#Don’t Nod had a horrible ending for LiS that made very little sense in game and clearly didn’t plan it out which annoyed me

[chloepleasestopdying]

Honestly I think Life is Strange’s true problem is that it’s a series being done by two different studios that sometimes just flat out disagree with each other. Hell, the OG game was released by episode and certain things were changed just based on fan feedback so it wasn’t super consistent either.

But man. I’m kinda surprised that there was a heavy dislike of Chloe from Deck Nine since they did BtS. Then again BtS made it rather clear that they had no interest in following anything canon that Don’t Nod put forward.

They need to stop switching studios for every game. If Don’t Nod doesn’t want to do another then let them- at this point they’re just slapping the Life is Strange title on games that could be independent.

[bloomyn]

you can be the cherry on top

Helloo! If its okay can I request prompts 16 and 27 from the random prompts with Ushijima where the reader introduces some spontaneity into his life, teaches him to take risks and go off a routined lifestyle like going for a drive at 2am to a convenience and like cheating a game at an arcade or something ? And he actually kinda enjoys the thrill of going out of his comfort zone and wants to get to know her more ! Thankyouu srry if it doesnt make sense😊

pairing: ushijima wakatoshi x reader

tags: fluff, strangers to friends to lovers, breaking records ; fixing hearts, learning to live a little

warnings: none

tendou screeched.

“wakatoshi! you’re never going to beat the high score.”

olive - colored eyes narrowed, focusing on the screen in front of him. it was stupid game, nothing more than something he would’ve played as a child but it was the score board that ticked him off. 

1. ‘ur mom’

2. ushijima

3. ushijima

4. ushijima

5. miracle boy sa to ri!!!!

“wakatoshi let’s head back to the dorms. it’ll be fine, you can’t beat the high score so what.” 

the taller man scowled.

-

you’ve grown to hate the oak brown of the desk in front of you. the imitation wood has glared at you every second of everyday for the past three years and you might throw up if you have to look at them for another second. when you drop your forehead against the desk no one pays mind, you’re sure their all bored out of their minds too. it doesn’t help that the sickly gray walls of the classroom love to tease the tangerine sunlight that’s blocked by the thick window curtains. 

being a teenager is horrible. 

being a teenager stuck in a classroom with possibly the most boring people in the world is catastrophic. 

you could care less about modern japanese literature, you’re more worried about the sweat that’s pooling under your arms and the back of your thighs and..have they fixed the ac in your dorms yet?

outside of the window you could see a student jogging, it wasn’t surprising, he was always there. purple tracksuit, you had called him, always the same outfit at the same time, every single day.

how boring

-

“[l/n] please do not take my advice lightly, entrance exams are coming up and it is very important that-”

you nodded your head, “yes sensei i know, trust me, i’ll figure it out!”

your homeroom teacher sighed. “just, please. shiratorizawa wants to make sure that all our students succeed.”

plastering on a fake smile you started stepping backward slowly, “yep, mhm, i understand.”

“just go.”

“thank you bye bye!”

you rushed out of the hallway, passing through the classrooms and out of the gates of shiratorizawa academy. thankfully, the streets were pretty much empty save for the occasional student or cat making their way down the street. 

the arcade was visible for miles. blinding lights that lit up the block and the smell of sweaty seats that lingered for ages. 

yum.

 you waved a hello to the attendant and made your way to the back, searching for your high score (you couldn’t help it, seeing ‘ur mom’ on top the scoreboard was almost intoxicating), only to find a boy (man? maybe.) pounding harshly at the keys. you almost wanted laugh, watching this mountain of a man get so frustrated at what was no more than a child’s game. 

“you good there buddy?” you teased, making your way next to the boy. he only grunted in response, his fingers wrapping tighter around the consoles and eyes narrowing themselves, focusing solely on the screen in front of him. 

leaning against the side of the game you sighed, pretending to flick dirt out from your fingertips. 

“you know,” you drawled lazily, “ i have the high score.”

the boy froze, you could practically see his back stiffening at the sound of your words. a cold chill ran down your spine at the mere sight of his face (or more specifically the look on his face).

on the screen the “game over” flashed loudly, displaying the score board, and by the consecutive list of ‘ushijima’ underneath ‘ur mom’...

“oh, are you ushijima?”

he nodded stiffly. “you have the high score. how?”

you grinned cheekily, ignoring his obvious disbelief and disgruntlement, “wanna watch me play? i’ll blow your score out of the water. i promise.”

ushijima smirked, “show me.”

you started the game up, playing just as usual, you know; following the rules. behind you ushijima crossed his arms. you weren’t doing anything special, in fact he was pretty sure you were moving slower than him how could---

and with a quick flick of your fingers in an unknowable combination, the screen was cleared of the ‘bad guys’, and “NEW HIGH SCORE!’ bounced around on the screen. you licked your lips, whipping around to see his reaction and oh, it was so much better than you’d expected. 

“good game right?”

slowly, the taller man closed his eyes, “how?”

should you tell him the truth? you wondered. it’d be so much more fun if you lied instead; leaving him frustrated and flustered over your effortless ability to wreck his scores. 

“cheat code.” you breathed lazily, “it works for a lot of games actually, it’s really common.”

“you...cheated?”

you almost rolled your eyes, “it’s just a game ushijima, don’t tell me you haven’t cheated at a game before?”

his silence spoke for him.

had this man had any fun ever? at all? even a little?

“come on ushi-kun, live a little why don’t you.”

your persistence was refreshing. maybe it was because he had only just met you and you had no idea who or what he was like that you would push him like this. he knew was blunt, there was no point in lying or drawing the truth out. but you seemed to be immune to that. 

so he held out his hand, asking for the coin.

“i can try to be more exciting.”

besides him you blew air out of your lips, “ i don’t want you to try and be more exciting, just like,” you paused, looking him up and down. “what do you do for fun?”

“volleyball.”

“and when you’re not playing volleyball...”

“i’m at school.”

you really had to think of different response besides groaning. begrudgingly you held out your hand.

“come on.” you huffed.

tentatively ushijima placed his hands in yours. “will i regret this?”

“i’d be insulted if you didn’t”

-

so you were breaking into your own school. well, it wasn’t exactly breaking, just sneaking into the closed volleyball gym. 

“it’s locked.”

rolling your eyes you shoved your hands around in your pockets, hoping that somehow you’d have a bobby pin, and voila! you smirked, whispering a ‘got it!’ before jamming it into the lock. 

“this would be a lot easier with a key.”

suppressing the fattest eye roll you could possibly think of you turned around, 

“obviously it-- oh.”

behind you ushijima held up a single bronze key, matching the same company as the one on the lock. oh.

“you play for the volleyball team?”

he nodded.

“wait you go to this school?”

-

this was not fun anymore. holy shit this was not fun.

a screech left your throat as you dodged another one of ushijimas serves. you thought volleyball was all fun and games, this was a nightmare. 

“i thought you wanted to play?” he quirked, tossing the ball up one more time.

“yeah, play. not die!”

you dove to the floor barely dodging the ball. on the other side of the net ushijima was smiling, laughing almost. 

at least one of you was having fun. 

-

“god ushijima do you enjoy torturing yourself?”

ushijima tossed a towel to you, while continuing to sip from his water bottle. 

“hm?”

grimacing, you wiped the sweat from your forehead onto the towel. 

‘geez, this guy hasn’t even broken a sweat’ 

“why volleyball?” you breathed softly.

“my father taught me how, he used to play for shiratorizawa.”

you nodded along, “that’s cool.”

an icky silence spread over the two of you as cooled of from your unintentional work out. you smiled to yourself, it was fun though, even if your bones seemed to be in danger. 

“something wrong?”

you blinked a couple times before looking up. had you accidentally made a face? (your mother had made it point to call you out whenever that ‘pinched look’ arrived) 

“no? what do you mean?”

this time you were frowning, but of course ushijima didn’t notice (or simply just didn’t care).

he set his water bottle down, “you look disappointed.”

scoffing you tossed the towel back to him. “i’m not.”

“i don’t believe you.”

this man. 

so you shrug. “ i don’t know, just feels like the day has so much potential and instead i’m going to end up laying by myself in a dorm where the ac doesn’t work.”

“it’s only 7:22.”

you sighed, “yeah but it’s too late to do anything and too early to go back to the dorms.”

in his mind ushijima had two options:

1. leave and maybe never talk to you again

2. stay and, not have any regrets about what you were going to do or if you were going to do anything because he wanted to be there, not to be with you, but to have fun, yeah to have fun, he needed to have more fun. 

“come with me.”

-

ideally ushijima would’ve whisked away in his new car and driven you into the sunset while listening to your ‘don’t cry just vibe’ playlist. 

unfortunately the two of you were broke third years who had no form of personal transportation and had to worry about missing volleyball practice the next morning. 

so you were on the train. 

“ushijima where are we even going.”

he hadn’t given you an answer for at least 15 minutes prior to asking so you jabbed a finger into his chest.

“answer me.”

peering down at your figure he nodded his head. “i can’t tell you.”

already you were starting to receive some stares from the others from the train so you dropped the subject. i mean you had been the one to tell him to live a little. god he didn’t even know your name! he wasn’t gonna kidnap you, no, but he could! especially with those serves--

“we’re here.”

-

“i only come here during school breaks but, i figured now might be an appropriate visit.”

the moon hung heavy over the dips and curves of the hills. the small lights flickered in and out, lanterns most likely, setting the scene. wonderful. 

“well.” you huffed, “aren’t we just full of surprises today.”

smiling at your words, ushijima motions upward.

“step there. you’ll have a better view.”

ah, so he was going to push you off the cliff and they would never find your body. that’s how this was going to go down. 

“just so you know ushi - kun, if any murderers coming running at us--” you take his hands, wiping a fake tear off your face, “i would die for you, i would sacrifice, my life so you could escape.”

“you just met me.” he deadpans.

stepping up on the rocks you extend your arms out. wind swept underneath them, the sounds of the hills working in tandem, your mind was gone, too absorbed in the view.  “i know.”

-

“does it still feel like a waste?” 

this time you shook your head, “here with you? absolutely not.”

-

two weeks later:

“you stole a car.”

those are the first words he speaks when he finally sees you again. after your little moment at the hills you’d disappeared for two weeks. he was starting question your existence. but here you, waiting for him at the front of the school swinging car keys between your fingers.”

“technically,” you start, “it’s my aunt’s and i’m just borrowing it.” 

you can’t describe the look he’s giving you. you can but, it wouldn’t accurately describe whatever he was feeling. “so are you getting in or what.”

“i have volleyball practice.”

you hold up the little bronze you’ve stored in your pocket. “not anymore you don’t”

-- he forgets to ask if you even have your license yet. (it’s fine, it’s you we’re talking about)

.

.

.

you don’t immediately start dating after that. it takes three more spontaneous tokyo roadtrips and six almost ushi - abductions for him to ask you out. and when he does, you beat him to the punch. 

“well.” you say, poking his chest a bit. “who else am i gonna drag to the arcade at 3 in the morning?”

(he says yes.)

[writer1]

A regretful Wolf and his Beauty.

Chapter Three

Beast!Rex x Fem!reader

Summary: As punishment for his actions, young prince Rex was cursed to become a monster by a witch. The only thing that saved him from his fate was an enchantress, who gave him a condition. He has to find true love in order to redeem himself and he only has until the last petal of the enchanted rose falls. Rex's family helps you by guiding your way into his heart. Rex's fate now lies in your hands.

A\N: This is a collaborative fic with @ahsokatano-thetogruta. Just a warning, the transformations get kind of gory and disturbing, if you want to skip that part you may, it starts right after Rex transforms. We have marked where the gore and disturbing parts are, so you can skip that part if you'd like because the last part of the chapter leads into the next one. As always, we hope you enjoy this fic. credit too @suddenly-clones for Cody’s nickname Bubby.

Warnings: mention of past abuse, horrific description (we have marked this for you so you don't have to read it)

Rex walks down the stairs behind Cody, feeling nervous. Once at the bottom, Cody places a hand on his shoulder, giving Rex a comforting smile. They both walk to the ballroom, opening the door and walking in to see 99 reading all the little kids a story.

“And little red riding hood asked ‘What big teeth you have grandma’ the wolf in disguise smiled at her. ‘All the better to EAT you with’ the wolf then lunges at little red riding hood, but just before he eats her, the friendly wood cutter bursts in. He scares the wolf, who runs away. And both him and red find her grandmother locked in the closet. And everyone lives happily ever after.” the kids cheer, with the bad batch closest to 99. 

There's fourteen year old Hunter sitting right beside him, with twelve year old Crosshair on the other side and eleven year old Wrecker in behind Hunter since he's the tallest. The youngest, Tech, who's only six years old is sitting on 99’s lap. Stutter is in the middle of the group of kids with Ahsoka and his friend Sabine who’s the same age. Rex thinks about the real ending of the story, where the grandma was eaten and the woodcutter kills the wolf. 

He’s glad that 99 waits until you turn twelve to tell you the real story, it's way too dark for little kids. Rex is glad the bad batch is happy here, they, like Stutter, were taken in because of abusive parents. His aunt hated the boys for being different. Hunter was born with enhanced senses, which gives him headaches and can make him pass out, Crosshair is the weakest of the kids, having deficiencies that make him skinny and sick, they also made his hair grey. Wrecker is the biggest and strongest of them. But his eyesight is amazing, you have to watch out for the grumpy kid, he has a habit of whipping things at people when angry, and he has Never missed. Tech is tiny too, but he’s also super smart, but his eyesight is horrible, so he wears glasses that Anakin had made for him. 99 adopted them as his son’s as soon as he found out about the abuse and trauma his sister had caused.

All of that is gone now and it is all in the past. The bad batch and Stutter are living such happier lives now with their new, loving family.

xxx

Fives is aimlessly wandering around the castle, trying to take his mind off of what had happened earlier. Echo is with Waxer and Boil, playing with Numa. Fives kindly declined when his twin asked if he wanted to play too, but he said that he just needs some alone time. 

He still feels a little bit hurt inside, but the feeling is slowly passing and fading the more he keeps on wandering, turning from one corridor to the next. He stops when he hears a soft humming of a melody coming from a room that he passes by. Listening intently as he looks around the corner, he sees an eight year old girl cleaning around the room with her feather duster. Her hair is brown and short, her skin is a pale blue like a blue lagoon.

The young girl turns around to see Fives peeking around the doorway. Before she could say anything, he tried to hide as quickly as he could, but she already saw him. She giggles a little, walking towards the doorway and standing there, brushing off any dust from her uniform and smiles at Fives. "Hello Prince Fives." The girl has a small, cute smile gracing her face now.

"Hey." Fives says nervously, not really sure of what to do. He thinks that she is really cute, so he decides to push his nerves aside and talk to her some more. "What's your name?"

"My apologies Prince, my name is Kiara Zelenca." She does a little curtsy in front of him. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, though you don't have to call me Prince. You can just call me Fives." He smiles kindly as he admires the  white patterns on her face. Her turquoise eyes compliments her skin perfectly. "If you don't mind me asking, what species are you?" He tries to sound as politely as he possibly can.

"I don't mind at all! I'm both Human and Togruta. My Mother was a Togruta and my Father was Human. I have hair instead of montrals and my ears are a little bit longer because I don't have lekku like other Togruta." She explains a little nervously. He probably thinks that I'm weird now. She thinks to herself. "I use my hair to cover them as much as I can, because the others will say that my ears look weird and ugly. They call me a freak too..." She tries her best to keep her sadness back. She hates how she looks already, so it doesn't help that she gets bullied by others.

Fives frowns, hearing that this has happened to Kiara. The slight tremble in her voice is apparent to him, so he walks a little closer to her, looking Kiara directly into her ocean blue eyes and slowly raises his right hand towards the left side of her hair. He freezes just before he reaches her face. "Can I...can I see them?" 

Kiara is speechless, thinking that just explaining them to him would make him feel the same way that the others do. After a moment, she nods and Fives strokes back her hair. Kiara looks away embarrassed. He sees that they are longer, but he just smiles. "I think they are really pretty." He says stroking the side of her face lightly. She looks into his honey coloured eyes. "You are perfect just the way you are, so don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. If they do give you any more trouble ever again, you tell them that they will be speaking to Prince Fives personally." Fives smiles reassuringly.

This is the first time that someone has told her that she is perfect and that she doesn't look like a freak. Her heart flutters as she leans into Fives' touch. He feels his cheeks heat up a little bit, she looks so adorable like this. Kiara opens her eyes and looks up towards the ceiling, to see mistletoe hanging down from the doorframe. She giggles.

Fives raises an eyebrow sweetly. "What is it?" He asks her as she motions for him to look up. He does so and sees what she wanted him to see. His cheeks turn red when he turns his head to look back down at Kiara. Her cheeks have turned to a darker shade of blue. She's obviously blushing. 

Fives swallows harshly, trying to gather all of the confidence he can find within himself. "W-would you like to kiss me?"

Without a moment of hesitation, Kiara wraps her arms around Fives' neck as she softly presses her lips to his. Fives instantly starts kissing her back, wrapping his arms around her lovingly. They both pull away, and Fives sees the bottom of Kiara's ears move a little as the tops turn the same shade of blue that is on her cheeks. Kiara giggles at the goofy smile on Fives' face. “Wait till I tell Echo that I kissed a girl.” 

Kiara laughs at Fives’ remark, kissing his cheek softly. They are both blushing a lot, this having been the first time either had ever kissed someone. “I… I think that i might love you already?”

Kiara’s eyes go wide when she realizes what he just said, then she realizes that she feels the exact same way. “I think that i might love you too, Fives.”  

“Kiara!!” Kiara turns at the voice of her mom. She turns back to Fives, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry. Thats my mom, I have to go” Fives nods, watching her leave. He sighs. I’m gonna marry her. He thinks to himself.

xxx 

A little while after 99 finishes the story, Fives and Echo walk into the room, Rex notices that Fives is blushing as he tells Echo something. He can’t hear what is said. Both boys freeze when they see Rex walking over to them. “Hey Echo. Fives.” he says nervously, the twins just frown at him, he sighs.

“Look, I'm sorry for what happened, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I know you were just having fun. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me for a while after how I reacted earlier.” Rex wrings his hand together, staring at the floor. He hopes that his brothers can forgive him, but he also understands if it takes a while.

Fives slams into him with a hug, and Echo follows after him. “We’re sorry too, we shouldn’t have pulled the prank in the first place.” Echo nods in agreement with Fives.

“Yeah, we shouldn’t have played a prank when we knew that you were stressed, we’re sorry.” Both boys nuzzle into their brother, as Rex wraps his arms tightly around them.

"It's okay. Now, shall we go and play a board game?" Rex offers and the twins nod their heads in sync, making Rex chuckle. "Alright, you two can pick what we play.

xxx

Further somewhere in the castle in one of the bedrooms, Kanan and Hera are getting ready for the evening activities that were planned to take place in the ballroom. They are both nineteen years old and Kanan is a knight, though he was not needed to go out on patrol today.

Kanan had rescued Hera five years ago when she was being chased by some smugglers who were after her. He fortunately got there in time to save Hera and she is still very grateful for it. Kanan asked if she had anywhere to go, but she just shook her head. He decided that he would take her to the castle with him. He asked his friend, Rex, if it was okay if she could stay for a while, so the eight year old Prince asked his parents if it was okay and they both were happy to let her stay for as long as she needed to.

They were quick friends in the beginning and soon enough, they became lovers after they confessed to one another a few years ago. After another year had passed, Kanan decided to finally propose to Hera, so when he was out on patrol in the village, he bought her a beautiful ring. He was delighted when she said yes and they got married soon after. It's been two years and they are so happy together.

Hera finishes putting on her long, dark green dress that she wears on special occasions. It compliments her lime green skin perfectly. Kanan exits the ensuite to see his wife standing in front of a standing mirror as she tugs the long sleeves of her dress down. Hera sees in the mirror that Kanan is admiring her from behind. 

"You look stunning in this dress, darling." He walks closer and wraps his arms around her waist, kissing her lek from behind.

Hera relaxes into his embrace. "Thank you, love. You look very smart in your suit too." 

Kanan hums in response, enjoying every passing moment they spend like this.

"Shall we go and join everyone downstairs in the ballroom?" Hera asks as she cups Kanan's face.

"Yeah, let's go."

xxx

A few hours later the sun has fully set, allowing the warm lights strung up against the walls to glow brightly, creating a warm, atmospheric feeling in the ballroom as everyone is gathered around, speaking to friends and family. The knights haven’t returned from patrol yet when there's a knock at the door, Rex being closest, answers it. Outside is a woman, she has a bald head, white skin and tattoos on her face. “Hello, can i please come in? Its bitterly cold out here and i have nowhere to go, all I have to offer is this rose as payment.” 

Rex feels pity for the woman. “Cody!!” He calls his older brother, he knows that he has to ask permission before he can allow a stranger in. The woman watches, Rex doesn’t see the malicious glint in her eyes.

“What is it Rex? Who is this?” Cody asks as soon as he sees the woman. “She has nowhere to go, can we allow her to stay with us? She says that she can only pay us with a rose, but i don’t think that’s a problem. Do you?"

Cody smiles at his brother’s kindness, turning to the woman. "I don’t think that will be a problem either, of course you may come in Miss…?”

“Ventress, just call me Ventress. Thank you for your hospitality.” Ventress walks in, handing Cody the rose.”There are drinks and food over there  if you’re hungry Miss Ventress.” Rex tells her as she walks in, he doesn’t see the evil smirk as she eyes the bowl of red punch. She walks over grabbing a drink.

xxx

An hour passes, everyone is having fun. Fives is with Kiara, introducing Echo to her. Jesse and his twin brother Kix are playing doctor with the young knights in training. Kix had just become a doctor a year ago, so he’s writing fake doctor notes of crazy, fake diseases for a few knights while Jesse is entertaining the kids with paper shapes and animals that he folds.

Boil is making his niece pancakes and Waxer is sitting nearby, playing with the little girl. All the cousins, knights and staff are talking, joking and having a great time like they do every year. Ventress walks near to Rex, who’s talking to Cody and Bly. Ventress has a wicked smile on her face as she pretends to trip, spilling red punch on Rex’s favorite white shirt. “I am so sorry young man.” Ventress says sarcastically, making Rex lose his cool for the second time that day.

“Can’t you be more careful! And watch where you’re going!” He tells her angrily, freezing when he realizes how rude he was.”I'm sorry, I should-!”

“ENOUGH!!! You have been rude to the wrong person, little prince!” She snarls. Her hands have a dark green aura, everyone now realizes that the woman they had kindly invited into their home, was actually an evil witch. Her eyes glow green, and a circle of magic surrounds young Rex, cutting him off from his family. All the child can feel is fear as tears stream down his face. "I’m so sorry.” He whimpers out, begging and pleading for forgiveness. 

The magic surrounding Rex and the witch is too strong, stopping anyone from getting close to them. Despite this, Obi-Wan tries to go and protect Rex, fighting his way through the sheer force of the wind being created. He only gets so far until he is blasted back into Cody's arms who catches him. Obi Wan gets to his feet and holds onto Cody.

Through all of the madness surrounding everyone, Obi Wan hears someone yelling behind him and then sees Anakin run past him with his wooden sword held high above his head, charging directly towards the witch. Obi Wan manages to grab Anakin and pull him in close to himself and Cody, all huddling together during the complete chaos. Both Obi Wan and Cody wrap their arms protectively around Anakin, using their own bodies to protect the child from the chaos and anything else that may happen. Cody prays for his brother, feeling like a failure for being unable to get to Rex. Not even all the Knights using the force would be able to get to him.

Suddenly there is a cry of pain. fearing the worst for his Rex'ika, Cody looks towards Rex who has his hands in his face and drops to the floor on his knees, writhing in pain. Cody looks around the room to see that everyone can see it too. Rex is...growing.

Plo, Wolffe, Sinker, Boosts and Comet all tried to get too Rex… that is until he started to change, they froze as soon as their older cousin started to grow. Plo has never heard of this happening before, he knows that witches are powerful, whatever she is doing to the young prince won’t be fixed so easily… If ever. Wolffe goes to run up to them, he doesn’t care about what’s happening to his older cousin. He leaves his brothers, running to Rex when a shard of glass hits him, cutting a slice through his right eye. Ventress laughs, knowing that her shard glass had hit her target.

Boil jumped in front of Waxer and little Numa as soon as the witch yelled, leaving the pancake he had cooked thrown on the floor. Numa screams and cries as the chaos ensues, both Boil and Waxer hear the cry of pain, they turn to see Rex fall to the ground in the middle of everything. They watch in horror as he starts to grow. Something that should not be happening to his body.

The Bad Batch all grab onto 99, standing in front of him. They close their eyes in fear, but 99 sees what happens to Rex, feeling fear for the young boy whose body is unnaturally growing bigger. And is also screaming in both pain and terror.

Fives jumps in front of Kiara, Echo following behind him. They watch their Ori’Vod fall to the ground, crying out in pain, they watch as his body starts to grow. They don’t know what’s going to happen to their brother, but they swear that they will love him no matter how much that monster changes him.

Stutter's eyes widen as he sees his Ori'Vod growing and writhing in pain on the floor, so he screams and tries to run over to help him. He feels someone grab his small hand and gets pulled towards them. He looks up to see Sabine using her whole body to protect him. Stutter sees a Lasat run up behind her and crouches down, wrapping his arms around the both of them to keep them safe from the chaos.

Fox and Thorne hear the cries from Rex, panic coursing through their bodies, flooding their minds with fear. Fox looks around quickly to see that Ahsoka isn't with them anymore. He scans the room to see that she is staring at her Ori'Vod through the green forcefield of magic. Fox grabs her arm to pull her back towards him and Thorn to protect her, though in the process, she loses her grip on her music box, dropping it to the floor. Everything seemed to play in slow motion as she watched it break to pieces that scatter across the floor. Fox realises what happens when Ahsoka starts to scream and cry as he sees the broken music box on the floor, so he comforts her the best that he can. Thorne joins Fox to help protect Ahsoka.

All Rex feels is pain, discomfort and fear. He regrets everything. He groans as his smart clothes begin to grow tighter on him, ripping open at the seams, revealing blonde fur. His arms start to grow longer and so does his legs, bending and rearranging themselves into haunches as a tail also starts to grow. He feels his face elongating into a snout, baring his sharp teeth to attempt to block out as much pain as he can. His cries of pain turn to whimpers as the transformation finishes. His clothes have ripped to shreds, blonde fur now completely covers the entirety of his body. The only article of clothing left are his shredded pants. Rex just lies on the floor, whining as he feels everyone staring at him.

Cody watches as his little brother turns into a creature of legends… A werewolf. Everyone in the room is shocked, the kids that had heard the story from 99 earlier cower in fear, afraid that Rex might eat them. Cody doesn’t care about that… This is still his Rex’ika, his baby brother. And nothing will ever change that. 

The witch looks around the room as Rex lays on the floor, breathing heavily. The force field goes away and she smiles wickedly. “Don’t worry, young prince. You won’t be alone with this curse.” Rex looks up at her, eyes wide. Tears are still falling down his face, wetting his fur. ”What!?”

“Yes! I have a perfect plan for everyone in this castle! I want to have some more fun” she lifts her hands up. "You all stand there like objects, so I’ll turn you into objects!” She sneers.The green aura engulfs the room, and everyone groans, Rex watches in horror as his friends and family start to morph and change in front of his very eyes. Rex feels absolute fear, he wants his bubby. 

(Warning! Slightly gory and disturbing description of the transformations from this point. Note where it ends.)

