#HIS BOSS BATTLE HAS TEARS RUNNING DOWN MY FACE

[geppettospuppet]

brothers in another universe

i cant be the only one who thought this when they saw romeo for the first time

[lizard-on-a-window-pane]

Exposed

pairing: Miguel O'Hara x reader summary: You come back from a mission with a tear in your suit. Miguel's reaction to what he sees underneath surprises you in the best way. tags / warnings: smut (minors do not interact!), p in v, fem reader, sassy spider-reader word count: 2.3k

You were coming back from a successful mission. Anomaly eliminated. No casualties. Well, except your spider-suit. An annoyingly claw-y bad guy had swiped at you from behind, and even though you’d just managed to dodge his attack, he’d nicked your suit and sliced a long strip of it down your side, from your back all the way down to the top of your thigh. Half your ass cheek was exposed, but you were so exhausted it was beyond you to care. You’d be suit-free and in bed soon enough. You just had to report in to Miguel first. He’d ordered you to because this had been a “potentially significant anomaly.” There seemed to be more and more of those recently. And he seemed to be assigning them mostly to you. You didn’t know of any other spiders that had to report to him personally after missions so often. 

You could feel the cold on your lower back as you walked up to his HQ platform, it slowly descending in front of you. You hop up as soon as it’s low enough, wasting no time. Miguel’s back is to you as he watches what seems like a million screens at once.

“Mission successful, spider-boss.” “Don’t call me that.” You knew he hated that nickname. That’s why you kept using it. 

“You prefer spider-captain? Spider-chief? Oooh maybe spider-king? No, that doesn’t sound right. Aren’t spiders more matriarchal anyway? You could be spider-queen if you want. Has a bit of a bite to it.” “Y/N,” he deadpans. “Hm?” “Shut up.” “Yes, sir, spider-queen!” 

He finally turns around to look at you, exasperation all over his chiseled features. You catch the end of his eye roll. Knowing engaging will only get more out of you, he opts to go straight to business. “You eliminated the anomaly?” “Yup.”

“Cleaned up the contamination afterward?” “Like the top-class interdimensional janitor that I am.”

“Anything unusual?” “Well, there was this big scary dude with giant claws that was only ever black and white when the rest of the world was especially colorful. Soo that was weird.” “I mean other than the exact reason I sent you there in the first place.” He runs his hand over his face, the other on his hip, looking sassier than he probably intended. “Oh! Then no.” 

You come over to his desk, leaning on it.

“And you’re alright? No injuries or anything?” In the back of your mind, you notice his voice softening as he asks you this. 

“I’m good. More than I can say for my suit though,” you laugh. You lift from the desk, turning slightly, twisting to look at the tear, exposing it to Miguel. “Why’s it called ‘tearing someone a new one,’ huh? Doesn’t make any sense. I need a new one specifically because this one’s torn.” 

You don’t expect him to respond to your stupid question, but when you look up at Miguel, the look on his face is more than unexpected. His eyebrows are shot up, his mouth the slightest bit ajar, his eyes fixed intently on your exposed ass. 

For once, you have no idea what to say. Why was he looking at you like that? Were you in trouble? Just because this was a bit inappropriate? I mean, c’mon, you were all spider-people; you’d all had your fair share of injuries that needed patching up and the like. It felt like a big sports team: bodies rendered just bodies by the heat of battle. Of course, you’d never admit to anyone out loud that while that was true for all the other spiders in your eyes, Miguel was the sole exception. His body could never be just a body. It was too imposing… too striking… too beautiful. You caught yourself staring at him much more often than you liked. Always talked incessantly when he was around to keep yourself distracted and from looking like an idiot. Well, you still looked like an idiot after everything you said, but you were an idiot on your own terms, usually getting some laughs while you were at it. 

“Miguel?” You come up with nothing else. 

Your voice snaps him out of his trance. His eyes shoot up to your face, and he looks — what is that? you’d never seen that look on Miguel O’Hara… was it… flustered?

“Um, yes, uh, right. Your suit,” he’s looking around at his screens again, trying to look busy but you can tell his gaze isn’t actually taking in any of the images. “We’ll get you a new one.” 

The tension lessened and, more importantly, his eyes no longer on you give you back a bit of your confidence. 

“You in charge of tailoring too? You really gotta learn to delegate, spider-boss.” He doesn’t say anything. Not even with you specifically trying to push his buttons with the nickname. “Okayy…” you elongate. “So, can I go now?”

He just grunts, not sparing another look toward you.

You start walking back across the platform but remember a detail of the mission you had wanted to tell him before making it too far. 

“Oh, there was this thing with my watch —“ you start, but all words get caught in your throat when you see Miguel as you turn back toward him. He’s staring at you like a viscous predator just about to pounce. His chin is down but his eyes are on you, even darker than usual and penetrating. You can tell by the rise and fall of his ridiculously broad chest that his breathing is a bit labored. He’d clearly been looking lower than your face level, as his eyes shoot up to yours when you look at him.

Neither of you say anything for what feels like the longest, heaviest moment of your life so far. Then, in what feels like the quickest, he’s closed the distance between you, coming to a stop just in front of you, closer than he’s ever been to you before.

He’s towering over you. Any movement forward at all and you’d be touching. You’re sure he can feel your heavy breathing as you look up at him. You can feel his.  

He looks like he wants to murder you. But Miguel O’Hara has a way of encoding all emotions into shades of anger and aggression. And you’ve watched him closely enough for long enough to sometimes think you have an idea of what lies beneath. You haven’t cracked it completely, but you certainly see shades of gray where others see black and white. 

The stakes have never been quite this high for your getting it wrong, but hoping beyond hope that you know what he actually wants, you push your face the fraction of a distance to his, crashing your lips together. 

From the moment they graze, his hands are on you, groping your exposed ass with one, pulling you into him with the other. He devours your mouth, so feral you even worry for a split second about his fangs coming out. You’re so consumed by him you probably wouldn’t mind if they did.

Not breaking apart from you, Miguel takes the few steps back to his desk, dragging you with him. When the backs of his thighs come up to the desk, he flips you around so that you’re pushed up against it. You’re caged between it and his broad body as his hands continue exploring your body, his tongue continues exploring your mouth. 

At this point you can feel the huge bulge between his legs pressing against you, his spider-suit doing nothing to hide it, doing little to separate you from it. 

When his mouth leaves yours, dragging hungrily down to your jaw and neck, you whine his name. He groans in response, and you feel the vibrations where your chests are flush.

Taking the opportunity to do something you’d often dreamed of, you lift your hand and run it through his thick hair. His moans get louder, and you take it as a sign scratch and tug harder. 

You know you didn’t pull strongly enough to move him if he didn’t want to be moved, but he pops off from where he’s sucking on your neck and looks into your eyes. He gives you a harsh kiss then says simply, “Turn around.” You do. He bends you over his desk.

You feel his hands on your hips first then they squeeze your ass hard. He slaps your exposed cheek, and you jump at the sudden sensation. 

“Tell me if I’m too rough,” he says, voice low. 

You nod and confess, “I want it rough, Miguel. Please.” “Fuuck, chula. You drive me crazy.” You just whimper in response. 

He spanks you again then tears your suit further, exposing your entire ass and your by now soaked cunt. “You walk in here with half your ass out like it’s nothing. Like you can show me what I spend my nights imagining and expect me not to do anything about it.” He slaps your other ass cheek. “You’re soaked, mami. You wanted this as badly as I did?” You nod desperately. “Tell me what you wanted.” “Fuck, Miguel. You. I wanted you.” 

“You want me to fuck you?” You can already feel him messing with his suit. 

“Yes, fuck, please; please fuck me.” When the head of his cock touches your cunt, your entire body shudders with anticipation. He pushes in forcefully, your wetness enough for him to start sliding in. But he’s big. Really big. As he keeps pushing, you feel a bit of a sting. When he hears you hiss, he slows his entrance but doesn’t stop entirely. “Relax, nena,” he coos. His hands massage your hips. “Breathe, baby.” You take a long inhale, and by the time you’re exhaling, you feel him finally bottom out. “Eso, mi amor. Just like that. Fuck, you feel incredible.” “Migueel,” you whine. “Yeah, baby, I got you.” His hands tighten on your hips as he slowly drags his cock back out until only his tip is inside. You’d never felt so empty. Then he pushes back in, faster than the first time. And again. And again. 

Miguel’s pace quickens probably a bit faster than you’re ready for, but you love the intensity of the sensations. You love the feeling of him deep inside you, of him desperate to be deeper. You start rocking back in time with his thrusts, slamming your ass onto him. 

“Fuuuck.” His voice is gravel. One of his powerful hands comes to your shoulder to help pull and push you at his now brutal rhythm. He fucks you with a stamina only possible for a superhuman. You’re sure you wouldn’t be able to take it if you weren’t one yourself.

The large room echoes your slapping skin, your yells and moans as he spears into you repeatedly.

Your thighs tighten as you start nearing your climax. Your cunt starts squeezing tighter. “Fuck, fuck, eso, nena, eso,” he chants, getting even rougher. His praises start sounding strangled, and you know he’s close too. 

“Cum with me, Miguel,” you beg desperately. He groans animalistically at your words, giving you a strangled affirmative moan and pushing his pace to what you imagine is his limit. 

“C’mon, baby, cum for me, cum for me,” he urges. It’s easy to let go with how hard he’s fucking you. You can’t really feel the rest of your body except for a hot heaviness. All you feel is where you’re connected and how every thrust sends pure pleasure coursing through you. 

You’re orgasming a second later, and to the feeling of your clenching cunt and the sound of your euphoric screams, Miguel comes right after. 

You’re unable to keep up your movements, too spent and too blissed out, but he keeps thrusting, albeit slower, until you’ve both rode out the hardest orgasms of your life. Then and only then does he still, still inside you, and collapse onto your back. His broad torso covers you completely, warming you despite how sweaty you are now.

His labored breathing on the back of your neck tickles, sending a shiver down your body. He chuckles and peppers kisses on your neck and shoulder, pulling your suit down to kiss at more skin. 

He eventually lifts himself up; you were never going to push him off, that’s certain. You could spend forever under him, wrapped up in him. 

His strong hands lift your especially malleable body, turning you to face him and helping support you as you lean back on the desk. 

When your eyes meet, Miguel smiles at you. It stops your rapidly beating heart. 

One arm around you, his other hand pushes sweaty hair off your face then lingers there, caressing. 

“You okay?” he asks, voice softer than you’ve ever heard it. You just nod. He laughs. “What?” you giggle. “So that’s what it takes to make you stop talking, huh?” “Shut up!” you tsk, shoving his wall of a chest. He doesn’t budge at all, just catches your hand in his, bringing it to his face and kissing it. His lips linger over the skin of your fingers, the back of your hand. You trace them lightly, and they shift into a subtle grin. 

As you look into his big brown eyes, you’re pretty sure you know what this ever-thinning shade of serious is covering.

“Miguel?” 

“Hm?” He pecks your hand again. 

“All those missions… they weren’t ‘potentially significant’ were they?” 

He lowers your hand but keeps it in his. His gaze follows your hands down, looking away briefly, but he’s looking into your eyes again when he shakes his head ever so subtly. You hum in understanding. He just needed to make sure you were okay after.

After a beat, you whisper, “Can we stop pretending?” “That the missions are special?” “That what we feel for each other isn’t…” 

“Ah.” He looks torn. You know he thinks it’s dangerous, know he feels the weight of literally the entire universe on his very broad shoulders. You lean up and kiss him gently. 

“We can figure it out,” you whisper against his lips. His nose brushes yours as he nods then kisses you again. 

[sturniolo04]

Can you do dad!chris daughter(she’s 2) (chris is a single dad) is streaming with nick and matt, and his daughter comes in and crawls into chris’s lap and falls asleep there on stream.

A/n:  ofc! i put. alittle spin on it! i hope you love it! I absolutely love these requests I have coming in, you guys are amazing!! And remember to leave requests in my inbox! If you don’t like the pre added name in my works you can simply put in your own or don’t read it, it up to you :)-Charli

dividers: @bernardsbendystraws and @issysh3ll

Chris' daughter, Madison, was finally two which was the the nortious terrible twos stage and for Chris Madison wasn't doing to bad by terrible two standards. Although bedtime seemed like a challenge every night.

"seriously madison its bed time"

chris states toughly with the giggling two year old as he is carrying her to her room.

"no its n't dad"

madison giggles out immediately climbing out of the bed begin to make a run for the door back downstairs to probably do something she quite frankly shouldn't be doing.

"madison"

chris huffs out begining to chase after her. this was a reoccurring thing off and on every night and sometimes it was even worse than her not staying in the bed but simply throwing a fit at the very mention of it time to get pajamas on.

"you can't make me your not the boss of me"

madison huffs folding her tiny arms over her chest standing on the couch.

"i think i am the boss of you lets go turn off the tv"

chris states simply mimicking his daughters actions folding his arms over his chest quirking an eyebrow up at her.

"nope mine"

madison states taking the remote and stuffing it inside of the nike hoodie she had been wearing all day. Chris simple rolls his eyes.

"madison seriously come on it's 7:30 we can watch tv tomorrow"

chris sighs out trying not to laugh at his toddler.

"i know but i want to stay up with you"

she pouts out. If chris had know better he should have picked up that madison might simply only be acting up around bed time because she knows she has to be alone for the rest of the night. She was definitely his daughter.

So here it is a random wednesday evening and chris and his brothers were doing a stream since they decided not to post oa video on youtube that day. He had put Madison down for bed at least that's what he thought. He should have known that wasn't going to last.

"sorry guys we didnt post a video today we decided to stream tonight instead to apologize"

nick chuckles as he is slowly reading the rolling comments on the screen.

"what should we do"

matt questions as he looks over at the chat to see they had any ideas.

"we cant play fornite tonight we cant be too loud tonight because madison is sleep and I dont want to wake her up"

chris states simply seeing the chat was requesting that they play trios on fornite.

