#But with friends? There’s no expectation that they’ll be priority number one

[mcyt-rarepair-tournament]

*walks up to the mic* Sashannarcy from Amphibia

tbh, sometimes the “platonic explanation for this” is the more interesting one

[ssa-jet]

Everyone’s Replaceable👥

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Black!Fem!Reader (romantic to platonic), BAU x Reader

Category: angsty anti-reader

Summary: Reader wakes up from a 6-month coma and comes back to work, but what happens when she learns that she’s been replaced?

Content: mentions of medically-induced coma, being shot, blood, near-death, depression, suicidal thoughts

Reader Behavior: I usually don’t add descriptions but reader is a bitch in this story (rightfully so). She’s angry about the circumstances and will lash out at anyone (except Penelope). *adding this bc if you feel like that’s not how you would react in this situation, it might be hard to ignore her behavior.*

*reader has a job in the B.A.U. that I created specifically for this story called a case advisor. a case advisor is basically someone that takes the cases that JJ doesn’t deem a priority. they’ll provide advice and assistance to the police departments as to what step to take next, but they won’t fly out to every location to do so— they have an office where they provide assistance over the phone.*

I always had an outfit for every occasion. Dinner dates, girls nights, sleepovers, work, etc., but I never picked an outfit for coming back from the dead. The metaphorical dead, that is. I figured that something casual would work, since I didn’t expect to be thrust into a case on my first day back. After sifting through my somewhat extensive wardrobe, I settled on my F/C sweater and some jeans, before adding a cute pair of Converse to finalize the look.

My outfit was unprofessional, but since there wasn’t a Pinterest board for outfits fit for this specific occasion, I had to improvise. A little makeup and some jewelry topped off my less-than-acceptable outfit for the day, but it was too late to change, so I grabbed my keys and hurried out of my apartment.

I felt an oddly nostalgic feeling as I drove to the B.A.U. building, and I even took the long way to allow myself more time to get my thoughts together. I should’ve been happy to see my friends and my boyfriend again, but instead, all I could feel was the slow and steady anger bubble inside me. I had been in a medically-induced coma for the last six months after sustaining seven gunshot wounds, and four out of the six months I spent on life-support, I was alone in my hospital room, my only visitors being the endless number of nurses, doctors, and specialists coming to see me.

When I woke up, I was told that, in the first two months, my coworkers flooded my room in between every case they tackled, sitting at my bedside and discussing their favorite memories of me with one another. After the second month was over, my regular guests whittled down to one blonde woman with fun glasses and a kind smile— Garcia. My doctor also told me that she would send me one, large, vibrant bouquet of flowers in the months that she couldn’t come and see me. Of course, I appreciated the kind gesture, but what I couldn’t wrap my head around was why no one else— including my boyfriend of eight months— hadn’t come to see me.

At first, I chalked it up to busyness. “He’s busy,” I thought. “Maybe he tried to make time for me and got sidetracked.” Eventually, I realized that I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. Spencer clearly didn’t care enough about me to visit me while I was inches away from death. Once I came to this realization, I allowed myself to cry and wallow in my grief for a couple of months I even attempted to convince myself that I didn’t need him, but lying to myself would only make it worse.

Once my sorrow subsided, I was left with anger. I marched myself down to the hospital and asked for a copy for my medical documents, including my visitor logs and information on who paid for my life support. At first, the nurse was reluctant to hand over my medical information, but a quick flash of my F.B.I. credentials changed her mind. Of course I felt guilty, but I needed to see the logs. I needed to confirm that one of the most important people in my life was absent when it was hanging in the balance.

I exited the hospital that day with a tan file in my shaky hands, and I couldn’t wait until I got home to open the file and gingerly remove its contents. My eyes scanned the logs, and the name ‘Spencer Reid’ stopped showing up after two months, which meant that the doctor didn’t lie. I thought I was done wallowing, but I couldn’t stop the hot tears from sliding down my cheeks at the thought of laying half-dead in a hospital room without my boyfriend by my side.

My thoughts came to a halt when I pulled into the parking lot of the large building, and I could swear my heart audibly dropped into my shoes. A shaky breath rattled my lungs as I checked my hair and makeup one last time. Here goes nothing.

I pushed the glass doors of the B.A.U open and walked inside, my heart beating loudly in my ears. Part of me wanted to spin on my heel and walk back to my car, but my feet, having other plans, carried me forward. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for someone to spot me. Garcia gasped and dropped the stack of files she was holding and let out an ear-piercing scream. Without warning, she ran over to me and threw herself onto me, wrapping me in a tight hug. I quickly returned the favor, a sigh escaping my lips. “I’ve missed you,” she croaked. “I know, I’ve missed you, too,” I replied, holding her at arm’s length. We exchanged weak smiles before hugging again. While we hugged, something caught my eye. The nameplate outside of my office read ‘Samantha Bridges’ and not Y/N L/N. “Penelope,” I said, releasing her from our hug. “Yeah?” “Who’s Samantha Bridges?” I inquired, my gaze trained on the nameplate. “The new case advisor,” she mumbled. What?!

There’s a million things I could’ve said in that moment, but all I could manage was “What?!” Garcia nodded, looking down and away from me. “You’ve been replaced.” “Yeah, I can see that,” I snapped. I instantly regretted it but I couldn’t control myself. “Where is she?” I demand. “With Reid at his desk.” Now I knew why he didn’t come to visit me. He had moved onto my replacement. I have Garcia a short hug before telling her that I wasn’t angry at her. She nodded and watched as I stormed over to Spencer’s desk, where he was happily chatting with a girl that, surprisingly, resembled me. “What the hell?” I exclaimed, a look of disgust on my face. The two turned to me, faces painted with shock. “Y/N,” Spencer whispered. “I-I didn’t think y-you’d come back.” “Yeah, I can fucking see that,” I snapped again without an ounce of regret in my body. “Hi,” the girl said. “I’m Sa—” “I don’t give a fuck who you are,” I replied harshly, to which she dropped her hand and looked up at Spencer, who looked like a puppy that had been kicked too many times. The thought of him suffering the consequences of his own actions brought a genuine smile to my face.

“Y/N…” he started. “Why didn’t you visit me, huh?” I interject. “I… I got—” “Busy cheating on me with other girls,” I finished. “Spence, who’s this?” Samantha asked him. “You’re not talking to him, you’re talking to me,” I told her, causing her to turn her gaze towards mine. “I am— I was —his girlfriend.” If she could get pale, she would’ve. I turned my focus back to Spencer, who looked like he’d seen a ghost. “I take seven bullets for this team and land myself in a medically-induced coma for you to cheat on me with my clone from Wish.” “Y/N, please, can we talk somewhere else?” Spencer begged. “There’s nothing to talk about,” I replied harshly, watching the hopeful twinkle in his eye disappear. “You cheated on me while I was on life support. I thought boyfriends were supposed to visit their half-dead girlfriends in the hospital.” By then, JJ, Morgan, and Emily had gathered around us, and Garcia followed suit.

“If I knew that sacrificing myself for this team would cost me six months of my life, I would’ve never joined in the first place,” I told them, a single tear slipping down my cheek and causing my voice to tremble. “I-I can’t even comprehend this betrayal.” “Y/N…” Samantha whispered. “I don’t wanna hear shit from you,” I barked, causing her to shrink away from the anger that radiated off of my body as I spoke. “I got a copy of my visitation logs from when I was in my coma, and I saw how the visits from everyone that wasn’t named Penelope Garcia stopped after two months.” “In fact, she even delivered me a bouquet of flowers every time she couldn’t come see me, as well as paid for my life support.” I turned to look at her, my eyes filled with unshed tears threatening to spill if I didn’t finish my speech. “Penelope, I owe you my life,” I said, watching as she offered a small smile and nodded, her own tears in her eyes. “Anything that you need me to do, I’ll do it.” I looked back at the team, who’s eyes were all glassy with tears formed from the hatred that filmed my body. “As for you all,” I announced, watching as they hung on to every word in anticipation for what disheartening blow I would deliver next. “I thought family looked out for one another, but it seems like no one returned the favor. Waking up in a strange new world with no one to guide you through it is something I would never wish on anyone, even you guys.” “If I knew that my team would turn their backs on me and my boyfriend would cheat on me, I would’ve forced myself to live out my fantasy delusion I lived in when I was in the coma. A delusion where Spencer and I got married and had kids. That’s just what it is— a delusion. If I were to live it out, I would’ve flatlined, and who knows? Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a bad thing after all.”

“If I knew what was waiting for me when I arrived, I would’ve spared you all the pain of seeing your former teammate that you abandoned, and instead, written a resignation letter. Since I didn’t come prepared,” I grab a sticky note off of Morgan’s desk and took a pen, scribbling down a note and thrusting it into JJ’s hands. “Give this to Hotch,” I demanded. “What’s it say?” Emily asked quietly. “‘I quit.’” Everyone’s faces fell as they all looked at me with expressions full of pain. “You don’t have to do this,” Morgan said. “Yes, I do, Derek.” The harsh use of his first name caused him to hang his head in the shame felt by the entire team. “There’s nothing left for me here. I can see that you already have your Black female in power, and it’s clear as day that you don’t want another one.” “Y/N, I’m so sorry for what happened,” Emily whispered. “I really am.” “I believe you.” Three words caused their faces to change to looks of hope, and four words took them away. “But, it’s too late.” I turned around and walked over to Garcia, wrapping her in another hug. “You’re leaving?” she asked, her voice filled with pain that brought a fresh set of tears to my eyes. “Yeah. We’ll talk, okay?” “Okay,” she mumbled, pulling away to sniffle and wipe her tears. “There’s nothing I have to say to you guys,” I told the team. If it was possible to look even more defeated, they did. “But Samantha,” I said. She perks up and looks at me with her face all red and blotchy. I had no idea why she was crying, seeing as this would’ve been a good thing for her, as it meant that she wouldn’t lose her job. “Remember that everyone’s replaceable.” All Samantha did was sniffle and blink away the stray tears. “And Spencer,” I called. He feebly looked up at me, his eyes already a bright shade of red from the tears. “Go fuck yourself.” It hurt to say, but the pain lessened when I reminded myself that he deserved it. With nothing else to say, I spun around and marched out of the building for the last time.

[masochistrights]

hi! i want to start engaging with kink communities irl but i don’t even know where to begin or how to start looking, making sure it’s safe, etc. do you have any advice?

Hi!!! I’m so glad you want to engage with the kink scene irl!

The best and often only place to begin when finding kink communities is FetLife. It’s not great but it’s functional and still the best way we have to connect with people in our general geographic area. I essentially only use FetLife to learn about events and connect with the people I met at events after the fact. Other people use it more like a proper social media site, like a cross between Instagram and early 2000s web forums.

Once you make a Fetlife account you’ll be able to see what’s happening in your area. Nearly every city in the world has munches (slang for meetups) in some capacity, most often monthly or bi-monthly. These most often take place in restaurants (in the US) or pubs (in the UK) and they’re free to attend. although you are expected to support the venue by purchasing food or drink.

Munches are completely vanilla and very laid back. Usually the organizers will reserve a certain room or quieter corner of the venue, and they’ll have a specific name for the group reservation which you can tell waitstaff. I suggest arriving on time to your first munch so that you can meet the organizers and they can help introduce you to people/start conversations. These people are great resources, they’ve often been in the scene for decades, and they’re a wealth of knowledge!

The munch itself (in my experience) serves as a way of making friends and meeting people you might like to play with, but it’s not a dating app and the goal is not to hunt down play partners. I’m personally weary of people who ask me “so, are you a dom or sub?” or “so, what are your kinks?” in the middle of a munch because I don’t necessarily want to share those things in a semi-public group setting. Instead I use munches as an opportunity to expand my social circle and practice making conversation.

I think IRL kink is extraordinarily safe because sketchy people do NOT stay around for long, particularly once they realize munches are a bunch of friends making small talk instead of the precursor to an orgy. Organizers are not afraid to ban someone from a munch if they need to, and kinky people are not afraid to call out poor behavior if need be. Veterans like myself have a vested interest in keeping the scene safe and welcoming, otherwise these spaces will no longer exist, so safety is really the number one priority.

Anyways I hope this was helpful and I really do hope you explore the kink community outside of Tumblr because there is so much out there and so much knowledge + fun to be gained!

[novafire-is-thinking]

Sooo

What website are we moving to when tumblr “removes the outdated choice of the feed being only posts from people you follow” and “collapses reblog chains to do away with long posts” and “will switch to emails if a user has push notifications off”

I’m already copy pasting my existing posts into documents for preservations sake but if the update comes and it’s truly awful I think a lotta people will agree on wanting to move sites

The question is where

Okay, so I’ve been reading over and analyzing the Tumblr update post since I woke up to your ask, anon. And I have thoughts.

For those who aren’t interested in what I think about the coming changes, the site I recommend is Pillowfort.

About Pillowfort:

Pillowfort is a new blogging platform currently in open beta with over 140,000 registered users. The founders of Pillowfort want to create a site that takes the best features from popular blogging platforms while aiming for a site that is user-friendly, community-friend, efficient, and fun. We’re passionate about providing our users more privacy and more control over their content, while offering better ways to hold conversations.

It’s kinda small, but it has potential. A lot of Tumblr users (including myself) have already headed over there and created accounts as a backup plan if Tumblr ends up nuking itself, although I personally doubt that will happen.

Now, time to ruffle some feathers:

I personally have very few issues with the actual proposed changes. However, I do have concerns about how far they will go with those changes.

Something I’ve noticed is that, of all social media sites, Tumblr has the highest concentration of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” folks. And there’s nothing wrong with that, necessarily.

However, the reality is that the internet and internet culture are constantly evolving.

What tends to happen is that as companies get bigger and eventually sit close to the top of an industry, they become beholden to the majority if they want to stay relevant.

It makes me think of how celebrities and politicians who make it to the top have to say all the right things and strive to meet certain mainstream expectations at the cost of true individuality/being genuine/making a difference, if their goal is to stay relevant and popular. That same principle applies to the business world.

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert in matters of business, but there are things I’ve learned over the years from observing business practices and people in general. I’m also fascinated by the why behind what certain businesses do what they do, so here are my thoughts no one asked for:

Like any company, Tumblr cannot possibly care about what every part of the user base likes AND what works to keep the overall user base alive.

Numbers and data speak louder than the protests of what the data determines to be the minority. The data could always be wrong, but there’s no way for them to tell for sure. They will make changes based on the hard data unless they find sufficient proof that it’s inaccurate.

Tumblr’s vision for the future takes priority. A good company makes every action count toward that vision.

Sometimes company visions change, especially in response to changes in an industry or mainstream culture. This means that those who were on board with Tumblr’s previous vision will likely leave. And Tumblr is okay with this because the data says they’ll still have the support of the majority.

Like any company that wants to succeed, Tumblr would not be making any of these changes if they thought it would cause the site to fail. Something (the data, other sites’ success, etc.) is telling them that they can make these changes without killing the site entirely. Whether or not that ends up being true is to be determined.

Now, to speculate about the proposed changes anon mentioned:

Stagnation is death. Without bringing in and providing support to new creators and users, Tumblr will die. The key is finding a balance between the current user base that wants things to stay the same and bringing in and keeping newcomers.

“Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it” sounds to me like users will still have control over how much new content they see.

Currently, we have the separate “For You” page that already shows new content from Tumblrs we don’t follow. However, it’s very easy for the For You page to go unnoticed and to be forgotten.

I think the best course of action is to switch things around:

As the default for new users, show posts from Tumblrs outside of their follow lists in their main feeds in addition to the stuff from Tumblrs they follow.

Give all users the option to toggle this off and see little to no new content in their main feeds.

For those who choose to see very little new content in their main feeds, move the new stuff someplace else while keeping it accessible.

The solution is as simple as providing options and honoring individuals’ curation of their experiences.

I actually agree that reblogs and replies are highly confusing to most people. It’s difficult to follow a reblog thread when unrelated reblogs all end up bunched in one place. Manually clicking through to try to read all the different reblog threads is not fun. I’m all for eliminating the confusion and frustration.

I have a hunch that collapsing reblog threads won’t be as devastating as many people are thinking it will be. Tumblr would never get rid of something so vital to the site’s culture and success if they didn’t have something better in mind. (Whatever they have in mind for addressing points 1-4, specifically)

As for emails being “forced” upon us if push notifications are turned off, I doubt this will end up being more than a small annoyance.

“Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages” tells me that Tumblr will be giving users control over what they receive and how frequently. This is no different than what a lot of other successful companies are doing.

Closing thoughts:

I’m not taking a side or saying all of the changes are good. Heck, I’m not happy about some of the changes, but personally, I’m willing to see what awaits and to adapt.

This is not to say people who end up leaving are wrong to do so and that those who end up staying are better (or vice versa). This is not a post about right or wrong action. These are merely my thoughts on what is happening and why.

Tumblr is doing what they think will work while keeping in mind their guiding principles and the future vision for the company.

Companies change all the time. Typically, those that adapt are the most successful.

People generally want to find a company—or in this case, a website—that aligns with their personal values and desires. If Tumblr ends up not being that website anymore, there are other options—like Pillowfort. Their vision is bound to align better with some people’s desires.

People have every right to be angry about Tumblr’s changes, but anger can only do so much.

I leave anyone who’s read this far with Tumblr Staff’s reply to the algorithm rage:

[vneuns]

omg can we get a wedding fic with george i actually never see any for him and im curious how you’d write one :3

~c!niki <3

▸ The wedding of my dreams | cc!george ֙⋆ ་ .ᐟ

＃ʚĭɞ warnings slight cursing , very light mention on nsfw lmao , butt mention , fluff , idk lmk if they're something i missed

ʚĭɞ＃ author's note(s) this took wayyyyy too long omfg. but i seriously hope you all enjoy it,,

＃ʚĭɞ others if this gets 20+ reblogs i'll think about writing the honeymoon fic and giving it to you guys as a christmas present

WEDDING JITTERS ARE said to be a normal thing on the day of your wedding. So, when you arrived at the venue after a night in your hotel room, that was the first thing you expected to have. Except, they never came. You didn't break out into a cold sweat because in just a few hours you were about to vow to a marriage with the love of your life.

You didn’t immediately feel like running away, or think that getting married was too much pressure. If anything you couldn’t stop imagining what your life would be like after the two of you got married. Your eyes wandered over to the aisle where your soon-to-be husband would be waiting for you at the end of the aisle.

“Y/n.” Your best friend shook you softly bringing you out of your haze.

“Come on we’ve gotta get you ready.” Taking their hand you allowed them to pull you towards your dressing room suite.

It was going to be a long day.

That it was. Every second leading up to the actual reception was filled with someone walking in and out of your bedroom, asking you about cold feet, or if you were nervous. Until you kicked them out.

The suspense of this life-changing event was killing you and the number of family members and friends coming in to remind you of that pushed you over the edge.

Your body pressed against the now looked door huffed as you listened to the confusion of voices behind it.

Pushing off the door you went to sit on the couch to get your mind around everything before a knock on the window took your attention. Carefully walking towards the door you looked through the curtain where your soon-to-be--husband stood with a hand over his eyes.

Chuckling to yourself you pulled back the curtains all the way, unlocked the window, and greeted the British man standing outside; a pair of black sweats and a grey shirt adorning his body.