But Cody is groaning in pain as well, and morphing, getting wider and less human. Cody’s arms and legs burn as they grow slimmer, wood growing all over his body. He forces his eyes open to check on Obi Wan, staring in horror as his beloved scratches at his skin as it becomes metal. He sees young Anakin doing the same. They both form into a suit of armour that covers their whole body from head to toe. The same is happening to Kanan and Plo too. 

Fox and Thorn struggle to hold onto Ahsoka, not just because they are changing, but also because she is getting smaller. The once shattered music box starts piecing itself together, but leaves the ballerina there on the floor. Ahsoka cries and screams as she becomes unable to move her legs anymore and she starts to become older in appearance. Her clothes change too, into more of a ballerina's outfit like the one that the little figure was wearing before.

Echo and Fives scream in pain as they transform, Both of them shrink as Fives' hair starts to become waxy, turning white in color. It's not just his hair, his whole head from top to his top jaw turns into wax, so does his hands, and the rest of him, including his bottom jaw, turns to a gold metal. Echo starts to grow a mix of metal and wood all over his body, the twins cry in pain as they shrink. 

Kiara is the same, yelling out for her mother as the top half of her body becomes wood and the bottom half morphs painfully into feathers. All three of them have tears running down their faces, as they scream from the worst pain they’ve ever felt in their young lives.

Stutter screams loudly in pain, this is somehow worse than anything his brothers and father had ever done to him. “R-R-Rex!!!! C-C-C-Cody!!!” Young Stutter screams for his brothers, he's so scared. His body is becoming wood, his arms are sucked into him, morphing to his sides as his legs morph together and become the familiar bristles of a paint brush. He screams, looking over and seeing Sabine in the same predicament. He cries as he starts to shrink. “F-F-Fives!!! E-Echo!!!!! B-B-Bly!!!” He tries one last time to get one of his brothers, to no avail, he’s all alone once again.

Kix, Jesse and Hardcase all fall to the ground, screaming out in agony as they feel their bodies beginning to change. Kix wraps his arms around himself, squeezing his eyes shut to try and block out the pain coursing through his body. He becomes rigid, unable to bend any of his limbs as they straighten out. His legs morph together and his arms sink down into his body. His blood becomes colder as it starts to turn to ink. 

Jesse starts to get wider and thinner. He starts feeling lighter and when he looks at his hands, they flop backwards as they become paper thin. It doesn't take him long to figure out that he's actually becoming paper, because his skin turns dramatically pale. As his body becomes thinner, he starts getting smaller too. Hardcase's body from his neck to his feet starts to turn to wood as his body becomes narrow.  He screams at the searing pain rushing throughout his head as it becomes metal, his facing becoming longer and sharper with each passing second.

Hera feels her body start to morph into light, it burns as she is transported to the mirror she was looking into only hours before, she looks around at the room around her, she bangs on the glass, unable to get out. The room is only grey, the only thing in it being her. “Kanan!!!” She screams for her husband, the last she saw of him he had fallen to the ground in pain, she has no idea what he might have become.

Bly falls to the ground in pain, his whole body starts to burn as it turns to metal, he screams in agony  as his head splits into three. He shrinks, turning into a fork. Ten year old Wolffe doubles over in absolute agony, along with the 9 year old twins, Sinker and Boost. And the youngest, seven year old Comet. They all grow smaller as they turn to ceramic, Wolffe screams as his body widens, going hollow once it turns completely too glass, lessening the pain some thankfully. Plo tries to fight through the pain of his own transformation to get to his boys, he hates that they have to go through this pain.

(Gore ends here!)

Rex can't believe his eyes. Everyone has completely changed. They aren't even...alive anymore? Though he can still hear the groans from everyone as their transformations finish. He looks towards Ventress with piercing anger in his eyes, but she just laughs at everyone. She feels content now that she has had her fun. 

"I don't know what you are looking at me like that for. You are the one who has caused this! Now your friends and family will share your punishment." She cackles as she surrounds herself in a cloud of green smoke, creating a whirlwind. Once it clears, Ventress is nowhere to be seen.

No...what have I done? Rex thinks to himself as he sees everyone start to move again without being in complete pain and agony. He presses his ears back against his head, feeling consumed in guilt and regret. The room is almost silent, the only sounds being slight shuffles around the room as people adjust to their new forms. 

Cody had heard every word that Ventress had said to Rex, about her saying that this is his Rex'ika's fault. He tries to shuffle to Rex, calling out to him to comfort his little brother "Rex'ika." Rex hears the familiar nickname, looking towards the direction that his Ori'Vod's voice came from.

"Bubby…" a second later, Rex bolts out of the room and runs as fast as he can. Away from everyone. Cody calls out to him and tries to follow, but he can't move very well at all. Everyone else doesn't know what to say. Their expressions are a mix of fear and confusion, not understanding what has just happened to them. All anyone can really think about is Rex's safety. They need to know that he's alright...

taglist: @captainrexisboo @pro-fangirls-unsocial-life

[yodawgiherd]

Too Close For Comfort pt.2

>>>Read on AO3<<<

Second part of the "annoying couple" AU hope that you'll enjoy it :)

Armin liked Eren. Armin liked Mikasa. Armin hated them together.

Was he overreacting? Hell no. Don’t believe him? Fine.

Let’s play a little scene then.

A movie was coming out, but not just any movie. It’s a movie from a series that both Eren and Armin used to watch religiously, a continuation of a long saga that had them on the edge of their seats. Armin was counting days until it comes out, and the second it hit the streaming platforms his heart doubled its beat rate. Then again, an event like this shouldn’t be experienced alone. He and Eren had watched every part of the saga up until now, and it would be rude not to make a little watch-together. So, Armin picked up a phone.

Eren was ecstatic same as Armin, immediately agreeing that he will come over in the evening. Sadly, he can’t go right now, because he is with Mikasa in the gym, and:

“You know that I can’t cut our training Ar, we need it for the fights.”

There it is again. Our training. We need it. It’s only Mikasa who does martial arts, not Eren, but apparently, they are no longer separate individuals. But fine, Armin was hyped for the movie and willing to wait a few hours.

Before you ask, no – it was not rude not to invite her too. Mikasa watched one of the movies with them, and her comment of: “Man, this is kinda dumb.”, almost made Armin explode. She, who still rewatches the Twilight saga from time to time, had the gall to call another movie stupid. Armin seethed, and it didn’t get better because the ultimate simp that Eren is, he only nodded and said: “Ye, it doesn’t make sense sometimes.”

Heresy.

Ok, all right, hopefully Mikasa will be exhausted from the gym and she will want to relax on her own, maybe go for a swim in the pool at Eren’s house. She loved that pool but Armin had his issues with it, ever since he caught the two of them having sex in it once. Call him a prude, but Armin had no intention of swimming in water tainted by little Erens, if you catch his drift. And sure, the pool had filtration and whatnot, but still…

Chasing that horrible memory out of his mind, Armin made the preparation. Popcorn, drinks, snacks, the couch in just the perfect distance from the TV. Everything must be the best because this movie will be the best.

Ah, there’s the door.

Yet when Armin opened, his heart fell to his stomach and the smile was hard to keep. Eren was there, looking excited as ever, but the goth visage next to him was also present.

“Sorry that it took us so long,”, Eren hugged him, “Miki was doing her make-up.”

She giggled and poked him in the ribs, he caught her hand to press a kiss to the knuckles, and Armin was once again feeling like a third wheel on a date. Despite all this, the blond was a little bit hopeful. Maybe Mikasa will keep silent for once and lets him borrow Eren for a few hours. Maybe everything can work out.

So, Armin smiled and nodded and ushered his welcome guest ( and his plus one) into the living room. They fell together on the couch in the most customary positions – Armin in one corner, Eren in the middle, and Mikasa in the other, her legs picked up and resting in her boyfriend’s lap. With a click, the movie began.

It was fine at the start. Mikasa cared not for the movie, but she was on her phone, probably browsing Twitter or Pinterest or something, looking for new outfit ideas. The movie was amazing too, and Eren’s eyes were glued to the screen, his gasps in sync with Armin’s. That bliss lasted for about an hour and a half, and Armin couldn’t be happier. But then….

With a sigh, Mikasa pocketed her phone, her eyes sliding towards the TV. Just like that, the alarms went off in Armin’s head, because Mikasa was bored and that is bad, bad news. In a faint attempt to prolong his happy time, he asked her if she could go and grab a few more drinks from the fridge, knowing that there are none. She smiled and agreed, coming back to announce what Armin already knew.

“You’re out, there are no more.”

“Oh but that’s a shame.”, Armin lied through his teeth, “Would you be so nice to go buy some?”

She smiled and said sure, only pausing to press a quick kiss to Eren’s cheek. He mumbled something like “I love you babe” and then she was gone, letting Armin blow out the breath he was holding.

In this story, Mikasa was portrayed as the villain, but that’s NOT how Armin felt about her. She was a great girl, an amazing friend, and overall one of the best people that he knew. It’s that her inseparableness from Eren was driving Armin up the wall. Successfully pulling them apart with his innocent request, the blond settled into the couch, intent on enjoying the rest of the movie with Eren.

Curse Mikasa and her perfect physique.

She was back in fifteen minutes, not the hour that Armin expected, apparently jogging the entire way there and back. With a thin sheet of sweat to prove it, that she ran with several kilograms in her backpack, Mikasa quickly washed her face and was seated on the couch again, not even pulling her phone out this time. And like that, Armin’s movie party began to crumble.

It started with light touches on Eren’s nape, her black nails gently scratching the sensitive skin there. He leaned into the touch, a stupid smile spread across his face, and Armin wanted to punch him for that. They exchanged a few whispers, a few giggles, and then she was climbing into Eren’s lap as it was her rightful place. Five minutes later, Eren couldn’t care less about the movie.

The sounds of their aggressive make-out session were invading Armin’s ears, no matter how hard he tried to block it out. The strange sucking sound, the way Mikasa craned her head back and giggled when Eren planted kisses on her pale neck, her long hair creating a midnight curtain behind her. Because they were seventeen and a pair of horny teenagers, it did not end there. Risking a quick peek to the right, Armin saw that one of Eren’s hands was on Mikasa’s ass, bunching her short skirt between his fingers. It rode up, revealing the naked skin covered by black panties and fishnets, and Armin was feeling sick.

Objectively speaking, it was a very aesthetically pleasing ass. Mikasa went hard on her leg days, and it showed, but it didn’t feel right to the blond. She was practically his sister, and he had no intention of ogling his sister’s ass, no matter how perfect it was. With Eren being his brother, more or less, it was like having his sister being groped by his brother while their tongues are cramming into each other’s throats and…

Wait no, that came out wrong. They were very far from Alabama.

Differently then – it was his best friend kissing his other best friend (female), being loud and obnoxious about it, and all Armin wanted was to watch the movie. In his corner, he prayed that this is it, that they won’t nudge the clothing aside and go at it right here because the way Mikasa’s hips ground into Eren’s suggested that it wasn’t that far off. Please no. God, please no.

They didn’t.

Another hour of suffering later, the movie was done. Eren left with a stupid smile, holding Mikasa’s hand and looking like he just received a beating. All the black smudges on his face could easily be mistaken for bruises. Armin, who had a faint feeling that his movie night was nothing but foreplay to them, put the movie to play again, intent on enjoying the second half without the embarrassing sounds coming from his couch.

There. Convinced? No? Okay then…

What pissed him off next was the evolution of Eren into the ultimate simp for Mikasa. At first, it was a joke only, something Jean would say to piss him off, but as years progressed the joke was slowly but surely easing into reality. Mikasa wasn’t any better, Annie claimed when they were complaining to each other over the phone, and Armin wondered if a woman could be called a simp too.

A few proofs, if you will:

Proof 1: Eren and Jean were playing videogames at his house. Jean was losing for once, so Eren kept teasing him, but its all in good spirit and the games were getting more and more competitive. But then, a phone rang.

“Hi, Mimi, what’s up?”

If there was a word Jean would like to erase from a dictionary, it would be Mimi.

The rest of the conversation was quick, and Eren hung up with a stupid smile on his face. That expression was known to all his friends because he wore it anytime when being around Mikasa.

“I have to go.”

The controller cluttered on the table, the door closed, and he was gone.

Proof 2: Mikasa never skipped her training, and Annie liked that about her. Yet today would end such tradition because in the middle of their sparring Eren walked into the gym. Mikasa’s concentration took a nosedive out of the window, Annie got pissed, and Eren offered that he will take his girlfriend out for ice cream. She changed in about a minute and was gone, forcing Annie to take her frustration out on the punching bag.

It didn’t survive her wrath.

Proof 3: This was supposed to be a scouting mission, Sasha and Connie took the two dorks to see how Niccolo, Sasha’s new favorite cook, was doing in the restaurant he worked in. The test was about food but it got ruined as soon as the appetizers came in. Because instead of eating and rating it, like normal humans, Mikasa and Eren began feeding each other tiny bites, interlacing the food with kisses, and overall just being the cringiest and most annoying couple that there is. Connie excused himself, saying that he needs to throw up, and Sasha followed, knowing that the lunch was ruined.

They grabbed a disappointing burger together, both agreeing that taking Eren and Mikasa to any social occasion is a waste of time.

Proof 4: This was a study session, a thing that they were doing together for a long, long time. Armin was smart, Mikasa was bright, and Eren was determined to catch up. Usually. Now, everything was different. Ever since they changed from kids to teenagers and eased into intimacy, they were insufferable. Even studying was impossible because while Mikasa was eyeing the textbook, at least in the start, Eren very successfully distracted her by putting his head on her shoulder and kissing her neck. Soon the book was forgotten, clattering on the ground, while they tumbled together on the bed, lost in each other. Recognizing the situation, Armin made a swift exit, closing the door just in time because a second later Mikasa’s black bra thumped into the wood.

Proof 5: Now they were all together, doing one of the things that Mikasa enjoyed. A dark magic séance, with an Ouija board between them, the goth taking the lead since she is the only one who knows anything about this stuff. Armin was bored because he is a man of science and not ghosts. Sasha was eating chips from under the table and Connie was doing his best to steal them unnoticed. Jean looked surprised that he’s even here, unsure what came over him to agree when Mikasa asked him to attend. And Eren? Eren was staring at her like she’s made of gold, hanging on every word she says.

Following her instructions, they put their hands on the triangle, waiting for the séance mistress to call out to the ghosts. She did so, muttering some spells under her breath too, and then it was the time to ask a question. Was it something funny? Was it something genuinely interesting?

Nope.

“Who does Eren like the most?”, was her query, and Armin could hear the collective groan that ran around the table.

Surprising exactly no one, the triangle starts moving, spelling out Mikasa’s name. Now if he’s being honest, Armin couldn’t see anyone actively doing it, but it must be her – she has enough strength in her fingertips to drag them all. A few more tugs later, her name was complete, and a huge grin spread on the goth’s black lips.

“I knew it!”, she giggled all excited over nothing, leaning over to kiss her boyfriend, who abandoned the board in favor of holding her against him.

It’s way too long to be a thank-you kiss, way too loud, and Jean couldn’t take it anymore. He was gone as the first person, but before Sasha could discreetly follow Mikasa broke away from Eren, eyeing everyone.

“So, what do we ask next?”

Enough? Enough.

Or no, there was one more thing that Armin despised. It’s Eren talking about his intimate life.

Growing up together, any sort of decency sense disappeared, and it certainly didn’t help that Eren wanted to boast, since he was boning the hottest girl in the whole town.

Armin heard it all. He heard about their first time, he heard about the first time Mikasa was on top. He heard about the different positions they tried. One day, he was dumb enough to ask why does Eren have bruises on his neck. What he got was a fifteen-minute presentation when Eren described just how tight Mikasa can squeeze with her thighs when he makes her come on his face.

Armin wanted to die every minute of that speech.

Look, he was happy for them, but he didn’t need to hear it. He didn’t need to know that Mikasa bought handcuffs and they are using them in the bedroom. He didn’t need to hear that Eren is planning to gift her a riding crop for Valentine’s, because they both adored the spice.

No, just no.

All these events, all these humiliating experiences culminated into a desperate meeting of everyone save for those two, where they thought about what to do.

“We have to make an intervention.”, Jean said, holding his head in his hands, “This is not normal.”

“They are dating for like what, nine years now?”, Sasha counted, “It wasn’t that bad before, what happened?”

“The sex.”, Armin deadpanned, having his sources, “It’s the sex.”

The only thing that Eren could talk about lately.

“They are not even two people anymore.”, Connie thought out loud, “It’s like they merged into a single entity. Eren and Mikasa became…. Mikeren?”

“I’m all for the merge idea, but your name sucks.”, Jean laughed “I have a better one – Erekasa.”

A few more ideas flew here and there, each dumber than the other until Armin got one.

“Eremika?”

“Yea that’s good.”

“Not bad.”

“I can see that…”

“Okay!”, Armin proclaimed, “So let’s plan this Eremika intervention. It’s cool that have each other, but not everyone gets the love of their life when 9 years old.”

“Hear hear.”, Jean agreed.

They planned everything. Set up a date, gathered, and waited until the two came home, ready and willing to unload their years of frustration on them.

But… they didn’t show up.

Later, Armin would find out that they didn’t come because Eremika was having an ice-cream date. With no mental capacity to do this again, because a small part of him felt like an asshole for even trying to set it up, the intervention squad fell apart.

It did get better, with time and space, because Eren and Mikasa grew a little bit older and a little bit wiser. It did nothing to diminish the flames of their passion, but they were no longer so obnoxious about it. And looking at them now, Armin could only wish that he would someday find love so beautiful as theirs.

*raise a glass*

To Eren and Mikasa!

“All right, this should be good.”

Looking over the paper, Armin frowned.

“Maybe too long though, I should…”

Re-reading what he wrote, the blond erased a few parts, shortening the text. After all, the speech should not be that long, he was not here as a star of the show.

A knock on the door interrupted him, and then there was a familiar brown-haired head peeking in.

“Hey Ar, you ready?”

Pocketing the paper, he nodded at his friend.

“I hope that I won’t let you down with the speech.”

“Please…”, Eren’s grin was still the same, even after all these years, “There’s a reason why I chose you to be my best man, you never disappoint.”

Following the groom, Armin soon arrived back in the hall where the reception was taking place. Eren slid back into his seat, automatically reaching out to intertwine his fingers with his now-wife, wearing that same stupid smile he always had. Armin remained standing, clearing his throat, and feeling everyone’s eyes on him. Well, here goes nothing.

“I liked Eren. I liked Mikasa. I hated them together…..”

The plane gently hummed all around them, carrying the newlyweds towards the location of their honeymoon. A private island, owned by Krista’s too-rich father, one he so generously borrowed them. Ignoring the empty seats, Mikasa was curled in Eren’s lap, head tucked under his chin, and neither of the two couldn’t be happier. Still, a single tiny thing was worming around in Eren’s mind.

“Mrs. Yeager?”, he got Mikasa’s attention, making her smile go even wider.

She loved when Eren called her that, although their full legal name was Ackerman-Yeager now. Equality was always an important part of their relationship.

“Can you believe that they had an intervention for us?”, Eren continued, “Were we really that obnoxious when dating?”

Mikasa thought about it for a moment. Thought about all the friends she stood up, all the events she left to be with him, all the times Armin had to witness their kisses. Knowing the answer, she giggled as she lied out loud.

“Nah.”

[thorne93]

Long Lost Love (Part 7)

Prompt: Clint just lost everything. He turns to you – an old friend and an old flame – for comfort. Can you keep your old feelings at bay? Can he?

Word Count: 2532

Warnings: The Snap, grief, loss, mentions of abuse throughout series, angst will be the best friend in this fic

Note: This was written after IW, but before Endgame - so I have my own take on how certain things happened. Couldn’t have done this without @arrow-guy @carryonmyswansong @like-a-bag-of-potatoes (my amazing betttaa!) @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo

Aesthetic by @dontshootmespence​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After some time, you two decided to go to the city for a break from the farm life. Things were pretty stable on the farm and you could afford one or two days in the city. You fed the animals a little bit earlier than normal, then drove into Manhattan. You took him to some old haunts you’d mentioned and got food at joints that were still open. 

At one point, you took him to the Central Park Zoo. It was open, but only half the animals were there and it didn’t have any of the flair it usually did. They weren’t running any shows or specials or anything spectacular. It was mainly a self-guided tour to any animal enclosure that wasn’t roped off. 

You stopped at one point outside the lion exhibit and as you were watching the animals lie there, you were reminded of your time as a lion tamer.

“I used to come here to remind me of you, us, in the circus,” you stated casually.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? It seems like it’d be something you’d want to forget, considering we were treated so shittily.” He muttered the last part with disdain. 

You shrugged in response. “What can I say? I’m sentimental. I was grasping at anything to tie me back to you.” You turned towards him, hoping he’d get the message.

He reached up to your face, his hand resting on the side of your cheek. “That’s really sweet of you.”

“I should show you my whole circus collection,” you said suddenly, thinking he’d like it.

“Circus collection? What’s that?” he asked, chuckling, amused. 

“It’s all the little mementos and keepsakes I kept over the years. I didn’t want to forget about our time together. I know those years were probably the worst of our lives, and I’d never want to go back to them, but they were also the best years. Just you and me against the world.” 

He nodded. “Yeah, they were some of the best years,” he agreed with a smile. Before you knew it, he leaned down and began kissing you softly, tenderly, but swiftly enough to not draw attention to yourselves. You sighed with happiness when the kiss ended, even though you could kiss him for hours and not get tired of it. He hooked his arm around your waist and you rested your head on his shoulder while you two enjoyed the lions some more. 

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

 It was the middle of the night one night when you were awakened by the sound of loud yelling, and moaning. The sound was that of wailing, the only sound one hears when someone’s being hurt.

You barely had your eyes open as you slipped on your house shoes and ran to the source of the noise - Clint’s bedroom. 

“No, no… Don’t take them. No!” he shouted. There were tears on cheeks. You kneeled on the bed and started to shake him awake.

“Clint, Clint!” 

He didn’t stir at first. He just kept thrashing from side to side, saying no, shaking his head. You decided to shake a bit harder, calling his name a little louder. 

Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at you.

“Y/N?” he said.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m here. You’re having a nightmare,” you informed softly. You lowered yourself to sit down beside him while he laid there. 

He opened his eyes wide before rubbing his knuckles into them, trying to wipe the tears and sleep from them. “Jesus,” he said, shaking his head.

“That bad?” you asked gently. 

“Yeah… It was about the kids…” He shook his head, trying to get through the statement without crying. “I had a nightmare that Thanos took them.” 

All you could do was nod before sinking down to lie beside him on top of the covers. 

“I’m so sorry,” was all you could offer him. 

“Not your fault,” he said easily. 

“I’ll stay until you fall asleep again,” you suggested. 

He was silent, and you took it as a quiet agreement at your offer. The two of you lied there, staring at the ceiling, it was illuminated by the overly bright full moon. All you could hear was nature, the sound of the A/C every now and then, and each other’s breathing. 

Thoughts began to spin in your head, thoughts that often crossed your mind through the day. The thoughts and questions that scared you. The questions you weren’t sure you wanted an answer to. The thoughts that you were terrified to say aloud. 

You didn’t want to… but you had to. You had to know. This… whatever this was, you had to know it was real, that it meant something to him, that you weren’t just a stand in for his vanished wife and kids. That you weren’t just a bandaid on a gunshot wound. 

After a long time in the silence, you finally opened your mouth to speak. “So, uh, not that I’m complaining but… what… is this? Where is it going?” you asked. Your mouth was dry as your heart hammered nearly out of your chest. Just by asking this, you could very well be putting everything on the line that you'd ever wanted, ever hoped and dreamed and prayed for. But you had to know. You couldn't just blindly be with this man, no matter how deeply or how long you’d loved him. 

It didn’t take him too long to respond when he finally answered, ““It’s going where I wanted it to go years ago.”

“Which is?” you pressed. You needed verbal confirmation on all of this. 

“Permanently. I want us together. I mean, I can’t speak for you, but I’m pretty happy with calling you mine, calling ‘us’ a thing. How about you?” 

“Well… I want to be sure that I’m not just… that I’m not a stand in for the real thing,” you said, toying with your fingers, your voice getting shaky as you got more nervous. 

He could see and sense your jitters. He reached over, not looking at you as he put his hand on yours hands, a comforting motion to you. “You’re not. That’s the last thing you are.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to wake up one day and regret this or grow out of it or realize it’s not  what you wanted. I just don’t want to be some sort of distraction.”

“That’s not what this is at all. You make me happy. I want you here. I want to be with you.” 

“Really?” 

“Really. Y/N…” He rolled over to face you and you turned your head on the pillow to face him. “I love you. You know that, right? That I’ve loved you since we were kids,” he emphatically said. 

You smiled at him, happy tears forming. “I thought you’d let me go. I thought you’d moved on. I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”

He shook his head. “No, things just got… complicated, but no, I have always wanted you, don’t ever confuse that. You are no one’s stand in. You are you and I love you.” He cupped your neck before stretching forward to plant a firm kiss to your lips, assuaging your fears. 

You smiled at him, feeling that familiar warmth fill you up again. “Okay. I trust you.” 

“Good. Then it’s settled,” he said emphatically. ”We’re back together.”

Those three words sent your soul soaring. You never knew you’d feel such happiness in your life, and while you were feeling guilty for being thrilled in a man’s bed who had a vanished family, you’d put your whole romantic life on hold for this moment. It wasn’t ideal or anywhere near perfect, but you loved this man. If this was how it had to happen, then, this was how it had to happen.  

“Officially,” you confirmed with an affectionate smile.

He got a giddy grin on his face suddenly. “Shit, does this mean I’ll have to remember this date for anniversaries?” he asked and you took a pillow and hit his stomach hard while laughing. He laughed in response and also curled up in pain before turning to you and kissing you tenderly. 

The two of you embraced for a long time before you two broke apart and he requested, “Stay the night with me? In here?”

You nodded and got up to get under the covers, taking your shoes off. You slipped into bed with him and the two of you held each other all night long, basking in the loving glow of each other. 

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

Three more years passed blissfully between you two. The same routine carried on as you two worked the farm and you spent three days in the city at your practice. You eventually sold your apartment though and only rented a hotel when you went into the city or just slept on the cot in your office. 

Clint and you got closer as time went on and before you knew it, you were like a real, normal couple. You made breakfast for each other, met for dinner, went on dates. He missed his family and you were sure to respect any time he brought any of them up and you never took down any of their photos. It wasn’t your place and you weren’t trying to erase their presence or memories, you were just trying to build your own. 

The two of you spent nights on the couch watching TV, or picnics in the fields, or board game nights when you had the time. Clint even taught you archery and while you weren’t anywhere skilled as him, you were pretty good. You tried to get the Avengers together a few times every year, and sometimes it worked out, other times it didn’t. But it was still nice when they did.

You and Nat became best friends quickly and she never held it against you for anything between you and Clint. After explaining your side of things one night, she fully understood the situation from both sides and appreciated it. She loved that you two had made it back to each other. She could easily see why you two wanted to be together and how much you loved and cared for each other. 

It was everything you’d ever wanted. You had a family. You had Clint. You had your career. You were helping society while having your own slice of heaven. 

Everything was perfect. 

Until Nat showed up one day unannounced with a troubled look on her face. She looked as though she had horrible news for you, but there was something else there, an undercurrent of… light in her expression.

You immediately knew why she looked torn.

“Hey, Y/N,” she greeted with a smile as she walked up and hugged you. 

“Hey, what are you doing here?” you questioned, even though you knew the answer.