"im going to get a drink do you guys want one"

nick asks as he standd up getting ready to walk out the room to the kitchen

"no im good"

matt states as chris agrees with him. Nick immediately opened matt's door to see Madison standing in front of him with her teddy bear clutched to her chest.

"hi munchkin what are you doing up"

nick exclaims bending over to pick her up in his arms as matt and chris turn their attention to the commotion going on.

"madison what are you doing up"

chris states somewhat frustrated due to the constant battle of thinking she is in bed but she is not. Madison eyes begin to well up with tears as nick slowly rocks her back and forth in his arms.

"oh no i think you made her upset chris"

matt states watching her begin to bawl her eyes out.

"oh madisonn"

chris coos out styandingup. andcoming over to the pair gently grabbing her from nicks arms to hold her.

"i couldnt sleep i dont like bed time"

Madison sobs out as chris gently rubs her back as she nuzzles her face into his neck.

"why is is that mads"

chris asks her simply as she lifts her head up to look at him.

"i dont like being alone its scary"

madison honestly sobs out coughing afterwards.

"but your not alone madison you know I here in the house love bug"

chris states gently wiping her tears away on her cheeks

"its not the same can i just stay in here"

Madison asks her eyes gleaming with hope that he would agree which he did.

"welcome madison chat"

matt chuckles out as chris sits back down in his designated spot with her in his lap as she waves at the camera with her free hand.

"well that was quick"

nick quietly whispers to chris seeing madison had falling asleep comfortable on chris within 30 minutes.

"she is really your kid dude its insane the whole not wanting to be alone thing"

matt quietly chuckles as chris simply rolls his eyes as him beginning to stand up to take her back to her bed.

"whatever i going to bed goodnight chat"

Chris chuckles waving to the screen with his free hand that wasn't holding madison.

Tagslist🗂️

@mintsturniolo @spicymuffins03 @dirtylittleheart333

@stayingstromboli @wh0resstuff @ksturnz @chaoswithus @emely9274 @ivysturnss @sturniolo-szn2 @lezleeferguson-120 @courta13 @chrepsi @lyingonchris

@tezzzzzzzz

[pickyourpoisonandevolve]

Boyfriends to Have Boyfriends Headcanons, pt 4

I cannot stress enough how these are FLYING from my brain into a post. A brief thanks to everyone who’s said something sweet about this so far, I deeply appreciate you and your interest in what has to be my mental illness at this point.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

—-

It’s maybe one of the few times in your life you wished you were deployed. Leave is a siren song for fools, you thought. No one was meant to have this much time sitting in their dumb flat thinking about how they were fucking their Captain AND fellow sergeant. You were going to get discharged for sure. Dishonorable with a capital D. They were going to be mad at you for fucking your way through the team. Johnny would literally explode. But Price said that he KNEW—

A buzz. A text. Thinking too loud yet again.

Gaz: You doing anything today? Running errands near your part of town. Wanna come with?

In for a penny, right?

—-

You let him talk you into a wash day. A small luxury you two were able to afford yourselves as the two BIPOC members of the team. He even managed to talk you into going back to his (stupid face he makes where he tilts his head and smiles at you, can barely look at it, the bastard) Now you were sitting at his beautiful kitchen table, watching awful tv on low, with him on the floor between your legs as you rubbed scalp oil into his. You’d buy a timeshare in the 8th circle of hell if he sold it to you at this point.

“Call it nostalgia, I guess. My sisters used to do this for me back in the day. I miss it.”

“Those helmets aren’t doing any favors for anyone. Have you seen John and Simon’s crown lately? And how they both insist—“

“It isn’t thinning?” You both say in unison, laughter tearing through you both. His hand sneaks around to caress your calf, while your nails lightly scratch his scalp as you catch your respective breath.

“Hey. I, uh, wanted to—“

“Up, it’s your turn.”

“Wait, I wan—

Gaz pops up and takes you gently in his hands, leading you to the ground as he sits in the chair, hands already oiled and ready. You sat in a huff. He couldn’t say he regretted seeing you pout. The unease and frustration already settled in your stomach now had a new player enter the fold: Gaz’s fingers gently massaging your scalp. A short but hard fought battle internally, he felt your pulse slow, your body relax between his legs. That makes one of us, he thought passively.

“I know we didn’t make this easy for you. And I’m sorry. I don’t want to speak on behalf of John too much, but we’re not the most. Subtle men. You could say.”

You let out a small sound of agreement. “How long, uh. I guess how long has this been happening?”

“Couple years after I joined the force. Around the same time Simon and Johnny started I reckon.”

“Man, I should have been drafted sooner, I’d have a boss all to myself to fuck too—“

You felt his fingers tighten gently, just enough to pull your head back and give you a stern look. You gave him a meek smile as an apology, before he returned to his ministrations.

“As I was saying. We’re a team. Always have been. We could have made it a big deal, or we could continue to be great at what we do, work together. Price was just… everything I needed. Made me who I am today. Let me become the man I needed to be. No judgement.”

You nodded in his hands. You let your eyes close as he talked, letting his fingers lull you into a state. Aware but relaxed. Malleable, he’d call it. Right where he wanted you.

“But then someone had to come along and ruin it all.” He said with a laugh. “John and I share a lot of traits, and being territorial is one of em. You were so fucking sweet, and talented. Talked about you when we were together. And I just wanted to sink my fucking teeth into you.” He said, an edge in his voice now, nails scraping across your scalp a touch.

A new warmth ran through you as you felt hands pick you up from your seated position. Kyle carried you bridal style to the couch, laying you down in front of his windows in his flat overlooking the city. Your hair, big and wild from his hands, fell around your head like a halo. Fucking so perfect for him all the time. “You almost have her, don’t fuck this up.” He said to himself.

“We want you to be ours. No rank, no file. Just us.” He said, leaning over you, thumb running across your cheek.

Keys in the door started to jingle. A swish of bags and boots hit the floor as they come across the entrance and footsteps approach. “Hey love.”

Your heart stopped. You’re sure of it. Your eyes peeked open as the power of the sun was 5 feet from your face. Two of the hottest guys you’ve ever met standing above you as they ask you to be… a part of them. A piece to complete the puzzle. To make them feel a little more complete.

Your eyes become a little less lovedrunk, a little more sober and panic shoots through both of them for a moment. Your eyebrows scrunched, a sign they’ve come to learn means that you were unsure of the outcome. The thunder before the storm of “what if’s” cloud your mind. John reached down to pull you in a seated position, pressing his forehead against yours. “You could put a bullet in my head and I’d thank you for it. You couldn’t fuck this up if you tried.” He pulled back a touch to let Kyle in.

“Let us love you, sweetheart. We’ll spend the rest of our lives making sure you feel like you’re enough, yeah?” Kyle asked.

A small smile graced your lips, as you brought a hand to both their faces. “Yeah. We’re a team.”

[edsheeranong]

Sweet Pea x Fem OC

pt 5

archie andrews twin sister, delilah, is fed up with him being overprotective. so when a cute serpent offers her an opportunity, she can't turn it down

"hey, what've you been up to?" sweet pea pulled her aside at lunch.

"not much, why?" she said, taking a bite.

"you haven't been answering my texts," he waved his phone in her face.

"sorry, it's been a busy weekend. i had a sleepover with cheryl and her grandma fell down the stairs in the middle of the night, and my moms back in town. plus veronica and archie are making me help them with junior class president, so i haven't been on my phone much," she said in between bites of food.

"your mom though? that sounds fun, why's she back?" he asked.

"my dad has some legal issues with the lodges, i don't really get it. but she's a lawyer so she's helping him," she explained. "anyway, enough about me. what've you been doing?"

"jughead has a plan to save southside high from being destroyed so we've been planning for it, i guess," he shrugged.

"what kind of plan?"

"we're gonna chain ourselves to the school," he explained.

"for how long?"

"as long as we need to," he said.

"it's freezing," she blinked at him.

"guess i'll need something to keep me warm," he smiled.

"when is this happening?"

"tonight," he told her.

"i'll be there," she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"well, well, well. the cavalry's finally here," jughead said as archie arrived on his bike. "guess that means we've got hiram's attention."

"are you nuts?" archie scoffed. "chaining yourself to this place? getting my sister involved? they're gonna tear this place down in two days, dude."

"not unless hiram wants the blood of 8 young serpents on his hands," jughead said. "we're not going anywhere. go and tell your boss we said that."

archie rolled his eyes and walked over to delilah.

"come on," he grabbed her arm. "you're coming home."

"no," she ripped her arm away.

"delilah you're going to freeze out here," he yelled. "this isn't your battle to fight. now come on."

"she made her choice, dude," sweet pea chimed in.

"shut the hell up. and shame on you for roping her into this. i was starting to think you might actually be decent after that trip to shadow lake, but not anymore," he spat.

"as if i care what you think of me," sweet pea replied.

"whatever," archie spat before getting on his bike and riding off.

"you don't have to stay the whole night," sweet pea told her.

"well i can't exactly go home now so, i guess i will be," she smiled and sat down against the wall. he quickly took a seat next to her.

wrapped up in the blankets she had brought and sweet peas arms, she fell asleep much fast than she thought she would and was woken up by betty shaking her awake.

"archie told me you were here, and that you wouldn't listen to him. i have your bag if you want to go school today," betty said, holding out her bag.

delilah glanced at sweet pea who gestured for her to go. she grabbed her bag and stood up.

"i'll be back as soon as i can, text me if archie shows back up," she kissed his cheek and caught up with betty.

"you're coming to veronica and josie's performance, right?" betty asked once they got to riverdale high.

"of course, i wouldn't miss it," she smiled and then made her way to class.

by the time the day was over, delilah was more than ready to go home but she knew she still had to go support veronica and betty. she slowly made her way to the student lounge and found a spot against the wall.

veronica and josie were singing when a paper was handed to her. confused, delilah looked down to see a picture of veronica with a devils tail and horns labeled "did you know?"

she scanned over the paper and read all sorts of things veronica had done for her parents. she saw veronica running after betty and delilah walked up to ethel and josie.

"can i have a few more of those?"

delilah ran all the way to southside high with the papers in her jacket.

"miss me?" sweet pea joked.

"duh," delilah managed to get out between gasps of air. "but also, i thought you might want to see these."

jughead took the paper from her and read the text front and center. "she knew they were turning south side high into a prison."

"does betty know?" jughead asked.

"she does now," delilah told him. "look, i have to go meet my mom, but i'll be back as soon as i can."

sweet pea nodded and gestured for her to go. she took off running again and sweet pea couldn't get his attention off of her.

"i was hoping to see jughead while i was in town," her mom remarked as they sat down for dinner.

"he's still at southside high, mom, chained up like a lunatic. with her boyfriend," archie scoffed. delilah rolled her eyes.

"arch, you may not believe in what he's fighting for," their dad started.

"i'm not sure he's fighting for anything, dad," archie said. "i think he's mostly fighting against mr lodge. like a lot of people in this town who are afraid."

"afraid?" delilah snapped. "afraid of a criminal buying half the land in our town to turn it into a prison? shocking."

"afraid of having a vision, of seeing what has to be done and doing it," he yelled back at her.

"what has to be done? why do you think there has to be a prison in riverdale?" she argued.

"because our dad was shot in a diner and a father shot his son, delilah" he spat.

"there are hundred off prisons in the world, archie. i personally don't want to live in a town with those kinds of criminals that close to me or my children. hiram lodge just wants to make more money," she slammed her fork down and stood up. "i also don't want to live in a place where the best hope is working at a prison."

she stormed upstairs and into her room. she could still hear her mom arguing with archie downstairs but she didn't care to listen. she was starting to grab a sweatshirt to put on so she could run back to southside high when her door opened.

her mom sat down on her bed and patted for delilah to sit down next to her.

"you've changed so much," she remarked. "the delilah i remember would've never yelled at archie like that. i'm so proud of you," she pulled her in for a hug. "it really made me realize how much i miss out on in chicago. like your first boyfriend."

delilah froze when she said that. she didn't need her family getting any closer to sweet pea.

"i was thinking maybe he could come over for dinner before i leave," her mom suggested.

"well, um, like archie said he's at southside high chained to it," delilah said awkwardly. "and it's really not that serious yet so i'm not sure."

"delilah, im only gonna be in town for a few days and im not sure when i'll be back. i want to at least meet him," her mom explained.

"i'll talk to him," she said.

"thank you," she kissed delilah's forehead. "goodnight sweetie."

"goodnight mom," she said.

delilah waited an hour for her parents to settle down before sneaking out her window. she ran back to southside high and saw sweet pea leaned against the wall, talking with his friends.

"lily!" a voice called from her left side. she didn't need to turn to know who it was. it was jugheads dad, he was the only person who ever called her that. "what are doing here?"

"just needed some fresh air," she walked closer to him.

"you shouldn't be out here at night," he told her. "it's not safe."

"you're here," she cocked her head.

"i'm an adult," he told her. "you better get back home andrews."

"wouldn't it be more unsafe for me to go back home than to stay here?"

"sit down," he huffed and waved her off.

delilah skipped over to the boys chained up and stood in front of sweet pea who felt a smile forming on his face.

"what are you doing here?" he asked.

"can't a girl visit her boyfriend?" she smiled back. "plus archie's being-"

"archie," he finished.

"yep," she rolled her eyes.

"talk to me," he pulled her into a hug.

"he's just still defending hiram lodges plan for the stupid prison," she huffed and leaned against him.

he ran his fingers through her hair and put his head on top of hers. he walked her closer to the school and sat down with her. she was between his legs and her head was on his chest.

under almost any other circumstance, delilah would've found it romantic. but she knew it wasn't.

she woke up in a fright the next morning. she was still m on top of sweet pea and she began scrambling. it woke him up and he sleepily grabbed her by her shoulders and tried to look at her but it was too dark to really see her.

"what?" he whispered.

"i have to get back home before my mom realizes i'm not there," she explained.