“What are you doing out here?” You questioned your eyebrows raised as he kept his hand over his eyes.

“Dream and Sapnap told me you locked everyone out, so I did the same and decided to come to check up on you.”

Of course, he’d do something like that for you, because you were always his number one priority.

“Think at some point they’ll notice you're gone?”

A smile crossed his face as his tongue dipped out to swipe at his slightly chapped lips.

“Probably, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.” What were you going to do with this man?

“I’m not wearing my dress, silly, you can pull your hand away from your face.” Taking his left hand in yours’ you played with the promise ring on his middle finger turning it back and forth. It was the gift you gave him on valentines day after dating for a year. Though it wasn’t very original because he ended up getting you the exact same thing.

“No, I wanna wait to see your beautiful face walking down the aisle.” Placing his hand on your cheek you allowed him to caress it with his thumb before you moved your face slightly giving his palm a small kiss. Something you often did when you couldn’t put into words what you wanted to say.

A commotion from outside the door lets you know everyone has just figured out the Groom is missing. Definitely somewhere where he shouldn’t be.

“I’ll see you down the aisle.”

He leans forward blindly leaning for a kiss which you happily give him before sneaking one more kiss on his hand before letting it go.

“I’ll be the one in white.”

The slow instrumentals to ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran began to play as the doors to where your soon-to-be husband stood. Hooking your arm underneath Karls’ arm you allowed him to walk you down.

Sapnap taps on his best friend's shoulder watching you descend down the aisle “Turn around, George.”

“If I turn around I’m gonna cry.” He confesses in a whisper, Dream holding back a snicker watching his best friend wipe at his cheeks shaking his head.

“You haven’t even seen them. George turn the fuck around.”

George finally turns to watch you walk down the aisle, and when he finds your eyes, neither one of you looks away. His hand wipes tear-stained cheeks, and you give him a big smile, feeling like you’re about to faint yet like you're floating.

Reaching the front, Karl hands you off to George, going to stand beside you, even holding your bouquet.

The two of you, a beautiful combination of tears and smiles, and you can’t help but wipe away the heavier tears that roll down his cheeks as Punz goes through the ceremony. After several minutes, full of tears, smiles, and an occasional joke from Dream, Punz finishes with, “And now, you may kiss the bride.” An excited ‘ah-ha’ exits your mouth when George pulls you into him, holding you tight to his body.

Everyone crowded around the two of you as you stood in front of the gorgeous three-layer cake. Your hand on top of the brunettes next to you as he held the knife, the tip cutting smoothly into it, making sure it’s slow enough for everyone around you to get their cameras out.

Until he started going a bit too slow and you just pressed your hand into his.

After the first piece was cut and plated on two separate plates. In true newlywed fashion, you both ended up moving the plates of cake in each other’s direction, which results in simultaneously smashing your respective plates into each other's faces.

The laughs of your family and friends filled the area as George turned to you caked dripping off his eyebrow before leaning forward and licking a bit of icing off your nose.

Admiring your husband's features as the two of you danced to ‘Can't Help Falling in love with you’ cover by Hayley Reinhart. It was as if it was just the two of you. In a room full of people. It was just the two of you in each other's arms forever.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He whispered, pressing his lips into your temple, the two of you rocking back and forth. Completely tuning out the song.

“Like what? Like we just got married?”

George just shook his head just as he began, your hands falling down his back inches away from his butt before Quackity was moving your hands back up to their original positions.

“This is a pg-13 wedding, save all your-.. Nasty activities for the honeymoon.”

@inniterhq @basilly @yamturds @dysfunctionalcrab @tinyegg

@ttakinou @charnease @i-mmunity @b3l0v3ds @alice-blue-skies @the-swageyama-tobiyolo @mitzimania @joyfullymulti @dreamzluvrr @multifandomgirl-us @sufloerfs @sunniewrites @gray-moon2 @victory-is-here @nightmarefox15 @ninkieminjaj @trashland-llamas @echoteaa

[nathanbatemanfucker]

The Best Birthday

pairing: gn teacher!reader x aaron hotchner

warnings: the slightest bit of angst, lot-o-fluff and kissing

summary: supporting jack is hotch’s number one priority, even if it means being a chaperone for a field trip on his birthday. what he doesn’t expect is you.

an: HAPPY HOTCH APPRECIATION WEEK MY FRIENDS. and happy birthday to our favorite FBI agent, and the love of my life Aaron Hotchner. thank you to @shmaptainhotchner and @lilacprentiss for putting together @hotchappreciationweek! also thanks to @ssahotchie for getting this screen grab for me.

word count: 2.6k

masterlist | hotch appreciation week masterlist

Aaron walks into his son’s classroom around 9:30. It’s empty except for his teacher, Mrs. James, and the other parents that are chaperoning. He’d dropped off Jack earlier when school started and then stopped in the office to grab some paperwork to do this weekend. He’d got an earful from the team who were chewing him out for being in the office on his birthday. But his birthday had become like every other day, he didn’t want to make a big fuss about it.

“Mr. Hotchner, great to see you! We have everyone now.” Mrs. James almost looks surprised that he’s here but he can’t let himself feel bad about it. He’s here for Jack today and that’s what matters.

“Mrs. James, great to see you as well. Please, call me Aaron.” He shakes her hand, gives the other parents a warm smile.

“Alright, Aaron. And actually we all just go by our last names now.”

“Of course, I’ll remember that.”

“Jack’s really happy you’re here. He mentioned it’s your birthday?”

“It is, I don’t really celebrate it and I want to spend time with him so this worked out perfectly.”

She gestures for Aaron and the other parents to follow her out of a door in the back of the classroom. It leads to a patch of sidewalk that’s in front of one of the playgrounds. “Sure. Oh, here’s the class we’re going to partner with, my class is already there that’s why they’re not in here. The class is a couple grades above Jack and they’ll partner up with an older kid.”

He can hear all the kids coming from somewhere, and a couple start to come around the corner. He’s looking for Jack as more kids come into view. Jack is mid conversation with another kid, doesn’t even notice that his dad is there. There are some other parents that come around the corner. “That’s a really great…” He doesn’t finish his thought because he sees you.

You’re easily one of the most attractive people he’s ever seen, dressed in jeans and an olive green sweater, your hair framing your face perfectly. You’re talking with another parent when James calls you over. You pat the parent on the arm and excuse yourself, making your way over to them.

“This is Y/l/n. Y/l/n this is Aaron Hotchner, Jack’s dad.”

“Mr. Hotchner, really great to meet you, Jack’s an angel when James shares her class with me.” Your voice is sweet and makes him feel tingly.

He outstretches his hand, which you quickly take, giving it a firm shake. “Please, call me Aaron. I’m happy to hear that, he loves to be here.”

It’s James that notices how you and Aaron hold eye contact and each other’s hands a beat too long.

“Okay, Aaron, I’m Y/n. And we love to have him. Should we get this show on the road?” You look at James, and she nods though there’s a hint of something in her eyes.

The two of you corral your two classes together, pairing up the kids so that they’ll sit with their buddy on the bus. You end up sitting near Aaron, he’s on the seat behind you and the two of you talk here and there. You don’t get very far in any conversation because of the kids but every time you’re interrupted he gives you a patient smile.

_____

All of the kids are on the carousel when you walk up to stand next to Aaron, and give him a wide knowing grin that makes him raise his eyebrow in confusion.

“A little birdie told me it’s your birthday today.” You say crossing your arms and rocking back on your heels.

He gives out a resigned sigh, his cheeks warming slightly. “That was supposed to be a secret. I don’t celebrate it, it’s not a big deal.”

“All birthdays are big deals, Aaron. It’s another trip around the sun and I bet there’s so many people that are grateful you made it.”

“I suppose so.” He says begrudgingly, though he’s smiling

“Let me buy you lunch.” You offer, to both your surprise and his.

The flush on his cheeks deepens and you bite away your widening smile. “Oh, you don’t have to, that’s really okay.”

“I know I don’t have to, I want to.”

“You want to?”

“I do. Have lunch with me? And kids of course.” You tack on, not wanting to come off too forward or unprofessional.

“Yeah, okay, I would like that.”

“Great, I’ll see you there.” You give him a soft smile, before returning to your spot closer to the exit of the carousel. You look at your watch and know the kids have a few more minutes so you pull out your phone and start to snap a few pictures.

“What’s going on with you and Jack’s dad? Or should I say, Aaron.” James comes up to you, nudges you with her shoulder.

You look at her like she’s crazy, shaking your head. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Y/n, you were definitely flirting with him, I know your flirty face.”

“I was not, I just feel like the man should get something for his birthday.”

“You’re getting him something for his birthday? Oh come on, fess up. You were flirting.” She insists and you smooth your hand over your face in embarrassment.

“Okay maybe I was! But he seemed a bit flustered when we met and I thought that he was into me a little. I offered to buy him lunch, that’s all.”

“You’re gonna sit with him?”

“And Jack and his partner, and whoever else ends up at the table, its not a big deal.”

“Its a huge deal, Jack always talks about how he wants his dad to date.”

“Its lunch on a work field trip. The kids will be there. Nothing more.” You explain, keeping your voice level.

“Hmm, whatever you say. We should get ready for them, the carousel’s slowing down.”

_____

“I didn’t even get to choose, huh?” He comes up behind you, his mouth so close to your ear it almost makes you shiver.

But you compose yourself, turn to look at him with a smirk on your face. “Birthday surprises are some of the best surprises.”

“I guess we’ll have to see about that. I’ll go get us a table.”

Your heart flutters at those words, they’re ones that you find yourself wanting to get used to but you quickly shake yourself out of that thought. He’s Jack’s dad. He’s much older, always travelling, and probably not interested in a young person such as yourself. It takes no time for you to order and receive his food, and you maneuver through all the other patrons and make your way to the table he’s chosen for you, him, Jack and his partner, Grayson.

“Y/l/n, dad said you got him a surprise for his birthday!”

“I sure did, I got him lunch, do you wanna guess what it is?” You lean in with a grin.

Jack looks pensive as he thinks about what it could be. “Um, grilled cheese?”

“Close, it is a type of sandwich.”

“Use your investigative skills Jack buddy, what do you smell?” Aaron looks at the little boy with an infinite amount of love in his eyes. Jack closes his eyes immediately, and starts to sniff, an indicator that this isn’t the first time Aaron has asked him to do something like this.

“Smells like when you make burgers.”

“Is that your final guess?” Aaron asks him, and the little boy opens his eyes and nods feverishly.

“What about you Grayson, what’s your guess?” You look over at your student who is already closing his eyes and sniffing.

“Potatoes?”

“Burgers and potatoes - final answers boys?” Aaron gives them one last chance to change their answers and you grin at him, so surprised that he’s so playful and open. James had only ever described him as focused and professional.

The boys both look at each other and then nod, eyes lighting up as you start to unpack the food out of the bag.

“Well, you two make a great team because I got him a double bacon cheeseburger and french fries. I didn’t know what kind of condiments you take so I got everything on the side.”

Jack’s next words knock the wind out of you.

“Y/ln, do you like my dad?”

Your eyes flicker to Aaron who’s as red as a tomato. You recover quickly and answer Jack. “I think your dad is very nice if that’s what you mean.”

“Do you want to kiss him?”

“Jack.” Aaron admonishes gently.

“No, its okay, Aaron. I’m not sure that’s an appropriate question to ask here Jack.”

“I’m sorry.” Jack pouts, looks down at his sack lunch. Grayson is looking anywhere but at the three of you and if you weren’t so embarrassed you would find his reaction hilarious.

You reach out and smooth Jack’s hair before standing. “Hey, its okay. I need to check on some of the other kids so you all eat up and I’ll be back soon.”

Aaron makes sure that Jack and Grayson have their sandwiches out, and asks another parent to keep an eye on them before he follows after you. You’re grabbing another student a caprisun out of the cooler when he comes up to you.

“Look, I’m sorry, he’s just anxious for me to have someone. He didn’t mean any harm.”

“Its really okay. If anything, I was the one who made things inappropriate.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“The flirting and lunch, I mean I’m on my job and-”

“Y/l/n!” A little girl screams, clearly distressed even when you haven’t seen her yet. You cut yourself off, whip your head around to locate her, and quickly identify a sweet girl in your class named Josie as the source. She’s fallen, scraped her hands up pretty bad and you apologize to Aaron quickly before running to her to get her cleaned up.

By the time you get Josie bandaged and calmed, lunch is over and you avoid Aaron at all costs. He tries to get your attention a few times but you always just give him a tight smile, stay close to a few pairs of kids that aren’t Jack and Grayson. Aaron tries to keep his best face on for Jack but he can’t help but feel like things are messed up. He plans to try to talk to you again before he takes Jack home this evening, hoping that you’ll let him.

_____

With the day over you run over to Jack to make sure he knows you aren’t upset with him for what happened at lunch. Kneeling down you give his cheek a gentle pinch. “Jack, it was so great to share you today, thanks for being partners with Grayson.”

“I’m sorry Y/l/n.” He says softly, looking down at his hands.

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry, I had the best day.”

“Promise?”

“Pinky promise!” You stick your pinky out to him and he wraps his around yours before pulling you into the tightest hug.

“Jack, why don’t you go say bye to Grayson and then we can go get some ice cream?” Aaron asks, and you look up to see a bunch of questions swimming in his deep brown eyes.

“Before dinner?” The little boy asks, his voice high with excitement.

“Before dinner. Special treat for dad’s birthday.”

“Okay!”

You start to push up off of your knees alone, but his hands grasp yours, pulling you up effortlessly.

“Thanks.” You breathe.

“My pleasure.”

“About earlier-”

He holds his hands up to stop you. “Maybe I could go first? Just so you know where I stand before you make all your decisions.”

“Oh, sure.”

“The flirting and the lunch, I enjoyed it. I haven’t done this,” He motions between the two of you, “in a really long time, and I wasn’t sure if I was reading things wrong until Jack asked you that question. Selfishly, I found myself hoping that you would answer his questions and say yes to both of them because if someone asked me those questions about you that’s how I would answer.”

“You would say yes?”

“In a heartbeat.”

“I would’ve too, I just didn’t want to make it weird.”

“I think Jack’s got that covered for us.” He jokes. You both laugh, and his is louder and lighter than you expect.

“You know Aaron, its not selfish that you want someone. Companionship isn’t selfish.”

“Even if its with someone who’s a teacher at my son’s school?”

“Even then.” You’re completely sure that you want this but you see the hesitancy in his eyes. You place a hand on his arm, giving it an encouraging squeeze. “Maybe the next time we see each other, it can be with no kids. And I can buy you more than amusement park junk food.”

“Absolutely not, I’m paying. But I’m in agreement on everything else.”

“Alright, fine, but we’re taking turns paying. I’m independent.”

“I’ll respect your wishes, if that’s what you want.”

You glance behind you, and Jack and Grayson look like they’re enthralled in a very interesting conversation. You catch James’ eye, she’s smirking and you roll her eyes before holding up a finger, giving her a signal that you need a few minutes. She nods, walks over to Jack and Grayson to keep them busy.

You lean in and whisper to him, “Come with me.”

He turns his head in confusion but does as you say, following you down the hall to the teacher’s lounge. Once inside you make a beeline for the bathroom, pulling him into the single stall with you before you lock the door behind you. He must understand your plan because he pounces on you immediately, his hands cupping your face as he pulls you in for a bruising kiss. Your fingers are knotting in his hair immediately, as you try to push yourself as flush against him as possible. He tastes like heaven, his mouth warm and wet as your tongue brushes up tentatively against his. He kisses you like his life depends on it, pushing you up against the wall and crowding you against. You know from this kiss alone that you could never want this man to walk away from you, and when you break the kiss, you look up at him completely mesmerized.

“I’ve been thinking about doing that since Jack asked that question so thank you for the opportunity.” His chest is heaving and you laugh at his words.

“Who am I to deny the birthday boy what he wants?” You ask before leaning in to capture his lips in a kiss that is much softer but just as desperate.

“As much as I would love to keep kissing you, I should take Jack home.”

“Of course. I have some grades to finish anyway. Here.” You fish your phone out of your pocket and the two of you exchange contact info. You walk him to the door of the teacher’s lounge, not wanting to look thoroughly kissed in front of kids that still may be waiting on their parents. You already know that James isn’t going to let you hear the end of it.

“I’ll call you tonight?”

“I’ll be waiting. Happy birthday, Aaron.” You reach up and push a hand through his hair. He leans into your touch, a look of contentment on his face.

“Thanks for making it the best birthday I’ve had in a while.”

“We’ve definitely got to one up this next year?”

“I like the sound of that,” He leans in, presses one last chaste kiss to your lips, “Later.”

“Later.”

part 2: here.

tagged: @ssahotchsbitch, @ssahotchie, @mrsh0tchner, @azenpal, @disgruntledchowchow, @chelseyjoyce, @hotchwhore15, @hotforhotchner11, @ssamorganhotchner, @choppa-style, @kuolonsyoja, @heliotropehotch, @averyhotchner, @zetasaturno99, @art-and-thoughts, @spngirl05, @g-l-pierce, @qtip-blog, @scuttling, @akira-155, @j-cat, @hotchner-bau, @laurensprentiss, @ssa-ki99, @ssa-montgomery, @thinking-bucky, @silvermercy, @lilacprentiss, @alexxblake, @fightingdragonswithreid, @vintagesubmariner, @ashhotchner, @moonshine-evelyn, @emlynblack

[harbingerofsoup]

The comprehensive guide for why absolutely everyone should read and watch this work of art.

First of all, Iruma is best boy! He loves his friends and his family, his instinct is to help others, and like… just look at him. So good, so pure. But what truly makes Iruma a protagonist worthy of having a slide to himself is his character development. He actually starts off as a completely selfless person due to how his awful parents groomed him, and his whole character arc is learning how to be more selfish. Of course, Iruma’s selfishness manifests as eating all the food he wants, holding on to his family and friends, and finding ambition.

Sullivan (the first guy) adopts Iruma as his grandson after his parents sold him. This dude radiates grandpa energy and his number one priority is to spoil his new grandson. He’s also the principal of the school he sends Iruma too. And one of the most powerful demons in the netherworld. Opera is Sullivan’s butler, and warms up to Iruma a bit slower than Sullivan (so like a few days). They’re not very expressive facially. Rather they mainly express emotions through their ears and tail. They’re a total Badass™ and surprisingly mischievous. Alice Asmodeus (on the left of the 3rd pic) swore his undying loyalty to Iruma after Iruma accidentally kicked his ass. This man is ride or die, and honestly my words can’t do him justice so it’s better if you just experience this gay disaster for yourself. Clara Valac (right of the same pic) is a gremlin and I love her. Her priority is to play with her friends All. The. Time. But she also has insecurities about her personality after it stopped her from making friends. I put Ameri Azazel (please step on me) in between them. She’s the student council president, a badass, and a huge romantic. Naberius Kalego is the homeroom teacher of the misfit class (the class Iruma ends up in.) He’s a Very strict teacher, but genuinely cares about his students and is good at his job. There are so many other characters, but I want to avoid spoilers and get sleep tonight.