“Uh, is Clint around?” she wondered, side-stepping your inquiry.  

“Yeah, he should be out back. Come on inside, I’ll go get him,” you said. You opened the screen door to let her in. She stood in the living room before you jogged out back to grab him. He smiled hearing his friend was here and followed you back inside. The two hugged before you all sat down. You offered her something to drink but she declined.

“So… uh, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it,” she said, smiling with that familiar twinkle in her eye. “We might have a way to get everyone back.” 

Clint stilled at your side on the couch. He seemed to be in shock, so you spoke for him.

“Everyone? Like everyone, everyone?” you clarified.

“Yep. Long story short, Scott Lang, a guy we fought with in Germany, may have an obscure way to travel through time. Steve and Bruce are already working on the kinks but… it’s looking really promising. But we need everyone if this is going to work.” 

You looked to Clint. This was good. It was complicated for sure, but it was good. He regretted not helping so much before, you figured he’d jump at this chance.

“Can you give us a sec, Nat?” he requested. 

“Sure thing.” Nat looked between you two before standing. “I’ll be right outside.” 

Both of you nodded and she excused herself. Clint stood up and ran his hands through his hair.

“Holy shit. A shot to get everyone back, a chance....” He started walking, pacing, his nervous habit. 

You stood too. 

“It’s all you need, right?” you said, trying to be supportive. 

“Yeah. It’s a hell of a lot more than what we had,” he agreed. 

“Then you have to do it,” you urged, stepping forward and putting your hands on his plaid covered chest. 

He put his hands on your back, staring into your eyes. “Yeah, I do.” 

“I know that,” you said, giving him a soft smile. “Go. Go save the world.” 

He smiled at you, holding back some sweet tears. Both of you knew what this meant if he succeeded, but right now, that didn’t matter. You would have to put aside your selfish needs and wants for the greater good. Everything else would have to wait. 

He kissed you earnestly before saying, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay? We’ll sort everything out later.” 

You nodded. He slowly let go of you and looked at you one last time before joining Nat. She gave you a nod and a sympathetic smile before they took off and you were all alone on the porch. 

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

Clint had been gone four days now, and you hadn’t heard anything from anyone. You were worried, of course, you had no idea what any of this time travel entailed. You didn't know where Clint would be going or what he’d be doing, how long he would be there. 

So, in order to keep your spirits up and your mind off the worst possible scenarios, you kept up with your routine. You had a small breakfast each morning, and then did the solo work on the farm that you could do. 

You were working in the barn with the radio going, playing music as you worked. You sang along when you knew the words until suddenly, there was a commotion on the radio. You frowned and stood up, listening to the broadcast intensely.

“People are reappearing everywhere. It’s beautiful and chaotic,” the voice said in somewhat of a panic. 

Your eyes grew wide as a torrent of emotion washed over you. Joy, worry, excitement, hope, sadness slammed into you, leaving you breathless. Your heart began hammering in your chest and as you looked around, you saw it. Cows were suddenly in the field that had been nearly bare. More chickens began clucking, more horses appeared. Your heart felt full and bright and warm, and then suddenly you remembered -- Laura, the kids.

You dropped your tools and took off running towards the house. You ran up the porch, wrenching open the screen door and there stood a brunette woman with her back to you. She turned around and you recognized the face from all the many photos around the house. 

Laura.

She was back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[hola-ninos]

you ll pt.3

Summary: You’re not dead?!?!?! Also, you find out what Nico really meant to you in your past life……. surprise?

Word Count: 2.0k 

A/N: Hi lovelies! This series is not over, but this chapter is supperrrr longgggggggg, and I really don’t like what I did with the end, but here it is!

https://depressed-teen-needs-her-coffee.tumblr.com/post/626371804289777664/you-ll-part-2

find pt. 2 here^

https://depressed-teen-needs-her-coffee.tumblr.com/post/625639882430251008/you

find pt. 1 here^

...

Darkness.

Darkness surrounded you.

It was so quiet.

So serene.

So peaceful.

Yet it was all so wrong.

Voices.

Everywhere.

“WHO DID IT?”

“I WILL PERSONALLY RIP THEIR THROATS OUT.”

“She’s not dead.”

“what?”

“Her soul. It’s still here.”

Pain.

Rage.

Mars.

“As you can see, no one is dying. Death is chained. And someone needs to save him.”

Fear.

Panic.

Nico

Darkness.

Peacefulness.

Sleep.

…

“She’s waking up.” you hear as you open your eyes. Reyna stands over you, looking at you with fear in her eyes. “That’s not possible. She was- she is- how is she here?” Reyna cries. “I’m not sure, but she needs medical attention. Now.” Nico. “Wait, stop. Get her into the river.” Percy. “I’ll help you carry her.” Frank. The air around you felt cold. You felt yourself being lifted up. “Guys, watch her head.” Hazel. You saw the river getting closer. You could already feel yourself getting stronger as you were sprayed with the river's mist. The three boys gently set you down in the river, and you felt energy surge through you. You shot up and automatically stood in a defensive position, grabbing your knife for a weapon. You immediately put it down, recognizing the people in front of you as your friends. “I’m so sorry, I-,” you faltered, not knowing why you had just acted that way.“It’s ok,” Reyna said, a sad look on her face. “If you’re ready for it, we need to discuss your quest to free Thanatos,” she explained. “Quest? Thanatos? How am I even still alive?” you asked her, still extremely confused about why you were still with the living. “Nico can fill you in. Now come, we must make our way towards the city,” Reyna responded. Before you could look for Nico, you were almost suffocated by a very upset and concerned Percy. “Are you ok? Do you know who did it? Do you need me to carry you? Can you feel any pain in your lower chest area? Do you feel-“ you cut him off. “Percy, I am completely fine. I am alright,” you replied, making sure to look him in the face. “ I’m so sorry,” he said into your shoulder. “I should have been there to protect you, but I wasn’t. For some reason, I have done that before and I feel horrible about it,” Percy said. “It wasn’t your fault Percy. You were doing your job, and I was doing mine. It’s ok,” you comforted him. “Guys, lets catch up,” you hear Frank say. You give Percy one more tight squeeze before turning off to look for some kind of information. You didn’t get far before you engulfed in another tight hug. Before you had a chance to do anything, Nico pulled back and looked at you. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said. For some reason his eyes were red and puffy, and he had salt lines streaming his cheeks. He had been crying. “Thanks Nico,” you responded, wondering why Death Breath was crying over you, a girl he had just met. Except, this was different. You knew this boy, and even if you had just met him, he was familiar, which was something you hadn’t felt in a long time. “I know you probably have a lot of questions, so please, fire away,” Nico looked at you, waiting patiently for you. There was one question that just couldn’t wait, and it escaped through your lips before you had time to stop yourself. “How am I still alive? I got stabbed through the chest with a spear. There’s no way I should be here right now!” you exclaimed, very frustrated. This had to be a game played by Hades. You were dead and imagining before you were sent to whatever part of the Underworld you belonged in. Nico just chuckled. “Look, I know you’re freaked out, but you’re going to be okay. Nothing can die right now, because the God of Death, Thanatos, has been captured,” his smile faded, “which means that nothing can die, including monsters, which is not good for us,” he explained. This made sense, considering the fact that those gorgons just kept coming back, no matter how many times you killed them. “Alright, so I’m assuming our next move is that quest. Are- I mean, Mars, wants to send us on a quest to go and save Thanatos from whoever’s captured him, right-“ a nod from Nico- “and for some reason he chose me to go?” you questioned as the boy looked at you with amusement. “Yes. I can’t answer why he chose you to go, but I know that Frank and Percy are going too. I’m assuming Hazel may join along because Frank needs to bring one more person for safety,” he reasoned. Just as he finished explaining, another thought popped into your head. “One more,” you gave Nico a smile for good measure. “Why were you crying when I got stabbed, Nico?” In your 7 hours of knowing him, he had never made an expression like this. He looked almost frightened, as if somebody was about to break his neck. The emotion was gone almost immediately as he replied, “I wasn’t crying. I was just sweaty,” he lied, hoping you wouldn’t notice how his voice got higher as he bluffed. You raised an eyebrow, but decided not to push the question. You knew that some people had boundaries and you didn’t want to cross his. You did know how to get answers out of people, and right here wasn’t the place. You started to fall behind the rest of the group, Nico following by your side. There was no chatter between the two of you as you walked side by side. “Voglio solo che anche tu ti di me, mi amore,” Nico mumbled, barely loud enough for you to make out. You stopped dead in your tracks. You had heard that before…

”You look beautiful mi amore,” the woman said, absolutely gushing at how amazing you looked. The blue waves of the dress looked beautiful flowing down like a graceful leaf falls down in the Autumn. “Thank you mom,” you replied, grinning up at her. “Mom, why do you speak so much Italian?” you asked, wondering why your mother always stated random words and sayings in her favorite language. “ Oh y/n, Italian is such a beautiful language. I learned it when I was staying in Italy. That’s where I met your father, you know,” she said smiling at the memories of the outstanding country. “Why don’t we just move there then?” you asked, deciding that Italy was definitely somewhere you wanted to live. “Well first off, that’s way too expensive. Second, you have to go to Camp, you oca stupida,” she giggled. “What does that even mean?” you groaned, which only made your mom laugh harder. You perked up at the doorbell ringing. “Well there’s your date to the dance,” your mom said. “Mom, it's not a date. We’re just going to the dance as friends.” “Are you two going to the dance?” “Yes” “Did he agree to go with you?” “Yes” “Did he have Argus drive all the way from camp to meet you here?” she asked. “Yes mom,” “Then it’s a date,” she said, only making you groan louder. She walked downstairs and let him in. You walked down the stairs and heard him gasp at the sight of you. You grinned from ear to ear and practically jumped into his arms, tightly gripping the boy you hadn’t seen in months. “You look stunning, mi amore,” he whispered into your ear. “Thank you, Nico.”

…

“Y/n?” Nico asked, startled by your sudden stop. Your eyes had glazed over, and a few tears slipped down your cheeks. “Y/n, can you hear me?” Nico tried again. You suddenly gasped and leaned forward, gulping in fresh air. Nicos’ brows turned upward with worry as you broke into a coughing fit. Nico grabbed you by the arms and looked at you straight in the face. That broke your trance, and you suddenly slapped Nico across the face. He fell back on the ground, and you were met with a look full of hurt. “You know me. Stop lying about it,” you growled, your heart practically shattering at the sight of him. He got up, a dangerous look in his eyes. “I DON’T KNOW YOU Y/N!” he yelled, looking awfully close to crying. “I just wish you would remember me, my love,” you whispered. Nico looked at you, fear in his eyes. “How did you-“  “My mom,” you said, stopping him. It was too painful to know you had a mom worrying about you. You looked away from him, not being able to look him in the face after what he had done. Not wanting to talk to Nico, you sprinted to catch up to Percy, wanting to forget everything once again.

...

(If you don’t understand what just happened, Nico was mumbling in Italian and reader repeated what he said in English)

…

You grabbed a couple things and shoved them into your backpack. Tears threatened to spill as you gripped onto your memory, trying to keep it in your mind. After reaching Percy and pretending to be fine, you had gone into the city. Reyna couldn’t send any help because Octavian couldn’t shut his mouth, but it didn’t matter anyway. You had the SQR Navy, and it couldn’t be better than that. You had some mortal money anyway, and it could get you some food. You tried to get your mind off of Nico when Percy walked in and asked if you needed help with anything. “I’m okay, thanks though,” you said, your voice cracking at the end.”Y/n?” you turned around and looked at him, a tear slipping down your cheek. Being the big brother he is, he instantly scooped you up and hugged you, giving little whispers of reassurance. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, starting to rub on your back so you could breathe. “I just- I remembered something Percy. Something about my mom. It’s scary, knowing she’s home worrying about me. That she’s probably going mad just trying to see if I am still alive. It makes me feel terrible,” you whisper. Even if it wasn’t the entire reason, telling Percy made you feel a lot better. You stepped back wiping your nose with your sleeve before looking at this amazing big brother of yours. “Thank you for listening, Percy,” you said, a small smile tugging your lips. “You’re welcome, Y/n. Don’t stay up too late, we’re getting up early,” he responded. He left you alone while you took your dagger out of coin form. Just like how Riptide turned into a pen, your dagger turned into a quarter. You scraped a few crusted dirt specks off, letting your mind drift again. You heard a noise and looked up to see Nico standing at the bunk across from you. Rolling your eyes, you got up and walked over to your bag, where you put the quarter into the small pouch on top. “Hey,” he whispered. You didn’t respond to him, knowing it was just going to end in more hurt feelings. “Please. You have to understand  that I did it for a reason,” he whispered, his voice dropping at the end of the sentence. You turned around, met with his eyes. His gorgeous obsidian-black orbs were brimmed with tears as he looked at you, pleading. “Why didn’t you tell me?” you said. You suddenly noticed how close you were to him, not bothering to step away. “I’m trying to protect you. Please know that,” he said. His eyes kept bouncing from your lips and back up to your eyes. You felt an extremely strong urge to kiss him, so you gave in. Grabbing him by the collar of the old baggy aviators jacket, you pulled him into you. Pressing your lips hard against his, you felt him tense, then quickly relax with knowing what was happening. He wrapped his arms around your waist and you suddenly felt a tear fall. You pulled back, with swollen lips and no air left. You wiped the tear from Nico’s cheek. “Were we….Something else before?” you breathed, hoping he would tell the truth. “Yes. We were.”

TAGLIST MY LOVES!

It’s literally @mariesunflowerchild​ and that's kinda it.

[korra-the-red-lion]

Unnatural Affairs. Chapter 20: What Do We Do Now?

(Ally + Lyn + Michael)

Ally.

It doesn’t make sense to me.

No matter how many times I’ve stared at the picture, it’s just not connecting. How could our professor be the one in the picture when he was alive and well, torturing us with his love for drama? It was like my brain had stopped working, because there were no theories or thoughts running through it for once. I was at a loss for words.

We ended up just going back to our rooms after that bomb was dropped, because what else could we do? We needed answers from someone who could actually give us something to work with. Our best option was to see if Dahlia would be able to tell us anything, or maybe even the lady that Michael’s been speaking to at the Dreaming Mythic.

As I unlocked the door to my room, Sarah was still up, working away at something on her laptop. She glanced my way when I walked in, looking away with an embarrassed flush. At this point, I was used to her just ignoring me, even though it still stung. Controlling the urge to sigh, I dropped my schoolbag and purse onto the floor, then kicked my boots off. I was ready to hit the bed right there and then when I heard Sarah clear her throat.

“Hey…” she said carefully, glancing my way.

“Hey,” I said just as cautiously.

“So, like…um,” Sarah rubbed her hands together awkwardly. “I thought about you told me… and like, well, it is a little hard to believe but I’ve decided something. I’m not going to like, ruin a friendship I have with you because of that.” She sat on the edge of the bed now, her eyes filled with tears. “I’ve been a bad friend, Ally. I hope you can like, forgive me for taking so long to realize that. I totally understand if you like, never want to talk to me again. I just wanted to let you know that I like, really miss you and know how badly I messed up.”

My own eyes had filled with tears and now they were spilling out. They left hot trails on my cheeks as I nodded. “I forgive you.”

Sarah sobbed as she got up. I got up too and we hugged each other tightly. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I honestly thought that this was over, that we were never going to talk to each other again. I’ve lost so many people in my life to this, so the fact that I had so many friends I had who accepted me was so startling beautiful.

We pulled away and Sarah put her hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes. “Ally, you have to, like, promise me that you’ll be more careful, though. Those bruises…they were horrible.”

“I’m trying to be,” I sniffled. “It’s not like I’m looking for danger, danger just comes looking for me.”

Sarah giggled wetly. “Danger usually follows trouble. So, if you’re like, looking for trouble, danger is sure to be there too.”

“Okay, I’ll try a little bit harder.” I smiled softly at her, placing my hands on hers. “Now, sorry, but I really need sleep. I’m about to pass out on my feet.”

“Please don’t.”

Tonight, as I slipped under the covers, my heart felt a little bit lighter, even if my head was full of uncontrolled thoughts.

XXX

Drama was the most awkward class the next time I was in it.

I sat in between Mags and Michael, as Professor Kinkly was wrapping up his lecture for the day. Exams were only a few short weeks away, so he wanted to make sure he was cramming all his last-minute crap in now. I wasn’t listening to a word he was saying as my eyes were focused solely on the clock, watching the seconds tick away. Class seemed like it was never going to end.

“…and I’m handing back those papers you all wrote for me,” said Kinkly as his final remarks before the end. I sat up a little straighter when I realized what was going on.

He started calling names so people would go up front and grab them. When my name was called, I stiffened for a second before scooting out of my seat, slipping past Michael as I did. When I walked up to him, all I could see was the face in the photograph. He barely looked any older now. How was that even possible?

“Good job, Alexandra,” he said as he handed back my paper. “It was a very interesting read.”

“Thank you,” I said stiffly. I’m not sure why, but suddenly I really didn’t like that he had my full name. There was a deep discomfort settling in my stomach at the thought. I quickly retreated back to where my bag was and stuffed the paper inside.

“Is everything okay?” Mags asked as they glanced at the grade scrawled on the back of their paper.

I nodded carefully, making sure to look more relaxed. “Just ready to get out of here, I’m starving.”

“Amen to that.”

Eventually Michael got up to get his paper. I’m pretty sure he was actually the last person in class to get his paper. Poor guy and his unfortunate placing in the alphabet. Together, we scampered out of there, the two of us sparing one last glance at our professor. I noticed with a jolt that he was watching us leave, the lens of his glasses reflecting funny, so we could barely make out his eyes. It was very creepy.

My head was in the clouds as we walked across campus, not really focusing on the conversation at hand. We passed by Dahlia’s tree, and I found myself looking for the ghost, only to see she wasn’t showing herself right now. I wondered where they went, if they couldn’t go back to the spirit world or whatever.

We sat down in the meal hall, and I could practically feel the tension in the air. Students were nervously catching up to last minute work that needed to be submitted. Others were discussing final papers or final exams. Some of the students even were discussing the big football game that our team was playing in this week. It was surprising, considering how bad they were last year. They really turned things around, I guess. Overall, there was just a sense of unease filling the room today.

Maybe it was just my over heighted senses, but I was feeling a lot more spiritual presence as well. I’ve suspected for a while now that there was something going on…oh. Oh. OH.

My eyes widen as the thought hit me like a wrecking ball. Oozing walls. Doors locking themselves. People had reported many times that something bizarre or unexplained happened each time there had been a murder. I was sensing stronger spiritual presence, even more so than usual. None of the students had said anything so far, but I wasn’t sure who would really be able to pick up on that. But suddenly, her skeptical face flashed in my mind, and I knew who I needed to talk to.

Janna Kawada.

I didn’t even think about it before, when she had mentioned it to me, because my mind had been collecting so much information at the time that I buried it. But she saw Fiona. She saw her in the mirror. No one else had ever said as much, but that meant that either Janna could see them too or the spiritual powers were growing, and I just never noticed because this is what I was used to.

I had to speak with her. I needed to know. But where would she be? A third year Biochem student on the soccer team. She probably didn’t live on campus anymore, and practice was no longer going on. Crap. I needed to think. How would I be able to get in touch with her?

“Michael,” I said suddenly, turning to him.

He was holding his fork halfway to his mouth, noodles dangling from them, dripping sauce onto the plate. “Uh, yea’?”

“Do you happen to know when the Biochem lab is for the third years?”

Slowly he put his fork down, his expression puzzled. “Kinda. Why?”

“I need to speak to someone. Janna Kawada.”

“The one from the newspaper article?”

I nodded quickly. “The very one and the same. It’s super important. I’ll explain it later.”

Michael frowned in thought. “Right. I think there’s actually one that happens at 4:30 today, so if you stalk outside the building, you might be able to catch her. But if you don’t, those labs are usually four hours long.”

I glanced at the time on my phone and saw that it was only 2:18. Crap.

“Why do you have to talk to her?” Mags asked, drawing my attention to them. Crap. I forgot we were sitting together still. My mind had jumped way too far ahead there for a second.

My brain worked furiously as I came up with an excuse. Finally, one popped into my head, and I said, “I’m thinking of taking Chem next term as my science credit, and I might need a tutor for it.”

Mags looked skeptical. “Why not take an easier class? Human Bio is supposed to be a bird course.”

“I want to challenge myself,” I lied.

Mags looked at me for a long minute before shaking their head. “Whatever, you do you. I don’t care. I personally would take the easy option though.”

I just nodded in response, not being to say much else. I had a plan now, I needed to focus on that. Maybe I could talk to Dahlia before then? I bit my lip, thinking it through. She was never willing to tell who had killed all these people before, but it still might be worth it. Deciding it was, I picked up my bag and said goodbye to my two friends.

Quickly I made my way back to her tree. I plopped myself down and knocked on the tree. After a few minutes passed, I was worried that she wasn’t going to come. But I felt the shift in pressure as all sounds stopped around me. Dahlia appeared beside me, but something about her posture was different. She had her legs pulled up, her chin resting on her knees with the smallest of frowns on her lips. Dahlia looked younger and more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen her before. She gave me a side-eyed glance. “Yes?”

I shifted so I was shoulder to shoulder with her. “What going on with you? You seem down or something.”

Conflict played out behind her sea-green eyes before she gave me a small shake of her head.

“Are you sure?” I frowned.

“Always,” she drawled. “What is it that you need, darling?”

“Well…I just noticed recently the increase of spiritual power on campus,” I said slowly, judging her reaction. But as usual, it was nearly impossible to read. “And I was wondering if you maybe knew something about that.”

Dahlia stayed quiet for several seconds as she gathered her thoughts. Finally, she did a jerky nod. “I can’t say too much. But yes, you are correct. He’s gathering power for his next…target. But that’s all I can say.” She shifted so she could look at me fully. “Ally, there isn’t much time left. If you don’t hurry, someone else will die.” Her image flickered briefly, as if she was disappearing.

A dash of fear spiked in my system for a flash. I was running out of time? I didn’t understand, and there was something that was not letting Dahlia tell me. I thought I saw a shadow of a hand creeping onto her face.

I wanted to reach out and touch her, to comfort her but I knew I couldn’t. I placed my hand next to hers and stared into her eyes. “Listen, I will stop him. I know you can’t help me but thank you for trying anyway.”

Her image flickered again as she smiled at me. “Archives, Ally. Check them, your answers are there. Trust me when I tell you that. It’s going to be extremely dangerous, but I do believe in you. I believe in Lyndsey and Michael as well. Just be smart.” She flickered even more intensely now, nearly disappearing from view. Her eyes lit up with mischief as she said, “Salty silver witches hurt those who cannot write missives, Ally.” She disappeared after that. Of her own volition, I wasn’t sure.

I sat there, puzzled. What did that even mean?

XXX

Michael.

It was later that night when Ally came stumbling into the basement of the library. After she had gone off to do whatever it was, I hadn’t seen her for the rest of the day. After Lyn got out of her practice, she texted me saying that she was able to help with any research, but for once I think we were all stumped on our next move. So, I ended up telling her not to bother. She still showed up and ended up just working on her paper. She looked up over her laptop, staring at Ally in silent confusion. I was just as confused by her sudden arrival.

Ally gripped her phone tightly in her hand, her whole body shaking. With what, I wasn’t sure. Slowly, she sat down at out table. Lyn pulled her headphones off and reached over to place a hand on Ally’s forearm.

“Ally, you okay?” she asked, the concern noticeable in her tone.

Ally nodded. “I think I figured something out.”

I scootched my chair closer. “Like what?”

“I…” she took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before slowly releasing it through her nose. The shaking stopped a little. “I spoke with Janna today, because I realized something. When I did my interview with her all those weeks ago, she told me she saw Fiona. It literally just came to me when I was thinking about the spiritual presences on campus feeling stronger. So, I did the stupid thing and asked her. I legit asked her if she could see the dead.” She stopped and took another deep breath.

“She said that she couldn’t. Not normally anyway. Michael, you said you could see her too, right?” I nodded and Ally continued. “Okay, so it is stronger. Stronger that other people can see it, which is why I think Dahlia was able to possess Lyn like she did, because she is already powerful as is, so it just increased her power. But it’s not all-around campus, it’s only at the Athletic Centre.”

“How come?” Lyn asked, her brow furrowed.

“Because…” Ally bit her lip, her face pale. “It was the last place someone was murdered.”

I tapped my hand against my knee, trying to keep my nerves in check. “What does that mean? Why does it matter it was the last place someone died?”

Ally pushed her glasses up her faces and pressed her hands to her eyes. “So, I spoke to the others before coming here. The others being the ghosts, that is. They all told me similar things.” She put her notebook on the table and pushed it forwards so we could read it. “Basically, each time someone had been murdered, the area where the last person had died some a sudden spike of energy. Jamieson said that he always hated having his class in Harper Hall because weird things happened all the time. Amelia was the last one to die, and she hated spending any time around the old art building, where it turns out there was another student who was killed there, but never reported on because it was considered an OD. Since Jamieson can’t leave the Student Centre, he didn’t notice the dark energy that surrounds the Athletic Centre, and he wasn’t aware that someone else had be killed.”

She sat back in her chair, the weariness on her face making her look older than 18. “So, the reason why you guys could see them when you normally couldn’t, is just that. But it gets worse, because Dahlia just went missing earlier. I can’t sense her at all. But, before she disappeared, she told me that the killer is gathering power for his next kill and that we’re running out of time. I’m not sure why he needs energy to kill, but if we think that he was the one who made Fredrik into the monster, he might be planning something similar.”

Lyn’s face looked like it was set in stone as she chewed on this information, while I continued to tap my hands against my knees. Ally sighed as she rubbed her face. “But I think if we can send Fredrik back, we can weaken the spiritual energy. That’s where Katherine comes in.”

“If she agrees,” I said quietly.

“If she does,” conceded Ally.

We stayed quiet for a minute, each of us thinking about different things. What if Katherine didn’t agree? I suppose we could always ask Talia, I’m sure she would help. But how much time did we have left? Not to joke in a serious situation, but I really hoped that he’d have the decency to kill before exams, so they were at least cancelled.

Lyn got up suddenly, as if she was possessed. Oh, maybe that wasn’t the right choice of words. Oh well. She said nothing to us as she headed for the staircase that led to the second floor of the basement. Ally and I shared a look before I shrugged. I wasn’t going to make the effort to go and see what she was getting up to.

XXX

Lyn.

I don’t know what possessed me, but I knew I needed to look in here.

The archives.

I was spending so much time looking up things online that I forgot about one thing: a lot of these old newspapers haven’t been put on the internet yet because someone had to do it manually. People were a lot of things but being paid a lame wage plus no motivation equalled someone not doing their job.

I knew the person who died in the ‘60s was Dahlia Cressman, because we had her old things in our home. My great grandpa had mentioned it a few times too. There was no point in looking into that, now that I’ve made that connection. But the opening of the school, that’s what I needed to know about. Ally had mentioned it a few times, but it wasn’t until now that something occurred to me. Dahlia had told her someone had died before the campus had opened. These things happened, unfortunately. Accidents happen at construction sites.

But what if that death was more than that? I went all the way into the back of the room, going to the oldest shelf. I gently pulled out boxes full of old news articles, flipping through them until I found what I was looking for: the article written about that day.

I gingerly opened the paper, being careful of where I laid it on the table. My eyes scanned through the garble of the paper until I found what I was looking for. The headline was still legible, reading Tragedy at New University Location.

