#I DID MY TIME I PUT IN MY HOURS CLEANING TABLES LISTENING TO 50S HITS AND OLD COUNTRY TUNES ALL DAY

[t00thpasteface]

I JUST GOT ACCEPTED INTO A GOOD COLLEGE TO STUDY MARINE BIOLOGY ON THE BEACH

this is the kind of spontaneous publicity that MAKES people. things are going to start happening to me now

[renaerys]

Prompt 50. But Berserk & Boomer😔👉👈💕

50. “I thought you left.”

We’re calling this one Unfortunately, She Impressed Him. This is a pair of characters I love with all my heart in any flavor of relationship and can’t wait to write more of in my ongoing multi-chapter fic Trinity House over on AO3.

This fic is part of a prompt challenge that is now closed to new requests, but you can read all the completed submissions here. Reminder that the challenge is to make everything SFW, so we’re getting creative here.

xxx

Boomer was halfway across the deserted lobby of Faust Keating Rogers, LLP when he realized he’d forgotten his keys at his desk. He groaned aloud because it was 8 p.m. and no one was around to hear him because they had all gone home to their families hours ago like normal people. Boomer didn’t have two to three kids and a house in the suburbs, though, and neither did his boss. The three hour lull reserved for dinner, baths, and bedtimes before the evening work-from-home grind offered him no alternative but to power through. He fully planned to grab take out on his way home and enjoy an episode of whatever was on HBOMax before getting back to the tedious work of reviewing the draft prospectus statement his boss had sent him to proof by tomorrow morning.

Except, his keys were forty floors up and he now had to risk running into her again when he’d managed to slip away so neatly. He’d even removed his tie on the elevator ride down, and now he rubbed his exposed neck, flushed with anxiety over what might happen if she saw him and asked him to stick around to finish the work here.

“Nice going, dumbass,” he lamented as he stepped onto the elevator and hit the button for the fortieth floor.

It wasn’t that Boomer disliked his job. In fact, he didn’t mind it at all. It was better than slinging drinks or waiting tables. He had health insurance, a steady paycheck, and a resumé that could proudly display the name of one of the most elite accounting firms in the country. He could pivot his career if he wanted to, as Brick would say. Boomer wasn’t thinking about his next job right now, though. Right now, he was thinking about this one and how his boss was a hard-ass and a workaholic even if she was brilliant, and how there was a one hundred percent chance she would detect him coming back to his desk (which was annoyingly set up right in front of her office so that he could answer her calls, manage her meetings, and deal with whoever passed close enough to her event horizon to get suckered into the latest heinous audit in need of staffing).

There were his traitorous keys sitting on the desk next to the framed picture of his brothers. He glared at them, as if they were a forgotten household item that had developed a supernatural grudge like in those old Japanese folktales he liked to read online. He half expected them to jingle and alert his boss to his presence, just to spite him.

They didn’t, and he slipped them into his pocket as quietly as could be. He released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and took a beat. It was quiet. Most of the offices were dark, save for a few poor souls in the large conference room stuck on the ongoing year-end audit for one of the firm’s most important clients: Unicorn, Inc. His boss’s office was also lit up behind her closed door, but she hadn’t called out to him like she would during the day when he got back from his lunch break hoping for a few minutes to catch up on emails in peace before she dumped more work on him.

This, of course, was odd. The small legion of assistants who had come before Boomer were notorious for their short-term employment working this specific desk. The work was demanding and so was the boss, but there was something else that set her apart from other senior associates in the International Tax Services division, something that seemed to intimidate away any support the higher ups sent her way. Denise a couple desks down had warned Boomer not to bring too many personal effects to the office; chances were he wasn’t going to last long. Boomer had smiled thinly and thanked Denise for her advice, and brought the picture of his brothers in the next morning because he had his pride and Brick told him it was healthy to indulge that once in a while. Brick would certainly know.

So here he was, uncertain. Anxiety over having to sit here for another two hours finishing work and having tepid Doordash delivered pulled him toward the elevator and escape, while that annoying, rare pride demanded he check on his boss and make sure she knew he was here to support her, lest she get the idea that he needed to be fired.

The longer he stood there, indecisive, the greater his curiosity grew. What was she doing in there? It was quiet, even when he strained his Super hearing. He could hear Dean Matheson pouring whiskey a few offices down (that guy had a drinking problem and everyone knew they only kept him around because he had the Unicorn, Inc. account), Adebayo Hansou on a conference call with Dubai that was escalating to profanity, Shelly Kim with her head down and typing away at an Excel spreadsheet like a pro. Their assistants were long gone for the night, but here was Boomer, loitering and indecisive and what is she doing in there not yelling at me when she definitely knows I’m here?

He couldn’t take it anymore. He knocked on the closed door—rap, rap, rap—and called out softly, “Berserk?”

A beat, then: “Come in.”

Finding his boss in upward facing dog while still in her pencil skirt was not a sight Boomer was prepared for. Berserk had her eyes closed as she stretched at a near ninety degree angle and listened to music on her Airpods. Boomer had never seen her with her heels off and her mane of red hair thrown together in a messy bun; it was so casual that it was almost obscene.

“You’re staring.”

Fuck, he was staring and now she was looking right at him down her nose, even though she was the one on the floor. He stood up straighter, unable to help himself when she took that tone that reminded him so much of Brick’s when he was about to criticize, but he didn’t avert his gaze. “Sorry.”

She breathed in deeply through her nose and hoisted herself up into downward dog position. “Why are you here?”

Forgot my keys seemed like a really lame excuse that she’d probably laugh at him for, but he also was not in the habit of making shit up on the spot if he hoped to make people believe him. “I forgot my keys.” He took them from his pocket to show her, as if she might not know what keys are, as a concept.

“Smart locks.” Berserk exhaled and slowly walked her hands back on the yoga mat until she reached her feet and began to swing slowly left and right.

Huh? he almost said like an idiot, until he caught himself. “Don’t think my landlord would approve of me installing that.” Also, those things were like $200 a pop, which was not worth the occasional inconvenience and shame of forgetting his keys and then catching his boss doing yoga in her office after hours.

Berserk made some noncommittal sound like whatever, peasant and slowly uncurled upward one vertebra at a time. Boomer realized he was back to staring again, literally lingering in her door watching her and trying to equate this subdued, casual version of Berserk with the terse, no-nonsense businesswoman he was used to dealing with on a daily basis.

When she finally achieved her full height, she popped her neck. The hair that was too short for her bun fell in around her narrow face in a stylish, athleisure sort of way. The top buttons on her blouse were undone. She wore a small, golden necklace he’d never noticed before because he wasn’t in the habit of checking out his boss. “I thought you left.”

The accusatory nature of her words were totally at odds with her flat tone, only the barest hint of curiosity dangling there at the end, like she expected him to respond.

Oh, she expected him to respond.

Boomer took another step into her office because he was full of poor judgment today. “I forgot my keys.”

At which point he showed her his keys again and also had a mild stroke, because what the fuck are you doing, mate?

Berserk smiled. “Yeah, I got that part.”

Was she laughing at him? He had never heard her laugh before, unless it was at Dean Matheson, that comb-over in denial who, in addition to being a high functioning alcoholic, also had a reputation for throwing associates under the bus when a client wasn’t happy.

Boomer smiled back, because that was what he did when people smiled at him, and ‘people’ now included Berserk, apparently.

“Well, since you’re here,” she said as she padded around to her desk.

Crap, there was the work he was afraid of soliciting from her by remaining in the building. He debated an excuse to give her: picking up dry cleaning? Plausible, but transparent. Meeting up with his brothers? No, she’d probably make him stay all night for the chance to ruin Brick’s plans.

“Thai or Mexican?”

Boomer stared dumbly. He was becoming quite good at that (10,000 hours and you can become an expert at anything, they say). “Huh?”

The yoga must have put Berserk in an exceedingly gracious mood, because she actually repeated her question without getting that look on her face like she was picturing him getting trampled by stampeding monsters. “Thai or Mexican? I don’t have a preference.”

Oh.

Oh.

Boomer’s stomach picked that time to snarl at him—8 p.m. and still no dinner, the fiend.

Berserk snorted in laughter and fanned herself with her phone. “Jesus. Mexican it is.”

Which was how Boomer found himself on the small sofa tucked in the corner of Berserk’s office, shoes off and belt loosened, with enough tacos, tamales, and rice and beans to feed a small family. He even had a beer from the mini fridge Berserk kept under her desk.

She hadn’t stayed late to work. Well, she had, but only because she didn’t have a reason to go home.

“I just hate getting home to a dark apartment sometimes,” she said in between bites of food. She had her legs tucked up under her on the sofa close enough to brush Boomer’s thigh if he reached to grab the salsa.

“I thought you lived with your sister?”

“Brute got her own place a few months ago. The arrangement was only temporary while she was in between jobs.”

It was weird knowing so little about a person whose whole family had been in Boomer’s inner orbit since childhood. As far as he knew, Berserk wasn’t close to any of her cousins, not even Blossom. Boomer himself had never been more eager to leave a room than when Brat walked into it. Only Butch, Brute, and Buttercup had ever found common ground among each other once the sworn rivalries and blood feuds of their youth gave way to teenage rebellion against their respective overlord fathers and then the slog of adulthood that was inescapable even for a bunch of Supers flying high on Chemical X.

The fact that Boomer had gotten this job surprised him more than anyone. After drifting from restaurant jobs to office temp placements over the last six years, he’d never thought he would dust off his economics degree and land a temp-to-permanent position that seemed way above his qualifications. And he never thought it would be working for a woman he’d most definitely electrocuted in battle at least a dozen times before puberty.

“What?”

Boomer blinked. He’d been staring again, Jesus Christ. “Sorry, I was just thinking… I didn't know that. I’ve been working here for five months and I don’t actually know much about you at all.”

“Hm.”

Her magenta eyes were wine-dark against the murky sky beyond the window forty stories up. Boomer did avert his gaze this time to reach for the salsa, but he didn’t use it.

“I don’t even know why you invited me to stay for dinner in the office if we’re not going to do any work.”

“Why did you stay?”

“For the free food.”

Berserk grinned—the third time she had smiled at him tonight (or ever). He needed to stop counting; he’d be disappointed when it stopped happening tomorrow.

“Don’t get used to it. Much as I appreciate the company now and again, there’s no need for both of us to be stuck here while Matheson’s breathing down the associates’ necks. Can’t have him poaching you out from under me.”

“Well, I don’t work for him; I work for you.”

“It’s sweet how you don’t understand office politics.” She ate a lone slice of avocado with a fork. “He landed Unicorn back when they were early stage, and back when he was still putting in the work to earn his reputation. But since they IPO’d three years ago and make up twenty percent of our revenue now, he’s just another big name coasting by on associate work. You know he regularly schedules client calls and just doesn’t bother to show up? He forgets half the time, and the other half he’s busy playing golf or buying a yacht or whatever the fuck rich, white Boomers do.”

“Well, as a Boomer myself, I can say I’ve spent exactly zero hours buying yachts.”

She chuckled. Fourth time. “Oh, really.”

“Never even thought of yachts. As far as I’m concerned, they’re not even real.”

“Thanks for your expert opinion.”

“Any time.” Boomer turned his body to face her and draped his arm over the back of the sofa. With only the soft light from the floor lamp in the corner, he imagined himself adrift in the darkness, the sky scraper lights nearby stars. It was a lonely thought, one made romantic in the knowledge that she was here too, and he wasn’t actually alone.

“Matheson almost did poach you, you know.”

“What do you mean?” Boomer couldn’t recall exchanging more than a few words with the man.

“When we were filling support positions. Someone recognized you from the news a few years back, when the Cyclops Monster attacked the marina district and you and your brothers took it out. Matheson got it in his head that you’d be able to work at Super speed and help lower his billables.”

“Wow. Maybe you should’ve let him. What do you think the net savings would be in yacht units of measurement?”

Berserk rolled her eyes, but she was smiling again. “I claimed you before he could get the paperwork in.”

Boomer hyper-focused on that word: claimed. He also pointedly ignored it entirely, much in the same way he ignored the new count of five smiles tonight. “Showed him your bending powers, did you?”

Berserk’s Corona bottle turned frosty under her hand in a totally unnecessary, big dick energy display of said powers, and she took another sip. “No. Sharon from HR likes me. And I promised her I wouldn’t fire you after three months like your predecessors.”

Flattered was not how Boomer would describe the feeling of being claimed by Berserk and eluding Matheson’s vampiric clutches. But he was a bit tickled all the same. This was the woman Butch had once described as essentially Brick, if he were constipated all the time.

And then he realized what she was doing. “Hey, you’re sharing things about yourself.”

She clinked her bottle to his, and Boomer shivered at the frosty chill she transferred on contact. “Aw, you figured it out all by yourself.”

“Ha ha.”

She didn’t quite smile, but she did look kind of serene then, content even, as she lay back against the arm of the sofa and yawned. Her gold necklace—just a simple disk with an engraving Boomer could not make out—reflected the lamp light when she moved. It rested just beneath her collarbone, which had suddenly become the single-most interesting part of Berserk, and oh no, was he interested—

“You’re staring again.”

Son of a bitch.

“Sorry,” he said automatically. “I didn’t mean to.”

Hard no. He was not allowed to be any percent attracted to Berserk. First, she was his boss, and there was a cliché here that, while subverted on the gender role spectrum, was still very risky for both of them. Second, she was Berserk, a fellow Super, cousin to his best friend Bubbles and a shrewd, stiletto bitch in Brick’s estimation, which sounded bad. Not that she was bad, or even evil, unless you counted helping rich corporations accurately report their taxes while taking advantage of the many egregious loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code. Which, okay, point taken, but he also worked here and anyway, people should not be deemed good or evil so much as their choices ought to be—

“Are you thinking about fucking me?”

You shrewd, stiletto bitch!

She was smiling again, and Boomer pathetically logged that as the sixth time, although he wasn’t sure he should count it given the overt malice behind it.

Unfortunately, Boomer was, as had been previously established, very bad at making shit up on the fly. So he miserably said, “Yeah.”

“Hm.”

She sipped her beer slowly, and of course he watched. If it was out in the open, as fleeting a bout of insanity as it may have been, at least he could wallow in it without worrying about appearances.

It was the yoga. That fucking upward facing dog, Jesus Christ.

It was more than that too. Over the last few months, he had worked closely with her, watched her navigate the cutthroat halls full of piranhas like Matheson and other account managers, getting herself work on the best clients while managing her juniors with efficiency and professionalism. She was excellent and sharp, and she demanded excellency and sharpness in kind. After years of going it alone or temping for bosses who didn’t care enough even to learn his name, much less provide him with guidance and mentorship, it was an unspeakable relief to work under someone who knew how to rally the troops. Someone who knew how to lead, how to motivate, and how to reward loyalty with loyalty in return. It didn’t hurt that she looked amazing in her daily stilettos, either.

Unfortunately, she impressed him.

“I have some work to get done tonight.” Berserk stood up and smoothed her skirt.

Boomer scrambled to his feet. “Of course! Um.” He began closing food containers and repackaging them in the bags they’d come in, because he was panicking. “I’ll get rid of the trash. Do you want the leftovers in the fridge?”

“You take them. Otherwise my office will smell like a burrito for a week.”

“Okay.” Numbly, Boomer finished packing everything up, while Berserk made her way back to her desk and logged into her computer to check her emails.

Boomer lingered at the door. “I’ll have the prospectus back to you later tonight.”

“Thanks.”

Wow, way to go, stud.

He turned to leave, but her voice stopped him.

“Boomer?”

“Yeah?”

“Friday is good.”

He stared back at her in expert mode. “Huh?”

Berserk poked her head around the side of her large, external monitor. She was smiling again. Lucky number seven. “For fucking.”

“Okay,” Boomer said.

Okay?!

She pulled back behind her monitor. “I was going to get a cat, but you’ll do much better.”

Because she didn’t like going home to a dark, empty apartment alone. With no one to fuck.

“That was a joke.”

“Yeah, I got that,” he croaked.

Friday is for fucking, he thought, which was delightful alliteration and also completely insane and one hundred percent something he was getting more on board with by the nanosecond.

“See you tomorrow,” she said.

Boomer clutched the leftover Mexican food in his fist. “Okay. Goodnight.”

It took him the time to fly home and put the food away in his small fridge to realize that he had a sort-of date with Berserk lined up for two days from now.

He Y-posed at the window and whooped, “Hell yes!!”

Loud pounding in the floor followed by old Mrs. Cruikshank’s muffled Keep it down! couldn’t bring down his mood.

Boomer leaped onto his threadbare, living room sofa with his work laptop and took to the prospectus with alacrity. He’d send over superior work product and make Berserk’s job just that much easier tomorrow morning.

xxx

If you enjoy my writing, check out more of my fics on AO3, link in my profile. I’m currently updating Trinity House (which has a lot more Berserk and Boomer content, btw!) and The Alchemy of Us. Thanks for reading!

[shinydelirium]

Kiro’s 2021 Childhood Bday  R&S Translation [CN]

***THIS POST CONTAINS CONTENT THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET ON EN SERVER!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS***

This is a translation from Kiro’s 2021 childhood birthday story released on CN server. I do not know any Chinese so this was done through Google Translate. I apologize for any errors or mistranslations. Without further ado, please continue on reading!!! :) 

***WARNING: ANGST!!! THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE A HAPPY DAY FOR KIRO!!! FIRST IT WAS S2 CH12 AND NOW THIS!?!?! WTH, PAPERGAMES!?!?!***

[Chapter 1]: Child Star’s Birthday

7:50 am California

After Kiro ran to the classroom and sat down, he laid his head directly on the table. “You can sleep for another ten minutes.” He whispered to himself in his heart.

He is too sleepy.

Ten hours ago, he finished the last set of filming, returned from the studio to the house the company set up for him in California, and then caught up on all the missing courses and homework. It was already 3 o’clock in the morning.

As if on cue, his stomach growled and Kiro lay helplessly on the table.  

Since his debut, he has become more or less accustomed to the professionalism of being a “star” but at this time his stomach seems to be persistently singing against him. Kiro hesitated for a moment and then opened a pack of soda five minutes later.

Sweetness hits the tip of his tongue and brings a sense of satisfaction to his brain. He finally breathed a sigh of relief, put on his headphones and closed his eyes.  

This is the first time in a while he has taken a break in the past few days.  

Kiro took a deep breath quietly and buried his face deeper into his arms.

But he could still feel the gazes around him looking at him and the innocent discussions. Even the moment he walked into the classroom and sat down, the air was still for half a second.

He doesn’t like this kind of “special treatment” nor does he like how he is always affected by it.

Over the years, he thought that he should be used to being watched constantly, and perhaps he had to bear the pressure from other peers. But sure enough, in fact, there are still many times that he will be a little breathless.  

Like now.  

As a child star, there were two to three days a week that he where he would be absent from school. For Kiro, his classmates are indeed some distance away. Because of his repeated absence, the- so-called disparity was expected.  

The reasons are not so complicated in the eyes of the children. At this age, the feeling of distance is often more sensitive than adults.  

He also wants to try his best to build a good relationship with them. After all, having friends is a very happy thing.  

As if he had finally made up his mind, Kiro took a deep breath, smoothed down messy hair, and raised his smiling face along with his shining blue eyes.

“Good morning, everyone, long time no see!” No one could possibly refuse such a warm and sincere greeting, let alone Kiro.  

Even though some shy classmates nodded their heads and smiled with furtive gazes, the greeting initiated by Kiro still received many responses. Soon, a small circle formed around him. Everyone scrambled to ask which crew he went to during the period of “his absence”, which big star he saw, and what new information he gathered.

Suddenly, a boy with curly hair, leaned in and patted Kiro on the shoulder with great enthusiasm.

“Kiro! Happy birthday!”

As his high voice rang out, the children who got together cheered in unison.  

“They are all embarrassed to come and tell you, so I said it! Happy birthday, future star.”

Kiro was taken aback.

“Thank you.”

Almost a subconscious reply.

But in that small world that only belonged to Kiro, another voice sounded different from what he was doing at this time.

“So, today is my birthday.”

[Chapter 2]: A Heart to Live Up To

“Kiro, great, you haven’t left yet!”  

The lingering sound of the bell was still echoing. Kiro had just cleaned up and wanted to seize the rare free time to make up for a good night’s sleep, when he was suddenly stopped by the instructor who had rushed over. He excitedly grabbed Kiro’s hands, looking very surprised.

“Teacher, are you looking for me?”

“Yeah....” The teacher didn’t seem to know how to begin. Kiro responded sensibly, leading the question back at the end of the dialogue.

“If there is anything I need to do, you can just say it directly.”

After hearing this, the teacher nodded in relief, as if he had waited for a long time and quickly told the whole story.  

Kiro understood what was going on.  

It turned out that there was a very important violin competition for high school students today and the classmate of the classical music department who represented the school had a temporary accident and was unable to participate. He wanted Kiro to help fill in.

“...Okay, I will try my best. Thank you, teacher, for believing in me.”

Even though he was tired, he did not refuse this sudden request.

It’s not that he isn’t interested in the competition, nor is he absolutely confident in his skills, it’s just...

He hopes that he is perfect enough in the eyes of the teacher.

After all, at this critical time, the teacher thought of him and believed in him, and he must not fail this trust.

Thinking about this, Kiro clenched his teeth, swallowed a yawn that was ready to come out, and forced himself to wake up. After the teacher went back to the residence to fetch his violin, he hurried to the scene of the competition.

The site was set up in the observation deck of a building and under the transparent glass plank pathway, it is a panoramic view of the entire city.  

At the time of arrival, many contestants were already busy making preparations. Kiro’s appearance undoubtedly caused quite a stir. The teacher proudly met the gazes and protected Kiro through the crowd to their waiting area.

Kiro quickly entered the waiting area. He opened the violin bag, skillfully tightened the bow, wiped the rosin, set the violin on his shoulder, and tuned the pegs carefully and intently.  

Now that he is here, he must do his best. He cheered himself up and walked in the direction where he was ready to take the stage.

“Don’t worry, he is a little star. Even if he doesn’t do well, he has publicity and won’t make the school lose too badly.���

The voice in the corner made Kiro stop.