14 year old Suzuki Iruma was raised by his parents to do chores and make them money. Eventually they decided that he wasn’t bringing in enough, so they sold him to a demon who takes him to the netherworld. Instead of eating him though, Sullivan (the demon) asks him to become his grandson, and Iruma, who’s unable to say no under any circumstances, says yes. He starts school at the demon school Babyls (pictured above) where he attends as the only human. Of course if anyone finds out they’ll eat him. While at school, he realizes that he doesn’t have an ambition of his own, so Ameri suggests that he try climbing the ranks (all demons are ranked by their power you know the drill).

This manga is hilarious! With such jokes as Iruma eating a ridiculous amount of food, every interaction between Asmodeus and Clara, and Ameri’s obsession with shojo manga. One of the funniest bits is that due to some unfortunate circumstances, Kalego becomes Iruma’s familiar, and you’ll learn all about this if you check it out, but for now all you need to know is that that fluffy chicken is Kalego. Crossdressing has been used for comedy like three times now, but not in a degrading way. It’s not the butt of the joke or anything. That’s Iruma, and he looks fucking amazing as many other characters have said many times 100% seriously. Moving on, cause explaining humor is difficult!

I adore how Clara is allowed to be a hyperactive gremlin, and I’m not talking “oh she’s quirky” I’m talking playing involves battle axes and acting like a demon bowling ball. You know the trope where the powerful girl isn’t actually that serious and instead is a huge romantic? Well Ameri may be a romantic, but her seriousness isn’t an act. She is 100% dedicated to her ambitions. And look at the designs for some of the recurring background characters! Too often in fantasy settings the female monsters, demons, etc are reduced to almost entirely human, with the exact same body type, and maybe horns or something. Not Here! There’s also the girls in the misfit class who all have their own motivations and interests. I’m also now realizing how many tall girls are in this series… awesome.

Ok so the fact that there’s even more than one queer character already make this amazing. But in addition to that, it’s never treated like a big deal. I mean look at the second picture “gender doesn’t matter to demons” love wins! So Eiko is a recurring character who has a huge crush on both Iruma and Ameri, and later becomes comrades with Asmodeus specifically when it comes to Iruma (they share photos of him it’s hilarious). Asmodeus having a crush on Iruma isn’t explicitly stating, but like I’d like to see someone argue that he doesn’t. Besides, his feelings are always treated the same as Clara’s and Eiko’s when it comes to Iruma. The holy grail of representation though is Opera who’s never referred to by gendered terms. The english dub of the anime actually specifically uses they/them pronouns. When I tell you I screamed! I could go on, but I’m I’m trying to avoid introducing too many characters.

In Mairimashita! Iruma-kun a good family supports and loves each other completely, regardless of blood relations. But it’s not either or. Sullivan, Opera, and Iruma are my golden standard for found family. I mean their love of Iruma is over the top and unconditional, which is what Iruma needs after a life without any such love from his parents. Biological relations are shown as something that isn’t always great, yet it’s not something to be expected either. Clara’s family is a gift, and Asmodeus’ family is one of the funniest dynamics I’ve seen.

These are typically considered negative traits, but here they are portrayed as desirable and useful. And it’s a convincing argument. Through Iruma we see that having your own ambitions and getting pissed is necessary for living a fulfilling life, and we see this because he starts out without having that. Every single time Iruma declares his own ambitions or says something selfish it’s just… chills. It’s always a powerful scene. Whenever Iruma gets truly pissed over something (which has legitimately only happened twice) we all cheer cause we’re so proud of him. I could write a whole essay about this one aspect of the story, but just know that I consider this to be an incredibly compelling narrative, and my favorite part of Mairimashita! Iruma-kun.

In conclusion, I’m posting this on my birthday, so as a present I would like more people to get into this fandom because it deserves a larger fanbase.

[ellitx]

Like someone else said i want to be sandwiched by himmel and venti,, both are amazing tbh i want both inside me at the same time

Had to rewrite everything from the start and i was almost close to finishing it ;;;

masterlist

word count: 588

Being sandwiched between them is a dream come true and surprisingly they don’t argue on where they’ll be positioned or fight over simple matters

Himmel will be in front while Venti is behind you.

Himmel will connect his lips with yours to take a taste of you while Venti marks and bites your body from behind.

Himmel will slip his hand to your thigh highs to feel your soft skin against his palm as he kisses while Venti will massage your breasts and pinches your nipples so he can listen to your moans.

Remember my post of the difference and similarities of the twins? I mentioned there that Himmel is into face sitting, so having you sit on his face so he can lap up your juices from your pussy is his favorite. And as for you, you’ll be giving Venti a blowjob. It gets the younger twin really excited, eager and awaiting for the moment to release his cum all over your face. He wants to coat your body with it, and he’ll keep praising you so you’ll be more motivated in taking him deeper in your throat. It’s a win-win for all of you.

Himmel gets to feel your thighs as you sit on his face and eats you out, Venti is able to cover your body with his essences and laps all of them until you’re clean, and you’re able to feel good from their sensual and erotic ministrations.

In sex they’re really well-coordinated which is a surprise. There’s no arguing, no tug-of-war, no fighting over on who can make you cum the most. It’s just sharing and praising your body. The twins’ number one priority is fulfilling your desires and having you cum as much as you want just from their fingers, dicks, tongues, and just their entire body.

The squelching sound from your pussy, the moaning, panting, and heavy breathing were all the sounds you hear all at once in the room as they pound into you like it was the end of the world.

They’re synchronised in moving their bodies, and feeling their cocks in both of your holes had you already cumming from the start. It hasn’t even started yet but two cocks moving in and out of you is something you’ve never experienced before.

You’ll be crying their names, begging them to fuck you until you can’t feel your legs. The three of you often change positions and it always goes well. It’s always trying new things and nothing ever fails or cause one of you to be unsatisfied.

All of you would be continuing this all night and on the way, Himmel was too tired to continue he’s the first one to pass out leaving you and Venti alone to enjoy fucking each other as long as you can.

Just one more round and you and Venti can finally take a rest. With one last thrust of his hips, Venti cums inside you and his body went limp that all of his weight were weighing onto you. He was too tired to pull out from you and before he knows it, his eyes were already shut from this long round session.

Venti will hug your waist and you lean closer to Himmel and place your head on his chest to listen to his calming heartbeat. This seems like a dream for you but having your two best and childhood friends fuck you is something you never expected to happen.

Nevertheless, the three of you enjoyed it peacefully and without any fights.

[calif0rnia-lovers]

sweet as pie.

a/n: please join me in welcoming sam wilson to the page. first story dedicated to this classic man, surely not the last.

pairing: sam wilson x black!reader

rating: 💙

main masterlist | taglist | divider © @whimsicalrogers

sum: sam is home. although times have changed, his sister’s intentions for him have not. sarah would love for her brother to settle down, and she knows the perfect person to make him do it. but when sam gets caught up with work, he misses the date sarah has set up for him.

words: 2.3K

It’s funny how the human mind works.

How easily certain moments can slip through its cracks. Names, dates, songs, conversations, faces lost to the wind, never to be remembered again. In the same turn, how those same things can be retained, recited down to the last detail in perfection.

Sam Wilson has seen enough in his lifetime--more than most men. No one could condemn him for forgetting the smallest of details from time to time. Sometimes he does. He is human. But, strangely, he can never forget a single detail when it comes to you.

Sam can still remember the first time he saw you.

The coffee-colored, cardboard box you carried in your arms--'living room' written across the front panel in your mother’s flawless penmanship. The dark curls pineappled to rest atop the crown of your head--a last-ditch attempt of fighting the Louisiana heat. The oversized Purple Rain t-shirt faded from too many runs through the wash. The round, black sunglasses sliding down the brim of your nose as you paused to take note of the boy watching you from his front window. Down to the scuffed, worn high tops that could barely pass for white.

He even remembers the soft smile you gave him once he froze--too embarrassed to move from the window after being caught watching you for the third time--before turning to lug the box up the steps of your front porch.

It was the summer of ‘94, and Sam Wilson was running late. He was expected to be at the docks assisting his father. Instead, he was peeping around his mother’s powder blue curtains, attempting to score glimpses of his new neighbors. Primarily their teenage daughter.

It’s not every day that Delacroix welcomes a new resident--let alone an entire family. Later that night, over dinner, his mother shared that you were entering your senior year--same as him.

He still remembers the knotting of his stomach. The strange and unusual experience of being tongue-tied when he’d tripped over his name--his name for god’s sake--that morning, you opened your front door to find him and Sarah on the other side. The kindness of your dark brown eyes as they met his, the soft giggle you released as you ignored his sputtering to accept the chocolate chip cookies his mother sent her children to deliver.

He also remembers the vision of you in your wedding dress. The smile he had to keep plastered on his face the night he learned his skepticism, surrounding death by broken heart, faded. You’ve never felt pain until you’ve seen the woman you love marry another man.

Sam must admit. When he returned, he expected--hoped--that those feelings would have disappeared. That they would have been erased from his life. Only, the moment he returned home, Sam discovered those feelings remained--were stronger even.

Five years later, he found you in the same house. Your parents no lived there. After their return from the blip, they packed up their things. Suddenly, tackling their bucket list was their main priority. You still had your husband’s last name but no husband. He was gone, lost to a younger woman.

Five years later, and Sam Wilson finds himself still frozen by the sight of you.

The long-sleeved maroon shirt he’s tugged on is not his number one choice. It’s all he had in his bag. The time on his watch had forced him into an ultimatum. Either run home, shower, and change into the outfit Sarah helped him pick out and risk being five hours late. Or head straight to your house, and risk being four hours and forty-five minutes late.

Sam opted for the latter.

Flowers in hand, he stands in the gateway of your backyard. His eyes admire the glow of the string lights against your skin. The yard has been transformed. Several tables and chairs, enough to host the entire neighborhood, squeezed into its space. Filled with music and laughter a few hours before the backyard is now quiet. Only the sounds of crickets, and the rustle of the trash bag in your hand, can be heard over the racing of Sam’s heart.

“Hey.” Sam takes a step forward, clearing his throat. “Sorry, I’m late.”

“Late is an understatement.” You don’t bother looking up from the plates stacked in your hands. Dumping them into the black trash bag, you move towards the next table. “You missed the entire party.”

After dumping the trash, you realize that Sam is no longer in the backyard. You find him in the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” You ask, coming to a stop in the doorway.

Sam glances up from the soap-covered glass in his hands. “Helping you clean up.”

You glance around the kitchen, only to find that he’s managed to wash nearly the entire stack of dishes you’ve been dreading the entire night.

“I didn’t realize you still did stuff like this,” you tease. “What with you running off to save the world. Figured you’d just hire someone to do it for you.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I got you to keep me humble,” he winks.

Sam dries his hands with the bumblebee printed hand towel, a satisfied grin on his lips as he takes in the spotless kitchen. He’s too busy admiring his handiwork to realize you’re standing alongside him.

He turns, the snarky comment he’s prepared lost in his throat as he takes you in.

You can’t deny him a smile as you watch his eyes widen, a boyish grin brightening his face as he takes in the plate you’re holding. On it rests a single slice of homemade apple pie, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and perfectly drizzled caramel.

“I think you’ve earned this.”

“You saved me a piece?”

“No,” you sigh, allowing your eyes to roll. “I actually saved it for me. But if I have to look at your pathetic attempt at puppy dog eyes one more second--”

“You were hoping I’d show up.” The grin on Sam’s face has morphed into a trademark smirk, the sight pulling a giggle from your lips. “You and I both know you don’t save, or share your pie with just anyone.”

Sam’s observation is spot on.

You don’t share your pie--or food, for that matter--with just anyone. In the chaos of hosting the neighborhood, you didn’t have a moment to stop and enjoy your own party. Let alone a slice of the apple pies you’d spent the previous night preparing.

Apple pies--specifically yours--were Sam Wilson’s true weakness.

The moment he sees you lugging home a bag full of granny smith and macintosh apples, he’s on full helicopter mode. You’re not sure how he knows, but he’s got a radar. One that somehow allows him to prophesize the exact moment the pies are out of the oven and set aside to cool.

He’ll show up, stopping by to say hi, or to see if you still need the drainpipe your ex-husband never got around to working on fixed, or to “pass along a message” from Sarah--as though your best friend couldn’t pick up the phone and call. Whatever the excuse Sam Wilson always manages to be the one to get the first slice of your apple pie. He’s smart enough to know that once the children of the neighborhood catch a whiff, they’ll show up on your doorstep. And as much as he loves the kids--Sam isn’t letting them steal his pie.

Sam’s words come out muffled through a mouthful of apples and crust. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Y/N. You should sell these. You'd make a killing.”

“And I’ve already told you, it’s just for fun,” you dismiss his advice, taking another spoonful of ice cream. “Besides, what do you expect me to do? Quit my good paying--although painstakingly boring--job in the hopes that enough people will like my baking to keep me afloat?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Sam nods, a smile growing as he watches your eyes roll.

It’s a conversation the two of you have had for years. Here is the rundown of how it plays out--every single time.

Sam: suggests that you finally open up the bakery you’ve been talking about since your teenage years.

You: dismiss his words of advice, reminding Sam that most teenage dreams are foolish.

Sam: ends the conversation with, “I’d show up every day for a piece.”

You: spend the rest of the night wondering if he’s right, about taking the chance, only to psych yourself out before going to bed.

“I’m just saying,” Sam sighs, sliding the plate to the side. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned. Life is going to pass you by, regardless, no matter what you do. If you give it a shot, and it fails--which is never going to happen--your life isn’t going to end.”

You glance up from the table, a tiny smile on your lips as you take in his soft smile.

“Maybe you’re right,” you shrug. “If all else fails, I’ll just tell everyone it’s the Falcon’s favorite pie--”

“You’ll have people flooding in from across the country.”

“It’s settled,” you giggle. “I’m using you in my business model.”

“Hey,” Sam chuckles. “As long as I get a cut, I’m not complaining.”

A silence falls over the tiny kitchen as your gaze drops from his.

Sam lightly raps his knuckles against the table before pushing his chair back.

“Uh—I should probably head out. You’re probably tired. I just wanted to come by and apologize...again.”

“Wow,” the light laugh you release halts Sam’s act of standing up. “The second you get what you came for you hit the ground running?”

The response is automatic. The chance to tease him is one you never pass up.

Sam’s brow raises as he takes in your smile.

“That’s not what I came for,” he admits.

“What did you come for then?”

“To ask you over to my place for breakfast tomorrow.”

The proposition hangs in the air, Sam nearly squirming in his seat as you take your time studying his gaze. You let out a sigh, your shoulders shrugging lightly, once you finally speak.

“I don’t know, Sam” You shake your head. Picking up the plate, you stand and cross the kitchen to the sink. “You just have so many responsibilities, nowadays, running around trying to save the world--”

“I’m not going anywhere tonight,” he’s quick with the reassurance. “Or any day, until we get through that date you promised me.”

You turn to face him, arms crossing over your chest as he comes to a stop before you.

“Say I show up. You have to promise me something.”

“Whatever you want.”

He knows that promise can end up being a slippery slope, depending on how hard you’re willing to make him work for it.

“If something comes up, in the future, you call me. And you tell me exactly why you can’t be here. Nobody gets to stand me up. Not the Falcon. And sure as hell, not Sam Wilson. Understood?”

Sam’s eyes drop to your interlaced fingers, a soft chuckle escaping his lips as he gives your hand a gentle squeeze.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” Standing on your toes, you place a kiss against his cheek. “Now, go get some sleep. You’re making me breakfast in the morning. I’m expecting waffles, bacon, freshly squeezed O.J.--the works.”

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[theseerasures]

While you're doing reactions, if you're up for it, how are you feeling about all the finale predictions you made on March 23? By my count, you scored pretty well!

hooooooo boy (the alluded post, for those just catching up)

how i feel about my predictions is that...you’re right and i scored pretty well, but much like the characters doing right in the episode itself, it didn’t matter. part of the reason why the finale made me feel so much--why i loved it, despite still being emotionally hungover from ugly affect--is because i WAS right, but i was so often right but wrong on a smaller scale, or right but wrong because i completely misunderstood the overall thematic stakes, or in one case right but in such a phenomenally cruel and roundabout way that i’m still reeling from it.

more detailed breakdown under the cut (as in “let’s unpack this,” and as in “i have an emotional breakdown”):

WHERE I WAS MOSTLY RIGHT

Team Green, Yang, the non-Robyn Happy Huntresses, Klein and the non-combatant Schnees were gimmes from the beginning, even the ones of whom we didn’t have visual confirmation by the end of Worthy.

Pietro and Maria are still MIA so i’m putting them here, but...Winter’s gonna have to tell Pietro, when he shows up again.

Cinder and the Relics i was correct about, but even though i knew going in that she would win i didn’t imagine the scale of her victory. mostly because i thought she might have learned some self-discipline and just skedaddled with the Relics in an attempt to trap as many people as possible in superhell, but a) she didn’t, and b) she won without needing to.

Salem, Watts, and Ironwood are where i predicted, but i think part of me really bought into the fan theory that maybe Salem would want to keep Atlas around. both Watts and Ironwood lasted much longer through the episode than i expected because i was working from that assumption, but with the direction the episode actually took it makes perfect sense that they exited the stage as Atlas fell--they are, after all, twin architect-destroyers of Atlas. brains and brawn.

Nora ended up in Vacuo, but she’s...uh, not happy about it. not that i expected her to be happy, but this is much much worse. og JNPR is now JUST Renora, and much as i love freewheeling modular megazord JNPR, that’s gonna hit like a truck. last time they lost someone Renora were consciously trying to play supportive teammate to Jaune, who’d just lost his partner, and Nora especially also had to talk Ren off the edge with the Kuroyuri stuff. i expect they’ll swap the dynamic this time, especially since Nora was already planning to go all independent woman before this.

Qrow, Robyn, and the AceOps are stranded, but in transit and not in Mantle, because Mantle the place is no more. and Vine is dead. the reason i posited that the AceOps might be split up was so they could find their team dynamic after it’s been unsettled, and...well. having one of them do a heroic sacrifice should do a similar trick. because i didn’t think Atlas would fall on Mantle i thought Qrow and Robyn (particularly Robyn) would get more to do, but both of them are pretty much exactly in the same place they were in at the beginning of the season: trapped in a cramped environment, cut off from the people they love and uncertain what happened to them, and unable to contribute in a way that they would consider meaningful. i’m guessing we won’t check back in with this crew for a while, but if we do it’ll be interesting to see if the Qrow and Robyn dynamic changes--like, if he has to be the one to talk her down from cabin fever and despair. (before he finds out that he was the one who should have been despairing all along.)

WHERE I WAS MOSTLY WRONG

Neo is in superhell. i had put her in Atlas because i’d overestimated Cinder’s ability to play the long game, but what the show ultimately doubled down on was that Cinder remains at heart a petty and impatient opportunist, and that’s where she’s most effective. which i dig! i dig that she has not so much improved (in means or ends) so much as learned to hold the beneficial and detrimental parts of herself farther and farther apart, because in the end they’re all the same parts, and because presumably she’ll end up starfishing out so much (who knew the way she took care of Winter’s death pigeons was foreshadowing?) that she breaks in two. and i dig Neo in superhell without Cinder, because it’ll be our first chance to see Neo not working for anyone outside of that one time she fought Cinder. if superhell does end up being part afterlife, she might also get some closure with the Torchwick stuff.