What should have been a wonderful day ended in tragedy. During the nearly finished construction of the new University campus built in Yokeville, a disaster struck. 27-year-old Jeremiah Kinkly was found dead this morning, Tuesday June 12th. It was suspected that Kinkly was trying to sneak into the property, into the Kramer Hall building. This building had not been finished yet, and many pieces of scaffolding had been hung in place, not locked up. According to RCMP officer Lawrence, it looked as if the man fell to his death.

“His body was somewheres near the building, all mangled like,” said the young officer. “I got a call about a trespasser, and when I got here, I seen the body right away. I knew there was nothing I could do for him. Poor soul.”

Mr. Kinkly is survived by his mother, father, and pet dog.

The picture they had used for him looked exactly like the Drama professor. But that wasn’t the only thing I was looking for. I went back into the archives and shuffled through more of the boxes, knowing what it was I needed. The lights flickered dangerously overhead, which told me I was looking in the right spot after all. My heart picked up its pace when I found it. Quickly I read it over, just to be sure. I grinned in confirmation and headed back to the table. I picked up the newspaper and went back upstairs, where the other two where still sitting, looking just as tired as I felt. I put the paper on the table and pushed it towards them.

“Do you see the issue I see?”

Michael looked up with a frown. “What do you mean?”

I tapped at the end of the article, when Ally gasped. “Mother, father. No other family is mentioned. How is that possible? They must be related. They literally look like the same person…”

I dropped my other find on the table. “Look at this.”

Ally picked it up, her eyes widening as she got to the end of the article. Michael took it next and read through it a few times, his brow furrowed as he muttered, “This doesn’t make sense.”

“They’re the same person,” I said, crossing my arms. “Robert Kinkly claimed that he was related to the dead man when asked about after his hiring, but there were no other children, and the family seemingly didn’t have another child. Even if they did, Kinkly wouldn’t look as young as he did. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“But how…?” Ally’s voice was practically a whisper. “How is it that he died but he’s here now?”

Then Ally’s face paled as realization bloomed in her eyes. “He’s like them. He’s like the Moore siblings.”

Michael asked, “What does that mean?” as I sat down.

“They’re tangible. They can touch us and we can touch them.” Ally pulled over her notebook and started writing furiously. “I suspected the reason why they could be because they had turned into something evil. Was it because they had no family? Kinkly would fall into that category if that was the case, because his family may no longer be alive. But does that make him the killer?”

“The killings started happening once he got a job here, in the ‘70s,” I pointed out. “You said that Amelia didn’t like going to the art building, probably because someone had died there. What did she say about that?”

“That she always felt like there was someone watching her there,” said Ally. “Would it be worth it to try and talk to the ghost there? Maybe we can learn something.”

Michael ran his hands over his face as he mumbled, “We might as well.”

“Yeah, it’s not like it can get any more insane than this,” I said with a slight smirk.

Ally looked between us before nodding. “Alright, we’ll go for it tomorrow. I’m too tired tonight.”

“Blessed,” said Michael as he started tossing his things into his bag. “I really didn’t want to go tonight, no offence.”

“None taken.”

I packed up quickly too and followed them out. I made sure to say bye to Eileen as we left. I loved the little old lady and she always helped me out in first year. We walked with Michael all the way back to his res before I walked with Ally back to hers.

I wasn’t the most observant person on the planet, but I thought she seemed a little happier recently. A smile flickered across my face unbidden, and I looked up at the stars. They were hard to see through the light, the pollution, and the clouds, but they were fighting through. I always liked going camping in the summer and staring up at them, losing myself in them. It was one of the few things I liked as a teenager. It was a way for me to get away from all the drama at home.

Ally’s hands slipped into mine as she pressed herself against my side. I looked down at her and she was smiling up at me, her face pink from the cold. It was amazing that she could still smile through all of this. Her strength never ceased to amaze me. We were standing in front of Lukas but Ally didn’t seem to be in a rush to get inside. She probably would have stayed there for as long as possible, but I could already see she was starting to shiver. So, I bent down and kissed her, whispering good night in her ear. She kissed me back before heading inside, and I waved to her as I left.

I wasn’t sure why I went this way instead of heading back to MacGavin, but I found myself standing in front of the big tree. The one where Dahlia resides. I placed my hand on the bark, not able to feel the roughness because of my gloves. It was a strange feeling, knowing that someone I was related to had died here on this very campus. I didn’t feel a sense of sadness or anything, since I didn’t know anything about the chick, but still. It was a little unsettling, you know?

“Hey, um,” I felt my ears heating up, “I have no idea if you can hear me but thanks. I know I gave ya grief the other day for possessing me and shit, but you save our asses. Um…great grandpa never stopped missing you. I wish we had the chance to meet, because honestly you sound like a super cool lady. And thanks for helping Ally out, even if you can’t give her all the answers. I’m sure you have your reasons.” I let my hand drop to my side as I looked up at the branches, noticing for the first time that all the water had froze, creating a crystal-like appearance. It was gorgeous to look at. “Uh, yeah. That’s about it, I guess. It’d be awesome if you could help us one last time, but I guess you’re missing. I hope you’re okay. Well…bye, Dahlia.”

Did it feel super fucking weird to talk to a tree? Yes. Did it make any sense to me? Nope. But for whatever reason, I felt a little bit lighter as I walked back to my res.

XXX

Ally.

Next time I decide to solve murders of long dead people and go on spooky missions during the night, I’m doing it in a warmer season because I’m so sick of the cold at this point. It was only 8:00 at night but I was freezing.

I pushed open the doors of the art building, welcoming the warmth that blasted my face. The building was still open because there was a play going on for Drama. I had already seen it on a previous night because it was part of our grade to do so. I was here for a different reason tonight. To speak to one last ghost. Hopefully.

The music for the show was muffled but could still be heard through the doors. The two students in charge of the tickets were talking to each other to pass the time, paying me no attention, which was perfect. I didn’t want them to ask me any questions.

I quietly walked by their table as I felt my skin prickling. I looked up to see him sitting there, a young man sketching. I used the stairs to get up to the third level of the building, a decision I regretted almost immediately. Look, I’m not the most fit person, I’ll admit that, but I don’t think anyone on this planet could take multiple flights of stairs without getting tired. If they could, they probably weren’t human.

He was waiting for me when I finally made it to him, trying very hard to not wheeze. He had slicked back black hair and curious blue eyes. He gave me a wave and a small smile that I returned as I leaned over the balcony, looking down to the ground floor.

“You’re the one making waves around here, huh?” he asked, floating off so he was standing next to me.

“That’s me.”

He nodded, looking down as well. “You know you’re making a name for yourself in the spirit world, right? I usually don’t haunt here anymore, since I gave up hope a long time ago that anyone was going to bring that killer to justice, so when Dahlia told me about you, it was hard to believe. Yet, here you are.”

“Here I am,” I said softly. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my notebook and pen. I smiled at him as I waved it. “Mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Go right ahead, young lady.”

“What’s your name?”

“David Lancaster,” he answered simply.

“If you don’t mind telling me, I would like to know how you died.”

“I don’t. I was here, working on my art project when I heard something strange. I decided to go check it out, because the banging wouldn’t stop. I ended going into the auditorium, that one over there,” he pointed at where the play was currently taking place. “Once I was inside, the doors slammed shut behind me and they wouldn’t budge. I knew about the emergency exit, so I wasn’t too scared yet, but I’d just seen Halloween with my girlfriend Sally, and I thought maybe it was my buddy Joe playing a prank on me. But as I got closer to the door, I felt this terrible chill just seep into my bones. I thought it was from the door since it led outside, but I was very wrong.

“Next thing I knew, I was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t move, no matter how hard I tried. Then I felt someone come up from behind me and jab me in the arm. I tried to get a good look at who it was, but I never saw his face, only heard his voice. He jabbed me again, and my vision went black. When I woke up, my body was lying on the ground and I wasn’t in it. I believe the coroner said I had OD’d. That hurt the most, since I never did a bad drug in my life. Just some weed, but most people my age had.” He scratched his chin before running his hand through his hair in thoughtful silence.

I put the pen down, surprised at how easy that fell off his tongue. I suppose being dead for nearly 50 years stopped you from being sensitive about your own demise. But listening to him, I was certain now that Kinkly was behind this. I asked if he saw the killer’s general height and hair colour, and when I showed him a picture his eyes widened a little.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he muttered to himself. “I remember taking classes with Professor Kinkly. He told me I was his brightest star.”

“I think…” I took a deep breath in and steeled myself. “I think he was the one who killed you, David.”

David looked at me, his jaw slack with surprise and his eyes watery. He closed them and his body started to shake. I was confused when I realized he was laughing, and I took a step away from him. The laughter became echoing, as if there was more than one voice laughing with him. When he turned to look at me again, his eyes were gone, and the skin was melting off his bones. Fear spiked in my system as I stumbled away from him. I spirted to the staircase, trying to get away from him.

“I told you he was coming! He’s coming for you!” His voice followed me all the way down, and when I turned around to see if he was gone, I saw nothing. However, when I got to the bottom of the stairs, he jumped out in front of me, reaching for my face. I screamed in shock as I fell back.

His face had warped into something monstrous, with bloody saliva and sharp teeth. I whimpered as I tried to scoot away, but the only thing behind me was the stairs and they stopped me from going anywhere.

“You shouldn’t have stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, you stupid girl,” said the voice of Kinkly’s from David’s mouth. “If you had minded your own business, then I would have left you alone. But now? Now, I have to KILL YOU!” He roared in my face, raising a clawed hand.

I lifted my arms up in protection when something strange happened. His body froze and began to twist in an inhumanly way. He looked like someone possessed in a scary movie. One clear blue eye found mine and he said in the calming voice from earlier, “You need to get away, young lady.”

I’m not sure how David took his spirit form back, but I quickly scrambled away. There must have been a distortion of space in place, because no one was around. I was all alone here, stuck with the murderer who killed so many before me. I wasn’t sure how long David was going to be able to hold out for, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

I hear him howling behind me and I made a mad dash to the door. I slammed against the glass and pulled on them violently, but they wouldn’t budge. My panic levels were starting to rise to a dangerous level as I looked around for an escape from this hell space. My eyes were drawn to the other exit, back from where I came from. My pulse was pounding in my ears and in my head as I ran like crazy past David, who took a vicious swipe at me as I did. I managed to dodge out of the way, with only a nick in my jacket to show for it.

The sounds of galloping followed behind me as Beast David charged at me. I jumped out of the way as he flew by, taking a chunk of the floor with him. I winced as I hit the floor but ignored it for now as I scrambled back to my feet. I raced towards the exit and smashed my shoulder into it, and the door popped open with a hiss like a pop tab. I slammed it shut behind me and backed away. David slammed into the door but couldn’t make past it.

Students were leaving from the other side, blissfully unaware of the monster that was on the other side. David’s form melted as he disappeared, his haunting empty sockets being the last thing I saw.

A few students glanced my way as I stood there, breathing heavily. I winced as I took a step back, pain flaring like heat in my ribs. I must have landed on them funny when I jumped. I raked my fingers through my hair, trying hard to bring my heart rate down.

David’s voice had sounded so familiar to me, and now I know why. He was the one who warned me, back in the library. He warned me that someone was coming for me. How he did that, I wasn’t sure. But it was him.

Slowly, I made my way back to my dorm room. I quickly fired off a message in the ‘Spook Searchers’ group chat as I did, wanting to let the others know what happened. I was just about to slip my phone back in my pocket when I noticed that I had a notification on Messenger still. It was from someone who wasn’t considered a friend. Curious, I hit it open and saw that it was from Katherine Howard. I was a little unsure of who that was until I read the message.

7:52

Katherine:

listen I thought about it

come meet me at the shop and we’ll talk

bring your friends if you want to idc

Shoot, that a while ago. It was nearly 9 now. I sent back a reply saying I was coming now if that was okay. The little green dot saying she was online appeared, and the little meatballs showed up saying she was writing back. All she said was “yes,” so I gritted my teeth and walked briskly towards the store.

My ribs felt like they were stabbing me as I approached the store. I wiped at the sweat that starting to form on my forehead despite the cold weather. I was really, really, really getting sick of being hurt from these ghosts. If this kept up, I was going to need more serious stuff than just some Tylenol and Ibuprofen.

There was a single light on in the store as I got closer. I peeked through the window and jumped when the door swung open. Katherine hurried me in and quickly closed the door behind us, making sure it was locked. She directed me to follow her into the back where she sat on the counter and offered me the stool. I sat on it gingerly, watching her carefully.

Katherine was tugging on her hair, a nervous gesture from what I saw last time we spoke. It was tied back in a messy ponytail with pink tips, and I could see a hearing aid resting in her left ear. She had long nose and stunning green eyes that were watching me carefully as well. Her eyes darted to the door and back to me before she hunched her shoulders.

“Did no one else want to come?” she asked, moving her hands at the same time.

I shook my head. “I didn’t ask them, actually. I just got back from business and come over here.”

“Business?”

“The supernatural kind.”

She exhaled through pursed lips as she nodded. “Right. Well…I thought about what you asked of me.”

I waited for her to continue, but she just sat there and said nothing. I frowned and with an indication of my hand, I motioned her to continue.

Katherine sighed, dropping her hands to rest on the countertop. “What you’re asking of me is very dangerous. Like, stupidly dangerous. I thought long and hard about it, because it’s not just some decision I’m gonna make on the fly…but… I’ll help.”

My eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Really? How come?”

“Because, when I talked to my mom about it, she said it was the right thing for me to do,” Katherine huffed. “Whatever the hell that means. When I asked her why she couldn’t just do it, she said that she couldn’t anymore.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay…” I tried to shift, which was a bad idea. Closing my eyes, I focused on taking a deep breath through my nose. It actually made it worse.

“Are you alright?”

“Just a little sore,” I said through gritted teeth. “So, not to come off as rude, but are you actually a witch? I know Michael was a little blunt in his approach last time.”

Katherine’s face went slightly pink as she nodded. “Magic is real. My mom taught me all that she knows. But if you guys need me to do a banishment or exorcism or whatever, that’s a really heavy spell. I’m gonna be wiped out after that.”

“Good to know.” I stood up, not being able to withstand the discomfort anymore. “I’m sorry that I’ve put you in this position, but I’m really grateful that you’re helping us out. It means a lot to me.”

Katherine looked away. “Whatever. It’s the right thing to do. Someone shouldn’t suffer like that because the acts of another did that to them.”

My eyes must be playing tricks on me, because I thought I saw something flicker around Katherine’s head when she said that. But there was nothing there. I did still have that strange sense like I did last time, however. I wasn’t sure what it was about her, but there was something that was calling to me. It was very puzzling.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” I asked. “Because if it was, I’m going to head back to my room. I’ve got some stuff to catch up on.”

Katherine nodded and slipped off the desk with grace. She walked over to the door and glanced through the window before unlocking it. She glanced at me with her hand resting on the handle. “We’ll have to do it before the full moon next week, otherwise I’m worried this guy will be too much for me to handle. I’ll get a boost too, but I’m not risking my head for this.”

I thought back to our last full moon encounter with Fredrik and shuddered. “No complaints from me. Thanks so much, Katherine. I really mean it.”

“You’re welcome, sheesh,” she pulled the door open for me. “Be safe walking home… Uh, Ally?”

“Ally,” I confirmed with a smile.

“Right. Okay, well, I’ll message you when we should do. Might be in the next couple of days.”

“Okay, just let me know. Bye, and have a goodnight.”

“You too,” she said quietly. She watched me leave and walk a little up the street before ducking back inside and most likely locking the door again.

At least one good thing happened before the night ended. Knowing that we had someone who was willing to help us with our Fredrik problem was a way better ending than me nearly getting killed by David’s monster form. The stabbing pain in my ribs was now a dull throbbing, which might not be the best sign in the world. I just needed to get back to my room and take some meds before heading to bed. God, this semester couldn’t end fast enough if it wanted to.

[a-real-ackerman]

Perfect Scenario

Sherlock Fanfic

summary: You, a super human, an excellent actor and a liar with debatable ethics; are having a hard time overcoming feelings  no one new you were capable of. On top of it, you have to deal with your “arch enemy” who has dedicated himself on the way of ruining your chances at your new life.

pairing: Sherlock x superhuman!Reader 

warnings: Mentions of abuse, mentions of suicide, violence, language and horrible mistakes... I dunno, I will write a current warning in red on every chapter.

A/N: Even tho I think Sherlock as an asexual character or not interested etc, I find working with well-known characters and less OC’s quite useful. Also, I see a lot of me in him so I will be writing about him more. Also, the reader is female. Also, gifs are never mine, all credits for those talented people. By the way, in case you see my mistakes don’t be shy, let me know! I am trying to improve my English.

Chapter One: “Trembling Hands.”

      “You don’t know who you are, unlike me.” was written on the card  you  recently received. Menacing words written in an elegant handwriting, appeared by your window, every morning since last Friday. there you stood by your counter, your e/c eyes wandering over the same simple words again and again, in a hopeless struggle to find any clues. You did not know what they wanted or cared about; what part of you they assumed they knew? Your super powers? Your business? Your therapist? Your past? Your parents’ death? All the lies you have been telling whole the time? 

      What you could analyse from each of these notes were the fact that they actually new about you. The words they choose were written in a friendly manner which told you that even tho you have never met them, they knew enough to consider themselves close to you. 

      You had a few assumptions on who they could be:

A secret admirer, in a sense, stalker

A conspiracy theorist who have witnessed your... condition?

One of the investigator who had researched you in your teens

Jimmy

     No matter which one they were,(more likely to be a he), he was a stalker. You did not like stalkers. But you were interested in this one’s motive. You wanted to beat their game before they could put their filthy obsessive hands on your very new and clean life.

     Hopping off the counter, you rushed into the living room and put the card on the brown coffee stand in the middle of the room, right next to others. Walking trough cold blue walls of you flat, you kept mentally checking the places you usually control, in case there were cameras. You were going to take a shower after all.

          “I have to ask him first,” said the man on the line, Holmes’ face shot a fake kind smile as he was face to face with the doctor. “ tell my brother I said hi.”

         Doctor threw a look at the phone in disbelief as Holmes hang up the phone. Sherlock was not in his mood for a new case. Especially not a case from his brother, which involves scammers, government, some mafia and a class action lawsuit that could bring them a big amount of money. The detective was too busy in his mind palace.

        John entered the flat and found his flatmate already waiting for him, sat on his chair with hands in praying position, eyes boring into him like he’s trying to ask something.

       Uncomfortable under the gaze, “Yes, Sherlock ask away.” sighed John.

       “John,” said Sherlock, “I have a suggestion.”

        John looked at him in suspicion, his eyes narrowing.

        “How about going out to see a play tonight?”

         John exhaled out of surprise to his friend’s suggestion, was he asking him on a date? For a case (of course)? 

          “Don’t worry John, about whatever you thought of-I don’t’ prefer to vocalise it. I think we may have a new case, which includes the leading actor. She seems to play a big part in this case as much as the play. I also want to witness myself if she was as good as they talked about.”

         “It’s okay, Sherlock, just for once.”

         Sherlock baffled,” What do you mean by ‘just once’? This is a case just like the others, you don’t want to solve cases anymore?”

         “No,” insisted John, “All I’m saying is: it’s okay to be a human just for once.It’s okay to take interest in a play, film or a person-”

         “-I AM NOT INTERESTED,JOHN,”

         It was too late to deny, John was already going upstairs, with a smug smirk of a self-proud mother who has just embarrassed their teenager.

         You have once again saluted the audience, holding hands with your teammates. A little stronger than usual maybe, you didn’t want to throw the decors and people off the stage. Your hands were trembling more since you couldn’t stop the seconds passing; and your head got dizzier every movement, with the help of flashing stage lights. Mavis, your co-actor since high school, leaned over your ear; “You always get so excited when it ends!” she whispered without knowing anything.

       You shot your perfect, warmest smile as your eyes wandered around the place in case anyone was suspicious. You locked your eyes with an awfully familiar man around your age, with curly hair falling on his forehead and eyes piercing onto you. He knew, he knew something and made it clear. He knew you.

”There she is,” you saw him whispering to his friend. You could listen to them is you focused enough, thanks to not being so human.

         But you choose to not hear anything.Thanks to your instincts being quite active this afternoon, every word had felt no different than a knife stabbing her ears. All of this pain was because you couldn’t use your power today. You were a bomb waiting to explode, your hands itching to throw people to the walls and your screams desired to ruin every window in the city. 

     The torture soon ends, but always leaves you shaken up. You turned from the left corner of the entrance of the theatre and entered the cafe where you have tea every night after performance. You didn’t die to drink it every night actually, yet the calming mix thing of this cafe could put an angry elephant down. Naturally, you could calm down too. It eased your nerves and relaxed your muscles which helped you overcoming your power. I you didn’t bother to control your powers, let’s say, no one nearby could survive.

    Whatever, you took your usual seat and smiled at the kind young waiter. You knew each other now, so you didn’t have to talk.(dreamy isn’t it? not having to talk?) You looked out of the window, watching the shiny cars passing by and colourful lights dancing. You slowly turned to the man who just sat in front of you, his arms crossed on the table and eyes gazing you in a weird expression between curious and astonished. Admiring and contemptuous. Familiar and hateful. Friendly and strange.

    “I have to say I am totally astonished by your acting,” he started. You were right about astonished. You smiled firmly, just because this one was choosing his words firmly. If he is one of those creeps you would send him off. But you had to be careful these days, anyone could lead you to the stalker.

    “You come here often.”

    “Yes, it’s not new. Everyone who has taken interest in stalking me knows.”

     He let out a chuckle which you didn’t expect to be this natural.”Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Ironic, since I have come to apologise for making you uncomfortable.”

    His gaze took a lovely, apologising, soft form, which could melt your heart if you didn’t realise him checking for your expressions in between seconds. He was trying to impress you, for what?

    “It’s not very comforting of you when you follow me to a cafe.”

    “So it did,” he said, paying too much attention on your hands while you reached out to your tea.

    “Is he bothering you miss?” asked the waiter protectively, his voice a few octave deeper than usual.

    “I am fine, thank you Oscar.” you watched him walking away with a nod.”So what did what?”

    “Me. Looking at you. You noticed me in hundreds of people. You saw us talking about you.”

    “Please don’t start with that ‘love-at-first-sight-soulmate’ shit.” 

    “I was actually going to start with ‘you-somehow-know-you-are-in-danger’ shit.”

     Your mouth dropped with his super sassy mic drop. You had to be clueless, oblivious and self centred now. You were a normal person now.

     “Is this a threat? I am amused.” you smirked, don’t let them him the fear.

     “No,” he rolled his eyes, “This is an offer.”

      “I am Sherlock Holmes.”

      “OH!” you relaxed, “I know you, (y/n)(s/n).” you answered shaking his hand.

"Come on, drink it. You seem to be dying for it."

   You reached to the cuppa, not being able to hide your hands. As soon as this herbal smell filled your nose and followed it's way to your heart, a soft needy smile appeared on your lips. You felt your muscles getting back to normal.You opened your eyes.

"Now look," you threatened suddenly," if you are here to investigate my parents' death and sue me for it..."

He was more focused now, his gaze melted down to a more intense, even a curious one.

"I am tired. I am tired of this. For all my teenage years, my past, people defined me as a liar. So keep going, keep evoking my traumas. You won’t find what you’re looking for."

"There is a huge misunderstanding, "

He comforted you, leaning more onto the table, you almost loved this caring facade, a pair of eyes; signing no danger, no threat but just a simple caring feeling, were more than enough to let your guard down and believing someone. Just this once.

"I don't want to sue you. I offer you my help. Someone has opened your case again."

This was too much for you, with all energy trapped in your body your heart started to ache, your hands trembling in a way no one could stop.

"Trembling hands."

"What?"

"Show them."

You obeyed, held them up in front of him.

"I thought tea would help you."

"It does. When no one triggers me."

"Everything could trigger you. You live alone in the house your very own parents committed suicide. You don't even have pets which is surprising because you love animals, judging by a different cat and dog fur on your pants, coat, jumper, pretty much everywhere. You also have been avoiding your therapist, judging by the notification sound that you didn't answer after seeing the name. And no, it can not be your lover because you are alone live alone and have no attempt on your physical self-care, in addition, the cafe you go nearly every day or your friend group doesn't look for someone else after you arrive on your own. But those are not clear assumptions, knowing what your parents like is enough to assume you prefer to be single. You are alone for a reason. You think you’re dangerous.

So you live alone, have no one, and Scotland Yard is investigating you. You get stalked and for a reason, you always stay sharp and have a very defensive observant personality.

You are interesting enough for me. I will take your case."

"Is this a nerd way of asking for my number? If it is I will say yes."

"No, it's better, it is a smart way to interest you."

" What for? Why will you help me?"

" Because there is a game waiting for me,” he sighed, “and I am bored."

"Fine, this is my number here-"

"I already have it!"

Then he rushed out, putting his collars up, ruffling his hair.

A/N: I want to thank @fanfictionislovefanfictioni-blog​ for the request! 

[octothorpetopus]

Half-Past Midnight (Rafael Barba x Sonny Carisi)

It's 12:32 a.m. and Rafael Barba and Sonny Carisi are still awake.

A/N: okay, so technically I wrote this last December, but I never put it on tumblr so I figured I’d share it here, because I thought it was pretty good! thanks for reading, and I always read and appreciate any comments or feedback you have!

There was only one office still lit up at 1 Hogan Place this late at night. In the darkened DA’s office, it seemed to Rafael Barba as if it were the only light on in the whole of Manhattan. Laughter echoed through the empty building, a rare combination of Sonny's unrestrained, drunken giggles and his own hysterics, which sounded unfamiliar without the usual air of constraint. There was no need for constraint now, with a half-empty bottle of tequila between them, jackets, vests, and ties all discarded and littering Rafael's desk. He had his feet kicked up on his desk, not caring if Sonny could see his solar system socks.

They had been drinking for almost two hours now, sipping tequila out of coffee mugs (Rafael's custom-made #1 ADA mug, a secret Santa gift from last Christmas, and Sonny's favorite glow-in-the-dark Batman mug. It was the only mug that Rafael allowed to stay on the shelf below the coffee maker in his office), and they had been working long before that, but when Rafael suggested breaking out the tequila, Sonny had suggested that maybe they shouldn't get drunk while they worked. It didn't matter, anyway. They had reached a dead end in the case- no one more to subpoena, no more witnesses, no more evidence. They weren't going to win, and that was clear. So they drank, and they smiled, and they laughed, because what else can you do?

They were playing Never Have I Ever now, having exhausted all of their normal conversation topics (politics, the Rangers- that's it), and having played far too many rounds of ADA/defense attorney/cop Fuck, Marry, Kill, a game which, despite their best efforts, they would never be able to clear from their minds. Both of them still had all of their fingers up, and the game had just begun.

"Alright, never have I ever... had sex with a coworker." Rafael rolled his eyes and took a long sip. Sonny snorted. "Really? Who?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Rafael muffled a laugh at Sonny's horrified expression. "Not that it's that bad, I just don't want it to be weird the next time you see each other." Sonny's eyes widened even further. "...I'm just making it worse, aren't I?"

"Can you give me a hint, at least?" Rafael considered for a moment. He liked how easy it was to fuck with Carisi, because he could fuck with Rafael right back.

"Okay, fine. She's not a cop." Carisi visibly relaxed, then tensed.

"Wait. If she's a woman, not a cop, and I've met her, then... oh my god. Oh my god." He finished off the rest of his drink and refilled it. Then he chugged half of that, his green eyes watering.

"Hey, it's not even your turn!"