He didn’t listen. It seemed that there was another voice arguing with him, but that was not important. Kiro just returned to the waiting area quietly, waiting for the announcement from the competition organizer. He just lowered his head and stood there quietly.

At this time a man came over. He patted Kiro’s shoulder lightly and said mysteriously.

“Kiro, this is the first time we’ve met. I am a teacher in the classical music department.” He lowered his voice, “Actually, I don’t really like the format of music competitions. Music should be something to enjoy and convey emotions, not some sort of boring game. So don’t think of it as a competition, but as a special show. I’m looking forward to hearing the music you play. I heard that you play the violin very well. This is the first time I will hear your music.

After that, he mischievously gave Kiro a big pat on the back. *Took some liberties here with the translation*  

Kiro stared at this somewhat holistic man and did not speak for a long time. A similar and familiar feeling came out of him.  

The broadcast system called Kiro’s name.

“Don’t think about anything, just let the world hear your voice.”

[Chapter 3]: Happy Birthday Song

The competition ended smoothly.

Kiro didn’t remember the process of his performance. He only remembered the way the classical music department teacher exaggeratedly raised his hands to applaud him when he left the competition. His eyes were full of real and undisguised recognition and praise.

At the end of the competition, he politely declined the kindness of the teachers and left alone.  

The California coast is like spring all year round and the fresh air is filled with a faint smell of saltwater. Kiro walked, suddenly a little at a loss.  

For a moment he didn’t know where he should go or where he could go. He just carried his violin bag and walked alone on the streets of California aimlessly.  

Until he passed by a family restaurant.

Such restaurants are very common in California. People choose outdoor dining areas to enjoy their food with nature.

As far as Kiro’s line of sight could see, a family sat around the table warmly. There are grandparents, parents, and even uncles and aunts. And the main star of this family banquet is obviously the little girl sitting in the middle wearing a birthday hat.

She sat happily in the center, closing her eyes in front of a huge cake.  

Everyone’s face was filled with the look of joy as they watched her patiently and earnestly. No one interrupted the most solemn “ceremony” at this time.  

The little girl closed her eyes for a long, long time. Maybe she had a lot of wishes that she wants to come true or maybe she is carefully telling some wish that she wants to come true the most.  

After all, in the eyes of a child, the more important the wish, the more carefully it will be heard and realized.  

Kiro stood there and looked at the little girl’s face quietly. He didn’t know what he was feeling right now. It seemed that something he wanted to show was turning upwards along his heart, as if he would shed tears in the next second.  

He just stood there silently, watching her finally make her wish, blowing out the candles while her family sang “happy birthday.” Grabbing the balloons in her hand, the girl ran around in the open space, spinning her little skirt.  

Then she saw Kiro and ran towards him happily without knowing what she was thinking.

“Prince!” She waved her little hand at Kiro and said loudly. Kiro was stunned. The little girl ran up to him and raised her head, “His Royal Highness, are you here to wish me a happy birthday, too?”

Kiro thought for a while, crouched down and touched the little girl’s head, “Although I am not a prince, I wish you a happy birthday!”

The little girl didn’t seem to understand what he meant. She carefully picked out a yellow one from her balloon stash and gave it to Kiro.  

“Thank you for wishing me happiness, and I wish you happiness too. This is for you.”

The little girl happily ran back to her seat after speaking with him and the whole family nodded politely to him, seeming to express gratitude.  

Kiro looked at the yellow balloon in his hand and walked away slowly.

He was walking on the road, the sun a little dazzling, the balloon floating gently while he hummed quietly.

“Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me~”

At this time, his phone chimed, alerting him to an email.

[Chapter 4]: Special Birthday Gift

It is an email from KEY.

Since he came to the United States, KEY has always liked to use this “fun” way to keep in touch with him in addition to the phone.

Kiro sat on the roadside steps, “If my agent sees me like this, he will definitely be angry.”

Kiro thought about it leisurely but didn’t have any plans to get up.

“Today is my birthday, so I call the shots!” *Took some liberties here*

First, he simply replied to the fan messages wishing him a happy birthday on social media and then concentrated on deciphering KEY’s information. It is a very interesting little program. The code attached to the email can be directly written to change the content of the email.  

Kiro has always been happy with this special design. Under his operation, the information was quickly decoded.

“The place where you stay most often.”

Kiro read it out gently, and there was a pair of combined numbers at the same time.  

He raised his head, as if thinking of something.

The dance studio was deserted at this time.

This was the exclusive training room given to him by the company. Kiro took out the key and walked in gently in the same way as he had been in class.  

This is a special place for him.

The sun in the afternoon was particularly brilliant, flowing into the entire classroom through the floor-to-ceiling windows, which looked clean and sparkling. Kiro stood in front of a small cabinet in the dance studio.

He felt like an ordinary child at this moment, being guided to find the answer in the way he was most interested in. He was a little happy when he thought of this.  

Kiro cautiously opened the cabinet and found a box inside. He took it out, and after opening it, it turned out to be an exquisite violin.

The little violin along with the sunlight filtering down onto the light brown amber, reflected in his eyes, as if it was shining.

At this time, the second email came. It was simple and there was no need for decoding.

“Happy birthday.” He seemed to hear KEY saying this to him.

Kiro couldn’t help thinking, when did KEY hide it here?

As if responding to his question, footsteps came from outside the door. Kiro’s heart beat a little fast, and he suddenly wondered if there would be another gift.

He opened the door in surprise, and an unceremonious man greeted him.

The man didn’t even take off his shoes. The exquisite black leather shoes stepped on the smooth floor, looking particularly dazzling.

Kiro felt his fingertips instantly chill, and he clenched his hands hard to keep his body from shaking.

“I really don’t know why I’m responsible for this kid.” The man gave him a look of disgust, “I won’t talk too much nonsense with you.”

“The higher ups are very dissatisfied with you.” Each word struck Kiro’s heart, “Don’t forget why you want to become a star.”

“In one month’s time,” he threw a document on the ground, “Finish it.”

“I don’t know what you have to look forward to.” The man walked in front of him to the center of the floor. Kiro lowered his head, and there were only footprints left in his field of vision that seemed to have been dyed black with thick ink, step by step, on a clean floor.

It seems that no matter how hard he tried, he can’t wipe off that trace.

“3684.” The man impatiently left his last words, “Don’t be too self-righteous. You really think you are worth something?”

[Chapter 5]: Things You Want To Protect

In the empty dance studio, the operating sound of the air humidifier hummed quietly.

Kiro didn’t know how long he had been standing there until the tingling sensation rushed to his legs and he instinctively moved forward slightly.

The towel and hairband hanging on the side of the cabinet came into view and he strode forward suddenly and threw them to the ground fiercely. ***The towel and hairband mentioned here are what Kiro uses during dance practice to wipe off/absorb sweat***

The world swallowed his outburst silently but indifferently, making him at this moment seem small and lonely.

In the end, he dragged his numb body and walked tiredly to the towel and hairband, as if all his strength had been drained and slowly knelt on the floor.

Just like the day when he first picked them.

Kiro stretched out his hand, slowly picked up the towel and hair band, and carefully hugged them in his arms. They were his only close friends, walking side by side. They were proof of his hard work. But if these proofs can be trampled so easily, then what was all his effort for?”

The edges of the cotton towel and hairbands were slightly deformed due to their repeated use. He swiped hard, remembering that he had almost thrown them away because of being used so many times.

And whenever he was about to throw them in the trash can, the soft texture in his hands was always quietly hot at that moment.

It seemed to be telling him, “Wait a minute. Hold on.”

It’s as if they were reminding him they were made in order to continued to be used.

He once heard others say that life will find a way out.

“Is this the way you worked hard to find?”

He stood foolishly in front of the trash can, looking at the towel and hairbands in his hands, muttering to himself.

Then he would stand there, talking endlessly for a while.  

He thought that music was the way out for his life that was once empty.

It seemed that in the darkness where he still was, a gleaming light suddenly broke in. In that world, he can always shine with golden light and light up his life forever.

He can see himself.

But if he can’t maintain this purity, is he still worthy to live in this world that once taught him to redeem?

No.

Kiro raised his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

That world may be impure, but his dream is real, and his love is real. This was what he wanted to do as Kiro, and it was the only way out.

He is Kiro. Not 3684.

He rubbed the hair band firmly, then raised his hand to tie it on his head and smiled at himself in the mirror with encouragement and humbleness as he did before each practice.

“Today’s 2-hour dance training has not been completed yet.”

A dynamic rhythm sounded in the studio and the sound of footsteps rubbing on the floor resounded one after another. Kiro was practicing hard while telling himself in his heart.  

“This is just another ordinary day, tomorrow will only be better.”

Two hours later, he turned off the music, bent over gasping, and abnormally did not stand up for a long, long time.

Finally, for what seemed like ages, he slowly straightened up, took out the violin from the bag on the floor, and sat by the window. The dark brown violin was lined with soft light under the sun and he held it as if being embraced.

“I will definitely protect you.”

Kiro’s eyes were soft, and his tone was gentle and firm.

The birds outside the window chirped and landed freely on the edge of the window.

“It’s great that you are free.”

Kiro smiled and gently extended his fingertips.  

“I will be free too.”

[Chapter 6]: Free Sailing

A telephone ring broke the silence of the studio.

Kiro looked down at the phone. It was an unfamiliar number. Maybe it was from a fan somewhere, but he picked it up in a ghostly manner.

“Hello, this is PLANET Yacht Club, what can I do for you?”

Kiro was stunned. The person at the other end waited patiently for his silence. After a long time, he remembered that when he was resting on the sidewalk a while ago, he accidentally saw a magazine ad about yachts. He made a phone consultation.

However, because he needed to go to pratice immediately he asked the other party to contact him afterwards.  

Unexpectedly, it happened to be today.

“I have read your information. I have some interest in your yachts. How can I learn more about it?”

“If this is the case, you can visit our terminal directly. On which day would you like to make an appointment?”

“Is today okay?”

When Kiro said it, he was also stunned. He felt his heart beating, but he didn’t know what this feeling represented.

“Of course, we will send the address to your phone later, looking forward to your visit.”

When Kiro saw that yacht, he decided to buy it.

It was lying quietly in the corner of the entire pier, unremarkable, but in the light of the surging tide, it instantly attracted Kiro’s eyes.

Of course, the salesman saw the young boy coming to the club, obviously looking a little bit awkward and seemed to be thinking about how to politely ask him to leave.

“I want that yacht.”

Kiro didn’t leave the yacht’s sight and took out his bank card in the salesman’s dumbfounded gaze.

The boat was moored by a small harbor where there was a little old port. This was the place he saw on the way to the club.

He asked the people of the club to help him get the boat here and said that in a few days, he would come again to ask about how to operate the yacht.

It was dusk now and there were no people, only him and his boat, listening to the ebb and flow together.

The half-round sunset has fallen below the sea level. The sun is golden and far away, warmly embracing the whole world.

The yacht hasn’t been decorated yet and looks a bit simple, but Kiro doesn’t care. He feels that he has seen the future of the ship.

This is his boat, he repeats this in his heart over and over, and in the future, there will be someone who is most special to him in this world who will share it with him.

Think of it as a birthday present for yourself even though there is no cake and no birthday song today.

But this is also good.

Kiro was lying on the small deck, seagulls flying non-stop. The sky was divided into half blue and half-yellow. The boat rose and fell with the tide. He opened his arms as if he could touch the sky.

Kiro suddenly felt that he could go anywhere.

Nothing can stop him.

[End]

[impalas-r-important]

Love of my Life - (5) Don't play games with me

Summary: Game night ends with a surprise

Warnings: N/A. Let me know if you find any that I should be listing!

A/N: I know Jody isn't a big player at this point in the show, and that Donna hasn't even been introduced. But I love them and we're just going to pretend for the sake of the story!

Series Masterlist

It was your turn to make treats for game night, so after you had showered and dressed, you pulled together ingredients for cookies and preheated the oven. Sam, Bobby and Nick were in the living room and Dean had just joined.

“Of course, you show up after we’ve cleaned the place.” Bobby remarked as Dean sat down. The boys all talked and laughed for a while, and you were glad to see that Dean was finally warming up to Nick. Once you put the cookies in the oven, you began to clean up.

“I’ll wash if you dry.” A deep voice offered. You looked up to find Nick holding out a dish towel to you, which you accepted.

“I’m glad to see Dean is finally speaking to you.” You gave Nick a side glance.

“Yeah, me too. He’s a really cool guy, I’d love to pick his brain sometime.”

The two of you worked like a well-oiled machine and were done with the dishes in no time. Dean couldn’t help but watch from the living room.

“Dean, are you even listening?” Sam snapped his fingers and frowned. He knew exactly what Dean was watching.

“Yeah, sorry. What’d you ask?” Dean blinked a few times, bringing himself back to reality.

“What games should we play tonight?” Sam opened up an old cupboard full of card and board games.

“I’m always down for a little poker.” Dean said as he grabbed a few decks of playing cards.

Jody filed in soon after and brought Donna with them, who had been visiting. You yelled hello from the kitchen and pulled the cookies from the oven.

“Smells amazing.” Nick leaned over the tray and inhaled, then reached for a cookie. You quickly slapped his hand.

“You gotta wait until the games start.” Nick gave you an exaggerated puppy dog look. “Sorry, not buying it. Sam’s been giving me that look for years. I’m immune to it.” Nick huffed in defeat and gave you a quick kiss on the forehead.

Jody couldn’t help but notice the new hunter who was strangely close to you. She approached Sam with a headful of questions. “Sam, did I just see some guy give Y/N a kiss on the forehead?”

“Yeah, that’s Nick. He’s been hanging around here for a few weeks while he heals up from saving Bobby’s bacon. He’s a decent guy, and he’s got it real bad for Y/N.”

“Uh huh…” Jody paused to think. “I guess what I’m really wondering is why hasn’t Dean ripped Nick’s throat out for even standing 5 feet from Y/N?”

“I’m sure he wants to. But Dean made his choice, and I reminded him that. I hated seeing Dean lead Y/N on like he might eventually get back with her someday.”

“But we all know Lisa’s just a temporary thing, right?” Jody looked to Sam for assurance, but he stayed silent. “Right?!” She emphasized.

“I don’t know anymore. I don’t think she’s right for Dean, but he hasn’t given any signs of leaving her. Maybe it’s permanent.” Sam took a drink of his beer.

“Oh.” Jody looked back over into the kitchen to see Nick leaning against the counter watching you with adoring eyes as you moved the cookies from the baking sheet to the cooling rack. “She does seem happy with him, and hell she deserves to be happy. But I gotta admit, Dean and Y/N seemed like they were perfect for each other. Like a match made in heaven.” She scanned the room to find Dean sitting on a chair in the corner next to Donna, trying his best to look invested in their conversation, but stealing occasional glances into the kitchen. Jody excused herself from her conversation with Sam and placed her hand on Dean’s arm, interrupting Donna mid-sentence. “Can I steal Dean for a sec?” Donna nodded and smiled, and Jody signaled for Dean to follow her out of the room. She sat down on the bottom step of the staircase. Dean followed suit.

“Everything ok, Jody?” Dean asked with concern in his eyes.

“I should be asking you that.”

Dean looked taken aback by her question and simply responded, “Well I’m just peachy,” before finishing off his beer.

“Dean, you don’t seem happy. Maybe it’s none of my business, but I think you and I know each other well enough that I can ask… What the hell are you doing?”

“What?” A confused Dean looked at Jody with questioning eyes.

“I’ll say it once and then drop it, because I’m not one to nag.” Jody took a deep breath and exhaled. “You belong with Y/N, Dean. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. You were literally made for each other. The first time that I saw you with Y/N, I knew that she was the one for you. I saw it in your eyes, and how you spoke with her, how you touched her. It was straight out of a crappy romance novel.” Jody looked at Dean, who was avoiding eye contact. “So, I don’t know what’s going on between you two, or between Y/N and Nick, or between you and Lisa. But I know what I know, and I know that Y/N is the girl for you. You’re not really you when you’re not with her.”

Dean played with the label on his beer bottle and remained silent for a few moments, as did Jody. She wanted to give him the chance to talk if he wanted to.

“I’m still in love with her.” Jody could feel the pain dripping from his words. “I wake up every morning wishing that she and Sam had just rang the stupid doorbell instead of leaving for a year the night they came back. I would have left with them and I’m know I would still be with Y/N now. But I made a commitment that I can’t bring myself to break.”

“To Lisa?” Jody placed her hand on Dean’s back. He shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to contain his emotions.

“To Ben.” He answered and clenched his jaw. “I don’t love Lisa and I would have left the second I knew Y/N was back. But when Ben looked me in the eyes and told me that he thinks of me as his Dad, his real Dad, I knew I had to stick around for the long haul. I know firsthand how an absentee father can screw you up, and I can’t do that to him. But I can’t keep pretending that everything is all right.”

“I see.” Jody nodded. “Have you told anyone else about this? Sam or Bobby?” Dean shook his head. “Well, I can’t tell you what you do in this situation, but I do know that you’re a good man, Dean Winchester, and I’m here if you ever need to talk through things.” Dean nodded and Jody stood up, pulling him up by the arm. “Let’s go play some games.” She smiled and led him into the living room where the furniture had been pushed to the sides of the room to make room for the poker table.

“There you are!” You greeted as Dean and Jody joined your group. You could tell Dean was off as he sat down across from you. His eyes met yours and you immediately recognized the pain in his expression. Dean took a deep breath, picked up the cards he had been dealt, and put on a fake smile. At this point in his life, he was an expert at putting on a happy face, but you knew him too well and saw right through it. You were pulled back to reality by Nick putting his hand on your knee, signaling it was your turn. You gave him a sheepish smile and played your cards.

Your felt your heart being torn in 2 ways. For a long time, you thought Dean would be your forever, and you knew a part of you would always love him no matter what. But he was with someone else and showed no signs of wanting you anymore. Nick, on the other hand, was caring and had opened his heart to you quickly. He was handsome and funny and sweet, and any girl would be lucky to have him. You felt in the wrong because you knew that even if you pursued a relationship with Nick, you wouldn’t be able to give him all of you. Dean Winchester would always own a piece of your heart, a big one at that, and you were reminded of that every time you looked at him.

Hours had passed and it was getting late. You had all had fun, but people were filing out the door. You organized the cards into their proper decks and put them away. Sam helped you fold the table up and Nick and Bobby were picking up bottles and cans and clearing plates. You didn’t see Dean and assumed he must have left with the group but thought it was odd that he didn’t say goodbye. You said goodnight to the boys and headed up to your room. Dean had been off all night and you were worried. Your hand reached into your pocket and pulled out your phone. You scrolled down to Dean’s name and debated whether or not to call him. As you pushed your door open, you were startled to find someone sitting on your bed. You immediately went into defense mode, grabbing a knife from the top of your dresser.

“Dean?” You asked softly, putting down the knife and joining him on the edge of the bed. He was looking through an old photo album that you kept in the drawer of your nightstand.

“I remember when we took this. Sam was so mad that we stopped in the middle of the desert for one stupid picture.” Dean held up a picture of you sitting on top of his shoulders, pointing to the “Welcome to New Mexico” state sign. Dean was wearing a grey t-shirt and sunglasses and you had your hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. This was one of your favorite pictures. You made the boys stop so you could take a picture anytime you passed one of those state signs and were determined to get a picture with all 50 of them. Dean thought it was stupid at first, but he saw how happy it made you. Eventually he joined in, and the two of you would make silly poses next to each sign, leaving Sam to be the photographer.

“There’s still a few states that I need pictures of.” You took the book from Dean and slowly flipped through the pages. This album was one of your most cherished belongings, but you hadn’t looked through it for almost a year and a half. The memories that these pictures brought back were always happy at first but following closely behind was the pain of knowing that you and Dean would never be that close again.

“How many? Maybe we can take a few road trips and hit the ones you don’t have. Could be fun.” Dean suggested, raising his eyebrows.

You wanted to say yes, pack a bag, and leave right that minute. That’s the kind of thing the two of you used to do. But things were different now. Your smile faded, and instead of accepting his invitation, all you managed to say was, “Are you sure Lisa would be okay with that?”

Dean pursed his lips and nodded, silently agreeing that you had a point. He turned to look at you with desperation in his eyes and opened his mouth to say something before Sam walked in, breaking the tension.

“Hey, man, I thought you left. Thanks for helping clean up.” Sam said sarcastically as he flopped down on your bed. “Oh, man, I remember these pictures.” He took the book from your hands and scanned the pictures. “I miss these times. The three of us out on the road.”

“Me too.” You and Dean agreed in unison.

It was already late, but you and the brothers stayed up for at least another hour remembering stories about your past. You could hear Nick’s boot heavy on the stairs as he walked towards your room.

“Nick!” Sam yelled to get his attention.

Nick stopped and peaked his head in the door. “This must be the afterparty.” He smiled and you signaled for him to come in.

“Alright, you gotta tell us your craziest hunting story.” Sam demanded.

“Hmm…” Nick pondered and scratched his head. “Twin falls, Idaho, 2010. Four vamps, two werewolves, one ghoul, and two idiot hunters who thought they could handle it by themselves.”

“Sounds like the start of a crappy joke.” Dean chimed in.

Nick laughed and continued with his story. You all exchanged hunting tales until you grew tired and gave a big yawn.

“You know, my buddy found a case in Virginia. We could head out in the morning and help him if you guys feel up to it?” Nick suggested. “I’m dying to get back out there, even if I am limited.” He lifted his leg with the boot on it.

“I’m game!” Sam hopped off the bed. “I’ll go pack. Night guys.”

“Y/N?” Nick looked for your answer.

“Hell yes. I’m itching for a good fight.” You said sleepily.

“Sweet. See you in the morning.” Nick winked at you as he left.

“I’d offer for you to come, but…” You trailed off; your words directed at Dean.

“I know.” Dean nodded in acceptance. He readjusted himself to lay back on your bed, hands behind his head. “I miss hunting.”

“Hunting misses you.” You laid down next to him. “I mean, you’re Dean freaking Winchester. I’ve been told by a reliable source that some people call you The Ultimate Hunter.” You exaggerated your words and chuckled to yourself.

