#Cliffhanger yippee

[clonedchaos]

Welp, excuse me. I’m gonna go be obsessed with Descendants: Rise of Red for a little bit— pardon the brainworms, potential one shots, and related reposts. ❤️💙

The soundtrack is FIRE 🔥🔥🔥

(Plz don’t come for me Descendants fandom, I liked the songs... a lot actually. 😭😭😭)

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Yes I’ve seen all the descendants films lol, I just don’t talk about it a lot.

[clowningaroundmars]

thanks to the amazing @starcut-sand for the inspo, i now present to you all... a new multi-chapter adventure! this time featuring our beloved gwen stacy and miles42 :)

no, it's not a ship fic lol but i hope to keep you all entertained nonetheless

this one will update much faster since i've plotted it all out and have drafts written already. so stay tuned for new updates coming soon!

general content warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of blood, kidnapping, drugs, poisoning, death, bullets and explosions, teenagers being teenagers

without further ado, let's get into it!

part 1 of 4 >>

Gwen woke up in a small, dark room not knowing how much time had passed since she was knocked out cold.

And she knew she was knocked out cold, of course, because even she knew never to take a cat-nap in the middle of a mission.

That she was on currently… if memory served her correctly.

Slowly, painstakingly-- with knives in her ribs and her left shoulder still sore from her earlier encounter-- she sat up. Flicked through her watch to make double-sure that the migraine throbbing in her brain wasn’t tricking her into a vivid hallucination of some kind.

Earth-42 stared right back at her, bright green digital letters dancing and blurring in and out right before her very eyes. When she reached up to touch her forehead in a spot that itched, her glove came away with a bit of dried blood on the white fabric.

Shit.

Gwen could not let Jessica down under any circumstances, especially since this was her first mission since… well, since Miles Morales from earth-1610 came in and single-handedly caused the collapse of the Spider Society as everyone knew it.

Which wasn’t really a bad thing in the end, but it did mean that poor Jess had to step up as the leader shortly after Miguel was forcibly dethroned.

“I’m the interim leader right now,” she would say to anyone who called her “boss” or “CEO” or any variation of the word. The poor woman already had enough on her plate as it was with a newborn and a new family life to tend to, so Gwen understood 100%.

It was also why the pressure was on her shoulders to complete this one tiny, manageable task that was given to her.

Gwen wasn’t stupid. She knew she was on a sort of probationary period after her first blunder on earth-1610. And the fact that she turned her back on the Society to break a couple of rules, help Miles, save the multiverse... well, all of that didn't help matters much.

She ignored the looks cast her way every now and then by other Spiders when visiting HQ, but she knew. She tallied up those glances whether anyone knew of it or not.

But then there was also the stupid feeling of… sentimentality hanging in the air, keeping her chained to the Society when most of her other Spider friends had already abandoned the group.

Yeah, her relationship with her father was… repaired, for the most part. But damn it if she didn’t take a liking to Jessica Drew, too! Sue her.

So here she was, on a mission to visit earth-42 and investigate an anomaly that seemed to threaten the very fabric of space and time. Again.

Gwen was already starting to regret her very dumb, not-very-well-thought out decision to volunteer for this one, though.

No time to complain right now though. We’ve got a problem to solve, Gwen mused, forcing her annoyance, frustration, and panic deep down for the moment.

Her aching brain switched over to Work Mode once again, and she immediately slid into compartmentalizing and sorting every bit of detail that she could manage to remember in the present moment.

Her head was bleeding and throbbing, which meant she sustained a brain injury of some kind. She wobbled unsteadily to her feet, wiggling them and checking on her balance. Her head complained louder, but she seemed to be able to walk just fine.

Okay. Good. It wasn’t a bad injury-- and if it was, it seemed her enhanced healing factor already took care of the majority of it in her sleep.

Alright, time to examine her surroundings now.

While she did so, she found it pretty irritating that while her injury didn’t put her out of commission, it seemed to wipe her entire short-term memory instead.

She eventually sat down on a crate in the corner of the room that she was imprisoned in and with her head in her hands, started sorting even harder through her mental files.

… Nothing.

Well, nothing past the memory of flying through the designated portal she opened back in Jess’s office shortly after receiving her mission assignment. And then landing on top of a familiar-but-not-so-familiar building on earth-42's Brooklyn.

She vaguely remembered the late evening sunset, almost choked out by the various plumes of smoke reaching up to the heavens from the fires that still raged on in parts of the city.

... And then? Nothing else.

Gwen remembered how it was like when earth-1610’s Miles-- her Miles-- ended up in this strange world for the first time, a time that seemed like it was eons ago to Gwen, but couldn’t have been more than a few months ago. The fires were much more numerous, news helicopters everywhere and crime seemingly never-ending.

She couldn’t speak on the crime rates per se, but the place looked a little bit less like the mess she and her Spider Band stumbled into at first.

She distinctly remembered thinking to herself-- before swinging down and heading towards the reports of the anomalies-- that she was glad that the Prowlers seemed to get some things under control. If it was them battling the crime in the first place, that is.

But now there was no time for such thoughts. Wherever the Prowlers happened to be now, they were most likely nowhere near her location. Calling Miles-42 up on her watch would be… distasteful, especially this early in the game.

Especially when she had no idea if he was even available or not. Hm. Maybe she should’ve let Jess ping him and let him know of her arrival as per the usual protocol, but. Oh well.

Too late for that now.

So she stood up again, massaged her shoulder and rolled her neck, and blinked the stars out of her eyes. Time to get to work, for real this time.

She eventually happened upon a door that seemed to lead to the outside, which was really well-hidden against the four walls that enclosed her inside.

The room she was held in wasn’t very big, but it was dark. There was only one tiny little window high up near the ceiling that offered a glimpse up into the night sky beyond.

So it was well past sunset… better than not knowing anything at all, right?

The exit was seemingly hard to get out of, unfortunately. Try as she might, Gwen’s strength alone couldn’t get the giant metal door open. She pushed and pulled on the edges, tried sliding it left and right, tried kicking at it. It didn’t budge.

Whoever trapped her in this… storage closet seemed to know exactly what they were doing, who they were dealing with… whoever they happened to be.

Sinister laughing echoed in the back of her mind as she recalled her run-in with the bad guy but… couldn’t for the life of her remember who he was! So frustrating!

Still, this was earth-42. The baddie could’ve been anyone at all, anyone from the Sinister Six Cartel that she knew still held power on the streets here.

Even with their power slowly slipping from their collective grasps, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that one of those assholes still owned a high-security compound out in the middle of nowhere. It also wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for one of them to have enough tranquilizers to knock out ten elephants, and use that drug on her to drag her out here.

For all Gwen knew, she was probably miles and miles away from Brooklyn, too. Just great.

No time to despair. Time to concentrate.

Okay, so she couldn’t really get past this gigantic metal door that seemed to be made of some titanium alloy or whatever. That left the small space up high on the wall that probably served as ventilation for the room, only sporting thick metal bars to prevent things from getting in… or out.

Gwen quickly scaled the wall and eyed the dimensions of the space before deciding that if she got the metal grating off of the concrete wall, she might be able to squeeze her shoulders through and possibly achieve freedom.

Assuming as well, of course, that the security in this building was easy to get past.

But she would rather take her chances with evil police-drones and bumbling goons than sit another minute in this prison waiting to see who exactly captured her.

Gwen got to work, using her super-strength to painstakingly detach the grates corner by corner, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She bent a few bars in the process, but what was a little property damage to a Spiderperson? No big deal.

If the bad guy who kidnapped me wanted his compound to be spotless and damage-free, he shouldn’t have kidnapped me in the first place, Gwen reasoned.