Jaune being in superhell points to it being part afterlife, because the chance for HIM to get some closure is also right there. that was always the case, but the reason i made the prediction i did was because i assumed that Jaune would remain the person he has been this whole season--this stolid, clueless but incredibly effective supporting leader. having a Jaune who is at the top of his game meet up with Pyrrha again is obviously appealing, especially to me, a person who scribbles misshapen hearts labeled “Arkos = 5evr” on all my notebooks, but at the time i didn’t think it was necessary to his story...and then the story dramatically shifted his character and threw all my carefully hedged bets off (which is something we’ll also get to with...later).

having a Jaune who has just effectively EUTHANIZED someone meet up with Pyrrha again isn’t just appealing--it’s vital. and it’s vital because the exact parameters of how and why Jaune ended up having to kill Penny is a point-for-point echo and escalation of the way the Amber to Pyrrha transfer was supposed to go. last time Jaune Arc was party to a Maiden transfer process he had no idea what was going on, and he tried to intervene when he worked out that whatever Oz was doing was going to hurt Pyrrha, and that however minute thing contributed to Pyrrha’s death and the Fall of Beacon. this time it’s not just that he knows what’s going on and the stakes of it. it’s not even just that he is the Ozpin operating the Aura Transfer machine. it is that there is no machine--there is just him, holding the knife. he knows the Amber better than the Pyrrha this time, and this time the Amber is his friend, and still whole, and choosing. not just consenting, but asking him. trusting him. so he carries it out. the old Maiden dies, and like Ozpin he dies shortly after, but not before he watches the new Maiden fail.

but he does prevent history from repeating, because a new Maiden is created, and she gets to live. and Cinder Fall has made him a murderer on top of everything else, but she WILL remember him, now.

there are other people i was wrong about, but that’s...for later.

WHERE I WAS RIGHT AND IT DIDN’T MATTER

Ruby, Blake and Weiss are all in superhell, so on paper i was right, but...well. sing it if you know the words. the reason i’m putting them in their own section is because it’s not just that they fell and didn’t jump like i thought; it’s that they would not have jumped, and that changes everything. you know how i realized that we would lose everyone, and not by choice? it was Weiss. it was when Weiss said we have to do this for Yang. Jaune had reminded Nora of what was priority one minutes before, but the implications of that didn’t sink in for me until Weiss confirmed it. they PLANNED for this. not just the eventuality where they would have to die, but the one where they’d have to watch everyone else die and do nothing except keep going.

which...has implications. the best way to read this--and i think we’re all dying for some good news--is that even if it certainly does not feel that way, RWBY was able to snatch a partial victory from Salem’s claws. they lost the Relics, but they got the Maiden powers away, and most importantly: they saved Atlas and Mantle. by the time Jaune intervened Grand Central was empty. there was no one left to evacuate. they didn’t get everyone, but they got a lot. even before Cinder intervened so catastrophically they knew how many things could go wrong, so they made a plan, and largely stuck to it. on a purely material level they only lost one thing vital to the war effort--the Staff. but they got everyone else out, which was priority one. the show in general and this arc in particular has emphasized that our heroes don’t think they should be exceptionalized, that they’ll fight tooth and nail to make sure everyone is given the treatment and respect they deserve, and they’ve made good on that. they’re Huntresses, and Huntresses be thou for the people. they chose, and they won what mattered to THEM.

but on the flip side: they chose, and there’s no way to read this choice as anything but a compromise...and a very Atlesian one at that. when confronted with calculus similar to the one JYR faced after they lost Oscar in War, our heroes chose...the opposite. one, then three, then four, then five, then six for the many. what was that number compared to two entire cities’ worth of people, especially when they’re the ones who signed up for this? i’m not trying to take this down the slippery slope where our heroes are no better than the dictator they just dethroned, because when the time came for sacrifice they chose themselves first. but it remains a sacrifice, which means that when the time came to test the hard moral limit they set for themselves, they...moved. they decided ahead of time that some risks aren’t worth taking. that this is not a situation where everyone wins, so they had to go for the next best thing, then the next best thing after that, and so on. i’m honestly not sure where it points to yet, except my usual refrain that this show is a lot less didactic than it seems, but...yeah. this is going to lead to some invigorating discussions in-universe.

and maybe it’ll start with this: that Jaune and Weiss--the two who had to verbally advocate for leaving the fallen behind--fell last of all, which means they had to watch everyone else go first. and the last person they saw was the same person. Weiss, who executed the plan to brilliant perfection, saw the past--the first family she ever had--streaking after her in an endless void, forsaking the priorities they all agreed upon, for her. Jaune, who followed the plan to execution and broke a part of himself, saw the new Maiden he crowned, backlit and pulled away by the bright future that he ensured was possible, but can no longer access.

QUEENMAKER

i’m starting with Penny, because Penny came first. there has already been a ton of discussion on the ways that she’ll come back, and while i absolutely agree that she will, for now i am not so much interested in that as i am in eulogizing this Penny. the Penny we had just now, not identical but continuous with the Penny we had before that, in the same way that everyone is not identical but continuous with who they were in the past. the Penny who IS dead, her eventual resurrection notwithstanding.

because she DID die, and her death matters. that’s the thing about the deaths in this season, and it furthers my point re: RWBY’s presumed didacticism--the show’s treatment of death has changed as our heroes have changed. it is no longer (and never was) as simple as “death and sacrifice are always senseless waste,” and more something like...”death has to matter, and we will give it meaning.” Hazel and Vine sacrificed themselves, and the fact both resulted in a “positive” outcome (more lives saved) does not make the deaths any less tragic. but neither should the tragedy of it take away from the fact that they saved lives. what separates our heroes from a Salem or a James Ironwood even now is that they recognize the importance of grievable life even as they accept inevitable death, that what is worth it all about preserving life is not to make sure that lives go on forever, but that lives have meaning and are remembered, that when you’re gone the people who are still here respect you enough to carry that meaning with them. it’s a tenuous balance to walk, but all the more important for that reason.

Penny--though her death can and will be reversed--is much the same. in every arc there has been a Game of Three Maidens (which i guess would make shogi the better metaphor and not chess because--what AM i on about), and in every Game there has been sacrifice. and i thought that would encompass Winter, here. we’d get away with it not being literal death, since Fria already took care of that, but she would be trapped on the other side of the gate--in pretty much the exact same position James Ironwood ended up in the episode itself, actually. it just seemed obvious: she’s the decoy, the one who missed the call by inches, the last revealed defector when there still was an Atlas from which to defect. all of it pointed to Winter’s story ending with one last delay barring her from salvation, of her finally being too late...

and well. i WASN’T wrong in the broad strokes, but first there was Penny Polendina. Penny could have let Jaune try to save her and Weiss die for her, but she knew she had to make a different choice to save as many lives as possible. so she offered herself up as the sacrifice instead. last week i waxed prolonged poetic about how Winter defected so recently, how it has been just IronwoodandWinter for so long, how Winter doesn’t have a team and only the healing shreds of a family, how no one would think to look for her...and then Penny did. you were my friend. (given Winter’s rough age and the hazy creation dates for the PENNY Project, it’s possible that Winter is Penny’s OLDEST friend.) Penny thought of Winter as she was dying, thought about the good Winter could do if Winter had her powers, believed in Winter, and in doing so, saved Winter’s life before anyone else’s.

she ceded the spotlight to Winter in this last episode, but this season as a whole belongs to Penny Polendina--the myriad ways she creates herself, the ways she defends her self-creation, ultimately culminating in her new body, created by no one but herself. but for her final act the Maiden of Creation did something different and no less miraculous: i thought of you. a thought was all it took.

she created someone else.

KINGSLAYER | THE MAIDEN THAT WAS PROMISED

the thing about Winter is that she came first.

no, i’m serious. i checked the fairy tale and everything--Winter came first. as the Wizard’s first visitor she encouraged him to reflect and meditate, and when probed about why she was here at all, she answered: i am waiting for my sisters. Spring and Summer have to wait, too, of course, but. Winter was the first.

Jacques and Willow named their firstborn Winter. it is not the way this story begins, but it is certainly is one of them, because the story begins with Winter, and Winter begins the story--a new retelling, a new cycle of heroism. we’ve since been introduced to other characters in that indeterminate age group between RWBY and STRQ, but Winter--by virtue of being Weiss’ older sister--anchors herself to the new generation in a way those others (even Cinder, who comes closest) do not. she started things, in the mythical emblematic way that this show likes to move, and the way she started things--the way she MADE herself start things, thanks to the house she grew up in--was with love, and protection. she took care of Weiss and laid the groundwork for the person Weiss is today, and conversely: she took care of Weiss, and through Weiss, laid the groundwork for herself and how to take care of everyone. so eventually the steel thread she tied to Weiss she also linked to Whitley, to Penny, to Marrow, to all the people they love, and on and on it goes. Winter loved Weiss, so she made herself learn how to love Weiss, and so when i say she started things what i mean is she started family. a new home, for a new generation of the orphaned.

Winter came first. but as the show demonstrates time and again, especially with Winter: first does not mean best. because being first also means you’re the prototype, a volatile thing that must be tested and tempered and then discarded to make way for what comes after, what gets improved. and it is THIS part of being first that Winter has internalized most of all. Winter, the first Maiden, taught the Wizard peace and prepared the earth so that her sisters could grow and foster and harvest the life within it; Winter, the first Schnee, laid the groundwork in her siblings, but did not wait for them. and let herself fallow in the process. she left, and every time they tried to follow or stay with her she sent them away. (she keeps sending them away; even after defecting and taking down Ironwood, the first thing she says to JNPER is go.) Winter laid the first stone in the foundation, but she cannot take credit for the home her family turned it into, for all the ways it has flourished, because she willfully absented herself of that (birth)right.

and the reason she did this was very simple: she was afraid. she could not bear the thought that while she had to learn how to love she made mistakes, the idea that instead of preparing the earth she might have poisoned the well. so she ran. she turned her face away so she would not have to look, so they would not look to her. she left, and every time one of her siblings superseded her after that, every time she was made to be their Esau--passed over--it just seemed to confirm that she was right to leave. look how well they’ve all done without her.

in the stories, eldest siblings aren’t here to win. they’re here to be made an example of, and Winter...had resigned herself to that. she was prepared to be left behind for good by all the people who have outpaced her.

but then there was Penny Polendina. Penny didn’t follow her, or try to stay; Penny came back for her. Penny remembered Winter when all Winter wanted was to be forgotten, because she’d gotten it in her head that it was what she deserved for all the things she’d done or enabled or failed to do. why did Penny remember Winter? because you were my friend. there is no divine complexity to it, nothing for Winter to fall hopeless short of. there is only the fact that Winter gave Penny something, made something together with Penny, even as she was trying her hardest not to, for fear that she would create something terrible. and this does not take away from all the ways Winter did fall short, but it is still SOMETHING. and it is enough.

it was your power, after all. Penny means the Maiden powers, but she also means THIS Maiden’s power: the power to create. you made this home, Penny is saying to Winter, you should get to reap its fruit, even if you weren’t around for the labor. all you have to do is say yes.

this was a gift. she says yes. she accepts, because in the end Winter Schnee loves her family more than she hates herself.

but then--

(a gift for what? Winter will ask herself wretchedly later, after she has failed in the two tasks she thinks Penny set for her.)

the thing about Winter is that she came first. she taught Weiss everything she knows, and she was so busy doing that she never had the time to show Weiss everything she feels. so in the end what Weiss never predicted was that for all of her team’s painful planning, for all of her own pained enforcement of that plan...none of it was a match for her sister. that when the time came it was would be WINTER who defaults to the absolute ideal of “no one gets left behind,” of “every life” meaning every life, priority one be damned.

or that Winter, in trying to choose both, in finally and fiercely trying, with surely enough power to make a difference, would fail.

what are you doing? Winter heard as she watched Weiss fall into nothingness. my life doesn’t matter.

so here, then, is the story of Winter in The Final Word: a girl returns home after having left it, but in this version it is the home who has changed and the girl who has not. and from this both are unmade. but she gets to live, because she was invited back home. and she gets to go through the portal as its last passenger, into the Promised Land.

and she is still the Maiden of Creation. even after all this, THAT is still her task. to build a refuge for her people, to collect the broken strands of the family she began and her siblings continued and expanded and reinforced, and gather them up again into a new home. it will be impossible, but at the same time: she has done this before.

and this time, she will wait for her sisters.

(a gift for what? for nothing, would be the answer. gifts aren’t FOR anything. they’re gifts.)

[the-lone-witch-and-secret-room]

For the ship ask game: vinera

Ship it

What made you ship it?

Honestly this is probs among my favorite stories to tell for this question? I saw the ship floating around the fandom a lot, and I was like “you know what I can actually kinda see it?” I also read one very good fic on it. So I decided to write it into Locked Out, not necessarily because I was so passionate about it at the time, but more because I thought “okay why not”. And then I got around to writing a bunch of scenes that you guys won’t see for a while because I’m slow as fuck and it just… worked? I played with their personalities in scenes and had them bounce a bit of dialogue off of each other, and they just work. I’m not even kidding you guys, I watched them fall in love on my screen, just like that, and it was natural and honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced? Was kinda similar with Jerbric too (I’ll talk more about that once that gets it’s own ask), and honestly? I hope other people get this experience with some of their ships too, it’s something so special to just watch characters fall for each other like that.

I never expected to like this as much as I do now? But I just… love it so much? They work and they’re so good for each other and *sob*

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Opposites attract is also always fun, I’m just a huge sucker for ships that work not in spite of, but because of their differences :)

They’re both strong-willed and stubborn if need be. Viney is the one person that can get Emira to open up. Emira is the one person that can get Viney to put herself first for once. They also feel like the type of people who would openly flirt with each other for a while, which is a fun change of pace. On that note, cool and collected Em turning into a nervous flustered mess whenever Viney compliments her because she just can’t handle compliments from her crush.

I live for their height difference. I feel like Em would adore Viney’s morbid sense of humor and definitely play along (while Jerbo and Edric stare at both of them like “what the hell is wrong with you too”, lol). They’ll passionately argue about their favorite TV shows for half an hour and then resolve the argument by ignoring it to make out.

They’re very supportive of each other, but can be petty as hell about it sometimes, which I love. Em’s incredibly sick of being seen as nothing but a twin, and Viney is the first person that makes her feel truly seen, which is something she really needs. Viney is also not afraid to call Em out on her bullshit if need-be.

Viney struggles to put herself first, she will set herself on fire to keep her friends warm and her girlfriend isn’t having it. Emira does a lot in teaching Viney that it’s okay and important to put herself first sometimes. She makes Viney her number one priority whenever she feels like her girlfriend is failing to do so herself despite needing it. She also encourages Viney’s goals and regularly gifts her text books and stuff. Also way too many things in general.

Puddles pretty much immediately takes a liking to Emira thanks to being a good judge of character, but Emira still tries really hard to get Puddles to like her. Viney finds it very sweet.

After a while, Em allows herself to be super soft and open around Viney in a way she isn’t with anyone else. She struggles with being vulnerable and just straight up denies that she is a lot of the time, but Viney is very vocal about how much she loves that part of her and it really helps Em embrace it a lot more.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

It has too many ship names 😂

I haven’t seen that outside of my own fic yet, so I’m assuming this is unpopular, but I love the thought of Viney being Emira’s childhood crush that Em never quite seems to get over.

I haven’t seen this a ton either, but I feel like Viney wouldn’t think too highly of Emira at first because school is everything to Viney and she works her ass off and still gets in trouble for basically existing, while the twins constantly skip and get away with it because of who their parents are. Essentially, Em represents everything Viney hates about the established system, so she’s not very impressed at first, lol.

For Em, on the other hand, Viney represents a kind of freedom she knows she can never have, but she admires that and longs for that and it just draws her to Viney even more (even if she may be too nervous to talk to her for a pretty long time).

Neither is really aware of the repercussions the other person’s “benefits” have, and their minds change a lot upon actually getting to know each other (classic “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”-story).

Ship ask game (I think I’ll stop including this after this one since I got most ships I could think of except for maybe one or two)

[miraculouscontent]

So, “Mr. Pigeon 72″ aired and, uh...

Guys, we have a new winner for most number of “Didn’t Need Burrow”s, because it hit 11.

“Mr. Pigeon 72″ is represented by dark pink.

Looks like “Sole Crusher” is going to give us our 50th space for sure, it’s just a matter of what prediction is going to get it.

(for further negative predictions of Season 4/5, toss me an ask starting with “Didn’t Need Burrow” and I’ll add them to the spreadsheet)

Nine close calls/things that look close to happening below:

Marinette will do something unbelievably selfless and self-sacrificing, only to promptly be slammed by the narrative and treated as though her decision was incredibly selfish.

Marinette is literally trying to get Kagami back with Adrien by trying to bring Kagami’s feelings back - even though she obviously still has feels for Adrien reagardless of denial - which is incredibly selfless, but she looks selfish because of her being pushy about it. However, I think this misses the mark juuuust enough to not quite make it.

A character will get increasingly annoyed and be having a bad day, and it's only when Marinette does something that they'll actually lose it and get akumatized (with Marinette most likely being blamed for everything)

Ramier was already having a sucktacular day before Marinette showed up and caused an incident, though the episode semi-ignores Marinette taking blame because everything happens so fast.

Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square

Very, very close, but I’m expecting this to happen later (let’s hope I jinxed it).

The Ladybug reveal to Alya is used for shipping purposes.

It was also used for the charms, though I’ll definitely add this if Alya starts shipping LadyNoir and/or has an episode where she talks about Ladybug and Adrien.

Love Square will be rushed and/or forced after the Lukanette and Adrimi/Adrigami breakups. Both Chat Noir and Marinette will say that they "loved that side of the other from the start" despite dating other people.

We’re close. We’re so damn close.

The show keeps giving reasons why the Love Square shouldn't get together or would not be a healthy relationship; these reasons will conveniently disappear once the ship is canon.

At this point, I feel like it’s just a matter of time.

Most of the characters and plotlines will be sidelined for the Affection Rectangle to the point where nothing in the show matters unless it is the Passion Parallelogram.

If we get more sidelined plots, for sure. They spent like a minute and a half on the charm thing and minutes upon minutes on the Adrienette stuff.

Alya will continue to push the pro-Adrien agenda down Marinette's throat, over any and all protests that she can't have a romantic relationship with ANYONE right now due to her various responsibilities. Alya will give lip-service to the idea that she'll help her with everything else, but in practice, her only real priority is shoving her towards Adrien every chance she gets and continuing her scheming to get them together.

Close. I’m waiting it out.

Adrien and Kagami will be seen together again before Luka and Marinette are, even though Adrien and Kagami left off on a worse note and Marinette is the main character.

I’m waiting for Adrien and Kagami to be on-screen together in a way that’s not forced, like them making up/hanging out.

