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luveline · 1 year ago

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𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 | 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧

you start to second guess your relationship when eddie doesn't waylay you with his usual abundance of kisses after work. meanwhile, eddie tries to work out what's upsetting you, how to fix it, and most urgently, how to ask you a super important question. fem!reader, 5k

cw: eddie skipping meals at work, suggestive flirting

˚‧꒰ა ✮ ໒꒱‧˚

Eddie's borrowed headphones slip down your head as you dance. Nothing dramatic, a shoulder wiggle as you do the dishes. You can't hear the racket you're making, plates crashing into one another on the drying rack, the hot water pounding the basin, the clip of your sock-clad foot against wooden slats as you tap it.

Your hands burn at the high temperature. Your fingertips are pruned, palms chapped as you finish washing Eddie's mountain of dishes. His whole apartment was in similar disarray before you arrived, laundry to the eyes and one of his haphazard book towers collapsed in the bedroom. The dishes had been scraped and rinsed but not washed, the laundry designated to one corner of the bathroom; Eddie's not unclean, necessarily, but unfocused.

You had time. You don't mind coming over to help him out.

Though if he knew you were here doing this he'd blow a gasket. I don't want you wasting your time doing shit I should've done a week ago, he'd say.

It isn't time that matters to you. You'd take a couple of days out if it helped him, if it meant he could enjoy the place he lives to the fullest extent. Plus, you spend time here too. And you get to borrow his Walkman the whole time. Eddie has the best tapes.

You hum along to the finishing line of the song and set the last clean cup upside down on the draining board. Satisfied at a job well done, you wipe the sink basin clean, drain suds from the sponge, and turn off the water. Cool air floats in through the open window, kissing your lightly perspiring skin hello.

You dry your hands on a cloth and push Eddie's headphones carefully down to your neck, more than careful with his things. He works hard for everything he has, days and nights and any shift they want him to take. Most of it goes into his savings account. His spare change gets dropped into a washed out pasta sauce jar on the sill for a forthcoming rainy day. Ridiculous amounts of it get spent on you, and if you asked Eddie he'd say it was perfectly reasonable, sweetheart.

You're not asking him. You don't think new clothes and sweet treats nearly every time you see him counts as reasonable, but you'd be a liar if you said you didn't appreciate it.

Hence your unsanctioned use of his spare key. You buy him treats too, but money can't buy the satisfaction of a clean home. (Well, it could. Hiring a day maid might've been quicker and cleaner in the end, but would a day maid have put their heart and soul into dusting his figurines with a makeup brush for fifteen minutes?)

You turn around with Eddie on your mind, feeling grateful and tired at once. Your thoughts stutter at the warm body standing casually in the doorway, his shoulder pressed to the jam, a rucksack and a carabiner of keys hanging from his curled fingers.

"Hey," Eddie says.

You flinch like he's coming at you, startled by his sudden appearance.

His laugh is apologetic, at least. "Woah! I thought you heard me, where's your head?"

You slap a hand to your racing heart and huff out a breath that fans up your face. Eddie straightens from his cool guy slouch, dropping his keys on the counter and sliding his bag beside them.

"It's around here somewhere," you say through a smile, trying and failing to glare at him as he puts his hands on your waist. "You scared me bad."

"It was accidental."

He pulls your hips to his and leans back. A close pressure without being particularly sexual. It's obvious that he's looking you over, like you might've miraculously run into harm in the sixteen hours you've been apart.

"I didn't think you'd be back yet, sorry," you say breathlessly, still recuperating from your scare.

"I'm the sorry one."

He brings a hand to your face. If there's one thing you can count on with your boyfriend, it's that he's going to find an excuse to touch your face at least once a day, whether it be with the back of a ring-heavy finger trailing down your cheek lightly, or a flat, hot palm, calluses scratching ever so slightly as he squeezes it into whatever shape he feels like. Never cruel, but melding.

He's in a mood.

Not salacious. Teasing at most, he pulls a rough line down from the corner of your eye to your lips.

"Why are you doing my dishes?" he asks.

His hands smell like citrus scrub and white vinegar. They must've had him cleaning in the kitchen at work again.

"So you wouldn't have to. I know you don't mean to let them pile up."

"I'll find my laundry in the dryer, I'm guessing."

"Nope. Folded in your dresser, more like."

He pulls your chest to his, the heat of his breath kissing your nose. It smells like the spearmint gum he chews obsessively during his morning shifts. Eddie has a theory that eating in the mornings is breaking a seal —you'll be much hungrier for the rest of the day than you would've been otherwise. Better to wait for lunch.

You hate his theory (three meals a day plus as many snacks as he needs would be perfect, if he could find the time) and his gum for what it represents. It reminds you that he likely hasn't eaten today, and you're quick to start brainstorming ideas for dinner from the ingredients you'd seen while cleaning. He has ground beef, enough eggs to make pasta, and a tupperware of frozen soup from last Wednesday. The world's your oyster.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks. You don't have time to answer. "I wish you didn't do all the laundry, babe. Those stairs are a fucking killer."

He leans that last inch. A kiss is coming any second now, your pulse capering between your ears. A hundred kisses shared between you and you wait for the next with the same calibre of excitement as you did for the first.

"I owe you a deep tissue massage, right?" he murmurs.

You beam at him, pushing the heel of your palm against his chest to widen the distance between you into something a little less heart-pounding. "You haven't eaten today, have you?"

"I'm pretty hungry," he says, his voice smooth as angora silk.

He looks, again, like he might kiss you. His eyes dip to your lips, a molten brown shining in the kitchen light. You wait, and you wait, but he doesn't close the gap.

You push your smile to one side, your eyelashes twined in the corners from the force of it. Your smile isn't entirely genuine. It's cool if he doesn't wanna kiss you… sort of. He can do whatever he likes, of course, you'd never force him to kiss you just to keep you happy or for any other reason, but you're a little down at the idea that he doesn't want to. You love how they feel. You're used to them as both hello and goodbye.

Eddie might not want to kiss you, but he isn't putting on a show, his amorous smirking a reality you battle with (read: give in to, enjoy, daydream about) on the regular. Perhaps he isn't eager to ravish you after a full day bussing tables. That's more than okay.

However he might be feeling, you aren't going to let him go hungry a minute longer. "Dinner?" you ask.

"I was thinking sloppy Joes," he says, his hand running down your arm. He turns for the fridge. You follow. "Brioche buns?"

You step in front of him, the fridge door a cacophony of glass rattling as you tug it open. "I'm making them."

Eddie wraps his arms around you, moving you bodily to the side. It's too quick for you to dig your heels in.

"You used to be a gentleman," you complain.

"No, I didn't." He taps your ankle with the rubber toe of his converse.

You make dinner together, to each other's chagrin. Eddie steals spatulas and frying pan handles from your grip. You bump his hip away from the stove grill to toast buns. When you sit down together on the couch, it's at war, elbows digging into soft spots and cups placed out of reach on the coffee table.

"Dick," you say.

Eddie takes a bite, says, "You're the dick, dick," and starts shovelling fries onto your plate. "Giving me more fries is ridiculous. We should eat the same portions, we're the same age."

"But one of us had breakfast and lunch, and one of us didn't," you say, using your fork to give his gifted fries straight back.

And here's where you get the first inkling that something's making him not want to kiss you, emphasis on you.

Eddie loves kissing you when he feels loved. For obvious starters, whenever you tell him you love him he makes sure to kiss your lips. When you make him laugh, when you wash his hair in the shower, when you draw stars into his palms, all those things garner a fond peck to the temple. He kisses the space just under your ear so often you're sure there's a contusion in the shape of his mouth there, permanent and purpling, his go-to whenever he's laying on top of you or hugging you from behind.

You can count on a mildly greasy kiss no matter the meal. Eddie loves eating dinner together. He waits for you to get home, sometimes for hours, to share a plate with you. You've never not indulged him with a kiss. Tonight, he doesn't ask.

It would be here. Name-calling dripping in affection, you elbow glancing off of his as you cut into your sloppy Joe, and the TV failing to cover the sound of a quick kiss before he digs in. You're gutted at the lack and surprised to have noticed it, but you don't go so far as to mourn the loss: Eddie's likely too hungry to think about kissing, that's all. Right?

Despite attempts to convince you otherwise, he's hungry. He finishes his plate in what feels like five big bites, hair tucked behind his ears, an innocent but far off look about him as he wipes his fingers in a piece of kitchen towel and leans back into the couch cushions with a small groan.

"We should stop eating on the couch," he says.

"You told me you wanted to sit here." You're confused.

"It's like, testing fate. I'm a mess. I'll ruin it and have to get a new one I can't afford."

You chew on a fry. "I mean," —you put your hand over your mouth, pleased when he turns to you with a ready-made smile, like the act of just looking at you is one he enjoys— "even if you drop something on it, we can Didi Seven it. Or get one of those fancy water vacuum things."

"It's my couch," he says. "You wouldn't have to clean it."

"You're my boyfriend," you respond, "so I wouldn't mind."

"I'm your boyfriend," he says, his head tilted ever so slightly to one side.