"it's still early, you'll be fine," he tried to reason with her because it couldn't be any later than 4.

"i just need to get home," she said.

"stay," he whispered.

"why?"

it was then that he realized what he had just said. he didn't have a reason for her to stay there. it wasn't like anyone was awake, and if they were they weren't going to tell archie she left him.

they continued to stare at each other as their eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"nevermind, go home," he said. she got up without another word and ran back home.

the very next morning she returned to southside high with betty to see a group had already formed. she pushed her way to the front to see sweet pea who acknowledged her only with a small nod. she smiled at him before turning back around to find betty.

the crowd quickly grew despite it being very early in the morning and they began chanting to save southside high.

the chants began to die down and delilah turned around to see archie with a pair of bolt cutters, the wrestling team following closely behind him.

she stepped in front of him.

"don't do this," she pleaded, he kept walking. she grabbed his arm but he pushed her off him.

"jugheads your best friend, i know you don't want to do this," she walked next to him. he continued to ignore her and pushed past the police barricades.

fp stepped up to archie when he got close enough. delilah couldn't hear what was being said but she knew it wasn't good. jughead pushed his father aside and started talking to archie.

he held his wrists up and after a few seconds archie cut the chains wrapped around them.

one by one delilah watched as the wrestling team cut the chains and shove the boys away from the school.

even after mostly everyone had left, delilah stayed, sitting on the sidewalk. betty took a seat next to her.

"i'm just so disappointed," delilah sighed.

"that it didn't work? because i think it definitely did help," betty said.

"no, in archie," she frowned. "jughead was archie's best friend. for years. he never would've done this but now that hiram lodge is in town he's acting all high and mighty. i'm not happy about it."

"i know what you're saying, i just hope he'll come around eventually," betty said. "but in the meantime, i think i know two boys who could use our company."

betty stood up and held her hands out for delilah.

"i don't think that's a good idea, i think sweet pea might want to be alone," she said frantically.

"nonsense, he'd definitely want to. now come on," she urged.

"i don't even know where he lives," she shrugged.

"we'll ask jughead when we get to the trailer park, i'm sure he knows," betty smiled. delilah grabbed betty's hands and stood up. they walked to sunnyside trailer park together and knocked on jugheads trailer.

"i was not expecting you," he looked confused at delilah.

"i wanted to apologize for archie, i know it doesn't mean much coming from me and not him but i still feel bad," delilah said and tried to walk away.

"oh!" betty grabbed her wrist. "she also wanted to know which trailer her boyfriend lives in."

"lemme walk you there, it's not too far. just confusing," jughead offered. they weaved through trailers and after a few minutes stopped in front of sweet peas. "there you are," jug patted her back and walked away.

delilah debated whether she should actually go in or not but decided she would. she slowly walked up to the door and knocked. the door opened almost immediately and he looked at her weirdly.

"why are you here?" he whispered, looking around.

"betty thought i should come see you, and she was coming to see jughead, and she wouldn't take no for an answer, and-" she said but he pulled her inside before she could say anything else.

"it's fine," he said. delilah looked around his trailer, it was small and it only had one bed.

"i know it's not what you're used to, but it's what i've got," he shrugged. delilah nodded and turned her attention back to him.

"it's great," she reassured him. "so how are you feeling?" she asked after an awkward silence.

"im fine, my shoulders just hurt from those chains," he said, walking back to his bed.

"i've been told i'm pretty good at giving massages," she shrugged. he chuckled at her before he felt her hands starting to take his shirt off.

"you don't have to," he grabbed her wrists but she kept moving his shirt up. he gave in and helped her take his shirt off.

"hop up," she patted his bed and he slowly climbed on to his bed. she hopped up after him and straddled his lower back.

she started massaging his shoulders, trying her best to ignore the way he was groaning underneath her. at some point she figured he must've passed out because the trailer was filled with silence. she was zoned out massaging his back when suddenly his hands gripped her thighs and she was snapped out of it.

"your turn," he said groggily, turning his neck as far as he could to look at her.

"no no no, i don't need it," she protested. he turned his hips to roll over and she fell off of him.

"i see the way you sit in class, you do," he said, beginning to pull her sweater off. she grabbed his wrists and stared at him.

"it's okay, it's just me," he said, continuing to pull up on her top. he slid it over her head and tossed it to the side. he grabbed her by her hips and placed her face down in front of him.

delilah had never felt more vulnerable with sweet pea straddling her thighs. she felt his hands unclasping her bra and her hands shot back to stop him.

"what're you doing?" she asked.

"it's in the way. you're facing down, it's not like i'll see anything," he explained. delilah sighed and let him continue. he slid the straps off her arms and pulled it out from under her, tossing it with the rest of their clothes.

he ran his hands up her sides, trying to push down all the thoughts in his head. delilah felt like she couldn't breathe, nobody had ever seen this much of her and here she was letting a boy she wasn't even really dating touch every inch of her back. she tried telling herself it was just a massage, that it wasn't anything inappropriate, but it wasn't easing her at all.

as he started working, delilah found her eyes growing heavy.

she woke up to a loud bang at the door. before she could even process it, the door was opened and she heard a voice.

"dude, i've been texting you-" fangs started before looking at the two in bed.

neither of them had a shirt on, and though the sheets covered their lower half, fangs assumed they didn't have pants on either. delilah was face down, sweet pea had both his arms wrapped around her waist laying next to her.

delilah began to push herself up before realizing she had nothing on and quickly turned away from fangs, only to be pressed against sweet peas chest, his arms still wrapped around her waist.

"is this a bad time?" fangs joked. sweet pea nodded and he slowly left the trailer.

delilah's cheeks were flushed red from embarrassment. she was still pressed tight against sweet pea, too scared to pull away from him.

"where's my bra?" she whispered in his ear. he looked around the bed for a second before answering .

"the floor," he told her. she sighed and buried her head further into him.

"can you get it?"

"it'd be more fun watching you get it," he teased.

"please," she pulled away from him and looked into his eyes.

he tried his hardest not to let his eyes wander.

"okay," he whispered. he removed his hands from her and climbed out of bed, grabbing her bra and sweater from the ground and placing it next to her.

once she was fully dressed again, she turned around to face him again.

"i should, um, be getting home," she stammered, still slightly flustered.

"can i walk you home?" he asked.

"no, it's okay. i'll be fine," she said heading for the door. "i'll see you at school."

she was out the door before he could say anything else.

[tgrailwar-zero]

Ptolemy, you are a servant of much experience. We have had a slight discussion with Pharoah Cleopatra about how we may be of service in the battle to come. Do you have any suggestions on where we and our servants should go in order to best help defend the Solar Cell and its citizens?

PTOLEMY: "Well, if you want to help… I had plans prepared since the Trial, though the reduced timeframe means that they'll have to be enacted now. We'll need to end this war before it begins. For the sake of our territories, the Lair Servants need to retreat to their grounds immediately in order to bolster their zone's defenses. The only ones given permission for free reign are myself and the Slayer, as our 'zones' were given up for the sake of the Grail War."

PTOLEMY: "Guardsman Izou will be running a stealth mission. His goal will be to take out Charlemagne- swift and easy. If he can't take out Charlemagne, then one of his guard. He's to retreat if things get messy."

IZOU: "You want me to dish out some divine punishment? Got it, boss."

PTOLEMY: "Prince Duryodhana will be mounting an offensive to take back the Gossamer Coast. It's less valuable than the Fugue Hamlet in terms of magical leylines, and Quetzalcoatl's temple is still there. We might be able to fully bring it back under Solar Cell control… but we need to have a grip on the territory first."

DURYODHANA: "As if that's a question. Yours Truly is a master of warfare, you know."

PTOLEMY: "And… we have one more gambit that Charlemagne is unaware of. The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh."

ANDERSEN: "...'Gambit', he says, as if this is all part of his little plan. Oh, this will be good. Please, tell them your stupid idea. Loud, for everyone to hear. Should I call the press? I'm sure all of the Solar Cell would love to know their beloved Keeper is a moron."

PTOLEMY: "Andersen… anyways, hear me out. He's not a Moon Servant, but his eyes allow him to see almost every possibility, not akin to the Moon Cell itself. And, as he was apparently summoned back then, he has knowledge of the Void Cell… which he refuses to share."

CLEOPATRA: "Wait, the King of Uruk is here? Why am I just now hearing about this?"

PTOLEMY: "Only Sigurd, Tamamo, Andersen and I knew… or well, we're the only ones still around that know. We figured it'd be for the best, allow him to live uninterrupted."

ANDERSEN: "And do you remember what he told you the last time you asked for his aid? When your little posse had dared to even summon him on the surface of the Solar Cell?"

'KING OF HEROES': "Hm? Join you, you ask? You think yourselves worthy of my power? You wish me to be the lapdog of a fox? You ask of me to sit in your pathetic hideaway, and simply await the awakening of Sun God's Wrath? It'd do you well to swiftly learn your place, mongrels."

'KING OF HEROES': "Insult me with such a foolish request again, and I’ll lay waste to this entire place with a single flick of my wrist. Yet, in the arrogance of that cunning fox, who bars anyone from entering or leaving, I shall remain an observer. It would be beneath me to expend my strength tearing a hole in this place."

'KING OF HEROES': "So… do well to entertain me, o' Sycophants of the Sun."

ANDERSEN: "Something like that?"

PTOLEMY: "That was cycles ago! Listen, if he can even just lend an item from his treasury, it could make all the difference. He's in Sunbeam Row. If we approach, we'll be turned down on sight, maybe worse. But..."

MUSASHI: "...You all might have better luck if you send messengers that aren't part of your little group?"

ANDERSEN: "Exactly. And if you die, well… some may consider it an honor to be drawn and quartered by Mankind's Oldest Hero."

PTOLEMY: "Well… if that's not to your liking, then there's other options. Either you can mount an assault on the Hamlet, and attempt to regain that zone. Due to the leylines, it is valuable, so you'll most likely face heavy resistance if you're caught. You could join Prince Duryodhana… or you could boldly charge the Citadel from the front. That's what I'll be doing. It'd draw attention away from Charlemagne's other zones, after all."

PTOLEMY: "Finally… you could try and convince the Alter-Ego. She's still in containment, but her strength would be valuable to this battle. Still, we'll have to move out while they're still preparing. Guardsman Izou will be heading out tonight, the others in the morning. Once their feet are planted, any attacks against them will have a massive increase in difficulty."

KUKULKAN: "Decisions, decisions... what to do, Masters?"

[lilith-vodkaaunt-of-demons]

The most hilarious thing happened in one of my Dungeons and Dragons games the other day, and I wanna share it.

So, I play an Apothecary Wizard in one of my dnd games. She makes and sells potions, medicines, alcohol, and the occasional Geneva Convention violation called Alchemist's Fire. Anyway, one of the things I always ask my DMs when making a character is if I can get a free Musical Instrument proficiency since I like the idea of it, probably because I want to learn how to play someday.

So anyway, my Wizard knows how to play the lute, and since she's a saleswoman, she has the Charisma to back it up...except for this instance. I hadn't started with a lute, but over the course of several session found myself in possession of an incredibly out of tune lute that a cultist had just happened to have. So she picks up the lute and plucks a few strings and learns that this bandit must have just had this lute for show or something, because it's TERRIBLY out of tune. So the DM has me roll to tune it... Natural 1. For the next 30 minutes OOC and several hours in game, I cannot. For the life of me. Tune. This. Lute. I legitimately make like, 10 rolls and never roll above a 5. This is an INTELLIGENCE Performance Check, since it's technical, I am a WIZARD, with a 20 intelligence, and proficiency. I have a +8 to this roll, and the DC is

14.

Eventually I have to stop trying because we get into combat with more crazy cultists, but OOC I am gobsmacked, and IC my Wizard is absolutely INCENSED at this friggin' untunable lute.

Anyway, some fighting happens, and eventually I'm cornered by a Fire Genasi Cultist who is hopped up on energy from the Plane of Fire, so is currently immune to Fire Damage, the one damage type I have as a cantrip, and I'm trying to not use my spell slots on the little guys because we all know there's a boss battle at the end of this cave.

So I'm stuck. Embers McHotPants is in melee range, so my Firebolt, on top of not actually doing any damage to him, would be at disadvantage, even if I tried to hit someone not currently immune to fire. I'm a squishy wizard with not so great AC, so running away and possibly getting hit with an AOO is not attractive. Could I have disengaged? Maybe if I hadn't had an amazing idea first.

Me: I hit him with the lute.

DM: What?

Me: The Lute. The infernal instrument cursed to never be in tune. I hit him with the lute.

DM: Riiight, okay. Roll improvised weapon attack.

(For clarity, my Wizard has an 8 strength, and is not proficient with improvised weapons.)

Me: *rolls d20, then starts laughing*

DM: Did you roll another Nat1?

Me: *still laughing* No!

At this point the entire table is laughing but the DM.

DM: You didn't.

Me: *unable to speak, I just nod*

I had rolled a nat20, (19 total) to hit the guy with the lute.

At first the DM looked just plain flabbergasted, but then he got this look on his face, a kind of half smile, and started describing what happened.

DM: Alright, so you find yourself cornered. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and this cultist is utterly immune to your attacks. It's just so...frustrating. Frustrating like that damn lute that you just couldn't tune. You feel your frustration boil over, and you just grab the lute by the neck and swing it! You hear a discordant BWANGGGG! as you smack the cultist upside the head with the head with the lute. And maybe he was more hurt than you thought, or maybe he just had a glass jaw, but he goes down. As the cultist falls, you relax a bit, lowering the lute, which somehow isn't broken, and you pluck a few strings absent-mindedly, and...you can't believe your ears. The lute is perfectly in tune. You've heard professionally tuned instruments that aren't as perfectly tuned as this instrument.

The table EXPLODED. It was pandemonium. My PC had hit the cultist in such a way that it tuned the untunable lute. There was laughter, tears, and celebration. It was amazing. I was laughing so hard I cried and gave myself hiccups.