After what felt like hours, the grating was off. She was free! Now all she had to do was--

Gwen’s heart almost leaped out of her throat and into her mask when glowing purple and white eyes suddenly came into view. They narrowed into slits.

“Jesus Chr--!!! What the…” her brain fully booted up this time, taking a second to stare right back into the glowing eyes of...

“Miles?” She gasped, once it hit her.

The glowing eyes blinked once before finally nodding at her. He raised a metal claw to his mask’s mouth in a universally-recognizable gesture.

Shhhhh.

Gwen’s own giant white eyes blinked back at him before shifting out of the way to allow Miles to extend a begauntleted arm into the room through the window and shoot out… something.

A spark of purple lit the room up, and shortly after, a clattering of glass and plastic resonated through the room before the place fell deathly quiet once more.

“There was a camera in there with you, most likely recording audio, too,” Miles offered as an explanation.

“… Oh. Well, thanks.” Gwen said awkwardly.

So she was wrong. Somehow, in the middle of the night in this odd prison she woke up in, Miles Morales happened to find her anyhow.

She wasn’t used to… this other Miles, and they hadn’t spoken much after their first meeting months ago.

He would join the Spider Band on their own missions sparingly. As far as she knew, only 1610’s Miles hung out with him with any sort of regularity. The kid was a complete mystery to everyone else otherwise, and whenever he was brought up around 1610, the topic was usually brushed off as casually as possible.

Gwen had no clue why 42’s Miles didn’t seem to take a liking to any of the members of their little motley crew. She figured he probably had a hard time keeping up with super-powered heroes and just left it at that, even though from what she could see of their encounters-- however far and few between they were-- the kid seemed to have talent. He was able to keep up with them on most days without barely breaking a sweat.

So all in all, a total mystery to her. Even if this guy shared the same face as her best friend and ally Miles Morales, he... moved differently. Acted differently. Like Miles Morales, but in a different font.

He started to shimmy his shoulders into the room to get past the tight constraints of the window. Gwen stared at him with a cocked head the entire time.

He used his sneakers to cling onto the wall for a little bit, reaching right back out of the window once inside. He pulled in a backpack through the opening and promptly dropped down onto the cold hard floor of the room.

“Uh, hi? Wait. Weren’t we supposed to both escape through that window instead of you, y’know, coming inside?”

Miles-- well, 42--shook his head as he threw his pack back on in one swift motion. “I checked the perimeters, and we’re a long, long ways away from the city. Even if we managed to get past the millions of goons and cameras everywhere, they got dogs doing night shifts out in the woods.”

Gwen’s heart sank. Shit. Her earlier thoughts were coming true. They were far away from Brooklyn, which complicated their escape plans even more.

“I mean… ugh, I-- we can climb the trees! Right? If we just--”

“The guards, Gwen. They got guns loaded up with bullets. But you know what I got? A plan.”

Gwen blinked back at 42 yet again. “You do?”

42 took confident steps back as he put some distance between them and then triple-tapped the side of his mechanical mask. Gwen watched with awe as the front of the mask sectioned itself up and off of his head, revealing a laser-focused expression on Miles’ handsome face-- er, his regular, normal, totally-not-good-looking face!

From somewhere on his mask, a bright purple hologram was projected between them, suspended in mid-air. The lights cast the entire room in a hazy purple glow.

The hologram projected a 3D blueprint-like map of the entire building-- all 5 stories of it. Each floor was meticulously detailed, down to the various entrances and exits and relative dimensions of the many, many rooms the building held.

42 tapped his mask again, this time on the chin, and a maze-like structure materialized, all of it hovering on top of each other and weaving themselves in between the floors… a maze-like structure that seemed very, very familiar.

“Vents!” Gwen snapped her fingers once she recognized them. “You have the blueprints of all the ventilation shafts in the building!”

42 nodded, the projection bobbing along with his movements. “Yeah, I do. I’m a Prowler, right? We always stay prepared.”

Gwen squinted at him. “I guess...? How’d you get stuck in this place if you’re always prepared, then? Did you get kidnapped too?”

“Nah,” 42 answered easily, a corner of his mouth quirking up for a split second, “I followed you here.”

Gwen blinked at him for what seemed to be the umpteenth time. "What."

42 sighed. “You got knocked out by this dimension’s Doctor Octopus. He threw you into the back of a van and ordered his goon squad to bring you back up here, to a secret location he’s got surrounded by energy dampeners and signal blockers. Most likely? He knows you’re not from this dimension and wants to experiment on you. But me? I’m here ‘cause me and my uncle have been lookin’ for this place for months. It’s… top-secret, this compound. Classified.”

“Oh. How did… how did you know he’d bring me to the place you and your uncle have been looking for this whole time? What if he brought me to another building?”

42 smirked, the purple lights of the holograms twinkling in his eyes. “Doc’s assets are being… uh, slowly compromised by us with the underground resistance. Not many places for him to throw his unwilling science experiments into nowadays.”

So it wasn’t just Gwen’s imagination. This dimension really has been steadily cleaned up by the Prowlers and their freedom-fighting allies. Well, that was good to hear. Still didn’t provide much relief for their current situation considering this was Doctor Octopus they were talking about here, but it was still nice to know.

“Well. That’s great to hear, then. What’s the rest of your plan, after ducking out of here through the vents?”

42’s mask re-formed back onto his face and the glowing purple and white eyes came back online. “We’re not ducking through the vents. Well, yet. I came here on my own mission and I gotta complete it before leaving.”

Gwen sighed softly. “Which would be...?”

Getting the whole story out of this version of Miles was like pulling teeth! Was it always going to be like this? Because if so, this wasn’t going to be a very easy mission to pull off after all.

“I can get you out of here first, if you want,” 42 glowered at her, voice distorting behind his mask’s voice-changing technology. His tone seemed impatient, too. “I can stay behind ‘til I’m done.”

Gwen shifted her weight onto one leg. “No, not a chance. I have to stay here and make sure Doc Ock doesn’t turn you into minced meat. Plus, you’re the one who has all the blueprints and cool glowing tech thingies. I’m sticking with you until we can both get out of here!”

This seemed to satisfy 42, because he gave her one unreadable nod in her direction. “… If you’re sure, then let’s go.”

He moved swiftly, much more gracefully than Gwen was used to seeing a Miles move. He walked almost silently, crouching down near one side of the wide metal sliding door thing that Gwen was trying to unsuccessfully pry open earlier.

He reached back into his gear that was saddled on his back and pulled out what seemed to be a small metal object with tiny purple lights on the outer edge. It attached itself onto the door and then 42 was sliding a hidden panel that Gwen had completely missed.

Gwen eventually sidled up to him and clasped her hands behind her back. “I see we’re sticking real well to the branding here. Purple lights, purple holograms… very cool,” was her lame attempt at lightening the mood.

“Yeah, it’s a family thing,” 42 muttered as he worked on… what seemed like some electrical circuitry built into the door. It glowed a soft green. “Been passed down for a couple of generations.”

Gwen hummed. “Oh, I see.”

A beat of silence as 42 continued his work.

Gwen checked her watch once more as she leaned on a wall. “Soooo… should I be doing something while you… y’know…?”

“Yeah, you should be quiet.” 42 answered.

“Ouch.” Gwen replied back as flatly as she could. “Look. I don’t wanna step all on your toes or anything while you do this whole… Prowling thing, but we’re a two-man team here! I’m at the very least trying to make conversation,”

“Okay, sure,” 42 replied easily, never taking his eyes off of his task. “Why are you in my dimension in the first place? Since you like to talk so much, maybe you can tell me that.”

Gwen sighed loudly. Great. Here she was trapped in a bad guy’s compound in the middle of who-knows-where, with the meanest Miles in the entirety of the multiverse. Just her luck.