His lips close, his eyes tracking up and along the lines of your features with an unnameable emotion in his gaze. You'd like to say that it's love, but you're starting to think it's something else.

"Don't say it like that. You sound too unsure," you say.

Amusement dances across his face. "Are you finished?" he asks, opening his hand for your tray.

"No," you say, faux-stroppy. You take another fry.

Eddie grabs his tray. He skirts around your legs and stops at your side. In his more dopey moods, he'd take your face into his hand again and hold your head still as he kisses your crown.

He squeezes your shoulder. "I'm not unsure about anything," he says warmly. "I'll get you a drink, yeah? Ice?"

A chuck under the chin with his forefinger and he's gone, leaving you sitting there wondering what's wrong with him. Home an hour now and not one single kiss? Is this the end of the honeymoon phase? How do people survive this shit, you think. It's agonising.

Your chewing turns morose.

You and Eddie go through phases, waxing and waning, as most people do. There's always love there, but sometimes there's so much of it you don't know what to do with yourself besides lavish in it. Only yesterday morning he'd been in your bed, shirtless (as you often wish he'd be), dark ink like bruises in the low light where it climbed the lengths of his arms and his bare chest. You were lax under his touch, his nose and lips pressing to your skin as he kissed you from rib to soft tummy. Slow, kissing you as though he had nowhere else to be but there. As though his next shift wasn't thirty minutes around the corner.

You were mortified when he blew a raspberry. Now you're thinking you might peel out of your shirt and ask him to do it again if it means he'll kiss you in any definition.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks as he returns, his hand sliding along from your shoulder to the other while he steps over your legs.

"What are you thinking about?" you ask.

"Feeling very repetitive today, are we?" he teases, no consideration for your dinner tray as he collapses into the seat beside you.

You're expecting his cheek on your shoulder, his hair tickling your upper arm. It doesn't come. Worried he's discouraged by your tray, you place it on the coffee table and sit back. You really want him to kiss you.

Kissing someone isn't something you thought you'd want to do before you met Eddie. To be kissed, sure. To give a chaste peck, absolutely. But to have someone put their weight on you, to press at the seam of your lips with their own and to wade in like a steady wave, one breath at a time, until you're unsure where the boundary of your mouth begins and his ends, that was all new. Eddie kisses like he loves, loud and brash, rough and eager. Gentle when he needs to be but arduous.

He makes you feel wanted in a thousand ways and the first is his greedy penchant for stealing a kiss or three at every opportunity. It's weird that he hasn't kissed you yet. He's acting weird.

"You're being super weird," you say. You feel like a pressure cooker with steam pouring from the release valve.

Eddie smirks at you. "That so? Any explanation attached to that, or are we name-calling? I have some names for you, if we are."

"Oh, I have to know."

"Figured you would." He throws his leg over your thigh. The firm muscle of it tenses as he wiggles his foot.

"What were you gonna call me?" you prompt impatiently.

"Sweetheart. Angel." He turns his cheek into the back of the couch, bringing his pinky to your face and drawing a line from the smoothest skin under your eye outward. "Pretty. Very pretty."

"Says you," you murmur. If he thinks you're so pretty, why won't he kiss you? "I can't work out your angle today."

"Am I acting differently?" he asks, seemingly unperturbed.

No. He just hasn't kissed you. There might have been a moment when he first came home where you thought he was hesitating to kiss you, but since then he's acted exactly as he usually does (minus kissing, therefore making it unusual).

You sigh, half serious and half wanton sadness. "No." His nose twitches. You startle. "What?"

"Nothing."

"What, do I have bad breath?" you ask, bringing a hurried palm to your mouth to try and test it.

Eddie pulls your hand down, admonishing through a laugh, "You obviously don't. You know I'd tell you, babe."

"Oh."

"I got gum though, if you want it."

You bat his chest. "I bet you do… I don't know what it is, then. I give up."

"What's what?" he asks. He takes a curl of his hair around a painted fingernail. It coils on his finger, where he pinches the end, bringing it up to your chin and drawing a smile under your lips with the tip.

"I… do I have something in my teeth? A zit? What's the issue?" you ask, lost.

"There's no issue!" He laughs, and he curves his hand gently around your neck. "Why do you think there's an issue?" he asks. A thread of his voice wavers. Impossible to notice if you didn't know everything about him, down to the stray hair.

"No, because," —your voice shrinks— "you're being off with me." You won't cry, but it's impossible to stop the doubt that seeps into your voice. "You're not…"

Eddie strokes your neck with his thumb, growing serious. "I'm not what?"

"You haven't kissed me." You avoid his eyes. "Not since you saw me."

"I'm sorry," he says, immediately dipping forward.

You pull back. "Wait–"

Eddie waits. "What?" he asks.

"I don't want you to kiss me just 'cus I asked you to."

Eddie pushes his hand upward, his index finger shaped to your jawline. He rubs a quarter circle from your chin to your jaw tentatively with his thumb, an awful sorry look in his eyes that he gets whenever you're upset. "Well, I always want to kiss you," he confesses. His eyebrows furrow. "You know that, right?"

"But you haven't, today."

Is that pathetic? you panic. Noticing, caring, it feels so, so silly all of a sudden, you can't believe you spilled it that easily. You may as well have written clingy loser across your forehead in glaring pen.

Eddie sees it. He doesn't cringe at you like you fear he will.

"Ah," he says, almost humming, his lips barely parted, "that's just not okay, is it? My girl waiting on a kiss."

He leans in. You shy away, wanting his kiss but wanting the run up more. Eddie follows your lead, keeping space between you, rubbing a diligent and affectionate circle into your cheek. His touch is soft enough to tickle.

"I'm not trying to act desperate, I just figured– I thought there was a reason you hadn't," you say.

Eddie asks you in his softest, most genial tones if he can kiss you.

You don't say yes so much as you lift your chin and close your eyes. Your relief is sharp as he closes the fizzing space between you, as he guides your face to his and holds it there like a treasured pearl cupped in two palms. He makes a sound at the back of his throat that kills any doubts of his affection stone cold dead. Your lips part a millimetre if that, and Eddie slots into the gap, his hands growing less and less careful by the second, the pressure of his touch amping up. He moves back only long enough to turn his head, your noses bumping, another breathy sound slipping past his lips. You smother it gracelessly with a rougher reciprocation.

It's not your longest kiss, but it works. It's the reassurement you needed. Eddie pulls away to suck in a harsh breath, the feeling foreign against your tingling lips. His face dips, his eyes out of view. His hands move in twin down the slope of your neck, languish, feel along the thin layer of your t-shirt as though he's looking for some secret answer.

"I'm not trying to act weird around you, I'm just nervous," he says.

You feel your back aching, stiff as a rod. "Nervous?" you ask quietly.

Eddie rests his forehead on your chin. He whispers a cuss, and then he sits up very tall and looks you in the eye.

It takes him five seconds to tell you what it is that's making him anxious. In that time, you come up with a handful of things. I lost my job. I don't want to be with you anymore. There's someone else. There's no one else, but you did something that pissed me off/made me uncomfortable/disgusted me. I'm sick. None of your guesses are good, and none prepare you for what he asks next.

"Would you wanna move in with me?"

His hand meanders along your thigh. An awkward smile catches his lip like a fish hook, tugging it up on one side.

"I… what?"

"I think it's a good idea. I was trying to ask you yesterday, and now today it didn't feel right. I don't want you thinking I'm asking because you did my laundry." His hand warms your thigh, a pervasive heat. Your face is similarly hot. "We could split rent, and you could keep saving. You wouldn't have to deal with your shitty neighbours. You'd be closer to your job, and– and to me. It's a good idea," he repeats. "There's a ton of reasons it would be good for you, but I'm asking 'cus I missed you so bad last night I couldn't sleep. I wanna be with you whenever we can be."

"You'd really want me to?" you ask.

"You'd never have to wait for a kiss again," he says hopefully. "I know it's a big move. I get it if you're not ready."

"I'm ready," you say. You don't know it's true until you've said it aloud.

Delight sparks and catches like sun-dried tinder. Elation lights his eyes. "Holy shit, yeah? You want to?"

"Yeah," you say, nodding emphatically, trying not to yell. "Yes, I want to. I'd love to! That would be–"

"A dream," he finishes, snatching your waist into his grasp, basically yanking you into his arms.

"Amazing," you say, your arms forced over his shoulders.

You wrap your arms around the back of his head, curls that smell of almond oil and a generous dollop of hair mousse crushed to your face. Your eyes slip closed. You suck in an inconspicuous breath, though your self-indulgent action is interrupted by a groan, Eddie squeezing you hard enough to make the bones in your back click three at a time.

"I can't believe you, sweetheart. I don't kiss you for an hour and you think there's something wrong?" He laughs.

"I'm spoiled," you say sheepishly. To draw his attention, you add, "I can't believe you, afraid to ask me that! Why would I say no? I love you."

"I love you, too," he says, pulling the small of your back tighter still so he can dig his nose into the side of your head.

He kisses you all over the side of your face until you're painted in little warm patches from overexposure. A loved up mess, and dizzy with relief.

Relief and excitement. "How soon do you want me in here?" you ask, sitting back.