"I'm sorry, but no amount of alcohol will ever wipe the image of you and Rita Calhoun having sex out of my head!" Rafael snorted.

"I never said it was Rita." But Rafael's poker face got weak when he got drunk, and he flushed a little.

"Jesus Christ, Rafael! Was it at least before she became the enemy?"

"Yes. Mostly."

"Fuck." Sonny made a retching noise.

"You know, for a catholic boy, you've got a hell of a mouth on you."

"Fuck you." Rafael took another sip. "And it's your turn." He considered momentarily.

"Never have I ever... lost a karaoke contest." Sonny sneered and gulped tequila.

"Not all of us have Broadway-worthy musical talent, Rafael."

"Yeah, but not everyone has your ability to never, ever sing the right note, Dominick."

"Karaoke night with the whole squad was a horrible idea and I still resent you for it."

"That's just because you lost."

"Shut up." Sonny tapped his fingers on the side of the mug, a familiar action that meant he was thinking hard. "Never have I ever gotten suspended from work."

"Low blow."

"Takes one to know one."

"That doesn't even make sense in this context!" They both burst out laughing, and by the time they were done, they weren't 100% sure what they'd been laughing about in the first place. "Never have I ever been in love." Sonny stopped mid-chuckle, the amused expression on his face fading into confusion and curiosity, clearly jarred by the sudden change in mood.

"Never? Like, never?" Rafael just nodded. "I... how?"

"Don't know. It just never happened."

"Oh." That seemed to be all Sonny could say, because he repeated it. "Oh." He tried to smile, but it didn't go any further than a small curve in the corner of his mouth. "That took an unexpected turn."

"Sorry." Rafael coughed. "I'm a shitty drunk. All over the place."

"We've gotten drunk together enough times that I know this is the time I'm supposed to walk you home. Come on." Sonny stood, but Rafael didn't move. "Let's go." Rafael still didn't move, just gestured towards the window with his chin. Sonny followed his gaze and they watched snow fall onto the sidewalk below for a few minutes. It had begun to pile up, just wet enough to be icy.

"I live twenty blocks away, it's the middle of the night, and it's snowing like a Hallmark movie on Christmas. Do what you want, but I'm not going."

"What, you're just going to sleep in your office?" Rafael pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a thick fleece blanket. "Oh," Sonny replied, his question answered.

"The armchairs by the fire are decently comfortable if you don't have back problems. You can stay, if you want." Sonny regarded Rafael oddly for a moment, somehow detached and yet curious.

"Thanks." He sat back down. Rafael's head tipped back. All of his limbs were heavy with exhaustion. They didn't talk for a bit, just drank and watched the snow fall. It was falling faster now, somewhere between a flurry and a blizzard. Every so often, Rafael sneaked a few furtive glances over at Sonny, watching the reflection of the snowfall in his eyes. He was struck with a vision of Sonny standing out in the snow, flakes catching his eyelashes, coming to rest in his hair, on his coat, drops of water trickling down his forehead as it melted. "What?" He was snapped from his thoughts by the realization that he was staring, and he had finally been caught.

"Nothing." He cleared his throat and flushed pink.

"You lied."

"Hm?" He met Sonny's eyes again.

"You lied."

"Yeah? About what?" Now Sonny blushed, but he didn't look away.

"When you said you'd never been in love. You lied."

"How would you know?"

"You've got a tell."

"I do not-"

"You look to the lower right and scratch your left ear." Rafael froze, thinking. "Trust me, you do."

"Oh."

"So, why would you lie about that?" Sonny arched an eyebrow. "You had no reason to. It was your turn to come up with the question. So you were, what, trying to convince yourself? Why?” Rafael couldn’t even tell if Sonny knew the answer. Hell, he didn’t know if he himself knew the answer. Sonny stood up again and circled the desk, sitting on the other edge so close to Rafael that Rafael could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest. “Why?” He asked again, and this time, Rafael answered. He wound his fingers tight around Sonny’s collar and pulled down. The space between them seemed infinite, but closed within seconds, and then Rafael’s lips were on Sonny’s, a position he’d imagined they would be in only in his dreams. In fact, this had happened in his dreams a hundred times in the last two years. Not always in his office, sometimes in the empty squad room or their favorite dive bar or even the secluded courthouse stairwell. And just like in his dreams, Sonny didn’t pull back. He pushed forward, leaning into Rafael, his movements intense as he slid one hand into Rafael’s hair, tangling his fingers into the gray-black mess. His other hand rested lightly on Rafael’s cheek, radiating warmth into his already warm face.

His own hands had somehow teleported to Sonny's waist, one or two fingertips brushing over bare skin where his shirt had ridden up. Sonny reached back just for a moment to yank the rest of it out, never once breaking the kiss. Rafael pulled back first, his breathing shallow and heavy.

"Are you-?"

"Yes." Sonny knew what the question was before it was even asked, and his own answer long before that. He leaned back into the kiss, this time reaching up to unbutton his own shirt, then Rafael's. They slid to the floor, gathering Rafael's soft, quilted blanket around them, not that they needed it. As cold as it was outside- and it was plenty cold, a near-blizzard- the office was bathed in a soft gold warmth as they melted into each other like snowflakes on the window pane.

"Thank you." Sonny snorted as Rafael rolled onto the floor beside him, breathless.

"For what? My d-"

"If you say your dick, I'll throw your clothes out the window."

"Okay, well, I wasn't gonna say that." Still, he quieted.

"Thank you for making me- for letting me- Christ. For wanting me, I guess." Rafael turned onto his side so that he was facing Sonny. "It means a lot. It means everything."

"Don't thank me for that. It wasn't a choice." Rafael chuckled.

"Way to make a guy feel good about himself."

"That's- shit. That's not what I meant. I meant... I would want you no matter what. I didn't choose to want you, I- I had to. It's like... it's like I'm drowning, and you're the lifeguard who's giving me mouth-to-mouth. In more ways than one, if you know what I-"

"I got it."

"But I would want you even if it were my choice. That's just who you are to me."

"Oh." Rafael brushed Sonny's cheek with an uncharacteristically tender thumb. "We should probably get dressed. I don't know what finding us like this would do to Carmen, or god forbid the DA, but I don't want to find out."

"Right." Sonny stood and offered Rafael a hand. "So, do you remember which clothes are yours and which are mine?"

Carmen did find them the next morning, although they were both very much dressed. She found them asleep in Rafael's twin armchairs, pushed together so that the blanket could be draped over both of them. Sonny's head was resting on Rafael's shoulder, and their hands were interlocked in a vice grip. They looked rather peaceful. Rather than wake them, she just adjusted the blanket, closed the blinds, and shut the door, allowing them a few more moments of peace and quiet.

The snow outside stopped falling.

The storm was over.

[masked-buffoon]

Chapter 3.5: No Moral nor Decency (Part 4)

Warnings: none

Author notes: please, believe me, action will start soon... I hope you don’t find it too long...!

"Caretaker-san,

I finally became a member of the family. My new godfather, Don Cosola, is a really kind and considerate man, who puts his relatives' interests before his own. He has a right-hand man, a Consigliere named Vilfredo Chimienti, who is soon to become his son-in-law. Indeed, he is engaged to our godfather's daughter, the lovely Apollonia. She is the sister of Gustavo Cosola, the son of the Don and my superior. He is a man with an acute sense of honour and family, but it does not make him any less friendly.

There are a lot more family members I would like to tell you about, but, then, my letter would be too long. Tonight, Apollonia will cook for us. She said it will be pastas. I cannot wait to taste the delicious dishes she makes. Then, I will fight against Vilfredo-san around a chessboard. He challenged me during the day, and I gladly accepted his offer. I do hope to win, although he is quite a good strategist. I wonder how astute he really is, but I will soon find out about it.

Anyway, I hope this letter does find its way to you without any trouble, and that you won't worry about me too much. I am slowly but pleasantly getting accustomed to my new life, even if I wish we could see each other soon again. There are so many things to talk about...

Best respects,

Kasumi."

Before leaving the headquarters of the Port Mafia, Dazai-san had demanded me to communicate with him with letters. In the sentences I wrote, he would play the role of my caretaker, someone who cared about me and wished me the best. Of course, since I could not tell such a gentle person about my occupation as a mafioso, I would have to pretend I had entered a rich family as a maid of some sort, which hid the real purpose of my letters and made me appear trustworthy in the eyes of the Cosola family. Were they to read my letters, they would notice how loyal and faithful I was. Why, it was only in appearance.

That night, right after handing my letters to a valet, I was, as expected, invited to the family's table to have dinner. As Gustavo's subordinate, I was considered important enough to have the right to share an intimate moment with the members of the household, which enabled me to personally meet the sweet Apollonia, whose name was on everyone's lips, as well as her mother, the gentle, yet strong-willed Prudenzia Cosola. Although she appeared suspicious at first, upon seeing a newcomer at her table, she quickly accepted me and even decided to dote on me as though I were her own daughter. It did not even discourage her to hear I was a burglar. Right after dinner, she managed to drag me to the dressing room to choose a dress with Apollonia, stating I could not use such worn out clothes when I was not on duty. Despite the slight twitching of her eyebrows when she saw the bruises on my body, she did not flinch and made me change. Then, painful minutes ensued, during which she tugged and pulled at my hair in an attempt to brush it and make something out of it. I smiled slightly when she introduced me to my reflection in a mirror. It was true that one's appearance could change greatly according to the situation... It was strange to see me, almost normal...

"Japanese women's beauty differs from ours, but in the end, all women possess a certain charm, which is their power." Prudenzia told me softly "I am glad these brutes of men finally understood what kind of asset they've missed all these years."

"Would you have wanted the heir to be Apollonia?" I questioned, curious.

"Donna Cosola... That does sound interesting." She chuckled "But women were not made for blood and violence, according to certain men. My lovely Apollonia was raised in innocence and purity. For the sake of preserving her naivety, she does not even speak a word of Japanese."

The daughter waved at me, a sweet smile playing on her lips, and I waved back at her.

"I see... So Vilfredo-san will take the head once the current Don passes away, is that right?"

"Indeed... But my husband still has some good years to live, so let us not talk about such troublesome matters." She said "I do hope you'll win against Vilfredo tonight. Show them what a woman can do...!"

"I will." I assured him.

For a second, I thought about betraying the Port Mafia to truly enter the Italian Mafia, but then remembered that Dazai-san never lost, and that I was more likely to die if I were to choose the wrong side of the war. As much as these people were nice, I could not afford to deceive the demon prodigy of Yokohama if I wanted to stay alive. Besides... I had sworn my loyalty to a single person, and only death could make me renegade him. I would never deflect from the Port Mafia. The Cosola family was nice, but I was expected to fulfil my mission with no moral nor decency. Such worthless matters could not make my will falter.

Vilfredo Chimienti was already waiting for me in front of the chessboard, a glass of whisky in his hand. Politely, I sat in front of him.

"The madam had fun with you, it seems." He chuckled "You are hardly recognisable."

"She is very nice..." I agreed.

"Can I offer you a drink?"

"Mmh..." I hesitated "Am I allowed a whisky on the rocks as well...? I really like strong alcohol."

"I thought you were underage?" He blinked, pouring me a glass nonetheless.

"Oh, I am, legally speaking. But in our world, age doesn't mean anything. Thank you, Vilfredo-san." I took the drink "I don't mind taking the black."

"I thought you were more of the white side." He grinned "That's amusing. But, well, it's only been a day. Let's get along and learn to know each other."

"I've never been white." I admitted "All my life has always ever been tainted by incredibly thick darkness... I'm glad I found some respite among your family."

"That's nice." He nodded.

He was a good player, experienced, whereas my sole encounter with the game had been through watching Dazai-san play against himself instead of completing his paperwork. Even so, I did know the rules and how the pieces moved, and I remembered strategies my superior would apply against himself to win. On the board, the pawns changed into henchmen, and I moved them like I would have guided the squadron entrusted by Dazai-san. It was not a game to me.

"How long have you been playing?" I was asked.

"A year or two..." I lied "In fact, my caretaker, who had taken me in when I was in the streets, had taught me very well..."

"Then it isn't surprising that you won so easily, I suppose." He groaned, bitter.

"Not so easily..."

"Sixteen moves...! Only sixteen moves, do you even realise how monstrous that is? Or am I just very bad at this...?" He sighed.

"No... I..." I felt bad for him.

His fiancee, Apollonia, came to him to wrap her arms around his neck comfortingly, and they exchanged a few words in Italian, which I did not understand.

"You were beaten by a woman, Vilfredo?" Gustavo suddenly walked toward us "Aren't you humiliated?"

"I don't understand how losing against a woman is humiliating." I told him.

"Why, usually, women are raised like my little sister. She doesn't even know the basic rules of chess... But, Kasumi, I challenge you as well." He smirked "If you win, you'll earn your superior's utmost respect."

"I suppose it isn't too cheap for a first day." I chuckled "I'm fine with it, then."

"Acting all confident when you're going to be crushed." He huffed "If I win, I want a kiss~"

"Gustavo-san, that would be improper." I noted, placing the pieces on the board.

"Then don't lose to me~"

I had considered letting him win to flatter his ego, but the prospect of having to lock lips with him was so repulsive to me that I needed to do my utmost to prevent such a horrible situation to occur. I took him down mercilessly, with an aggressive strategy, without giving him any respite.

"So, tell me, Kasumi... Were you so disgusted by my winning?"

"With all due respect, Gustavo-san, I was." I smiled slightly.

"And does that justify that humiliation you inflicted on me?" He pouted.

"I wonder..." I snickered "Next time, behave like a gentleman if you want to keep your very masculine dignity."

Vilfredo Chimienti was having a hard time holding his laughter back on the couch across the room.

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[itsclydebitches]

Oscar Pine: Treatment and Characterization in Volume Six

It’s Friday! Which means I get to spend my time writing meta if I so choose. Today’s topic is Oscar. Specifically the question posed by @dreanner95 on another post of mine: “How have the characters in the show treated Oscar badly?” (Full asks are at the end of the meta.) I’ve covered this topic at length in my episode recaps, but I want to pull everything together into one post, both for easy, future access---here’s the answer to this question!---as well as to put the whole of it into perspective. Because as we’ll see in a moment, Oscar’s treatment is something slow and perpetual. You’ve got to take it all into account to understand just how badly things are going for him.

To start, though this meta is focused on the material of Volume Six, it’s worth pointing out something from Volume Five. Namely that Oscar isn’t an integrated part of the team yet. Volume Five is easy-going material compared to Volume Six. A whole lot of hanging out around the house as opposed to stressful, traumatic encounters with baddies. Meaning, that was the perfect time to start incorporating Oscar into the main group, but that didn’t happen very much. Not to the extent we need it to. Because Oscar isn’t just Oscar anymore, he’s Oscar housing Ozpin, and it’s Ozpin who bears the focus of everyone’s attention (a problem that becomes exacerbated in Volume Six). The vast majority of Oscar’s scenes feature Ozpin speaking, or are about Oscar’s new relationship with Ozpin, or are more generally about the war and how to prepare for it---see the training scene where Oscar is struggling to learn the basics of combat. For the most part Oscar is not at the center of anyone’s attention, Ozpin is, with the exception being Ruby’s talk with him downstairs. There Ozpin keeps quiet to let the two work out their grief and fears, making it one of the most powerful moments of the volume. But it’s not nearly enough. I’ve spoken before about how we don’t know much of anything about Oscar. Unlike the other characters who all embody details that help us to see them as well-rounded individuals---Yang loves making jokes and her bike, Blake is a bibliophile and invested in faunus rights, Jaune still wears a Pumpkin Pete sweatshirt and trains at night with Pyrrha’s video, etc.---three volumes in and Oscar is still defined almost exclusively by that moment when Ozpin slammed into his head and everything that has happened since then. No hobbies, no dreams, no talk of his family... we’re given only one, narrow lens to view him through. Which doesn’t just make it more difficult for the audience to become invested in him, but difficult for the other characters as well. Oscar doesn’t join the group during their bonding dinner. With the exception of Ruby, he doesn’t get to form strong ties with them. He’s the outsider here, the one person who doesn’t have a year of Beacon friendship and life or death missions to draw on, and it shows. Because though the cast clearly loves him (more on that later) his outsider status remains, making it really easy for the others to dismiss him, hurt him, or shrug him off when things start getting tough. Because he’s not really one of them. This isn’t Jaune with Ozpin stuck in his head. Or Ruby. Or Yang. It’s just Oscar, the random kid who appeared on our doorstep one day, joined our group when we never asked, and who we still know next to nothing about even after three volumes of material. The characters just don’t care about him as much as they do the core group, even though at this point they should, setting up a situation wherein he becomes expendable. Especially when everyone is focused on getting back at Ozpin. They’re willing to hurt Oscar to get at Ozpin in a way I don’t think they’d be comfortable with if it was anyone else. If Nora had Ozpin stuck in her head? No one would be assaulting her or saying she’s doomed to just be his meatsuit her whole life. They’d defend and support her in ways no one is willing to do for the literal child of the group. Because no one has been given the chance to get to know the kid and come to truly care for him. 

So let’s rehash what the group actually does to Oscar over the course of Volume Six.

To start, there is that ongoing sense that he has no place in this group. Oscar exists only as a vessel for Ozpin. When everyone is waiting for the train the focus in clearly on team dynamics. “I know you’re worried, Weiss, but trust us. Team RWBY won’t leave your side for a second!” Yang and Ruby are interacting as sisters. Nora and Ren are interacting as a couple. There’s a clear division between RWBY and JNR visually, with the former on the right side of the screen and the latter on the left. 

Oscar sits sort of between both, not speaking, not being spoken to until Ozpin makes a joke about the train goons hopefully not being from Beacon. Then Oscar expands on the humor and gets a round of appreciative nods. That’s it though. On the train Team RWBY and their Uncle Qrow all make plans to play video games. We know Team JNR was hanging out because they all arrive together when trouble starts. Meanwhile, we find Oscar in a cabin full of random people. He’s not spending time with or being invited to either group here. He’s just got Ozpin. Ozpin who is the focus of everyone’s attention. When the others arrive Jaune immediately asks, “What’s going on?” and it’s pretty clear the question is directed at Ozpin, not Oscar. Because Oscar just insisted that he wanted to keep control, but now he’s fumbling. He doesn’t know what’s going on and now here Jaune is (unintentionally) reminding him of that. He’s a farm boy, not a huntsmen. Certainly not the huntsmen either. Everyone wants Ozpin around to fix things and if there’s nothing to fix? You don’t need to stay.

It’s a dynamic that’s going to repeat throughout the volume, starting at the farm house. Ruby will go off with Weiss, Blake will go off with Yang... and everyone is going to leave Oscar to stay behind with Maria, doing nothing and being babied. 

Team RWBY will go retrieve the relic. Oscar can once again stay behind and figure out how to fix their transportation. Because Qrow will be busy drinking. 

And then again in “Dead End,” which I’ll get to below.

After the train we have the punch scene and I’m not sure how else to explain to people how not okay this is. I don’t care how high emotions were. Oscar is bearing the brunt of Ozpin’s (perceived) sins in a truly horrendous manner. He’s intimidated, screamed at, chucked into a tree. Keep in mind this is the body that only started figuring out aura a few weeks ago and we’re shown straight out that Qrow’s punch, a punch from an incredibly powerful huntsmen, hurt like hell. The second Ozpin leaves Oscar is wincing and touching his cheek.

What stands out to me is not that the cast is human and makes mistakes and loses their temper---because obviously all those things are valid---but rather that we see throughout the course of Volume Six that no one is willing to acknowledge, let alone act on, the fact that Oscar is a victim of circumstance. No one calls Qrow out on hitting the innocent kid along with the guy he’s mad at. No one tries to calm things down so that Oscar isn’t shouldering their tempers when he’s done nothing wrong. Everyone is happy to vent their anger and fears on him because he’s convenient. Case in point, even with Ozpin gone Yang is still screaming in his face. She doesn’t care if that’s Ozpin or Oscar. Same body, no difference.

No one cares enough about Oscar as an individual to question how their actions might hurt him along with Ozpin. They don’t care enough about him as an individual, period. With the knowledge that Ozpin is truly gone for the moment, the group segues into ignoring him. Oscar is in the process of breaking down right in front of them---grabbing his hair, yelling about how he needs it all to stop---but the group talks over him, jumping straight to panic about what they’ll do now that Ozpin has left. Oscar is no longer functioning as their go-between. He’s useless, he looks like a man they hate, and he doesn’t have that emotional connection to the group. So why do they care that he’s having a breakdown? They don’t. Imagine if this was literally anyone else in the cast. The group would be all comfort and sympathy. Instead, we’re given a shot that could easily be from Oscar’s perspective. His entire identity is falling apart and all he’s given in response to that is Weiss looming over him, still talking about Ozpin, still only worrying about how this all effects them. A ‘them’ Oscar isn’t fully a part of. 

It’s a problem that Ruby tries to address by giving him back his cane, but Qrow undermines that like whoa.

I shouldn’t have to establish how utterly horrible this is. The adult telling the child, ‘No. You’re not your own person. Get over it. I’m a good guy for telling you the hard truth.’ It’s made even worse by Ruby’s silence. She doesn’t challenge Qrow’s words. Her sad expression conveys that she agrees with him---her earlier words were indeed “lies”---and Oscar is left to walk away, once again without any support. What little he was offered was wrenched away from him by an authority figure. Throughout "The Coming Storm” we see just how isolated he is. He walks at the very back of the group, away from everyone else. He looks terrified entering the house, re-emphasizing that he’s not a trained huntsmen like the rest of the group and was never given a choice about adopting this life. When he helps Blake and Weiss move the dresser in front of the door, they hold a short conversation over his head. As Ruby approaches the pictures on the wall, we hear Oscar theorizing about how this room is a study or a library, but no one answers him. Then, as said, they all split and leave Oscar behind, despite the fact that he’s the first to back Ruby’s plan to look for supplies. On their own none of these details necessarily mean anything, but put together they paint a bleak picture---and one that I am personally familiar with. I’ve been in groups where I’m clearly the outsider and this is precisely how I’m inclined to act: try to be helpful even when it goes ignored, try to start conversations even when no one answers. You just keep trying because what else can you do? You feel horribly awkward, but it’s better than accepting that no one wants to interact with you. 

Note that all of this is a direct parallel to what we get in “Dead End.” Both moments begin with Oscar trying to help the group, first by giving them a means of accessing the secrets they so desperately want---“Say her name to summon her”---here by starting a pep-talk when Ruby is unable to. “Look, none of this is great, we know,” Oscar says. “But we’re not the bad guys here.” To which Jaune responds with, “Are we sure about that?” Now, suddenly, Oscar isn’t just the bystander who happens to be hurt along the way. He is the immediate victim here. All the dialogue is directed to and about Oscar, blaming him and putting the responsibility on his shoulders: “He’s in your head isn’t he?” “Did you already know about this?” “How much longer can we even trust him?” “How do we even know it’s really him?”

We have another physical assault, this time with Jaune slamming Oscar against the wall and shaking him. 

Weiss, Yang, and Ruby yell out, but none of them make a move to stop him. Everyone just stands there, allowing Jaune to do as he pleases. In the past year people have been very uncomfortable with me referring to the group as kids or children, insisting that real life markers of adulthood (hitting 18) trumps their lack of experience and emotional instability. These are adults, Clyde. Okay then. Let’s work with that. This is an adult attacking a child. For the second time in as many days. We have now twice seen an adult use a 14yo as an emotional and literal punching bag, doing whatever they please to the real life equivalent of a middle schooler.

And once again, no one cares. Oscar was just attacked again, he flinches when Jaune walks past, and the first words out of anyone’s mouth are worry for Jaune. Not the kid who just dealt with a much bigger, much stronger, much older man taking his anger out on him. Not the kid who is standing right there and listening to where everyone’s loyalties lie. Oscar learns fully in this moment that when push comes to shove, he’s never going to be anyone’s priority.

We see the split in teams again. “I think it would be best if we had some time to ourselves,” Ren says, clearly talking about Team JNR since they’re all going upstairs together. Team RWBY is left in the living room... with Oscar outside of that.

So he leaves.

Which is when the writing shows us its priorities too. Oscar is housing the most important character in this entire war and, like it or not, he’s supposed to be a part of the team now. If there was ever a time to provide him with space to grow and to give the audience insight into who he is outside of Ozpin’s influence, this was it. Ozpin is conveniently quiet. The group has driven him away. We have a two week hiatus implying a major episode when we come back. Anything could happen, from Oscar getting kidnapped and coming into some power, to him working through his issues and deciding why the hell he should stay with a group that doesn’t need him and clearly doesn’t want him. Instead, we get another episode about Jaune and EVERY bit of potential character development for Oscar happens off screen. All we learn is that Oscar went shopping. Oh, and cooked them dinner.

Notice that Oscar is desperate to prove himself useful; to do things in the hope that it will earn him some form of praise and acceptance. Jaune yells about how I’m a liar and not to be trusted? I get thrown around and no one cares enough to check up on me? That’s fine. I’m gonna give them space, not kick up a fuss, make a nice meal for everyone to come home to... Oscar can’t stick up for himself because if doing nice things---helping you get Ozpin’s secrets, trying to cheer everyone up, etc.---results in violence, what the hell would they do if he actually got mad at them? No, no, no, I’ll just keep being calm, perfect Oscar.

Yes, Jaune apologies for his behavior, but notably Oscar interrupts him and tries to justify it. I’m worried about the same things too, so it’s totally okay that you expressed those fears the way you did. I’m the expendable one. 

It gets even worse when Oscar starts speaking as if he has a terminal illness. Once again he’s buying into the idea that he’s no one now, existing only to ferry Ozpin’s soul, and like out in the snow this idea isn’t challenged by anyone. This exchange boils down to, ‘I’m convinced I’m going to cease to exist so I’ll just keep helping you all as much as possible until I’m gone.’ Oscar is making the claim that helping them---being the good outsider who makes them meals and promises not to worry them again, despite the fact that they’re the ones who drove him off in the first place---is all he's good for now. 

And what’s the group’s response to this? 

Along with a whole bunch of smiles. 

Combined with their overall treatment, this reads as horrendously alarming. Why worry too much about how you’re treating Oscar when Oscar is destined to die, merge, whatever? He’s literally theorizing about a scenario where one day the group won’t have to deal with him anymore, but until then he’ll be as helpful as he can. It’s an easy out for them. Yay! We won’t lose the Ozpin vessel who we technically still need, but now he says we don’t have to worry about his trauma anymore. Those pesky things like terror over his identity are being buried and the problem is that no one is inclined to challenge that. A few days after Qrow claims he’s not his own person, Oscar announces, ‘You know what? He’s right. I’m not. So I’ll just be useful until I disappear.’ And everyone is happy with that new plan. No one cares enough about Oscar to push back against this passiveness, to worry about his mental health, even just to express grief that they may one day lose him. There’s so much concern and care shown among the group, from the big (everyone supporting Yang through her PTSD) to the small (Blake finding an extra blanket for Weiss). But twice now we’ve seen Oscar breaking in front of an audience and no one bats an eye. Twice we’ve seen him harmed and no one cares. The rest of the time he’s barely acknowledged at all. Not unless he’s making himself known and that, as we’ve seen, is dangerous.  