“I was sent here on a mission. By Jessica. You know, the other other Spiderwoman? Who’s now in charge of the Spider Society, by the way? Yeah, we detected anomalies here in this dimension and she sent me to check it out. But… well, I kinda already screwed that up so I guess I can go and kiss my Society membership goodbye for good this time. Happy?”

42 glanced up at her then, his mask as unreadable as ever, the darkness enshrouding much of his body language. He slowly stood up and backed up, silently gazing at Gwen all the while.

She stood there glaring at him with her arms crossed.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m happy.” 42 finally replied coolly. “Now keep quiet, we don’t know if there are guards out here on patrol. My mask is still calibrating its infrared heat sensors so I can’t see ‘em yet.”

Infrared heat sensors? God, is this kid packed to the teeth with high-tech spy gadgetry or what?

Gwen begrudgingly did as she was told, taking a couple of steps back as 42 lowered the brightness of his mask’s glow.

The door rumbled open with a mechanic hum, and that’s when it hit her; Gwen couldn’t have possibly gotten the door open by herself, because it wasn’t just locked… it was hooked up to a main power source and sealed that way.

Damn. Looks like she really did need to rely on this guy to escape this place, after all.

Well then.

They poked their heads out of the dark room and quietly surveyed the expansive maze-like hallways of the compound. Pipes running the entire length of the ceiling as far as they could see told them both everything they needed to know.

42 took a quick step back to update his mask’s digital blueprint and map out exactly where they were.

Gwen glanced back at him. “What’re you doing now?”

“I'm marking where we are...” He then drops his voice to a near whisper, eyes still methodically scanning the area around them. "This compound's built into the side of a steep hill, which is how I climbed in. We must be on the north side, then."

He tapped his mechanical claws on the tip of his chin and started thinking aloud. “Which means… what I’m lookin’ for has to be underneath the ground, towards the south. I’m lookin’ for a room not on the blueprints. And... and I think I know exactly where to start.”

“You think you know? I thought you had a plan!”

“I do,” 42 threw back. “An escape plan. But you’re stickin’ with me, so now we’re gonna do some Prowlering. Unless you changed your mind?”

Oh, right. This game. Well, this kid wasn’t getting rid of her that easily, that was for sure.

“Oh no, no. Just making sure you’re capable of getting out of here, is all,” she offered innocently.

42 might’ve rolled his eyes behind his mask, but it was hard to tell.

Together, they moved through the halls as silently as possible, straining their ears for any sign of human life-- or robot life, really-- as they quickly made their way down several wide corridors.

All of the halls started blurring together since they all looked completely identical to Gwen, save for the numbers on the various doors they passed by changing and getting smaller as they advanced.

After several minutes had passed, Gwen wanted to open her mouth and ask 42 where exactly they were heading to since it didn’t seem like their trip was even coming anywhere close to an end, when he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her around a corner they had just walked past seconds earlier.

Gwen made a slight noise of confusion and then sucked in a breath when the sound of metal clanging and machines whirring echoed all around them. 42 was closest to the corner, head turned over to where she suspected the intruders were coming from.

Sure enough, a pair of heavy work boots stamped gracelessly down the halls and the casual back-and-forth between the men that suddenly came into view could be heard more clearly.

“… Can’t believe he’s got us down here working doubles now, man! Sucks,” one of the men grumbled as they made their way past the two vigilantes and opened yet another giant metal door with a keycard.

Gwen’s vision zeroed in on it as the man reached behind him to tuck it back into his pocket, and her split-second reflexes allowed her to time her web just right.

She snagged the card and held a breath as the door whirred shut right behind the men, both of them none the wiser.

“Whew,” she said after a second of tense waiting, and smirked at 42 who held a metal claw out for the keycard. “Look who’s got a plan now! Aren't you glad I stuck around?”

42 chuckled, the sound warbling slightly under his voice modulator. “Yeah, that was pretty cool. I can admit that. Now that we got this, we might be able to use it to get into the room I wanna get into once we find it.”

“Right,” Gwen pipes up once they continue their descent deeper into the bowels of the compound, “about that. You never told me what it is that you came here to find. In fact, you’ve been pretty cagey this entire time. Like, about everything.”

42 made an undecipherable sound. “Uh, yeah. This is my recon mission, not yours. You’re not even from this dimension, this doesn’t really concern you.”

Gwen grunted. “Gee thanks. If that’s how you feel, then I’ll be having my keycard back!”

42 shook his head and laughed. “I didn’t mean it like that, man. I meant… just don’t worry about it. It’s info we’re looking for to eventually take down Doc Ock. If I said it out loud here, it might jeopardize this whole thing me and Aaron have planned. I'm in work mode right now, I'm sure you get it,”

Gwen relaxed a bit more. In a way, she did get it. She even understood 42’s hesitance to have her aboard to work with him, since working on group projects wasn't exactly on her own list of top ten favorite things… especially when the project itself concerned the very fabric of the space-time continuum.

Gwen was a solo hero, and maybe since 42 was here on his own, he finally graduated into being a solo hero, too.

Actually, on that topic…

“Does your… does your uncle know you’re here, then? If he does, maybe he can help us get out of here?”

42 helped himself to a healthy pause. “Yes, and no. Aaron’s not… here, near the compound. But he does know I’m out on a mission.”

Gwen stared at him. “Sooo… call him? I’m sure he can get past security, right?”

42 laughed yet again, shaking his head. “Guess you didn’t hear me back in the other room when I told you there are blockers all over this compound, huh.”

Gwen cocked an eyebrow at him and their lenses met.

“What I mean is,” 42 continues, “tech down here doesn’t work very well due to all the interference the Doc’s put up to conceal this place. Again, top secret. Super classified. My own mask took a little while to come back online, and some stuff is still… coming back online. Kinda."

“And your communicators wouldn’t happen to also be on the fritz, would they?” Gwen asked, fully knowing the answer she was going to get.

“Mmnnyep, communicator’s offline. I dunno what the hell Doc’s got this place running on, but it’s not electricity. I’m not too concerned about the details, though,”

Here, they came up to a wide metal door marked in bright caution-tape stripes with several warnings plastered on its surface.

“... ’Cause I got my eyes on the prize,” 42 finished, swaggering up to the door’s keycard panel and successfully getting the thing to slide open.

They both fell into fighting stances in case anything behind the door leapt out at them and attacked, but… there was no one and nothing in the spacious cave-like room beyond it.

Nothing except… a humongous collider!

Gwen gasped as she lowered her fists and advanced forward, making her way over thick wires and past computers to get closer to the giant dimension-ripping machine in the center of the room.

It looked… not quite as high-tech as the one in her dimension, or Miles’-- er, 1610’s collider, that is-- but it was completely unmistakable. The form never changes, neither through space nor through time. It was indeed a collider built by none other than the infamous Doctor Octopus, even if it didn’t quite look as close to being complete.

There were still various wires draped on ladders near the edge of the lab, scissor-lifts located below the platforms parked for the night, and several components were missing that seemed to lay underneath odd-looking bulgy sheets on top of several tables nearby. Gwen made her way over to a computer and woke it up, balking at the password-locked screen in front of her eyes.

Damnit. Damnit! It wasn’t just an anomaly that the Society managed to detect… it was the energy signals from this collider, most likely having gone through some initial tests before advancing to this final stage of construction.

If this was it, then Gwen needed to get back to Jess with this information ASAP!

She fiddled with her watch a bit, but it still looked to be on the fritz somehow, not letting her switch to any other dimension or access the other features Hobie had installed into it. Weird.

She straightened up and glanced behind her, hoping that 42 had some kind of tech or knowledge that would help crack this computer open so she could take a look through the files to gauge just how far along this little pet project was… only to find that she was alone.