"How soon do you want another kiss?" he asks.

"Will we be stealing each other's questions all day?" you ask.

"For the rest of time, if I get my way."

"That's so corny," you whisper, ecstatic.

Eddie pushes you down onto the couch cushions. You know before he so much as pulls up a knee that he's going to climb on top of you. You make room for him, your heart feeling like it could breach through your ribs one bone at a time.

"What are you doing?" you whisper with a smile.

"Making up for lost kisses."

—

Two Weeks Later

Eddie wakes to a kiss.

Your arm thrown over his waist, your hand feeling greedily at the trim curve atop his hip, you've well and truly wrapped yourself around him. Like an octopus. He imagines the popping sound of your suckers if he tried to detach you (not that he'd want to).

You're dotting shy, soft kisses down the column of his throat. "I love you," you say softly between them, a melody that turns him to jelly. "I love you. Love you, love you, love you."

Your kisses are a compromise —after the general holy fucking shit-ism of your conversation a fortnight ago, Eddie put his foot down. He was out of his mind knowing his apartment was about to become yours, but he was also incredibly unhappy about the faces you'd made before he asked. He remembers your voice, your apprehension as you mumbled, "No, because, you're being off with me."

Eddie had been totally off trying to figure out how to ask what was potentially the second most important question he could ever ask you; he was distracted enough by it that he totally forgot about kissing you senseless. And your worrying asked a totally new question he hadn't thought of before. Why does Eddie always kiss you first? And why had the lack of a kiss been seen as a bar, and not an invitation?

Hence Project Kiss Me, Stupid. Or Project Kiss Me Stupid if he's feeling particularly in love (because you aren't stupid at all, but you may have made an unintelligent assumption (Eddie not kissing you for a few hours did not mean even slightly that he isn't gross in love).

The project was more like a proposal. Eddie decided you should be making the first move more often, so you weren't ever left feeling like something was wrong between you for lack of a kiss again. "If you ever think I'm mad at you, plant one on me. I promise I won't be mad much longer," he told you.

You're passing with flying colours, as far as he's concerned. Eddie thinks your moving in was gift enough, but fuck, all these kisses? He's been a walking vestibule of love, and lust, and sickening fondness for two weeks now. Project Kiss Me Stupid is the best thing that's ever happened to him. He's a genius.

"Good morning," you say into his neck, a hint of teeth scratching him with the greeting. Eddie cups the back of your head with a weak, tired groan as your lips close over his pulse.

"Morning," he says. His voice is thick with the grit of sleep.

"This is okay?" you ask, pausing in your kiss.

Eddie tips his head back heavily into plush pillows, your pillows, fresh with new bedding to match the nightstands you'd decided on together. "Please," he says. His arm slides behind your back to belt you in. "I'm gonna think you don't like me anymore if you take any longer."

"Very funny," you murmur.

He knows he's forgiven for teasing when your face dives back into the crook of his neck. His eyes shutter closed, blissed, thinking, God, I could get used to this, when you nip him.

"You didn't like my joke, I take it?"

"It was funny," you say, giving him a scratching kiss.

"That's counter-intuitive," he warns. "I like it rough."

You fall away from him to cover your face with both hands. He knows he's rubbing off on you at the sight, your head shaking a theatrical side to side that fails to hide real embarrassment beneath it. You look especially tortured.

Eddie knows exactly how to fix it.

˚‧꒰ა ✮ ໒꒱‧˚

thanks so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed!

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson scenario #eddie munson drabble #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things x reader

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disconnectedkat · 4 months ago

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On Judging Older Rep By Today's Standards

This wall of text inspired by this take that bioware are pussies for not having an all-pan romance cast until Veilguard. This idea that all past representation is mediocre or bad because today's is better is very irksome. I'm irked.

To begin, a little history:

Bioware has been including queer romance in their games since the early 2000s. First in 2004, when they released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This game had a character you could recruit named Juhani. Juhani would become the first LGBTQ+ Star Wars character. She could be romanced by a female player character, though it basically amounted to a couple lines of dialogue. Why so little? Because it was 2004 and they practically had to sneak even that much in.

In 2007, Mass Effect 1 released. This game had arguably the 'safest' queer rep, an attractive woman kissing and having a fade-to-black implied sex scene with another attractive (alien) woman. A while later a mainstream media outlet (Fox News, you may have heard of them) ran a hit piece on the game. They ran the usual stuff, degenerate porn simulator, think of the children, etc. This was a big deal, as having a mainstream, large and popular (unfortunately) news channel targeting your game is not great for several reasons.

Keep in mind this was the, again, arguably the safest queer rep you could go for, and it still received that level of attack.

In 2009 Dragon Age: Origins released. Not much to say here, some time had passed and DA managed to avoid the targeted hate that Mass Effect received, despite having a bisexual man and woman as romantic options.

Mass Effect 2 is believed to have suffered the most from the Fox News debacle. Jack was originally planned as a pansexual character, and while I don't recall if the devs have stated exactly why that was cut, the obvious guess is they feared another round of attacks.

Alrighty, history recap over. Now to address the issue:

"They should've done it years ago." Well, they actually did with DA2 and it received a good amount of flak. Because that was 2010, and this is 2024. Representation is a social thing. It changes and grows as we do. In 2004 Juhani, with a minimal amount of actual content, became the first LGBT Star Wars character. You do what you can and try to push the envelope a little more each time. People struggled and fought for all that old rep you see as not good enough by today's standards.

"They bowed to the bigots because of money." Games, and all media, take money to create. They then need to make money to create more. There would be no Veilguard without the successes of previous games. And unfortunately, in the past that sometimes meant choosing your battles. Frustration is understandable, but misplaced.

None of this is to say that Bioware, (or any company or media, this post is just focusing on them) is beyond reproach as long as they're trying. There will always be things to criticise, and areas to improve, of course. But that isn't what I'm seeing here.

This to me is indicative of a common sentiment I've been seeing far too often in queer and leftist spaces recently, people judging older rep by today's standards and decrying it and it's creators without understanding the history.

#bioware #mass effect #dragon age #knights of the old republic #kotor #queer representation in games #so irked right now

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xkaidaxxxx · 8 months ago

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Fortunate Ones

BAKUGOU X READER

Mentions: Corrupt Government, Quirkless, Injections, Pregnancy, Dad Bakugou, Fluff!

reblogs are appreciated! <3

There was a point in time where life was happy for everyone. Then one day things changed.

Those with Quirks lived a better life. Good homes, good environment, upperhand on job opportunities. Quirkless born have it rough. A child should have their quirk by the age of 5 and if not the government will give the child another year just in case they’re late bloomers. If no quirk is developed by the age of 6 they’re separated from their parents and put into the quirkless side of town, Although they are allowed to travel anywhere.They get paired with a good family. They’re not allowed to have any contact with their old family.

You grew up with Bakugou and Izuku. Yeah Bakugou was an asshole but you still followed behind him just as everyone else did. You and Deku had each other. Yes you were parted from your birth parents but the ones you were given too were great. They love you like their own. Deku went through the same thing which is why you guys are understanding each other. You thought you’d be with Izuku forever as besties and have a possibility to end up with Bakugou.

Izuku never told either of you about training with All Might. He couldn’t. He didn’t even tell you about getting into U.A. You thought you'd be going to school. You knew Bakugou got in and it hurt you like hell. Parting ways with someone you fell in love with. “ Since when do you have a quirk!?” You yelled at Izuku. “You’re a piece of shit for not telling her sooner.” Bakugou said. “ It’s not what you think,”Izuku said. He wanted to stay with his best friend. He wished the three of you could attend the best hero school there is. He cared more about being a hero. “ I can’t believe it. How..just have fun with your quirk Izuku. Bakugou have fun as well. I guess this is it…” you say tears running down your face. “Who knows…maybe we can meet up one day or whatever.” He said handing you a piece of paper with his number on it. You smiled. “Y-Yeah..thanks. I’ll miss you guys more than anything.” you said. Bakugou hated it when he was forced into a group hug. He hates physical contact but tolerated it for you. He’s always had a soft side, though he's a total asshole.

Everyone went their separate ways. You didn’t stay in contact with Izuku. He’s “too busy.” when in reality he didn't make time. He cared more about being a hero. Bakugou is very serious about it too but he tried and did make time even if it was talking on the phone or meeting up in the city going to places where Quirkless people were allowed in. Sometimes he’d even facetime with you at night even after a long and tiring day. Yes he’d knock out mid way with you but he made the time and it made you happy.

As time went on Bakugou developed feelings towards you and finally confessed after becoming a hero and you two Immediately started dating. During the ending of highschool there was a bill being set. Quirkless people were not allowed to house with a quirk user unless married. Then 2 years later the bill passed.

“We could always lie. We don’t have to worry about it. Let me handle it.” Bakugou said, holding you close. You were both 20 and ready to move out. Bakugou was making a great amount of money from being a hero even though he's young. You were in your 3rd year in college studying for business management and English language. You had a small business. It’s going very well. You always have orders coming in. “We can’t lie about it,Kats. If they find out then what?” you asked. “We’ll make it happen eventually.” he replied, pecking your cheek. You nodded slightly. It was your plan with him. Him becoming a hero, you finishing school and starting your small business then soon enough live together. You continued your homework. Thank god you’re the smartest in all your class and gained trust from your teachers. They’d give great recommendations for when you need a job.