I mentioned way at the start that the concept of the group loving Oscar would come back into play. In short, I think you can love someone---or convince yourself you love someone---and still treat them like shit. The group might be “worried sick” when something major happens to Oscar like a disappearance, but on a day-to-day basis they treat him pretty horribly. They care about his physical safety, but not his emotional or mental well being. He’s not truly a part of their teams, he’s constantly conflated with Ozpin, his fears about losing his identity are reinforced multiple times, and there’s now a pattern of the group using him as an emotional and physical outlet when it proves convenient for them. Could they treat him worse than this? Yeah, of course, but they could treat him a whole lot better too. For me, Nora giving a big “OSCAR!” hug or Blake exchanging pleasantries on the farmhouse steps doesn’t mean a thing when, during more significant moments, they don’t stick up for him. Not when he’s being physically assaulted, not when others are emotionally harming him, not when Oscar himself basically announces that he’s accepted a death sentence. The group loves Oscar... but it’s highly conditional. If they love someone else more (like Jaune) or hate someone else enough (like Ozpin) then he’s going to suffer for it. Oscar is not enough of a member of the group for them to ever prioritize and sadly it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.

***

[missbellaswan]

Twice Bitten Half Turned - Chapter 2

Full Fic on AO3

I couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but I could smell the blood. Rust and salt. The scent had always been sickening to me, but something was different about it now. Edward was calling my name somewhere in blackness. I tried to follow the sound, but I found myself tracking the scent of the blood instead. The smell wasn’t repulsive to me anymore, it was sweet. I couldn’t find Edward, but maybe that’s because I wasn’t looking for him anymore. I followed the smell, wandering through the dark and inhaling the scent. I couldn’t track it exactly, it was swirling all around me and saturating the air with a thick sweet smell. Edward’s voice faded as the smell took over.

The next time I heard Edward’s voice was different. Much more tangible, like if I could wake up he would be right there.

“Bella, love, open your eyes.” He said. So I did, and there he was. He was sitting next to me holding my hand. I saw Carlisle seated at his desk behind Edward. “Bella.” Edward said again when he saw my eyes open. He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Are you okay?”

I nodded and realized I was laying down on the exam table that Carlisle had set up for my other appointments earlier in the summer. Obviously I had blacked out, which was stupid and embarrassing, but I felt fine now. They were both watching me now as tried to sit up. Edward eyed me carefully at first, but helped me up.

I was surprised to see that they both looked much more relaxed than before. They had clearly been talking things through while I was unconscious, and they seemed calmer. Or at least had enough composure now to mask their concern in front of me.  

“Well clearly your body is still functioning very much like a human’s,” Carlisle finally said. He stood up from his desk and walked over to the exam table. He started taking my blood pressure while I continued to gather my thoughts.

“I guess so.” I said when I found my voice again.

“Your vitals are within expected limits, and as far as I can tell you are not exhibiting any of the normal signs of a transition. But I wonder now if your recovery from your injuries from Phoenix was aided by more than just your youth.” Carlisle said. Edward was still seated next to me, watching me intently.

“I want to run a few more tests,” Carlisle continued, “to determine the extent of the changes to your physiology, if that’s okay with you.” He took the cuff off my arm and put it away.

“Yeah,” I said. I wanted to ask him a million questions, but I couldn’t think of anything. I wasn’t even sure what questions I wanted to know the answers to, and I was even less sure that Carlisle would have those answers. “Can we do all that tomorrow? I want to go home.”

I hopped down off the exam table and Edward stood and slid an arm around my waist. I wanted to be annoyed by his overbearing behavior, but my vision was slightly blurred by the effort of standing. Edward held me steady until I regained my balance. I pulled away slightly, to assure Edward I was still capable of standing.

I hoped my horrible display of equilibrium wouldn’t convince Carlisle to keep me here any longer. I needed to go home and get dinner ready before Charlie got there. I needed to eat, and shower, and sleep, and be human.

“I don’t see why not.” Carlisle said. He clearly knew me well enough to know my clumsy dismount was a result of my incredibly uncoordinated human body, not an indication of vampirism. Or whatever this was.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I said as I headed for the door. As soon as I was given permission, I was suddenly overcome with my desire to get back to my house where I could be human again.

“In the meantime, I will see what I can find out about your condition,” Carlisle said. He was already sitting behind his desk again flipping through a book.

“Thank you.” I told him as Edward followed me out and closed the door behind us. Edward pulled me to his side again as we walked down the stairs and out to the garage to find his car. I didn’t see any of his other family members as we made our way through the house, and I was relieved to not have to try to explain this to anyone.

“Does Alice have a jacket I can borrow?” I asked as Edward opened the Volvo door for me.

“Are you cold?”

“A little,” I lied. I just needed something to cover my arm. The windows of the car were tinted and I knew even Edward didn’t sparkle through the windshield, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to hide it. Edward disappeared for a moment while I climbed into the passenger seat, and when I looked up again he was sitting next to me holding one of Alice’s least terrifying jackets. I put it on as he turned on the car and spun out of the garage and down the long driveway.

The drive was quiet, but Edward held my hand tightly the whole way home. When we pulled up to the house, Edward simply kissed my forehead and opened the door for me.

“I’ll see you tonight.” I phrased it like a statement because he spent nearly every night in my room now, but after today I wasn’t entirely sure.

“I’ll be there.” He assured me, sensing the uncertainty in my tone. I climbed out of the car and watched him drive off.

As I walked up the drive, I realized Charlie’s car wasn’t there. I unlocked the door and switched on the lights as I went. I looked at the clock in the living room as I headed for the stairs. It was only four. This afternoon had felt much longer than it really was.

I wondered why Edward hadn’t come in with me since Charlie wouldn’t be home for at least a couple hours, but I was thankful for the time alone. Maybe he knew 

I ate a snack, cleaned my room, and started a load of laundry, reveling in the simple humanity of my chores. There were still leftovers in the fridge from last night, so instead of cooking I decided to take a shower before Charlie got back from work.

I had hoped the shower would wash off some of the stress from this afternoon. Instead I found myself examining my arm again. I held it out in front of me and compared it to my other arm. Without the sunlight shining directly on it, the difference was even less noticeable. Was it paler or was it just the dim bathroom lighting? But the more I stared, the more differences I started to see. This arm was slightly firmer than the other, the shape of my bicep was more toned. I wondered if it would be stronger now. I hadn’t noticed a difference, but I was afraid to test it.

If this had started in my hand, and now reached up all the way up my arm, when would it stop? Would it stop before my heart did?

I shut off the water and went back to my room, avoiding the mirror and the frantic questions bubbling up in my head.

A few minutes after my shower, I heard Charlie come in and call my name.

“Up here!” I called back down. I threw my wet hair up in a bun, pulled a long sweater over my arms, and went down to warm up dinner.

Spending the night with Charlie felt as human as anything I’d ever done. We sat in silence and ate our leftovers, and then I stayed downstairs and watched a game with him. I couldn’t have even identified the sport, but Charlie seemed pleased with the company.

I waited until the end of the game and even through the announcer’s final comments, but eventually Charlie picked up the remote and flipped the TV off. He seemed surprised to find me still sitting opposite him on the couch, awake.

“I have to be in to the station early tomorrow morning, so I’m gonna hit the hay.” Charlie said. He wandered through the first floor turning out the lights and checking the doors. I stood as he finished and followed him up the stairs. “G’night, Bells.”

“Night, Dad.” I said as we both headed into our rooms.

Once my door was firmly shut, I turned around to find Edward sitting on my bed. He stood up and pulled me into a silent embrace once I had closed the door and we wrapped ourselves in the familiar privacy of my bedroom, despite the knowledge that Charlie was just in the other room.

“Bella.” He didn’t seem to have anything more to say, so I pulled him onto my bed with me and we laid there for a while.

After a while, I got up and gave myself a few more human minutes as I brushed my teeth and changed into pajamas. Edward waited patiently, his stillness not as unsettling as it used to be. When I was done, I crawled back into bed and we watched the sun set through the window. Edward just played with my hair and waited for me to break the silence, when I was ready.

“Hi.” I said after the light faded from the window and I relaxed in the safety of the darkness.

“Hi.” He replied. I could see a faint crooked smile on his lips in the dim light from my bedside lamp.

“Something funny?” I said.

“I’m just appreciating your humanness.” He said.

I tried to return the smile, but it didn’t come out quite right and he could tell. He quirked his eye, indicating that he wanted to know what I was thinking.

“I’m not sure I feel all that human right now.” I admitted.

“Bella, you are human. Trust me, I would know if that had changed.” He pulled me tight against him and took a deep breath as he pressed his head against mine, inhaling my scent. I stayed still for the moment, but then I sat up and held my arms out to him.

“Hasn’t it?” I didn’t realize tears had welled up until they started to spill over. Edward wiped the tears from my face and smiled again, a comforting grin that I could tell he was putting on just for my benefit.

“Bella, you’re crying. You know we can’t cry. And you may not be able to hear it, but I can assure you, your heart is still beating.” He held a hand to my chest and I breathed slowly. He was right, I was still definitely alive. But for how long?

“Did you and Carlisle have any luck with the research?” I asked.

“Not as much as we had hoped.” He admitted.  

“Well what do we know?” I said. The more I thought about it the less sure I was of anything.

“Carlisle thinks that when James bit you, and when I tried to remove the venom, some of it remained in your system.” Edward sighed. “He doesn’t think that it is enough to fully change you, but what little is left does seem to be spreading and altering your human biology to be more like ours.” Edward seemed to be relaying all of this to me in exactly the same way Carlisle had told him, like he hadn’t really processed it for himself yet.

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked. I knew that there wasn’t much hope of getting all the answers I wanted to tonight, but I needed to find something to hold on to.

“I don’t know. But Bella,” Edward held my gaze intently, “I will stop this. We will figure it out and I will keep you safe, you have nothing to worry about. You are not going to become one of us. I promise.”

The words were meant to be a comfort, but they stung. I didn’t want to be turning like this, but I had already made my choice. I had made my decision at prom and I wasn’t going to change it. But I thought I would decide when it happened, or at the very least I thought I would know when it was happening.

And if Carlisle was right and this doesn’t fully turn me, then what would I become? And while Edward was promising to protect me from this, he was also reminding me that he didn’t want this for me, that he never intended to let me be a part of his family. I laid back down in bed and Edward wrapped me in a blanket and held me as silent tears fell on my pillow.

After all my worrying my body suddenly felt very tired. I liked the feeling. The heaviness, the weight, a way to forget all the things that I had been confronted with today. It was a nice reminder of being human, so I let myself drift off to sleep in Edward’s arms.

[sleepless-in-starbucks]

Masks

Prompt from @no-one-remembers-achmed : May I please have Deceit in these glasses if that is ok with you? This is... probably not what you wanted at all. But this is what my writing-blocked brain allowed me to produce so oh well. Sorry for the wait as well! Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit, tiny bit of angst, minor insulting (tell me if I should add anything!) Note: All of Deceit’s lies are italicized

    Since Deceit had first appeared to Thomas, he had been hanging out in the Light sides realm more and more. Most of the time, he said it was because they had to work together now; Deceit wanted to talk with them about how to help Thomas. Other times, he’d randomly appear, making it extremely clear he had not brought himself to the Light realm on purpose.

    Apparently, since Thomas knew about him, Thomas’s own mind was attempting to force him into the Light realm. Normally, it was fine, and the other sides just brushed it off as an inconvenience.

    Today, however, Deceit had found himself pulled up right behind Roman. He tried to step back, knowing that scaring the fantastical and armed side would not end well, but he bumped into a chair instead. Roman jerked around, sword half drawn as the plate of pasta he was holding fell on the ground and shattered.

    Roman looked at Deceit, a fire in his eyes as the deceitful side took another step back. “I’m so not sorry.”

    “Yeah I bet you are.” Roman replied sarcastically, looking at his pasta in annoyance. “Stupid snake…”

    Deceit bit back a response to that, sinking out before he’d have to deal with regeneration from the sword Roman looked ready to run through him. He appeared in his room, taking another step back the minute his feet appeared, as if he expected Roman to have followed him.

    But no one rose up, and Deceit let out a sigh over how easily he was riled up. He took his bowler hat off, dropping it beside him as he sat on his bed. He ran a hand over his scales.

    Stupid snake…

    It wasn’t like the other sides hadn’t pointed out his resemblance to a snake before. In fact, Deceit was normally all for the comparison. Snakes had a sly sort of charm to them that Deceit appreciated.

    Recently, however, Deceit had started to wonder if the comparison was not, in fact, in his favor. The sly charm he enjoyed being associated with was probably seen negatively by the sides- example one: the incident that had just occurred.

    Deceit had never been ashamed of his scales. But if he wanted the others to trust him, if he wanted to work with them to help Thomas and maybe even get them to understand that he wasn’t the dark side they all saw, he may benefit from showing them a little less.

    He couldn’t, of course, just make them vanish altogether. Shapeshifting didn’t work on them- Thomas had, subconsciously, assigned him the role of the lying snake, and regardless of the form he tried to take that would always follow him- and even just using makeup to hide them would just look straight-up suspicious.

Plus, putting on the makeup for Logan and Patton had taken hours and that had been for good purposes. He wasn’t going to do that here just to have himself found out in a few minutes.

So he started with a mask.

Idea one went horribly.

He had gone with a phantom of the opera style mask, golden instead of white, hoping they’d just assume he was adding to his outfit. It had gone over mostly well, Roman even complimenting him on the flair it added.

Virgil’s first response, on the other hand, was to scoff and ask him if he was trying to be a disco ball instead of a snake. Deceit wasn’t one hundred percent sure he had meant it in such a way to see through him, but it was close enough for him.

The next day, he tried wearing a sparkling yellow bandana that he wore lopsidedly over his scales. He mostly got weird looks about it until Roman told him applying sparkles directly to his scales would look much better. So that didn’t work.

Deceit then tried simply wearing his hair so that it covered them, the effort to grow his hair and keep it grown only a minor strain in the back of his mind. This one was accepted by the group, but Patton kept tucking it behind his ear, cooing about how his eye was too pretty to hide.

He had admitted defeat earlier that day, deciding he didn’t need to deal with being teased for his blush. His hair shortened back to its normal length the minute he was back in the room, sighing. His list of semi-decent ideas was officially out.

Deceit glanced at the notepad that was sitting on his desk, a list of stupid ideas written out alongside the few good ones. He picked it up and frowned at it. At least one of them had to be better than his scales being visible, right?

Turns out, the answer was ‘nope.’

Some of the more stunning failures included switching his bowler hat for a baseball cap to pull down over his face (no one would mention it, but the looks he got were… not good), a large beanie (aside from covering both his eyes to work, every single side asked him why he was copying Joan), and sunglasses (didn’t work great, since they didn’t cover most of his scales, but he hoped they’d distract from them… until Remy had met him in the kitchen, saying he had smelled someone trying to steal his style).

And now, he was out except for one option he barely wanted to consider. It was wholly stupid and unlikely to work, but, hey, at this point, what did he have left to lose?

That was why, day number twenty-nine of this whole game, Deceit was to be found lounging in the common area wearing ridiculous alien sunglasses. The frames were yellow to pretend to match his style, and Remy hadn’t attempted to fight him over these, so it worked for him.

Worked for him until, busy trying to block out the world and play on his phone despite the huge blockade the glasses presented to this, he didn’t notice the light sides exchanging awkward glances as they grouped up around him.

“Um, Deceit?” Deceit looked up, trying not to startle when he realized he was effectively cornered.

Doing what he did best, Deceit pretended to be unaffected by this revelation as he turned off his phone and slipped it into his pocket. “Yes?”

Patton had pressed his hands together, looking unsure of how to go with this. “Are you okay?”

“Of course.” Deceit lied. He slipped between truth and lie often enough he hoped they would assume this was a truth.

“Are you sure, kiddo?” Patton pressed. “You’ve been acting… strange, lately.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, cut the bullcrap, Deceit.” Virgil snapped, managing to startle the entire group. “You’ve been wearing the most ridiculous things for the last month and we want to know why.”

Deceit hesitated in giving him an answer, thinking of the most believable lie. After a moment, he smirked, channeling all the charm he could. “Got to keep you all on your feet, don’t I?”

“That makes no sense.” Roman said after glancing between the others. “And I know no sense.”

Deceit frowned at Roman, not sure what that meant. He was going to voice his confusion, hopefully distract from the situation they were trying to focus on, but Logan spoke up first.

“Have we considered looking at the common thread between these unusual occurrences?” He asked, frowning when the other sides just looked confused. “Deceit was always covering his scales.”

The rest of the Light sides’ eyes widened in understanding before they turned to look at Deceit again. The deceitful side considered sinking out, wondering if they would drop it or follow him.

“Deceit.” Patton said, worriedly but sternly when he actually attempted to leave. “What are you trying to do?”

“...Leave?”

Until that point, Deceit didn’t know that blinks could be disappointed, or that they could all occur at the same moment between four people. He sighed, pulling off the alien glasses and setting them on the couch next to him.

“I have not recently become aware of the fact your dislike for my scales.” Deceit said after a minute of silently staring at the glasses. “Or, rather, your dislike for the creature they link me to.”

“Creature?” Logan repeated. “Do you mean snake?”

“No.”

The Light sides glanced among each other again. Deceit opted to continue focusing his attention elsewhere.

“Deceit, what on earth gave you that impression?” Roman asked, and Deceit tried not to glare at him, given his own comment had been the final straw on the snake’s back.

“You four have many times connected me to snakes in a negative way.” Deceit explained, too weary to keep himself from telling the truth. “I just thought I’d do you all a favor and remove the source of that connection for you.”

“We don’t negatively connect you to snakes.” Patton said, sounding confused and sad.

Deceit crossed his arms. “Roman called me a stupid snake the last time I forcefully popped up.”

The group turned to glare at Roman, who held up his hands in defense. “He made me drop my pasta! I am very passionate about my pasta!”

“It doesn’t matter.” Deceit said, waving it off as he stood up and grabbed the alien glasses. “It was a wake-up call. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d rather just retire to my room for the rest of the day. Or week.” He added under his breath.

“Deceit, wait.” The scaly side stopped in his walk, but he didn’t turn to face Patton. “I’m sorry.”

Deceit spun around, surprised by the comment. His surprise only grew when he found the moral side’s expression ashamed and not amused Deceit had been so easily tricked.

Beside him, Logan straightened his glasses and cleared his throat before adding, “As am I. As are all of us, I believe.” Roman and Virgil nodded in agreement.

“I-” Deceit cut himself off, pausing to try and sense the lie. As far as he could tell, however, there wasn’t one. “You are lying.”

“We’re not.” Roman protested, not recognizing the lie. “Deceit- we liken you to a snake because we thought you liked that. We never mean it as an insult.”

“Yeah.” Virgil agreed, looking awkwardly at the floor as he added. “Plus, your scales are cool. Not weird or anything.”

If Deceit was less preoccupied, he would have teased the anxious side for the rare show of a non-sarcastic emotion. At the moment, he was busy trying to decide if this was more likely to be a dream or a hallucination, because there was no way this was happening.

“You can still return to your room if you wish.” Logan continued when Deceit didn’t respond. “But if not, perhaps there is a way we can make up this… miscommunication incident to you?”

This brought Deceit back to his senses enough to nod his head. “You do have to do something.”

“We want to do something.” Patton pushed before grinning. “Come on! It can be something really stupid, if you want.”

Deceit smirked. “Something really stupid, you don’t say?”

~~

Thomas stood in the middle of his living room, various bills clutched in his hands. Normally, budgeting was a Logan only issue, but Thomas needed to change enough things he felt it was a good idea to talk to all the Light sides for this one.

“Guys?” He asked the empty room while looking at the numbers, having done this too many times to feel stupid about it anymore. “We need to talk.”

A moment later, Thomas’s personality rose around him.

“How may we assist, Thomas?” Logan asked from behind him after the normal greetings were said.

“I need to cut some things-” Thomas stopped talking as he looked up, finding his fanciful side to be… different. Glancing around, he found the difference present for all the sides present: they were all wearing alien glasses, frames matching their respective colour.

He frowned, trying to decide what was going on. “Why…?”

Virgil just smiled tightly. “Don’t ask.”

[liliah39]

Crazy Little Game of Love: Chapter 6a

Word count: 7.8K

Warnings: none, just angst :( 

Liliah39 Masterlist

A/N: Thank you all for being so patient! I used a BoRhap gif because it goes with the general mood of the end of the chapter a lot even though I usually envision the OG Queen boys, but of course you can picture whoever you want; CLGOL works both ways.This chapter is very important so I rewrote it a lot.  Lots of foreshadowing! See if you can find it!! I tried to do an even amount of time with each of the guys to make all of ya happy. Also, this is supposed to show how the love of singing and Y/N’s unknown ability to sing starts to make itself present. As usual, plz excuse typos. Love y’all. ♥️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where we left off:

He pulled up to the dorm to find a vision of an angel outside. Your pink, sheer robe flowed effortlessly behind you as you walked between the trees and bushes out front of your dorm. Your hair cascaded down your back, still wavy from the salt water; the full harvest moon illuminated your face as you concentrated on the leaves in front of you as you kept occupied waiting for the recipient of your phone call. 

He stepped out of the car, quietly walking closer to you until he paused about four feet behind you, just appreciating your moonlit beauty. The rustling of leaves behind you made you whip your head around in fear, only to find him gazing at you lovingly. 

“Oh God, I’m so sorry I made you come here right now.” You said, running to him as he wrapped his arms around you, burying his face in your hair to get the scent of you in. 

“Don’t be, Love. Told you I’d do anything to make you happy.” He smiled. 

My Roger. 

“Even coming picking me up at 3:30 in the morning?” 

“Yup, anything for you, Love.” He smiled, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “God, you’re freezing, Y/N. How long have you been out here?” 

“Since I got off the phone with you.” You lied, yawning as you closed your eyes as you rested your head on his shoulder.

“Jesus Christ, Love. We’re back to normal October weather now. You’ve gotta be more careful.” He smiled, noticing how sleepy you were. “Alright,” he started, scooping you up into his arms as he started back to his car. “Let’s get you home so you can get a proper rest.” 

Home. 

You loved how he called it home. 

“Thank you for coming to get me.” You shivered, cuddling into his grasp a little more. 

“You’re welcome, Baby.” he said, his voice lulling you to sleep. “And now that I’ve got you again, as long as you let me, I’m never letting you go.” he said, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips as he set you in his car. Once he got in the drivers side, you drifted off to sleep with your head on his shoulder and your hands intertwined. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15 Minutes Before:

After you hung up the phone, you walked in the dorm to return Freddie’s phone book to his desk, noticing your friend angled toward the edge of your bed with one arm hanging off. You quietly walked to him, sitting at the side of your bed as you pulled the blanket over him, tilting your head and resting it so it was only inches away from his. 

“Freddie,” You whispered, putting a piece of his hair behind his ear. 

His eyes fluttered open to see you sitting on the side of the bed, moonlight illuminating your features as it shone through the window, your long robe fanned out around you. You looked ethereal. “Yes, Dear?” He yawned, only just coming to his senses. 

“I’m a horrible person.” You quietly spoke. 

“What do you mean?”

“I just called Roger; he’s coming to get me.”

“Well, that’s alright, Love.” He said caressing your cheek. “As long as you’ve decided what makes you happy.”

“But last night, before John and I made plans to have a day together today, I kissed him.”

“You what?” he said, sitting straight up. 

“I know.” You grimaced. “And now I’m going to Roger’s, and I’m just an awful person.”

“You’re not an awful person, Y/N. You’re just indecisive.” He yawned. 

“But I'm supposed to have a day with John, and I told him I was over Roger, and-”

“Darling, you’re obviously not over Roger. You complained until you fell asleep last night, and cried every five minutes once you laid down to go to bed. Don’t deny it to yourself. See how tonight goes with Roger and how tomorrow goes with John, and believe me: you’ll know.” 

You smiled at him, nodding that you understood. 

“Now let me sleep, and get back to me later about how it all went.” He said with a huff as he rolled away from you. 

“I don’t mind, but you’re not going back to your bed?”

“Well yours is much more comfortable than my pull out couch and you’re not going to be using it, so…”

You laughed at his candidacy. “Alright, goodnight Freddie.” You said, walking out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were fast asleep once arriving at Roger’s apartment, so he carried you inside in hopes to just let you sleep. Once inside and taking off his shoes without setting you down, your head stirred a little before cuddling into Roger’s chest as he shushed you back to sleep, heading down the hallway to his room. The desk lamp in Brian’s room was on, door wide open. His head turned at the sound of Roger’s footsteps, forced to take in a peaceful, lifeless, you, completely content in Roger’s arms. 

“So you went and got her?” He said, getting up from his desk and walking to the doorframe opposite Roger. 

“Yeah,” Roger nodded awkwardly. “Had to. She needed me, I love her Bri.” He said earnestly, hoping to ease the tension between him and his best friend. 

“Right.”

“How’d you know I was going to get her?” 

“Been up since she called; the phone woke me up. Not two minutes later after you answered it, you were out the door, Roger. There isn’t anyone else you’d do that for.” 

“Well… I would for you.” Roger timidly admitted. “You’re my best mate.”

“Yeah,” Brian added with a small chuckle and soft smile. “But we live together, Rog. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” 

Brian took a step closer to the two of you, now slightly hovering over you both. “She’s so beautiful, isn’t she?” He whispered, a hint of sadness in his voice.  

“Most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

Brian nodded in agreement. “You guys got close awfully fast.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess sometimes people are just right for each other. Don’t think everyone is that lucky to find that person though. I just know we were.” 

Brian found full validity in Roger’s statement, apparent by the actions you both exhibited; how co-dependent you’d become in a matter of days; but he didn’t want to believe a single word of it. Each thing he said was a stab in his heart. 

“Well I’m sure we’re all tired, so go on to bed, mate. Just take good care of her. It’ll be easier for me if it’s clear she’s happy.” Brian stated, about to close the door. 

“Thanks Brian.  I know how you feel. You don’t know how much what you just said means to me. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of my girl.” He smiled. “Night.” He stated, closing his door behind you two. 

His girl. 

Brian’s face saddened at the thought, closing the door behind him as he turned out the lamp and laid back down to bed. He was happy for Roger; yet had never felt sadder in his life. He was just happy that if you couldn’t have been with him, you were with his best friend.  

In the next room over, your eyes fluttered open as Roger set you into his bed, walking to his dresser to strip into his underwear; what he usually slept in. 

He didn’t know you were awake, and you quietly got up, walking behind him and wrapped your arms around his torso as you pressed your face into his back with a yawn. He jumped a little from the surprise of your contact, but then smiled at the sight of you in the mirror in front of him. He turned to face you with your arms still wrapped around him, face now firmly pressed into his chest. 

“Come back to bed.” You whined, rubbing his back with your hands. “I’m cold.” 

Roger chuckled, “I’m just getting comfortable, Love. You look gorgeous. My little princess.”

“I’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty uncomfortable.” You yawned. You weren’t even completely awake. There was no way you’d remember this in the morning. 

“Hold on, I can fix that.” He smiled, pressing a kiss to your lips as he picked you up and set you on the edge of the bed. You instinctively laid down immediately on contact with the mattress as he backed away to his closet for a moment; grabbing a shirt and coming back laughing since you were almost asleep already. “Come on, Love. Sit up so you can get more comfortable clothes on.”

He helped you sit up, handing you a long sleeve shirt of his. Your eyes were half way open as he kneeled in front of you, untying your ornate robe and throwing it on his dresser. He laughed as your tried to put the shirt on backwards, with your “uncomfortable” dressy tank top still on. 

“Hold on, hold on. Let me help.” He smiled, kissing your cheek as he took the shirt from you, pulling your tank top over your head. No bra, he noticed. That’d be interesting in the morning when you didn’t have any of your clothes with you. He tossed your tank top on the dresser too, pulling his long sleeve T-shirt over your head and opted to keep your silk shorts on you. “You ready for bed now, Baby?” 