... Alone?

"Miles?"

Silence. Her heart jumpstarted a bit and started hammering away in her chest as she hurriedly made her way past rows of tables, science equipment, and computer screens of all sizes, only to find a pair of legs sticking out from underneath a weird car-shaped machine set aside in the corner of the gigantic lab.

She stood there for a bit with her hands on her hips, quieting her thoughts and watching as 42 tinkered away at whatever the hell he was tinkering away at.

She eventually kicked a purple Jordan gently and smiled bemusedly at 42 shuffling his way out from under the machine.

“Having fun down there?” She said as casually as she could manage.

42’s mask was off slightly, still framing his face, but now Gwen could see his slightly exasperated expression in full view.

“Yeah, actually, I was.” He gave her a full view of his snarky attitude too, while he was at it.

He laid back down and pushed his way underneath once more.

“Is this gigantic collider in the middle of this room not a huge concern to you at all?”

“Not really.” 42 answered from under the machine.

“Can I ask why? You do know that if the Octopus gets this thing done and booted up, that your entire dimension is at risk of collapsing just like every other dimension that’s had a collider in it before?”

“Really? Ya don't say,” 42 replied sarcastically, clinking and clanking away. The machine rattled a bit. “That’s nowhere near done right now and I gotta prioritize my priorities. I’m getting to root cause of the problem rather than just climbing in here and smashing stuff up.”

“… Are you now?” Gwen deadpanned.

A mighty metallic scraping sound jolted its way through her eardrums suddenly, making Gwen jump slightly. After a second or two, 42 slides out once again with a big sunny grin plastered onto his face, holding up what looks like a small motherboard with a bunch of metal wires still attached to the metal casing it was screwed into. He only wore one gauntlet, she noted.

He quickly took his pack off and got to work inlaying the computer part into a panel in his pack that she had never noticed before.

A total tech marvel that thing was, really. Even Gwen had to make a noise of approval when with a few purposeful jabs and swipes, the whole pack disengaged and unfolded itself open, much like his mask. No tools required.

He made quick work of the task at hand, using one metal gauntlet as a makeshift toolset, his other gloved hand working to set the entire component into the rest of the pack’s inner workings.

Once that seemed to be done, all of the circuitry glowed purple for a beat before going dark once more. 42 tapped at his gauntlet, bringing up more info on the inside of his wrist, which he seemed to approve of.

“All set?” Gwen probed, still standing a little ways away from him, watching as he seemed completely engrossed in his little side-mission.

He reached back under the machine and pulled out his other gauntlet, springing back up once it was in his hands.

“Yeah. Better than all set, ‘cause now my pack’s online! I can use my climbing gear again.” At this, 42 unlatches a reel of rope from behind him, his grappling hook dangling on one end as he swings it in circular motions through the air. “Hell yeah,”

Gwen stared at him once again. “Your climbing gear wasn’t working? How did you climb into my window, then?”

42 gave her a bit of side-eye. "I got other gear besides my rope, you know that, right?"

Gwen huffed, clearly annoyed. "No, actually I don't. I've been following you this whole time and you haven't really been saying much at all,"

42’s mask slid back into place as he rolled his shoulders and readjusted his pack. “You ask too many questions,”

“You don’t provide too many answers,” Gwen bit out dryly. “Seriously, dude, we are in the middle of giant evil lair of some kind with no way to communicate with the outside world and you’re swaggering through this whole ordeal like it’s a walk in the park,” she huffs. “Why can’t you just tell me like, anything?”

They’re both face-to-face now, mask-to-mask, very obviously frustrated with each other if the electricity in the air was as thick as it felt.

Two teenagers butting heads in the middle of a giant lab, trapped in the lair of their greatest enemy… it would embarrassing if it wasn’t so absurd, but here they were, glaring each other down anyways.

“I am telling you things, you just don’t listen! Probably ‘cause you think your powers make you all-powerful and omniscient or something, that you think you don't need to listen to a word I'm saying,” 42’s words dripped with venom. “Seriously, staying with me to make sure I don’t get myself killed? Gimme a damn break. If sticking with me is soooo boring and you know more than I do, you can get yourself up out of here, then.”

Gwen bristled. “Listen here, jerk. I never said that I was better than you. Kinda telling on yourself there, don'tcha think?” She jabbed a finger in his direction. “I was perfectly capable of letting myself out before you fell in here and got us all turned around! I had it on my own, I could've gotten myself out of here ages ago!"

“And who’s stopping you?” 42 threw his hands up in the air. “Use your little spider powers to bust up out of here, and just leave!"

Gwen stepped back, seething. With fists clenched by her sides, she shoots 42 more daggers his way, hoping her mask’s lenses would convey the message.

Wordlessly, she turns around and shoots a web up to one of the ventilation grates high up in the cavernous room, sticking to the wall.

She works the grating off while 42’s Jordans pace right out of the room and into another side room, leaving the lab completely silent.

Fine. If that was how things were going to be, then fine. This was hardly the worst situation Gwen’s ever found herself in, and it most likely wasn't going to be over anytime soon. But she’s gotten herself out of stickier conundrums on her own, so this was just going to be yet another one of life’s little tests. Just a bump in the road.

A small, insignificant little bump.

As Gwen quietly seethed and crawled her way through the ventilation shafts (completely blindly, since she didn’t really bother to memorize the absolute maze that was whatever 42 showed her earlier) she came upon a vent opening that overlooked a room filled with monitors and… guards.

It looked to be a security room not too far from the collider room, and the men inside were armored to the teeth, only slipping off their helmets and masks to chat some shit over takeout containers and coffee cups.

The rest of the room was covered in tv monitors that showed various different CCTV camera feeds, all of them stationary. Most of them were pointing to the outside, though, hardly any of the screens showed views from the basement level’s numerous corridors, curiously enough.

Gwen doubted 42’s earlier claim that this building ran on some other form of power, since she didn’t think it would be very economic on the Octopus’ wallet to buy so many cameras and monitors and computers that ran on alternate power sources.

Maybe… if he was wrong… then maybe she could even use her watch to open up a portal in an empty room somewhere and just peace out!

Tell Jess what she found, because by now she’d pretty much done her job. Leave the rest to a more capable task force put together by the Society and just go back to her normal, boring, definitely not eventful life.

But then… as tempting as the thought was… she’d be leaving 42 behind. 42, sure, but a Miles nonetheless… a friend.

From what she could gather, the poor guy had very few friends, if any at all. If he wasn’t communicating to her properly, maybe isolation from his vigilante work was to blame, rather than a fault of his character.

Gwen propped up her chin in one hand and ruminated on all of these thoughts, arguing with herself over whether she should stay or go. She glanced at her cobbled-up watch, a permanent reminder of her best friend Hobie Brown, and laid on her back to mess with it one more time.

Her thoughts sunk down into the bottom of her stomach as she fiddled with it, continuing to get error messages as she tried to scroll through the various dimensions she knows she’s saved to her little watch, coming up with nothing even when she dared to try and open a portal in the middle of the vent shaft.

Nothing, nada. No dice. No portal whatsoever happened to materialize. It gave small sad beeps instead, really hammering home that… she really was on her own this time.

Damn.

Gwen didn’t know why, but this thought kind of depressed her.

At least on previous missions and patrols in her dimension, she was always acutely aware of how much rested on her own shoulders. She always went in with confidence and some sort of game plan, content enough to just let her quick thinking and powers get her out of any fight, any problem.

But ever since landing here on earth-42, she seemed… discombobulated, not entirely in her element. Everything in this dimension seemed to work against her at every single turn.

She’d have to bring that up to the other Spiders, ask if they’ve ever felt anything like she was feeling before.