“Hey mom. I brought her to meet you. You’ll love her.” Katsuki said. He brought you into the living room. “Really!? All this time?” Mitsuki said, giving you a big hug. You returned it. She’s known you since a kid; she just never thought you’d end up dating her son. “You should’ve told me since you started dating her. Why did you keep it a secret for so long?” She asked, letting me go. “I told him I wasn’t ready not until I was almost done with university.” You answered. “We were planning to move in together but…the new bill was placed..” he said gripping your hand lightly. Mitsuki knows how much he loves you because when you and Bakugou started she noticed how much he started changing and in a great way. “You two are young. Still in the beginning of the new chapter. Us parents will be here to support you both.” Mitsuki said.

When you and Katsuki turned 21 he proposed to you. While you were at work he decorated the dining room with candles and roses.(he lived on his own.) He made your favorite meal. The lights were dimmed. “Hey Kats. I'm here. What did you need help with?” you asked as you took off your heels. “Yeah I'm in the dining room,” he replied. You went over and blushed as you saw the lovely decorated table. You both enjoyed the food. You talked and laughed. “You’re such a romantic, it's cute. Thank you for this.” You said smiling. “I have one more surprise.” He walked over to you.” he replied and made you stand up. “ Where are you taking me?” you asked. “No No, just stand there okay. Close your eyes, loser.” he replied. You obeyed him. Bakugou took out the ring and got down on one knee. “Open.” he ordered. When you saw him your heart was racing. “Y/n I'm in love with you and you know that. You give me everything you have to offer. You always express your love to me. Make me the happiest man in the world and marry me.” He asked. You nodded as you started crying with him. He slipped the ring on your finger. When the wedding happened a year later you both were so happy, loved and fortunate, very very fortunate.

You must be wondering why? Well thank god you and Bakugou decided to try for a baby during the honeymoon and it happened. You were blessed twins, baby boys. During the time you were 7 months the government released the news about planning on injecting half of the quirkless females. An injection to stop them from reproducing. You had your babies and after you got approval from the doctor to have another child. You and Bakugou got to work. It was hard to take care of the twins while pregnant but you and Bakugou want a little tribe.

“ Morning my wonderful boys.” Bakugou said to the twins who were awake and ready for their bottles. He carried both of them and got comfortable on the couch he fed both of them. Struggled but fed them. You were still asleep. He makes sure you get proper rest which is why he took time off work. To help you around the house another set of twins are on the way. You woke up around 9:30 am“Kats?Kousuke?Kensuke?” You called. “In the bathroom babe!” Bakugou said. He was giving the twins their baths. Kensuke was the calm one and Kousuke…sweet lord he’s the wild one. You walked in and saw Bakugou’s shirt all wet. The boys cooed and kicked as Bakugou made silly faces. Kousuke splashed water as Bakugou lifted him to scrub his back. “Let me help kats.” you said with a smile. It took about a good 30 minutes to bath them and have them all set .

You had a small and cute gender reveal only you,bakugou, his parents, yours and your 2 siblings. It was inside the second nursery. Your sister knows the genders so she planned it. “You guys ready?” Mitsuki recorded. You and Bakugou took a deep breath and then let go as you both opened the closet. Half of it was filled with boy clothes and the other with girl clothes. You shared a kiss with Bakugou. Everyone clapped. “ I love you and our babies.” Bakugou said as he rubbed your bump. “ We love you too, loser.” you replied. Months later you pushed your beautiful babies out.

You guys want a K family and you also wanted to have one more pregnancy. Hopefully you’re not one of the chosen quirkless females for the injection and lucky for guys you werent. By the time you and Bakugou were 26 you had 6 kids.

Kids' names. K family. Eldest to youngest.

Kousuke Bakugou(m)

Kensuke Bakugou (m)

Kyousuke Bakugou (m)

Kimiko Bakugou (f)

Kaoru Bakugou (f)

Kaisei Bakugou (m)

You changed the kids out of their pjs and into cute clothes. Your mother made a family gathering. Bakugou hugged you from behind then nibbled on your ear whispering, “We should have one more, don't you think my sexy girl.” Your eyes widened when you felt his bulge. “ Go fix your problem in our room.” you said. “ Come on one more?” he begged, leaving a hickey on your neck. You saw the kids fall asleep as you packed up their diaper bags. “ Katsuki Bakugou no.” you replied. His hands roamed your body. When he got to your breasts you moaned as he pinched your nipples,you felt your milk leak a bit. “ one more.” he whispered in your ear and then licked your neck. “Fuck it.” you gave in. He was about to carry you away until baby Kaisei started crying. Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Mommys boy for sure,” he said. You smacked him then carried Kaisei, rocking him in your arms. Bakugou looked at him playing with his little hand. Kaisei wrapped his hand around Bakugou’s finger and gripped it. When the kids do that to him he always ends up crying. You never knew why but he always smiles and pecks their hands in the process.

The best part of it all is that your children grew up with quirks. When they got their quirks you and Bakugou were blessed. Blessed to be able to stay with your family.

You both were blessed by God to keep your loving family.

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a-random-weeb · 1 year ago

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Hello! Can I request yandere chuuya with a fem reader he accidentally broke and now he’s trying so hard to un break her by letting her go outside and go shopping but little does he know she’s Been normal the whole time and it was all just an act so she tries escaping by chuuya catches her?

omg yes I love this idea. Tysm for the oneshot prompt btw!

Ok, this is kind of cringe but I had a lot of fun writing so fuck it

I hope you like it as much as I do

Warnings: Yandere, physical abuse, mentions of isolation, slight nsfw mention. I wanted to make it fluffy at the end, so you can read the end if you want or settle for when he beats you. let me know if I missed anything

Disclaimer: this fic is not romantisising Yandere behavior, it is fanfiction. If any of this is happening in real life, seek help, it's not romantic even if it's great in fanfiction.

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He didn't mean for this. He didn't mean for the punishment to go THAT far, and he certainly didn't mean to break you. Yet here you were, after all that screaming and crying you held an emotionless look on you're face, and he hated it.

He drags you outside, normally you're not allowed out of your room unless he's by your side, then you can wander the house, but you haven't been outside the penthouse for the last year! You were excited, but you had to maintain the façode of being broken.

When Chuuya sees that nothing has changed about the look on your face a wave of sadness washes over him. He missed how cheerful you used to be, how you would giggle over every dumb thing he did, how you were always so positive. Sure, sometimes his punishments were a little harsh, but you had a lot of fun together too! He racks his brain for anything he could do to get you back to your old self, then he comes up with what he hopes to be a good idea. He should take you shopping, girls like shopping don't they? Well he'll have to hope.

You both arrive at the mall, a fun place to spend your life savings. Lucky for you, Chuuya was rich, so you could spend as much as you wanted! The relief in Chuuyas eyes at the slight excitement in yours was adorable. Though, that excitement is gone as quick as it came, leaving him disappointed.

You almost slipped up! You were too excited at the thought of running around shopping you almost let your gaurd down! You desperately hope he didn't notice. As much as you would love to spend his money, running around like a little kid, but unfortunately (and fortunately) it was the perfect time to escape. You slip into the crowd while in the food court the second he looks away. Running to the nearest exit, strategically avoiding his gaze.

You guess you didn't do well enough, because when you bolt outside, you feel two strong arms wrap around you from behind. You look up in horror to see an angry chihuahua Chuuya glaring daggers at you, but... There is also a look of hurt in his eyes

"Why the hell did you try to escape huh?! To hurt me by pretending to be broken, only to hurt me more after I allowed you outside!! It'll be a long time before you ever go outside again. We're going home. Now." He tightly grabs your wrist, not caring about the amount of pain he's causing you, or how much you beg for him to forgive you. He throws you in the backseat of his car, slamming the door before driving the two of you home.

The night is certainly a long one, he's very rough despite you crying and begging, throwing you in the floor of the bedroom, fucking you and beating you til you pass out.

The next morning he felt bad about actions that night, and feels you've had enough punishment, so he'll cuddle you and pamper you. You get breakfast in bed and nothing but cuddles, apologies and words of praise, though, he still believes you deserved what came to you last night. He know you probably won't try to escape again after the hell he put you through, and even though he feels bad, he does not regret it...

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cynthiav06 · 2 months ago

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Annabeth stans and Percabeth shippers are talking about how ooc Annabeth is in WOTTG with her thinking Percy is stupid as if she hasn't constantly made fun of Percy's intelligence since the very beginning. As if she doesn't do it in every book, multiple times. Rick's characterization of Annabeth isn't changing, people are finally just growing up and realizing their fave ship when they were 12 isn't healthy. But instead of actually acknowledging that it's a bad ship they just blame the author.

Warnings: This is going to be a rant; bear with me. People from the "take everything as a personal offense" group stop reading. Will give us both the luxury of a peaceful mind.