You barely nodded, almost completely asleep and unaware of the situation before you as you instantly laid back down; Roger walking to the other side and laying next to you. 

“Still cold?”

“Mhm.”

“Come ‘ere, Love.” He said with a huge grin, pulling you into him as he enveloped you in his arms and kissed your forehead before laying his head down and closing his eyes as well. He knew you were asleep, but decided to say it anyways. “I love you, Y/N. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything before. Please don’t make me leave you again.” 

And with that, you both fell into a deep sleep, completely content just to be with one another. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first time you two woke up, it was about 6 in the morning. Your shared sleepiness was consumed by passionate morning kisses, and eventually you fell back asleep. When you awoke for the second time, it was about 9:30 and Roger surprisingly wasn’t awake yet. You carefully removed his arm from around your middle and rolled out of bed, changing back into your tank top and ornate robe, opened the door, and decided to make breakfast with what you could find. You had to admit you were sick of scrambled eggs. With what you could find it seemed like you could make hard boiled eggs and chocolate banana pancakes, so you buckled down and got to work, making sure you’d have enough time for your get together with John in a couple hours. 

Brian awoke to the smell of food which pulled him out of bed against his will to go investigate. He was curious; food never smelled that good in his and Roger’s household. He walked into the kitchen to see you happily humming as you flipped a pancake. It was an image he knew he could get used to - wished he could get used to. He leaned against the wall, for a moment, pretending he was in another universe where you were his and not Roger’s. 

“Good morning, Cinderella.” He smiled, remembering your afternoon in the pumpkin patch as he sat at the table. 

You turned around, surprised, yet knew exactly who was standing across from you. “Morning, Bri.” You giggled. “Want some pancakes?”

“Course. I’ll take a couple please. That is, if you have enough?” 

“Oh sure,” you said, hurriedly putting the plate of the four finished pancakes in front of him. “Roger’s not up yet, so please help yourself. I can always make more.” You said with a pat on his shoulders, turning back to the stove. 

Your touch sent a jolt through his body. He was immediately confused emotionally. Enamored by your beauty and personality, yet turned off at the mention of Roger’s name. 

“Your nightgown is lovely.” He smiled as he cut his stack of pancakes. 

“Oh this?” You said, pausing to re-tie the bow at your waist. “It’s just a robe.”

“Well, it flatters you.”

“Why thank you, Mr. May.” You said with a blush. 

Why am I blushing? Didn’t I chose Roger?

After making a couple more pancakes for yourself in awkward silence you sat next to him at the table with some pancakes for yourself. You started to eat, the tension still building, and it finally broke as he finished his second pancake. 

“Does he make you happy?”

“Roger?” 

He nodded, unable to verbally confirm. 

“Yeah, I think so? It hasn’t been long, but I feel happy when I’m with him, if that counts for anything.”

He silently nodded, observing the information. 

“What about Spain?” 

You paused. “You know about that?” 

He nodded, looking at Roger’s door, silently divulging who spilled your secret. 

“He came home crushed last night, Y/N. I’ve never seen him so defeated. You know Roger; depressed isn’t usually one of his modes. He’d been out drinking for a little bit; not that he wasn’t coherent, he just went to drink away his sorrows for a bit. You crushed him. I don’t think he slept at all until you guys got back here. That’s how I knew he was going to get you when you called at 3:30 in the morning. You’re the only person in this whole world who could have gotten him to leave his room last night.” 

“Oh.” 

“So? What about Spain, then?”

“I don’t know. I just was lonely last night and-”

”So you’re using him?”

“No. I didn’t say that.” You said, getting up to get more pancakes as he grabbed your arm. 

“Then why, Y/N?”

You took a deep breath. “Because I guess I’m afraid to let him go. Afraid of what will happen if I don’t give this a chance.”

A look of shock came across his face. “Has he hurt you? Is that why you feel like you can’t leave? Because if he has, I swear to god I’ll kill him.” Brian said enraged. 

“Oh no! Oh god, no. Roger’s been nothing less than a perfect gentleman. I guess that’s what’s making it so hard. I love him.” 

“Oh… good. Well then I guess we both have our answers.” He said, getting up to put his plate in the sink. 

“Brian please, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Well that’s the second time you’ve confessed it in front of me, and from what I’ve heard you said it multiple times in the last couple days. When are you going to admit to yourself that you’re in love with him?”  He said, throwing his hands up in the air as he put his plate in the sink. 

You were at a loss for words, and your eyes welled with tears. 

“I’m sorry, Love. I didn’t mean to yell- I just, I don’t know.” He says, head hanging in shame. 

“It’s okay.” You whispered. 

It was silent for a moment, your hand on his bicep as he leaned against the counter top, you facing him as he leaned against the sink, gazing into his hazel eyes. 

“I don’t know what I want yet,” you quietly admitted. “I’ll know soon though, I owe that to him and myself. I just need time.” 

He nodded understandingly. 

“Well, um, thanks for breakfast. It was re-” He said awkwardly as you cut him off, wiggling out of your grasp. 

“Brian?” 

“Yes?” 

“Would you like to go do something soon? Whatever really; I’m not picky. I feel like I know you the least of the guys after this weekend with Roger, and you’re always so kind to me; always so full of advice. I’d like our friendship to grow.” You smiled as he stepped back your way. 

“Uh, yeah, yes!” He stuttered smiling as he swiped under his lip. “Yeah, Y/N. I’d like that a lot. That’d be great.” He smiled, rubbing your arms and kissing the top of your head in a friendly way before backing to the fridge to get some juice. “We’ll be in touch?” 

“We’ll be in touch.” You smiled, patting his arm as you backed to make more pancakes, content with the silence between you two. 

“I think I know how you feel about me.” You blurted out. 

A look of shock fled across his face. “You do?” 

You nodded. “But it doesn’t bother me; doesn’t change anything I mean. I’m okay as long as you’re okay.” 

He laughed. “I’m quite fine, Love.” He said, faking a smile. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy, no matter who you’re with.” 

“Thanks, Bri.” 

“Well as long as he’s not a complete and total dick.” He said, making you two laugh. 

“I’ll take that into account.” You joked. 

“But really, I’m okay with you and Roger. It makes me feel good to see how happy the two of you are together. Don’t think you have to act differently with Roger around me; I don’t mind it. I just want to see you both happy.”

“Really?” 

“Really. Roger’s my best friend. I’m an only child, so he’s like the brother I always wanted and never had. We just happen to like the same girl,  and that’s alright. What matters is who she chooses. Whatever she decides, we’ve gotta be happy with, because that’s what brothers do. Go wake him up, Y/N. He’ll be so excited to see you.” He smiled. 

“You’re such an admirable person, Brian Harold May. Most people never mature as much as you have. Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, Love. Now, go on.” He encouraged as you walked to Roger’s door. 

“Oh,” you started, hand on Roger’s doorknob. “Please don’t tell John I was here.”

“Alright. Why?”

“Well, that’s not important right now. I have to talk to him later, I’ll weave it in somehow. I just want him to hear it from me; nowhere else.” 

He nodded understandably. “You’ve got my word.” He winked, going back to his juice as you walked into Roger’s room as you closed the door behind you. 

The room was still kind of dark; the sun was peeking through Roger’s drapes, just quietly illuminating the room. He laid facing the window, so you quietly walked to his side of the bed, softly climbing on the bed to lay directly next to him, chest pressed flush against his. His eyes flickered open, instantly smiling at the sight of you. He pressed a kiss to your lips tightly wrapping his arms around you as he rolled into his back so you were laying on top of him. You pressed kisses all over his face, running your fingers through his hair as he giggled. 

“Have I died and gone to Heaven, Y/N?”

“No?” You laughed as he rubbed your back. “Why?”

“Because you look so beautiful, like a bloody angel.” 

“Oh stop,” you said laughing as your lips rejoined again. “I made you breakfast, my Love. Figured it’d be nice for a little change of routine around here, and that you could use the sleep after driving so long.” You said, pulling on his arm to try to get him to stand up. It only earned you a whine of unwant to move from Roger.

“Come on Roger,” you playfully scolded. “Get up to eat breakfast.” 

“But I could eat breakfast in bed?” He suggested. 

You laughed out loud. “Breakfast in bed? I made this beautiful breakfast and you want to eat it in bed? Nope. Not happening.” 

“Well I could eat something else,” he seductively implied, flipping you over so you were laying on the bed as he attatched his lips to your neck. 

“Roger,” you giggled as his kisses got more intense. “Roger! Roger!!” You said laughing as he nipped under your chin on your left side. “Stop!” You quietly yelled. “We’re not alone!” 

“Okay, okay.” He resigned, getting off the top of you as you still laughed. “Just let me get some pants on.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your morning with Brian and Roger was spent happily laughing between the three of you. Sometimes Roger would pull you into his lap, kissing your cheek and wrapping his arms tightly around you. As much as you enjoyed it, you couldn’t help but notice Brian slightly look away as soon as the slightest bit of affection was displayed between the two of you, but he quickly recomposed himself and laughed at how Roger was acting like a typical boyfriend, or by commenting on how happy the two of you were. Roger let you take the car home, and you walked in around noon to see Freddie painting his fingernails black; a typical thing for him to do. 

“So? How’d it go?”

“He’s perfect.” You grumbled. 

“Then why is that a bad thing, Y/N?” Freddie said, annoyed with your antics. 

“Because! There’s also John, and Brian, and the whole Spain thing?!”

“So John and Brian are candidates too?”

“I- um… well, yeah. I guess so. I don’t know. I gotta be around them more.” You resigned, sitting next to him on the pull out couch. 

“Then why even do that to yourself, Darling? If you love Roger, why are you not dating him?”

“Because I feel like the others deserve a chance. They all deserve a chance.” 

“All of us?” Freddie questioned. 

“Yes?” You hesitantly replied. 

“Alright then.” he sighed. “Then I’ve been wondering, would you ever date me? Where do I stand?” He joked with a tad of seriousness. 

“Well I don’t know, Freddie. You’d have to ask me out, then.” You joked back. 

“And that right there is why we’d never happen. I’d never ask you out because I know what I’d be getting myself into; those poor bastards have no fucking clue.” He said sarcastically. 

“Hey!” 

“Remember dear, they don’t live with you, I do!” 

You playfully punched him on the shoulder as he pulled you into his lap. To outsiders it seemed extremely affectionate, but things between you and Freddie always remained platonic. The two of you were just exceptionally close. But to everyone else, it’d seem like you were dating. 

“But really, Darling. Would you ever date me?”

“Freddie.” You said seriously, wrapping your arms around his neck to make him look at you.‍‍‍ “Why are you asking me this?” 

“Well, look at us. We live together. We’re best friends. I don’t know.” A part of him was jealous of the others, even though he had no romantic attraction to you. He didn’t want to lose you. He just felt given your circumstance, he should have some attraction to you. Why didn’t he? Wouldn’t most people think there was something wrong with him for not trying to pursue his beautiful best friend?

You were silent. 

“We act like this all the time. Couple-ey I mean. I don’t know. Forget I said something.” He tried to push you off his lap. 

“Farrokh. I’m not going to just get up and cause a problem between us. We can’t have any tension in our friendship, Fred. We live in one room together.” You laughed. “Well, I guess I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of us together. But I just don’t know. I don’t know how I feel, do you?” 

“Well, I have feelings for you, but-”

“Not like that.” You said in unison. 

“Exactly. That’s how I feel too.” You smiled. 

“Then we’ll just wait, Y/N. We’ll just be friends like we’ve always been.” He joked. 

“Wait for what?”

“Well,” he tentatively started. “I know all four of you; you, Roger, Brian, and John, fairly well. If what I think is going to happen happens, then you’ll… y‘know. You’ll need me.”

“Need you for what?” 

“Oh hush, Darling.” He spat out. “If you haven’t realized it now, you’re not going to until it happens. Could happen next week, could happen in a year.”

“Can you tell me now?”

“No. Go get ready for your day with John. It’s 11:30 and you’re still in your pajamas for crying out loud!” He said, brushing you off laughing. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John arrived promptly at one, just as you were finishing your makeup. You opted for a white , long sleeve shirt, layering it with your light blue pinafore dress, but you still hadn’t put on your shoes.

“Looking for your ruby slippers?” John said in the doorway, hands full of a bouquet for roses. 

“Ha-ha. Very funny Deaky.” You smiled as you took the flowers, pulling him into a tight embrace. 

“These are gorgeous, you really didn’t have to get me flowers.” You smiled. 

His face filled with a blush as he nervously scratched the back of his neck. “Well I know how much you like them, so I had to get you some.” He smiled, leaning in to kiss you, but you strategically dodged it as you sat to put on your shoes. 

“Do you have plans for us today?” He asked. 

“Nope. Just wanted to be with you.” You smiled. 

“Then I was thinking we could go for a picnic, I packed a basket in my car. We always liked to go for picnics back home.” 

“That sounds wonderful.” You said, grabbing your coat to walk out. “Bye Freddie!” 

“Bye, Love.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The car ride with John felt completely normal, like the two of you had never stopped talking. You sang along to the songs in the car, heard things about his family, really just enjoying the time you had lost over the past year with your best friend. As he pulled into a parking spot at the park, he looked at you smiling. 

“Thanks, Y/N.” He smiled. 

“For what?” 

“For doing something with me today. You have no idea how much I’ve needed this. How much I need you.” He blushed. “Oh, and I didn’t mean that sexually.” He laughed awkwardly. “I just meant that I’ve missed spending time with you.” 

“I know, Deaky. I’ve missed you too.” You smiled back. 

The two of you got out of the car, John taking the blanket as you hooked the basket on your arm, casually laughing and joking as you followed the paved path to get to the pond at the center of the park. 

“Lovely,” John laughed. “You look just like Dorothy.” 

“Well, then you know what we have to do.” You smiled, hooking your arm with his, much like you and Freddie had the first night you met. The Wizard of Oz was yours and John's favourite movie growing up, the two of you constantly pretending you were Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, and always choosing to watch it on movie nights.

The two of you started to skip down the pathway as you sang the title song, once again pretending you were skipping your way to Oz. You quickly reached an open clearing of grass to the side of the pond, turning there with your arms still hooked together as John dropped the blanket on the ground, scooping you in his arms and spinning you around as you ended the song, leaving the two of you laughing as he promptly sat on the ground, your head in his lap. 

He smiled down at you, fanning your hair out on his lap as he said, “Just like old times.”

Not long after, the blanket was laid out and the food divided between the two of you as you comfortably ate your lunch in silence. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After you left that morning with the car, Roger knew he didn’t have many options of what to do that day, so he decided to take the path through the woods behind his apartment building to the park. As he emerged from the woods, he started to walk around the pond, stopped in his tracks by the musical laughter across the pond from where he stood. 

And then he saw it. 

Saw you. 

Being spun around by John, your head in his lap as the two of you enjoyed an afternoon together. He finally understood why John had erupted two times now at the mention of you with someone else; it made his blood boil. He couldn’t bear the thought of someone else being with you. 

Love certainly did crazy things to people. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After you John finished eating your sandwiches and catching up, John looked at you with an immense amount of sincerity in his eyes. 

“Lovely?” 

“Hm?”

“Are we going to talk about last night?” 

You sighed, knowing exactly what he was getting at. “Yeah, I guess we should.” 

“So, like. You kissed me, Y/N.” 

“Yeah, I know.” 

Pause.

“You kissed me back.” You said. 

“Yeah, I know.” He smiled, scratching the back of his neck. “I’d been waiting for that to happen for quite some time now, Lovely.” He admitted. “So are we, you know, together?” 

You closed your eyes, not wanting to beak his heart again. 

“I can’t right now, John. I want to, but I- you know,” 

He rolled his eyes, “I know. You’re in love with Roger and once again I’m second best.” 

“No, John, it’s not like that.” 

“Then what kind of bullshit excuse do you have this time, Y/N?” 

You were taken back by his harshness. It appalled you how forceful he became when the two of you discussed your love life. 

“I’m going abroad, John.” It was silent. “But I don’t want to lose you again. Or Roger, or Brian, or Freddie. I’ll call every day; I have a lot to make up for considering how awful of a friend I was, but I’ve got to make it up to you. I promise I will.”

He seemed to process the information. “Where are you going, Lovely?” 

“Spain. An area on the coast called Valencia. It’s a beautiful place filled with opportunities. I’ll leave there a part of a symphony. It was too good to pass up, you know?” 

“So that’s why you don’t want a boyfriend right now?” 

You nodded. “I think it’d just be too hard, you know, being in another country and all?” 

He nodded a sad smile. “So it had nothing to do with me?” 

“No, Deaky. Nothing to do with you at all.” You giggled. 

“Oh.” He trailed off for a moment, looking around as he gathered his thoughts. “I’m sorry I got mad I just- I, I don’t know.” 

“It’s okay”

“So, even though you’re going away, can I still get my best friend back?” 

“Of course.” You smiled. The two of you laughed and caught up as you ate your lunch, purely just happy to be getting your friendship back. However, in the back of your mind you couldn’t help but think about how he reacted when you discussed your love life of it didn’t involve him. Would he ever be okay with you daring anyone else?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You walked into your dorm smiling, completely content as to how your day with John went, to find Freddie doing some homework at his desk. 

“So, how’d it go?” 

“Good,” You cooed, drawing out the “o’s” in “cooed”. 

“How was John?” 

“Good,” 

“Brian called,” he started. “You’ve got to bring the car back.” 

“Mhm,” You said, only half listening to him as you started to organize. 

“Have you decided, Y/N?” 

“Decided who you like, Roger or John, or if you aren’t going to date one of them at all.” 

“No, I will. You know me Fred. I’m not good at decisions. Just gotta make sure I make the right one, you know?” 

“Y/N,” Freddie scolded, the harshness in his voice catching your attention.  “Did you hear me? I said Brian called. You have to bring the car back. Roger wants his car back.”

“Okay? What’s up with you! I just walked in the door, I’ll bring back the car after I’ve gotten settled for a bit, alright?!” 

“Oh my god, you’re impossible,” he muttered under his breath. “Alright,” he sighed, clearly annoyed, “I wasn’t going to tell you because it isn’t my place to tell you, and I don’t even know if he wants you to know, but Roger saw you and John in the park today. It broke him. He wouldn’t even talk to me on the phone, that’s when Brian called me.” 

“What?!” you exclaimed. “No! He wasn’t supposed to see that!” 

“Well, he did, Y/N. Were you even going to decide to date him anyways, or just fuck around with him like you have been?”

“Freddie-”

“Be honest.”

You sighed, taking a deep breath of air to gather your feelings. “I don’t know. I care for Roger, just as I care for John, but there’s everything with Spain and I consciously can’t make a decision like that right now, Fred.” 

“Okay, then let’s pretend there’s no Spain. Who would you choose?” 

“Roger,” You quietly admitted. 

“Then fix this bloody mess you’ve made, and just enjoy your time left in London.” 

“You’re no good for me. That’s what I want to do, but you know I can’t, Fred.” 

“No, you know you can, but your scared.” He corrected. 

“I just, I know John won’t be happy.” You admitted. 

“Jesus Christ, Y/N,” Freddie sighed. “For once in your life, would you please just fucking let yourself be happy!” 

You winced at his words. “Freddie,” you said, voice trembling, “I can’t when I know it’ll just hurt other people.”

He let out a groan of frustration. “Y/N! You don’t think I’m a little hurt that you’re going to Spain?! You don’t think Roger’s hurt right now because he thinks you’re using him? You don’t think Brian’s hurt because he doesn’t even think you consider him as an option? It happens, Y/N. People get hurt, and sometimes it’s because of you, but you have to learn to be strong enough to trust that they’ll deal with it themselves.  Worry about yourself, Y/N. Make yourself happy and everything else will fall into place.” 

You silently pulled him in for a tight embrace, signaling you understood, and in all honesty you really did. 

It was time to clear this all up, starting with the one who would take the news the worst.  

John. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You can do this,” Freddie encouraged, squeezing your hand as you brought the phone up to your ear. 

“Hello?” 

Breathe in. 

Breathe out. “Hi Deaky.” 

“Oh, hello Lovely. What’s up?” 

“I’ve got to talk to you about something.” 

“Okay?” 

“You know how earlier I said I couldn’t handle a relationship right now with Spain and all?” 

“Mhm?”

“I, um. I think I changed my mind?” 

“Really?”

His optimism killed you. 

“Yeah, and if things were different, maybe we could try things, but you know,” 

“So you’re calling me to tell me you don’t want to date me?” 

“I didn’t mean it like that John, I just wanted to be honest with you.”

“Unbelievable. It’s Roger, isn’t it?” 

“I didn’t say that, I just-”

“Then who is it now, Y/N?” 

You paused. “You know John, I had a hard time deciding who I was going to choose, because yes, I genuinely have feelings for you, but this is exactly why I’ve chosen someone else. Every time there’s mention of me with another guy, you close up, you become rude, assertive, and basically start attacking me. Your jealousy is appalling, John, and with the stress of everything else I just didn’t think I could handle that in a relationship right now.” 

It was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry. I- I didn’t realize.” 

“I know.”

“If you could just give me another chance-“

“I wish I could. But John, I don’t have too much longer before I leave, and I just want to enjoy them. You were right, earlier. I’m in love with Roger. And I love you too, but I’m in love with him, and I’m sorry, but there’s just nothing I can do to change that right now. I wish I could.”

You didn’t actually wish you could; you were just saying that to console him. 

“I understand, Lovely.” 

You didn’t know what to say. 

“This isn’t a no forever for us, John. You never know what’ll happen when I come back, but we’ve just reconnected again, I think we have some rebuilding of our friendship to do before we could have a relationship. We’ve lost the trust, you know? And it’s creating a lot of hurt feelings. You and I both know that isn’t healthy for a relationship.” 

“I know. So, why are you calling.”

“I dunno,” you sighed. “I guess I just wanted to be honest with you with how I was feeling. Wanted to be honest with Roger, too, but I couldn’t do that without telling you first.”

“Well, thanks I guess.” He awkwardly laughed. 

“Yeah. I’ll see you soon?” 

“Sure, bye Y/N.”

You hung up the phone, looking at Freddie for approval. 

“Good job,” he nodded. “So what now?”

“I’m gonna go get my boyfriend back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You parked the car at Roger and Brian’s shared apartment, shocked to the door opening in your face before you could even knock. 

“Oh, hi Bri,” you laughed. “Rog home?”

“Yeah.” He said monotone, his body in the doorframe blocking you from entering. 

“Could I come in?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

“W-why?”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Y/N.” He laughed in disbelief. 

“Brian, it wasn’t what it looked like, I just want to clear things up with Rog.”

“You sure about that? Because this morning you asked me to not tell John you were here. You trying to date both of my mates at the same time?”

“Seriously? I can’t believe you. I’d never, Brian. Like I said, it wasn’t what it looked like with John. I love Roger, that’s why I’m here, to make things right.”

“I think it’s too late, Y/N. I’m sorry. He stormed in earlier saying he was done taking your shit when all he had done was shone you love, and honestly, I can’t blame him. You know how I feel for you, so this is hard for me right now, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Roger’s my best mate, and he’s always going to come before any girl. I’m sorry, Love.”

Your eyes filled with tears as you wrapped yourself in your own arms for some form of consolidation. 

“If what you’re saying is true, Love, just give him time. Roger’s, a hot head; he’s very impulsive. Give him a little time to mull it all over, show some effort. He’ll come around.” 

“Yeah,” You nodded, unable to say more through your tears as you turned away to start your walk home. 

In ending things with John? I’ve lost Roger?

What have I done?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three Weeks Later:

You’d been calling Brian and Roger’s every day, sometimes twice a day, your effort going seemingly unnoticed. November had just started, and you’re really feeling absolutely defeated. You’d gone to a couple of rehearsals with Freddie, but Roger had just ignored you. Pretended as if you didn’t even exist. You knew you deserved it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. You and John grew a bit closer, your friendship mending as you frequently went for drinks or walks together, which was exactly where you wanted it to be. You explained everything that had happened with Roger, and he could see in your eyes how much it upset you, so decided it’d be in his best interest not to press the matter, instead just working on rekindling his relationship with you. 

As you sat in your dorm with Freddie on a cold November night, tears of frustration welled in your eyes as you tapped your pencil, looking out the window in intense concentration, trying (and failing) to think of anything other than Roger. 

“You’re doing it again, Darling.” 

“I’m gonna call again.” 

“You just called ten minutes ago, Y/N.” 

“I know, but I just feel like I could maybe get through this time. Brian didn’t pick up last time.”

“You say that every time.”

“I know.” You said staring at him, both of you knowing fully well what was coming next. 

“Alright, get on with it then.” He said rolling his eyes and stealing back to the novel in his hands. 

You approached the phone in the hallway with a deep breath, hurriedly typing in the numbers you memorized weeks ago. 

Ring. Ring. Ring. 

Just as you were about to hang up, someone picked up the phone. 

“Hell-”

“Roger?”

“Nope, Love. It’s Brian.” 

“Oh. Hi Bri.” 

“Gosh, don’t sound so disappointed to hear me, Y/N.” He laughed. As loyal as he was to Roger, Brian didn’t want to admit that he’d become closer with you over the phone in the last month or so, always picking it up in Rogers absence. There was an unspoken camaraderie between the two of you now; Brian secretly trying to help you weave your way back into Roger’s heart. 

One time, about two weeks ago, you mistakenly ran into Brian at a bar, the two of you sitting and taking for a while, your friendship really budding from there. As you stared into his hazel eyes that night, he assured you that you’d never left Roger’s mind for a second, and that you completely owned his heart, he was just letting his own pride get in the way, which given the situation was completely understandable. You couldn’t help but think that there could possibly be something there with Brian in the future, but if you even dared pursue it now with all the drama surrounding Roger, you were pretty sure both Freddie and Roger would rip your head off. And besides, you had chosen Roger. That was your main focus. 

“You there, Y/N?” He laughed. 

“Oh yeah, yeah, just thinking. You know, Bri, even though this isn’t the way I wanted to get closer, I’m glad that our daily phone calls have created a friendship between the two of us. It’s nice.”

You could feel his smile through the phone. “Oh me too, Sweetheart. But I actually have an insight. Rog was talking about you earlier, saying something along the lines of “his mind won’t let him stop talking to you, so one of these days he was going to have to get the courage to talk to you again,” but I don’t think you should wait anymore. It’s been long enough. So, uh, yeah, what I’m saying, Love, is that you should really talk to Roger tonight. I’m going out with some old friends from high school. Rog is just in his room moping per usual. I was thinking I could leave my key under the doormat for you, and you could just come in and see how it goes from there?”

“You don’t think he’ll be mad?” 

“Eh, he might be at first. But he’ll get over it. I know he’s been dying to see you.” 

You took a deep breath. “Alright then, what time are you leaving?” 

“In ‘bout an hour. I’d say get here in an hour and a half so we can make sure he doesn’t leave. Don’t think he will though, but again, just to make sure.” 

“Thanks Bri, it really means a lot.” 

“Of course, anything to help.” He smiled. 

“Wish me luck.” 

You rushed back to your room, putting on the outfit, the fur coat, and necklace Roger have you, curling the bottoms of your hair and doing your makeup. As you scrambled around the room to find shoes, since you still had the fifteen minute walk to their apartment, Freddie screamed, “Jesus Christ, what the hell are you doing?!?” 

“I’m going to get Roger back!” You exclaimed. 

“Oh lord, help us.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On your walk over you gathered your thoughts. 

What do I say?

How do I say it?