If she could get out of this building in the first place, that is…

A loud, jarring alarm jolted her violently out of her wandering thoughts, and she almost hit her head on the ceiling of the vent, rolling over quickly to peer down into the room below her.

The guards were pulling helmets and masks on, scrambling up from their previous positions and pouring out of the security room door as quickly as they could.

In the midst of the sudden chaos, Gwen’s wide eyes honed in on one particular screen, which was pointed directly at the collider room’s interior…

... And directly at earth-42’s Miles Morales himself.

[hermanunworthy]

YALL I JUST REALIZED THAT IM LITERALLY GONNA GET A HERMIE EPISODE ON MY BDAY. BEST GIFT I COULD POSSIBLY GET HOLY SHIT

[a-man-named-jim]

Nooo Marigold don't eat random plants noooooo

[wonder-falcon]

I cant believe they literally ended immortal desires with mc and her vampire besties frolicking into the sunset 😭

[the-chessboard-is-personal]

people have hyped this up so much I'm scared (ii s2 post-s3 liveblog)

(/silly)

ahem. hi. post-watch Knight here, with a big tw: there is a suicide mention and intense death wishing at the end of this post. you can guess who it's directed towards but if you've already seen the episodes I don't think you'll get it wrong.

since there's only 3 episodes this one is going to work slightly differently, I'll have Big Text separating each of them and timestamp each different part of the liveblog. there will also be screenshots.

15:

(intro) wait Taco's trying to steal the win without even being a contestant? (4:48) "Don't Mention That Again" I've said it before it just feels like he speaks in capitalized words sometimes

(5:08) song?? THE SONG FUCKING SLAPS???

(8:02) hold on a moment I need to do someth[finds the song in isolation and adds it to the playlist Good Music]

(10:19) taco!! come on, bringing up beef at the show!

(12:48) "yes :)" oh what a bitch /affectionate

(15:49) tbh I agree with Knife here, if everyone respawns anyway, why is murder so bad? (<- building a death game in Minecraft)

(18:01) DAMNN holy shit, to think this isn't even canonically a scripted game, for Taco to say that?! aough

(19:45) HUH?? TACO CRACKED??? oh. OH she- she fucking died from stress- literally. oh shit. I- tbh I...can relate. I did that once. long story and I can't explain it here but.... holy shit.

(22:46) he's on a platform! MePad teleported him onto a platform!

(27:44) MePhone giving the "next time is the finale" speech rneanwhile there's two episode lef- oh shit

- after episode -

well that was a fucking cliffhanger. OH. MY. what!! WHAT!! COBS?? oh yeah also I don't hate Taco anymore. and the outro music slaps sdgkjhf

oh fuck I'm scared, onto the next episode!

16:

(1:00) HOKAY WELP RIGHT INTO ACTION. that was the same MePhone 3 from 4's memories wasn't it? were those other ones MePhone 2s??

(1:39) hough the parallels, I love this episode so far

(2:38) [his literal worst enemy is repeatedly trying to contact him directly] MePhone 4: [treats it like a minor annoyance]

oh also YIPPEE YINYANG IS THERE!!

(4:17) "are you offering?" lmao I wouldn't have even asked-

uhh

..? why is s3 so bad for Suitcase to hear about..?

(5:30) WHy is he HERE??

(7:28) what HEY IS PICKLE GONE FROM THE INTRO

(15:22) OH IT'S THE GUY. OH IT'S THE GUY o h OJ!! oagh but like. imagine that with humans. your friend starts panicking at something you can't hear or see, screams and then sUDDENLY THEIR FUCKING FACE IS GONE. that would be a neat analog horror actually

(18:32) he's just like me. he's just like me for real,, (<- also has trigger words)

(21:30) OH FUCK HE GOT NICKEL TOO

(23:42) wait- first Pickle then OJ, Nickel- no but OJ never got eliminated in s1. hm.

(25:30) wait- doesn't quite know what a frown looks like? d- does that rnean- wait wait nonono that was Cherry that yeeted Marshmallow-

(27:17) wait WAIT THIS HAPPENED WITH CABBY TOO DO NONE OF THEM HAVE PARENTS?? 27:27 no. nonon NO DON'T SAY IT DON'T YOU DARE DON';T YOU FCUKING DARE TELL ME [unpauses] AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAKDSGJFK AGDFJKHAT'S WHY FAN GHLITCHEDD ADJKGF JAHLOUIAHF OSJHLKF HLA

- after episode -

OH MY HOUSEMATE WAS RIGH T I'M GONNA BR EA K OHH WHAT THE HELLfuck

hokay. okay. okayokayokaoyuayojoaykokoykaoykaokaoauuauhghhh

I am sane. I am normal. that's how he knows things. I need a break- okay so after like an hour, onto the next ep! wait is this the finale-

17:

(1:39) WHA- oh I misheard Knife as Knight.

(2:10) NO NOT TEST TUBE! (3:50) oh they're all going to-

(5:14) NO DON'T YOU DARE

,..,,.,why them,.., b.. but,theyre my favorites,,.

(11:34) wait they need to get that wire out of MePhone. that would stop MePhone X, right? but he doesn't know that..shit

(13:08) yeaAHHWHAT- oh. oh what

(15:14) let me guess Paintbrush got X'd while Fan was rambling. oh nvm. OH THE OTHER EGG IS PART OF MEPHONE 4?? oh that almost made me cry too- welp there goes lightbulb

(17:47) HUH??????????????? TOILET?????? wh a t .the fuck

(21:17) "cause that was pretty reductive!" oh they addressed it!

(22:48) o h. wh- what the HELL IS COBS'S PROBLEM?? LIKE WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM DOES HE NOT THINK MEPHONE4 IS ACTUALLY SENTIENT OR SOMETHING? DOES HE LIKE TORTURING HIM? EVERYONE'S FUCKING DEAD

(25:40) ohh no.. Bow probably can't be X'd anyway, does she really have to do. that. to someone .....sighhh. if Apple's okay with that happening (somehow) I guess it's not as scary. I won't understand the opinion but I don't really need to tbh.

(sorry no more timestamps I watched the whole rest of it speechless)

- after episode -

I- wh-

h-

but- he-

h-

h-

he- but he just- there was no- winner- Cobs- what about MePhone 3GS?? what abou-

h. hold on

hold on I need to. make an editr ealquick. just

relworld cursor editor almost crashed trying to save this

[f4iry-bell]

thoughts right after tgg

guys, woah. honest review 3.8/5. honestly it didn't keep me hooked as the og trilogy, after 70% i got really hooked!!!

i really liked the brady and gigi thing and the whole calla mystery also calla lilies being associated with lyra.

the lyrason kiss was, ummm. they should have kissed in the second book. but yippee!!? also grayson calling her a sweetheart!!!:3

LOVED rohan and savannah's part!!! savannah is up for revenge as much as I HATE my girl sav and avery be rivals, I'm here for it😭😭😭

and ofc, the cliff hanger was so good!! one of the things i LOVED in the og trilogy was the cliffhanger, chef kiss!!!!

this is completely subjective, please respect my options!!!!

[doctorwho-rewatch]

S4E12 & S4E13 - The Stolen Earth & Journey's End

★★★★☆

This is like Doctor Who: The Greatest Hits and I bloody love it. The Doctor? Check. Companions past and present? Check. Torchword? Daleks? The universe about to blow up again? Check, check and check.

Is this the strongest two-parter finale? No. While The Stolen Earth builds up a very horrifying tension with a decent cliffhanger, in Journey's End there's a very rushed resolution that seems unsatisfying - Donna flicking a couple of switches ends the entire Davros strategy and reality bomb? After entire planets were blinked out of existence? But this is is less about plot and more about character fan service. So I'm reviewing how they ended up.