It's easier to blame Rick, I think, given his series of shit decisions. The Wrath of a Triple Goddess is a complete abomination, and so is Chalice of the Gods in many ways. But at least it has helped readers understand the glaring flaws of Percabeth as a ship. How Percy's character is butchered to hype up Annabeth.

And I am completely exhausted of trying to get any of them to think rationally and in an unbiased manner. I can't make a willfully blind individual see sense after all.

But yeah, Annabeth has many, and I mean many character flaws throughout the series. The number of times I have made a post on Annabeth's flaws or even why Percabeth is incompatible.... At this point, I believe open-minded and careful readers are going to see and make their own conclusions, and the blind shippers will keep doing their own thing. This , I think, was my most recent post and will probably be one of my last ones on a similar topic. Unless I get newer asks that have some different viewpoints that I can actually explore cause, all has been said so far, I think.

I had a feeling that things would get better as they got older, more mature, you know, an Annabeth character arc of some sort. Maybe exploring the positive and negative nuances of Percabeth or even Percy's suicidal thoughts, non existent self esteem and how Annabeth has been unknowingly feeding into those.

She is one of the more iconic characters to people even outside the fandom. One from a very, very , and exclusive pool of actually strong female characters and the way her character is devolving isn't helping anything.

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

All of Riordan's characters have such high potential, and the amount of plots he could explore is staggering, and yet he still dishes out the same generic plot again and again. He is in it for the money now, has been for a while, and so there's no hope there.

This might be a very hot take, but I think romance ruined the series. Rick kept slapping romantic relationships on every character as if that would suddenly make things better. Give them a relationship rather than explore their trauma. I guess it's the easier of the two.

But seriously, Caleo? Jiper? Solangelo ? (I can see the hate comments already). Whatever he was doing with Reyna, but at least she wasn't completely butchered.

Rick's problem is that he keeps giving more importance to romantic relationships and makes that the entire personality of a character.

He butchered Percy, even Jason at times, Leo bloody Valdez and Nico more prominently.

The way Percy and Nico's very deep and volatile bond and heavily dynamic relationship was butchered and distorted to feed into Solangelo and Percabeth, and I can't possibly understate how highly that's been going on.

Then Luke and Thalia's relationship was completely butchered for no absolute reason. I have no idea why. They were in love or at least had romantic feelings for each other, and Thalia just woke up and wanted to kill him? He literally gave all the angst to Annabeth even though Thalia had known him longer, and they had a more nuanced bond.

Jason's relationship with Camp Jupiter individuals was completely scrapped, his and Reyna's dynamic completely watered down, or even his and Leo's great friendship discarded all for Jiper or whatever else was shoved at him.

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

As opposed to this whole shit show, I loved the relationships in the Magnus Chase series and Kane Chronicles. That was good stuff. Both character relationships and romantic ones even though I am pretty sure he got a lot of diverse representation wrong or so I have read recently.

Then there's the stupid, blind, bigot part of the fandom that just can't help themselves. I mean dumb Percy takes, Annabeth stans ruining Percy's character arcs and overinflating Annabeth's character, which in turn made Rick do the same.Then the boring Jason thing? What the hell was that? It's like everyone missed the point of why Jason is the way he is. I am going to make a post on that soon, but seriously, the shit that's been going on.

Then the shippers. Solangelo stans and Percabeth stans. They have single handedly ruined the ships for me with their distorted ideas of character dynamics. And their blatant and brutal hate against other Percy or Nico ships is just ridiculous and heavily toxic.

It's a fandom, not a monopoly. Everyone can have their own little thing as long as you don't meddle in someone else's own thing. Let everyone enjoy their own thing.

And for all our sakes, at this point, just pick your own version of canon. Choose which books to stop at. Trust me, it's less frustrating that way.

#annabeth chase #percy jackson #nico di angelio #jason grace #leo valdez and jason grace #Annabeth chase character study #rr crit #rick riordan critical #percy and annabeth #percy and nico #luke Castellan #luke and thalia #thalia grace #the seven #anti wottg #reyna avila ramirez arellano #percico #perachel

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alpaca-clouds · 2 years ago

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What "Communism never works" misses

Okay, let me keep up the topic for the week and let me talk about one thing that will undoubtedly be thrown at anyone, who says something along the lines of: "Welp, the system is failing us. Maybe we should try communism." And that is: "Communism never works. It has never worked before!"

As someone, who had that argument thrown at them so many times before, I already know that for the most part it is useless to talk to someone who comes up with that argument. Because, well... here is the thing. The argument basically is a result of what amounts to brainwashing. The person will usually not know what communism is or how and why it has failed before. They will not know anything about communist parties or countries. And they usually do not want to know.

Usually they do not know, that communism was never tried before. Yes, several countries have tried to establish communism, but never got further than socialism. Nor do they know exactly, what the difference between all those different communist ideas are. And of course they do not know anything about the history of the USA (and other western countries) doing their best to suppress communism by any means necessary.

Which is the first thing that everyone, who uses the argument, misses. Basically...

If communism can never work, why does the USA try everything to stop anyone trying to establish it?

If it cannot work and will never work, they would not need to worry about it. It will just develop and then fail. Easy. No need to stage a coup d'etat against a democratically elected government. No need to snuggle up to fascist dictators. Just let the thing run its course and then maybe send some help, once communism has self-destroyed. Something that they say is inevitable.

But obviously they don't. So: Why?

It cannot be about saving some sort of democracy, because otherwise they would not help undemocratic forces to take over the country and allow them to hold it.

But there is another thing that the argument misses. And even bigger thing. Another question:

But does capitalism work?

Which is the thing that kinda gets left out of the discussion. Because even if we assume that communism could not work (doubtable)... There is the fact that capitalism does not work. Otherwise fascism would not again and again be established from capitalism. Otherwise capitalism would not have destroyed the planet. Otherwise capitalism would not kill millions of people per year.

See, people will always go big about the entire "Black book of communism" thing and eat it up, even though the book has so many issues in what it counts as "death from communism" - and that is even without going in the entire "communism was never established" thing. But even if we took the numbers at face-value... According to the book, communism has killed 100 million people.

Well, guess what. That is about the same number of people that capitalism kills in a decade. And while the black book of communism counts all those people killed by politics not necessarily linked to communism... Those 10 million dying of capitalism each year die of capitalism. They die because they have not money for medicine, they need to survive. They die, because they starve, while so much food is thrown away. They die of exposure to the elements, because they cannot afford a home. They die from the fallout of climate change.

So, yeah. First of all: Let's try out communism, before we argue that it cannot work.

But also: Realize, that capitalism does not work. Because it doesn't.

#capitalism #anti capitalism #communism #socialism #politics #anti colonialism #solarpunk #anarchy #anarchism

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forasecondtherewedwon · 5 months ago

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get ya thinkin' (that you need me)

Fandom: Twisters Rating: T Word Count: 6028

Summary: Kate, Javi, Tyler, Lily, Dexter, Dani, and Boone—they're all one crew now, and they need funding. Trying to look more responsible on a grant application, they come up with an unconventional solution: two of them should get married. But which two? Javi and Tyler prompt Kate to consider what her friendships could become.

“I know it was me,” Tyler prefaces. “I know I’m the one who said our crew didn’t need PhDs, but…”

“But it might be nice to have one right about now?” Lily guesses.

There’s a collective sigh as they all stare at the screen together. Javi, controlling the touchpad, scrolls down and back up again, like the words might have changed, like this grant application isn’t punishingly particular and hopelessly intimidating.

“If we type it up in the wrong font it gets rejected?” Lily checks, jabbing a finger at the line she picks out of the blur.

Boone shifts and turns to Kate. “You’re doing your PhD, right? How soon you gonna be done?”

Kate gives him a look that asks if he’s shitting her. “Not by next Monday, which is when this application’s due.”

“Fuck,” Javi groans, rubbing his forehead.

“Well, hey, you gotta be good at this kinda thing, Storm Par,” Tyler reasons. “Your old crew had money comin’ out its eyeballs.”

“That was from investors. Highly unethical investors,” he clarifies, with a glance at Kate, who frowns sympathetically. “Private money. We never held a government grant.”

“We need more time,” Kate declares, like just saying that could possibly extend the deadline.

She shoves herself up and away from the motel bed they’re all gathered on the end of. If any of them were responsible adults, they’d be able to admit that they don’t need the deadline to be later, they need to have started working on this sooner. A lot sooner. The trouble is, they’re the furthest thing possible from responsible—at least, not in any way a government grant application would define the term (and, Jesus, does this application ever love defining terms—Definition of Terms is a whole section of the instructions, right at the top). They’re storm-chasers, risk-takers, and no, no one has yet seen fit to bestow upon them large amounts of money to fund their research, so it’s tough to prove they’re a safe bet, a good call, a fast horse.

“The only aspect we may be able to exploit,” Dexter pipes up, “is format.”

“It’s all online, I thought,” Dani says, seated beside him.

“Most of it is, but… could you scroll back up?” he requests of Javi. “Right… there. In the research proposal section, there’s an option for delivery method.”

“Thirty minutes or it’s free?” Boone quips.

Lily rolls her eyes at him.

