiled again.

"I'm in."

-------

Hey, guys, I’m back! I very do much apologize for the hiatus, my Nanna had a stroke and she got out of the hospital a few weeks ago and needed me to stay with her just in case things went south. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy! And if you want to submit anything my ask is always open!

[breitzbachbea]

fine then tell me about tahir, what's that twat afraid of? other than facing off with the monster scholng without lubrication

OUT OF ALL THE THINGS YOU KNOW ABOUT MY MOST RESPECTABLE CHARACTER, YOU HAD TO CHOOSE THIS TO TELL THE PEOPLE! And he’s afraid of that thing even with lube!Full Name: Tahir RashidGender and Sexuality: Male and pansexualPronouns: He/Him/HisEthnicity/Species: Muhajir and Englishman Birthplace and Birthdate: He was born in London on June 11th in 1983Guilty Pleasures: Being into to really annoying songs that have reached their peak weeks ago. You like Uptown Funk we get it oh my GODPhobias: He’s terribly afraid his family will find out about what he really does for a living and thus also that he lied to them for years. Disappointing his family is his Number One fear.He’s also terribly afraid of heights. What They Would Be Famous For: For leaving law school as lawyer with flying colours at the age of 24 as poor, second generation POC immigrant. If that doesn’t win you laurels, I don’t know. What They Would Get Arrested For: He’s the lawyer, he doesn’t get arrested - He gets other people arrested. But maybe for defamation one day when he gets too snarky with someone and didn’t realize the other person actually saw through his sarcasm. OC You Ship Them With: Robert. Because of course you ship the guys who do nothing but bicker all day. It all went downhills when I decided that Robert’s going to redeem himself … I love Railey so much, fight meArielle, because that is just some good shit. The respect they treat each other with and their banters are all I ever wanted. They’re a showpiece-ship in the way that their behaviour with each other is so aesthetically pleasing but also in the way that their small interactions just reveal them to be genuinely great friends??? *coughs* Yeah … I love this ship a lotEthan, though that is just a crackship idea. Just a too damn charming one goddammit. OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Robert, because there is only so much sarcasm you can endure. Besides, if you never wanted to kill your co-worker, you’re lying. Arielle for dating Robert. Or sometimes for just being a snarky asshole in general. Favorite Movie/Book Genre: He seems like the documentary type of guy. Alternatively, artsy movies about foreign cultures. Or not so artsy movies about foreign cultures. He also still enjoys classic literature. Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: I don’t think he has one, he doesn’t immerse himself in fiction too much and if he does, he is often peeved by several things at once. Talents and/or Powers: He knows approximately everything about English Law (and dusts off his knowledge on a regular basis). He could sue your ass off and take that ass home in a box. It’s his ass now, he and his supreme lawyer skills earnt it. He can control his mimic to an astonishing degree and his bilingual, speaking English and Urdu. (I won’t count the really rusty and bad school French.)Why Someone Might Love Them: He looks like a Disney Prince who just descended out of one of the oldschool movies. He’s a picture perfect Gentleman with manners that put many other man to shame. His family and especially his little sister mean the world to him and when one sees the look in his eyes when he looks at them, you get a glimpse at what true love is. He can endure the rocks the world throws at him without blinking an eye. But if something really upsets him and especially involves someone else, too, he will stand up to whoever thinks they have to be an asshole. His weapons are words and he won’t stop talking, until the other learn their lesson. Why Someone Might Hate Them: He can come off as cold and even bitter at times. His opinions can be quite biased and he often doesn’t realize the mistakes he makes due to it unless someone calls him out. He’s sometimes too sarcastic for his own good, making others feel not taken serious and made fun of. On top of it, he does come across as snobbish as well sometimes.How They Change: Tahir has already grown a lot calmer since he was a teenager and young adult, also just much more disappointed with the world. He begins to change into the opposite direction again; but what was annoyance and just general frustration a few years ago, he now learns to channel better. He learns that it’s good sometimes to not brush things aside and to speak up with even more substance behind his words. He also learns how to understand people better and how to be less hurtful on accident. Why You Love Them:Tahir is far from perfect, but he tries so hard. He became a lawyer because he found out that these people make a lot of money. He’s been working hard and to the brink of existential crises and emotional and physical breakdown. But when he sees his mother and father in their comfortable new flat and his sister going places as law and literature student, as activist for muslim rights, he regrets nothing. He’s polite, friendly and ready to work on himself, even when it means facing that the took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. There’s so much rage behind the calm eyes, there’s so much love behind the cold attitude and that Tahir pulls this multi-facetedness off in a way that is so unique to him, makes him such an interesting and relateable character. I love and respect him so much. The tag limit cut me off, but there are still more than enough OCs left, so ask away!