[leejeongz]

nsfw a-z SEUNGHUN (CIX)

requested: yes, by anon

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

his only priority is you. he gets that things can get a little… spicy, when he’s left to do whatever he wants to you, so taking care of you afterwards is the most important thing for him. you are getting endless amounts of kisses and cuddles and he’s gonna ask if you need anything… like… a lot.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

he LOVES your hands. they’re so pretty to him. so pretty when they’re close to his face, or wrapped around his dick, or gripping onto the sheets. he l o v e s them. his way to make sex more romantic is to hold hands where possible, yet another reason why he loves your hands.

for him, it’s his neck. his neck is super sensitive and, alongside his abs, is his favourite place for you to kiss and tease him.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

if he can’t cum inside you (which he always wants to do) he’ll make you either swallow it or will finish on your tummy. if any gets on the floor, he’s getting you to lick that up, you better not waste his cum, you’re his (pretty) cum slut after all.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

you once agreed to filming you pair while you did the deed. he kept it for himself to watch and gets off to it most of the time, it never gets old.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

i don’t want to put a number on it but he’s definitely not a virgin, far from it. he knows what he’s doing and there’s not much he hasn’t done before. he knows what he likes and he certainly knows where the clit is.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

this man loves morning sex, so spooning is perfect for him. it’s slow, sensual and romantic and you can put in as little effort as you want. he can also grab your neck or your tits or even :D both :D from behind, without him being in an uncomfortable position.

he’s also a fan of standing doggy, even though he’s really tall, he can still find the perfect height and angle to pleasure you at while wrapping his hand around you to rub your clit :).

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

he can be a little goofy in the moment but that’s just him being him. it makes the whole situation feel a lot more personal and romantic. he likes to giggle about little things but is also very mature and serious at the appropriate times.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

completely shaved. he thinks it’s more convenient for you when you're sucking his dick (don’t forget the balls) and thinks it looks hotter from his perspective. it’s also a better way to see how much of his dick you really took. he shaves most of the time but honestly, i kinda see him also wanting to wax it to keep the hair away for a longer period of time.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

most of the time, he keeps the sex as romantic as possible and does all the cliche things like holding hands, exchanging kisses and sweet nothings even when it’s getting a little rough, he even lights a candle and puts on music sometimes.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

he likes to take his sweet time and edge himself A LOT. he imagines a lot of stuff but most of the time relies on pictures, videos and free stuff online. honestly, i can see him being someone who films himself, he finds it enhances the experience a lot more (and fuels his exhibitionist fantasies ofc).

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

exhibitionism- obviously not in the illegal way. he just likes the possibility of getting caught. he likes sneaking around with you but also giving other people a show. this mostly happens on vacation (if you agree) by pressing you against windows in hotel rooms late at night and fucking you from behind or making you suck his dick in front of the window.

quirofilia (i googled the name lmao)/ hands- he knows he has nice hands and that you like them, especially wrapped around your neck, but he also secretly has a thing for your hands too. handjobs are so underrated but not by this man, he cannot get enough. he likes watching you paint your nails, he likes when you let him pick the colour even more because he imagines what would look the best when they're dragging along his skin.

CHOKING (borderline breath play)- idk if this is a kink but b o y he loves to choke you. there’s nothing he likes more than fucking you in missionary but spicing it up with his hand tightly wrapped around your neck. but he’s not your average choker, he likes to see you struggle (if you both trust each other that is and with a safety gesture). of course he knows that breath play is dangerous, so he wouldn’t take it to the extreme, but hearing the change in your breathing is so HOT to him.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

he would do it anywhere lmao he’s not shy of people seeing.

but he really likes the sofa in the living room, it’s comfortable and still in your own home because he knows not everyone is up for fucking in places you might get caught, but still isn’t as “basic” as a bed. there’s also not that much space to “get lost in”since he’s not much of a manhandler, it encourages either of you to sit on the edge most of the time, providing easily access 😜

but as i mentioned above, he loves showing off to anyone who wants to watch. friends houses and hotels are his favourite places to do this.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

i don’t think he’d be turned on by random things, but there are definitely certain things about you that turn him on. like when you put your pen in your mouth while you're thinking or when you lick your fingers after eating food. anything that resembles a blowjob, he’s there begging for some head. or if he looks at your hands while they're holding onto something that looks even a little bit like his dick, he is so ready for a quick handjob.

if you accidentally touch his dick or “accidentally” back up a lil too far when spooning, you’re getting fucked there and then, i hope you’re proud of yourself :p. (but not without him teasing you a little bit beforehand for doing so.)

let’s be real tho, this guy looks at his naked self in the mirror and gets turned on by that… imagine being THAT attractive only seunghun smh

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

there’s not much he wouldn’t do, anything that made you happy made him happy. that being said, i don’t think he’d ever be comfortable with slapping anything that isn’t ur ass. especially not your face, even if it does turn you on or whatever

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

HE LOVES TO RECEIVE. he would do a n y t h i n g to feel your lips wrapped around him whenever, wherever. he just loves getting head. he likes it sloppy and kinda slow, with lots of spit and eye contact. but he expects you to clean the floor afterwards, you made the mess since “you were the one who made him cum” so you clean it, with your tongue 👅gOd he gets so cocky when he hears you complaining that you can’t take it all or when you have a sore throat after sucking his dick, so you do it all the more for some amazing sex hehe. the man loves fucking your face, pulling back and grabbing your chin whenever he’s even just slightly bored,kissing you, then pushing his cock back into your mouth.

he’s not gonna eat you out if you ask him to, he’s going to do it when he wants to do it, when he can SENSE that you want it. he’s pretty good with his lips and likes to give you gentle kisses down there since he knows you’ve probably never experienced that before (given than most men have no fucking clue lol).

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

usually slow, sensual with a healthy sprinkle of fast and rough. the slow pace is also considered a tease, he knows you want it harder, but you’re not getting it.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

sometimes they are just what he needs. if he’s horny and there’s not much time to spend dragging out everything, you can bet ur fine ass he’s taking you to the nearest private space and having his way with you. sometimes even just spotting a location to do it in is enough to let his imagination run wild and soon enough, you’re there, getting railed

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

he was born to take risks. whatever you want to do, he wants to do too, no matter how risky it is. he’s not shy to bring up anything that he wants to try either and is very open about what he likes. gets most of his ideas from things he’s done before, but he knows they’ll be better this time because they’re with you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

2-3 rounds. there’s nothing stopping him on occasion, he actually shocks you how many rounds he can go for without a break.

all last around 20 minutes and he never skips foreplay hehe.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

if you wanna use them, he’s not fussed. but his ideal sex does not involve any toys. he believes he can do everything you need to be satisfied so why would you need toys? but if you want to introduce them to activities every once in a while, he’ll go along with it, just for you.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again… THE BIGGEST TEASE IN KPOP.

he sends you numerous texts describing what he wants to do to you when he knows you're busy, sometimes, if you’re lucky, he might even treat you to a whisper in your ear when you’re in public, something along the lines of “i can’t wait until we get home” followed by a sweet kiss against your cheek. and he loves winking at you. just an innocent wink to everyone else means so much more to you and he knows it gets you wet almost instantly.

your neck is his fav place to tease you, whispering against it and pressing light kisses against it until that alone makes your eyes roll and you moan quietly. that being said, he likes when you tease him too, only he knows he can get away with punishing you for it.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

BIG ON DIRTY TALK. “that’s it baby, just a little bit more” “i know you wanna cum, but you’re not going to until i say, right?” “don’t stop, honey, don’t stop” he will say anything at any time, no filter, just whatever feels right.

he’s a little bit of a moaner, quite loud too, but you’re gonna have to do something extra special to get one of those.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

things got real boring real quick when you realised seunghun was engrossed in the tv while you were sucking his dick so you decided now was your chance to show him who was really in charge here.

your figure was now blocking the screen in front of him as you straddled him, there were no distractions for him.

“i was-“ you cut him off mid sentence with a finger pushed against his lips. you took it off and used that hand to guide his dick towards the pool of moisture that had been in between your legs for a while. he smirked slyly and let you continue, enjoying seeing this side of you for once.

although you’d done it many times, you still weren’t used to his size and the way it felt and your face was not hiding any of that. he chuckled slightly, leaning up as he did so with a hand resting on the small of your back so you didn’t fall.

“go on baby, you can do it, take it all” he spoke, the smirk becoming more clear on his face. he added a wink, knowing it would fuck with you too.

“fuck you, seunghun” you let out, lowering yourself another inch onto his length, almost all the way there now. he leaned back agasint the headboard once again, knowing he still had control, but it was fun to see you thinking that you did. his hands now rested on your thighs which were tense and hard, there was no way you were lasting in this position, he thought to himself.

you had finally gotten to riding his dick properly, an activity you did almost every day these days. seunghun had already managed to have you put on a blindfold, called you cute numerous times and was surely on his way to changing position, claiming that you should “let the expert take over”.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

l a r g e. both length and girth… above average. girl you’re so lucky to be getting that dick 😭 but good luck walking for a few hours (days) after because he knows how to use it too.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

probably the highest out of anyone on the entire planet lol.

he would have sex 24/7 if he could.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

he simply does not sleep. most of the time, he’s eager to stay up with you, cuddling or just getting on with you day. don’t get me wrong sometimes, he needs to sleep after, and then it’s only after you do, but it’s rare.

[127-mile]

Damsel in distress.

Pairing: Hero!Kun x fem.reader.

Genre: Hero/villain!au, feelings realization / Angst, fluff, mature content.

Warnings: Smut (thigh riding, handjob), violence, blood, injuries, revenge seeking, mention of nightmares, of shadows, vulgar language (reader curses a lot).

Plot: More commonly referred to as Kun by his friends, and Pyro by the citizens, he is a hero. He is adored by the citizens, and it is rare to find someone who does not know his name, or the way he handles fire. You know him too, and for many reasons.

One day, he found you, what he thought was a damsel in distress. You were, yes, but only to get to him.

Word count: +15.9k.

A/N: This is part of the Twisted Truths collab hosted by @yangyanghater​. 

+ I really hope this fits the theme of the collab, if not, well, I’ll write something else.

Your breathing is rapid, and choppy.

You know that if you do not calm down within a minute, you will pass out right in the middle of the deserted and dark alley where you are. It was a bad idea to go down an alley, you know, but being in a street surrounded by houses would have turned out to be just as pointless. The crime rate is so high that locals turn off their lights and pretend they do not exist when they hear someone calling for help. Sometimes they'll call a hero agency, but that's very rare. They prefer to remain anonymous, and observe from behind their windows.

You do not blame them, you would certainly do the same if you were in their situation. But at the moment, it doesn't really help. When you feel tears rolling down your cheeks, you wipe them with the palms of your hand, which is also a bad idea, because the blood from your hands spreads more on your skin, and the metallic smell makes you gag hard enough for some bile to go up in your throat. "Help, please help me." you sob weakly, ready to give up your race to drop onto the asphalt to wait for your inevitable death.

A sudden rush of adrenaline makes your legs move before you can stop them, and when your vision clears a little, you notice that you have stepped out of the alley. The streetlights help you see your surroundings, and even though you move further and further away from your apartment, you are a little safer. No villain would dare to attack you right in the middle of the busiest street in town, right?

Your blood runs cold when you hear the growl of the Beast chasing you, and ignoring the burn in your legs and lungs, you start to run again. You do not know where you are going, and why you do not look for a place to hide instead, but you run. You run until you come in direct contact with someone. Your chest hits hard against the chest of a man who has little time to catch your hand before you fall on your butt.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" the man says, and you shake your head. You are not in pain, but for a moment, you feel like you are losing all sense of direction, and the little bit of sanity you have left. "Are you okay? You are bleeding!" even though your eyes are closed, you can feel the man crouch down in front of you, and he takes your arm where what you think is a cut continues to bleed. He grimaces, and cups your face to force you to look at him. "Answer me."

When you open your eyes, you are surprised to find large dark eyes starting at you. Even if he wears his civilian clothes, it would be hard not to recognize Pyro, the hero. You grab his t-shirt, oblivious to the traces of blood you leave on the white fabric. "Help me, I'm begging you, he is chasing me." the pro-hero frowns, and sits up looking around. "Who is?" you shrug, and when he lowers his head, you see flames dancing in his eyes.

"I'll take care of it, but taking care of the victims is a priority." he mumbles more to himself than to you. "Can you stand up?" he asks, and when you shake your head, he is pulling his cell phone out of the pocket of his pants. He types a message, probably to notify another hero from his agency that he needs backups, and when he is done, he turns to you. "I'll call an ambulance."

That simple sentence seems to be what your body needed to give up the fight. Your limbs go numb, and the darkness embraces you tenderly. You feel your head banging against the asphalt, and the pain radiating through your neck and jaw, but that's it, after that it's a mix of noises, movements and then nothing. Complete darkness.

When you regain consciousness, you know that you are no longer on the streets, and for a minute, you wonder if this was not just another nightmare. "Don't move." a voice commands you when you try to turn, and that's when you feel it. The pain in your body, a sharp but fleeting pain. You open your eyes, and you close them when you are attacked by the rays of the sun. "Oh shit, sorry." the voice mumbles.

The person in the room with you is busy closing the curtains, and you are grateful for that. You flutter your eyelids, and when you finally see where you are, you are hardly surprised to see a white room, to hear the steady beep of your heartbeat on the monitor, and to smell the disinfectant smell that is often the one in hospitals. An IV prevents you from moving your right arm the way you want, but it's for your own good, you think.

"How are you feeling?" the voice asks you, and when you finally look at the person, you frown when you see him. Pyro. Why is he here? Yes, he was with you on the street when you passed out, but he should not be by your bedside, the police should be. "I feel like I've been run over by a dozens of cars." you answer with difficulty, your throat dry. "Yeah, I suspected as much. The doctors said your body was really at its limit when we brought you here last night."

With a nod of his head, he points to your other arm, and you see the bandage covering part of it. "They gave you 9 stitches, and they injected you with an antidote to combat the poison the villain injected you when he bit you." poison? It is a lot for your poor head which is ready to explode at any moment. You are also very tired, but you have questions for the hero. "Pyro? Why are you still here?" you ask in a weak voice, and he sits down on a chair that has been brought closer to the edge of the bed.

"You can call me Kun, I'm not here as a hero." he explains, and you nod. "Unfortunately neither I nor my colleagues were able to track down the villain who attacked you last night, so we are taking turns to make sure he does not come back here to finish what he started." yeah, that makes sense, even though you do not know what the villain would like to end, when you do not know why he started chasing you in the first place.

"The doctors said that apart from the tiredness of your body caused by the poison, and the injury to your arm, you have nothing worth staying in the hospital for a few more days. So you will be allowed to go out tonight, do you have relatives with whom you could stay until the situation calms down?" he asks, and you bites your lower lip. This is painful. "No, I am alone here." your answer does not seem to please the hero who crosses his arms against his chest. "We can have heroes stand guard oustide your house."

"I live in an apartment complex with a majority of seniors. Seeing heroes outside my door 24/7 might worry them." Kun sighs, letting his head drop back, and you admire the column of his throat and the way his adam's apple bob as he swallows. It's definitely not the best time to think about it, but Pyro is quite a handsome hero. "No need to worry about me, I'm sure the villain will not come back. I was just a victim who got in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

Kun seems to be thinking, and he stands up to take a piece of paper and a pencil. On it, he writes two phone numbers that he gives you. "Here you have my agency number, and here you have my personal number. If you ever have the suspicion that you are being followed, or hearing noises behind your door, at any time of the day or night, you can call me. I'll send a few of my heroes to check on you every now and then without worrying anyone."

It's definitely not a good idea, Kun knows, but he can't force you to live with heroes outside your door. And the kids at the Hero Academy would get even more attention, even though they are all extremely gifted for their age. "I'll do it, thank you Py-Kun." he nods, and he looks at the bedroom door before getting up from the chair again. "The police is here to take your statement. I'll be outside if you need anything."

Like Kun had said, the doctors let you out after dark. And they even called a cab so you would not have to walk back to your apartment, which is really sweet of them, you think as you are looking at the city behind the car window. The hero had to leave while you were talking to the police, a villain problem in the streets, at least that's what you understood as he was apologizing loudly for having to leave so early.

When the car pulls up in front of your apartment complex, you give the driver some money before getting off. Nothing is different from last night, although you may had expected to find a horde of villains waiting to kill you. And going up the stairs to the door of your apartment is calm, you meet an elderly person who asks you where you were last night, and that's about it. Nothing life threatening.

You close the door behind you, and you press your back against it, sighing. You slid down until you are sitting on the floor with your eyes closed. You feel like your skull is going to split open if you do not stop moving or even breathing. It is attrocious. "Come on, let's calm down." you whisper, pressing the palm of your hands to your eyes. "Everything is fine. We are fine."

After several minutes, you get up.

In the bag the nurse gave you before leaving, you take out your cellphone. The screen is cracked, but it still works, giving you the opportunity to see the various messages and missed calls from a couple of your friends. You do not read them, only the last one.

From Ten: Where are you? Did it work?

You sink onto your couch, trying to ignore the black dots playing in front of your eyes, and your headache. You could call Ten to make it easier, but you do not know if you can bear to hear him yell at you. Not tonight. Tomorrow maybe.

To Ten: I just got back from the hospital. I'm at my apartment now.

Ten's response is immediate.

From Ten: Fuck. From Ten: Do you want me to come? To Ten: Please, don't. I'm tired, and I have a terrible headache, I just want to sleep it off. Tomorrow. From Ten: Okay, I'm here if you need anything.

You turn off your phone, it will be easier for you, and you grab a blanket to cover yourself up, face included. And in less time than you would have thought, you fall asleep. Sadly, like every night, you wake up in the middle of the night feeling like you are being suffocated by someone or something. You remove the blanket, your breathing heavy and rapid, and you look around. Nobody is here. Like always.

You mumble a few insults at no one in particular, and you sit up. Beads of sweat slide down your face, and you can feel them down your spine. At least your headache is gone, and you do not know if it's because your body is still asleep, but you do not feel like all of your limbs are numb and sore anymore. That's a good thing, you hope.

You prick up your ears when you hear whispers behind the door, and you stand up silently. Of course, since you and luck are not friends, your floor creaks with every step you take towards the door. But luckily it's not loud enough to be heard by anyone in the hallway. You glance through the peep-hole, and sigh in relief when you see two people. According to the clothes they are wearing, they are heroes. You remember seeing them on TV when Pyro opened his own agency.

You know they are there to check that your door is still intact, and that no one is hiding in the common places, but you open the door anyway, startling the two heroes who turn to you. At least, they have the decency to look ashamed having woken you ip at 3 in the morning. "We didn't mean to wake you up." one of them whisper, and you nod. "Don't worry, it's okay." you place your hand against your mouth to hide a long yawn that makes the second hero smile. "Nothing to report?" he asks, and you shrug. "Nothing at all. But like I told Pyro, nothing will happen to me, don't waste your time here."

The man, with his long blond hair and his teasing smile, shrugs his shoulders. "It's our job miss, maybe you can thank us later with a drink, or two." you roll your eyes, and you return inside the apartment, closing the door in front of the two heroes. The first hero punches the other, who whines loudly, earning him a second punch. "Johnny, you are such an idiot. We are here to work, not flirt with the person we are supposed to be protecting!" he mumbles, and Johnny, as you learnt, chuckles softly. "I didn't say she had to do it right now, you really need to chill Yuta."

Unsurprinsingly, you spend the next day in your bed, sleeping. Your headache did not come back, and the wound on your arm stopped stinging, and you had no nightmares during the 20 hours you spent sleeping. Maybe you could get attacked by a villain more often, it would allow you to get through a full night without being bothered by the shadows.

When you come out of the bathroom after a long, hot and well-deserved shower, you find your phone on the coffee table, and when you turn it on, you see Ten and Doyoung bombarding you with messages. You sit on a chair around the dining table, and dials Ten's number for a video call, which he answers almost immediately. He is not alone, Doyoung is sitting next to him on a dirty and dusty old leather sofa.