“More like the ultimate retiree now.”

You studied the ceiling and looked over to Dean, who had his eyes closed. It was at least 2 AM and you figured he was tired. “So, what were you doing in here tonight, anyway?” You figured you deserved an answer since he almost gave you a heart attack.

Dean’s breathing was slow and steady. “I don’t know. I just started walking and this is where I ended up.”

“Going through my stuff? You’re lucky I didn’t throw my knife at you. You scared the crap out of me when I first walked in.”

Dean smiled. “That’s what you get for beating me in poker tonight.”

“You mean kicking your ass in poker tonight?”

“Same difference.” He pushed you with his elbow a bit. The two of you lay in silence for a few minutes.

“You seemed off tonight.” You glanced at him.

“Just tired. Bobby’s couch wasn’t the most comfortable last night.”

“No, that’s not it. Are you feeling okay lately? You’ve been over here more in the past few weeks than you have in the past few months.”

Dean shrugged. “I guess it just sucks knowing that I’m being replaced.”

“Replaced?”

“Yeah. With Nick.”

“Uh, Nick isn’t replacing you.” Dean sat up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed.

“Sure feels like it. Sam has become fast friends with him, Bobby trusts the guy, and now the gang is going out on a hunt without me.”

“Dean, you know we’d love it if you came hunting with us, but you got out of the life and Sam and I are just trying to respect that.”

Dean rubbed his hands over his face. “But worst of all, I see the way he looks at you. I know that look because that’s how I used to look at you.” You looked down at the floor, searching for the right words. “Hell, I still do, Y/N/N.”

Chapter 6

Tags:

@vicmc624

[fangirl-creates]

2 Weeks - An MvA One Shot

(Wrote this back in October but I figured I’d post it since I don’t have any problems with it—Likes and Reblogs are appreciated!!)

She thought the whole thing had been just a bad dream, but when she woke up back in that cold dark cell, she realized it was still reality. She couldn’t understand how all of this had happened so fast—one minute she was about to get married to the love of her life, the next minute she was growing 50 feet tall, tranquilized, and sent to a Government Facility without her consent. But that wasn’t the worst part...there were monsters here. And she was considered one of them. There was no way she would be put in the same category as those...things. She wouldn’t stand for it.

About 2 more hours past and the front wall of her cell opened up, making her eyes squint to the bright fluorescent lights. A booming voice came from outside—“Rise and Shine, little lady! Time for you to go socialize with your prison mates!”

Susan recognized that voice all too well; The General. She stood up and finally saw him more clearly, a pleading look in her eyes. “Do I have to..?”

Monger let out a sigh. “If you’re gonna stay here, you should at least get to know your fellow monsters. Might be good for you all...”

“But I’m not a M—”

Monger put a hand up. “I don’t want to hear it. Now let’s get a move on..”

****

Susan was brought back into that same room, the one with the ‘open space’ and bright lights on the ceiling. The Monsters weren’t there, thankfully, so she had some time to relax. But when they eventually did show up, she wouldn’t have that feeling anymore. She slowly walked over to her table—the one that had been modified so it was the same size as her. She sat at the chair, closing her eyes as she took a moment to breathe.

The sound of a metal door opening made her flinch, but she kept her eyes closed regardless. She heard footsteps on the ground—their footsteps. She heard their voices, which ironically was the only thing ‘human’ about them.

“Ah there she is,” The Cockroach was heard, his British voice was still polite as ever, but that didn’t mean she didn’t mind his gross cockroach head and bulging bug eyes.

“Is she trying to mediate or something?” The fish man was next. He was the one she didn’t like that much. His tone wasn’t very...nice.

“Maybe she’s sleeping!” Next was the blob. He didn’t seem to know what was going on. Or maybe he did? She didn’t want to ask.

“Well, we should give her some space. This is her second day after all.” The Cockroach told them.

Susan quietly sighed with relief. She wanted them to stay away from her...or her fear would kick in again.

She heard them move to the table that was a few feet away from her rather large one. They were playing cards, their voices slowly faded into muffled whispers as she zoned out.

After a while, Susan fell asleep, one of her arms supporting her head while the other dangled from the table. B.O.B watched with curiosity as he slowly made his way up one of the table legs.

“I wouldn’t do that, buddy.” Link whispered.

“I just wanna say hello!” B.O.B replied as he got up to the top. He and Susan were only a few feet apart now. He slowly made his way to her face and gently tapped her cheek. “Helloooo?”

Susan stirred, fatigue quickly kicking in as she slowly opened her eyes. When she saw who was in front of her, she jolted awake, her entire body flinching as the chair moved a bit. She quickly made sure there wasn’t eye contact between the two. But this made B.O.B a little upset.

“It’s ok!” He smiled. “I don’t bite.”

“You could at least look at him, jeez…” Link scoffed. Susan’s behavior towards them all was expected, but that didn’t make him any less offended by it.

Susan took a deep breath and slowly turned her head to face B.O.B. She realized he was like a pile of silly puddy compared to her. So if she wasn’t this size, it would have been a lot more terrifying. But she realized quickly that she was a bit more intimidating in this state. She looked down at him, not bothering to force a smile just yet. “Hi…”

This made B.O.B smile, his face beaming. “So you said your name was Susan, right? No Monster name yet?”

“That’s right.” Maybe the General hadn’t told them about her ‘Mandatory name change’ yet. Perhaps that was a good thing.

“Huh. What’s your story, Susan?” He asked.

“My...Story?”

“Like how did you become a Monster?”

“O-Oh...right.” What else did she have left to lose? They’d probably be the only ones who would understand anyway. “Well, I was at my wedding. And I went out to get some air, then my fiancé came out to see me~”

“Gross.” Link rolled his eyes, earning an elbow nudge from Dr. Cockroach.

Susan ignored him. “And then I was alone for a bit...then...a meteor came down and...crashed onto me.”

Dr. Cockroach suddenly sat up, looking up at her. “Did you say a meteor? As in...from space?” He sounded surprised.

“Yeah…I guess something inside it did this to me…”

“Fascinating.” He took out a little notepad and wrote that down. “It’s a miracle that you even survived such a thing!”

“Pfff—big deal. I bet if a meteor hit me, I’d survive too.” Link put his feet on the table, leaning back.

Dr. Cockroach raised a brow. “I don’t think you understand the pain a gigantic space rock hurtling towards Earth would cause you, my friend.”

“Well she survived!” He gestured towards Susan. “I bet I would.”

“Mhmm..”

“Hey, Doc don’t underestimate me!”

“I never said I did.”

Susan just stared at them. They clearly had some history together, not that she bothered to ask.

A giant roar suddenly made Susan stand up in fear, her giant seat falling down.

“Not this again…” Link scoffed, yelling up to her. “It’s just Insecto! He’s not gonna hurt you, lady!”

Susan wasn’t convinced. Insectosaurus was the only one that was bigger than her—and she was 50 feet tall now! But when she noticed how annoyed Link was by her action, she managed to relax just a little. They had feelings, they weren’t human, but they had feelings.

Link leaped from his chair and made his way to the giant bug, soothing him with a voice a parent would use for a child. This seemed to calm the bug down, and Susan as well.

****

Normally Susan was asleep in her nice soft bed, but not today—not anymore. The Bed that would flip out of the wall was not very comfortable. Susan hugged her arms, sniffling as her cheeks were stained with tears. She didn’t know how many times she was going to cry herself to sleep, but no one she knew was with her. Her parents and Derek probably thought she was dead...or going to die. And even though that wasn’t the case, she was still miserable without them.

Dr. Cockroach could hear her sobs, his sympathetic side kicked in, and he pressed a little key pad, calling Monger to his cell.

Monger eventually made his way there. “Yes, Dr.?”

“Sir, would it be alright if I checked on Susan? She doesn’t seem so good.”

“That’s what I’m for.”

“Please..? I know what it’s like for her…”

Monger pondered at that for a second. “No tricks? No escape plans you need her for?”

“Honest.”

Monger gave him a stare for a second, then a nod as he led him to Susan’s cell, closing the door behind them.

Susan wiped her eyes, not turning around, her back to whoever was there.

“Are you alright, my dear?” He asked gently.

Susan didn’t respond, hugging her legs close to her.

Doc scurried up the wall and onto the bed, settling on the pillow. Her face—or rather, the top of her head was right across from him. He sat criss-crossed on the pillow, his hands together in his lap. He took a deep breath before speaking, his antennas going down. “Listen, I understand how hard all of this is for you. You’re completely cut off from the outside world, you have to stay in this prison and you’re unable to go out and see the ones you love.”

Muffled sobs were heard in response to that.

“B-But!! If you learn to appreciate what you do have—A Bed, Food, Shelter, Frie—” He cut himself off. “You’ll come to understand that...this place isn’t so terrible.”

Susan sniffled, turning to face him as she laid on her stomach. Her big watery eyes were fixated on the Doctor. It was at this moment she didn’t feel disgusted by his presence.

“Oh, my dear...look at you.” He frowned. “Here here, dry those tears.” He took off his lab coat, handing it to her. “It’s clean, I promise.” He reassured her.

She sniffed, taking the coat which was very tiny between her fingers. “T-Thanks…” She smiled, wiping her eyes with it. “Oh...I got it all wet..” She frowned, putting it down next to him. “Sorry…”

“Not to worry! I might as well go casual today.” He gestured to his dark grey turtleneck, making Susan chuckle lightly.

“Hey…” She frowned a bit. “I’m sorry if I’ve been...a little rude to you all. Behind all the looks, you’re all just people to and not just—”

“Monsters?”

Susan bit her lip. “I know I know...I feel like a horrible person…”

“It’s alright, my dear.” He placed a hand on her finger. “It makes complete sense knowing where you came from. Just make sure you tell Link how you feel. He might have been a tad offended by your words.” He cringed.

“Yeahhhh...I’ll do what I can.”

He smiled. “Well, I should let you get your rest now.” He began to leave.

“Wait! You’re a...scientist, right??”

“Yes…?”

“Do you think...you could help me? Maybe you could find a way to shrink me back to normal!”

“Oh dear...that is a tall order…”

“Oh…” Susan frowned.

“But that doesn't mean I won’t TRY!!” A maniacal laugh followed that statement. “I’d love to help you out! If Monger doesn’t try to put an end to our plan.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. And, Doc..?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks...for the talk…” She smiled at him.

“Anytime, Susan.” He nodded, leaving.

Susan laid back on the bed, now on her back. Sure, she wanted her old life more than anything. But if it didn’t work out, maybe she could learn to like this place.

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Pushed Temptations

Yandere Western Shouta x reader

Warnings of blood, guns, character death, uh… intended weapon harm to reader? Should that be a warning? Quirkless AU

IDEK if you can really call this a yandere. More like highly protective, which is kinda yandere I guess? All I know is I was in a really soft mood when writing the ending. Oops… 

It was rather quiet today at the bar. The only thing being the pianist playing their good old favorite tunes. No one seems to mind, and he offers to do the piano at a rather small price. Because of that, my boss decided to let him have a few drinks a day free. He was thankful but oddly declined. He’s definitely an older man, maybe in his 50s. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but I do remember it starts with a T. He’s definitely an incredibly kind man though. 

I clean the glass of the customer that just left incredibly drunk. I don’t care much about doing this job, but I have to because the boss told me I could live here if I do. He knew my family and wanted to help me out after they were killed by bandits on their way home. He’s also worried about me being alone in case that happens to me as well. I don’t really care. We all die at some point anyway. I am rather angry with the bandits though. He wouldn’t let me decline. Seriously, he made two of his strongest bouncers come get me to bring me to him. I’m starting to think he only wanted me for his benefit. 

There was a rowdy few in the corner playing poker at the corner. I try to ignore them and stare at the doors to the entrance. One of the men at the table suddenly stands up, and storms out. He yells in fear after exiting. No one bats an eye since yelling is pretty normal around here. From fear? Not really, but it’s not my problem as long as it’s not in here.

It doesn’t take long to know why the man yelled in fear. A very feared outlaw enters through the doors. Shouta, the man feared by all. The only man that wears black everything, including his stetson. Well, the only thing not black was his bandana. That was a medium gray. He’s taken down multiple people at once, and so many Sheriffs and Bounty Hunters have been after him, which lead to their deaths. Only one person has ever been close to doing serious damage to him. From what I heard, they tried to become friends with him over a few days, got close enough, and tried to stab his eye with a knife. The swing hit, but not the way they hoped. The man was found dead a few days later with a bullet hole in his pants. He was shot in his thigh and left for dead overnight. The wolves got to him before he was found. 

A chill goes through the place as everyone goes silent and stares at him. They know to not bring their guns out. They stare in fear at him as he saunters up to the booth right in front of me. “Howdy stranger, what can I get ya?” 

“Whiskey.” Geez, even his voice is something to send chills down someone’s spine. I grab one of the glasses, fill it, and pass it to him. He goes to pass the money for it to me. I push it back towards him, leading him to have surprise on his face. 

“It’s on me. It’s a thank you for getting rid of that group of damn bandits that called themselves the “Iron Will”. It’s nothing to you, but they were a royal thorn in my side. I wanted revenge on myself for something they did.”

His face went back to being stoic, but he did grab the glass. I look at the entrance to see if anyone else entered. No. In fact, the ones at the table playing Poker booked it out of here, so it’s now just him, the pianist, and I. 

It stayed quiet between us for a bit. “You know, I don’t think you’re as bad as people say,” He raises the brow with the obvious scar under his eye, but says nothing. “From what I’ve heard, most, if not all, of the people you have killed have deserved it. Yes, even the Sheriffs. They’re usually corrupt themselves anyway.”  

“...You talk a lot.” He’s too hard to read to know what he’s truly thinking. 

I shrug. “It ain’t much. It just gets pretty boring around here, especially since I’d honestly rather be doing anything else.  Kinda forced to be here,” I glare off to the side. “Thank the damn bandits for that one,” I lock eyes with him again. “Uh… nevermind. Enjoy the rest of your whiskey.” I say and go over to the table the rowdy people were t and grabbed their glasses. It might be best to not bother him much more. Maybe I’d be next. 

The blond stops playing the piano for now, and he locks eyes with Shouta. Shouta… Gives him a small nod?  They must know each other. That would just be further proof he doesn’t kill for no reason. 

He asked for another, which I gave him. The blond didn’t continue playing yet. He must be giving his fingers a break. Honestly? About time. That man’s been playing for the past three hours without a break. 

At least, it was peaceful until someone slammed the doors open in an obvious frantic state. It was my boss. He has a revolver… It was easy to tell what he wanted to do with it from the way he glares at Shouta. I don’t let worry show, even though I’m worried about him being shot by Shouta, which could easily happen. That and the blood would be hard to clean up. It always is on wooden floors, as well as I don’t have anywhere to go after since my home was already taken from being forced to be here.  “Ren, please put the gun away. We ain’t got time for blood to be spilled here.”

That got Shouta to turn around and notice the man. His hand hovers over the pistol in his belt. 

“You don’t tell me what to do! This man doesn’t belong here! I want him out! If the bouncers won’t, I’ll do it myself!”

I sigh. “Ren, please. The bouncers left an hour ago. You know you don’t stand a chance, and I really don’t want to clean blood off the floor tonight,” He’s still frantically waving the gun around like a child proud of a new toy. “He also hasn’t done anything.”

“Hasn’t done anything!? He killed Mizuki!” Mizuki? Where have I- oh. That wretched man.

“Isn’t he that man that kept forcing himself on women?” 

“That doesn’t matter! He was still a great person!” … Is this man serious!? 

If I’m reading Shouta right, he wasn’t too happy about hearing that either. “Why the fuck am I stuck working for you?” I whisper to myself. It’s not loud enough for Ren to hear thankfully. He would have blown his mind if he heard me. In speaking of a blown mind, he’s about to get his mind blown to bits for real. “I’m sorry for his actions. I'm also sorry, but would you mind leaving without spilling blood? I know it's stupid to ask, but I'm sure you know just how hard blood is to get off of things." I lean a bit over the counter. 

"Stop being a pathetic bootlicker! He ain't deserving of it! Get. Out!" 

"You're always welcome here otherwise." I whisper. Ren didn’t hear it, but I’m pretty sure Shouta did as he turned to lock eyes with me for a second before slamming the glass down and turns to glare hard at Ren. I don't even need to see his face to know. The fearful shaking of my boss shows. He stands up, and heads towards the door. He shakily points the gun at Shouta, but he doesn't even bother grabbing his pistol, just keeps his eyes on Ren. Ren is angering me right now, disturbing the peace between the three of us here. Also for being a darn hypocrite of sorts for not being able to be brave for pointing a gun at Shouta, even though he’d make others do it if they were around. 

Ren steps away from the door as Shouta exits. It doesn't take long for the loud pounding of horse hooves to drift away until they’re no longer heard. 

Ren puts his gun away, but glares at me. "Why did you not tell him to leave when he entered!? Men like that ain't welcome around here.”

I look at him like he's stupid, probably because he is. "What in tarnation did you want me to do about it? Money is money, ain't it? Even then, a simple person such as I had no chance against a man such as that. Do you even see a gun around me!?”

He swears under his breath. “Close up early.” He leaves. ??? What? Just comes in here to disturb us for that? It’s confirmed, he’s not stable. 

Despite everything I could do, I decided to just listen and close it early. I grabbed the glass Shouta used, and started to clean it. 

“You’re right you know,” I stop cleaning the glass and look at the blond. “About Shouta. He’s a kind man, just given odd cards for his life. All it takes is one bad doing to make someone thrown in the dark. He’s saved me more than once before. Unfortunately, one time he did accidentally kill a good man. Hizashi was his name. At least, that’s what everyone believes. Someone else shot him, but pinned the blame on Shouta. Everyone believed the other man before they believed him. There’s no way he’d purposefully kill his friend though. Sure, Hizashi was a troublemaker at times, but he had a heart of gold. Friendly to all.”

My brows crease. “Why have I never heard about this?” This seems like something that really should be known.” 

He grows a saddened expression. “Many have simply chosen to forget or listen to him. Shouta gave up trying to convince people and just accepted his new way he has to live.” 

I’m angry at people for doing this to him, and also sad for him. Just thinking about how bad and painful it would to be not be listened to when telling the truth and no one believes me would be devastating. 

He leaves, and I leave a bit after finishing cleaning up.

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

For the past few months, Shouta has visited a few times. Luckily, Ren never came around, so he must be rather stealthy coming here now. I’m sure he comes for the free drinks. Who wouldn’t use that offer? I also started staying open a bit later than normal just for him. Still pretty sure he doesn’t like me too much from constantly trying to talk to him more with no success. Only a few nods or shakes of his head as replies. 

Tonight was no different. I kept it open late on the twelfth day of the month. He’s had a pattern of coming on this specific day. Toshinori, the man I finally remember the name of, left not too long ago. I’m all alone now. The eerie silence is rather unnerving when being so used to hearing the piano playing so often. 

Sadly, he doesn’t enter the saloon after a while of waiting. Maybe he’s busy tonight? Or maybe he got injured? There’s no way he could have been caught, right? I really hope not. I close the saloon and start to head home. It’s really late at night with the moon at its highest point in the  sky. It’s a full one tonight, showing everything around me rather brightly.  I pass a house on my way to mine, only to be suddenly slammed into the wall of it. 

There was a familiar face to the body. Ren!? He holds a gun right up to my neck. His breath is shaky and obviously full of anger. “You… Stupid… Did you really think you could keep going against my back without me finding out!?” He pushes the gun harder on my neck. “I really hoped to be wrong that you were helping that.. Filth of a man. Oh no. No, no, no, no! You’ve not only kept serving him, you’ve been doing it free. You deserve to be fucking executed for that!” 

He wasn’t alone. There were three other silhouettes that revealed themselves as men in the shadow of the building next to this one. They were close friends of his, and I’m pretty sure I remember the one farthest from me being rather close to Mizuki. The situation started to show, and fear quickly started rising. I’m going to die. “No, you deserve to be killed now for stealing from me! I give you a place to stay, and you steal! I should have left you to the bandits.” He seethes. 

“Heh, I reckon we use ‘em as bait. We could pin the blame on them instead, and maybe their new “friend” will be angry enough to kill them. He’s had no problem killin’ people close to him before”  Ren grows a sadistic smile. “You know? That’s the best idea!” He leans dangerously close to my face. My body recoils at the stench of his breath. It’s foul enough for my stomach to want to release everything in it. 

The sound of two guns being cocked brought my attention to behind the man farthest from me. It’s Shouta. “There’s one problem with that plan.” He says. His tone seems a bit sharper than what I’ve heard though. 

All the men sharply turn around with their guns held, pointing at Shouta. 

“Oh, hey, Shouta. Sorry for-” Ren pushes the gun hard enough on my neck that it cuts me off from talking. “Shut it.” 

I’ve never seen Shouta’s face so angry before. “Let them go, and maybe you’ll be spared.” He nearly hisses, but is trying to stay level-headed. 

Ren suddenly starts laughing. “Aw, does the murderous outlaw have a big ol’ soft spot for this pathetic thing? How touching!” His finger on the trigger twitches. “Just makes me want to kill them more!” 

Gunfire rang out. Something warm hits my face. I cringe at the quick realization it’s Ren’s blood. Ren’s body collapses to the ground. The others try to shoot at Shouta, but he dodges them all and shoots all of them through their heads. People’s lights started to turn on and others were coming out of their houses to see the commotion. 

Shouta holsters his guns and whistles for his horse. A black Arabian runs up right next to him. “Thanks for saving me. You might want to leave though before you get more involved.” I try to walk away, but he grabs onto my arm, pulling me towards his horse. “What are you doing!?” I ask as he pushes me towards his horse. 

“Something I should have done months ago. Get on.” What is he making me do? People will get the wrong idea if they see me with him.

“But-” 

He nudges me by the horse again. “Get on.” I comply with a bit of difficulty from not used to being on a horse. He then gets on the saddle in one quick movement. The horse takes off as bullets from others whiz by us. I hug his rather well-toned torso to hold on. Luckily, none of them hit as we got far enough away.

It doesn’t take long for us to get to a house that looks abandoned. It was a rather small house with only a window on the front right next to the door. It’s hidden incredibly well by a few large hills. 