Jackie and Pete 2.0 - they are together and expecting little Pete 3.0. Cute. 5 stars.

Sarah Jane and her kid - safe at home with K9 and Mr Smith. Love that for them. Sarah Jane got her proper goodbye with the Doctor, finally. 5 stars.

Captain Jack and the Torchwood gang - they live another day to keep saving Wales from more sex aliens. Class. 4 stars.

Martha - fuck you RTD for pairing her up with Mickey the Tin Dog. What happened to being engaged to hot Lucifer doctor?? My girl Martha always with the thankless job. 1 star.

Rose - as if Rose hadn't suffered enough heartbreak on a beach, here we are again. The real Doctor is there and dangled in front of her, but here's his Metacrisis human version that she has to settle for knowing that the real Doctor is going to continue on his adventures again and not with her...again. She gets to fix a man, yippee! It's not the happy ending I remember it being when I watched it as a teen. 2 stars.

Donna - oh Donna. You grew on me so much this season and to have your memories wiped in this way is beyond cruel. Hers is the ending of the series that we mourn. All those adventures in time and space that basically never happened. Because you know she's going back to her dull life in Chiswick where her self-esteem drops and her mum berates her all the time. It was painful and so 4 stars for that.

QUOTE: "I just want you know there are worlds out there safe in the sky because of her. And there are people living in the light and singing songs of Donna Noble a thousand million light years away. They will never forget her. While she can never remember. But for one moment, one shining moment, she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe." "She still is. She’s my daughter."

[mochiwrites]

So i finally finished rereading all of night life and towards the end i was wondering ab tubbos situation

Is he still hurt? Is he still at mumbos house? Can he go back to his regular life? Do ppl know hes even alive rn? Ik scar maybe accidentally let scott know that tubbos still alive with the “Past grievances? You tried to kill my son!” quote seeing as if scar still thought tubbo was dead he would say 'you killed my son' not *tried to*

YIPPEE I hope the rereading was fun :3 I can only imagine what the emotional rollercoaster was like without any of the arc two cliffhangers LMAO

BUT TUBBO !!!! so he's no longer hurt (physically), and he went back home with scar. however uh... things are very tense at the goodtimes household at the moment :'D. tubbo is rarely home if he can help it, and scar is acutely aware of how pissed tubbo is with him still

he can go back to his regular life, yes! scar is very... anxious about this, and tubbo's distance from him isn't helping that. he's scared that something is going to happen to tubs again and tries to give tubbo things to protect him (this'll be expanded more on very soon). so yeah, people know he's alive :D scott isn't very interested in going for tubbo again, considering scar doesn't have any ties to him anymore

and with grian and mumbo both being aware of the situation, it'd be more difficult for scott to even get to tubbo now if he wanted

[enoe-of-noen]

Finished eps 9-10 of season 3 and…oh my god.

I just…woah. The cliffhanger was insane on ep 9 and really pissed me off since I had to go somewhere lol.

But dudes, HINATA MY BOY!!! The silence was so chilling I was like wait..(because I forgot the score and thought it was just deuce again). The fricking face receive tho 😭 Then having tsukki be that mad in the bathroom? His moment like Ennoshita? Yes!!! Was surprised to see Narita play too. The fricking vp tho with his hair lmao.

Ep 10 was just all smiles they’re all so wholesome I just raghaghahga. Them jumping on each other just RAGHHHH I WANT THAT ENGRAVED IN MY BRAIN IT’S SO CUTE 😭💕💕 Then at the end, idk what was the camp thing with Kags but yippee ig. And seeing them collecting donations for the school is so cute ngl, like Saeko, that glasses guy and Ukai with his buddy is just, YES! Very wholesome, feel good ep.

Imma take a cooldown and continue with season 4 later. Woah, I’ve made it this far already? Feels surreal. Surprised to see where the next season takes me!

[gutterspeak]

Guiding Star, Tormentor Mine

CHAPTER 6 / ? || commander x daeran. ~3.3k / ~29k total. act 5 spoilers / aeon ending spoilers. just spoilers out the wazoo.

this flashback ended up being quite a bit longer than the other ones I've written so far, so it gets its own chapter. yippee!

I'm sure we'll get back to the cliffhanger from chapter 5... eventually...

enjoy ♡

It was dreadfully quiet. His chest didn’t move. Neither did Daeran’s, for long enough that his lungs began to ache. “I hate you,” he told the corpse at length. He didn’t even dignify that with a post-mortem twitch in response. “Really,” Daeran continued. If his voice shook, there was no one around to hear it. “This– This is vile. Embarrassing. A low so foul it’s taken my breath away. If only you could see it yourself! You look like a skewered pig on a platter with all the trimmings. Ridiculous. At least the pig doesn’t go and spill its guts all over my favorite coat, but you... You...” Daeran sucked in a breath through his teeth. He clenched his hands to fists until they ceased their trembling. “...I hate you,” he said again. Then, he set to work.

READ ON AO3 || from the beginning

[ying-doodles]

// webtoon spoilers (ep 157)

this episode is so good but it ends on such a tense cliffhanger oml- ∑( 口 ||

to sum it up: lloyd discovers the jewel of truth will cause a giant typhoon once it's complete, javier goes on vacation, and the counts get suspicious about lloyd..

yay for the summons!! o(≧∀≦)o I feel like it's been a minute since I last saw them, especially bibeong since he's always protecting the lake-

yikes, reading the novel's description of the typhoon was one thing but seeing it in full colour is terrifying,,

so much destruction and power..

AUGH JAVIER PLAYING WITH THE SUMMONS IS SO CUTE!! MY HEART,, qwq reminds me of the novel illustration nali was talking about the other day-

lloyd being stressed and javier being sad and wishing he could help lloyd more.. :( but also javier gets to go on vacation yippee-

aww, javier wondering when lloyd can join everyone else who's thriving and living happily in the estate because of him is so sweet,,

also side note, the little lloyd and javier lookalikes?? hello?? they're so tiny and cute oh my god- 😭 the little pot on little javier's head,,

also also, note that I cut out a fair chunk of this section cause it was just highlighting side characters like bayern and solitas and I only have so many photos I can shove in one post before I'm just posting the entire episode.. (even though I am kinda doing that.. ><") anyways, go read it for yourself if you want to see them lol.

oh no they're becoming suspicious about lloyd's identity.. although it's only fair since you know, as they say themselves, he doesn't act like og lloyd at all.. (￣ ￣|||

formal attire?? passed down when one becomes the local lord?? this is news to me-

but it would explain why lloyd looks so plain in comparison, og lloyd wasn't allowed to wear it cause of his poor behaviour..

(also I need to draw lloyd in it at some point fr.)

oh he looks so tired and dishevelled,, :( my poor boy, working himself to the bone once again.. but also the lack of reaction because he's not og lloyd and doesn't care about the clothes? uh oh-

not lloyd failing to notice the grandfather mention was a test because he was too busy (and tired) to actually pay attention..

I'm obsessed with that panel of him in shadow as he walks away though omg it's so good,, and that growing distance between him and the counts in the next one?? excellent-

augh javier being restless because he's usually out protecting lloyd is so good,, what good is a sword if it's not being used in battle, really..

side note, I love the counts gardening together, that's so cute!!