[zapreportsblog]

unicornqueen2022 is my old account

You did fantastic on the last fanfic. I like how Garrett was a werewolf.

Can u do a fanfic where Garrett x female shape-shifter but she turns into a black panther instead of a wolf. She is Paul's cousin but they do not get along at all and but Garrett does not find until the battle with Victoria and her army of newborns. Instead of the newborn hurting jacob, she ends destroying the newborn by tearing the head off. He then ask her on a date. She yes but Paul tries to start a fight with the reader but she kicks his butt.

Oooh new page? Starting fresh I see, we’ll still it’s wonderful to have you back and around :) ahh and the wears full part was actually a mistake. I went back and edited to vampire though I’m glad you liked the slip up I couldn’t live with it lol

↳ don’t mess with the guardian ↲

✭ pairing : garrett x reader

✭ fandom : twilight x reader

✭ summary : she was the guardian of the jungle, the mightiest predator of them all. Having come to forks due to an urgent call from her younger cousin Paul she’s now here to help them with their little leech problem, too bad one of these leeches seems to be her mate. Not that she really minds it though. But when someone threatens her new found lover she’s ready to kick some ass and show them who’s boss, even if it’s her family who’s doing the threatening too. After all, never get in the way of one’s mate.

✭ authors note : there aren’t many gifs for Garrett which really sucks

✭ twilight masterlist

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the landscape, (y/n) navigated her way through the dense forest that surrounded the town of Forks. Her form shifted effortlessly, transforming from a graceful black panther with glowing purple eyes into her human self. The journey to Forks had been spurred by a call for help from her cousin Paul—someone she didn't always see eye to eye with, but blood was blood, after all.

As she arrived at the outskirts of the town, her heightened senses picked up on the presence of a pack of wolves. Their collective energy was familiar to her, and she couldn't help but grin. Shapeshifters like herself, they were part of her world, and one of them was a close friend—Sam Uley.

Stepping out of the shadows, (y/n) allowed her form to shift back into that of a human. She moved with purpose, her violet eyes scanning the group of shapeshifters as they gathered around. Sam's gaze met hers, and a warm smile spread across his face.

"(y/n), you made it," he called out, approaching her with open arms.

"Of course I did," she replied with a grin, accepting his embrace.

Paul, who stood nearby, rolled his eyes. "Great, the circus has arrived."

(y/n) chuckled, not letting Paul's comment get to her. "Cousin dearest, aren't you just thrilled to see me?"

Before Paul could respond, Sam interjected. "We could really use your help, (y/n). There's a threat in town, and we've been called in for fighting lessons against it."

Her curiosity piqued, (y/n) raised an eyebrow. "Fighting lessons against what?"

Sam's expression darkened. "Newborn vampires."

The words hung heavily in the air, and (y/n) felt a shiver run down her spine. She had encountered her fair share of dangers, but the thought of facing an army of newborn vampires was unsettling. Victoria's name sent a chill through her, reminding her of the brief encounter they had had a few weeks prior.

"So, Paul didn't think it was important enough to mention Victoria and her plans?" she mused, a hint of irritation in her voice.

Paul shrugged nonchalantly. "I figured Sam would tell you when you got here."

(y/n) sighed, a mixture of frustration and determination welling up within her. "Well, now that I know, count me in. I'll help you guys deal with this."

Sam's smile returned, a mixture of gratitude and relief. "We're glad to have you on board."

As the group of shapeshifters began to move in the direction of the Cullens' house for their training session, (y/n) couldn't help but feel a surge of camaraderie. Despite the differences that had existed between her and Paul, the impending threat had a way of uniting them against a common enemy.

As they walked, her mind raced with thoughts of the battles that lay ahead. Her abilities as a black panther shapeshifter were unique, and she knew that her role in the upcoming conflict would be significant. With determination burning in her eyes, she prepared herself to face the challenges that awaited her—the eerie threat of newborn vampires, and the promise of unity that came from fighting alongside her fellow shapeshifters.

And as the night descended upon Forks, (y/n) took a deep breath, ready to face whatever darkness Victoria's army might bring.

As the shapeshifters gathered at the Cullens' house, (y/n) couldn't help but notice a tall figure leaning casually against a nearby tree. Her eyes honed in on him, and recognition stirred within her—Garrett, a skilled fighter with his own history of battling newborn vampires. A knowing smile played on his lips as he met her gaze, and for a brief moment, time seemed to stand still.

The Cullens explained that Garrett had been invited due to his experience, which aligned perfectly with their current predicament. As the training session commenced, (y/n) found herself observing from a unique vantage point—perched atop a tree in her panther form. She watched the interactions between the shapeshifters and vampires, the strategy discussions, and the demonstrations of combat techniques.

Yet her focus kept returning to Garrett. Their eyes met across the distance, and in that instant, something extraordinary happened. A rush of images, emotions, and sensations flooded (y/n)'s mind—a vivid flash of a life together, as if the fabric of time had been momentarily torn. She saw herself and Garrett side by side, fighting against threats, sharing laughter, and embracing moments of profound love.

In that flash, she witnessed their relationship blossoming—their adventures, their bond deepening, and even the moment they exchanged vows, promising to stand by each other's side for eternity. The vision continued, showing them with a child, a hybrid of their two worlds, a testament to their unique connection.

Garrett's presence was both familiar and intense, an anchor that grounded her amidst the whirlwind of emotions. Her heart raced as she experienced the love they shared, the highs and lows of their journey together. It was a glimpse into a future that felt simultaneously distant and remarkably close.

As the vision faded, (y/n) blinked in astonishment. The connection she felt with Garrett was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She knew, without a doubt, that he was her mate—the missing piece that she had unconsciously yearned for.

She wasn't alone in feeling the powerful pull. Garrett's expression mirrored her astonishment, though his experience was different. While (y/n) had glimpsed a tapestry of their shared future, Garrett's response was more immediate—a deep-seated instinct, a primal recognition of their connection. He felt an overwhelming urge to be near her, to protect her from any threat that might arise.

The training session continued around them, but (y/n) and Garrett remained locked in each other's gaze, a silent understanding passing between them. They had been brought together by circumstances beyond their control, bound by destiny and a love that transcended time.

As the day unfolded and the shapeshifters and vampires honed their combat skills, (y/n) found solace in the knowledge that she wasn't alone in her fight. Garrett's presence by her side, whether through visions or instincts, was a reminder that they were meant to face whatever challenges came their way together—a united force against the looming threat of Victoria's army.

And as the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the training grounds, (y/n) leapt gracefully from the tree, her panther form melding back into her human self. Her eyes met Garrett's once again, and in that shared moment, they both knew that their lives had forever changed. The past and the future converged in a dance of fate, intertwining their destinies in ways they could only begin to comprehend.

The air was charged with tension as the forces of the Cullens, the shapeshifters, and Garrett aligned themselves against the approaching army of newborn vampires. The night was alive with the sound of heartbeats, growls, and the rustle of leaves as they prepared for battle. Victoria's army, a dangerous and formidable threat, loomed on the horizon.

The battle erupted with a fury as the two sides clashed. Vampires and shapeshifters moved with incredible speed and precision, battling their common enemy. (y/n) joined the fray, her panther form a blur of sleek muscle and fierce determination. With each swipe of her powerful claws, she took down a newborn vampire, her eyes gleaming with a primal intensity.

Garrett was a force to be reckoned with as well, his movements fluid and calculated. His experience in battling newborns shone through, his blows precise and deadly. The Cullens fought with a unity born of centuries together, while the shapeshifters moved as a pack, their wolf forms a fierce and coordinated unit under Sam's leadership.

In the midst of the chaos, (y/n) spotted Jacob in his massive wolf form, locked in combat with a particularly aggressive newborn. Without hesitation, she lunged at the vampire, her powerful jaws closing around their neck and tearing it away in a spray of blood. The severed head dropped to the ground, and the vampire's body crumpled to the earth.

The battle raged on, the forces of good and evil clashing in a symphony of violence. But slowly, the tide began to turn. The newborns, strong though they were, were no match for the combined might of the Cullens, the shapeshifters, Garrett, and (y/n).

As the last of the newborns fell, the battlefield fell silent. Blood-stained and battle-worn, the victorious fighters surveyed the aftermath of their conflict. The moon hung high in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the scene.

Once the danger had passed, (y/n) allowed her panther form to recede, her body shifting back into that of a human. She took a deep breath, her chest heaving with the exertion of the battle. Garrett approached her, a mix of relief and admiration in his eyes.

"(y/n)," he began, his voice sincere, "you were incredible out there."

She offered him a weary smile. "We all were. We faced this threat together."

Garrett's gaze held hers, his expression becoming more intense. "Would you do me the honor of joining me for a date? I think we've earned a moment of respite."

Her heart skipped a beat at his words, the memory of their shared visions and their bond filling her thoughts. "I would like that," she replied, her smile growing warmer.

Their moment was interrupted by a familiar voice. "You can't date him, (y/n)."

(y/n) turned to see her cousin Paul approaching, his expression clearly displeased. "Paul, what are you doing here?" she asked, her tone tinged with annoyance.

Paul's gaze flickered to Garrett. "He's a vampire, (y/n). You can't trust him."

(y/n) shook her head, her frustration evident. "Paul, you don't get to decide who I can and can't date. This is my choice."

The tension in the air was palpable as Paul's words hung between them. "(y/n), what, you're a leech lover now?" he sneered, his voice dripping with disdain.

(y/n)'s eyes flashed with a mixture of anger and frustration. Without warning, Paul lunged at her, and she swiftly sidestepped his attack. In one fluid motion, she spun around, delivering a precise kick to his side that sent him stumbling backward. The shock on Paul's face was evident as he struggled to regain his footing.

"Paul, stop!" she snapped, her voice firm. "I won't let you control my life or my choices."

Paul's expression shifted from surprise to fury, and he charged at her again. This time, (y/n) was ready. She expertly blocked his blows, her movements calculated and precise. She deflected his attacks with ease, her frustration fueling her determination.

As Paul's assault grew more frantic, (y/n) found an opening. With a swift kick to his chest, she sent him sprawling to the ground. He lay there, panting and defeated, while (y/n) stood over him, her gaze unwavering.

"You don't get to decide who I can and cannot date," she declared, her voice unwavering. "My choices are my own, and I won't let anyone, not even family, dictate them."

Paul glared up at her, his pride wounded. "You think you're so high and mighty now?"

"No, Paul," (y/n) responded, her tone softer now. "But I do believe in making my own decisions. I'm not a child anymore."

With that, (y/n) turned away from her cousin, her steps purposeful as she walked toward Garrett. He was standing a short distance away, watching the scene unfold. She met his gaze with a determined look, her resolve unshaken.

"Garrett," she said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, "I'll be looking forward to that date."

Garrett returned her smile, a mixture of admiration and affection in his eyes. "As will I," he replied.

With one last glance at Paul, (y/n) walked away, leaving behind the tension and the turmoil of their encounter. Her heart was lightened by the knowledge that she was in control of her own destiny, that the choices she made were hers to embrace.

As she and Garrett walked side by side, the promise of their date hanging in the air, (y/n) couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. Their bond had been tested by battle and family drama, but their connection remained strong. With each step forward, they were ready to face the challenges of the future together, united against whatever obstacles might arise.

[csilis]

Here is the second part of my detective Unicron series, hope you like it! Anyway, the next part is on the way!

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Part two: True Evil

When Unicron was sitting on the bed in the hospital, looking at the bill with those numbers on it, something dawned on him.

"YOU DARE TO CHARGE FOR LIFE ITSELF?! HOW VILE IS THAT?" he yelled, his eyes snapping back onto the detective that took him here. "I thought I was evil, but this..." he said as the truth hit him like Primus's slap during their battles. Maybe the last Prime has been right all along. These vile creatures were his children. And this made him smirk with fondness he never felt before.

"Eric, look at me" she said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. She has been trying to interrogate him this past hour but he wouldn't say anything useful. Only ramble about humanity. "Your brother is dead, he was stabbed with the same knife that was in your back. You have to..."

"My brother is anything but dead" Unicron stated in a bored tone, even just the thought of Primus irking him.

"Let's start again for the last time" she said, taking a deep breath, her patience running thin. "Your brother was found dead. Do you have any idea who might have done it?"

"No, but I assure you, when I find out who put me into this disgusting thing, I will tear the fabric of their small mind into tiny pieces until their head explodes!" he exclaimed, standing up irritated. "I'M A GOD!"

She watched with a mix of frustration and fascination as "Eric" stormed around the hospital room, his voice echoing through the halls. She’d dealt with her fair share of eccentric people, but this guy took the cake. The way he spoke, the utter conviction in his voice. Like he actually believed he was some kind of deity.

"If he's doing this again, I'll swear I will arrest him and close the case with him being the killer" she whispered to herself as she buried her face into her hands.

"I heard that, you miserable insect," he sneered, tilting his head with an air of superiority. "Accuse me of your petty crimes again, and I will..."

"You will what?" she interrupted, pinning him with a sharp gaze. "You'll either end up in prison or the psych ward. Neither of them sounds like a thing for a god."

This made him halt in his tracks and think for a second. Like really think. Then he looked at her, seething with anger.

"I do what I please, when I please. If you dare to stand in my way, I will strike you down before you can think with that puny brain of yours" he stated, his voice having a dark and dangerous edge.

"You're right. Go ahead and do whatever you want" she said, standing up and walking out of the room. He was useless, so why should she waste more time and breath on him? But as she stepped out of the room, ready to buy some coffee and continue her work, real work, her phone rang. Pulling it out she noticed her boss's name and she knew to prepare for the worst.

"Sarah, is Eric Vance still with you?" was his first question. "We found a fingerprint on the knife that doesn't match either his or his brother's. The killer might be still at large."

"Just perfect," Sarah said, massaging her temples, annoyed. "And what do we want to do with him? Put him under witness protection?"