He gets off the horse, ties the reins up, and nudges me towards the small house. "Why did you make me come with you? Now people will get the wrong idea." 

He opens the door and allows me in first. Moonlight sone through the window enough to make the inside visible. On the left is a decent sized bed that seems a bit worse for wear, but still sturdy with rather clean looking sheets. The only other things in here was a wardrobe against the wall farthest from the door, and a chest under the window on the right side. “They would have gotten the wrong idea anyways. It wouldn’t have been the first time.” He ends up saying with his voice a bit strained. No doubt he’s remembering his friend. 

He closes the door, and surprisingly, hugs me from behind. “Not again. I’ll make sure of it.”

I quirk a brow. The attention isn’t unwelcomed, but quite a surprise.. “You DO know I could have been shot as we left, right?” I ask. Wrong thing to say. His arms tightened substantially as he buried his head in my neck. 

“They’d all be dead.” 

“Wait, but they wouldn’t have done anything.” A bit of fear laced through me. Not for me, but for the others. 

“Someone injuring or threatening you deserves death.” 

“You’re supposed to be a good outlaw, what happened?” I ask, already kind of knowing the answer, and angry with myself for being so nice in the first place. 

“Today happened. Those… things that nearly harmed you were right with their thoughts. No matter what I do, everyone is going to think I’m bad. It’s time for me to be a bit selfish for once. That selfish want is wanting you close to me.” 

My heart is torn between melting at how cute that kind of is to still being fearful for others. 

“That’s sweet and all, but you and I both know this isn’t gonna work for many reasons. One being we both can’t keep riding the same horse. It ain’t fair to the poor thing.” I felt him smile on my neck. 

“We’ll get you one at some point. Judging from your struggling earlier, we have a ways to go first.”

I smile. This could be fun. What’s not fun is the mostly dry blood cracking on my face. “Sounds like fun, but uh… Got anything to clean this blood off?” 

He tenses. “Blood?” The way he said it made me wish I didn’t say anything about it. He stops hugging me and turns me around, closely examining my face. 

“Don’t worry, it’s not mine. It does feel gross though.” 

Within a blink of an eye, he pulls out a rag and goes over to the chest to see a rather large jug of water. He dips it in the jug and comes back to wipe it off my face with a deep frown on his face. 

In an odd form of suddenly feeling silly, I poke his nose with my right pointer finger. He blinked in surprise at me. He grows a soft smile that almost doesn’t seem suiting of him. It makes me chuckle. 

“You know, It’s surprising to me you actually care. Or uh… Love me? Or whatever it really is. For the longest time I could swear you hated me.”

“I did at first,” Okay, points for honesty. “I expected you to be like an earlier nuisance I had to take care of. That changed especially after my third visit. I noticed you weren’t acting like it just to me. You were genuine with everyone. Toshinori helped by informing me more of your... issue that you told e a bit about,” He leans in close, fully cutting the conversation. “I think this is long overdue.” His lips touch mine. It was a really quick kiss that I barely had time to register. 

I smirk. “So you DO love me, or am I looking too much into it?” 

He’s not amused. “You already know the answer to that.”

Now I know I have a deadly outlaw that loves me. I guess in a way I should thank Ren. 

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

[lihikainanea]

Why can I see #10 like the Friends episode where Chandler kisses Monica goodbye in front of everyone and then proceeds to kiss everyone goodbye. Tiger says bye to Bill and his bros and without thinking kisses him. Then has an internal panic because "NO ONE KNOWS" then proceeds to go around the table kissing everyone goodbye. 🤣🤣🤣 -💜

oh my god. OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO BRILLIANT. Listen, we all know I love Friends, right? And I love that episode, and I love Chandler’s total macho strut as he left the apartment that day, having kissed a whole bunch of pretty ladies.

Is this during one of their poker nights? Maybe it’s during one of the bros’ poker nights. it’s usually Boys Only, but the only reason they let tiger play is because she is fucking good--nobody can beat her, which incites total rage amongst the very big boys.

So look, they’ve been at it for a few hours. It is the wee hours of the morning, the time of harlots and sins and everything whisky, cigarette smoke and musky in the world. Valter has a bit of a hotbox situation going on. Bill’s had a few hits too. There’s a bucket of chicken wings in the middle of the table, and to Bill’s count, she has single handedly had over 30. A small pile of the carnage--bones picked clean--are stacked neatly on a napkin beside her. Bill just knows he’s going to spend most of the night rubbing her distended gut as she groans in discomfort.

But there’s nothing discomforting about her in that moment, as she glares at Gustaf. In fact, the only thing discomforting is the sheer malice in her eyes. Gustaf doesn’t play her game, though. Tilting his lips up in a challenging smirk, he squints at her the way he always does when he’s sizing someone up.

“You’ve got nothing,” he challenges. Tiger keeps eye contact, swigs down the rest of her beer, and belches very unladylike. Valter high-fives her.

“Roll the dice, Merlin,” she snarls.

Alex throws a few chips in, to start the bets. They all match it. Cards are turned in the centre of the table, eyes peek at concealed cards. Alex ups the ante.

“50,” he says.

“Raise you--” tiger starts, but she’s interrupted.

“Not your turn kid,” Bill flicks her hand lightly and she pouts.

“50,” he puts his chips in, “And raised another 50.”

“Match,” in goes Gustaf’s chips, and his eyes are still on her.

“Just a match, eh big boy?” she taunts as she throws her chips in, “What’s the matter? Don’t believe in magic anymore?”

Valter grabs her forearm, raises her sleeve.

“Does she have a mute button?” he asks Bill. Tiger whacks him.

More cards drawn. Alex sighs.

“Fold,” Alex huffs. Bill looks around the table, tries to gauge reactions--but it’s no use. Tiger and Gustaf are locked in a never-ending staredown--tiger all malice, Gustaf all quietly analyzing and unfazed.

“All in you son of a--”

“Tiger, wait your fucking turn,” Bill sighs, tossing his cards down, “Fold.”

“You got nothing,” Gustaf taunts, and tiger scoffs.

“All in,” it takes both hands to slide all of her chips to the middle.

“Uh, fold,” Valter says, “If anybody cares.”

“There’s no chance,” Gustaf is quietly confident, “Not a single one.”

“Then bet on it.”

“You got nothing,” he continues with bravado, “Sweet fuck all.”

“Then bet on it.”

“You think you’re a better bluffer than you are,” he says, “You’re transparent like a fucking ghost.”

“Then,” tiger stands, places both hands on the table and Bill subtly grabs hold of the back of her shirt, just in case she decides to lunge.

“Bet on it,” she snarls.

It’s tense. You could hear a pin drop. Gustaf quietly regarding her, that cocky smirk on his face, not backing down from her stare. And while tiger usually loves Gustaf, she’s spitting angry now and her competitive streak is at full mast. They stare each other down for a minute, two minutes. And eventually--Gustaf’s smirk tilts up just a tad.

“Fold,” he says quietly. Tiger smacks the table in triumph, sending her small pile of chicken bones flying, and she whoops in victory.

“Eat shit Sweden!” she yells, turning over her cards.

He was right. She had nothing. Not a pair, not a single set of anything. He curses under his breath.

“And on that note,” she says, “Goodnight.”

She takes a dramatic bow, but then--OH GODDDDDDDDD--high off of her win (and off of Valter’s hotboxing), she grabs both of Bill’s cheeks and lays a noisy enthusiastic kiss on his mouth.

And she doesn’t realize. In fact, she only realizes when she pulls away and she sees his look of horror, of utter despair, his eyes wide and scared. He’s frozen, she’s frozen, and they both just look at each other like ...shit.

But then, she clears her throat. Stepping towards Valter, she grabs his face.

“What the fuck is--” but he’s cut off by a quick, noisy smooch smack on the kisser.

“Goodnight,” she says, giving his cheek a pat that is entirely too hard.

“Goodnight,” she steps to Gustaf, grabbing his cheeks and pecking his lips briefly.

“Aaaaaaand goodnight,” Alex is next, and tiger practically pulls him in by the ears as she lays a brief kiss on his lips.

And then homegirl struts out of there like she won the fucking lottery, having just kissed four incredibly handsome Skarsgard men.

Bill is not too angry--come on, it’s a brief peck and she did it to save face--but I’ll bet later on that night his little jealous side does flare up a bit. Tiger might have some damage control to do--Bill may be genuinely upset a few days later, because he’s stuck with that visual and he wants her all to himself--maybe this is their first big fight? Ohhhh drama.

[diaryofabeautyfiend]

Alcohol and lots of it. This chapter is cute. Our dear reader acts like an ass. She’s not the only one. Be prepared to feel bad for Loki.

Small Time Witch (7)

At 3:50 your alarm went off but you didn’t stir. Loki turned it off and closed his eyes again. A few hours later the sun was seeping in through the curtains forcing him to open his eyes. You still slept clutching him. He reached your bedside table to grab your phone. It was 8:00am. You had several messages and missed calls from the team. Only one was from Steve.

He rubbed your back trying to rouse you. You snuggled deeper mumbling something about quitting. “Darling. Wake up. You’re extremely late.”

“I don’t care. I’ve embarrassed myself enough over the last few weeks. I have no reason to go back. Let me sleep. I need a day.” He slipped out of your grasp to call Thor. He thought maybe the two of them could smooth all this over. Seeing you burrow into your sheets without a care made him irrationally angry. It wasn’t his job to clean up your messes.

He pulled the sheets off of you in one swift motion. “Get up you brat. You will go. You will do what you have to and you will shut your mouth about it. Do you think this will be your first mistake? Do you think this will be the only time you embarrass yourself? This is a minor blip in what is sure to be a long and tumultuous relationship between the Avengers and SHIELD. You will fail many more times. They will fail you. It is how you handle the falling that matters. At the moment you are choosing to give up. Stop it. You are better than this. Now get up before I drag you out.”

You sat on the bed your mouth agape. He left the room in such a huff he forgot his shoes at your bedside. You got dressed and found him sitting on the sofa eyes fixated on the entryway where you were standing. His jaw was clenched. He held his thumb to his lips and his brows were knitted together. You sat down and handed him his shoes and then put on your own. You didn’t speak.

You texted Wanda that you were fine but slept through your alarm. You were on your way shortly. Loki was still in the same spot in deep thought. “Are you ready to go?” you asked keeping your eyes trained on the floor.

“No, mortal. I’m going to stay behind. You have a sincere apology to make to Sergeant Barnes. I hope you prove me wrong and you find yourself mature enough to make it. You should go.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No. I suspect, based on your behavior, that you were neither disciplined as a child nor were you raised to be independent. It’s time you learn.” He watched you walk out of the door with the same thoughtful look knitted on his face like he just wasn’t quite sure what to do with you.

You made it to the compound and found Wanda. The two of you went to the training room where Clint was waiting. You did your usual thing. Sparred a little with Nat then broke for lunch.

Since you and Loki weren’t meeting you set off to find Bucky. Bucky Steve and Sam were hanging out in the kitchen. When you walked in you felt like you were intruding. You thought about turning around but you made yourself go in.

“Sgt. Barnes, do you have a minute to talk to me?” He followed you into the hall and crossed his arms. While you collected yourself he shifted impatiently.

“I just really wanted to apologize to you. I had no right to violate your mind the way I did. I acted impulsively. That’s not an excuse but I did. I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“Thank you for apologizing. We’ve all done some fucked up things. Hell when I was brainwashed I killed Tony’s parents. We manage to still work together. Come on. Come eat with us.” He put his arm around your shoulder and you went back into the kitchen.

He purposely took the chair across from you so you could sit next to Steve. You and Steve smiled at each other. He held your hand under the table. As the rest of the team trickled in you all talked and laughed. You and Tony worked on dinner. You felt like you were back home cooking with your sisters. You missed Loki though. You broke away for a minute to text him.

Y: We’re having dinner. Come over.

L: I’ll be along shortly. Did you apologize?

Y: Yes, daddy. We’re all good. 😇

L: 😈 See you soon.

After dinner you all gathered in the big living space where the bar was. You got Steve another beer and poured more wine for yourself. He was sitting in an oversized arm chair. When you handed him his drink he pulled you down to sit on his lap. Several brows raised but Steve didn’t notice or care. Loki sat across the room watching the two of you flirt. He and Wanda whispered to each other. You felt his jealousy. You sat up a little trying not to look too obvious. Steve leaned in to whisper in your ear. His breath was warm and made your skin shiver into goosebumps, “You ok, doll?”

“Yeah.” You turned your head to plant a chaste kiss on his lips.

Loki stared at you. Thor stared at him. The whole room seemed to be collectively holding its breath when Clint said, “Let’s do shots. Y/N you drinking?”

“Absolutely!”

“That’s my girl!” He took a head count and started pouring. “One for the little lady and one for Cap.” He winked and went to hand the rest of them out. On the count of three you all slammed back your shots. Immediately your throat was on fire. You coughed and sputtered. “What the hell was that?!”

“That was from my father’s vault on Asgard. You’re lucky to still be upright, mortal.” Thor said with a booming laugh.

“Ready for round two?!” Clint shouted from behind the bar.

Steve patted you on the leg and moved to stand. “Nope. No way. We are not doing this again.”

“Yeah, man. Last time we drank this shit Bucky tried to wrestle me naked. I have nightmares about that night.” Sam shuddered.

“You loved it!” Bucky shouted from the corner.

“Your taint touched my forearm. I did not love it. As a matter of fact, stay your ass over there for the rest of the night.”

You went over to the bar to browse the shelves. “Why don’t we shoot Jameson instead?” A chorus of cheers and you poured out the next round. You grabbed the tray and started handing out glasses.

“Ok, Y/N, you’re new here so you name it. What are we drinking to?” Tony raised his glass and looked to you.

“Umm. To our health and absent friends.”

“Here here!” Another one two three and you slammed it down.

You started feeling a little woozy so you went back to your seat. Nat came by with the next round. Everyone took another shot but Loki declined. He watched you going from buzzed to a little more than tipsy. By the time you started doing body shots off of Nat he excused himself. He said goodnight to the room. Thor patted his back and bid him goodnight. He smiled at you before he left the room.

“Hey. Wait.” You stumbled over to him. You had a bit of lime juice dripping down the corner of your mouth. He wiped it away with his thumb and licked it off.

“Where are you going?” You rested your arm on him to keep your balance.

“To bed.”

“Are you not having fun?” He rolled his eyes.

“Loads. You and the solider look like you’re having a great time.” You lost your footing a little so he grabbed you to hold you up right. His hand was on your hip and yours were on his shoulders.

“Wait. Do you like me?” you whispered.

“This is not the time.”

“No. You like me. I can feel it. Remember?”

You really couldn’t stand now so you plopped down on the floor.

“I do remember. Come on. I’ll get you to bed.” You slapped his hand away.

“I’m having fun. I want to go back to having the fun.” You got up and wandered back into the room looking for another drink. With a heavy sigh Loki went back to Thor’s room and tried to fall asleep.

“There you are. Where were you hiding?” Steve asked. He took both of your hands and pulled you close to him. He looked down at you through his lashes.

“Bathroom.” You didn’t know why you lied. “I’m drunk” you slurred.

“I noticed.” He smiled and kissed your palm.

“I’m going to bed with you tonight.” You rested your head on his chest and swayed a little.

“Not tonight. Not like this. You’re going to sleep in Wanda’s room.” You pouted and whined a little.

“But you’re so warm. Like sunshine.” He laughed as he nuzzled your hair.

“Come on. I’ll tuck you in.” He picked you up and slung you over his shoulder. You giggled when he smacked you on your bottom.

Wanda was already in bed just as drunk as you were. Steve gave you a tshirt to wear and pulled the covers over the both of you. You both giggled at something though he wasn’t sure at what. “Ok then. You two get some sleep.” More giggling.

“No gym tomorrow.” You shouted.

“Yeah. Boo gym!” Wanda echoed. You both cracked up laughing. When he turned Nat was busting through the door.

“Hey! I want to come to the slumber party.” She jumped on the bed and scooted between you and Wanda. There was so much more giggling. Steve shook his head and laughed. “Sleep, girls.”

“Yes, sir Captain sir!” You said in a stern voice. When Steve closed the door behind him Bucky was walking that way. “Where are you going?”

“Slumber party.” he growled.

“Don’t think so. Your room is that way, bud. Let’s go.”

When he was falling asleep Steve replayed the night in his head. He smiled remembering how much Bucky and Sam made you laugh. How intently you listened to Thor talk about his home. He loved watching you and Tony in the kitchen arguing over which restaurant makes the best red sauce as you fed Bruce a spoonful of yours. He even loved how careful you were with Loki’s feelings. How you constantly checked on him and made him feel included. You have a gift for making everyone feel like they are the center of your universe. He closed his eyes and the last image in his head was your smile.

M I S S I O N P R E P D A Y

Light streamed through the break in the curtains. The beam hit Nat just enough to wake her. She opened her eyes to a tangle of red hair on one shoulder and (y/h/c) on the other. She saw her own hand on your bare back. Looking down her own breasts were exposed and Wanda appeared to be naked too. Whoever suggested tequila shots after shots of whiskey is dead to her. Then she remembered that it was her and she groaned.

“What time is it?” Wanda’s voice was muffled coming from Nat’s shoulder.

“I don’t know. The clock is on Y/N’s side. Hey. Witchypoo. What time is it?”

You groaned and snuggled up to Nat more. One eye opened when your hand connected with her breast.

“Why are you naked?” you grumbled.

“We all are.”

Before you could roll over to look at the clock the door flung open. Tony had the intention of coming in to be obnoxious instead he stood in the doorway trying to form a sentence. A chorus of “Get the fuck out!” and “Shut the door!” shrieked from the bed. He stumbled out of the room narrowly missing the business end of a shoe that Wanda hurled at him.

Steve came down the hall with a tray of coffee water and headache medicine.

“Morning.” he said to Tony who was still standing there with his mouth open.

“Oh you can’t go in there. They’ll rip your head off.” Steve cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Tony stepped aside stifling a laugh.

“Ladies. I have coffee.” Steve said through a crack in the door.

“Just put it in the room and leave! We’re naked.” you shouted.

“All of you?”

You lifted the covers to take a look, “It appears that way, yes.”

He opened the door gingerly keeping his eyes squeezed shut. He set the tray on the floor and heard it wooshing through the air. The cups gave a final rattle before settling on the bed.

“Nice, dude.” Wanda said to you. You shrugged your shoulders.

“I love witches.” Nat sighed.

Steve backed his way out of the room and spoke again through the door.

“Do you think you’ll all be ready to have a meeting in say thirty minutes?” The three of you conferred.

“Make it forty five.” Nat said, “And bring bagels!”

“What kind?” He knew If he didn’t ask there would be hell to pay. He heard more bickering “.....I like the lemon poppy seed from the bakery down the street....I don’t like lox!” Finally Wanda said, “Assorted with cream cheese.”

“Thank you, Steve!” you added sweetly.

“You’re welcome, doll.”

“You’re such a suck up” Wanda jabbed your side.

“No. It’s because that’s her boyfriend. We saw you two last night and that was before shots.”

You took a gulp of your coffee, “I plead the fifth.”

“It must be nice to be the shiny new toy this week.”

“Nat, you shouldn’t say that. Hon, don’t listen to her.”

“Who’s shiny new toy?”

“Oh please! Like you didn’t notice Loki practically eye fucking you from across the room. Steve’s clearly obsessed with you. Thor probably wants you now that you licked tequila off of his abs.”

“That was you.”

“Oh. Yeah. Anyway. You have Steve and Loki dangling on a hook. What’s your move?”

You sighed and fell back on the pillow. “Why does there have to be a move?”

“Because you can’t lead them both on. Sweetie, you look so happy with Steve.” Nat said

“I would agree but the other night Loki and I slept together. We didn’t have sex. We slept together in my bed. He allowed me to feel something. It was deep and we were both completely content like that’s exactly where we were supposed to be.”

“Look, no one is asking you to make a choice right now. Let’s focus on this mission and we’ll worry about this later. Your boyfriend hates us to be late so to the showers!” Wanda smacked your ass and then Nat’s. You threw a tshirt over your head and went running for Steve’s room.

You knocked but no one answered. You poked your head around the corner and saw it was empty. You sent him a text letting him know you were jumping in his shower and you’d be down shortly. He smiled down at his phone knowing that, when you came downstairs, you’d smell like him.

If you need a t-shirt or anything help yourself. Top drawer.

His top dresser drawer was perfectly organized with perfectly folded t-shirts arranged by color. You selected a solid gray and grabbed your sweat pants from your bag. You learned your lesson over the last few weeks and decided to start packing a few extra clothes for when you came to the compound.

The warm water felt marvelous rolling down your frame. You inhaled the fragrance of his body wash getting lost in the warm aroma. You wished he was in the shower with you. You wanted to get lost in his hands. His lips. You shook the thought out of your head so that you could finish up. You were sure to be running behind.

You threw your damp hair into a clip and slipped on his t-shirt. It was soft and well worn. Maybe he’d let you keep it. You hurried to the conference room. Nat was already in there but there was no sign of Wanda. You slipped in leaving a seat empty next to you for her to sit.

“Is that everyone?” Steve asked

“Sorry! I got caught up.” Wanda ran on tiptoes and gingerly sat in the chair next to you. She grabbed a plain bagel and cream cheese. She handed you half. Nat sat on your other side. Your eyes were fixed on Steve but you still managed to reach over and grab her lemon poppyseed. You were all trying to be really quiet but it wasn’t working out. Tony went to the front of the room to start.

“Ladies? You good? Are those the right bagels or do I have to fire an intern today?”

“They’re perfect” you said with a full mouth. He smiled and bit his lip.

“Maybe later you can tell us what happened last night. Let Capsicle do his thing then a little story time? Just the four of us?”

Nat rolled her eyes, “How you haven’t been slapped with a harassment suit is beyond me.” Steve’s jaw was clenched and he sighed noisily.

“Ok! Cap! Take it away.”