!! the change in their expressions?? them asking about the real lloyd?? AAAA!! *starts vibrating*

(novel spoilers ahead) I would say I doubt javier will actually reveal anything to them cause they're supposed to find out through suho's letter in the end but also things have changed so much already that it's all up in the air now as to what will happen next-

so now I'm super curious as to what javier will say in response.. where do your loyalties lie sir?? agh now I'm so excited for the next episode,,

[sasterisk]

Chapter +25+ of BURST is published

Eat up babes, finally resolving a cliffhanger after 11 months yippee

Wattpad Link | AO3 Link

Enjoy!!! :)

[binarybitex]

heart hollow writing updates from this week:

seriously drafted chapter 10. I've been stuck on it, but I think I've finally got the structure of it down. thank god bc this chapters been killing me for months.

redid the master arc list (now labelled 03/22/2024) to accommodate for three books. nice and even pacing for all my big events. it feels right.

I'm considering adding a 13th chapter to book one. something to tie it off with a pretty bow; add some excitement for the remainder of the series without leaving it off on a total cliffhanger.

broke down the thematic north stars and underlying narratives for each book. this will help me to fill in the gaps later.

jotted down some ideas for possible book names. I think book one will be called "Heart Hollow." just that. nothing more to indicate there's a beginning or an end.

wrote a drabble for chapter 10. I remember now just how much I love writing romance.

that's about it for this week. nothing added to the actual document....... I am planning to work on chapter 10 this upcoming week, much more free time! yippee!!

[gauntlings]

i got off work late & am playing my vampire who is about to absolutely get her shit rocked due to last week's cliffhanger ending around the backstory i had the audacity to create. i ordered a pizza but am now too anxious to eat yaaay yippee

[nicnsmth1]

Tale As Old As Time // Assassination Classroom

hero!karma x poet!shizuha/shinsuke (oc). fantasy au. oneshot. oc is transmasc and genderfluid with alternating pronouns (she/he/they) throughout. cliffhanger ending? no part 2 most probably. feat two other ocs (akifumi and chiyo). wc 2.8k

notes: this might be my first writing on tumblr (I mostly write for myself and on quotev TT but I wanted to post this hihi) so I hope it's alright, I'm making a little au series yippee

Kunugigaoka Castle

“Your Highness! There has been infiltration in the village over at the valley, we have to send our soldiers over, stat!”

Chiyo bursts out into the garden, her hair messy as her dirt-stained robe comes into view in the afternoon sun. It was another uneventful day in the kingdom and Prince Asano was busy with a diplomatic meeting with the general, Akifumi “Chiyo, can’t you see that you’re disrupting an important discussion right now?” The prince replied, simply rolling his eyes as he took another sip of his tea, Chiyo however was restless on her feet “That village is my home, my people are in danger, I can’t stand by and wait for you to finish your fancy lunch!” 

Akifumi clears his throat as he raises his cup of tea over his own lips “How big of an infiltration are we talking about?” Curiosity took over his thoughts, but as Chiyo gulped and sighed, her response let out an incredibly loud gasp from Akifumi “A dragon. Those ruthless, good-for-nothing devils set out a dragon to terrorize a village filled with innocent lives!” 

“Gakushuu, how are you so calm about this? Aren’t you supposed to keep this area safe or something?” Akifumi asked, definitely, it didn’t cross his mind just how big the scale of the attack was, but the prince remained unfazed “Our hero is already out for the quest, that’s why I’m not as panicked and stressed, general.”

Chiyo’s eyebrows furrowed as she stood up straight, steadying herself properly. 

‘The kingdom’s hero? Sir Akabane?’

Ever since the attack that brought the kingdom to the brink of war was single-handedly solved by a young traveler wielding a sword a few years back, he is well-known in the entire kingdom as their number one problem solver when things get rough—which it definitely was—but no one except the prince and a few guards have even seen him in action. It was as if this ‘Sir Akabane’ was just a legend, a myth even. Chiyo scratched her head, unsure of what to think of this new revelation “So we’re just going to stay here and wait? Is that it?” The prince grumbled in silence “Yes, that is it. Is there anything else you want to bother me with?”

‘Tch, rude.’

Taking her leave, Chiyo didn’t utter another word; that is until Prince Asano called her out one last time “Can you call Shinsuke over? The general is interested in his latest poetry collection-”

“Oh god!”

“...What is it?” 

“Shinsuke was on the way from the flower fields to the valley!”

The valley is filled with natural wonders and beautiful creatures scattered all over the hills and atop flower fields, which is why it is the best place for poets like Shinsuke to gain some inspiration as writer’s block hits them with a pang where forming sentences with even three words was hard enough to think of. It had been a few days since Akabane’s last visit to their hut in the woods, but it was enough for them to start overthinking where the young hero went.

To rehash, ever since their writing session next to their window was greeted by a redhead hero practicing his magic skills in the woods, he has not stopped begging for them to write a poem about him. Every quest he was sent to was then a chance for him to get the rarest most valuable item—not to sell—to send as a gift to Shinsuke who has no clue what any of those things even do. They’ve kept dragon teeth, phoenix feathers, siren’s scales, and even bones from fossils of unknown origin; Akabane was determined to convince them to write him into one of their many ideas.

That’s the issue.

As the giftings kept coming and his visits became a normal part of Shinsuke’s routine, they might have developed feelings more than annoyance towards the pestering hero.

This is the reason why they are now in a field of poppies and peonies, staring at the blue sky with their book in hand “How am I supposed to tell him that I’ve written him multiple dedicated poems already that I could make an anthology?” They asked themselves, staring deeply into the yellowed pages of their journal.

There was no hope, even with the beautiful scenery that was projected around him and the new ink and quill that Akabane had gotten him, his thoughts were stuck on what he should write that’s not about the hero. The sun was high in the sky and as the tip of the inked stationary touched the paper, he opted to close the book instead, packing his things and was ready to get back to the castle “Asano is probably wondering where I went,” he sighed, knowing that his childhood friend must be searching high and low for him whenever they haven’t seen one another for a day.

The prince’s family had been working with the Kamiya’s for a while, especially when it came to the arts of literature. Prince Asano and Shinsuke were just friends by luck, but nonetheless, they stuck together. However, Shinsuke’s younger sister was not a poet nor a writer; she was a popular bard who played her harp every noon for the townspeople; they loved her. 

Enough about that. As Shinsuke was walking back to the path he came from, he heard a loud crackling sound, almost like a thunderstruck out of nowhere. Screams and the imprinted footprints on the dirt were now noticeable to him and the initial shock was then washed away by even more panic-inducing signs of an attack; a gust of wind strong enough to knock down a few trees, a scorching heat from an undeniable flame starting nearby, and a growl of a dragon.

‘You must be kidding me.’

The town that she had passed by came into view and there it was, a huge dragon rampaging around the town with half of the houses being burnt to bits “Is it too late to go back to the flower fields?” Shinsuke muttered under her breath, but her frozen stature was then replaced with actual fear when the eyes of the beast locked on her in an instant. With no magical knowledge, no potion, and no weapons, she prepared for the worst.

SLASH!

“Mr Poet! Fancy seeing you around!”

“Sir Akabane?” 

 The hero jumped on top of the dragon skillfully, one slash over its wings and another stab to its eye before casting a spell on his palms to imprint it against the dragon’s body, engulfing it in a curse “We’ve got to lead it to the ocean!” Akabane shouted from the top of the dragon’s head before he hovered down by using a spell, grabbing hold of Shizuha’s arm with a grin, it was as if fighting a dragon and banishing it in the ocean was a casual task of his “Why me?” “You’re here already, aren’t you? Might as well join me on my ventures, maybe you’ll even get some inspiration for that poem of mine!”

The two of them started running into the woods, heading to a beach close by, the dragon following them blindly with a stomp with each step it took “Sir, I can’t run this fast-” 

“Is this an invitation to carry you, Mr Poet?”

“I mean-”

“Say no less!”