"Something like that" her boss said in an ominous voice and Sarah already had a knot in her stomach. "I need you to keep him at your flat until we solve this case."

"To keep him... AT MY FLAT? Are you insane? This guy has a god complex and I will not let him even come close to my niece. Molly is only ten!" Sarah rebutted immediately, not wanting this at all.

“Listen, Sarah,” her boss continued, his tone serious, “The founding was cut like years ago to our station, so we don’t have a choice. If the killer is still out there and knows Eric survived, he’s a target. We need him close, and you’re the only one I trust to keep an eye on him.”

"You're seriously asking me to babysit a guy who believes he's a god?" she protested, trying to keep her voice steady. "What if he decides to go on a rampage? Or worse, what if he decides to test those so-called powers on my furniture? Did you see the crime scene? It was a mess!"

"Miss Ryes, you are a police officer and I think you know how to subdue someone when it poses danger to their environment. Or did your training lack this aspect, officer?"

"No, sir" she sighed, her hands going into the pocket of her jacket. "But I'm sending the bills to the department if he decides to wreck chaos in my house."

"Good luck with making the department pay for anything" he said and ended the call.

"Good luck with making the department pay for anything" Sarah said to herself in a mocking voice, knowing well that no one will pay her. She barely gets money for the abysmal amount of overtime she has to do every month. "Whatever. I just need to figure out how to tell this to Molly..."

"And the insect returns" he simply stated as he noticed Sarah stepping back into the room while he was pacing in circles endlessly, trying to think.

"Okay Eric, we…" she started but he just cut her off.

"Unicron" he won't be called by any other name than his own.

"Okay, then Unicorn we have..." she said again as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Unicron! Know the name of your god!" he screamed, looking like a fussy toddler to Sarah, then some god. And oh, the real God have mercy on this poor fool, because she certainly won't if he keeps up this attitude.

"Whatever you think your name is, I'm going to call you Eric. Now Eric, you're coming with me. I have things to do and Jesus, you're slowing me down" she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out with her.

"Jesus?"

"Yeah, you know. The son of God" she said, lifting her eyebrow confused. How does a guy with a god complex not know about Jesus of all people?

"You mean Thunderwing*? What is it with him?" he sharply looked at her, confused why Thunderwing just came up. 

"Thunderwing?"

"Yes, the one you call Jesus is actually Thunderwing, my herald, you foolish mortal" he stated like this was a well known fact and Sarah is the stupid one for not knowing.

"Actually, I'm inclined to ask what kind of religion you are practicing, because I'm going to be honest with you for a sec. Thunderwing does sound way cooler than Jesus."

"I'm God. I am the religion" he simply said, putting his hands into the pocket of his jacket.

*For those who don't know Thunderwing is a character from Transformers: Prime - The Game. He is the direct creation of Unicron, making him the perfect analogy for Jesus.

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Next part

[countrymusiclover]

11 - Reunions and the Pentagon

Part 12

Battle of Heart and Mind

Tag list - ask to be added (in my ask box please) @aintinacage @hiraethrhapsody @mostlymarvelgirl @importantgalaxyrunaway

9 months ago - Arlington, Virginia

Charles believed that she wanted to see me. It has been nine years since Erik got himself placed into the pentagon. I had been staying with the telepath since that day but my feelings were too strong in telling me I needed to see Erik again. Standing on the front porch I slumped my shoulders, raising my hand and knocking on the door. “Can I help you?”

“Uh yes. Can you tell me if would be Angela Aspen formally Shaw?” I asked nervously, trying to keep my eyes focused on hers.

The blonde woman stands slightly behind her front door looking me up and down letting some silence fall between us. “Yes I am. Can I ask what this is about?”

“I’m…I’m your daughter. My father went by the name Sebastian Shaw.” Twiddling my thumbs together I blurted it out waiting for her to kick me off her porch and say she never wished to see me again like my father told me she would.

My mother stood still for a moment before grabbing me by the front of my shirt, yanking me inside her house. She shut the door, locking it quickly behind her where she was clearly in a panic. “I thought you were dead, Addison.”

“Dead, why would you think that?” I questioned her more confused now than I was when I first came here. I couldn’t tell who was right Charles or my father who was now dead.

She clasped her hands over her mouth. “Oh honey you don’t know the truth. Of course that psycho wouldn’t tell you the truth. I…I’m sorry about this but he kidnapped you when I was sleeping one night. He broke into my house after getting a divorce saying that you had to be a mutant like him. Uh…he said that the mutant gene gets carried over by the father. I searched for you but he changed his name so many times I lost the trail.”

“So that’s why he said that you hated me. That you hated mutant’s and never ever wanted to see me. But if what you’re telling the truth then I can’t believe he lied to me my whole life up into he was killed.” Running my fingers through my hair I throw my head back pacing in front of her,

My mother sniffed through tears where she didn’t wait stepping forward. She paused holding her arms out and opened away from her sides. “Can we hug or is that too soon for you?” She asked for my permission.

“Hell no, it’s okay.” I felt tears falling down my face right as we embraced each other in a tight hug, she wrapped her arms around me sobbing into my shoulder and we remained that way for quite some time.

I clung onto her burying my face in her shoulder blade until my gaze shifted to the kitchen and saw her work bag sitting there. I saw a security badge hanging from it and it gave me an idea. “Uh mom, I’m sorry to bring this up since we’ve just met. But I need your help with seeing someone.”

“Who do you need to see, honey?” She barely broke the hug brushing hair that had fallen in front of my eyes. “We may not know each other very well yet. But you can tell me what you need.”

Dropping my gaze to the wooden floor. “What do you feel towards mutants…towards me since I am one of them too.”

She squeezed my hands in hers with a half smile on her and no sign of hatred in her eyes. “I don’t hate them. I am actually curious about what you all can do. But unlike your father who wanted nothing to do with me after I said I wouldn’t stand by his side and watch him kill the humans who we’re just like me.”

“So what would you say if I wanted to see a mutant who was being held inside…oh I don’t know the Pentagon?” I twirled my hair in between my fingers nodding to her classified pentagon badge.

My mother paused sucking in a breath thinking about what that would mean. The world didn’t know how big the mutant population was at the moment. Most of the high profile people hated them or they wished to study the abilities they had. “My bosses wouldn’t like me after this. I can’t help free him if that’s what you’re after…”

“I understand. Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

She clicked her tongue putting a hand to the side of my face so I’d look her in the eye. “But I can get you clearance to see whoever it is. At least for a few hours since it will be my shift tonight.”

“Erik, Erik Lehnsherr is his name.” I throw my arms around her again hugging her tightly and she embraces me back, both of us knowing that things could go horribly wrong. “Thank you, mom.”

She squeezed me gently to grab her work clothes so we could go. “You’re welcome, Addi. Let me grab my stuff then we can go.” The drive there was quiet and she went through the normal security checkpoints she had to go through. Leading me down the hallway I saw a sign that read no metal beyond this point. I didn’t dare tell my mother about the metal coin I still wore around my neck.

“So how long will we have exactly?” I questioned her after she swiped her key card over the scanner unlocking the security door in front of us.

Angela shrugged her shoulders. “My shift ends in an hour. But I expect to hear the whole story of you two at some point once this is over.”

“Don’t worry, I'll tell you everything.” Stepping through the doorway it quickly shut behind me where I just saw a long hallway in front of me. Walking down the hallway the other door slides open revealing to me a pentagon. Swiping my mothers key card on the pad in front of me, a staircase down into the room descended down where I bolted down them quickly without a thought, halting in my tracks seeing him laying on a coat on the ground. “Erik?”

He slowly sat upright confused plastered across his features. “Addison, what the hell are you doing here? How the hell are you here - ugh!” He got to his feet slowly walking straight to me

I instantly started crying when I flung his arms around his neck. “I don’t want to do this again. I…we already spent years without each other.”

“How are you here right now…ohhh.” He slowly wrapped his arms around the girl he believed he wouldn't see again. So he took the advantage he had burying his face into my hair.

Moving my hands to his shoulders I buried my face into his gray shirt and matching pants. He let me cry until his shirt was stained with tears. "I don’t want you locked up in here, Addi. You should be able to live a life without me. Go find your mother or Charles. Don’t follow down my dark path that got me here.”

“I don't care, Erik. I had to see you. I…I've missed you too much and we don't have much time to break you out.” Reaching inside my shirt he saw the metal coin that I had managed to sneak in. “I met my mother today and she agreed to help me. Now her shift ends in an hour so we have to use her key card now.”

“Addison, wait a second. We can’t…you can't have her help me escape. I have to stay here.” He moved one of his hands through my loose hair while he felt my hands holding onto his forearms tightly with my fingernails.

I blinked a few times, confused by his response. “If you loved me you'd run with me.”

I wasn’t sure what came over either of us but it didn't matter while we only focused on removing our clothes as quickly as possible. He tugged my flesh against his chest making me see that he was concerned over what we were thinking of doing. “You do realize we could get caught having sex in here.” Resting my hands on his chest, our eyes met when he rested his forehead against mine.

“It doesn’t matter, Erik. I love you, that's all that matters to me.” I declared to him running my fingers through the hair on the back of his neck.

He smashed his lips onto mine pushing me down onto the cot he had as a bed. He broke the kiss where I held his face in my hands tracing his cheek with him thrusting into me quickly. “Addi!”

“Erik…” He moaned when I pulled his head downward burying my face in his neck nuzzling my nose and kissing into his skin.

His breathing became heavy just like mine where we both laid underneath the blanket. Laying my head on his chest during the same time his fingers threaded through my messy hair. “Don't think for a moment that I don't love you, Addi.”

“You do?” I shot my head up at his words.

Erik nodded his head slowly, yes fighting that it was getting close to time by now. “You need to leave before you and your mother are arrested. Even though we'll both hate it, it's the right thing to do.”

“I'll get you out of here, Erik. Someday, somehow, it will happen. I promise you that.” I vowed to him where we scrambled to get our clothes back on and he tugged me into his embrace again. Wrapping my arms around his neck I kissed him slowly separating myself from him and leaving him there.

The boy's and I had insisted the help of a young guy named Peter who had super speed to help us break Erik out of the Pentagon. Walking in to the elevator Charles and Logan I knew our part of the plan. Peter had the most important part freeing Erik. Hank had to mess with the building cameras. Then the rest of us had to get the staff away from the elevator that Peter would come down in. All the while making none of us getting arrested. All the alarms were going off and the sprinkler system had turned on. Charles stepped forward to a security officer with me and Logan following in toe. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls this is a code red situation. We are evacuating the entire floor so that we... my uh associate and I can uh secure the prisoner.”

The officer didn't buy it. “Who are you?”

“We are special operations CB, FE, CIE. Look, perhaps you didn't hear me at first but it's imperative that, you understand we're in complete lock-down situation. We have to get to the 3rd floor.” Charles started again until Logan came forward, knocking the guy out with a metal tray.

He dropped it looking at the former telepath. “Oh I'm sorry were you finished.”

“Oh. Come to momma.” I turned my head seeing a tray of strawberry pie they had left down here. Picking up a fork I began eating the pie.

“Addison!” Charles knocked looking over his shoulder as he headed to the elevator door.

Shrugging my shoulders with a bite full of pie in my mouth I didn't see a problem. “What the baby's hungry, Xavier.”

“Sorry, I'm just not very good with violence.” He slumped his shoulders focusing back on what Logan had done minutes ago. He hit the open button and he turned his head coming face to face with Peter and his former friend.

“Charles.” Charles cut him off, raising his hand and punching him square in the face. He winced holding his hand seeing Erik laying on the floor holding where he punched him. “Good to see you, too old friend... and walking.”

Charles glared down at him, seeing him get up from the floor. “No thanks to you.”

“Erik.” I breathed out, dropping the pie onto the ground and the plate shattered into pieces. Picking up my feet I bolted around Charles throwing my arms around Erik's neck.

He stumbled back against the wall wrapping his arms around my waist holding me close. “Addison!” He buried his head into my hair and I closed my eyes enjoying the moment until the baby kicked.

“Oh…I had a better plan in my head of how to tell you.” I drew back holding a hand over my stomach lifting my head upwards seeing Erik's gaze focused on my belly.

He moved one hand forward, touching it slowly. “It’s mine, you're pregnant.”

“Yes.” I replied.

He chuckled with a light smile on his face. “You just couldn't stay away, Addi.”

“I wanted to see you. But it's for a different reason. I'll explain everything later.” I take his hands in mine.

Erik glanced over my shoulder at Charles. “You're the last person in the world I expected to see today.”

“Believe me. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to.” Charles stepped forward where Erik moved in front of me and the two former friends looked close to getting into a fight. “If we get you out of here we do it my way, no killing.”

“No helmet.” Erik pointed to his head with his freehand. “I couldn't disobey you even if I wanted.”

Charles growled in his face. “I'm never getting inside of that head again. I need your word, Erik.”

Erik, Charles, Logan, Peter and I exited the elevator seeing multiple police officers and they aimed glass guns at us. Erik instructed Charles to use his power but he couldn’t. I closed my eyes trying to take Erik's power but the room froze and I saw Peter move around the room switching bullets and things around. When he came back over all the officers ended up on the ground in some way. Logan pated the kids back. “Good job, kid.”

My phone started ringing when I put it to my ear hearing my mothers voice. “Addison, I'm at work and they're saying the mutant was released. Did you know about this?”

“Shit mom, I need you to meet me on the third floor of the parking garage. You need to leave work early and come with me.” I responded to her hoping she didn't ask too many questions.

Peter, Logan and Charles had left the room. Hank was getting the car ready so it just left me and Erik. “Uh okay. I'll be there as quickly as I can.”

Erik and I left after the group where I waited outside the car with Erik peeking his head out of the window. “Addison, Charles says we need to go.”

“Just one second….there she is.” I saw the elevator door opened and my mother quickly came across the floor confused at what was happening. She saw Erik standing by me but I didn't waste another second grabbing her hand and dragged her inside the backseat with me. “I'll explain on the plane. I just didn't want them to arrest you if they think you had anything to do with this.”