You went over the mission briefing. Everyone had a part to play. Wanda would be with the team. Loki would stay with you. “Isolate the weapon. Incapacitate hostiles. No fatalities.” Steve’s plan was solid. You and Tony ran over the schematics one more time. You laid out your plan. Loki’s job was to protect you and keep you away from harm. Easy. “Once the system is shut down and we’re in, both of you get as far away as possible. Am I clear?” Steve was all business. You both nodded and he moved on to the next thing.

After the briefing a few members of the team were going to the gym. Some were going over weapons. Clint wanted to bring you to the firing range. He thought you should have a gun even though you assured him you would be fine. “Please, kid. I won’t be able to concentrate tomorrow if I haven’t given you everything to defend yourself. It’ll take an hour or less.”

Once you were finished you picked up your things and went to find Loki so you could find out if he was coming home with you. Steve found you wandering the corridors looking lost.

“You lost, Princess?”

“Looking for Loki. I’m about to head out.”

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I will be ready to go on time tomorrow. Don’t worry.” He slid his arms around your waist and pulled you closer.

“Will you have dinner with me tonight? I promised a second date.” Your hands found their way up his arms to his biceps. You gave them a squeeze.

“I thought maybe you’d find me too distracting the night before a mission.” You started to sway together to some melody only the two of you could hear.

“A welcome distraction.” He pressed his forehead to yours. “Come on. It’s only dinner. Just the two of us. You don’t even have to change. We’ll eat here.” He kissed the tip of your nose then your forehead.

“Ok. I still have to find Loki though.”

He groaned, “For what?”

“So I can give him the keys to my place.”

“Are you staying here tonight?” He sounded hopeful.

“Let’s see how dinner goes before I make plans to spend the night.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of your head, “Deal.”

You found Loki hanging out with Thor in the atrium. When they saw you coming they both visibly perked up.

“Hey, Lok. Are you going back to my apartment tonight?”

“Yes. I am ready when you are.”

“I was bringing you my keys. I’m going to have dinner with Steve. Might just stay here. Thor you are welcome to stay over too. I have food in the fridge that needs to be eaten.” You smiled sweetly at him to let him know it was more of a demand rather than a request.

“I’m sure I can manage alone. So you’re staying with the solider then?” Loki was slightly offended that you thought he needed a babysitter.

“I haven’t decided yet. Right now just dinner. I’ll text you either way.”

“Please, mortal. I’m not your keeper. You don’t have to check in with me.”

You hugged him and rested your head on his chest. The two of you lingered for a moment neither wanting to be the first one to pull away.

“What’s this for?” he asked against your hair.

“No reason. I’ll see you later ok?” You pressed the keys into his palm kissed him on the cheek and walked back into the building.

The two brothers stood in silence. Loki watched you walk away. You looked back at him smiling every time. Once you disappeared inside Thor opened his mouth to speak. “Don’t.” Loki stopped him.

“Do you know what Mother would say to you in this moment?”

“I said don’t.” Thor ignored him.

“She would say my darling boy your heart is too fragile for love. Find a woman who will try to mend it not a woman who will stomp it into smaller pieces. You owe it to yourself to tell her how you feel.”

“She knows how I feel! She can feel it.”

“I’m surprised at how quick you knocked down your walls and for a mortal no less. Are you in love with her?”

“In love? That’s not the phrase I’d use to describe it. I know her. I’ve known her for lifetimes.”

“How do you mean? Compared to us she’s a baby.”

“It feels like I’ve known her. She’s the woman I’ve dreamed of since I was a boy. Her heart fits with mine so completely. She’s never been afraid of me. She’s never treated me like a monster. I may have only physically know her for a few weeks but I’ve been searching for her for thirteen hundred years. And now, it seems, I’ve found her.”

“Why haven’t you told her? Why haven’t you courted her like Steve has?”

“Because I’m afraid, Brother. I’m afraid she won’t have me. I’ve waited this long haven’t I? I can wait until this relationship implodes.”

Thor grabbed Loki’s shoulders, “How do you know? They seem enamored with each other.”

Loki gave a half smile, “Simple. He’s afraid of her power. I’m not. Inevitably she’ll use it really use it and he’ll judge her for it. I will never judge who she is.”

Thor hugged his brother trying to give him as much love as he could push through to him. This time Loki hugged back.

[valkyriesryde]

Release the Hounds {10/?}

Chapter 10: Face Value

Pairing: Persephone!Steve Rogers x Hades!Reader

Chapter Summary: Steve gets himself into trouble and nobody is really surprised by that. But there’s only one little flower that can get him out.

Word Count: 2,392

A/N: Wow I’m back to being awful with updates, I’m sorry my lovelies, uni and mental health have been kicking my ass but this was half written and while i procrastinate with everything else in my life I wanted to get it done for you all. I hope you enjoy it!!

Everyone caught wind about what Demeter was up to pretty quickly in the following weeks. Steve heard it from Bucky who heard it from Natasha who heard it straight from Thor. From then on he was constantly looking over his shoulder, the curtains were constantly drawn shut and he feared leaving the apartment. 

Bucky stopped visiting him so often, it wasn’t safe and Steve understood that but it didn’t make it hurt any less. He was lonely, he was scared and every day when the walls creaked or there was noise outside he held the black dahlia in his hand just in case. 

Hades heard the news too, Peter kept her updated on what he heard and as the messenger of the gods he heard quite a bit. Nobody suspected he was helping Hades at all, nobody suspected where his loyalties lay. So he told her how she was searching for Steve, about how Demeter demanded Hades be blamed for his disappearance, about how she had nymphs and monsters searching the mortal world for her son. 

Demeter claimed, even if it was of his own accord he was not safe. Hades had brainwashed him somehow, Hades was going to hurt him somehow. She was losing her mind and people were letting her go crazy because of it. 

She tried to drag Quill into it, tried to get him on her side because Hades punished him and he must hate her but Quill refused to go anywhere near Demeter. Bucky knew why, Bucky knew it was because Quill had already chosen his side and he knew Demeter was all talk, especially compared to Hades who he had seen only as a person of action. 

Most Olympians, they avoided Demeter, they kept working, they left Thor and Jane to deal with her because Thor hadn’t chosen a side yet. He listened to Demeter’s demands, but he also claimed there was no evidence of wrongdoing, which there wasn’t. From an outside perspective, Steve had run away from his controlling mother. From a slightly more inside perspective, Steve had run away from his controlling and abusive mother. 

From Bucky’s perspective, he had saved his friend from a lifetime of torture, and knowingly put into motion a prophecy he knew about. If he wasn’t the god of fortune he would have suspected that the consequences for his actions be dire, but he didn’t care about the prophecy, he cared that his friend was safe as long as Demeter didn’t get her dirty hands on him.  

Because Bucky couldn’t leave Olympus as often to bring Steve supplies Steve had to venture out into the world on his own. He kept a dagger on him at all times, he keep the black dahlia in his pocket wherever he went and he was constantly aware of his surroundings. 

He had some money, nothing extravagant but Bucky had left him with an emergency fund. It’d been two days since he last ate and he needed food soon before he started to starve. He’d put off going out for too long and now he had no choice. So he took all precautions as he ventured out to the streets of New York. 

It took half the trip before he noticed someone was following him. They had been since he left the supermarket, perhaps they caught sight of him when he had taken his hood off in the store. 

Nonetheless Steve’s steps quickened. He turned left instead of right just to see if they were following him. Their speed quickened too and they turned after he did. 

About 50 metres behind him the figure followed. He couldn’t quite make out what they were, he didn’t recognise them, he knew they were male from the reflection he caught in the shop window but that was it. No nymph he knew, probably a monster of some kind. 

Another left and a right. They’re still following him and he’s almost broken out into a run. At this point his new home was about an hours walk away. He didn’t know the area he was in and if he knew better he would have caught on that he was being herded as three other men followed his movement from various locations around him.

Steve was being hunted and he had a gut feeling things were about to turn bad. 

In his head he heard Hades’ voice; “use the dahlia…she has no eyes in the Underworld…I’ll protect you there…use the dahlia” 

He could protect himself, perhaps he was just being paranoid. His hand held the paper flower tightly in his pocket just in case though.

When Steve noticed a second man on the opposite side of the road, an exact replica of the man behind him, he knew he was in more trouble than he had initially thought. In a couple steps there was an alleyway, he turned down it, weaving past the bodies and as soon as he rounded the corner he tore off a petal and let it fall to the floor.

As soon as his foot hit the petal it was as if the ground swallowed him and immediately he disappeared. Seconds later the first man rounded into the alleyway but there was nothing there. Not even a trace of magic or a flower sprouting. He was gone.  

Steve appeared in the throne room of Hades’ home, his back to the throne itself, his vision was blurry as he regained his footing on solid ground again. A yelp came from his side and he spun around to meet Wanda standing by the window.

“This can’t be good,” she said but there was no worry on her face, just a welcoming smile. 

“I uh, I had to use,” Steve puffed looked around him but there was no one else in the room, his searching was cut short though as his eyes caught the window Wanda stood in front of.

It was large and so clean he thought for a second the windows were wide open but the slight breeze that swept through the grass told him otherwise. Underneath the window was a table decorated haphazardly in fruits, books and papers. Steve’s attention was on the view, the fields that he’d never seen so beautiful. He could just make out the moving souls, how some scurried around the field, how others stayed in one place. He couldn’t help but think how beautiful it would be if it weren’t for the overcast in the sky. He wondered if the sun ever did shine brightly in Hades, if the souls ever felt the warmth, if the light reflected off of them or went through them. But the sky was grey, it threatened warmth and rain at the same time.

“It looks almost sad,” he muttered to himself, “the grass needs sun…” he muttered about different techniques and plant types that would be better for this environment.

“None of us really have a green finger,” a deep and annoyed voiced sounded behind him. Sam stood tall and protective with his arms crossed, glaring at Steve while a boy, who looked to be the same build as Peter stood behind him, copying Sam’s protective stance.

“Is this him?” The boy asked Sam.

“Sadly. Hades know he’s here?” He directed his question to Wanda but the boy spoke first.

“I thought the Underworld was shut from any outsiders, he’s an Olympian, better yet he’s the reason she’s in this mess!” The boy’s voice rose with anger and disapproval at Steve, he looked the god of spring up and down and shook his head. It was clear he blamed all the trouble Hades had been through on Steve, as he should. “Harley!” Wanda scolded.

So this was Harley. This was Hades son, that was Thanatos, that was the one she trusted to bring souls to Chiron. No one knew much about Hades family. They knew she was the oldest of the three, Thor, Loki and her. They knew she was never the leader. They knew she saw her judges as family and treated them as such. The gods knew that Harley was her son. They also knew that he and Peter were friends, that they worked together often. Yet no one really knew anything about the relationship between Hades and Harley. 

There were rumours of course, some said that he was born similarly to Natasha, some thought he was the product of an affair with Pietro or some other lesser god in the underworld. Some even thought he wasn’t hers at all and she just saw him as a son. They were wrong. He was her blood. There’s no sad backstory, there’s no deeper meaning to the dynamic between Hades and Harley. They are mother and son. They are the centre of a wider family. That’s all there is. Steve was just surprised to see the boy he’d only ever heard about.

“She doesn’t know,” Wanda’s eyes moved around the room nervously Steve bowed his head, he missed her glance to the thrown but Sam caught it. 

“I had to use a petal from the-“

“I figured as much.” Sam bit back though his tone wasn’t as harsh as it was initially, perhaps his stoic exterior was more habit than his actual feelings towards the god of spring. 

“I don’t understand though, she said it would take me to her but she’s not here?” 

“You’re friends with Bucky, you should know not to take things you’re told at face value.” Sam was right about that, Bucky always told him that in magic and prophecy things are never quite as they seem, ‘don’t trust the words themselves’ he’d told him one night. 

“So why did she bring me here?”

“You’re coming to Asphodel with me, you want to learn about the fields and it’ll distract you.” Wanda spoke up as she pulled a jacket over her shoulders, “don’t worry, you’re safe here. Come on then.”

The pair walked past the men and out the front door towards the fields, from the window where Steve had stood in the throne room Harley watched them walk down the path towards Asphodel while Sam lounged across the steps at the base of the throne.

“Why are you letting him hide here?” Harley asked.

“Because it’s the least we could do. He doesn’t deserve to be hunted Harley,” her voice was soft and understanding. She knew Harley didn’t trust easily, especially Olympians. It had taken a millennia to convince him Peter was a friend and that was only after Hades had openly shown her acceptance of him. 

Hades sat on the large black throne, her legs draped over the arm rest and her helmet hanging off a spike above her head.

“You’re really doing this then? Letting him stay here?” Sam questioned as Harley sat beside him, they both looked up at the queen. “Do you want to start a war with Demeter?”

“Could be fun to have him here,” she shrugged and Sam stared at her with his mouth hanging open.

“it cOuLd Be FuN that’s what you sound like.” Harley mocked.

“You’ve officially gone fucking crazy. Does Thor know he’s here? Are you going to tell him? You were told to stay out of this as much as you can, this doesn’t prove your innocence at all!” Sam cried out, he tried to reason with her but she brushed him off.

“You know the prophecy-“

“Oh come on! You’re trying to prove it wrong then? Indulging in his fascination with you or this place doesn’t do that. Getting close to him doesn’t do that!” Sam was getting more and more irritated with Hades as her attention stayed on Harley who had turned back to look out the window from his seat on the steps. He couldn’t see Steve and Wanda anymore. “Were you not listening to what I said to Steve? You can’t take these things at face value, you’re not who the prophecy says you are!” 

Harley’s eyes squinted in the sun as it shone through the window making it even harder to find Wanda in Asphodel. “Then there shouldn’t be a problem with him being here.”

“What?” 

“Exactly, thank you Harley.” 

“Sam’s right,” he said.

“Yes, thank you” Sam beamed.

“What do you mean?” Hades asked, her legs swinging off the armrest and her feet dropping to the floor. 

“You both are in a way,” he turned back to them suddenly, worry and excitement on his face. “Him being here could be a good thing, it could also start a war if Demeter found out. And the prophecy, we don’t know it’s actual meaning we only have speculation and theories but we shouldn’t just assume the worst from it.”

“Harley I don’t understand, you know what it says, you know what it means for me, for the Underworld?!” Hades furrowed her brows as Harley stood and pulled her hands to bring her to the windows. 

“Olympus is in the northern hemisphere yes?” 

“Yes?”

“It’s almost October, it should be getting colder. It has been for weeks now here because we have the same seasonal calendar as the northern hemisphere of the mortal world just like Olympus.” Harley kept explaining as the three of them stood before the windows, Sam felt it first, the warmth on his face, the sun in his eyes. “So tell me why the sun is shining.” He paused as Hades gulped and squeezed his hand. “When the wind is still…”

“…and the air is cold…” Sam continued.

“…the sun will shine in Hades,” she choked out. 

“Maybe you’re right to be wary of it mum, but I don’t think it’s all bad.” Harley said, he tried to ignore the tears in his mother’s eyes as she nodded her head.

“I think you’re right. You’re too smart for this world,” she smiled at him. 

There was no stopping the prophecy Cassandra and Bucky had given her all those years ago. It was here, it had begun and whether she liked it or not, it put her and everyone she loved in danger. But for now, for now as they looked out at the fields of the Underworld and saw Wanda, Steve and Pietro walking along the outskirts, at least the sun was shining. Even if she didn’t quite know what that meant for the days to come.

Chapter Eleven: Wine Plays Tricks on the Tongue

Permanent Taglist [28/50]: @witch-of-letters @buckysmischief @marvelsangels @momobaby227 @weirdlyokaywithit @disgustang @bucky-blogs @geeksareunique @stuckonjbbarnes @victorianvampirebf @mushyjellybeans @lovesmesomehiddles @this-kitten-is-smitten @itsunclebucky @kitkatd7 @lokisironthrone @supraveng @thinkoutsidethebex @binkysteebnpewter @starbxcks @agent-barnes40 @theannoyingnightmarecollector @starkerhowlter @fckdeusername @murdermornings @thefridgeismybestie @wonderlandfandomkingdom @aikeia @laneygthememequeen 

Release the Hounds Taglist [26/50]: @little-dark-empress @matsumma @anasteas @anjali750 @brastrangled @moonchild-stark @kaithezaftig @fafulous @sucker-for-my-fandoms @truly-insatiable @nerdamongnerds @henderwhore4life @the-girl-of-many-fandoms1414 @brooklyn-1918 @elsasshole @powerful-vixen @dramaqueenarg @princess-evans-addict @lexy9716 @megzdoodle @coffeeandcrown @kingkassam​ @whenescapingdinosaurs​ @jubileestreetv​ @learning-howto-be-myselfx3​ @wormonastringonastick​ @brilliantkey​ @tofeartheunknown​

[bansept]

Let’s dance

/NSFW WORK/

While it’s not the absolute worse, nor the absolute best I could come up with, it’s a pretty nice start of the maybe long series of NSFW scrabbles for my dear Ichihime fandom!

To anyone who was a bit thirsty, I give you this fresh refreshment that I hope isn’t that bad!

DANCER ORIHIME X STUDENT ICHIGO

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

Blurry windows and foggy mirror, heavy breaths and skin burning.

The light was shining on them, their sweaty bodies moving in rhythm with the music, the gentle voice of the instructor ordering them around, making each movement matter.

Now, if anyone had told Ichigo he would be taking dancing lessons, staring at his reflection in half anger, half concentration and listening to young teenage girls giggle behind him, he would have slapped them. Not because dancing was shameful, because frankly, it definitely was not. Well, except for some dances, like the macarena or shit like that. No actually, Ichigo would not have believed himself for agreeing to come to dancing lessons to stare at the instructor.

As in, gawk at her.

.

.

.

Ichigo Kurosaki’s week had started as normally as any other week : waking up early, drinking liters of coffee, going to work on some english literature thesis, eating with some friends and coming back home to work until way too late at night, and starting over again.

Yes, he had been told several times by everyone he knew that coffee was bad when it was too much, yes, he had been told to work better on his thesis if he wanted to study and teach Shakespeare. Easier said than done, and that was why his friends had kept rumbling about either taking a break, thank you Chad, or stoping any distractions and really work, fuck you Uryu.

He was sitting across them, stirring his lunch leftovers slowly while the tall half Japanese half Mexican giant was pushing his hair out of his eyes, looking around them as Uryu was probably talking to him. Ichigo tended to not care much.

“So you better get back on track before your old man decides to stop…”

“He’s not lending me money anymore. I work now, you know?”

Uryu threw Ichigo a quite unimpressed look, closing his mouth only to push his glasses up his straight nose. Chad was holding back a tiny smile, but Ichigo of course saw it.

“Giving lessons to kids and working part time in a dojo isn’t really enough to pay for important studies. Or keep you floating like now for the rest of your little life.”

Ichigo gritted his teeth together, a hand digging in his pocket to hold onto his phone, anything hard to stop him from throwing hands with his friend. He really wondered how or why he even talked with the blue-eyed man in front of him.

“Excuse me?” A voice came from the side, clear and ringing in his ear loud enough for Ichigo to turn his head around. Any distraction was good enough to momentarily wipe Uryu from his mind.

Ichigo felt his grip on his phone loosen, just like his jaw.

The angelic voice that had called them was probably the most angelic form of life on Earth, putting to shame anything renowned painters and, god forbid, even Shakespeare, had ever described. With long, fluffy and so exquisitely soft looking auburn hair, bright grey eyes surrounded by a round face, with subtile eyebrows, a cute little nose and, fuck, pillowy lips…

The young and oh so magnificent woman was slightly leaning towards them, an inviting smile on her face while her slender hand was handing over rosy flyers.

“I’m sorry to bother you, gentlemen, but we are offering free dancing lessons to promote the opening of our new dance studio.” A sweet smile and Ichigo felt his eyes widen further. “Would you be interested?”

With the push of his friends, and because he was perfectly unable to say no to such a goddess, Ichigo was the only one to accept, the other two finding some kind of weird excuse. But really, the young man was perfectly fine in agreeing to go alone there.

.

.

.

What a fantastic recruit they had chosen for the job, he marvelled, walking down the sunny streets with his backpack, staring at the flyer that the gorgeous woman had given him. He wondered if she would be here, in this class, jumping around in sportswear and doing whatever dance lessons did. Ichigo snickered when he realized he’d be one of the idiots doing those idiocities too.

After a good 15 minute-walk, the orange-haired man stood right at the front of a brand new building, the white walls making the golden-ish design of the sign shining in the sunlight. Windows with closed curtains made him raise an eyebrow, but he still entered the dimly lit building, the office desk standing elegantly, but alone.

“Hello?” He asked, voice calling out in the empty space.

God, he hoped he had not arrived too late. Or worse, too early. Ichigo hated to appear eager, even if his brain reminded him that, actually, he was.

A few quick steps rushed on the clean floor, the young woman appearing from the corner of a room, head out of a door, that certainly led to the dance floor. Damn, he hated that word, but like the way her face lit up seeing him.

“Oh! You came!”

Now, if his heart had jumped when Ichigo had first seen her, now something else did when she walked up to him in tight clothing, working out clothing, that hugged everything and didn’t leave much to the imagination. The man quickly got his backpack into his hands and placed it in front of his groin. Breathe in, you can do it.

“Well, huh, I told you I would come, right?” He chuckled airily, watching her smile again, her shoulders lifting up in happiness, her breasts bouncing NO DON’T THINK ABOUT IT.

“Thank you for coming, sir. You are right on time for the 3PM lesson. Others should come, but classes are mostly in the morning. Though I could make an exception for you!”

She brought her hands together in a small clap, and Ichigo did blush but desperately hoped it didn’t show.

It did, and the young woman pointed at the door in the back, with written in both English and Japanese “changing room”.

“You can go get changed, here is the key. Please be ready in 10 minutes.” she bowed to him slightly and walked back to the studio, slower than when she came in, and Ichigo felt his eyes trailing after her, impossible to stop himself or walk ahead as long as she was in here.

“I’m fucked.”

.

.

.

Yes, he was.

His young, overactive and definitely way too interested brain had created this mental image of dancing lessons, yoga sessions and massages to be a place of filth, where people turned into beasts and let nature rule them over as one of them was bended over a table while the other pounded in them. Instinctively, the clever and thinking part of said brain had stopped the idea, assuring him they were only fantasies young people in rut had twisted to fit their horny selves.