“No,” Kate says, pacing. “No, it means we might have a better chance if we submit an audio recording of us explaining our research, maybe Javi talking through the data to make the significance really clear. Or we make a slideshow, or film a video.” She pauses to smile. “You guys would be great at that. The point is—”

“The point is,” Tyler picks up, meeting her eyes, “we could convince them on our own terms. No PhD necessary.”

“Though we’d still have to seem stable,” Kate stresses. Everyone nods back at her. “Professional.”

“Who says we’re not professional?” Javi demands.

“Do I need to bring up the pants thing?”

“…No.”

“Everybody in this room knows their shit,” Tyler says.

“Right,” Dani says slowly, “but you can’t say we aren’t… slightly erratic. Not that it’s a bad thing, for what we do. But Kate did say ‘stable.’”

“To be clear,” Kate says, “I’m not telling anybody to quit driving like a total jackass, or making up catchphrases that promote reckless behaviour—”

“Or shooting fireworks into a tornado,” Javi contributes.

“These non-criticisms feel oddly specific,” Tyler says tightly.

“Our roster’s not even stable,” Lily points out. She folds her legs on top of the bland coverlet and the mattress’s springs shriek. “Kate’s only been part of the crew a couple days longer than Javi, and that hasn’t been very long.”

“That is a valid point,” Dexter says.

Kate sighs. “It is. So, I’m asking honestly,” she finishes. “What can we do, by next Monday, to convince some government committee”—she slaps the back of one hand into the palm of the other as she lists criteria—“we are sane, we are stable, we are going to go the distance with this research?”

Into the silence that follows, Javi says, “We could get married.”

There’s another second of absolute quiet before Tyler asks, “Was that an open proposal, or is there a happy couple you had in mind?”

What Kate thinks they’ve probably all been enjoying about the new (or just newly expanded) crew is the lack of awkwardness. Javi’s Storm Par crew was rife with it. While having zero members with a PhD is sometimes a challenge, Kate saw how too many PhDs could be even worse; there was a hierarchy amongst those guys, and if anyone dared offer a suggestion, the rest of them would throw sidelong glances at one another. Kate figured a few of them could straight-up go to hell (particularly Scott), but she still doesn’t know how Javi stood it.

But even that awkwardness was clearly power-based. Javi’s suggestion is different, more personal, and definitely more awkward.

The vibe in the motel room is immediately screwed up. Some people look like they want to laugh, others are frowning in contemplation, and Javi’s just blushing, not looking anyone in the eye. Still, because he’s Javi, he doesn’t chicken out. He tries to make his case.

“You guys heard of Jo Harding?”

“Fuck yeah, I’ve heard of Jo Harding,” Dani announces. “Who in the tornado game hasn’t?”

“Well, she’s an Oklahoma girl, so I was just checking.” Javi shrugs. “Her husband was her partner when she chased.”

“Yeah, but she had a whole crew,” Boone says.

“Yeah, but she also had a husband.”

“Stop mansplaining Jo Harding,” Lily complains, flinging herself backwards on the bed.

“It’s not like having a husband made her a good scientist, or a good storm-chaser,” Dani says.

“I’m not saying that!” Javi protests.

“Yeah, dude, Jo’s husband isn’t the most interesting thing about her,” Boone adds.

“I can’t believe we’ve now spent more time talking about Jo Harding’s husband than Jo Harding,” Lily groans.

“They won the grant!” Javi bursts out. “They won the fucking grant!”

Tyler, who’s mostly just been observing the crew with amusement up to this point, looks at Javi and cocks an eyebrow. “This grant?”

“Yes! This grant! I’m just trying to say they’re a powerful team. Formidable. I’ve read, like, every article ever done on them—”

“Woah, woah, woah. You have? That’s intense.”

Kate glances at Tyler and explains, “He had a crush.”

“Sounds more like an obsession.”

“I admired their work,” Javi says defensively.

“Oh, is that what you were admiring in that one article where you cut across the text and just kept the photo of Jo?” Kate checks, smirking.

“What have I done to you, Kate? Goddamn.”

“Finish your point,” she prompts.

Javi sighs and braces his hands behind him, leaning back carefully so the laptop doesn’t slide from his lap.

“They always talk about how they make each other better. Not that the other person is why they’re good at their job in the first place,” he clarifies, shooting glances at Lily, Boone, and Dani, “but that they look out for each other, stop each other from making stupid decisions, keep each other safe. And yeah, a crew can do that too. A good crew. But a married couple just sells devotion and, and conviction in a different way. All I’m saying is it’s something to try.”

“It’s not an unreasonable proposition,” Dexter allows when it’s clear that Javi’s done. Dexter’s calm, steady voice giving the idea his tentative approval strengthens its merit for everyone in the room. Kate can see it. She exhales.

“Alright,” she says. “Well, we don’t have a lot of time to mull this over before the deadline, but let’s give Javi’s suggestion some thought. And any other ideas you guys come up with. Maybe reconvene on this tomorrow?”

There are nods and murmurs of approval.

The room they’re in is Lily and Dani’s, so the crewmembers not hanging around to chill file out onto the sidewalk that lines the motel. Kate’s just thinking about going back to her own room—well, hers and Javi’s, with matching twin beds in baby-blue coverlets that make her think of the Shining twins—and getting some sleep. They chased yesterday, then stayed up late last night going over the data. They’ve all been eating at weird hours, and now with the stress of the grant application… Kate runs a hand over her face. She can hear Javi and Tyler talking behind her, but she doesn’t think anything of it until she’s unlocked the motel room door and Tyler follows her and Javi inside.

“We need to talk,” Tyler states the second the door’s closed.

“‘We could get married,’” Kate quotes. (Sarcastically, but yeah, she’s beat.) “‘We need to talk.’ You’re both so dramatic today.”

“That’s what we need to talk about,” Tyler says, ignoring her sarcasm.

“What?”

“Getting married.”

Kate gives him a slow blink.

“We just did,” she says. “That’s what that conversation was.” She points in the direction of the other motel room.

“But we need to decide,” Javi says.

“We will. Everyone needs some time to think.”

“No, they don’t,” Tyler says.

“Uh, yes, they do. If they’d either thought it was the best solution or a total flop, they would’ve said right after Javi explained.”

“I know our crew better than you do, Sapulpa—just a fact. Trust me, they had an opinion.”

“Then how come nobody said anything?” Kate asks skeptically.

“Because it isn’t about them,” Javi says.

“What? Of course it is! The grant is for the team. We can put it towards a new drone for Lily and get Boone some more—”

“Not the grant. The marriage.”

“The marriage would be for the grant.” Kate has a bad feeling that she’s started talking to Javi like he’s an idiot, but she’s seriously just not getting it. Why isn’t he just saying what he means? She’s tired.

Tyler laughs. He laughs! She stares at him.

“Come on,” he says, “you have to know why they all clammed up.”

Kate looks to Javi. Javi, the guy she basically ghosted until he showed up at her workplace to drag her back here. Javi, who’s still her best friend, no matter what. Javi, who she really needs to make sense right now.

“They didn’t ask any questions,” Javi says gently.

“Most importantly,” Tyler cuts in, “nobody asked who this hypothetical marriage would be between. You catch that?”

“That’s just because we need to decide whether or not we’re doing it first,” Kate says, crossing her arms.

“You really think that’s why? And not that it’s because of the way Storm Par here looks at you, or the fact that he’s the one who suggested getting hitched? It’s not just a grant application, Kate. There are other stakes here.”

Kate flushes lightly, and when she chances a look at Javi, he is too. Tyler’s not exactly wrong, but he isn’t quite right either; she and Javi go back a long way. They care about one another—which is natural, especially after what they survived. Kate would also be lying if she tried to tell Tyler she hasn’t noticed those looks of Javi’s, that she’s blind to the way his steady brown eyes linger on her when she speaks, find her when she’s still, working out the math for their next planned chase. She doesn’t hate it, that way he has of looking at her.

Javi temporarily saves her from responding. Once he’s made his point, she’s not entirely grateful.

"Me?" he says to Tyler. “Those guys aren’t keeping their opinions to themselves because of some obvious claim I was staking on Kate. I’m subtle.”

The remark is so pointed that it’s no wonder Tyler reacts to it, even as Kate has a private, silent panic.

“I never staked a claim on Kate,” Tyler assures him.

“Sure you did,” Javi argues. “You stayed at her house. You met her mom. You basically poached her from Storm Par.”

“I didn’t need to poach her. She came willingly. And I bet you’ve stayed at her house and met her mom! You’ve known each other, what? Forever? That about right?”

“Well, what about you two?” Kate interrupts, gesturing between the men. “Old rivals, new allies. Some unresolved tension from chasing the same storms, maybe? How do you know the crew weren’t picturing you at the altar?”

While this seems to genuinely bewilder Javi, Tyler hitches his jeans and shrugs. “Wouldn’t be my first rodeo.”

“I just don’t think anybody’s thinking anything.”

“They might not all be thinking the same thing,” Tyler allows her, “but they’re all thinkin’ something. The two people getting married to give us a shot at this grant are standing in this room right now. I guarantee it.”