Logan was in the front of the van with Hank and Charles. Leaving Erik in the backseat with us. He shifted around a little, sending me a confused expression. “So who were we waiting for exactly, Addison?”

“Oh right, sorry. Erik, she's my mother.” I pointed to her and mother focused her attention on Erik. The pair just stared silently and I felt nervous hoping the plane ride wouldn't be awkward.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[upsilambic]

[Back in *checks notes* May, Writing Prompts posted: 

“What do you mean why did I do this? I did it because I love you,” your girlfriend said confusedly, as if she wasn’t clutching the severed head of another human in her hand.”

My first thought was that this was a girl who belonged in the Varia. So I ran with it. The prompt only shows up indirectly. Humor, No Pairings, T]

So Your (Ex) Girlfriend is an Ax Murderer 

(Dating is hard enough as it is. It's even worse as a member of an elite, slightly eccentric, assassination squad. Good thing there's a built in, supportive (?) Family to help pick up the pieces.)

It was the sound of crying that drew Lussuria into the common room. Contrary to popular belief, crying wasn't an unusual occurrence at Varia HQ. Oh, sometimes it was a grunt who managed to upset Boss-darling and lived to tell the tale. Most of the time it was from new recruits who were suddenly rethinking their life choices. Those tears, though, they were largely reserved for the training grounds. No, if it was coming from the common room, it could only be one person.

Lussuria peeked in, and sure enough, there she was sprawled face down on the sofa. Boy troubles.  He would bet his boa on it.

Poor thing. Lussuria felt instinctively protective of his protegé. On paper, she was a total catch. Deianira was a key member of his Sun Squad medical team for her impeccable ability to not further maim their patients - even when they deserve it! Such a delightful bedside manner~ Not to mention, she could wield a battle ax with the same meticulous precision as her scalpel. So well-rounded! And she was cute as a button to boot, if he could say so himself. Lussuria just couldn't understand why Dee’s relationships didn't work out.

No, that was a lie. He absolutely knew why. It didn't mean he didn't think it was completely fair, though. People could be so judgemental! Everyone has their own silly, little quirks, right? 

The thing with Dee was that she had so much love and passion to give but had an unfortunate habit of placing her affections with the wrong people. Her love language was also something, well, not necessarily an acquired taste but more…niche as it were. And that’s where she really got into trouble.

Lussuria often thought of Deianira as something like a cat leaving behind dead birds as gifts to their beloved human. Unfortunately, the objects of her ardor typically reacted to such gifts just as badly if not worse. It never did bode well for her love life.

It was all very sad of course. Buuuuuut. The stories she told were better than television. All maternal feelings aside, Lussuria was dying to know what happened this time.

“Dee?”  A pause in the sniffling let him know that she heard. The hand that was blindly flapped in his direction let him know he was needed. Lussuria didn't need to be asked twice as he hurried over and perched on the arm of the sofa. “I am here, sweetpea. You just tell Mamma Luss everything.” 

To the casual observer the tale of woe was largely unintelligible.  Lussuria, on the other hand, nodded along, masterfully interpreting the pillow-muffled sounds, squeaks, and wet snuffles.

“Mmhmm mmhmm, I do remember you were seeing someone new. I seem to recall you telling me you were ready to take things to the next level~ 

Uh huh. What? Oh, tissue! Sorry, hun, here you go. Take your time. 

Well certainly it's natural to want to do nice things for the ones we love! And what…um…what nice thing did you decide to do? Yes,yes as one does, of course. 

Such a clean cut! Oh ho! You never fail to impress~ You're welcome. Now who was the gentleman? He was, hmmm? Say, run that name past me one more time, would you? Got it. Thanks, love.  Then what happened?

 OH. HE. DID. NOT.”

“And then he ran awaaaaaaaayy,” Dee wailed. That her ex did so while screaming was simply understood and didn't need to be said.

“There there, love.” Lussuria passed over another tissue that was gratefully accepted. As Deianira wiped her eyes, Luss tapped his index finger against his cheek, working out a thought. “Remind me, how long had the two of you been seeing each other?”

There was a pause as Deianira blew her nose. “It was our third date,” she mumbled into her tissue.

The tapping stopped. “Dee, sweetie. I hate to point it out while you're hurting, but gifting the literal head of your lover's enemy is something you might want to save for when your relationship is a tiiiiiny bit more established.”

Deianira slowly swung her legs around as she listened and pushed herself into a seated position. She lifted her face to Lussuria. It was puffy and streaked with runny mascara. Aw, cupcake. Girl was a mess but nothing a mother couldn't love. Lussuria tenderly squooshed those cheeks between his well-manicured hands.

“...Emmemee?” Deianira asked through a fishy pout.  She blinked heavily, as if emerging from her fog of despair and pulled back out of Lussuria's hands. “Maybe not an enemy per se…” She stopped and shook her head and heaved a sigh. “ No, I know. You're right. God, I'm such an idiot! I just...You know, I really thought we had something.” Dee gestured vaguely, trying to capture the intangible before giving up and resting her cheek on Lussuria's thigh. “I thought he'd understand and see the depth of my love.”

A derisive snort from the corner of the room sent Lussuria's head whipping around.“Not one word out of you!” he scolded the culprit in hushed tones. “I mean it!”

Squalo, however, didn't look nearly as chastened as Lussuria would have liked. He didn't look chastened at all. “Please,” scoffed Captain Sensitivity. Oh, his entire manner was so annoyingly unrepentant. “This is hardly news. She goes through a breakup like every oth-”

Lussuria's scandalized gasp cut him off. “Honestly! Where is your heart?”

“Heh. Funny story about that...HEEEY!” Squalo was forced to duck as Lussuria chucked a decorative pillow at his head.

“That's not what I meant, and you know it.”

Squalo sneered in silent response before shifting focus back to his laptop. That was the goal at any rate, which considering the other occupants of the room was easier said than done. Yes, the situation was annoying. Yes, he could leave, but he was here first, dammit. It was the principle of the thing.

He sighed heavily through his nose when he heard Luss try to subtly clear his throat at him but otherwise Squalo refused to engage. 

Then came the stage whispers.

“Squ-chan…. 

Squ?…

Squ…Squ…Squ…

Squaaaaaloooo!”

“WHAT?!”

He watched Luss out of the corner of his eye making frantic shushing signs and pointing to the lacrimose lump on the sofa. As if he could possibly disturb let alone offend her. Squalo leveled an “are you kidding me” look at his colleague.  Deianira wouldn't notice if a herd of rhinoceros suddenly barrelled into the common room and started yodeling. She was barely into Stage Two of the recovery process, meaning she was now sitting upright, staring into the middle distance, and clutching her ax to her chest like it was the world's deadliest comfort toy. Virtually nothing existed outside of her bubble right now.

Lussuria pursed his lips at him and adjusted his sunglasses before signing <I need you to look something up.>

<Look what up?> Squalo knew, of course, but he wasn't going to make it easy.

 Lussuria knew he knew too and gave an impatient huff. He pointed at Deianira, mimed having his chopped off, and signed the poor bastard's name.

<Fuck off I'm busy.> Another pillow came sailing over with great force. This time it connected. The resulting “VOOII!” was positively balm for Lussuria’s exasperated soul. That's right, Squ. Boss wasn't the only one with a pair of guns. Luss daintily flicked a lock of hair back in place and raised an eyebrow.

<Look up the name, dear. If you please.>

<FINE!> Squalo grumbled to himself about it, but he did do as asked. A moment later, he signed back an affirmative. The headless one was indeed in their system. Apparently, someone else had wanted him dead.

Lussuria delightedly clapped the tips of his fingers together. Goody. That should make cleanup a bit easier this time around. He turned his attention back to Deianira and began dabbing at her face with a tissue.

“Dee? Dee~ee,” Lussuria sang, trying to pull her attention back to the present. “Now why don't you come with me? I've got a beautiful cake cooling in the kitchen that is begging for some decadent chocolate frosting. That might be just the thing to make today a bit brighter!”

Deianira’s eyelids fluttered and she gave a small smile. Feeling encouraged, Lussuria pressed on.

“Aaand~ We'll chat about whether we can't just bill this ungrateful ex for your beautiful handiwork.” This time Dee giggled.

If one didn't know any better, that giggle could easily be classified as “cute”. Squalo did know better and grimaced at the sound. He turned his attention back to the sofa. 

Lussuria was cooing over Deianira’s change in mood. Deianira was. Well. Deianira’s eyes had gone unnaturally wide with interest, her pupils fully dilated. The corner of her smile twitched slightly as she took in Lussuria’s suggestion.

Levi dubbed this particular look of hers “creepy”. While Squalo wouldn't admit out loud to siding with Levi about anything, he was inclined to agree. When Deianira got like this, Squalo half expected her to climb into a window and start making clicking noises at the birds outside.

“I…might have some additional ideas of my own to make sure he pays,” Dee coyly offered up after her moment of contemplation.

“Clever girl. I knew that you would, and I can't wait to hear them!”

“Oh Luss, you're the best! This will be such fun!”

“I know!”

Squalo shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose as the two of them clasped hands and squealed. Stage Two was evidently complete.

The promise of baked goods never failed to summon Belphegor. This instance was no exception. Bel had made his entrance while Lussuria was still coaxing Dee. Not wanting to look too eager, he flopped into an armchair and began to scroll through his phone with practiced indifference. No one in the common room was fooled, with the exception of Dee who hadn't noticed anything. Belphegor bided his time until the two suns left before he got up to pester Squalo for details.

“So what was it this time?” Bel asked as he leaned against Squalo's chair and tried to read over his shoulder. "Burned out car?"

“Severed head.” A scowl formed on Squalo's face in response to the intrusion. Without looking up, he used his right hand to change the angle of his laptop and his left to push back the brat's face. "NOW QUIT HOVERING!"

Bel was completely unperturbed as he danced out of range of the metal hand. He let out a low whistle and started making his way to the door. “Must have had it bad for this one.”

Squalo rolled his eyes. “I guess.” He turned around when he heard Bel's footsteps. “Hey, where are you going, brat?”

"Oh, now you want me to stay? Too late, peasant. You're no fun and the Prince wants cake and gossip.”

“I don't want you to stay,” Squalo scoffed. “I want you to do something.”

“I don't have to.” Belphegor gave an imperious toss of his head. “I'm a prince, not an errand boy,” he declared, but he caught the file thrown at him all the same.

“You're going to the kitchen anyway. Take that file and give it to Miss Man Destroyer.” 

Belphegor smirked, his curiosity piqued. “Shi shi shi, that's cold even for you, Fish Face. You're gonna send her out with a broken heart?” Bel made a show of clutching at pearls. Squalo huffed in annoyance.

“We've got shit to do, you know! How about you try taking an interest in that?” 

Belphagor dismissively waved off Squalo's critique and flipped through the file. “Be kinda funny if the peasant who put in the request was single, though.” He glanced over to see Squalo looking entirely too casual about opening his email. Bel's grin widened viciously. “Wait. Is he?”

Squalo mumbled something, refusing to look at him.

“He is!” Belphagor crowed. “How do you know?”

Squalo ground his teeth a minute before exploding, “FINE! I looked it up, alright!?”

Belphagor was nearly doubled over with his cackling. “Shi Shi shi, aww, I didn't know you were a matchmaker, Captain~” he wheezed.

Squalo launched one of the pillows Luss threw at him earlier straight at Belphagor’s head. Pillows being soft, however, it was not nearly as satisfying as he hoped it would be. It didn't even pause Bel's laughter.

“VOI I'M NOT!!” Squalo crossed his arms and irritably drummed his fingers. “But if she's going to keep doing this, we might as well point her in the right direction and get some damn work done around here.”

*Deianira is the name of one of Hercules's wives who accidentally killed him with a shirt. It was supposed to keep him faithful to her but was poisoned instead. Whoops. Her name can be translated as Man-Destroyer.

[silverynight]

Underworld

<---Previous

Part XI

Mina knows she'll be fine, it's just another little visit to the mortal world; she's done that before and she can do it again.

However, she's still as careful as she can; the mortals sometimes are curious and she doesn't want her presence to be noticed, at least not yet.

She just wants to see Midoriya from afar.

The book feels heavy in her hands and she knows the little kids are wandering lost down there, but Mina needs to know, she must find out if there's hope for her explosive boss.

And then she sees him; Midoriya is taking care of his field, making things grow and work as they used to be, bringing life as he's supposed to do. The clothes he's wearing are different from what he was wearing in the Underworld, but they're also really pretty.

He's smiling and for a moment Mina hesitates, she wonders if this is the right thing to do. Perhaps Midoriya is happier and safer here; it's true that he helped a lot of people on the other side, but that doesn't mean he's destined to be there...

And yet Bakugo is very much in love with him and misses him to the point it physically hurts him.

She takes a step back, but it's too late: Midoriya has spotted her and now he's practically running towards her with a beautiful smile on his face.

Suddenly he pulls her into his arms and lifts her from the ground for a couple of seconds. Mina melts into the hug and realizes that even though she's worried about Bakugo, she also missed Midoriya herself.

They're friends.

"Tell me," Midoriya mumbles, cheeks turning slightly pink as he speaks: "How is he?"

Mina has to hold back a smile, because just at that moment she realizes that there's hope for the God of the dead after all.

"Well... He's grumpy, but when is he not?" She says and even though that makes Midoriya smile a little, the joy doesn't reach his pretty eyes. "He... misses you quite a lot and feels bad about what he did."

Midoriya looks away right before wiping a couple of tears off his eyes.

"I miss him too, I miss everyone," he whispers. "But I... Maybe this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm not dead yet after all."

It's so obvious that he wants to go back that Mina is tempted to encourage him... But, at the same time, she knows that he likes the mortal world as well; he helps a lot of people here.

"What about you and the others? What about Dynamight?"