Unfortunately, part A of the brain had been right, and part B admitted defeat immediately when the session started with stretching methods.

With the instructor showing, naturally.

Going up, down, to one side then the other, running around the room wasn’t that bad. It actually helped get rid of the incoming boner Ichigo felt growing, and he stopped at the end to breathe out, now completely calm.

Apart from the moment she had come up to him to gently help him get the posture right, expertingly taking his hands to place them where needed, showing him how to do the exercise, her butt for him to see, and it was easy to think it was simply a coincidence.

One that brought his hard on back.

Then Orihime Inoue, the instructor, who had given him her name at the very start of the session so they would stop calling each other “Miss” or “Sir” as if they were still in school, came next to him and asked him to do some squats.

“I don’t see how that helps the dancing…” He doubted, looking at her in the eyes, and she chuckled lightly, raising her hand to pick up his arms and place them in the air, in front of him.

“Dancing is beautiful and powerful when you have good leg muscles. And while you do have muscles, if they themselves are not powerful enough, you won’t last very long.” She explained.

He sighed, argument hitting the spot, and did as many squats as her, next to him. If he was going to do some body work, then it would have been better to simply just go to the gym…

“Come on, don’t day dream! Do 50 and then we’ll see how you dance.”

The world stopped, all the clocks ticking in the empty void, head turning to stare at her incredulously, catching her puffing out her cheeks and laughing out loud, holding on to his shoulder to avoid slipping on the ground.

“I’m kidding, Ichigo-san! Don’t worry!” She kept laughing in her hand, and the young man felt several things : first, shame for letting his fear sweat outside of his body. Second, amusement at her dorky laughter.

The third emotion was out before he could control it, pulling her close to him and taking her hand off her face. Orihime looked shocked by his actions, ears and cheeks reddening from the effort as well as embarrassament.

“What…”

“That’s enough exercising for now. Let's get to the real work.”

He looked into her eyes, who had kept on looking up and down his body for the last half hour, her hands who ran up his arms to land on his collarbones, mouth opening slightly to let out nothing but a tiny “yes”.

He had been on fire for multiple reasons in life : because of anger against his father, his friends, sometimes his sisters. Because of grief, when he had to help other family members carry his mother’s coffin. Because of anxiety and weariness, because of exercise.

But this time, when he walked the two of them to a bench by the side of the room, he was burning in need and hunger.

Orihime was also fever like, the nice and calm mask she had slipped on falling away with her tank top, leaving her in just a sports bra while she kissed Ichigo deeply, tongue easily giving up the dominance in favor of the man’s own flexing muscles.

The sound of the music all but disappeared when their bodies collapsed together, hungry kisses and nails like tiger’s claws on each other’s skins.

With a quick breath, Ichigo pulled away from her mouth to kiss her neck, lapping at it gently, her hand going to his hair while he touched the skin of her hips and stomach. Softness and hard muscles seemed hard to combine, yet there she was, smooth smooth skin covering powerful muscles, ones that he would enjoy teasing.

After the kisses, his head got lower and lower, caging her lower stomach, not touching in the slightest her breasts, that would come later.

“Hmf, what are you... “

“Sh, don’t talk too loud, others might hear.”

He grinned from ear to ear, looking up as he licked his lips, her breath catching in her throat. Orihime’s hand suddenly caught his hair and pulled him up, as gently as possible, and they kissed again, one nibbling on the other’s lips, Orihime’s hands getting under the man’s wet shirt, feeling the tight muscles, the crease between each abs, the v line digging in his shorts.

“No one else is here… So, don’t hesitate to yelp, Ichigo.”

She murmured agaisn’t her lips before going deeper in her search, this time digging in his shorts to find what she seeked with a grin.

Ichigo yelped indeed, not expecting the woman under him to get so bold, yet there she was, feeling him up and stroking him in his damn shorts.

Fuck, would be the right word to use.

He didn’t utter a single vowel, bringing her pants and her underwear down rapidly, going back to kiss her as their lips found each other again, lost in moans and the electric touches of their tongues. Orihime kept on stroking him, gently pumping him up and down, the member in her hand turning even harder as she placed her thumb on the slit. Slick came out of it, and she chuckled at the man’s reaction : eyes closed and shaking behind the eyelids, Ichigo seemed ready to burst at any moment, but he groaned, not accepting an early end.

His finger, that had been on her lower stomach, stroking at her sensitive part, now had entered her, one by one. The long digits didn’t waste any time in looking for her gspot, that tender place inside of her that would make her see stars in seconds, if he was careful enough.

“Ichigo… No, not like, th-that…” She moaned against him, her free hand digging in his hair, pulling her face in his neck to try to resist the impossible pull on her body. “I… need….”

“I know, baby, I know… Let me take care of it…” He whispered back to her, placing one kiss on her forehead. His fingers came out of her, taking her own hand off of him, even if he twitched in insubordination. “You’re all good, Hime, you’re good…”

He reassured her, voice gentle like he knew she liked, hands lowering his pants to angle his cock to her. Ichigo finally freed her breasts from their confined space, letting them overflow on her chest, filling his vision with sights of her blushing face and exposed tits.

“You’re beautiful Hime…”

He smiled at her, rubbing her nose with his with a grin that she gave back, before entering her fully, nice and slow. She yelped this time, voice resonating in the empty room, but never stopping her sweet sound and words towards him as she dug her fingernails in his back, feeling him getting as deep as possible, filling her up to the brim, the end, to the heart.

She pushed her head out of his neck, and with a tiny frown, pouted.

“You didn't play.”

Ichigo winced, the tightness of hers squeezing just right around him, and nodded his head.

“I’m sorry… I tried, but you always look so fucking amazing in sports wear… fuck, I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know my own fiancée!”

Orihime didn’t answer, couldn’t really, and pulled him back down against her generous mounds before he got started with his thrusts, rocking them carefully against the oh so fragile wooden bench of his future wife’s dance studio.

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

I’ll never forgive my playlist for making me turn what was supposed to be absolute filth into sweet love making on a bench.

Tell me what you thought of it, and how I can better myself!

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Ice Man Job

leverage 2.08

Hardison: Jim Kerrity III. He took over Kerrity Diamonds four years ago after his old man retired, and in that small amount of time, he drove the business straight into the ground by living way beyond his means.

(Parker is restless on the couch and Eliot pushes her away from him)

Hardison: I'm talkin' drugs, booze, women.

(Parker continues to moves restlessly)

Hardison: According to his credit card statements... What? Why? What are you doin'?

Parker: What?

Eliot: What?

Parker: What?

Eliot: It's distracting.

Parker: The couch is feeling a little empty.

Nate: Eliot, will you please sit next to Parker.

Eliot: No, I'm sittin' here now.

Nate: Guys, guys. We all miss Sophie. I, we just have to adapt.

Hardison: I got this. Move, go.

(Hardison sits next to Parker on the couch)

Hardison: You happy? (picks up keyboard)

parker can’t get comfortable because she misses sophie. she’s never had friends/close family before (minus archie but that’s irrelevant) and sophie was one of her people and she doesn’t know how to cope properly when she loses them

the ot3 sitting together as they should

- - - - -

Nate: You know what, the thing about this that people don't understand is insurance fraud, it's a lot of red tape, and with a big claim like this, it'll take a year before Kerrity sees any money, and the bill collectors are not gonna wait around. He's gotta fence the diamonds.

Parker: He can't. (grabs the remote and changes the monitors)

Eliot: What do you mean?

Parker: His diamonds are GIA certified, VVS clarity, all about two carats.

Hardison: That's my clicker.

Parker: Who stole the Polar Star? (raises her hand) Who stole the Gem of Gibraltar? Damiani raid? Me. I know diamonds, and our bad guy can't fence those diamonds because stones that size have an ID number laser-inscribed on them.

Eliot: So it’s like a stolen car. Gotta clean the VIN before you can sell 'em.

Nate: How do you get that ID number off?

Parker: With a special laser. But only three guys can do it. Antwerp, Dubai, Tel Aviv

SHE KNOWS HER DIAMONDS

- - - - -

[Flashback]

Parker: Hi.

Man: Hello.

Parker: Buy me a drink?

Man: You got it. (gestures to the bartender and puts his hand on Parker’s knee) So?

(Parker grabs his fingers and breaks them, then picks up a briefcase and hits him in the chest before heading away, almost falling)

we LOVE to see parker not tolerating slimy men and hurting them when they touch her

- - - - -

Parker: Yeah, I'll be fine.

(later Parker is crouched behind the counter talking on the phone)

Parker: I will not be fine. I stabbed that guy with a fork.

[London Bar]

Sophie: Parker, Parker, relax. It's fine. Listen. Go to Nate's cupboard and you're gonna find a sexy little mini-dress and my emergency Jimmy Choos.

[Leverage HQ]

Parker: Jimmy who? You have a body in Nate's closet? (she looks excited)

[London Bar]

Sophie: Shoes, Parker. Didn't I teach you any...? All right, listen. This is the important bit. Do you still have the Rosalind Diamond you stole in Perth?

[Leverage HQ]

Parker: Yes.

[London Bar]

Sophie: Wear it. The diamond will speak for you. You won't have to say a word. This is the key to the grift. You just trust the character. Say nothing, trust the diamond.

[Leverage HQ]

Parker: I can do that. Don't tell Nate I called.

[London Bar]

Sophie: I won't.

- - - - -

bruh parker is SO HOT in that blue dress with her diamond that she stole I’m-

- - - - -

Hardison: All right. Lay the arms down, brother. He's cool.

(Eliot lets Kerrity go)

Hardison: You have to excuse my bodyguard. He's touchy. It's 'cause he's a mute.

eliot looks ready to beat hardison’s ass for a hot second

also I LOVE eliot’s little braids in his hair

- - - - -

Kerrity: What kind of thief calls himself a thief?

Hardison: An uncatchable one with a brilliant reputation. You've seen my work in Perth. The Polar Star? Nicked it. The Gem of Gibraltar? Nicked it. The Damiani raid? Distraction while I nicked everything in the vault next door. Big stones, trust me.

(behind Hardison, Parker is pacing angrily)

eliot gives her a Look™ when she looks like she’s going to interrupt hardison because he KNOWS how pissed she is

- - - - -

(Parker is at the kitchen bar, locks and picks spread out in front of her. She’s focused on picking a lock)

Eliot: Ice Man?

Hardison: Hey, I put a lot of work into that character. No, no. No, I bought new clothes, ugly as hell, too.

Eliot: This always happens when you go on the grift, Hardison.

Hardison (*): I put stories on the website.

Eliot: You go too big.

Parker: Sophie told me to say as little as possible, let the character do the work.

Nate: When did, uh, Sophie say that?

Parker: A long time ago. Maybe last Christmas. I don't even think it was Sophie.

Nate: I'm gonna go put more pressure on Kerrity. I want you guys to be on the clear-out. Ice Man, play it cool. That's just an awful, awful name.

Hardison: Genius.

Eliot: See?

Hardison: It's genius.

Eliot: When you get in too deep on this, I ain't bailin' your ass out.

Hardison: I don't need you to bail me out. I'm the Ice Man.

Eliot: Not. Gonna. Help

parker picks locks when she’s upset/annoyed/distressed and I love that continuity for her in the show

also eliot you buffoon you’ll always help hardison you’re fooling literally no one

- - - - -

Guard: There's a Mr. Sterling here from the insurance company.

LMFAO NATE YOU DIDNT

- - - - -

Eliot (on phone): I know. He's driving me crazy. How, huh? I'm backup, they can't rely on me. All right, all right. Hey, thanks. Don't tell Nate I called.

Parker: Who was that?

Eliot: Cable company

eliot is more upset than anything because he’s been put into a position where he can’t protect them as well. THATS what he’s mad enough about to call sophie about it.

also this picture meme describes the situation perfectly

- - - - -

Eliot: Whoa! Whoa! What are you people doin' here?!

Woman: We work here. Who are you?

Parker: We're with OSHA.

Eliot: We issued a class-one evacuation notice for this facility effective 24 hours ago.

Parker: This place is on lockdown for chemical exposure.

Eliot: Nobody read the memo?

Parker: Did nobody read the memo?! You, cough!

(Parker holds a pad to the woman’s mouth and she coughs into it)

Woman: What chemical?

Eliot: Given the set-up for this place, it could be a matrix of solid phase sulfates, uh, nitrates.

(Parker shows a blackened pad to the woman)

Woman: That's inside me?

Eliot: Honey, your lungs are a parking lot, sweetheart.

Parker: And in that parking lot, the diagonal lines are painted with poison.

(parker turns and looks at eliot, who shakes his head slightly in exasperation)

Eliot: People, move towards the door, all right?

Parker: Do not inhale unless you are 50 feet from the entrance. Yeah.

(all the workers leave the room)

eliot just sighing at parker’s antics is beautiful

- - - - -

Nate: All right, nice work, guys. Tomorrow, when he shows up with the diamonds, the state police will be there.

[Exterior Street]

Eliot: Why, so they can arrest Hardison's ego?

Hardison: Be cool, baby. Ice cool. Hey, who wants to go for a spin?

Eliot: Can't believe you rented a Ferrari.

Hardison: Rented?

Parker: I'll get a ride home with Eliot.

(Eliot and Parker move away and get into his truck before driving away)

Hardison: Y'all are just jealous. Oh, they just jealous, baby. Don't worry about that. Look at ya. Lookin' better than green-

okay so now we know hardison in canon owns a red ferrari convertible

- - - - -

Hardison (makes call): Yeah, yeah. Sheila, not makin' it in tonight. Yeah, work thing. Bugger all.

[Interior Van]

Sophie: Hardison? Are you calling me in character?

[Russian’s Office]

Hardison: I told you, butternut. It's work. I can't get out of it.

[Interior Van]

Sophie: What accent is that? Ooh. Ooh, you've been nabbed.

[Russian’s Office]

Hardison: Afraid so.

Sophie: Is it the mark?

Hardison: No. No, muffin, no.

[Interior Van]

Sophie: It's the goons. You oversold the part.

[Russian’s Office]

Sophie: You fell into the trap of the overzealous henchman.

[Interior Van]

Sophie: Don't worry. It happens all the time. As long as they're not Russians.

[Russian’s Office]

Hardison: It's gonna be a bit of a problem.

Sophie: It's the Russians? I'm gonna have to phone Nate.

Hardison: Uh, leave it off, crumpet.

[Interior Van]

Sophie: No, no, no, listen. Hardison—

[Russian’s Office]

Sophie: --you cannot talk your way out of Russians.

[Interior Van]

Sophie: I mean, you can stall them maybe for a bit, but whatever you do--

[Russian’s Office]

Sophie: --do not tell them you can do anything else. (hangs up)

Hardison: Smooches. Love her. (puts down phone)

- - - - -

Eliot: I had courtside seats, man. Tell Hardison if he makes it out alive, I'm gonna snap him in half.

Nate: Uh, Eliot says hi.

again, eliot, you ain’t foolin no one

- - - - -

parker sitting on the dining table,,, I love it when she perches herself on things

- - - - -

eliot is wearing a checkered/white plaid shirt with flowers on it it’s adorable

- - - - -

(Kerrity is placing a necklace on a woman’s neck)

Kerrity: Wow, that looks beautiful. Three hundred thousand dollars on your neck. (Nate knocks on the door) Oh. Amy, I'm gonna meet you at the bar, sweetie, OK? You'll earn that later. Let's go. Excellent. This had better be important.

y’all nasty

- - - - -

we love to see eliot knocking people out with one punch

+ him apologizing to the unconscious guard after

- - - - -

(Parker lays a magnetic strip over the two halves of the sensor)

Parker: This will hold them together.

Eliot (hands her a screwdriver): Electric's faster.

Parker: Vibrations will set off the seismic sensor.

(Eliot leaves the vault as Parker moves the sensors to one side and replaces them with false sensors. She then works on getting the combination)

- - - - -

Eliot buzzes Hardison in. Hardison fakes punching Eliot, who goes down. Hardison continues to fake beating Eliot up)

Eliot: Next time, I'm playing the thief.

Hardison: I'd like to hear you do an accent.

Eliot: I'd like to hear you do an accent.

Hardison: I went to Second City in Chicago.

(outside the Russian and his men watch Hardison beating Eliot)

[Vault]

(Parker writes the combination to the vault on the handle in what looks like invisible ink)

Eliot: When’d you find time between that and karate at the Y?

Hardison: You know what? Just shut up.

Parker: Shut up, guys

chaotic ot3

- - - - -

(Parker hangs on to the vault door as it swings shut, then jumps to an overhead pipe)

[Kerrity Diamonds]

(Eliot watches Parker move across the vault in a security monitor)

Eliot: Stuck it

this is cute okay, his proud lil face

- - - - -

hardison also carries a black light on his keychain ???

- - - - -

I’m sorry, I’m but a simple wlw and parker hanging upside down doing her thing is beautiful

- - - - -

[Flashback]

Hardison: Shh! Do you hear that? Diamond Jim's comin' down here. You go and stop him while I nick the diamonds.

(the Russian and his men turn to the vault doorway. Hardison backs away. Parker steps out of one of the larger boxes and pulls Hardison into it)

Hardison: Thank you, and I mean thank you, but how are we gettin' out of here?

(Parker pulls out some sort of electronic device)

Hardison: What is that?

Parker: Shh! Pull your arms in.

(the device beeps as Parker enters a code. After a moment, an explosion collapses the floor beneath them and they fall into the tunnels below where Eliot helps Parker to her feet)

Eliot: Det cord.

eliot helping them off the ground? domestic ot3

- - - - -

Eliot: What are you smilin' at? You still screwed it up.

Hardison: I'm smiling 'cause you said if I got in trouble, you wouldn't help me.

Eliot: Parker made me.

Parker: No, I didn't.

Hardison: Come on, man. Let's hug it out.

Eliot: I'm not huggin' it out, Ice Man.

Hardison: Just hug it... Just a little man love.

(Hardison puts his arm around Eliot’s shoulders. Eliot tries to push him away)

Eliot: I'm not huggin' it out with you. No...

Hardison (stands to move closer to Eliot): It’s not—

Eliot: Sit down in your stool.

Hardison: Don't make this awkward.

Eliot: What are you doin', man?

Hardison: This is uncomfortable now.

(Hardison lays his head on Eliot’s shoulder as Eliot continues to try and push him away)

Hardison: Get in the pits.

Eliot: I'm gonna break your frickin’ arm.

parker shuts eliot down immediately because eliot needs to step up for his actions

ALSO, ELIOT LEANED HIS FOREHEAD IN FOR ONE (1) SECOND. HE TOTALLY SECRETLY LOVED IT

also this meme sums up the entire episode

* sorry the script said something wrong and I don’t feel like going back to check lol

[angst-fairygodmother]

Omg I've been binge reading all your Klaus fics and can I just say you are an AMAZING writer and I'd straight up buy your novel in a heartbeat if you write one. The way you use words and make me feel things, I can't even! ❤️ I saw your requests are open so I wanna request a Klaus fic where the reader takes care of him after he comes home all messed up.. like runs him a bath, gives him a haircut, cooks him food and puts him to bed...You can make it NSFW too in the end, I surely won't complain ;)

A/N: Listen, I think like 25-50% of why I love Klaus is the mere concept of caring for him when he needs it, so this was an excellent prompt. Thank you so much! (I hope you enjoy it even though it didn’t end up getting NSFW) Word Count: 2197 Content Warning: T - withdrawal, references to drug use

You weren’t really paying attention to the familiar hallway of your apartment building, too busy juggling groceries in the struggle to find the right key. You had lived in this building for three and a half years now, it wasn’t like you needed to look where you were going, instinct guiding up the stairs and along to your own front door. Which is why when a figure lurched out of the shadows, stumbling toward you, you were completely unprepared. You screamed, dropping both your keyring and the bags of groceries on your arms as you threw your hands up in defense. The back of your mind registered the sound of something cracking, probably your eggs as they hit the tile floor. The rest of you was focused on the hundred and twenty or so pounds of human body crashing into you. You felt the fuzz of ragged fur and well-worn leather beneath your fingers as you tried to steady the both of you.

Finally you registered the sweaty, washed-out face.

“Klaus?” you asked, recognizing your neighbor.

He had only moved into your building a few months ago, but you two had quickly become friends, chatting – okay maybe you, at least, were flirting but it’s not like it was going to go anywhere, not really – in the mailroom or when you passed each other coming and going. A few times, you had invited him over for dinner or he had talked you into spending more hours than any human reasonably should watching movies, stretched out together on his couch. But you had never seen him like this.

“Oh hey, Y/N,” he trilled, trying to act normally even as he swayed again and you reached out to brace him. “Don’t mean to be a bother, but I’m…not doing so hot and I didn’t know where else to go.”

You frowned in concern and ushered him inside, only belatedly remembering your groceries and going back for them after you had guided him to a seat in your living room.

“What’s wrong?” you asked as you began to put things away and waited for him to settle. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you just got dragged through hell and then spat back out the other side.”

He chuckled, more of a defeated escape of air than an actual laugh. “I feel like it too.”

You frowned at the eggs, completely ruined. The carton of orange juice was dented and wouldn’t sit right on the shelf but it was whole. Tomatoes: bruised, blueberries: free range in the grocery bag. Klaus didn’t seem inclined to say anything more, not that he had really said anything yet, anything of substance.

“You said you didn’t know where else to go?” you prompted, trying a different angle.

“I haven’t had anything in days,” he explained vaguely before doubling over to press his head between his knees. “Christ I feel like shit,” he groaned.

Something about the way he said it registered in your mind enough for you to figure out what was going on.

“Withdrawal?” you asked simply, moving to sit on the couch, turning your body into the arm of it so you could face him.

He nodded, looking up at you with red-rimmed eyes.

“So why come to me? I don’t…I mean I can’t help you get a fix.”

“I know. I didn’t think you could. I just didn’t want to be alone.”

“Okay. Do you need anything? Is there any way I can help?”

He shrugged, shivering despite the sheen of sweat on his brow. His tongue darted out to lick his chapped lips and you tried to resist the urge to trace its path with your eyes. He looked like he just might curl up in your chair and go to sleep, and if that was what he really wanted, you would let him. However, he was sick, and he had come to you, and if he couldn’t tell you what he needed, you would just have to try everything until something helped.