"Oh my god, we thought you died overnight." Ten says in a calm manner which contrasts with the anger evident in Doyoung's eyes. "What happened to you?" he asks with clenched teeth. "That fucking villain turned out to be more dangerous that I thought. I thought we said no injury, or at least nothing serious?" you mumble, and the boys frown. "What are you talking about?"

You show your arm still wrapped in a bandage in front of the camera. "That motherfucker decided to bite me, and to inject his fucking poison in me! The doctors had to inject me with some antidote so I wouldn't fucking die." you spit, and Ten and Doyoung look at each other, worried. "It was not in the plan." you let your shoulders drop before crossing your arms over your chest. "No shit Sherlock, I was there when we put together this stupid plan."

"Do you want us to come?" Doyoung asks after calming down, and you shake your head. "No, Pyro has asked several heroes to come and check that nothing is happening to me." Ten grimaces, he knows that if he steps outside, he will be immediately recognized by the heroes, and not just those belonging to Pyro's agency. "I will come, don't take the risk to approach my apartment." the two boys nod, and you end the video call.

You walk over to the front door, and you look in the peep-hole and you are relieved to see that the heroes are not here. You go back to your room to get dressed, before putting on a coat and a scarf in which you can nuzzle your face in. Pyro has not told you that you were not allowed outside by yourself, but you do not want to risk being recognized by him, or by one of his hero friends. You do not want to be forcibly taken back to your apartment, or locked in a hotel room like he said could be a good and safe idea.

You leave your apartment, swinging your backpack over your shoulder, and you leave the building quickly. A car is parked in front, and you see the flashy colors of what must be a hero costume. Luckily, he is too busy looking on his phone to notice you. The rest is also easy, you know the way like the back of your hand, and in twenty minutes, you are already at the door of the bookstore where Doyoung, Ten, and probably Taeyong are waiting for you.

You push the door open, and you smile at Renjun, the young student who works here during the school break when he is not living on the second floor. "Y/n! How are you?" he asks, approaching to give you a quick hug. "I'm doing just fine, and you kid? School?" he nods, smiling. Renjun is an orphan whom you all took under your wing a few years ago, and he has became a perfect little gentleman with good grades, and a smile that would make you blind if you looked at it for too long. "I'm fine, and school is going great too."

"I am proud of you!" you say, and he smiles even more brightly before the door to the bookstore opens to a potential client. "I'm going in the back to talk to the boys, if you need anything come see us, okay?" he nods and you ruffle his hair before you walk though a door behind the counter. The back shop serves as a reserve for books, and as a meeting place. It's not much, a coffee table, a TV hanging on the wall, and two old, dusty sofas on either side.

Oh, and there's a fridge and cupboard filled to the brim with snacks in case Renjun gets hungry. Or Taeyong. Ten and Doyoung's gaze turn to you, and Ten is the first to stand up. He helps you remove your bag, scarf and coat before inspecting the bandage. "I'm fine, Ten. Otherwise I would not be here." he shakes his head. "I know that, but nobody can be trusted. Who tells you they didn't inject you with something weird with the antidote." he mumbles and you tilt your head. "Idiot."

"No but it is true what, since when do we trust doctors." he says, offended and you roll your eyes before sitting down on the other couch. "Because they are doctors, and what would they gain from injecting us with strange drugs, Ten?" Doyoung answers for you, and you look at them. "You scared us when you didn't answer your phone." Doyoung is not one to be sentimental, or even worried, but sometimes he does, and you enjoy seeing the human behind the shell he has created for himself over the years.

"The poison he injected into me made my body tired to the point where even the shadows did not wake me up." you say, and both boys look stunned to hear something like that. "Maybe we should ask him to give you some extra so you can get through the nights." you laugh softly, not a bad idea, but you do not know how many doses you can take before your body completely shuts itself down or stop responding to the antidote which will certainly be harder to find without having to break into the hospital.

"He'll be dead by the end of the day anyway, so that doesn't matter." you turn your head to see Taeyong, his arms crossed against his chest, and his head resting against the doorframe that leads to the bookstore. "We can't kill him. Not now." you say, and Taeyong walks over shaking his head. "He hurt you, Y/n, that was not the plan, why should we let him live?" you take Taeyong's hand when he sits next to you, and his hand is ice cold, as usual.

"Because we still need him. We have a plan, and he is the only way to do what I didn't do the other day." Ten is about to speak, but Taeyong stops him by raising his hand. "What if he attacks you again? What if this time he decides to kill you?" he asks, and you turn completely to him. "Well he'll kill me. We knew from the start that we could not trust him despite the money we gave him, it's a risk I'm willing to take. If we don't do it, only god knows how long will pass before we have another opportunity like this."

Taeyong sighs.

He was born to be a leader, he knows it, and everyone else knows it. But he does not know how to keep his mask of leader on when, you, one of his dearest friends is ready to risk your own life for a mission which should be very simple if only the villain he hired could just stick to the fucking plan and obey him. The simple idea of losing you is something he cannot imagine, it is too much. He is the leader, sure, but you are the glue that keeps the team together. If you die, the team will no longer exist, and once again, he will find himself alone. Because he knows Renjun will resent him and go with Ten.

Or Renjun will find himself alone once more, because, because of him, Ten and Doyoung can hardly be outside without being recognized by passers-by. He is pulled out of his thought when a warm hand lands softly on his cheek, and he flutters his eyelids as he looks at you. "You were getting lost in your thoughts, Taeyong."

Like a cat, he leans against your hand to enjoy the warmth that he misses so dearly. "I know what I'm doing, Taeyong. I'll do everything in my power to finish this mission safe and sound, I promise you." he shakes his head. "You can't make that kind of promise, you know that." yes, you know it, and yet you do not hesitate to do it. It won't be your first rodeo after all, and it sure won't be your most dangerous mission either. It's even one of the simplest if you had to be honest with yourself. "I know, but I'll be back."

"She knows she can't die because I will do all I can to hunt her down even in Hell and bring her back here by the skin of her ass so I can kill her myself." you nod, and you bite your bottom lip so as not to laugh at Ten's choice of words. He always does what he can to make conversations easier, and you appreciat that. Not all the time, but right now, you do, because you can feel Taeyong relaxing.

"Call him Taeyong. Call the Beast."

The same evening, you are back in your apartment.

You are reading a message Renjun sent you, something about a book he is writing when he is not in class, when noises start coming from the common hallways. You  frown, but you do not move. Even though you know what is going to happen, your heart starts to race. Because unfortunately, when you see how the first part of the mission ended, you wonder if this one is going to turn out as bad. But knowing Taeyong, he probably briefed the villain on what he could do, and could not do.

To The cheap villains alliance: It's starting. From The cheap villains alliance/Taeyong: Please, be careful, and keep us informed as soon as possible.

Before the door swings open, you dial the number Pyro gave you, and when you hear the thud of the door crashing to the floor, probably in several pieces, you call the hero. It is not very late, and yet, he does not answer. It was not in the plan, again. "Where are you, shadow handler?" the hoarse voice of the Beast echoes in the apartment, and also in your head, so that you have to held your head in between your hands. "Do not do that." you whisper.

"Do you really think your boss's threats are going to stop me from doing what I want?" Oh shit. You get up from the couch, and hide behind it, as if it would stop a villain like the Beast from reaching you. "If you are here, I guess the antidote worked. Too bad my poison can only be cured once. The body still remembers it, and this time, it will be fatal for you." you dial Pyro's number once more, but this time, you hands are shaking so much that you wonder if you'll make it.

"Answer, you stupid hero." you mumble, and that's when you hear a sleepy voice from the other side. "Kun! Pyro! Oh my god, he is here, he is in my apartment!" you hear a noise, and you do not know if it's coming from your apartment, or the side of the hero who gets out of bed suddenly. "Help me, please, please." the sobs are fake, but you know that if you set your gaze on the Beast, you will cry for real this time, and that's the last thing you want. A villain does not deserve to see you cry. A hero either for that matter.

"I'm coming! Hide somewhere." you nod even though he can't see it. "Hurry up, please, I'm scared." you whisper, and the man makes an affirming noise before hanging up. It takes a lot to scare you. Heroes don't scare you, and neither do villains. But there are always some exceptions, and god, you would have liked to never meet this exception. If you make it out alive, you'll make Taeyong understand that next time, he'll have to hire a normal villain, not someone like that damn Beast.

"It surprised me when your boss contacted me to help you on a mission." the Beast says, and you hear the heavy sounds of his footsteps on the creaking floor. "I didn't think he was stupid enough to contact someone wanting you dead." okay, your death is wished for by many villains, heroes, and humain beings like others, but the Beast? What did you do to make him so angry that he risked betraying someone like Taeyong just to get revenge? Petty much?

"I don't care if I die, if that means I would have had the chance to kill you first." after that, he is silent. He has stopped moving, and his voice is still ringing in your head, so you have no idea where he is. He may very well be in front of the sofa, as he may be in your bedroom. You lower the brightness of your phone to send a message to the group chat.

To The cheap villains alliance: Taeyong, if I get out alive, you are a dead man.

Yes, you have to let him know that from the moment you leave this apartment, preferably alive, he will have to watch his back.

"I expected better from you, shadow handler." you lift your head and your breathing hitches when you see the Beast watching you over the back of the sofa. Oh god gamn it. You get up, and you walk around the sofa. "What did I do to you?" you ask when you finally find your voice, and the Beast laughs so hard that you clench your teeth so as not to scream to cover the atrocious noise. "Don't you remember? Don't make fun of me, I know you always remember everything."

He approaches you dangerously, and as he takes a step forward, you take a step back, at least until your back makes contact with the living room wall. You are stuck. But it is not over, not yet. The Beast made a mistake. He didn't turn off the lights when he entered. If he knew you as well as he says he does, he should have known that with the lights on, you can do whatever you want. You close your eyes, and you concentrates. At least you try, it is hard to think with the breath of the Beast so close.

He is so close that you can feel the warmth and the putrid smell of his breath against your face. "Come on, try harder, I'm sure you can remember." he whispers, and he raises his hand, and before he can make any movement, his arm is blocked. He looks shocked at first, and when he turns his head he laughs when he sees a hand around his biceps. "Do you really think your little shadows are going to keep me from turning you into dust?" he asks. "No, they are not strong enough, but yours on the other hand.."

He frowns when he is thrown back by his own shadow. Even though it's just a shadow, it has the same strenght as the Beast, so it's easy for the shadow to get rid of him. The Beast crashes on the dining table, and one foot goes loose under his weight, and he collapses to the groung. "You will pay for that." yeah, you don't doubt it. You haven't used your power for a while now, so that simple use of the Beast's shadows is enough to tire you out. You won't be able to do it any more.

When the Beast gets up, other footsteps are heard in the apartment, and damn it, you are relieved. It could very well be help for the villain, but for once, you want to be positive, and think that this is Pyro, and his little hero friends. You slip down the wall, and you do not even have to pretend to cry, since your cheeks are already wet and shining with tears. You hadn't even realized it. Is it because of fear? Fatigue? You wish you knew.

You close your eyes, and you take a long breath that is cut short when two hands rest on your shoulders. "We are here, hey, we are here. Take a deep breath." it is not the voice of Pyro, but that of one of the two heroes who have come to check on you. Yuta, if you remember his name. Death Stare, yeah that's him. You hold your head in your hands when the Beast screams, and you are hardly surprised to see that you are the only one affected by his voice. "We're gonna get you out of here."

Death Stare takes your hand, and he helps you stand up. "I'll join you in a minute." he says before taking you out of the apartment. "The Beast..The Beast.." you continue to whisper, and Yuta squeezes your hand in his. "Everything will be fine, don't worry, you are safe now." you almost trip down the stairs a few times, but Yuta is always here to put you right back on your feet. When you are outside, you are shaken by the cold wind which whips your face, and your bare arms. You didn't have time to take a jacket. You didn't have time to take anything either. At least, you have your phone in your pocket.

Your gaze is caught by the lights of the ambulance and police cars that are parked outside the apartment complex, and you bite your lip. That's a lot of people, luckily your face is not known by the police, unlike Ten and Doyoung who think a mask is unnecessary when using their powers in public. "I have to let her here, I'm trusting you with her, I have to go back." Death Stare says to a woman who nods, and put her hand on your arm to get your attention. "Come inside, or you'll get cold."

She helps you get into the ambulance, and immediately makes sure you are okay. She checks your pulse, your heartbeat, your blood pressure, and finally the stiches. Fortunately, they are still intact. "How do you feel?" she asks nicely, and you shrug. "Shaken." that's all you can answer, and the woman understands perfectly, she does not pressure you into talking more.

The next minutes are quite strange.

It is sometimes silent in the street, or it is sometimes noisy because of the screams. But silence always returns. At least until you hear the sound of broken glass, and the sound of gunshots being fired. You straighten, and you grip your thighs with your fingers, so hard that you hurt yourself, but at least it helps you keep your head cool. After a while, the ambulance door opens, and when you turn your head, you see Pyro. He is not in his civilian clothes, but in his hero costume. It's black, and understated, unlike the heroes who like to add flashy colors to their costumes.

"It's over." he says angrily, and you sit up, your head tilted. "The Beast ran away." oh.

Heroes don't kill villains. They are here to stop them, and to bring the victims to safety, and sometimes it does not go as planned, and the villains escape. It is very rare, especially against heroes like Pyro, Death Stare and Mayhem (John). You start to shake and once again, this reaction is natural, and not forced. If the Beast was close to killing you today, you know he will come back, time and time again, no matter what Taeyong tells him, to finish whatever he started.

"What am I going to do?" you ask in a weak voice, and the hero gets into the truck, closing the door once the paramedic is out. "I have nowhere to go, especially now that he knows where I live." Kun takes off his mask, and he runs his fingers through his hair where they stick to his forehead from sweat. "I will protect you personally. You have nothing to fear anymore, I promise you."

Kun didn't lie.

After the Beast's attack, he decided that it would be safer for you to move in with him, in his apartment. Heroes don't do that. Normally in this kind of situation they let the police deal with the victims who are still in danger, but for some reason, Kun decided it would be different this time, that he would protect you himself.

You looked surprised, but deep down, you were very happy about it. Despite the Beast not obeying Taeyong's basic plan and orders, you came much further than you had thought you would. Because yes, getting closer to Kun is what you were looking for, not for a second you would have thought to be in his apartment. By offering you that, he had just made it easier for you without even knowing it. Heroes are not so bad after all.

Kun's apartment is not as you would have imagined. You know that pro-heroes make a lot of money, even more so when they have an agency and great heroes working for them, so you expected a large apartment, with floor to ceiling windows giving a splendid view of the city, with expensive furniture and artwork on the walls, but not at all. Kun's apartment is large enough for two people, and the decor is simple, just like him.

It's easy to feel good here, to feel at home, even though you are here on a mission, and not to imagine what your life would be like if you had made different decisions. Well, you still need protection from the Beast who will not give up until he sees your dead body at his feet, so being here is always a plus.

Taeyong, Doyoung and Ten do not think the same.

You had to wait until Kun left for work the day after the attack to contact them. Before that, you had to convinced Kun to go, you had to convince him that everything would be okay, and that he would not come into an apartment devastated by the Beast. You made it clear to him that even if the Beast found you thanks to your scent, he would never dare set foot in the apartment of a hero like Pyro. The Beast is brave, yes, but not to stupid as to sign his death warrant. At least, that's what you want to think.

Now you are sitting in Kun's bed, your back against the headboard, one leg pulled up to your chest, and you phone poised precariously on your knee. You dial Taeyong's number, the latter waking up much earlier than the other boys. After two rings, he answers.

"Y/n, how are you?" he asks, he is trying to sound calm, but you can feel the tension in his voice. You do not know if it's because of your radio silence last night, or because of the message you sent him, promising to make him a dead man. "The Beast made it clear to me that he was going to use the contract you gave him to kill me, so I don't know how I'm doing Taeyong." you mumble, and you hear his breathing quicken. "But on a more positive note, I'm at Pyro's. He lets me live in his apartment until they find the Beast."

"Y/n, I'm so sorry." Taeyong whispers, and you imagine him walking down the halls of the apartment above his bookstore, trying not to wake the boys up by talking too loudly. "You have to do something for me now, Taeyong. Find the Beast. Kill him, because if the heroes find him, he will not hesitate to throw everything out about the contract for a remission. And if he does, I'm next on their list."

You hear the sound of the door opening and closing, probably the one in the kitchen where he is going to lock himself up to prepare Renjun's breakfast. The other boys can do it on their own, and also because Taeyong enjoys torturing them a little. "The heroes don't know who you are, even if he gives them your alias, they will not believe him, they won't have any proof to arrest you."

"Taeyong, if he speaks, I won't be the only one in danger. Ten and Doyoung will be even more so. What about Renjun? What will he do when the heroes show up in the middle of the night in the bookstore to take you out? He'll be alone, once again. And god damn it, I don't want this kid to have to suffer one more time because you are not doing your fucking job properly!"

Taeyong remains silent for a long minute, and even though you know you crossed the line, you do not blame yourself. He needs to hear it. "You're still here?" you ask weakly, and hear him clear his throat. "Yeah, I'm just waiting for you to spit out some more of your poison. It's the first time you've really told me what you're thinking, so go ahead, tell me everything, you know I can take it."

You bite your lip. You and Taeyong have known each other since high school, you know that nothing you can say will change your friendship. At least you hope so, because you have a lot to tell him. "Taeyong, you are a good leader, believe me, I've met some terrible ones. But this time, you screwed up completely. The minimum to do when you hire a villain for a mission like this is to check if they have something against one of us, for fuck's sake! I almost fucking died twice because of you, and the fact that you trust the first person who dares to smile at you show that maybe you should step away from being a fucking leader! You're so fucking needy for attention that you are ready to put us all in danger."

"Is that what you really think?" he asks in a small voice, and you sigh. But before you have time to answer, you hear the sound of the key in the lock of the front door. "I have to go." you hang up and shove the phone the the pocket of your hoodie. "Y/n, where are you?" Kun asks, and you turn your head towards the door. "Your room." the young hero pushes the door open, and he smiles when he looks at you. "Is everything okay? Is the guest room not good enough for you?"

You shrug, ignoring the question. "What are you doing here? I thought being a hero meant being overworked, especially right now." you tilt your head, and Kun smiles, giving you time to look at his dimples. Cute. "Touché. The other heroes take care of everything, so I asked for some free time to be with you. I can't protect you if I'm on the other side of town." he is not wrong, you think, pushing yourself to make room for him on the bed.

Kun settles down, hugging a pillow tight against his chest, resting his head on the headboard. "And how do you plan to protect me?" you ask, and he shrugs. "By preventing you from leaving the apartment, by not letting you go anywhere on your own." you frown, giggling. "Try to follow me in the bathroom, and I'll show you that it is not just heroes who can fight." it's enough to make Kun laugh, and it's a sound you might have enjoyed under other circumstances. "I can not wait to see that."

"You don't think I'm capable of fighting you, mister pro-hero?" you ask, turning to him and he closes his eyes, laughing softly. "I have powers too, you know, and I'm sure I can kick your little flames' ass." Kun suddenly seems very interested as he straightens up, resting the pillow back on the bed. "Do you really mean that? Do you want to show me?" you do not think your body will be able to withstand a fight with someone like Pyro, but you know you could kick his ass under normal circumstances.