Mina is hesitat to tell him the truth, but she also knows she can't hide anything from him either, because she did that once and he doesn't deserve that again.

She wants to do things the right way this time so she tells him the truth.

"Poor Dynamight!" Midoriya laments. "Oh please tell Kirishima and Kaminari to leave him in my... in that room if they can..."

Mina nods, knowing she'll have to talk with them in secret because... Bakugo will surely explode if he finds out.

"Okay... But I can't promise anything."

"What about the souls?"

Mina sighs, but shows him the three names in her book.

"Children?"

"Yes."

She can tell it hurts Midoriya and that he's tempted to go back, but he's struggling as well. It seems he's having an internal battle with himself because he shakes his head after a couple of seconds before making appear three beautiful flower crowns.

"Give them these and tell them they'll be fine," Midoriya whispers, wiping another couple of tears off his face.

Mina nods even though she doesn't know if it's going to work.

"I remember you."

The voice startles her, but fortunately she's already taken the crowns and hidden them before the god appeared.

Todoroki Shoto, the powerful and talented son of one of the most important gods. He immediately stands in between Midoriya and her as if he's trying to shield him.

Mina tries not to feel offended.

"You payed him a visit last time," Todoroki continues, glaring at her. "Right before he disappeared."

That young god is not only powerful but smart as well, which is very unfortunate for her.

"That doesn't make her responsible for what happened!" Midoriya protests, although he pouts, before taking one of Todoroki's hand in his.

"But maybe she knows..."

"Hey, Shoto," Midoriya cuts him off, but he's very sweet and gentle when he does, he even cradles the god's face in his hands and as Mina predicts, he melts right into the touch. "I told you that wasn't going to happen again, remember? I'm not going anywhere..."

Maybe Bakugo doesn't have that much hope after all...

Although Mina refuses to believe that.

"Besides, she has a lot of things to do..." Midoriya gives her a look and she understands immediately that it's better for her to go.

It's more than obvious that Midoriya hasn't told his friend, perhaps none of them, what happened, at least not all of it.

He pulls Todoroki into his arms and although the god returns his embrace softly, it looks like (for a moment) he'd do anything to keep hugging Midoriya forever.

Todoroki glares at her over Midoriya's freckled shoulder and Mina knows that he's making connections in his mind... He knows something and he is not going to let it go.

Which means she's in trouble.

***

Todoroki stays with him for a while, he seems to have relaxed a bit, especially after Izuku sits under a tree and allows his friend to lie down next to him and use his lap as a pillow.

He doesn't bring Ashido up again, but Izuku is still worried about what happened.

"Do you like this place, Izuku?" He asks suddenly, staring up at him as the green haired demigod runs his fingers through his mismatched hair.

"Of course I do!" Izuku chuckles as he points around him. "This is my field and I'm very proud of it!"

"No, I mean..." Todoroki takes his hand, surprising Izuku a bit and making him turn red when he presses a kiss to his palm. "I mean the mortal world."

For some reason the sentence makes him nervous, he feels like it's a trick or something like that. Part of him is tempted to tell him all about the underworld and the things he saw there that Izuku loved... But then he would have to tell him about what happened.

And it seems like Todoroki is not ready to hear that, at least not the whole story.

"Of course I like the mortal world!" Izuku says, which is entirely true.

"Is there no other place you'd rather be?" As he says this, Todoroki intertwines their fingers together, he's very gentle, but for a moment Izuku has the feeling that his friend is afraid to let go of him.

"No," he mumbles, but this time he lies.

"I'm glad," Todoroki smiles, before rising into to a sitting position again. He wraps his arms around Izuku and pulls him closer to his chest before kissing the other's cheek. "It's... I'm scared of losing you again."

"You won't. I told you I'm not going anywhere."

"I know."

Instead of keeping him company for a couple of hours, Todoroki stays the whole day with him in the field and even walks him home when it's dark again.

He kisses Izuku's forehead as a goodbye.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he says before shaking his head. "Well, I have something to take care of first, but I hope it doesn't take me long."

Even though his friend is smiling, Izuku suddenly has a bad feeling...

***

It's not the same without Midoriya around, but the flower crowns do cheer the little kids up a bit. Mina even finds herself chuckling when later that day Kirishima and Kaminari get excited about the messages Midoriya sent them.

And then Bakugo rushes inside the castle and steps right front of her like a desperate man or desperate god, if she wants to be more accurate about it...

"Is Izuku back? Is he here?"

Mina blinks a few times, confused, but then–

"I saw a couple of children with flower crowns... New ones."

"I'm sorry... I–I payed him a visit. He gave me the flowers for them."

Instead of getting angry, like he would years ago, Bakugo nods, almost devastated; his shoulders fall and it's obvious that he misses Midoriya more than anything.

"Is he alright?"

"Yes."

Mina can tell Bakugo is aching to ask more, to ask if Midoriya said something about him... If he misses him, but he shakes his head slightly and turns around to go back to work.

It's heartbreaking.

Which is why she decides not to worry him even more, although she has the feeling that she should mention about what happened with Todoroki, because it seems like it could be a problem.

She just hopes she's wrong.

***

Next--->

Patreon

[housano]

A completely "abridged" and unhinged Virtual Festa Royale summary

Part 1

MC: Virtual Reality Battle Royale?

Ryekie: Virtual Reality Battle!

Akashi: MC I want to be on your team

RNG: NOT ON MY WATCH

MC: Well sucks to suck Akashi

Akashi: 😭

*Enter the virtual reality world*

Terminal: Hey Mary Sue/ Gary Stu, here's your team, Sarah from Gumbal- I mean Cerastium, Shaft, Toshundere and some random try hard

MC: Okies

Cerastium: OMG your in Justice's office. Tell me! What are his hobbies? What does he smell like? Does he like boiled bunnies?

MC: Boiled wha-

Cerastium: Oh hey new people!

Toshu: hello

Shaft: If you close your eyes, you can pretend I'm Shennong!

Try hard: I'm reXer. I am the god of video games and I will carry you to victory. Winning is everything and that is the plotpoint for me.

MC: Why?

reXer: That's in Part 5

Shadow figure enters vr room in the real world. dun. dun. DUUUUUUUUNNN

Part 2-3

reXer: 🎶 I'm the best. Around. Nothing's ever gonna keep me down🎶

Terminal: You're dead fucking last

reXer: *shocked pikachu face*

Toshu: * Proceeds to verballly eviscerate reXer*

Shaft: Teamwork

Ceras: Justice

MC: Availability for flirt option in LIVE A HERO!

*Meets Ryekie's Team and Pubra-chan*

MC: Omg Pubra-cha-

Ceras: JUSTICE-SAMA! Give me your justice!

Ryekie: It's my justice! Not yours!

Ceras: Dejection!

Ryekie: I'm off to where I hope nothing bad happens to me!

Part 4

Kouki: Alchiba is annoying

Alchiba: Why am I with children?

Rutilix: Where's my king?

Anon:.....

Round 1 fight

Anon: Cheat codes!

Toshu: Ack water!

Ceras: My shield, like my dogma is shattered!

Shaft: I'm useless until I get my alt.

reXer: I'm still standing!

Anon: That's why you're daddy dead

reXer: !

Anon: Dead as hell.

reXer: .....

Anon: What shoes he got on? What shoes he got on in his casket?

reXer: *starts tearing up*

Anon: That's why your granny ain't go no knees and she can't pray to Jesus bitch. How about that? She can't double dutch.

reXer: Get out of my match

Anon: That's why your baby has a glass eye that when he cries you have to clean it with Windex.

reXer: GET OUT OF MY MATCH

Anon: I'll get out of your match. Fuck.

reXer: Get out of my match......

Part 5:

Flashback

reXer?: Dad's the best

reXer: I'm the best!

*One Kaibutsu buffet later*

Everyone: Who? Is that a new fragrance line?

reXer?: If you don't remember my dad I'm going to make you all!

Flash forward

reXer?: I'm sad and not reXer.

Team: Don't be sad. We're cool with it!

reXer: I'm no longer sad.

Part 6:

Toshu: I hate water, so I'm going to try to swim without the kiddy inflateables

reXer: K

Toshu: Ok got the hang of it

*New form, "Put the 'fun' in fundoshi'"

Toshu: .........

Shaft:.........

reXer:........

MC: I consent

Flamier: I consent

Toshu: I DON'T

Part 7

Anon: I must fuck with this team again as Ryekie

MC Team: Prepare for Battle!

*Not Ryekie appears*

Toshu: You're way too quiet to be him

Shaft: You look too pissed off to be him

Ceras: The marks are not there! More importantly the back fur tuft should be 2mm shorter from when I clipped a piece from earlier today

Everyone else: ......

*Fake Ryekei bonks Ceras and runs away with her*

Shaft: It's my time to shine. In the next part.

Part 8

*Shaft acquires cyclist pants*

Shaft: Okay let's go all aboard!

*Everyone gets on his back*

Anon: I am Giansar a hacker and I'm going to take over your virtual form.

Ceras: Oh noes!

*Everyone else bonks Giansar*

Giansar: No fair!

Part 9

MC: So how did you get Ryekie's form

Giansar: I said I was part of security and that his account has been compromised and need all his personal informations that he was happy to hand over. He now works as a maid in the inn.

MC: Me and the himbo are going to have a long talk when we get home.

Giansar: I still hold the winning hand and can take you all hostage!

*Kaibutsu invade*

Gansar: I no longer hold the winning hand.

Part 10

Flashback

Giansar: I didn't get to be a hero

Vulpecula: Be a villain!

Giansar: Okay

Flash forward

Giansar: I'm hacking the boss and then yeeting off to the next event.

Everyone: Okay.

reXer: It's the finale and time for my epiphany

MC: Which is that you need to carve your own path instead of following your father's verbatim?

reXer: You got it and I get the final blow!

Part 11

Tourney cancelled but hey we get a celebration

Ceras: I found my justice

Ryekie: Did I hear justice!

reXer: Hi

Ryekie: Omg your dad was the best

reXer: Omg validation! I'm going to carve my own path

*Hero form awakens and is exactly like his father's

MC: Eh, poor Musou doesn't need to draw a second suit if he's not payed for it.

Epilogue

MC: I'll see you around

*reXer kisses MC*

reXer: See you at my place

[addisonrottmnt]

Rise Donnie x fem reader

The new teenage mutant ninja turtle

You were hiding behind one of the knock down cars so the Krang don’t see you. You got split up from the Turtles because you guys were trying to hide from krang you call Donnie on your phone when Donnie saw it was you he answered right away

Donnie: Y/N were are you are you in a spot were the krang won’t see you

Y/N: yeah I’m behind a knock down car

Donnie: ok good I be there right way just don’t move from that spot

Y/N: ok [gasp]

Donnie herded a crash on his phone his eyes widened in fear

Donnie: Y/N !

Your phone was on the ground you were shaking because the krang boss was right in front of you

Krang boss: well looks like I found you human

Donnie: Y/N! Get out of there Run!

You try to run way but the krang boss group your arm you try to break free from it

Y/N: let go of my arm !

Donnie jumps to building to building an spot you

Donnie: let her go!

Krang boss: I don’t think so

he flew down and kicks the boss krang in the face then his grip loosens on your arm and you got it out of the krang boss grasp

Y/N: Donnie

You ran to him and hug him and you had tears in your eyes

Y/N:[sob]

Donnie: so glad your safe

You look up at him and he wipes all of the tears off your face

Y/N: Donnie I love-

Before you could finish your sentence the krang boss grabbed your both arms an try to pull you in to the portal

Donnie: No!

Donnie raps his arms around your waist an he try’s to pull you back but the other two krang were fighting him after he defeated the two other krang he realize you were on the other side of the portal

Donnie: No No!

He made it through the portal before it closed

Y/N: Donnie!

When Donnie saw you his eyes widened when he saw you in the krang goo

Donnie: let her go I’m not scared to fight you

Krang boss: you seem to care about this human

Donnie: yes I do she my best friend and I never gut chance to say I love her

Krang boss : Ha Hahaha

Y/N: Donnie

And out of nowhere the krang goo got on Donnie he try to get out of it. Your eyes widened when you saw Donnie in the krang goo

Y/N: Donnie!

Donnie: Y/N I’m alright just hang in there I’m coming to get you

Krang boss: I’m not sure that going to happen

You realize the glowing green was in the krang goo you realize your body was starting hurt so bad you were in pain you screamed so loudly it hurt so much when Donnie eyes were wide and filled with tears because hates to see you in so much pain you had tears in your eyes to when the pain finally stop the krang goo slip off you. You were pass out down on the floor. When Donnie saw you mutant’s in to he was shock you had a soft shell and you look just like him but female. Donnie finally got out of the krang goo right before he could attack a blue portal open his other three brothers show up. Leo made three portals and all three of them kicked the three krang through the portal the portal closed up the other three brothers check on Donnie

Leo: Donnie are you okay

Donnie: y-yeah

Mikey: are you ok dee

Donnie: yeah-[gasp] Y/N!

Donnie runs towards you he picks you up in bridle style

Donnie: Y/N please wack up [sob] please I love you

Y/N: Donnie

Donnie: Y/N! You’re okay

Donnie puts you Down slowly and hugs you. You hug him back

Y/N: what happened

You look down at your hands and you realize they look just like Donnie’s hands

Y/N: oh my god I look like you guys and I have a shell

Donnie: you have a soft shell don’t worry I will make a battle shell

Donnie had his two hands on your shoulders an you look up at him with a smile

Mikey: wow Y/N that you

Y/N: yep

Mikey: I can make a bandanna for you oh boy we got a new team member

Leo: well looks like the bad guys are out numbered because there are five teenage mutant ninja turtles now!

Raph: oh yeah!