A moment later, you had put the kettle on for some tea and were handing him a drink of cool water.

“Here, drink this,” you said, pressing the thick green glass into his hand. “I’ll make you some tea, mint to help with any nausea, but that’s going to take a bit to be ready. Are you hungry? I was planning a bolognese but I can do something lighter instead. Maybe some soup?”

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that, Y/N…”

“When is the last time you ate?”

He frowned, blinking heavily and turning his head to stare into the space beside him as if your end table held the answer to your question. “I can’t remember.” He paused. “No, we had waffles…was it really that long ago?”

“Right,” you said, a little concerned that he almost seemed to be having a conversation with someone who wasn’t there. “That settles it, I’m making dinner.”

Decision made, you stood once more and began bustling about your kitchen. He grimaced as you chopped the vegetables and herbs for the stock and you winced, apologizing quickly and trying your best to chop quietly.

“So why are you…I mean why haven’t you…used…in a few days? I’m not an expert but isn’t cold turkey super not the recommended method to break an addiction?”

“Hm?” he asked, startling as if you had woken him from dozing. “What was that?” He turned around in the chair to blink at you over the counter.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you had fallen asleep, you can go back to it if you want…”

“No, no, it’s fine. But I didn’t hear your question.”

“Oh, well I was just wondering why the cold turkey? Especially since it doesn’t exactly seem planned?”

“Dealer got picked up,” he said, stifling another yawn. “Most of the others around are too scared of the cops to take a new client.”

You nodded, surprised at how casual he was being about the whole thing.

“It’ll blow over in a few more days, and everything will be fine. I hope.” His voice dropped on the last remark and you weren’t sure you were supposed to hear it, so you decided not to comment.

Instead, you watched with a frown as he stifled another yawn.

“You know, the soup’s going to take a while, if you want to try and get some sleep while you wait?” you offered.

“Oh no, I couldn’t. Sleep is when they find me easiest. God so many grabbing hands. And the screaming. Always screaming.” He shivered, not from cold or the lack of chemicals or for the drama, but in obvious, genuine fright.

“Oh.” You frowned and bit your lip. “Is there anything I can…do?” you felt yourself flush with embarrassment as soon as the words left your lips, certain that they would sound far less innocent and well-meaning that you had intended them.

“Well,” he drawled, trailing off in thought. “Sometimes they’ll stay at bay for a bit if I’m not alone?”

“Okay. Well, there’s not really a lot of room for both of us on the couch, so we could take a nap in my…bed…but, and don’t take this the wrong way, you’re kind of gross…so would you mind maybe showering first?”

He laughed, high and light and it made you smile, sounding a bit more like his usual self. “No offense taken. Ooh, do you have a tub? I would love a bath…”

You raised your eyebrow curiously but nodded.

His hands clapped together giddily.

You padded to your room to dig out a spare towel and were about to give it to him when another thought occurred: he had nothing to put on after except the clothes he was currently sweating through and hadn’t been cleaned in who knew how long. Rooting through your drawers you eventually found a pair of fluffy pink and blue striped pajama pants and an old t-shirt from the Led Zeppelin concert you had gone to in high school which looked like they might fit him.

“Y/N, you are an absolute angel,” he said dramatically as you handed him the stack.

“Can you handle it on your own or…?” you trailed off, feeling awkward about your unspoken offer to help him bathe, but only a few moments before he had been practically falling asleep into his glass, and he had been unsteady on his feet in the hall.

“Oh I’ll be fine,” he said, waving a hand dismissively before he suddenly turned his puppy-dog green eyes on you. “Unless you wanted to. It really helps me relax to have someone wash my hair for me…”

You felt the hot blush creep across your face and down your neck again as you bit your lip.

“O…okay…” you stammered nervously.

“Perfect, now I’ll just go in there and slip under the suds and I’ll shout for you when I’m decent.”

“There’s nothing decent about you,” you muttered under your breath. “And I think you might be trying to give me a heart attack.”

He winked at you as he passed you and you knew he had heard you.

~

A few moments later, you had set the soup to simmer low on the stove and were kneeling on the uncomfortable tile of your bathroom floor behind Klaus. Your fingers were buried in his sopping hair, gently lathering the practically candy-scented shampoo into it. His eyes were closed, head tilted slightly back, exposing the column of his throat to you tantalizingly, and the sounds he made, practically purring at your touch, had you thinking all sorts of untoward thoughts. You had to keep reminding yourself that you were just trying to help him and that it probably meant nothing to him in his muddled state.

Finally, after maybe a little longer playing with scrubbing his hair than necessary, you scooped up some of the water to rinse away the soap. As you did, your fingertips brushed along his exposed neck and shoulders and he moaned.

“Do that again. Please,” he begged.

Heart hammering so loud you were sure he could hear it behind him, you did as he asked, dancing your fingertips along the planes and angles of his skin before digging them in just a little, gently, massaging him.

“Christ, Y/N, that feels so good,” he sighed.

‘The water’s getting cold,” you pointed out, a little breathless from the way he said your name. “And you’re going to turn into a prune if you spend any more time in there. You should probably get out.”

He turned his head, craning to look at you. “Would you like to stay and watch?”

Caught off-guard, you stared at him, gaping like a fish out of water, your mouth opening and closing. Then you stood, racing from the room, his lilting laughter following you. You practically threw yourself onto your mattress, hoping that the few minutes it would take for him to get out of the tub and dress would be enough for you to calm your frantic pulse before you actually exploded.

You also realized that you were in a now-damp pair of jeans and a button-down and that wouldn’t be very comfortable if you fell asleep in it, so you quickly changed into a baggy shirt and shorts, settling them on your hips just as the door creaked in and Klaus entered, bare-chested but fitting into your pants better than you ever had.

“Why are you doing all this for me, Y/N?” he asked, sitting beside you, still tousling his curls with the towel.

“Because you’re my friend and you asked me for help,” you said as if it were obvious.

“You could have turned me away and told me not to bother you with. Other people have.”

“No I couldn’t have,” you smiled softly. “I care about you too much to do that.”

Suddenly his lips were on yours, surging forward hot and hungry and desperate. You moaned as his tongue parted your lips somewhat forcefully and he pressed you backward onto the bed. You fingers tangled into his hair, tugging on it and causing him to inhale sharply. One of his hands, still chilled and shaking slightly, found its way beneath your waistband, sliding easily past the slightly worn elastic. You hissed as he moved your underwear out of the way and made contact with your skin.

“Klaus…wait…” you gasped out, pushing at his shoulders to move him away from you.

He pulled back immediately, looking at you with a mix of concern and fear.

“What is it? Did I…?” he murmured, apology already dancing on his tongue.

You reached up to cup his face between your hands, caressing softly and trying to brush the worried wrinkles from his brow.

“No, Klaus, you didn’t do anything wrong,” you whispered. “I just…I think we should take it slow tonight, okay?”

He nodded carefully, clearly unused to this kind of tenderness, and you leaned up to kiss his cheek before pulling him down beside you, curling around him and running your fingers soothingly through his shaggy hair. He sighed contentedly, snuggling closer and burying his face in your neck.

[solari-writes-things]

This request I got through my DMs on discord by @tsumethedrifter​!

Prompt - Soulmate 14:  “I didn’t think I could find someone as perfectly matched as you.”

Chibs x Reader

gif not mine, credited underneath

tag list: @crimsonheart01​ @thebookishfeminist​ @supervalcsi​ @sazafraz​ (if you want to be included in the tag list, please message me or comment below!!)

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

Everybody out.

It’s all you could remember of the fateful night.

The fire, the ear-shattering noise, the screaming. All of that seemed to be a blur as you watched your second home go up in a monochromatic flame that would make Thomas A. Sweatt proud. 

It had been hard to sleep soundly recently, with your Old Man’s promotion to Vice President. He was included in a line of duty that would have him come home late, with blood soaked in his clothes and a must in his leather kutte to match. However, you never expected this.

The clubhouse explosion. Everyone had been in the vicinity that night, since the problem regarding Galen O’Shay hadn’t calmed down in the slightest. Chibs had warned you to keep your wits about you, just in case they ever tried to do anything to you personally.

Instead, the Irish Kings decided to take things up an octave, and almost slaughtered families. Wives, kids, even the entire club.

If he and Jax hadn’t noticed the clover pen, you all would’ve...

No use thinking about what could have happened. This wasn’t the time to scare yourself away. This was the time to embrace Filip, and the choices that he and the club had decided to make. To assure him that you were an unstoppable force, here to support him and everything he did to protect you. To protect his family that dawned the same kutte.

Today was the day of new beginnings. You were donning something simple and flexible: a pair of leggings, a solid black hoodie, and some ratty sneakers that you wore when you would go out for some quick grocery runs. You had borrowed a pair of gloves from Chibs, after he had ensured that they were cleaned and ready to be used for your task at hand. 

Cleaning up the remains of the clubhouse, moving to the new front that Jax had purchased through Jacob Hale.

Signs, the church table, little things that didn’t get burnt by the roaring flames ended up in the back of a moving van lent out by Unser Trucking. Luckily, with most of the boys there and your extra set of hands, it only took you all about two and a half hours to get what you needed out.

You look up at Chibs, who joins your side as Happy closes up the back of the truck. He slings a soot-powdered arm of your shoulders, pulling you by your shoulders to give you a kiss to your temple.

“Thank ya for helpin’, lovey,” he says, his lips still pressed against your hair.

You turn in his arm, placing your hands firmly on his chest and smiling up at him as best as you could. You wouldn’t lie to yourself, sifting through the disaster that was the clubhouse left you in a bit of a harrowing mood.

You wouldn’t dare let it bleed into the inevitable guilt that he was feeling. “Of course. You know I’m always glad to help, Filip.”

You knew that he was feeling very... off, since the clubhouse met it’s unfortunate end. Not that you could fault him, he left Belfast to try to avoid things like this. It wasn’t his fault that Galen couldn’t take SAMCRO’s proposition due to his own racial opinions. However, he felt some sort of responsibility since you were only seconds away from ending up among the rubble.

“That’s why I can’t live without ya, darlin’,” he grins at you. You could tell he was trying to be genuine, and you couldn’t blame him for putting on a bit of a front for you at this time. The wreckage, the thought there could have been bodies among the ash piles, it left everyone with a hole in their heart.

“Come on, babe,” you say as you adjust yourself so his arm rested at his side, wrapping your arms around his bicep. “Let’s get to Scoops. The sooner we get your church in order, the better. Yeah?”

“Aye,” he agrees, turning the both of you toward his bike. You walked in tandem with each other, as you leaned your head against his arm. Once you approached the vehicle in uncomfortable silence, you reluctantly let go and clutched the black helmet he handed you in between your palms.

As you stared at the matte black helmet, you nearly thought about how little of this you could take before you needed to have a conversation with Filip. Just as quickly, you mentally slapped yourself on the back of your head.

None of this was his fault. Chibs was the perfect man, caught in such a volatile situation that was completely out of his control. You remember the tangents that he would go on, coming home from a task he had to peform alongside Jax, venting about how the SAMCRO president would do things behind his back. That Jax didn’t ask him about a topic that Chibs was obviously the most versed in. Jackson could have very well asked Filip about how deep the color hatred ran with the Irish, but he refused.

Going behind Chib’s back was the reason this domino effect even went into play.

So you slip on your helmet with that newfound contempt in your mind, strapping it underneath your chin as you climb onto the back of the bike. Your arms wrapped snugly around Chibs as you pressed against his back, listening to the engine roar with life. He rode out with Jax at his front left and Happy at his immediate left, in formation as the moving vehicle that Rat was driving followed close behind.

-

Luckily, with Scoops being on the main strip, it didn’t take long for you to get to the location.

10 minutes, tops.

Chibs had you get off of his bike in the front of the location, and you immediately took off your helmet to quickly look over the front of the shop. It was quaint, easy on the eyes with its 50s appearance both inside and out. Something small so the boys could safely gather and discuss your next order of business.

You could only hope that this one didn’t end up in flames as well as you pushed through the front of the building once the Mayor had unlocked it, making your way to the back where Rat had put the moving truck.

A couple of the boys followed you through, Happy being the one to help Rat open the back of the truck and lower the slide.

You felt a palm rest on the small of your back, quickly looking up to see Chibs smiling down at you. “Ready to go, darlin’?”

You nod your head, slipping on the gloves that you had tucked into your hoodie pockets and making your way with your old man to the truck.

They were already beginning to pull the table out from the moving vehicle, Chibs jogging himself up to the van so he could help Hap take some of the weight of the large surface.

Slowly, sluggishly, they move the table off of the truck and stare at the staircase that led to the upstairs room their new church was going to be located in. Hap, Chibs, and Rat all heaved the table up so they could carefully make their way up the metal staircase.

You carefully scaled the slide of the moving truck, picking up a couple of signs that you deemed fit for the trek up the stairs, grabbing the bags of nails and a hammer to go along with it.

While the boys did the heavy lifting, you would take prompts from Bobby as to where to hang the decor. As far as you know, he already had a rough idea as to where he wanted to put everything.

You tuck the decorations under your arm and shove the bagged nails into your pocket, moving up the stairs quickly to the door that was propped open for everyone. When you walk in, your eyes are greeted with brick walls and a congregation of patched men all moving the church table to the center of the room.

You feel yourself smile. Sure, this wasn’t the clubhouse. But the hopeful look on their faces made it already feel like a home. A couple of the men walk out to grab more things, and you make your way further inside and put the wall decor somewhere out of the way.

You pull the nails out of your pockets, tossing them on the now settled church table and brandishing your hammer. You pick up one of the wall decorations that lived, dusting off some of the remaining soot on it before extending your arms to scale it around the room.

“Opinion?” you heard your Old Man ask, making you turn around. 

“Yeah, hit me,” you tell him, smiling.

“I think that look perfect right there,” he says, pointing to a section of brown-orange wall over by the door that they would come in at.

You turn to the spot that was pointed out, humming a bit in thought. He had a point. It would be centered perfect, in view for everyone to see when they would sit at church. They would see it when exiting the premises as well.

“Fair enough, Telford,” you joke, grinning at him. “Can you get me a nail?”

He quickly reaches into the bag to bring out a nail for you, following you to the spot so he could help you put up the frame. You took notice, though, as he joined your side that he seemed dismayed while looking at you.

So you peer your head over your shoulders, seeing that the other men were distracted with their own tasks, before returning your attention to him. “Filip, what’s going on?”

He seems to change tune. “Nothin’, lovey.”

You exhale as you straighten the frame on the wall, to make it seem that you were keeping busy. So wandering eyes wouldn’t intrude on your conversation. “Chibs. We’ve been together for awhile, I think I know you. What’s going on?”

He purses his lips as he hands you the nail that he had grabbed for you, knowing that you were continuing with your task so the boys wouldn’t grow curious. “I’m... just feelin’ guilty, [Y/N].”

“About?” you ask as you trade with him, pressing the nail against the section of wall that you were about to hammer into.

“You almost dyin’. Everyone almost dyin’,” he says simply. “The thing that happened at the clubhouse has been eating me alive, sweetheart.”

“Why is that?” you ask simply, your tone just a bit harsh to get your point across. “To be fair, that wasn’t your doing.”

Bang, bang. The hammer hits the nail and its secured into the plaster.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he inquires. “You’re the love of my life. I didn’t think I could find someone as perfectly matched as you, but I almost lost you in two minutes.”

You sigh heavily, hanging up the decoration and attempting to center it. However, before you finish, you turn to Chibs. After surveying the room, and seeing that you had a moment of clearance, you grip the front of his leather jacket and pull him in a bit roughly for a kiss.

The couple seconds of electrified silence earned a pull of your waist, your bodies flush against each other. You pull away, gazing up into his soft brown eyes. “You didn’t lose me. I’m here, helping you set up your new church. I don’t care what happened Filip, as long as I didn’t lose you. We ride this out together. Always.”

[ashfantasyworld]

Ashton

It was the start of me falling for everyone, it was like any other day. I had turned 20 years of age, and had become what we consider in the middle of teens. My tail never does as I want it to, when I try to hide things or feelings. It always blows my cover, and in training I have started to flirt with this good looking human. I seriously melt when I see him, but how the hell do I tell another guy I like him. What if he dont like me? I know I'm ranting now but it's important I promise. I failed him and I failed my Mom, I failed everyone. As I'm writing this letter I am sitting in a cell waiting for the cultists to end me for being unholy. They call me, well I hope someone reads this as i think i will die today. And yes I'm crying. I can't help it. I'm still a kid, well let me tell you my story then. So if you read it you wont be as stupid as i was.

The start of the story is on my 18th birthday, my mom who cares for me alone had made me a cake. And I was eating it with her, as she told me of my dad, and how the humans had come. And I was a mix of Human and Tabaxi and so on, she misses my dad a lot after he died. So she talks about him on a regular basis, but it's okay if she is happy doing so I don't mind listening to it. And well I had plans today to meet up with a guy that looks amazing, and well we have exchanged looks sometimes and he is going to meet me tonight. But I need to train first. I aint so big on using close combat weapons. I rather like to use bows and crossbows but if i can i like to talk my way out of things. So I use most of my day for training, as a tabaxi I have to be combat ready when I'm around 18 to 20 so yeah. When I'm done with my work out I walk to take a shower and damn that's a long process. Have you tried to get fur dry?It's a nightmare. So when I'm done with my 3 hour long chore of showering for 30 min and using 2h 30 min to not smell like a wet dog. Ewww dogs….. It's time to meet up with Thor, it's night now and I have become smaller than what I was. It happens every night. I think it's due to my father and since he was not a cat, I am probably cursed. Thor doesn't mind, he finds it kinda cute, we are going to meet up by the hill so we can watch the stars together. I walk up there with ease as well. I'm a cat and move easily, not like dogs who walk all over the place sniffing pee. So I sit and wait for him, he is so slow I mean I can wait. I remember seeing him walking in, he looked so good. He has a nice beard and looks like something from a story book from the people up north, he sits down beside me. I can feel my heart beating out of my chest, and he asks me “what I think is up there”. I think a lot and look up, before I'm reminded of all the stories from my mom about dad. “I think my dad is up there watching over me, keeping me safe”. I can feel his hand touching mine, I tell him “that's okay, i feel the same for him”. He pushes me to the ground so I'm on my back, and kisses me. He sits back up and looks at me, I smile and move and kiss him back. It feels wonderful. I feel warm all over and I'm so happy. We smile and part ways after a while, I am so happy I am falling so hard for him. Everything was so good before I failed him.

Some days pass and well we meet up, hidden from everyone else. He decides that we should keep it hidden from everyone, and that's fine for me. He has become more bossy with me, and makes my decisions for me. But that's okay. I am kinda girly anyways, and I like to have someone in control of me. And well im 4*10 120 lbs so I'm small, and I dress kinda cute. So I am not someone who is in charge, It makes me smile just to think of Thor, my big viking. 

But one day I decided I don't know why but that i wanted to be in a dress for him you know female dress. They look so nice, and damn cute and I have the body to be in one. So stupid as i was i got one to be cute to him, my Mom told me i was always special and thats what she loved about me. And helped me get the dress on, we had to cut a hole for the tail tho. As that damn tail always got in the way, but we did and it looked kinda good. So I went to where I knew Thor usually did hang out. I went there and it did not go so well, as his friends were there and when they saw me. They called me alot, “Abomination, Little girl, Loser, ugly”. You know all the bad words, and Thor even made fun of me, and when I tried to run they caught me. And started to beat me up, I don't remember too much as it got black quickly. What I do remember though is Thor hitting me in my face with his friends. I did wake up later. My dress was bloody and ripped apart, I started to cry and ran to the spot where me and Thor first met. And sitting down made me even more sad, as I remembered him. I cried for a long time, before Thor walked up to me and sat down beside me. He told me it was my fault, and I said sorry so many times. He agreed to be with me if I did not behave like that ever again and made it up to him. It made me so happy I kissed his cheek and asked what he wanted, he said I had to get something for him from the smithy. When I asked what he smiled and said a special sword from the smithy, I agreed I just had to get that and he would be mine. I did not have any money though as i know he just wanted a gift, like i am supposed to give him. So i had to steal it, i said i would be back here in 3 hours to him with the sword. It was still night so I could get it, he smiled as I ran off, I know I can do it for him. I'm so lucky to get another chance after embracing him like that. When I'm at the smithy I manage to sneak my way over the fence, but then I see it. The terror itself, the thing that could be compared with the devil himself. Ewwww a small dog, it even looks like a rat. I was close to throwing up in my mouth, and now I have to touch it. I am sure I was close to dying right there and then. But for Thor I would, so I grabbed the dog. Made my skin crawl, as I held over its tiny mouth it started to lick me. I know how disgusting, that tongue has probs been licking buts and poop and pee and ewwwwwwww. But I did it, I moved the dog carefully to another place as it kept licking me all the way. Gives me even the shivers now as I write this while crying, but I move it far enough away. So I could sneak back in, and well when people are stupid enough to let a window be open, I mean it's like an open invitation. I stop and look at the Female sleeping, she is so cute she is older than me tho, must be like 25 to 30 in human years. But I have a mission, so I go and look at the swords. I'm not sure which he wants so I take the most fancy look, and move to the window. But stop looking at the girl. I feel bad for her. I will make it up to her, but I have to leave. So I leave and run back to Thor he smiles, as I give it to him, I feel so happy for giving it to him now he wants me back. He looks at me and hits me in the face with the back end of it, and pushes me to the ground and keeps beating me. Screaming at me how stupid i am for taking the wrong sword, I try to say sorry and that i love him in between the hits. But he dont stop, he keeps on beating me for a while. I deserve it though. I failed him, how could i be so stupid. 