"I would love to, really, but we are not intimate enough for me to show you my powers." Kun throws his head back, laughing heartily. "You really are something." you shrug, what can you say, you are amazing. "Did you go to the hero academy?" he asks, and you nod, biting the inside of your cheek. "I went there, and I missed the provisional license, twice, so I decided to give up." Kun pouts, and luckily, you are strong, otherwise you would have leaned down to bite on his lower lip. "It's a shame, who knows, we could have been partner."

"I would have hired you in my agency, because we know very well that my agency would have been way more successful than yours." you smirk, and you know you are looking for troubles, but you need to know where Kun's limits lie. "Do you think you would have found better heroes than mine? Better than Death Stare, Mayhem and Strike?" you run the tip of your tongue over your lower lip, sighing, ignoring the way Kun's gaze follow your tongue. "Mayhem spends too much time flirting with victims, so of course we can always do better." it's a slippery slope you are going down, because you know that Pyro and Mayhem have always been best friends.

"I take it that he flirted with you." he says, and you shrug, you are not going to tell him. "It doesn't surprise me, but you know, that's part of his charm, the citizens adore him anyway!" well, you can't deny that Mayhem is hot. He is tall, muscular, and his long hair suits him perfectly. "Maybe I should have flirted back, I would have someone else to help me kick your ass." Kun rolls his eyes, getting up from the bed. "Two against one? That's not really fair, but even like that, I know I would win."

You have to show him what you are capable of, within the limits that your body imposes on you. You close your eyes, and it only takes half a second for one of the shadows who love to torture you during the night to appear in front of you, watching you curiously. With a nod, you indicate the curtains, and the shadow hastens to open, bathing the room in a yellow light. Immediately, Kun's shadows looms behind him as he prepares to leave the room.

"What the hell?" he frowns when he feels a pressure on his arm, preventing him from going any further, pulling him in once more, and slamming the door in front of his face. "A problem?" you ask, tilting your head. Kun is surprised to see you on the bed, as someone seems to be holding him back, but when he turns his eyes, the shadow is back on the floor, as still as Kun. "What just happened?"

You get up from the bed, shrugging your shoulders. "You are getting old Pyro boy." you say as you open the door and leave the room without the slightest problem. "Did you do that?" he asks, following you. "Me who did what?" you open the fridge to take out the bottle of water which you open to take a sip. "You used your powers to keep me from going out!" you laugh, practically choking on the water in your mouth; "I told you Kun, we are not intimate enough. You probably just imagined it all."

Kun shakes his head, he knows what he felt, and it was a hand on his arm. A cold hand, almost ghostly. He knows you did it, but as of right now, he can't prove it. But he will. He'll for you to show him your powers.

For the week after moving in with the hero, you need to put yourself back in your place when you start to feel more at home than with a man you are supposed to betray. But it's difficult, because Kun is such a lovely host, who puts your needs and protection first, even arguing with his friends because he does not want to leave you alone. But at the end of the day, you know you can't afford to fall for him.

In another life, maybe.

This morning, you are awaken when the curtains in your bedroom are drawn open, letting in the sun which warms the bare skin of your legs. You turn onto your stomach, covering yourself with the blanket, muttering something Kun does not quite understand. "Get up, sleeping beauty, we have to go out!" at that, you stuck your head out of the blanket, frowing, your eyes still closed. "Go out?" Kun nods, but you don't see him do it. "I have to go to the agency, so you are coming with me."

You get out of bed quickly, and Kun laughs as you walk into the bathroom to get dressed. Unable to return to your apartment to retrieve clothes, you used the hero's credit card to buy everything you need until you are finally allowed to go home. And when you come out, Kun is already ready to go, his hand resting on the doorknob. "Ready?" he asks, and you nod.

The agency is not far from the hero's apartment, but he takes his car not to take the slightest risk. The Beast could be anywhere, stalking your scent or even your cell phone if he is smart enough, because you do not know if Taeyong did what you ask him or not. When he parks his car in the parking lot, he turns to you. "You better behave, with the heroes, okay?" he says, and you take a falsely offended expression. "Are you really doubting me, hero?" you ask, and he sighs. "You said you would kick my ass last time, god only knows what you can tell them."

He is not wrong, so you shrug. "I say this because I know it's true, and I could kick all their asses, trust me." he chuckles, and gets out of the car. You follow him closely, your hands buried in the pockets of your coat. When he pushes the door of the agency, you are surprised to hear nothing but silence. You expected to see heroes running to and fro, responding to call from panicked citizens, not to see them behind desks, speaking in low voices not to bother anyone around.

"Kun!" a voice breaks the silence, and the hero rolls his eyes as he watches the hero with the long hair approach you. "Oh, who do we have here, Y/n. You know I'm still waiting for you to buy me a drink." he says, turning to you and you tilt your head. "To thank you for letting the Beast come into my home in the middle of the night?" Johnny's cheeks take on a pinkish tinge under the attack, and out of the corner of your eye, you see Kun turn his back to you so you won't see him laughing. "You are not wrong." Death Stare says, leaning against a door that probably lead to other offices.

You wink at Johnny when Kun asks you to follow him into his office. When you enter the room, the bright colors attack your retina right away. "Oh my god, you are a fanboy!" you exclaim and Kun clears his throat. From all part of his office, you can see figurines, posters, and merchandise belonging to the current number one hero in the country. "I never thought your office would look like an 8-year-old's bedroom, that's really cute."

Kun whines as he drops into his office chair, and he busy himself working on his computer so as not to have to answer you. You laugh, and turn to a section of the wall where various newspaper articles are hung. "Are these the arrests you made?" you ask, and the man looks in your direction. "Yeah!" he bulges his chest, probably extremely proud of his achievements. It is not for nothing if he is so popular amongs locals.

You recognize several villains, for having spoken to them at least once, or for having witnessed the arrest live on television. But your gaze stops on one particular photo, and you frown. A boy, quite young, with red hair, and a smile on his face despite the handcuffs and the hero preventing him from making a move. Your eyes fill with tears, but you shake your head, you can't cry. Not here. Not in front of the hero. He would start to suspect something when you are so so close to succeeding your mission.

You do not hear Kun approaching you, and you jump when he opens his mouth. He must have noticed the article you dwelled on. "Red Arrow." he begins, and you bite the inside of your cheek. "I admit that catching him was all down to luck. From the moment he started causing chaos in town, I thought I would never get a hold of him." he explains. Yes, you know what happened. You know that Lucas has escaped the grasp of the heroes and the police on countless occasions. Thanks to you, Doyoung, Ten and Taeyong.

"Why?" you ask in a trembling voice, and Kun watches you, arching his eyebrows. "He was so young when he was arrested, not even 18. Why did you arrest him?" Kun sighs, and he pulls away from the wall to sit on the edge of his desk. "You can't let a villain go free because he is young, Y/n, that would be reckless. Powers get stronger and stronger with age, we could not risk seeing him grow bigger, stronger and more aggressive."

You scoff, shaking your head. Lucas was not aggressive, he would never hurt a fly, he just had trouble controlling his powers like a lot of people in the world. He didn't pass the hero academy entrance exams, and no one taught him how to wield his powers. Taeyong tried, but he too had to manage his own life behind. In a way, it's your fault if he is in jail now, you are the ones who didn't take the time to train him properly when he joined the family.

But it is also the fault of the heroes who refused to understand that it was not his fault. Sure, hanging out with villains does not promise a bright future, but he was not looking to hurt either, it was not in his plans to kill two people with his arrow that day. He couldn't control it. It's that simple, he never really caused any chaos in town, but it is nearly impossible to make heroes understand a thing. "Are you okay?" Kun asks, and you must be looking extremely suspicious, but you take a deep breath, turning on your heels to face the hero, nodding your head, smiling despite your anger. "I'm doing perfectly fine."

"Y/n!"

Renjun's reaction is not what you expected. The boy has a bloody temper, he gets angry very quickly, especially when he doesn't understand something, and when he feels abandoned. So you thought he would get angry when he saw you walk through the door to the bookstore, but instead, he leaps into your arms, wrapping his arms around your neck. "I missed you." he whispers, and you rub his back. "I missed you too, kid."

After a little minute, he takes a step back, and he pouts looking at you. "I promise you everything will be back to normal very soon." he does not seem to believe you, but that's okay. You put your hand on his cheek, and he leans into the warmth of your hand. "You'll see, before you know it, I'll be back." he nods, and you place a kiss on his forehead before walking through the back door. The boys are not here, and you are not surprised, it's way too early.

So instead, you push a hidden door at the back of the room and you go up the stairs to the apartment they share. The place is quiet, except for the sounds of hushed conversation coming from the kitchen. The door is open, and when Ten's gaze lands on you, the conversation ends. "What are you doing here? Did something happen?" he asks, getting up from his chair, and you shake your head.

"Everything is fine, don't worry." you say as you open the fridge. You take out several ingrediens under Taeyong's suspicious gaze. "May I know why you are raiding our fridge?" you stuff everything in your backpack, and you turn to the boy. "Kun was asleep when I left. If he is up when I get back, I'll tell him I was at the supermarket to make him a well-deserved breakfast." they nod their heads, they don't question you anymore, they trust you. "I needed to see you."

"Oh, do you miss us?" Ten coos, and you almost regret coming. "Maybe a little, but I will not give you the pleasure to say anything more." you mumble, and Taeyong pulls up the chair next to him so you can sit down. "Everything is going fine, don't worry. The Beast doesn't seem to have tracked me down yet, and the heroes haven't seen him in town since the last attack." you explain, and Taeyong releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I'm close to my goal, so give me a few more days."

The boys worry about you, they let you know several times a day, and you understand. You are the target of the Beast, that Taeyong couldn't find, and on top of that, you spend your time surrounded by heroes. Heroes who could find out who you really are, and lock you up like they did with Lucas. "We are going to get him back, don't worry." you can promise Renjun to come home quickly, but you cannot promise the boys to bring Lucas back. It's a delicate situation, and even if you manage to get close to the goal, you do not know if you will be able to go that far.

Basically, the mission was to get revenge for Lucas' arrest, but over time, and in the sights of how your relationship with Kun progressed, you figured that maybe there was a way to get the young boy back. You do not know if it's actually possible, but you need that little bit of hope to hold on. You turn to Taeyong who is nervously playing with the hem of his hoodie, and you put your hand on his. "I'm sorry Taeyong, for what I told you last time on the phone." the man shakes his head, smiling tenderly. "Don't worry, it's already forgotten."

You do not know what you would do without him, or without Doyoung and Ten. "I have to go, I don't want him to send his squad to find me." you get up from your chair, and you sigh. It's harder than you thought it would be. Leaving what you call your second home, even if you live on your own on a daily basis. "Be careful, alright?" Doyoung says, and you nod. "Of course. Always."

When you walk through the apartment door, and walk to the bedroom, you find Kun still asleep. He looks peaceful, with his hair messy on the pillow, and his blanket covering part of his face. In another life, you think, heading for the kitchen. From your bag, you take out the ingredients you stole from Taeyong's fridge, and you busy yourself with preparing breakfast. You never had the chance to do so, because Kun always wake up before you, and he made it his personal mission to make you as comfortable as possible.

You are not as good as him in the kitchen, and it ends with an unmistakable uproar when the pan in which you were cooking the eggs fall to the ground. You do not know how it happened, but it did. What you don't know either is how Kun manages not to wake up in a hurry, ready to yell at you for being so reckless with his dear cooking equipment. But no, you can still hear his long breaths as you approach the bedroom.

"Weirdo." you whisper as you return to the kitchen to finish breakfast. Okay, the eggs don't look very good, and you are not even sure it's perfectly cooked, but it'll do. You pour coffee into a cup, and orange juice in a glass that you nearly drop. This is the last time you will enter a kitchen, you think, carrying the tray to the bedroom. You put it on the bedside table, and sit on the edge of the bed.

You do not need to open your mouth, because the smell of food is enough to make Kun stires awake. He pushes the blanket away, a smile on his face, his eyes still closed. "Good morning." he whispers in a sleepy voice, and you can't help but smile too. When he finally opens his eyes, and his gaze lands on the tray, he sits up against the headboard. "What is that?" he asks. "It's for you. It's not perfect, and I really don't recommend eating the eggs, but it's a way of thanking you."

"You don't need to thank me, I told you that already." he takes the cup of coffee, and he blows on it gently. "I do it because it's my job, and because I want to." he explains, and of course, you understand, but still. "Yes, but I'm making you miss your job, that's not good." he takes a sip of coffee which is, just as he likes it, and that makes his heart beat a little faster. Maybe. "I'll go back to work when I know you are safe."

Will you ever be completely safe? You are not sure, but it's something Kun doesn't need to know. You take the glass of juice, and take a sip under Kun's amused gaze. "What?" you ask with a frown, and he shakes his head. "Nothing." he doesn't stop smiling with amusement, and it starts to annoy you. "What?" you whine, and he throws his head back to laugh. God, you hate how much you love that laugh.

You put your glass on the tray, and you take the cup from Kun's hand to put it down too. Kun is startled, but when you get back on the bed to sit on his lap, he doesn't say anything more. He puts his hands on your hips to keep your from tipping back, and he tilts his head. "Hi." you roll your eyes. "Hi yourself." you put your hands on his shoulders. "Are you going to tell me why you are looking at me like that?" he shakes his head, and you pout. Kun is a simple man, and when you pout, he gives you what you want. Usually.

You see Kun's gaze slide over your lips and giggle softly. "Because you are beautiful?" you wrap you arms around the back of his neck to play with his hair, and that's enough to make Kun's head straighten up. "You're not too bad either." his fingers slide down your sides, and he tilts his head. "Can I kiss you?" he asks in a low voice, and you nod. Is it for the mission, or because you are actually craving it? Who knows, not you anyway.

Kun leans in and rests his lips on yours for a simple kiss, but in to time, the kiss becomes much more fiery. You nibble Kun's lip and he opens his mouth slightly, and you take advantage of it, finding his tongue, tasting the coffee he was drinking. The hero's fingers tighten around your waist, and instictively, you roll your hips, causing the young man to growl. "Do you know how bad I wanted to do this." he whispers against your lips, you did not know, but you are happy to know that you can have that kind of effect on the hero.

"I don't know, tell me." you whisper, and is surprised when Kun rocks you onto the bed to straddle your hips. He bends down, and runs the tip of his tongue over your lips, and the contact is gone as quickly as it happened, which makes you sigh, much to Kun's delight. "You wanted too, I know that." he seems so sure of himself that you roll your eyes. "What makes you say that?"

His lips slide slowly down your cheek, your jaw, ending in your neck which he kisses warmly. "I see you, you know. I see you looking at my lips when I speak. I see the way you look at me when I get out of the shower." You could laugh, really, because even though you are here for the purpose of betraying Kun, you are human, and the hero's body was sculpted by the Gods, there is nothing you can do about it if your eyes slide over his chest from time to time.

"Because you don't?" you ask, but your sentence is cut short when Kun bites the skin of your neck. He licks the wound, and he sits up, caging your face in between his hands. "Of course I do. It's hard not to." so much for being professional, you think, rolling your eyes. You push him to the other side of the bed, and it's your turn to be on top, your legs on either side of Kun's thighs, Kun who looks at you with a smirk.

"What do you think you are doing?" he asks, and you shrug, rolling your hips very lightly against Kun's crotch. "I was thinking of watching a movie." Kun sits up, his torso against your chest, and he smiles. "I do not think so, no." he puts his lips on your throat which he kisses several time, biting the skin a little harder each time, enough to make you buck your hips. "Eager, aren't we?"

He takes one of your ankles in his hand to maneuver your leg so that it is on the other side of the leg you are already standing above. He makes you sit, and when you roll your hips again, he clenches the muscles of his thighs, and it is enough to make you moan softly. "Are you so need that you are going to use my thigh to get off?" he scoffs, and you put a hand against his mouth. "Shut up Kun."

The friction of your clothed clit against Kun's thigh is something you cannot describe. It is rough, but good at the same time. "If you want to get off like this, you should at least do it properly." his voice against your ear makes you whine, tears already forming in the corner of your eyes with the pleasure flooding you so suddenly. He moves his hands on your waist to move you quicker on his thigh, the tense of the muscle against your heating core is absolutely delicious.

You try to bite your lips to quiet your moans, but it is useless, especially when Kun bites your lower lip, forcing your mouth open. He kisses you, swallowing all of your moans. He feels uncomfortably tight in the confines of his boxers, but he does not say anything. "You are doing so well baby." his mouth his hot, and you close your eyes shut. Seeing Kun's face, and his smirk would only bring you quicker to the edge.

He feels the way your thighs are shaking, and he scoffs. "Already ready to cum? Good girl." you are making a mess of his leg with your juices, and if normally you would be embarrassed, you can't find it in yourself to be right now. "Come on, cum for me, show me how good you can be." his voice is low, and honey-like. And like that, you feel your climax hitting you. And it hits harder than ever. You see stars behind your eyes, and you are pretty sure you black out for a minute or so.

"That's it." Kun whispers, and when you body falls limp against him, he rubs your back, kissing the top of your head. "You did so well." you feel the beads of sweat rolling down your spine, and you grimaces slightly. Without a word, and still out of breath, you take your shirt off under Kun's hungry gaze. It's when you move to sit back on his lap that you see and feel the tent in his pants. Poor baby must be so hard right now.

"I can take care of it." he whispers, his lips finding their way to your naked shoulder to kiss and bite as he wishes. "Let me." you say, and he helps you take off his boxers by lifting his hips from the bed, and when you are finally back in the same position, you take his hard and leaking member in your hand. You use the pre-cum to make the slide easier, and immediately, the boys huffs, eyes closing. He's been waiting for his release that he doesn't know how long he'll last.

You kiss him, all teeth and tongue, it is sloppy, disgusting, with drool running down your chins. Kun bucks his hips, fucking into your hand and you move quicker, twisting your wrist in a way that makes him moan. It's obsene the sound that come out of his mouth, but you love to hear him, so much. The hero is usually so composed, that seeing him coming undone because of your hand is a good ego boost.

"Fuck, I'm going to-to cum." he groans, and you smile softly, biting on the lobe of his ear. "Are you?" he nods with vigor, and you drop your head, opening your mouth big enough for a bead of spit to drop on the top of his dick, to make it extra wet, and with how he reacts, that's how he likes it. You run your finger in the slit, and with your free hand, you fondle his balls, and when you feel him tense up, you watch as rops of sticky cum dirty your hand. "Good boy." you say like he did earlier, and he smiles, completely blissed out.

"Gross." you say looking at your hand, and you rub it clean on Kun's abs. The hero winces at the feeling of the cum when it starts to dry on his skin. "You are gross." yeah, you are. You yelp when he takes ahold of your thighs to get out of bed, not letting go of you. "What are you doing?" you ask with a laugh. "We need a shower."

And if he showed you how wet he likes things in the shower, then so be it.

When you open your eyes, the first thing you notice is the warm body against yours. Kun's arm is firmly around your waist, and you feel his breath against your neck. It must have been barely two hours since you fell asleep, which means the sun is still shining outside, and you still have time to enjoy the day. Well, if you can. Because when you try to stand up, Kun's arm pulls you closer to him, and you sigh weakly.