Donnie: hey Y/N I want to say I love

Donnie rubbed back of his neck nervously an out of nowhere you kiss him on lips Donnie was shock his eyes were wide

Y/N: oh sorry I didn’t mean to shock you I thought you were going to say you love me-

All of the sudden Donnie kiss you on the lips after you guys pulled part you and Donnie hug

This is a drawing of Y/N As a teenage mutant ninja turtle

[luvnami]

shinazugawa sanemi is NOT the love interest of my dream office romcom! - chapter 2 (ask me)

ɞ an | second chapter! hopefully third will be in the next few days where the plot starts to drive itself a bit more :> writing about this made me relive my old job's trauma... likes/comments/rb are appreciated. do let me know what you think about the fic! find the masterlist here ɞ cw / wc | second hand embarrassment, office!au, manager!sanemi, IT department!giyuu was funnier in my head, mangaka!mitsuri is real, mdni (18+), 1.7k+

“Look at what the cat dragged in.”

“Shut up.”

Masachika’s cheerful demeanour is too much for you in the morning, especially when you’ve barely gotten five hours of sleep and barely survived the office commute. You thought you were going to suffocate to death between the train doors and someone’s handbag stabbing you in the ribs.

You know how dishevelled you looked: jacket thrown haphazardly over one shoulder, your socks probably don’t match, and the back of your hairstyle is absolutely none of your concern. Unfortunately, you have bills to pay and need food to eat, so today is yet another lovely day dedicated to the capitalist economy that keeps the world running, and you shackle yourself once more to your 1.0mx0.5m table. 

You put your bag down and sling your jacket over the back of your chair. You managed to edit all the documents Shinazugawa requested before heading home last night, so you had some time to make yourself a cup of coffee, and maybe dash to the toilet before your first meeting of the day. You decide on the former. 

Grabbing your work mug, you head to the office pantry. The hallways bustle with workers from other departments hurrying to clock in for the day, some already clutching stacks of paper copies or are talking loudly on their phones. You feel like you’re a part of it: the innumerable adults that make up the country’s workforce, driving the GDP in some minuscule way with your blood, sweat and tears. If you zoom out from that microscopic view, you feel like an ant in a colony, a forgotten face amongst a sea of forgotten faces. 

You shake your head. It’s too early for these kinds of thoughts. You turn the corner into the pantry, intending to grab the company-supplied 3-in-1 coffee that’s too sweet for your own good, then maybe save that toilet trip for when the caffeine decides to hit your gut. 

“Ah. Sorry.”

Shinazugawa stands in the doorway. You have to stagger back to avoid running headfirst into his chest (which, by the way, could possibly be perfectly sculpted under his dress shirt. You’ve always wondered if his body is just as handsome as his face, but you shouldn’t be drooling about your manager’s theoretical pecs, especially not in a parenthetical monologue. Forget it. You’ll fantasise another time). 

For the second time, you shake yourself out of your thoughts and move to the side to let Shinazugawa leave the pantry so that you can enter. He has his own mug of coffee – filled to the brim, black as his soul. You scowl at it. Shinazugawa sends a worried look your way, but he picks his battles and this is not one he wants to fight right now, so he walks back to his office. 

You’re relieved. It’s better than having to discuss what happened last night with the entirely normal situation of ‘my employee writes fanfiction about me’ and ‘my boss found out I write fanfiction about him’. 

You enter the pantry and reach for a disposable coffee packet in the cabinet. You fill your mug with hot water and mix the powder in, stirring it till it dissolves and turns into a warm cup of coffee. You mindlessly watch the bubbles congregate at the edge of the mug. It has a Snoopy print and comes with a matching spoon, a gift from your ex years ago when you were still in high school. You were upset. You asked why he couldn’t get you flowers and a stuffed toy like all the other boyfriends, shoving the mug into the back of your closet and forgetting about it till you moved to your apartment for work. At least it was a practical gift, though your ex was much less so, and cheated on you with that girl from science class. 

You nurse the coffee back at your cubicle and run through your emails. Tomioka from IT is as unhelpful as ever. You had an issue with the office system last week, so you emailed IT hoping they could do the job for you. All you received back was an automated ‘I’m on leave till XX, please contact Sabito in my absence’, so you emailed Sabito, only to receive another automated ‘I’m on leave till XX, please contact Makomo in my absence’. You swear everyone in the IT department has an infinite number of days of paid leave. You make a mental note to track down Makomo today, preferably before lunchtime. 

Masachika leans over and the backrest of his chair creaks under his weight. 

“Hey, did you send Shinazugawa the documents you edited?”

You pause, coffee mug halfway up to your mouth. You glance at the clock on the bottom right of your laptop screen. 8.59am. 

“Fuck.”

.

You somehow manage to send the documents right as the clock turns 9.01am. You gulp back the rest of your coffee, then head for your team meeting. 

The meeting goes normally. By ‘normally’, it goes like this: You sit behind Masachika at the conference table, a seat far enough from the front so that you can pretend your laptop screen has something important for you to focus on, but close enough that you’re less likely to get picked to answer questions or offer opinions that are going to get shot down anyways. You’ve got it all worked out to the tee. It’s seat number three on the side of the presenter, and you make sure to arrive a respectable six minutes early to claim your throne. 

The only problem is that today’s meeting is to discuss the team for the next project, and Shinazugawa has your name on his mind because of 1. The Fanfiction Incident and 2. This Morning’s Coffee Encounter. Under other circumstances, you wouldn’t mind your name in his mouth, if that certain circumstance included a bed and a condom. This is different. This is war. You don’t want to undertake a project that’s only to give you more overtime and less sleep, which means less time to write all your silly little dreamy fantasies about office romance. A plus B equals to C. 

So when Shinazugawa suggests you co-lead the project with him, your heart drops. 

“Do we have any opposition?” 

No one raises their hand. No one would be stupid enough to volunteer, anyways, when they already have so much work on their plate. 

“It’s settled, then.”

The gavel hits the table. The crow caws and the owl hoots. Farewell, freedom. You crumble into dust. 

Your lucky seat must have not been so lucky after all. You curse and grumble your way out of the meeting, knowing that your mood is ruined for the rest of the day. Your only saving grace is knowing that Masachika is on the team, too. It’s a simple enough project (if you ignore the impending doom of Shinazugawa’s perfectionist tendencies and last-minute client requests), an advertisement for manga. To be specific, Kanroji Mitsuri’s latest shoujo manga, featuring a summer vacation lover in Okinawa. 

Before you can head back to your seat and sulk more, Shinazugawa calls you over to his office. It’s less of a request and more of a demand. You trudge over unwillingly, trying to hide the sour look on your face by forcing a respectable workplace appropriate smile. 

“I saw your email. The documents look fine, don’t make the same mistake again next time.” 

Shinazugawa glances at you briefly over the top of his monitor. You force the smile a little wider. 

“What’s that look on your face for?”

Never mind. Fuck everything nice you’ve ever tried to do. Your smile shrinks into a half-frown. The crease between Shinazugawa’s eyebrows deepens and he sighs heavily, casting his eyes to the side of his office wall where the paint has started to chip. He should remind management about that again. 

“I didn’t mean- Whatever. Here’s Kanroji’s manga for your reference on the next project, give one copy to Masachika as well. Make sure to read it before the next meeting with the client.”

Shinazugawa hands (shoves) two books to you. The glossy cover features a high school girl with a flustered look on her face and a tan boy in the background, an ocean wave and palm tree adding to the beach vibe. 

“‘Doki-Doki Summer Island Escape’,” you read the title aloud. 

Shinazugawa snorts. You allow yourself to huff a soft laugh. 

“By the way, about yesterday…” 

The moment is over. Nothing in this universe is funny anymore. Your grip on the manga tightens, and the soft ‘tick, tick, tick’ of the wall clock sounds like a countdown to your death by shame. You regret not writing a will. You really want your ashes to be scattered by the ocean, though you don’t remember if they do that anymore. Environmental concerns or something. 

“I’m not going to question what you do outside of working hours, but please remember you’re at work even if it’s overtime,” Shinazugawa says. “What do you write?”

The question hits you like whiplash. You struggle to find the words, trying to buy yourself time with a long, non-committal “Um…”. You consider bringing up the fact how Shinazugawa has just contradicted himself within two sentences. It’s stupid. It’s laughable. But your own brain is overheating in an attempt to come up with an answer that is socially acceptable, so you shrug it off coolly and reply, “Nothing much. It’s just for fun.”

For fun. A nice, casual excuse for any abhorrent hobby your boss discovers you engaging in on work premises. You mentally give yourself a high-five. 

Shinazugawa’s face says otherwise. His eyebrows (which you now notice, are rather small), nearly meet each other in the middle of his forehead from how hard he’s squinting at you. He screams, “Really? For fun? What kind of shitty reasoning is that?” without even saying a single word. 

“I-I’m sorry! I’ll go now! I have, uh, things to do. Work. Haha. Work to do, at my job. Wouldn’t you believe that. See you later, Shinazugawa!” 

You back out of the office step by step like a cornered animal, nervously laughing till his office door shuts behind you. You book it back to your table.

Shinazugawa is left staring at the wood grain of the door. The clock continues ticking for each passing second he wastes trying to understand you and your funny words. At nine seconds he realises that unravelling your strange mannerisms is not written in the fine print under his work contract, and therefore he shouldn’t be using paid time to worry about your writing, so Shinazugawa tries to refocus himself on his tasks for the day. 

Shinazugawa turns back to his own copy of ‘Doki-Doki Summer Island Escape’. He frowns.

[hetaliayorkshire]

War Of The Roses Final Battle

It was raining when it happened….

I was tricked by my own brother…

We made a promise. Not to betray each other.

And he… did just that… to me…

England and Yorkshire clashed swords once more, as he said, “This is getting us nowhere!” She continued to fight him, but was then attacked by his magic. She screamed in pain and landed on the ground. Richard then asked, “Are you alright…?” “Yes! I’ll be… fine…!!!”

That’s when the world around her changed and she looked around, only to see England opposing her. “If you want to win this Final Battle! Fight me here! Time doesn’t matter… and you can summon whatever you want to fight me here”, he explained. Yorkshire asked, “Have you lost your mind?! Our Kings need us, Iggy!”

“… Time has stopped there. So, don’t worry”.

For some reason, I took his word…

Then she summoned something that shouldn’t exist during that time period: an air rifle. “Okay. I trust you, brother”, she told him as a field of pretty white roses appeared under her. He smiled and said, “I hope you know how to use that”. “Haha…! Yeah… so do I…! At least we can have a fun fight!”, she laughed. “Yeah…”.

The two siblings jumped around this dimension and started shooting at one another. England had quickly realised how accurate she was and then grew scared of his own sister. He kept dodging, until he got a hit in her shoulder. She jumped down and smirked. “Are you finished…?” His eyes widened when he saw that multiple rifles were at her feet. “W-What the hell…?!!”

“Hey! I just wanna have some fun! Neither of us can die here, right?!”, Yorkshire asked with a smile.

Yes, neither of us could die here… not here….

Then she quickly used every rifle at her disposal, and just kept shooting at him. He quickly summoned his sword and cut down every bullet at a fast speed. “I-Is this the only weapon I’m used to using at this time…? W-Why is she so good with an air rifle?! That weapon isn’t even supposed to be invented yet!”, he thought.

Yorkshire quickly jumped up and the siblings clashed swords. England started to panic and he asked, “I-Is that… a Holy Sword?!” “You mean Excalibur? Yup~! It is~!” He cried out as she slashed him and fell onto his red roses, not appearing to get up. “E-England?” She jumped down and asked, “A-Are you alright…?” “…If I can’t beat her head on, I’ll just have to use some dirty tactics…”, he thought before a horrible grin appeared.

“AHHHHHH!!!”

She screamed as she felt a deep cut in her chest and she fell back. “Y-You bastard! That was a dirty move! Y-You don’t fight like that! What’s wrong with you…?!! You usually fight with honour!”, Yorkshire shouted at him. England stood up and he wound healed up. This surprised her and she backed away. “Y-You can heal”.

“It’s adorable how you think that anything I’ve done… has been honourable. Honour doesn’t exist in war…”.

“W-What have you done…?”, she asked, tearing up.

He snapped his fingers and then the world collapsed around them. She looked down and that is when she saw it. King Richard’s head… on the ground. “N-No!”

“The War is over…”.

She fell to the ground and then saw a white rose, that was covered in blood. “I-I’m sorry, your majesty…”.

Tears ran down her cheeks, but then her eyes turned blue. “Y-You lied to me…! You have betrayed me!”

“Yorkshire! This is war! Grow up!”, England shouted.

She then took the rose and started laughing, looking back at him. “No… this is just to keep your ego intact, big brother~! You just wanted to take over~! That’s all you want~! Full conquest of our Kingdom~! Don’t you understand what that makes you~?”, she asked him.

“What…?”

“In short… that means you’re weak without us. And… you actually believe you can boss us around. Too bad. Because some of us are gonna get sick of it one day”.

Yorkshire then pointed her magical air rifle at him.

“I suggest you watch your back from now on. You will only going to get weaker as time goes on”.

Then she walked away, tears running down her face. “I hate you… brother”. Regret filled England.

He got what he wanted. I didn’t mind being apart of the United Kingdom. But, he didn’t have to trick me.

Present Day…

At a World Meeting, Yorkshire was looking down at a bloody white rose. The same one she took that day.

All she heard was England arguing with America and France, as per usual. But she didn’t feel like joining in. Yorkshire and England had reconciled over the years, working together as a country again, but the damage of that war… always tormented her. She stood up.

“Ve…? Are you alright, Yorkshire?”, Veneziano asked.

She nodded. “Yes. But, I’m just gonna go home”.

…

When she got home, she walked directly to her own basement and passed a mirror that was very strange.

She placed the white rose in a display case and used her magic to keep it blooming still.

“Depression’s never easy, is it?”, her mirror self said.

“No… it’s not”, Yorkshire replied.

“… It’ll get better. Just don’t turn into me”.

She looked surprised and looked into the mirror.

“You’re already a pure white rose on a sea of blood… so, don’t get trapped in your own thorns, like me…”.