After a while he stopped and looked at me with piercing eyes, “you failed me” the words kept ringing in my ears. As he walked off with the sword I had stolen from him, I walked home. My mom saw me beaten and bloody. She looks at me and shakes her head, “i am sorry” she smiles and follows me into the bathroom and finds some bandages and ointments to help with my wounds. She spends most of the evening cleaning me up, and treating me, I don't say much at all that night. My head is spinning around, everything that has happened. I slept for almost 2 days. Before someone comes knocking on the door at my house, my mom opens and asks me to come into the living room. I just put the comforter over my head, I do not want to do anything right now. After a good 10 minutes the lady comes into the room, the smith stares at me as I swallow hard. She closes the door behind me and we have a conversation, she told me that stealing is not okay. And doing so could get me killed. She offers me a job to work off what I owe, she says she had one give her a chance once and this was her doing the same. But if I was late or did not show, she would go to the guards. I started working with her smithy. Her name is Cynthia, she was not too pleased with me at the start, but after 6 months of me working there every day. She starts to take a liking to me, and teaches me about hard work. I have not heard from Thor in half a year, and I'm finally starting to get over him. Everyday I meet up, I do most of the labour around the smith like cleaning up and keeping it tidy. As I see her sell things to people and make deals, I smirk and one day I say to her. “Bet i could make more money off it” she smirks and tells me the bet is on i have 1 month to beat her. Every day I do everything I can to sell, I start playing music outside and to lure people in I let them haggle but manage to turn them around. After the month is over I have made 1276 gold 436 more than she made, I smirk and she smiles and tells me I have worked off all my debt. But I don't want to stop working. I ask her if I can continue, and she accepts with a smile. Another year passes. I'm 19 soon, 20 now and I am happy. My life's going great, I have worked with Cynthia and have been helping me alot with my bow skills and I continue to play music. She even managed to get me into playing in an inn every night, and I love it and the people love it. One day a guard walks into the smith, I freeze up as I see him. It's Thor. He is looking at swords. I gulp as he turns around and sees me too, “well well well”. He puts a sword on the table, “so you work here now” I look at him and swallow hard and nod. “That will be 50 gold coins”, he smiles and reminds me of what i did and threatens me. Before he takes it and leaves, which means I have to pay for it. I put 50 gold coins into the chest. Cynthia has seen it all, and we have a talk. I tell her the whole story, she hugs me. And tells me that we will just forget about it, and that it's not worth picking a fight with the guards over it. Another 6 months pass, as I work and people start to know me, and come alot into the smith it has become a place to hang out for some people. Where they can chat and buy stuff. I have turned 20 now, it's a big day and as I get to work. The guard jumps me and chains me down, Thor is standing there and reading up my accusations of being a thief, breaking the rules of the church and deserves to hang. Cynthia looks at me, and tries to talk her way out of it for me, but Thor is not budging. And they take me to the church, after a while the priest comes. They decide to take me to the caves where they can properly please the gods, they move me at night. And get me into this cell, they are not holy they are a cult. Planning to sacrifice me to their gods, they told me that my mom has been tossed out on the streets and Cynthia is facing charges. So that brings me to the end of my letter, of how I failed everyone. Just never do as I did, because of me people are hurt. I am sorry for getting the wrong sword, I am sorry mom for being a useless son and I'm sorry Cynthia you should never have given me a chance. I am ready now, to pay for my sins. This will be updated as the campaing goes on <3

[oureuphoria]

Mocha Kinda Guy

Genre: fluff, comedy

Pairing: non-idol!jimin x cafeworker!reader

Word count: 3.1K

Warnings: Nothing this is just 3,163 words of pure fluff. 

Note: First of all I would like to apologise anon because this is kind of late. Thank you for requesting this because it made me smile internally and externally. I have busted out every cliche in the book for this oneshot because  Jimin is literally perfect how could I not. Enjoy!

“What do you mean I have to do closes now? I always do opens, that was our deal!” You angrily reasoned to your boss, also your best friend Hoseok. “Taehyung forgot to tell me he’s leaving the country for a goddamn month till the night before he left so I just need you to cover for him.” You stopped wiping the table and tried to throw the rag at him but the wind made it fall embarrassingly short. “Who’s going to do my opens then?” You smiled bitterly, he gave you a taunting glare before picking up the rag and throwing it right in your face. “I will.” You groaned before going back to wiping the tables, preparing them for what could be your last open. “You know I hate working nights, they’re scary, what if I get kidnapped and die? Besides, I walk home Hoseok and we close at 9pm on good nights!” He gave you a pitiful smile before putting a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry, I would do it but I have dance classes at night. You’ll be fine, your apartment is only 10 minutes away.” You gave up, nodding with an exasperated sigh. You had to accept your fate, this was your last open.

So far, your night shift had been disastrous. You ran to the cafe from college and then haphazardly put on your apron before rushing in to take over Hoseok who was now late for his class and angry at you. You couldn’t help it though, Hoseok wasn’t the only person with important classes. You weren’t the only worker at the cafe but Hoseok only trusted a handful of people to run the cafe while he wasn’t there and unfortunately, you were one of them. You had just closed and you were so glad to be closed you just sat there and stared into the void. The other two workers just clocked out after cleaning and now all you were left to do was count the registers, close all of the machines, lock everything up and hope you don’t die during the process.

You were still staring into nothing when a voice spoke up. “Rough night?” You jumped so quickly that you hit your foot on a table leg. “Sorry, we’re closed.” You let out through a wince while you held onto your foot, hopping around stupidly. The voice which you now recognise as a very attractive man had chuckled at your pain before running a hand through his hair. “You don’t usually work nights, where’s Taehyung?” Under the impression that he was just looking for his friend, you gave him a friendly smile before replying. “He took an exchange program, he’s in Japan for a month. He didn’t tell you?” The boy shook his head before stepping a little closer. “We’re not that close. I’m Hoseok’s friend from dance and I come here often at night so Taehyung and I became acquainted.” You nodded, unsure of how to tell this very handsome man to get the fuck out because you didn’t want to die while walking home. “Well, it was nice meeting you…” “Jimin.” “Jimin. But we are actually closed and I need to lock-up so…” You drifted off while he stepped even closer, staring into your eyes with a cunning smile on his face. “Taehyung always made me coffee after he closed, my practices run pretty late.” You liked to think you were immune to charming men but this Jimin guy was something else. You couldn’t even bring yourself to reject him so you begrudgingly moved to get behind the coffee machine.

“So, how do you like your coffee?” You really hoped he wasn’t a black-coffee kind of person, if he was you might have had to kick him out. “Mocha, iced please.” Oh, a man of taste. You nodded before moving to make the drink though you had to admit you were weirdly motivated to make sure it was perfect. After it was done, you held out the cup to him and he took it with a smile, leaving a $10 note on the bench. “Wait, let me get your change.” He waved you off with a smirk. “Keep it.” He winked and you just stood in shock, trying to suppress the blood rushing to your cheeks. You were sure he was just being friendly but he was super flirtatious about it and it left you flustered. You thought that would’ve been the end, he would walk out the door and you could finish closing in peace but he sat there, taking his phone out and scrolling through it as he sipped his drink.

“Um, Jimin-” He looked up at you and you weren’t exactly sure that you wanted him to leave, it wouldn’t hurt if he just stayed while you closed, right? He sure was a sight for sore eyes and boy were your eyes sore. “Yeah?” You just shook your head quickly while picking up the money tray from the register. “Never-mind.” You quickly walked to the office before you could somehow manage to embarrass yourself further.

After counting the register, turning off all the machines and cleaning whatever wasn’t clean yet, you were finally done with your close and it was 9:50. Not your proudest record. Throughout the entire process, you had developed a routine with Jimin. You stare at him, he looks at you, smiles and you foolishly try to pretend you weren’t staring in the first place; vice versa. He stayed there the entire time and you wondered why he did, he finished his drink in the first 20 minutes.

“Hey, I’m leaving now so you really need to go, sorry.” He nodded and you unlocked the door, opening it for him so he could leave while you locked it again the moment you got outside. “You’re not walking home, are you?” Jimin asked, looking back at you while he put his motorcycle helmet on. You wondered if you were just imagining this, he seemed like he was straight out of a movie and you were definitely finding it suspicious. Maybe he was just a figment of your imagination. “No, my roommate’s picking me up.” You lied. Your roommate is in fucking Japan while you’re stuck covering his shifts. You weren’t sure why you lied but the idea of having a stranger take you home just made you shiver, even if the stranger was insanely handsome. Part of you argued that you wouldn’t mind being murdered at the hands of this man but the rational part argued that you had a pet fish to feed.

He nodded before hopping on his motorcycle and driving away, you waited till he turned onto another street before you began walking home. The walk home wasn’t that bad except for your constant paranoia. You kept looking over your shoulder and walked extremely close to walls. Eventually, you made it and in one piece too. “Hey, Gary.” Yes, you named your fish Gary because he was pink like Gary from SpongeBob and you’re not that creative. You jumped onto your bed before looking at the time and hoping that Taehyung would be awake so you could FaceTime him. “Good morning!” You scrunched your face at his perky attitude, your time zones seemed to clash horribly. “Who’s Jimin?” Taehyung’s face morphed into a teasing one before he jumped onto his bed, hand under his chin with a suggestive smile on his face. “Why, does someone have a crush?” You glared and he laughed at your lack of amusement, you began to wonder why you called him in the first place. “No, but apparently now I have to serve him coffee after we close thanks to the legacy you left behind.” Taehyung chuckled at what you said but paid it no mind, adamant on telling you all about his first few days in Japan.

“And then she has the audacity, to tell me that I didn’t use soy milk? I was fuming it was just- Y/N are you even listening?” You broke out of your trance after Jin had given you a shake. “Pay attention to me!” It was time for you to take over Jin’s shift but Jin had stayed back to tell you about an annoying customer. Eventually, after Jin had ranted about everything he could possibly think of, he left and you were on your own with 3 other employees for the next 7 hours. Fun.

Once you had closed, you were on your own once again to finish things off and almost like clockwork, Jimin showed up. You closed at 10pm today, it was a Saturday and you were extremely busy. This also meant that closing the store took longer than you’d hoped. Jimin stayed the entire time though and your heart couldn’t help but jump at the idea that he was staying for you.

Once it was time to lock-up, Jimin went outside and leaned on his motorbike, not yet getting on it. “You’re not leaving?” You asked nervously. The last thing you needed was for him to figure out you were lying about being picked up. “I’ll wait for you to get picked up, it’s pretty late.” You nodded absentmindedly, trying to think of a way out of the awkward predicament you had stumbled into. You waited for about 20 minutes. You thought of calling an uber but paying $20 for what could just be a 10-minute walk seemed stupid. “Y/N, you’re not getting picked up, are you?” Jimin gave you a smirk, his head cocked to the side with an amused look on his face and you sighed, you were caught. You shook your head and he chuckled, opening the storage compartment of his motorbike and fishing out a spare helmet.

“You don’t have to take me home, it’s a really short walk!” You tried to reason but he was already making his way to you. He put the helmet on your head, clasping it shut under your chin. His hands felt smooth on your skin and you couldn’t help but yearn for the feeling once it was gone. “I’d be damned if I let you walk alone at this hour.” He got on, waiting for you to join him but all you did was gulp. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust him, he had been coming every night for a solid 2-weeks and you had gotten pretty friendly. It was simply because you were absolutely horrified of motorcycles. They were practically death machines. There was a reason you didn’t drive yourself everywhere. The idea of controlling an entire vehicle terrified you because frankly enough you had trouble navigating yourself as is. “You’re not scared of motorcycles, right?” He said it with a teasing smile and the tone of his voice didn’t sit well with you. “If you’re implying that I’m a pussy, Park, then no, I’m not.” You begrudgingly got onto the bike behind him.

“You look like you saw a ghost.” You had finally arrived at your apartment and you could have sworn it felt longer than 5 minutes. “Yeah, my own. How do you drive this thing? We nearly died like 11 times.” He chuckled but didn’t humour your fears. “You’re more likely to die walking home alone at night than on my bike, Y/N.” You scoffed, removing the helmet and (slowly) getting off the bike. “I’ll see you in the afterlife then.” You were about to walk up to your apartment before there was a halt in your step. You turned around to face Jimin and gave him a genuine smile. “Thank you.” He smiled back and waved. He got off the bike to put your helmet back and before you knew it he was gone.

“Taehyung, I hate you.” He grinned at the screen, undeterred by your negative behaviour. You had been mad at him ever since you found out he went to Disneyland in Tokyo without you. “iTs jUsT fOr ScHoOL I sWeAr.” You mocked him and this time he showed offence. “What about that time you snuck out and didn’t tell me?” You raked your mind for when you could have ever done that before gasping in shock. “You mean when I snuck out to the fucking dentist because you were sick and wouldn’t let me leave? How is that-” Your phone made a notification sound from its position on your bedside table. You reached over to grab it and your scowl quickly turned into a smile. “Damn, who’s the god who got mighty Y/N all smiley?” You looked at him through the camera screen and he could almost feel your glare burning holes into his soul. “Jimin. That’s right, I stole your coffee friend.” Taehyung cocked his eyebrow before leaning closer to the camera screen with a suggestive smile. “May I enquire for some more information, kind sir?” You put your phone down after replying, leaning down in the same position as Taehyung and giving him a polite smile. “I’m sorry, you cannot.”

After Taehyung had pointed out your smile, you had realised you might’ve gotten too giddy. You began combing through every interaction you had with Jimin over the past 2-weeks and you realised, by the end of it that you definitely had a huge undeniable crush on Jimin. Fuck. You were now inevitably screwed. You were sure he couldn’t possibly like you back. It was simply unrealistic. You tried to talk yourself out of it, write yourself out of it, hell, you even meditated for 20 minutes but to no avail. You fell for the annoyingly charming boy you swore you wouldn’t fall for.

You were looking outside the glass doors, searching for a certain blonde. It had been the fifth day in a row that Jimin hadn’t shown up to the coffee shop. He’d been really dry with his text messages too and you were getting worried. Did you do something stupid to scare him away? You were getting ready to leave, locking the doors when you heard a motorcycle drive up. When he took his helmet off, your eyes locking for an incredibly long 6 seconds, you realised he was no longer blonde. “Your hair is black!” He chuckled lightly, ruffling said hair cutely. “Hello to you too.” Your smile quickly fell when you remembered that he’d been low-key avoiding you and Jimin noticed. “I had a dance performance. It was in South Korea and it charged me like $2 for every text.” He smiled bashfully and you could almost feel your heart turn into liquid. “If you had an iPhone then this wouldn’t have been a problem.” You always shamelessly mocked him for his android and he genuinely missed it.

He got off his bike, only to take out the godforsaken helmet you grew to hate. “No. Absolutely not.” He gave you a longing look, holding it out to you. You cursed yourself and your inability to reject this godly man. “Please, I want to take you somewhere.” Your eyebrows cocked up in curiosity, you had to go now. You grabbed the helmet from his hands, putting it on unenthusiastically. Jimin held out his hand to help you get on the bike and once you did, you held onto him for dear life. “Y/N, we’re not even moving yet.” He let out through breathy laughs and you contemplated on what to say next. “I know, I just missed you.” You couldn’t see it but Jimin’s face broke out into a beaming smile, and if you looked really hard you could probably see him blush. “I missed you too. But mostly your coffee.” Before you could reply he had started the engine and you were scared into silence.

You had no idea where he was taking you, it seemed almost comical to think about how literally 3-weeks ago you suspected this man to be a cunning murderer and now you were on his motorcycle with an unknown destination. You reached a building somewhere in the city and you wondered if he was taking you to his apartment. “Are you going to murder me?” He paid you no mind, parking his bike and helping you get off. He held your hand to guide you in and you ended up walking at least 10 flights of stairs. “Jimin, if your plan was to exhaust me so you could kill me, you would’ve been good like 7 floors ago.” You heard him laugh but once you got to the very top floor, he opened a large exit door. “Welcome to my special place.” It was a rooftop and the view was extremely incredible. You didn’t say anything, just stared in hopes of burning this view into your memory forever. You ran to the very edge excitedly, leaning against it, Jimin walking behind you. “The view is so beautiful.” “Yeah, it is.” Perhaps if you had looked back, you would have noticed Jimin wasn’t staring at the view, he was staring right at you.

“Thanks for sharing this with me.” You said, still in awe at the view. You had been standing there for about 10 minutes when Jimin put his hand over yours, intertwining them casually. You turned to him but he wasn’t looking at you and you wondered if this was something he did with all his friends. Suddenly, you didn’t feel as happy as you initially did coming up here and evidently, you were not that good at hiding it. “Y/N, what’s wrong?” You shook your head quickly, waving him off and muttering a quiet ‘nothing’. He clearly wasn’t buying it though and forced you to turn around and face him. “Do you want me to take you home?” You shook your head again, scolding yourself for letting your feelings get this out of hand. “Nothing is wrong, I promise.” You were almost sure he wasn’t believing a thing that came out of your mouth and you were unsure how to dig yourself out of the hole you made.

“I like you, Jimin. And, I guess I was a little upset because you don’t like me back but it’s okay I-” He pulled you extremely close to him, hand snugly holding your cheek. You stopped talking immediately at the close proximity, a little too stunned to even think. “I think the coffee fried your brain, baby.” You looked a little taken aback, too focused on the insult to notice the pet name. Before you could think of a witty reply, his gorgeous lips were on yours and it felt euphoric. There were fireworks going off in your head and if this was a movie you were sure it would start heavily raining and some cheesy song would start playing. However, this wasn’t a movie. This extremely attractive, charming, sweet, extremely out-of-your-league man was kissing you and it was real(?) “I like you too, you moron.”

[radramblog]

Sometimes, we lose things.

A story from today. It might be utterly uninteresting, I’m not sure, but like everything else on here, it’s a peek into my brain in some way that is probably a little more personal than I intended for.

It’s about 10AM on a Sunday morning. I’m listening to a livestream replay on my airpods (I refuse to capitalise that), while preparing for the boys to show up. It’s Magic Day, and the space has to be prepared. Playmats laid out for cards, placemats laid out for snacks. Chairs for butts, dice for life totals. Chairs and coasters, basics from my Cube that can be proxied over. The usual nonsense. It’s mostly ready at this point, so I think about other things that need doing.

Eventually I’m going to need to put these airpods away, I suppose, but the case isn’t in my pocket. Not to worry, though, since it’s not like I left the house this morning. I think I remember taking them out around breakfast, so I suppose the case will be around the kitchen somewhere.

No such luck. It would appear this was not the time nor the place at which I begun my listening journey. I start retracing my steps in my head, to what little I could do of them. I’ve pretty much only spent time this morning in my room, in the kitchen/dining room, and my bathroom. I decide to check my room first, because its usually the first place this thing goes missing. It often does, being small and me being forgetful. Many a time I’ve found it just on my bed, blending in perfectly with the white sheets. Or under the pillow. Or between the pillow and the doona.

But of course, not today. The usual easiest way to figure out if something’s hidden under your sheets, I’ve found, is just by rolling over them bodily, and that has turned up nothing. Well, except the heat cushion. It’s not at my desk, it’s not on my drawers, and it’s not on the floor. Bugger.

Dad calls me over to help him for a bit. He’s pulling the trailer out to grab firewood, and needs a hand maneuvering it through the garage, moving cars around into the right positions, and checking if the lights are working on the trailer. They are, and he leaves. It’ll be a strong fire tonight.

Right, next is the dining area where I’ve been setting up Magic stuff. Maybe it’s next to one of the decks, hidden from view from most angles, and I put it there when I was idly shuffling while thinking about what to do (nope). Maybe it’s next to the kettle from when I made coffee (nuh-uh). How about the bathroom, is it next to the sink (no)? What about near the toilet, I did clean it earlier (nice try).

Panic starts to set in. I take out the currently caseless headphones and put them in my pocket. No sense wasting the battery when I don’t know how much battery I’ll have. Before I can get too stressed out, my first guest arrives (10 minutes late and still the first to show), and with him distraction from the tempest in my mind.

Magic goes well enough, and about 5 hours later, said guests depart. It’s a good set of games, it’s been too long since I’ve hosted, but good times don’t last. After I’ve said my goodbyes, the void sets in.

I have a fair few things to do. Clean up my mess, hunt down the headphone case, make sure everything’s ready for the lab tomorrow, figure out and write a blog post. But I’m tired, and I don’t feel great, and so after doing the first of those things (to avoid being yelled at for leaving cheese and cards on the table), I lie in bed for a while.

I reflect on the last time this happened. When I realised in the middle of a lecture that like today I had the headphones but no case. 50 solid minutes of panic, going through the full stages of grief 10 minutes at a time. Furrowing through my backpack, getting monumentally pissed at myself, however bargaining fit into that, getting really sad, and looking up the prices for a replacement.

That I ever got it back was a miracle. It had fallen out of my pocket when I pulled my phone out walking to class, and not only had it fallen onto the soft grass of the oval, nobody had stepped on it, taken it to some form of lost and found, or stolen it in that entire time, despite the white case on the green of the grass being quite obvious.

Eventually, I get up. Determination swells within me, some combination of frustration and just wanting to get it over and done with. I return to the bathroom, afraid I somehow flushed it down the toilet when I cleaned it. Thoroughly investigating the room, behind the sink, the window’s ledge, behind the toilet, nothing.

But that wasn’t the most likely spot, was it? I haven’t gone through my room thoroughly enough, clearly, it’s almost certainly there. So I do the logical thing and strip the bed. To no avail. Peek behind the headboard, nothing, lift the mattress up and peek under it, no. Every inch of the floor is combed, with no case in sight. I get to the point of pulling every single thing off of my desk, up to and including the things that couldn’t possibly be hiding a headphone case, and it’s just. Not. There.

There’s only one place I’ve got left, really. It could theoretically still be in the kitchen, I suppose, even though it’s the place with the least places to hide a small object like that. And it’s the place where the most people are likely to have seen it lying around (and I definitely asked). Quelle fucking surprise, it wasn’t there.

This is the part where depression kicks in again. Shit aint working. I’m fresh out of energy, I have other things I need to be doing, and I still feel like shit. I head to the loo, a different one from the one I’ve been scouring all evening. The one ostensibly cleaned by my brother, not I- thereby, the not particularly clean one. I didn’t search here because why would I? It seemed like a waste of time, I don’t think I’ve even been in here today, it’s usually about as shitty as I feel right now.

Take a seat. The headphones for whose case I am searching for die as I hit the plastic throne. In a motion one would almost call rehearsed, even poetic, I take them out of my ears and put them next to the sink.

Where the case lays.