Ultimately, you decided to just be authentic, convey what you truly mean and feel. Then it’ll all work itself out. You shakily approached the door, fumbling under the doormat as you grasped Brian’s key, quietly sticking it into the doorknob. 

Here goes nothing. 

You walked into the dimly lit apartment, setting your bag and shoes on the shoe rack as you quietly made your way to Roger’s room, the door almost completely shut. You peeled inside to find him turned away from you, and it appeared that he was asleep in his bed, the only light being provided from the moon in the window across from his face. You quietly pushed the door open, unsure of how to approach the situation. 

Do I check if he’s awake?

Just start talking?

“Y/N,” an internal voice told you. “Just convey your thoughts and emotions.” 

And like a light bulb if hit you, and so you started singing. 

“Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me tonight

Are you sorry we drifted apart

Does your memory stray to a bright summer day

When I held you and called you sweetheart?”

You saw him stir; he’d been awake the whole time. He knew it was you. With your heart racing you walked to the other side of the bed to see his face as you continued your song. 

“Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare

Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there

Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again

Tell me dear are you lonesome tonight?”

You crouched down to the side of the bed as you finished, Roger sitting up and taking your hand in his. A couple of tears ran down your cheeks, partially from nerves, also from the expression of what you just had conveyed to him. 

How you conveyed it to him. 

In a way you never had before.  

It almost felt natural, but it scared you. You were just proud that you shared that vulnerability with him. 

“I told you you could sing.” He softly said, very little tone to his voice. 

“That’s really the first thing you say to me, after all these weeks?” you laughed, tears still flowing down your face. 

“I didn’t know what to say, Y/N.” He admitted. “I’m sorry. Can -can I hug you? Don’t wanna make it awkward or anything, but you’re crying and all, and that was so beautiful-” he rambled from his nerves. 

“You can always hug me, Roger.” You smiled, and he pulled you in for a warm embrace. You smelled his musky, almost vanilla like smell, it engulfed him just as it did you as soon as you were wrapped in his arms. 

It smelled like home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N- FINALLY ITS OUT!!!! Alright guys, so the next discussion is SUPER IMPORTANT, so next chapter is gonna probably be released soon and be like maybe a 6b, just cuz it’s short, but is necessary to the plot. I hope you liked this!!! Lemme know if you wanna be added to my taglist. Thank you for being patient. ♥️-C

Taglist: @yourlocalmusicalprostitute​ , @bismillahnah​ , @deakysmisfire​ , @queer-heart-attack​ , @everything-you-dont-wanna-be​ , @mercurycrowley​ , @ikbenplant​ , @xcdelilahxc​ , @chekovs-davy-jones-wig​ , @laedymoon​ , @manicpixydreamgirl​ , @jaylikesguavass​ , @brianskindofcheese​ , @anincurablefangirl​ ,  @jennyggggrrr​ , @delightfullynlove​ , @johndeaconshands​ , @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​ ,

[cat-in-da-wall]

roisa tgp au

ft. rose as eleanor & luisa as chidi

below the cut is a little rose solano/luisa alver in a the good place au!

As Rose’s eyes opened, she took a look around, the strange room earning a sense of unease. A strange man stood by the opened doorway, with a smile.

“Clara Ruvelle?” He asked, voice soft, and yet firm. “Come on in.” Her sense of security heightened, but years of practice ensured it wouldn’t show. However this man knew her name, she was going to find out why, and whether or not she did it the nice way, well, that depended wholly on him.

She stood up anyways, plastering on her signature soft smile, one which had charmed one too many men she had no interest in— but it worked, and that was all that mattered, for he flashed a smile back.

Following him into the room, her eyes flickered from corner to corner, trying to make sense of all of this. Had she been kidnapped? She knew it hadn’t been a good idea to visit a bar at her lowest, nothing good would come of it. She chided herself for once again being an idiot when she had everything at stake. She carefully sat down on the grey-ish chair, carefully watching the man sit down under the false pretense of staring at the plant.

The plant was, however, not interested. But it was all she could focus on, in this boring office room, where everything was yellow, grey or somewhere in between. Not that he was judging his choices, just that, well, the office was bland.

“You, Clara Ruvelle, are dead.” He said, his eyes displaying a sliver of sympathy and perhaps feeling sorry, but she shoved those thoughts aside, as she attempted to process this.

At first, many waves of snickers and scoffs echoed within her mind, believing the man was lying and she had just been kidnapped. It was probably all a mind game, right? She had so much more to do, she couldn’t have just died, could she? But then, the scoffs quieted down, and she realized that, well, it could be very possible she had died.

A hint of panic, just the slightest, passed through her, and her heartbeat got louder, was she really dead? How could she be? What happened? How could she have let herself be so careless? How was she going to run her empire now? She had so much more she wanted to do, so many more empires to corrupt and take over, many more idiots to seduce— but there was nothing she could really do now, except to make the best of the world she was in. Could you run a crime business in the afterlife?

“Cool.” Her voice, cool and calm, echoed, followed by a nod, maybe a small smile, as she fixated on the man in front of her.

A pause, an awkward one, as she took a second of hesitation to think, maybe rid the awkward air between them.

“How did I die?” She asked, her voice a little bit louder than she’d hoped.

“Are you sure you want to know?” He asked, resting his hands on the table between them.

“I’m sure.” 

“Well, you were sleeping in the basement bedroom of one Lily Keller when her mother left the stove on by accident, and the whole house burned down.” A brief moment of silence, again— but this time it wasn’t just her, the man seemed to be thinking as well, or perhaps he was just judging her. Either way, she took the silence as a gift.

“Well.” She probably should’ve asked about the mom, whether or not Mrs. Keller made it out in time, but to be frank, she didn’t quite care, and there was no use pretending to care— she was dead after all.

“We erase traumatic memories of the death for an easy transition into the afterlife.” He explained, sitting back a little as an easy smile surfaced, as if attempting to calm her.

“So, where exactly am I?” She asked, her finger pointing up for a second, then down. She assumed the latter, obviously, I mean, she had killed one too many people by accident, and her business wasn’t exactly cruelty-free in her ways of gaining. 

“Not many people get in, but you, Clara Ruvelle, are in the Good Place.” He said, leaning back in a little, his hands resting on the table, fingers intertwined with one another.

“Wow.” Was all she could manage to say at the moment, a smirk right below the surface. And perhaps following it, panic? Was she supposed to be here? Had somebody made a mistake? After all, textbook sociopath or not, she had done some pretty bad things, put as the man across from her rose, she stood up to her own two feet, flattening out her red dress.

“Come on, Clara, let me show you around.”

The tour around had been pretty boring, if you asked her. She’d probably learned more about the mechanics of the place than where she could go to get food, meet people, or purchase a sweet snack. Nonetheless, it was a nice way to pass the endless time that she’d have to spend in this small town variation of heaven.

They’d been walking for what seemed like a century already, around the town where everybody was arm in arm with someone else, and offering her a friendly smile. To be frank, her facial muscles had never been more tired, even when she had to speak for hours and hours. It was all just so overwhelmingly sunshine-y.

“So, who’s in the Bad Place, that would shock me?” She asked, trying to bring up conversation as her heels clicked against the little paved road in the middle of nowhere.

“Uh, well, Mozart, Picasso, Elvis, basically every artist ever, uh, ever U.S. president except Lincoln.” He replied, hands in his pockets.

“That sounds about right.” She responded. “What about Florence Nightingale?”

“That was close, but, no, she didn’t make it.” He spoke. Her heartbeat started to speed up as he spoke, and she panicked. If even such a woman like that wasn’t here, why on earth was she here? Well, obviously her terrible actions must’ve brought good impacts onto the lives of others, and from her countless terrible actions, she swayed herself into believing so.

A moment of silence hung between them as she searched for the right words that wouldn’t completely destroy her image.

“Wow, all those amazing people, down there, it just seems hard to believe.”

“Again, it’s an incredibly selective system. Most people don’t make it here. But you, a lawyer who got innocent people off death row, you’re special, Clara.”

What? She prayed she’d heard wrong, but there was no doubt what she was hearing. His hands were on her shoulders now, and if she was anybody else, she would’ve crumbled apart under the guise of the lies. But she didn’t.

Instead, she continued to smile, and despite the momentary falter, he bought it.

“And by the way,” He continued, removing his hands from her shoulder. “Welcome to your new home!” The man said, as they approached two houses near the edge of town. Her eyes flickered from the larger house to the tiny house beside it, trying to figure out which one would be more convenient for her to live in, maybe get to know in the span of the endless years she’d have to spend here with whoever this soulmate was.

It was eerily quiet, she was used to the bustling, busy cities and the busier underground networks which she frequented. The houses stood on a grass field, almost what she would’ve called in the middle of nowhere, if they hadn’t just come from the small town right beside it.

The small house was multicoloured, a sort of primary colour scheme, with the exception of the porcelain white that glazed the rooftop, a nice change that made the house look less… kid’s classroom -esque, more actual house.

You see, in the Good Place, every person gets to live in a home that perfectly matches his or her true essence.” He said, gesturing towards the house that was becoming more and more horrific to look at by the moment.

“Cool.” She replied. “So, I guess that’s why my house, for example, is this adorable little cottage, whereas other people have homes that are bigger, like that one.”

And she was referring to the house beside hers, a large house, which looked as if it could fit the smaller house inside at least seventeen times. Pearly silver swirls surrounded the rice coloured marble walls, the translucent glass panes showing but the tiniest corners of the house, alluring but not exposing— a large fountain in the front to top it off, as if being the fanciest house in the area wasn’t enough.

“Exactly. Oh, I’m so happy you get it.” He replied, grinning.

As she entered, she prayed that the inside was nothing like its horrendous outside. She almost jumped, hands balling into fists as she struggled to understand why anybody on earth would live in such a house.

The walls were decorated in clown paintings, and there was an obvious lack of stairs. But, though it was small, the little sections inside it acted like there was more to explore, and for her, it was enough. It wasn’t like she’d ever want to live in a mansion, especially not the huge one next door where, if she lived it in, she feared the skeletons in her closet would lay behind every door.

“As you can see,” He continued, leading her inside. “The interior has been decorated just as you like it, in the Icelandic primitive style.” A second of silence, before he continued to speak, yet again. “Oh, oh, and uh, of course, you love clowns, so…”

Well, at least that explained the odd, horrible, paintings, she thought.

“I do love clowns.” She replied, a light chuckle following.

“Now,” He said, turning her attention towards the opposite area of the house. “Let me show you the video system here.”

She looked at the giant board in front of her, with her name in the centre and branches with countless green words on the end of them, signifying good deeds.

“You can review everything that happened in your life from your point of view.”

He tapped on one of the green words, and a video-style footage popped up, as she watched, curious.

“This is your Human Rights mission to the Ukraine.” He said, gesturing at the shaky footage. “I mean, you got a ton of points for that one. It really put you over the top.”

She didn’t sweat, ever, except during sex. But, if she could, she would’ve been. This was not what she predicted the afterlife would be like, at all. She continued to watch the footage, with a smile, as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Luisa, come on in.” He said, as a stranger with the most gorgeous chocolate brown locks and the sweetest hazelnut honey eyes, with storms behind them, entered, dressed in a flannel blouse and trousers.

“Clara?” The girl who she presumed was Luisa, spoke. “I’m Luisa Alver, and you are my soulmate.”

The man in the suit clapped, with a grin. As if he was the one that set up a tinder match that just succeeded, or got his end of the pay on a drug deal.

“Cool!” She said, not sure how to address the gorgeous woman she’d just met— especially as the sparks flew between them and she struggled to keep her cool.

Alas, she went in for a hug, as the stranger’s arms around hers felt like home, the honey almond shampoo scent rich in her hair as it lapped around the nook of her neck, and they hugged like they were making up for all the lost time that could’ve been theirs.

“Now, excuse me, I have other people to attend to.” The man in the suit exited the house quietly, as they continued to embrace.

He left, shutting the door behind him, as the two sat down on the little beige couch-bench seating.

“So, Luisa, where are you from?” She asked, looking into her soulmate’s eyes with the mask of excitedness.

“I was born in a nice hospital, one my father probably paid for, but we moved many times, but eventually settled down in Miami as a doctor.” She grinned, as if excited she finally had someone to talk to. “What about you?”

Quick, she panicked, as she knew she couldn’t tell this lovely stranger about the whole crime lord in the making thing.

“Uh, well, I was born in Stowe, Vermont. And then I lived there for as long as I can remember.” She said, nervously watching her soulmate. Had she messed up already? She started to panic, feeling nervous in a way she hadn’t been for a long, long time, until those brown eyes smiled back at her, the only response she needed.

Her cold hands were taken into the warm ones of the woman across her, as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Clara, I’ve spent so much of my life alone, hoping to share moments with someone. And now, I finally have someone to share them with, as soul mates. It’s overwhelming.” Luisa beamed, the puppy dog smile making her swallow, as she realized she couldn’t lie any longer.

“Luisa. You’ll stand by my side no matter what, right?” She asked, keeping her hands firmly in her soul mate’s.

“Of course.” Her soul mate responded, looking a little confused.

“Promise me.” She said. Luisa looked like the type that would keep spoken promises, no matter what, right? “Say, ‘I promise I will never betray you for any reason.’”

Luisa put her hand on her chest, as if making a genuine and solemn swear, as if they were nine again. “Clara, I swear, that I will never say or do anything to cause you any harm.”

“Good.” Clara responded, a smile emerging on her face. Partly because she finally had someone she didn’t have to lie to, but also someone who already swore they’d never hurt her “Because those aren’t my memories. I wasn’t a lawyer,” She continued, shaking her head. “I never went to the Ukraine. I hate clowns.”

She took a moment of silence, or perhaps it was hesitation. “There’s been a big mistake. I’m not supposed to be here.” She puts her best ‘surprise!’ face, jazz hands and all.

The silence hung between them as Luisa’s face went through a bajillion different expressions, from gaping mouth to perpetually confused eyebrows.

Then she spoke with that soft, sweet, voice of hers. “Wait, what?”

[katsukisbeatingheart]

if you would

for someone so smart he's kind of an idiot

word count: 2939

ao3

pt. 1!

“Bakugo—”

You breathed his name across your lips without even stopping to think first. Right on cue, as though he sensed you coming long before you’d even thought of calling out, the boy in question dropped whatever one-sided conversation with whoever, to cut around the corner and disappear into the bustling hallway.

It had been like this for what felt like weeks; one minute he was there, and the next—he was gone. The dance felt almost routine now, but you couldn’t say you were very fond of the tune in the first place. Keeping up with him was like trying to catch the smoke twisting out from a dying candle with your bare hands, and you were growing sick of getting burnt.

In all actuality, it had been a little over a week and a half since Bakugo spilled his guts, and he had been as sharp as ever. He was extra clipped with his classmates, and he downright refused to even look at you. You noted that the morning had already been cold to begin with, and as you watched him walk away, the more frigid it grew.

You let the flow of the crowd push you closer to your classroom, and once you neared it, you recognized the ‘whoever’ that had been prating to Bakugo, to be none other than Kirishima. The boy looked at you with the sweetest empathetic smile he could the moment he saw you. You already knew what was coming before he even asked, and to be honest you weren’t sure if you would even have an answer.

“You okay?”

There. There it is.

You’d been silently asking yourself that exact question—every night when you went to bed, every morning when you woke up, every afternoon when you went to lunch and spotted a bottle of hot sauce—and you still hadn’t come to any sort of conclusion. If anything you continually lied to yourself, fallaciously contented to reigning in your emotions despite putting up with rejections day after day, after day, after day.

Regardless, you nodded slowly, eyes glued to the spot Bakugo disappeared behind.

Suddenly you felt like you couldn’t lie anymore.

You gradually began to shake your head the more you stared.

“No… not really,” you sighed, “…but I guess this isn’t something that can be helped right now,” you gestured lamely, not sure what to say otherwise. You and Kirishima were good friends, you believed; you just weren’t sure how much Katsuki had revealed to him, and thus you didn’t know how much you should be saying either. Common courtesy to consider.

Though, if you knew Katsuki like you thought you did, he probably hadn’t said anything at all.

Eijirou exhaled harshly and thumped the back of his head against the wall he had been leaning on. As if reading your mind, his next words confirmed your previous suspicions.

“He hasn’t exactly said what happened. But based on his sour mood—I mean, more so than the usual—it didn’t go well.” He looked at you with a tentatively raised brow, “What exactly happened with you two?”

The uniform buttoned to your neck suddenly felt much tighter and your fingers flew to the collar to tug a little uncertainly.

“Just…” you decided the fewer details, the better, “a little misunderstanding.” Kirishima nodded at that, obviously not wanting to press it any further than you were comfortable.

He scratched at the back of his neck, clicking his tongue in dismay. “Not too difficult with him, really. And I wouldn’t ever call them little.” You snorted.

“Yeah no kidding… It’s just, he’s so stubborn and hot-headed, he won’t even give me the chance to clear things up.”

He paused at that, tapping his fingers to his chin before speaking. “You know, I don’t normally think it’s very cool to provoke people without a good reason—but it might not be the worst idea to fight fire with fire here,” Kirishima offered carefully. He knew he should say something, only he didn’t know what—he was sure you could figure what to do with that ambiguous bit of advice.

As he watched you for a reaction, he nearly recoiled in surprise when your face gradually began to light up. Your eyes suddenly sparkled with a new curious resolve, and Eijiro worried he might’ve just made a horrible mistake.

“Yeah…” You respired. “Yeah, yeah, yeah! That’s not a bad idea, Kiri. Thanks!” Patting his shoulder with a split second, brand new perspective, you bounded into the classroom—leaving Kirishima nervous about what he’d just done, and flustered over the new nickname.

Just after lunch, Mr. Aizawa had led his students to Gym Gamma, dressed in their P.E. uniforms and ready to begin training. Nobody knew what they were to be doing yet, but there was never a dull moment during afternoon classes.

You had been notably silent since this morning, and nobody could figure out what was wrong. Not for a lack of trying, though. After talking with Kirishima, you’d hurriedly taken your seat by the window, setting to work in silent deliberation.

Your classmates had noticed the change, and honestly your general disposition had a way of commanding the room—needless to say that left them a little disconcerted. Your friends were naturally concerned and confused, but they couldn’t do anything about it until the next recess.

Mina approached you first, and was immediately put off by your normally cheerful smile, now suddenly—well—off-putting. It had an eerie, devious glint that she was fairly certain was not directed at her, thank goodness. She managed to make some small conversation, which was unlike her usual boisterous self.

In the end, she was too scared to actually ask what was wrong with you.

Still, everyone was abuzz, as per usual, playing ping pong with ideas about what could happen with the rest of their day. They set aside the odd exchange of arguably the two most charismatic characters in class, and settled down to focus, even if it turned out to be simple, basic training.

“Alright. Today we are going to be focusing on simple, basic training.”

There was an exchange of glances, and you snickered to yourself. Mr. Aizawa’s eyes flashed and his hair flew upward, dropping back to his shoulders once there was silence. He continued:

“First, we will begin with warm-ups using the equipment we have provided by the school. Next, we’ll move on to combat. You will be separated into pairs in order to fine-tune your mobility, and physicality. Please avoid using your quirks during each of these exercises, as this is a chance to hone your fundamental skills.”

'Such normal school activities,’ you practically heard the class think.

The man finished with an indifferent drawl that contrasted the sharpness of his eyes. “Let’s go.”

–

The punching bag you had been watching from your place on the treadmill had taken quite a few harsh jabs from the boy behind it. You almost sneered, regarding how he was as adroit as ever—though why anyone would think he wouldn’t be, was absolutely ridiculous, you realized.

If anything, Bakugo was at the top of his game lately, and you were silently grateful he was channeling his anger into a healthy outlet—even if he was currently running from his problems with you.

Baby steps.

You stared a second more, screwing your face into one of decided determination. Pressing the arrows on the machine beneath you, you sped up, your heartbeat keeping near perfect time with the music thumping through your earbud. Kyoka, jogging along to your left and sharing your music, glanced at you peculiarly. She rolled her eyes after realizing why the sudden change, and all but doubled over laughing. How very typical of you two.

After a solid run with Jirou, you leapt off of the belt, telling her you were going to take a whack at the tear drop shaped bag on the other end of the room. She nodded and clicked her earjack from your adapter, and plugged it into her own phone. You gave her a little wave, and strutted across the gym floor, popping your earbuds fully in.

You sank into your own headspace, rolling to the balls of your feet when you stopped in front of the little black bag. Stretching your fingers as high as they could go, you let your limbs crackle. Your feet jumped into position, and you were lost in each thwack you delivered to the leather.

You didn’t hold back, and let your legs snap up in to some beautiful roundhouse kicks—if you’d say so yourself—in between hard raps of your knuckles.

Despite your focus, you could feel two beady little red eyes trained on your back. More than anything else, that pushed you even further.

You were bitter and didn’t mind giving a bit of a show.

Before you knew it, your solo session was over, and Eraserhead had called everyone—sweaty and pumped up—back to the center of the gym’s ground level.

“Next. Pairs.”

You’d realized sullenly that you’d only succeeded in working yourself up during your warm up—and not in a good way. That pre-workout was supposed to let off a little steam, only now you felt swelled to bursting. Your anger had reached well beyond the point of boiling. Chewing the inside of your lip, you pitied the person who’d be partnered up with you.

“—and Bakugo.”

Your attention perked embarrassingly quickly at his name. You’d zoned out and now cautiously registered the eyes glancing at you uncomfortably, pitifully, teasingly.

It took everything in you to wrestle a minacious grin off of your face.

Perfect.

You wondered if this was fate, in the shape of Mr. Aizawa messing with you. Maybe you were just that lucky. The angry huff and murderous slink in Katsuki’s walk disclosed just how real and messy this was about to get, and you couldn’t tell if the bubbling in the pit of your stomach was from excitement, or nerves.

–

You parried with your right, circling his forearm to take a grip just below his elbow. It was much bigger than you had anticipated, especially as he flexed against your straining fingers—but you were too willful to let that intimidate you.

Your limbs shook, and just when you felt like he might get the better of you, your left knee pulled into his torso, landing a nauseating blow to his center of balance. Firmly planted to the ground, your right foot struck outward, sweeping his legs out from under him. In a split second, he was on the ground, staring up at you as though he hadn’t expected this—when really, he knew he should’ve. After the initial shock wore off—rather quickly, as he was never one to stay down while he could still breathe—he moved. Though you were acting fast, he reacted faster.

He shoved himself off of the ground and leapt at you, barely containing a full on roar. You didn’t hold back, and growled with all of the pent-up frustration you had been feeling the past few weeks. Once again in another quick moment, you tackled him, bringing him with you as you pulled into a somersault.

You tumbled and rolled to a stop, atop the now heaving boy, his chest rising and falling beneath you. You pressed your fingers and then palm of your left between his pecs, taking gulps of much needed air. Lolling your head backward, your nose stinging with uneven breaths, you shut your eyes and drank in the small victory.

Katsuki said nothing—even as you straddled him—taking the moment to catch his breath. You felt the heat at your already burning thigh muscles warm, though, and you drew your attention back to his face. He was glaring at you again, and because he looked at you down his nose, you couldn’t tell whether the red in his cheeks was from exhaustion, or embarrassment.

“Bakugo Katsuki,” you murmured, maintaining the overwhelming preeminence you’d shown, even at so low a tone.

'Anger enunciating,’ he mused. Bakugo knew better than to open his mouth when he heard you say his name like that.

“Do you have any idea—any clue—how awful I’ve felt this entire week and a half?” You articulated sharply. “I have cried myself to sleep more this week than the month’s quota and I have had enough.”

At this, Bakugo’s eyes snapped open, flicking to your face with a sense of righteous anger. You were the one who turned him down; why should he have to listen to this?

He leaned forward, mouth agape and ready to bark at you for saying something like that to him after all that had happened, when you shoved your right index finger to his lips.

Storms could be raging the roof right off their heads, and Katsuki was sure none of that would matter right now. You were both mad, and it made him even angrier to silently admit to himself that you had him wrapped tightly around that little finger. He froze, positively transfixed more in this moment than he previously had ever been in his life, he was sure of it.

“You will let me finish and you will listen to me, Bakugo Katsuki.”

He stared unblinkingly, aghast at your unusual brusqueness. Still, he wouldn’t dare say anything now.

“You’ve ignored and shut me down at every turn and gone to great lengths to avoid me altogether—all because you’re set on pitying yourself over nothing.”

The boy pulled his eyebrows together, now quite unsure of himself and where this was going.

“Katsuki Bakugo, I love you,” you snarled. “I have been in love with you for months now and you didn’t even spare me three seconds before you let your pride get ahead of you.” A flush of emotions flooded his expression. Shock, confusion, frustration; it was overwhelming to watch. This time you were sure the furious blush was embarrassment as he finally gave a childish huff, and looked away from you with a small ’tch’.

His words were small, set under his breath, but they made you feel a little more weightless. “Why didn’t you just say so, dumbass?”

Your shoulders slumped in relief and you weren’t sure how it was possible that you were vexed and exultant at the same time.

“Did you ever consider that I was, I don’t know, maybe flustered? Insecure?”

You paused to fling your hands around you, trying to gather your thoughts before you spoke.

“Just try and imagine,” you began with a deliberate press to his skin,“ what it’s like to find out that the guy you’d been harboring a crush for—he’s a grumpy, hand grenade of a person—tells you that he wants to go out with you—and that he likes you—when you’d spent months cowering away from your feelings yourself.”

“I’d say they’re a fucking idiot.”

Your face contorted into one of absolute frustration, though you couldn’t help but get lost in the roguish glint now occupying his eyes.

You let yourself fall forward, dropping your forehead to his chest.

“Katsuki,” you drawled in a puerile whine. Without missing a beat, an equally vexatious grin slipped up your lips. “You still got scared and wouldn’t let me get a single word in.”

Katsuki’s cheeks colored a darker red and he huffed the huff of a besmirched bull. His menacing glare was not so menacing anymore, knowing he was putting on a show of pride.

“I was not scared,” he said, recognizing how much he actually had turned tail and run any time you ever came near. Considering even before this entire ridiculous mess. “I don’t waste my time with people who aren’t going to give it their all.”

“You’re ridiculous. And you’ve already used that line.”

“Well it’s my fuckin’ line and I can do whatever the hell I want with it.”

“Be a little more original!”

Katsuki licked his lip tantalizingly, briefly biting the inside for good measure.

“What’re you gonna do about it?”

He had languorously inched upward, raising a self-satisfied smirk to your leveled, smoldering eyes. The challenge slipped off of his tongue like a second language, and you were quick to pick it up.

You felt every shift, every peel of the draggled uniform you wore, as your head angled to his. Every inch of your skin gravitated to him and you took note of the way you melded with him so easily.

You were chest to chest. A thunderous roar of blood pounded in your ears and you were positive he must’ve heard the sound of your beating heart. Definitely felt it.

You were close, so, so close and then—

You grabbed his shoulders, leaping into a full back-spring right off of your boyfriend.

’Boyfriend. Huh.’

You felt like a giddy child.

With a pivot of your heel, you dropped into a street stance—open hands and a shifting weight that very clearly said ’come and get it’, no matter how harmless you tried to look.

“Don’t think I didn’t see what you were doing with that punching bag—nobody starts with that many roundhouse kicks just for a warm up,” he growled lowly, remembering the delectably provocative view he’d had. Katsuki Bakugo had to fight away the fantasies of you in his head, and for once he was more than delighted to admit he was losing.

“You’re going to have to earn it,” you teased.

He rushed forward, quite ready and willing to take very particular frustrations out on you.