If the boys knew what you just did, they would be pissed off. It was definitely not in the plan, but it takes what it takes to make Kun more open to you, more vulnerable. Enough to break him more easily, you think, looking at the ceiling. You remain motionless for a few more minutes, letting yourself be lulled by the hero's regular breathing, and after a while, he finally releases his grip on your waist to turn his back to you, you take the opportunity to get out of bed.

Your clothes have been thrown haphazardly around the room, and it takes a moment for you to find everything. But instead of putting them on, you throw everything in the laundry basket in the corner of the room, and you take a clean t-shirt and pants from the section of the wardrobe reserved for you in the guest room. When you return to the hero's room, you observe Kun. He is always so peaceful when he sleeps, and you have to refrain yourself from running your fingers through his soft hair.

In another life, you think.

There is a reason you didn't let Kun convince you to show him your powers. You needed to save it, to regain strenght so that you could use it as much as you needed. You walk over to the window and push the curtains so that the bedroom is completely bathed in sunlight. Even though the shadows are stronger at night, they are easier to manipulate and recall when there is natural light.

You call a single shadow. The one who is the most obedient, the one you spent all your childhood manipulating, the only one who does not torture you at the first given opportunity. "Prevent him from moving if he wakes up." you articulate without any sound coming out of your mouth, and the shadow nods. You walk out of the room, and with a silent step, you stop in front of Kun's office door. It is not difficult to enter, since he has nothing to hide, so the door is not locked. You only need one thing, the key to the agency.

And when you find it, you refrain from making a sound of victory, you do not have time for that. You pick up your phone, and open the conversation with the boys. You could call them, to make it easier, but you do not want to risk waking Kun up, or getting his attention.

To The cheap villains alliance: Are you there? From The cheap villains alliance / Ten / Doyoung / Taeyong: Yes! To The cheap villains alliance: Perfect. I have the key to Pyro's agency. The details of Lucas's arrest are out there, but to get there on my own, I need your help. I need chaos. I need all of the agency's heroes, Kun included, to be on the streets. From The cheap villains alliance / Taeyong: You can count on us. When do you want to do it? To The cheap villains alliance: Tonight. Wait until night has fallen. From The cheap villains alliance / Ten: The festivities will begin at 9 p.m.

You smile, you knew you could count on them. And they are the best at creating chaos without actually causing injuries. You do not want that, you do not want innocent blood on your hands. You just want the heroes out of your reach. You quickly leave the office, stuffind the key in your pants pocket. For Kun not to notice, you'll need to keep him occupied until it is time for him to go, and leave you alone.

So you go back to the room where Kun is only waking up. The shadow sees you, and it disappears with the blink of an eye. And you sit on the edge of the bed, you hand resting on Kun's cheek. "Hello sleeping beauty." he smiles, his dimples deep and tempting. You take advantage of the sight given to you by a very sleepy Kun, because it is certainly the last time you will see him like that.

From The cheap villains alliance / Ten: Let the show begin.

From where you are standing in the living room, you smile when you see the message. You do not know what they are going to do, or whatever they are going to do it themselves or ask some trusted villains. But you think it will be the latter, the safest option. It would be silly to get caught by the police when they are so close to getting Lucas back.

To The cheap villains alliance: Be careful, kids.

You put your phone in your pocket, and you settle down next to Kun. The hero has spent the last twenty minutes searching for a movie on Netflix. He puts his arm around your shoulders, and you move closer to him, close enough that your thighs are touching. The movie begins, and when his phone rings on the coffee table, you try not to show your excitement.

"Sorry." he mumbles when he sees Johnny's picture showing up. He picks up the phone, and he leaves the living room to answer. You do not move, even though you are dying to know what they are saying to each other, but when he comes back to the living room, he is much more agitated. "I have to go." he says, and you stand up, frowning. "Is something wrong?" he shakes his head as he walks to his office. You follow him closely, and you watch him put on his costume.

"Villains have decided to fight in town. They need every hero they can get." oh, so that's it. You know that this is Ten's idea. The latter loves to create conflict between villains just to see them fiight, to see the strenght they really have. Little shit. "Be careful, Kun, please." you say in a low voice, and he turns to you. He cups your face and kisses you. "I promise you." he turns around you, and without another word, he leaves the apartment.

You have no time to waste, because you do not know how long it will take Kun before coming back. You dial Taeyong's number, and the man answer almost immediately. "So? Is he gone?" he asks, and you nod as you pull on your coat. "Yeah, just now. A brawl of villains, really?" the man laughs as you leave the apartment. "You have to ask Ten, I have nothing to do with it."

Yeah, that what you thought. You go down the stairs at full speed, while being careful that the neighbords do not see you go. "They haven't gone there, hopefully?" you ask, and the noise he makes does not bode well. "Ten wanted to go up there to watch, and Doyoung followed him to stop him from doing anything stupid." fuck.

"Yeah, that's Ten. If either of them gets hurt, or arrested, I swear to god I'll find them and kill them myself. I think being suffocated by your own shadow is a good way to die." you mumble, and Taeyong laughs softly. You know he must be rolling his eyes. "Is Renjun home?" Taeyong does not respond, and you hear the sound of doors opening on the fly, and you stop dead in your tracks.

"Taeyong? Taeyong, is Renjun home?" when you hear nothing but silence, you start to build up in tension. You do not know if it's worry, or anger with Taeyong who does not tell you anything. "Lee-Fucking-Taeyong, if you don't answer me right fucking now, you're going to die too." when he picks up the phone, he is out of breath, he must have run down the stairs to check the bookstore.

"He is not here."

"Taeyong, you only had one thing to do, and that was to make sure Renjun was home!" you say with clenched teeth. You want to yell at him, make him understand that the situation is much more serious now, but you cannot be noticed by passers-by. You probably already look stupid standing in the middle of the sidewalk. "The villains don't know Renjun, they won't know they have to be careful is he ever passes by."

It is not for nothing that they are villains. They don't care about anything. They only live to hurt heroes, and to cause chaos. If they have to hurt a teenager to beat a hero, or a cop, they'll do it without a second thought. Renjun cannot defend himself, at least not against them. "I thought I heard him in his room when Ten and Doyoung left, that's why I didn't check." Taeyong says in a quick voice, and you sigh.

"Call Doyoung, tell him Renjun is not home. Tell him to find him and bring him home. Ten too. That they don't stay outside, it's too dangerous." you are about to hang up when Taeyong speaks. "And you, are you going to continue the mission?" good god, you want to hit him right now, he wastes the little time you have. "Taeyong, Renjun trusts us to protect him, and take care of him, we don't have time to talk, you fucking stupid leader, call them!"

You hang up without thinking about what you just said to Taeyong, or the time you actually lost just to insult him. Renjun is important, and so does the mission. You cannot favor one in spite of the other. You've made up your mind, not only are they going to bring Renjun home, you are also going to get Lucas out. You shove your phone in your coat pocket, and run to Pyro's agency. As you predicted, the agency is empty, and silent. You close the door behind you, and walk to Kun's office.

No one has ever dared to break into an agency, and the heroes all trust each other, so you do not have to worry about cameras, since they don't have any. In the office, you rummage in the drawers, and cupboards to find the keys that will give you access to Lucas.

See, it's not for nothing that this date is so important. If this month is so important. A month ago, you were sitting in the back of the bookstore with the boys, and you were watching the news when Lucas's picture popped up on the screen. A hero, Pyro, spoke up, so proud of himself when he announced that Lucas would be sent to a higher security prison the following month. He also said that in the meantime, the boy would be kept by the heroes in the underground cells at the agency. That day, he spoke without knowing that his words were not going to be forgotten by three people eager to find their friend back.

"Is that what you are looking for?"

The voice is followed by the sound of keys. And when you turn, you tilt your head when you see Kun with the keys leading to the underground cells. You shove your hands in the pockets of your coat, your head bowed. "How did you know?" you ask, and for a second, the hero is taken aback by the lightness with which you speak, as if you had just asked him to talk about the weather. "I always knew."

"What do you mean?" you ask, frowning. The hero sighs, and he doesn't show the slightest sign of a struggle, which means he has not visited the other heroes. "I knew it the moment I saw you, on that street, when you passed out. At first, I thought you had really been attacked by the Beast. And then in the second attack, I heard him speak, I heard him call you the shadow handler, and the contract. That's when I found out." what follow does not bode well.

"All the heroes know you. You, and your little friends. You had caused quite a stir after the arrest of Red Arrow, and that's how I made the connection. Why did the famous shadow handler would come out of her hiding place if not to help her friend escape." you run your tongue over your dry lips and take a step in the direction of Kun who is not moving.

"So, why did you save me? Why did you ask me to live with you?" even in the dark of the office, you can see Kun's cheeks turn red. "Because it was the best way to keep an eye on you, but I guess I was wrong. You are way smarter than you seem." you and your friends are very smart, and you have a lot of resources.

"What are you going to do?" you ask, and the hero lets his shoulders drop. "Are you going to stop me? Are you going to lock me up with Lucas? Oh maybe you will kill me?" he shakes his head, and the sound escaping his lips is almost painful. "See, I knew you were manipulating me the whole time, and yet for a while, when I saw that nothing was happening, I really thought you had changed your mind about Red Arrow."

You roll your eyes as you look around. "Kun, a villain cannot change. Once they start doing evil, nothing can bring them back to the right path. You have said it yourself, and more than once." he approaches you in turn, and he is so close that you can smell his perfume, the smell of embers which clings to his costume. "But maybe you could have? You and your friends are not the worst villains we've had to deal with, quite the contrary. You don't do anything for fun. You don't hurt citizens, and you only tackle the heroes when you really have no other choice."

You know all this. You know the boys and you are not the worst. You do what you can to survive. The proof, what villain would open a bookstore for the love of books, and what villains would "adopt" a child without a family because they can't stand the idea of him being alone as they have been for too long. "Lucas has not done anything wrong. When a hero can't control their powers and hurts a citizen, we don't lock them up for the rest of their life! So why him? He never did anything bad in his life!"

Kun hears the emotion in your voice when you speak, you are really affected by Lucas' situation, and he understands, really. "I had no choice. It's the rules, Y/n." you laugh coldly, closing your eyes to keep the tears from running down your cheeks. "Your rules are stupid." you both remain silent for a little while, but your attention is suddenly drawn to the window when you hear an explosion. "So what are you going to do?" you ask with a sigh. You are tired of this situation.

"If you want to stop me, do it now, because the others are going to be here very soon, and really, you don't want to compete with them." Kun takes the last step between you, and he puts his cold hands on your cheeks. You do not move, because you know he will never hurt you. You've seen it in his eyes so many times over the past few days. He won't do anything to you, except if he has no choice. Being a hero means putting aside your human side to be able to make the best decisions, and the hero will have to fight against the villain.

"If you get Lucas back, whare are you going to do?" he asks, and you are surprised at his question, so you shrug. "We don't want anything other than to give him the house he hasn't had since he got locked up, Kun. We are not going to go out in the streets to make the heroes pay for the time we lost with him. Like you said, we are not like other villains. I just want to be reunited with my family." you whisper.

Your family, yes, that's what they are. A found family is sometimes much better than the biological one. Blood is thicker than water, it is true, but sometimes a found family is so much more. "And me?" he asks, voice barely above a whisper. "Did you never feel anything for me, or were you just looking to see me weak to take advantage of it?" that's the question you unfortunately do not have an answer for. Feelings are not something you like to dwell on. Love attracts nothing good.

"What would that change? You won't let me go anyway." you respond, and Kun leans in to kiss you. And you are weak, so you respond to the kiss. But rather than delve deeper into it as Kun so desires, you close your eyes, focus, and let the shadows do what you can't do on your own. They pull Kun back, preventing him from moving. He is immobilized by invisible forces. You take the keys that have fallen on the floor, and before leaving the office, you give him one last look. "In another life we could have been happy."

The hero doesn't even try to struggle, he lets the shadows hold him in place, and all he can do is watch you go without a word. His heart is breaking, of course, but it's all his fault. He knew what you wanted, and yet, he let you get under his skin, he let you make him weak.

On your way to the underground cells, you pull out your phone, and the relief you feel when you see Taeyong's message telling you that Renjun is home, and that he is fine, the boys are fine is so strong that you could cry. Before losing the already weak signal, you send a message to Taeyong.

To Taeyong: Take the car, and be in front of Pyro's agency in 5 minutes. Don't ask question, and be ready to go.

If he answers, you don't know, since your phone stops working, possibly due to the technology used to keep the villains and their powers at bay. Lucas is not the only one here, all the cells are occupied by villains who seem to be asleep, or drugged, you do not know. "Lucas?" you ask, but get no answer. Good god, who would've thought the underground prison would be that big.

The prison does not only belong to Pyro, but to all the hero agencies in town. They all have access, so while Kun doesn't try to stop you, it's not a given, who knows if a hero is not going to descend on the other side of town at any time. It takes you a couple of minutes to find him. "Lucas." you sigh.

The boy doesn't react immediately, but when you approach, his eyes lift up to you. At first he is not sure what he is seeing, he thinks he is dealing with yet another mirage. "Lucas, we are leaving." he frowns and gets up on shaky legs, and walks over to the bars. "Y/n, what are you doing here?" his voice is so weak, your heart breaks a little. "I'm taking you home." he tries to smile, but you see that he is too tired to do so, but you know he is grateful to see you.

Opening the cell is another story.

You are not familiar with the tech they use, but if the villains are kept in a constant state of fatigue, it doesn't have to be that complicated, right? A computer and several monitors are close to the door that leads to the agency. Cameras that monitor all the cells and buttons. So many buttons. "Fuck." it may take some time.

"The green button." you turn when you hear a voice. That of a villain. "What?" you are not stupid, you are not going to be fooled by a villain. "If you want to open your friend's cell, you have to press the green button closest to his cell's camera." he explains, and you frown. "Why are you helping me?" you ask, and the villain shrugs in defeat. "He is young. He does not deserve what awaits him in prison." you agree completely.

The thing is, villains are vicious, who says that by pushing the button you won't open all the cells and release the villains in town? You want your friend, not to create chaos in the city. But you have no choice, if you call the shadows to bring Kun back here, he will certainly change his mind and prevent you from doing what you want to do. So you find the screen leading to Lucas' cell, and you press the button.

At first, nothing happens, but after a few seconds, a metallic noise is heard and Lucas's cell opens. "Oh fuck, thank you!" you run toward the boy who seems reluctant to come out, as if expecting to be attacked, or laughed at at his idiocy before being locked up again. "Come on, Taeyong is already waiting for us outside." at the mention of the leader, his eyes brighten and you help him walk. Lucas is tall, like really tall, so it's hard to keep him from falling, especially in the stairs, but you get there.

"Wait." you whisper as you lean him against the wall so he can hold himself up while you lock the door to the cells. The freezing cold of the underground has seeped into your skin, and you begin to shake, so much that an easy task becomes difficult. "Come on." you mumble, but Lucas puts his hand on yours. "Let me do it." and he does.

"Let's go home." you put Lucas's arm around your shoulders, and you walk toward the door of the agency, but first, you stop by the office. Kun is still there, held by the shadows. When he hears the footsteps, he looks up at you, and.. and he smiles sadly. "Be happy." that's all he says before you force the shadow to release him. When the shadow disappear, you also disappear.

He will soon hear the sound of an engine, and that of a car racing away. And he will be alone. Alone with his broken heart, a bunch of villains to calm down on the streets, and a lot of explainations to give. Love brings nothing good, you were right about that.

In another life, you both think.

[xhxhxhx]

At the end of June, the New York Times national poll had Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump nationally by a 14-point national margin and in battleground states by smaller but substantial margins.

Last week, the Times is profiling voters in battleground states who voted for Trump in 2016, but don’t support him now. Most of his 2016 voters still support him -- 86 percent -- but a small but critical number don’t. 

6 percent say they don’t support Trump and there’s no chance they’ll support him again. That small share is enough to flip Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Florida, and with it, the election.

I’m posting this here because these voters’ reasons surprised me. 

I expected the economy to be critical to these voters. The United States is in a deep recession, with a 13 percent unemployment rate and more out of the labor market. GDP fell sharply and will fall further.

Although the federal government has supported families -- personal disposable income is actually up this year -- spending has fallen sharply, businesses have closed, and many employees have been permanently laid-off. 

Those are the sort circumstances that cost leaders elections. Nixon lost to Kennedy, Carter lost to Reagan, Bush lost to Clinton, and McCain lost to Obama largely because their party held office during a recession. 

If anything, this more severe recession should have focused attention on the economy and persuaded Trump’s voters to switch. But these voters focused on something else: race.

The Times found that Trump “lost voters because of his handling of the growing movement against police brutality and entrenched racism”:

More than 80 percent of those who won’t vote for him again say that Mr. Biden would do a better job on race relations or unifying America. Of the Trump voters who have not ruled out voting for him again, only around 10 percent said they trusted Mr. Biden to do a better job on race relations.

I would have assumed that the switchers would have been more college-educated or younger, but they weren’t. They were similar to his supporters in their age, education, and race.

Their differences were about beliefs, especially about race. Half of them believed that Trump would be worse than Biden on the economy, but four-fifths of them believed that he would be worse on race.

The Times spoke to one of the switchers:

Cathleen Graham, 53, a nurse who lives in a mostly white suburb of Grand Rapids, Mich., has had very different life experiences, but came to the same conclusion. She said she had been shocked to learn how much racism still existed.

“I understand the movement and why it’s going on a lot better than I did than when the gentleman was kneeling at the football game,” she said, referring to Colin Kaepernick. “Even speaking up to support it, I’ve lost friends, friends that were crude, and I was like, ‘How can you even think that of another race?’”

Mr. Trump fits in that category, she said. She plans to vote for Mr. Biden.

Nearly everything about this surprised me. 

It surprised me that the economy was not more decisive for switchers. It surprised me that race was decisive. And more than anything, it surprised me that race helped Biden, and hurt Trump.

It surprised the Times’s Nate Cohn, too:

Michael Barbaro  So what about the second big issue that you said voters disapprove of the president’s management of, which is race and the protests over race and policing?

Nate Cohn  Right. Just a whole spectrum of different issues relating to race and criminal justice and the protests, the president’s ratings are even worse on those issues than they are on the coronavirus. And here again, the president has this fundamental disconnect with the electorate, where his priorities aren’t the same as theirs. I mean, we asked whether they would rather have a candidate who says that we need to be tough on protests that go too far, or whether they would rather have a candidate who says we need to focus on the cause of protests, even when they go too far. And voters said, by a 40-point margin, that they would rather have the candidate who focuses on the cause of the protests, even when they’re going too far. And it’s also including a significant number of people who backed the president.

Michael Barbaro  So the gulf between how the president is talking about these protests and how voters across the battleground states are thinking about these protests is enormous.

Nate Cohn  Yeah. And I wouldn’t have guessed that, personally.

I wouldn’t have guessed it either. I wouldn’t have guessed that white American Trump voters would come around on Trump and race. I worried they might be beyond persuasion. 

I worried the protests wouldn’t work. I thought they would open an old wound and turn white Americans against Black and Brown Americans. I worried they would end like the last wave of protests, in disappointment and reaction. 

I am as surprised as anyone that the protests did something else: They changed minds. They made a small number of Americans change their minds and embrace something better.   

That made me a little more hopeful about America.