The three of them eye each other.

“If there’s going to be a marriage,” Javi says.

“Oh, there is,” Tyler says. “You made too good a case for it. Whole lotta money on the line. Seems too logical not to try.”

“Nothing about this is logical,” Kate decides, and goes to brush her teeth in the tiny bathroom.

When she comes back out, Tyler’s gone. She cedes the bathroom to Javi so he can get ready for bed too. They exchange a look as he passes her, but she waves him on, pats his shoulder as he passes. They can talk when he’s ready. Well, maybe not ready, but ready for bed. She goes to her squeaky twin and sits down to wait.

“It’s insane,” Kate says a little later.

They’re lying down, facing each other across the divide between their narrow beds. There’s an old movie playing on the perhaps equally old TV that sits against the opposite wall; they’ve turned the sound way down. The screen’s glow provides the only light. Kate thumps her pillow for emphasis rather than elaborating. She just doesn’t have anything smart left to say on this topic.

“It’s also not,” Javi counters. He’s run out of more sophisticated arguments too.

“So, two of us are really going to get married?”

“Hey, we do crazier shit literally every day. And it’s not, like, real. Whether or not it helps us get the grant, the marriage can be annulled, or they can get divorced, or whatever. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

Kate laughs, and then Javi laughs too. She likes watching him laugh; his smile hangs on for such a long time after he stops. It’s sweet.

“Who do you think it should be?” she wonders.

“I mean, I would do it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I suggested it, right? Gotta put my… I don’t know, my vows where my mouth is.”

“So rational,” Kate notes, sort of joking, though she does also admire Javi’s pragmatism. He’s thinking of the crew, how to look out for them, both by securing this grant and by sparing them the need to enter into this plan which is—regardless of what he says—a little insane. When she thinks of it that way… “I guess I would too.”

“You would get married?”

“Why not? Since it has to be somebody. You’re my best friend, anyway,” she says, sending him a soft smile. “It wouldn’t be like marrying a stranger. Besides, nothing would really change.”

“You don’t think so?” Javi asks earnestly. Which is not the easiest question to answer. But Javi has more to say before he’ll let her try. “You know… I mean, I told you…”

“That you would’ve done anything for me, back then,” Kate fills in. She sees Javi nod against his pillow. She exhales slowly. “Yeah. I didn’t really pick up on that. I just thought we were friends.”

“We were friends. We are. I just felt a little more for you than that. Not that I ever would’ve done anything. You and Jeb were great together. I wouldn’t have been dumb enough to try to come between you, and I didn’t want to. I just sort of quietly…” Javi grins like he can’t help it. “…had this thing for you.”

Kate returns his grin, amused because it’s easier to feel amused than to feel sad. She wants to be able to talk about Jeb, hasn’t let herself in so long, putting herself more than a thousand miles away from anyone else who knew him. Now, it feels so good to hear Jeb’s name in the mouth of somebody who cared about him too. With Javi, Jeb will never be forgotten. Kate will never lose the opportunity to talk about Jeb, to reminisce. Javi will be as respectful now as he apparently was then, keeping his own wants reined in so Jeb and Kate could be happy with each other. Who should she—should either of them—allow to make her happy now? With his caring, trusting eyes trained on her as the light from the TV flashes and shifts, Javi seems like a pretty good choice.

“It’d be more than practical for you,” she acknowledges.

“It would.” Javi sighs. “I thought you’d better have all the facts.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And now you can admit it,” he prompts.

“What?”

“That you got the hots for me too.”

They share another laugh. But Kate can only laugh so long as a reaction to his teasing tone, because, yeah, she kind of has started to think of him in that way since being back here in Oklahoma. She’s been trying to wait it out a little. Part of that’s fear; Jeb was her last serious attachment. She hasn’t been able to love somebody like that again (she hasn’t even really tried to date), too scared that something awful will happen. With Javi, it’s a real possibility that he could meet Jeb’s exact same fate, and there’s no place in the whole world Kate could move to that could get her far enough away from here if that happened.

The other reason she’s waited is that coming back, coming home, has provoked a swirling mess of feelings in her—an emotional tornado, if she’s honest, and it has taken honesty to let herself be hit by the force of those feelings instead of retreating to the mental bunker where she’s spent the last five years. Those winds are still calming. In the meantime, Kate hasn’t wanted to confuse the feeling of being home with a desire to be more than friends with Javi.

“Not then,” he says kindly, when she doesn’t reply right away. “I know you didn’t then.”

“Coming back,” Kate starts, her gaze drifting, “hasn’t been totally what I thought it would be. I’d be lying if I said you weren’t part of that. You’re the same as you were then, but different too. I’d never seen you lead a team before.”

“You surprised those guys listened to me?”

“No, I guess I just wasn’t expecting the way you made room for me. I saw that you were still on my side…

“I always have been.”

“I know,” she promises, meeting his eye. “And you trusted me again, immediately—”

“No reason not to,” Javi says easily.

“There were reasons not to,” she insists. Does she need to remind him of their first chase after she arrived? How she panicked? How she was the reason they didn’t get the third scanner set up and so couldn’t collect data that day? “But you vouched for me. Last time, with our team, you trusted me because I was the head of the project. It felt like you trusted me just as fully this time, even though it meant committing all those other people and all your resources.”

She’s surprised, while she’s being this sincere, that Javi laughs at her.

“I never trusted you just because you were the head of the project,” he explains. “I trusted you because you were you. You’re still you. You’re so you that Tyler’s ready to marry you too, and you’ve known each other less than a month.”

Kate makes a dismissive sound.

“You know there’s something between you,” Javi says. “That man is crazy about you.”

“I think he might just be crazy. It’s well-documented on the internet.”

“He’s always close to you.”

“So are you.”

“Exactly,” Javi agrees. “So I can speak to his motives.”

“We survived an EF4 together. He sheltered me with his body in the bottom of a swimming pool. Maybe we just shared an intense, near-death experience.”

“Is that all?”

Kate deflates.

“No. He is pretty hot.”

“That’s what I thought,” Javi says triumphantly.

There’s more to it than that, but Javi can obviously tell that already, so it doesn’t seem worth saying. Kate folds her pillow in half so she can sit up a little higher.

“Well, can we talk about the look on your face?”

“When?”

“‘Wouldn’t be my first rodeo,’” Kate quotes, badly mimicking Tyler’s voice.

“As if he meant anything by that.”

“How do you know?”

“He’s Tyler Owens! He just says shit for dramatic effect!”

Kate crosses her arms and stares at her friend with amusement.

“Probably!” Javi adds weakly.

“I could see you two married. Fake-married.”

“He is good at what he does,” Javi concedes, “when he’s not being a total jackass.”

“Is that all?” she teases.

She hears Javi’s deep sigh.

“I’ve watched a few of his YouTube videos,” Javi confesses. “He takes off his shirt sometimes.”

Kate sinks back down into bed after that. At some point, half-asleep, she hears Javi get up to use the bathroom. He switches off the TV on his way past, and the light quits flickering across Kate’s closed eyelids.

—

They aren’t chasing the next day, so they decide to stay in town for breakfast at the little diner. Because they’re together so much—hunched over the same screens, crammed into the same vehicles, bunked in the same motel rooms—it isn’t unusual for them to not eat together. Four of them practically feels like a family reunion, but Kate’s glad of the company. She, Javi, Tyler, and Boone grab a booth and flap open their cracked plastic menus.

Javi, seated opposite her and next to Boone, keeps looking at her. Kate can feel it without returning his gaze. When she relents and looks back at him while they’re eating, she sees (as she suspected she would) that he isn’t making eyes at her over his pancakes—he’s watching her with Tyler. She makes a face at Javi. There’s nothing to see! Tyler might be sitting beside her, but he’s intent on dipping his bacon into the yolks of his eggs, laughing across the table at something Boone’s telling him he captured in recent footage of the crew goofing around. Tyler and Kate aren’t looking at one another. They aren’t even touching. Yeah, maybe she can feel the heat of him because their thighs are almost close enough to touch on the seat, but it doesn’t mean any more today that it did yesterday. Javi’s just trying to make it weird, because of their conversation last night.

I could make it weird too, she threatens with her eyes. That makes Javi smile and go back to his pancakes.

After they’ve finished though, when Boone and Javi get into a discussion that quickly becomes so focused that it shuts out the other side of the table, Tyler nudges Kate’s arm with his elbow and jerks his head towards the door.

Outside, Kate takes a breath that doesn’t feel deep enough. It’s dry today. A field borders one side of the diner parking lot, and the wheat rustles crisply. Taking it all in is second nature, requires no thought at all. There’s the windspeed she can guess at when a breeze strokes across her arm; there’s wind direction, determined when a slightly stronger gush sweeps a strand of hair loose from her ponytail; she judges the atmospheric pressure with her sinuses; and she gathers all of this without even looking at the sky. When she does, it’s cloudless, flat as a blue tablecloth.

She looks at Tyler. He’s studying her.

“Just trying to pick up some tips,” he says, before she can say anything.

“And? What’ve you learned?”

Tyler just smiles mysteriously.

“You guys talk last night?”