The hero jumped one time—casting spells swiftly as he went—and a light from under his soles shone before he was able to float “Grab onto me, won’t you?” Shizuha hesitated, her legs still running to catch up to him before she was left with no choice, it was too tiring to run “This doesn’t guarantee you a personal poem,” Akabane held her close to him, moving her body over to carry her in his arms “Doesn’t matter, you’re already red in the face, it’s priceless,” Shizuha looked away, but to no avail, Akabane laughed at the action taken “You’re always so predictable if I were to say one tease you’ll be hiding your face in my chest!” He stopped his sentence before continuing a few seconds after “Though, I won’t complain if you do~”

“Just get rid of the dragon that’s on our tails already!”

“Demanding aren’t we?” 

Shizuha’s hold around Akabane tightened when he plunged them into the ocean, the dragon behind them disappearing into foam the moment it touched the surface of the water whilst the two of them were protected by a bubble of air.

‘He really is the hero for a reason.’

Shizuha thought, seeing how quick his reflexes and casts were, it was no wonder people sought highly of him. After the initial shock of the situation, she finally could relax; the dragon was no more and she could finally go back to the palace. Resting her head against his shoulders, she sighed “I hate to say it, but thanks,” Akabane grinned, flashing his winning smile at the poet as he floated them out of the ocean as swiftly as he jumped into it “Can I send you back to your place by chance?” Shizuha couldn’t help but nod, not hating the fact that they were holding onto him at that very moment very closely; closer than they’ve ever had before.

Back on the surface, they went, and with an arm extended, Akabane ushered them over the dirt path “Come on, I’m sure the kingdom’s guards are fixing up the damages, it’s my duty to get you back home safely,” looking at him with a complicated expression, they asked, “Is this your ploy to convince me to write you a poem again?” Akabane looked away playfully “Maybe, maybe not, you don’t know that,” even with the infuriating answer, Shinsuke couldn’t help but admire his antics “Talking about your writings, you’ve never even lent me any of them to read before, I’ve always wondered about your renowned poetry.”

In truth, Shinsuke didn’t care if he read through them, but the problem was that the only poems in their satchel right now were the ones written about him “Another time would suit that-” “Eh? I thought you were away from your place for inspiration? Have you not?” He was perceptive and this was yet another problem that Shinsuke had to face as they walked through the forest path. “Well, taking inspiration doesn’t mean I’ll be writing at the same time, sometimes I just want to take a walk around the place and write at home.”

Akabane wasn’t convinced “You sure? Your bag is brimming with papers.”

‘Dammit.’

They quickly rushed to shove the papers down the satchel, but Akabane was faster in snatching it away “Let’s see shall we?” “Hey! Wait-”

“‘The Disturbing Beauty’, isn’t that a wonderful title?” As he was about to read the first line, his eyes widened and his steps went to a halt “Give it back already,” Shinsuke begged, knowing fully well they couldn’t take it away anymore, not when he was already scanning the words very carefully “Hey, Shinsuke,” they gulped at the first mention of their name “Yes?” Akabane’s eyes didn’t once move away from the page “You’re quite the romantic, I never would’ve guessed.”

‘Does he realize it’s about him?’

“I like writing romance, yes,” Shinsuke acted nonchalantly, but beneath that facade, he was deeply embarrassed and scared. No way did the witty hero of the kingdom not realize that the whole poem was written about him “You’re experienced in that field?” Akabane handed the page over, seeming to ignore the fact that Shinsuke was having a crisis in his brain as to whether or not to be alert with any future remarks on the poem “N-not really, I haven’t romanced anyone if that’s what you’re asking,” Akabane raised one eyebrow “Liar, if you’re not romancing anyone then is this poem just some platonic statements about me?”

‘So he does notice!’

“What are you talking about?-” 

“Don’t play dumb, Mr Poet, you know what I’m referring to.”

“It’s merely a romantic prose written, it’s not meant for anyone and definitely not you.”

Akabane laughed, reaching out for Shinsuke’s wrists in his hands gently. “If it’s ‘not meant for anyone’ then what about I ask you if you can make it meant for me?” Shinsuke’s face lit up into a bright red, pinkish hue decorating his cheeks and he tried not to just run off from the situation, was this hero really charming him? “Believe what you want, but my poems are subjective, they can be interpreted for anyone and everyone,” he tried to contain his feelings, but it was hard when his very muse was touching him oh so softly “Then I interpret that you’re in love with me, how’s that?”

‘Oh, he is so insufferable!’

Slapping his hands away, Shinsuke started walking forward “Then I’m not letting you read any of my other writings, you’re clearly reading them wrong!”

With that, he went ahead, leaving the stunned hero behind.

The next day

“If Shizuha doesn’t want to see you, who am I to force her to?” Prince Asano answered, looking down from his opened library window to the redhead hero on a horse “She’s with you right now right? I’ve brought her favorite flowers! Tell her that!” 

Shizuha couldn’t face him, not after she had been utterly exposed the day before and thought that hiding in the library was the best idea, that was where she was hiding. Despite that, the hero was persistent. It wasn’t the first time Akabane had given her her favorite flowers, but it was definitely the first time receiving a bouquet of it in the middle of her rest in the palace with her royal friend. The prince moved his head away from the window to take a look over at Shizuha who was in the corner of the room, burying her face inside an old thick book “I’m scared!” She silently shouted over “Weren’t you nonstop talking about him the last time you were here?” 

Moving the book away from her face, Shizuha showed her worried eyes “He’s a hero. I can’t be falling for someone so dangerous,” it was always in the back of her mind, no way was she willing to be with someone willing to sacrifice their life when push comes to shove and Akabane was the epitome of that very scenario. Someone safe in their home and loving literature like Shizuha was no match for the always-in-action hero like Akabane. “I’m not one to say I like that guy, but you can’t keep lying to yourself, he’s interested in you as well.”

It was so obvious that it was sickening to the prince. The many relics that the kingdom had the right to were just given away carelessly to Shizuha because of the hero’s adoration for the mysterious poet who keeps to themselves and if this kept going, the prince might as well just arranged a marriage between the two to get them out of the kingdom’s business forever “He’s giving me peonies! How can I say no to that?” “Then don’t, you’re being an incredibly tough crowd right now, either you go or no, hurry up.”

Stepping away from the corner, Shinsuke peeked over at the window and with just one look of their blond hair in the opening, Akabane’s eyes lit up as he extended his full hand of flowers “Mr Poet, care to come downstairs?” Shinsuke clasped both their hands together nervously. “It’s a bit of a long trip to go from here to the backyard,” Akabane tilted his head to the side before smiling “Jump out then, I’ll catch you.”

‘Is he being serious?’

Their lack of response was enough silence for Akabane to speak up once more “When have I ever let you go?” 

With one last look over at the fed-up prince, Shinsuke placed one foot over the windowsill before taking a leap down, both of their legs bracing for impact, but just as promised, Akabane caught them just in time and with a feather falling spell, it didn’t even feel like they just jumped down from that high of a height “For someone who isn’t in love with me, you sure trust me enough to take risks,” Shinsuke frowned, but their hands were on the hero’s face “Did you want to give me the flowers only or no?” 

“Oh, these? They’re not the main event, I wanted to take you out.”

The pink flowers placed on their torso, they blinked in confusion “Where to?” Akabane’s eyes met theirs as he spoke “Your place? We haven’t hung out for a while and I’d love to read about your inevitable crush on me~”

“I told you that it’s not about that!” It definitely was.

“Nonetheless, just us two, am I allowed to whisk you away from your dearest prince?” 

With one hand on the side of his face, tracing the line of his jaw and the movement of his lips with his own thumbs, Shinsuke couldn’t hide the excitement that was contained in this plan of theirs “Whisk me away all you want, hero.”

“I’m glad to do so, Mr Poet.”