“Me and Javi?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure,” Kate says. She knows it’s a vague answer, but Tyler will be bold enough to ask for the information he really wants. She’d bet on it.

She turns to face him fully, crosses her arms expectantly.

“Did you decide anything?” Tyler asks. He has his cowboy hat on, but the morning light slants low, making him squint when he looks at her. She circles him a little so he’s not staring into the sun.

“It shouldn’t really be a unilateral decision, should it?”

“Typically, yeah, it is just one person who decides to propose.”

“This isn’t about just one person,” Kate reminds him. “It’s about the crew.”

“I’m aware.”

“Well…”

“Well. Are you guys waiting on a group vote then?” he inquires facetiously.

“I didn’t say Javi and I agreed to get married,” she says, frowning.

“You didn’t say you didn’t either.”

She sighs at how frustrating Tyler’s being. He shifts his feet, making the gravel crunch under his boots. There’s a grit to him too—in how he only seems like he’s going along with this but obviously has something he feels he still has to say, something he hasn’t yet given up on. But Kate has a hard time with waiting. She likes making decisions quickly. Somehow, this—the prospect of marriage—is an exception. More complicated than it should be, if it’s just about securing the funding.

(It’s not. She knows it’s not, especially after talking to Javi last night.)

“I’m better at running,” Kate says quickly. “Lately.”

“What?”

“Than chasing.” She offers a weak shrug, not sure what to do with herself, with her body. Tyler’s so solid, standing here in front of her. So steady in his eyes.

“Do you wanna chase me?” He doesn’t sound surprised, exactly, but his words are less than a challenge.

“Seems like it’s my turn. You followed me to New York and all.”

“I didn’t follow you. Your flight got delayed and I had time to buy a ticket. I went with you.”

It’s true, he did. First, they waited out the delay together. The weather didn’t turn into what it might’ve, so it was only an extra hour. Tyler had time to call Boone about coming to get the truck, and Kate had time to call Javi about the storm warning. Javi hadn’t left the airport yet. Initially, he came inside. A tornado was about the only thing that could excuse there now being two trucks parked in the Drop-off Only zone outside. (That poor man.) They sat together in the chairs by the check-in desk, Kate and Tyler on either side of Javi as the three of them studied the weather data on his laptop, the hard-edged coloured shapes that scudded across dark county lines. As soon as they knew it was nothing, Javi said he’d drive back to get Boone himself, then bring him to the airport to collect the truck. Tyler said he didn’t have to. When Javi insisted, Tyler gave way. That surprised all of them. It was maybe the start of the new team.

In New York, Kate let Tyler come to work with her. Her coworkers were the weather-geek demographic Tyler appeared to have never even dreamed of; many of them were familiar with his YouTube channel. One of them asked if Dani was single. Kate grinned as she stood back and watched Tyler lean into his persona for the fans, into his accent—just the same as she had leaned away from her accent when she moved up here, not wanting questions about where she was from. Not wanting to think too often of home. She stood and watched, and then she went to her boss’s office and quit with as much grace as she could manage after taking a week off on almost no notice. Tyler urged the whole place into his trademark call and response on their way out the door.

“That’ll numb any hard feelings for a while,” he assured her as they took the elevator down to the lobby.

“What hard feelings?”

Tyler frowned at her.

“About losing you. They’re gonna miss the hell outta you, Sapulpa.”

“Too bad,” she said. She didn’t think it was true.

“Too bad is right. You belong to the South, and we’re takin’ you back.”

She wouldn’t let him help her pack up her apartment. What had once seemed fresh to her—the white walls and clean lines of starting over—now seemed barren and sad. She found she was glad to leave it. She didn’t want Tyler to see.

He spent his time in other ways. Took a ferry out to Liberty Island. Ate pizza in Brooklyn, pastrami on the Lower East Side. He got up to the Bronx to watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Kate didn’t know how he managed it all. They were in New York for three and a half days. Tyler just beamed and told her his feet were killing him. He still helped her carry all her boxes down the stairs of her walk-up while the train rattled by.

They drove back to Oklahoma in a rental truck. Somehow, Tyler made it take four days, when they probably could’ve done it in two. He bought her an ice cream in St. Louis, laughed as it melted so fast that it ran down her hand.

She guesses this, now, standing in a diner parking lot, is overdue. Even though, like Javi said, she and Tyler have known each other less than a month. It doesn’t feel like it.

“What about you and Javi?” she asks bluntly.

“That could be fun,” Tyler allows. “There are a few more buttons there I wouldn’t mind pushing. Think he’d go for ‘Javi Owens’?”

A laugh bursts from Kate.

“I think you’d be taking your life in your hands if you asked him.”

When Tyler smiles at her, pleased but gentle, she gets it. She got it from them both: they’d get married for the application, probably even find it a lark, but it wouldn’t mean much more than that. There’d be less danger in it. That should be a good thing—a reason for Tyler and Javi to be the ones—but Kate knows it’s also the thing that’s making them all hold their breath. They’re used to this type of crossroad, the three of them, used to tilting their faces to the sky to check the conditions. In the end, they’ll always pick the road that leads them into danger, not away from it.

They both want Kate.

“You don’t have to chase me just because you think you should,” Tyler says sternly. “You don’t have to chase me at all.” His face softens. “I’m standing still.”

She laughs and, incredulous, asks, “Since when?”

“You,” he says simply. “I like Javi, Kate. I do.” But I want it to be me, his eyes say when his mouth stops.

“Yeah.” She knows. She can see that he does.

She and Tyler leave it there, because Boone and Javi are coming out of the diner now. They came in two vehicles and Kate goes with Javi because she knows he’ll let her think.

It’s officially not about the grant anymore. It’s not even about getting married. This is bigger and smaller than that. Kate puts the passenger-side window of Javi’s truck down (an older truck, no Storm Par logo) and leans into the onrush of air. The marriage would be strategic, but a relationship with either Tyler or Javi would be completely real. Real feelings, real expectations, real mess if it fell apart and they kept working together. Which they would; they all love this job too much.

For just a second, Kate shuts her eyes and wishes this wasn’t happening to her. Then she feels silly because, after Jeb, ever falling for another human being seemed astronomically unlikely. She stuck to storms. Had crushes on cloud formations. Made lovesick eyes at the sky when it turned a spooky shade of green. That Javi and Tyler are both ready to be with her seems like a miracle. She’s grateful. She just doesn’t know how to choose.

Javi leaves her alone for the entirety of the short drive. They pull into the motel lot behind Tyler and Boone and drive to the end where the doors of the crew’s motel rooms stand in a line. Dexter, Dani, and Lily are there as they pull in. They’re excited about something; Lily’s practically dancing on the sidewalk and Dani says something to Boone that makes him yank her into a hug.

Kate and Javi spill out of his truck.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

Lily springs towards her, raising her hand to show off a ring that’s slightly too big, slipping up and down her finger as Kate tries to look. Kate’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Dani and I got married!”

“Congratulations,” Tyler says, butting in before Kate can blurt out another What? or When?

“It’s just for the grant,” Lily reminds him, laughing and waving off his sincerity.

“Never thought I’d say somebody married me for the money,” Dani remarks wryly. She’s wearing a ring too. Hers fits better. Kate wonders where they got them, and assumes the tiny antique store on the main strip.

Lily blows Dani a kiss.

“I went as a witness,” Dexter says.

“This just happened?” Javi asks, looking at each of the three conspirators in turn.

Lily shrugs and says, “Yeah.”

“You didn’t talk to the rest of us about it,” Tyler says. Kate doesn’t think it’s quite a complaint, but he seems thrown to have been left out of the loop.

“Oh, like the three of you let us in on whatever you’ve been planning?” Dani demands, pointing out Tyler, Kate, and Javi.

Tyler looks a little sheepish after that.

“Haste was the order of the day,” Dexter says. “It seemed efficient. We can move forward with our application now.”

“Yeah,” Kate agrees, still a little stunned. “For sure. Efficient. Thanks for taking one for the team, you guys.”

“No problem,” Lily says, and pulls her into a hug.

It’s not until later, out at a bar to celebrate the wedding (or the marriage, or their hopes to deceive the government for financial gain, or just their crew, really, who delight in one another’s exploits), that Kate, Javi, and Tyler find themselves at the same table. As if it’s a coincidence. Kate presses the rim of her bottle of beer into her smile.

“Lived to fight another day,” Tyler says over the vibrant twang of music, staring at the rest of their crew as they line dance to and fro across the floor.

It’s so typically dramatic of him that Kate and Javi glance at one another, and Kate has to pinch her nose shut so beer doesn’t shoot out of it when she laughs.

“Owens, I saw you talking to Kate outside the diner this morning,” Javi reveals. “Didn’t look like you were pleading to be spared.”

“You were spying on us?” Kate demands, rounding on Javi. She gives his shoulder a half-hearted shove as he laughs.

“Hey! I wanted to see how things were gonna turn out!”

“I’m pretty curious about how things are gonna turn out myself,” Tyler asserts, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. He gives Kate a significant look. She dodges it, ducking her head with a smile. She can feel the both of them watching her.

Javi reads her right: “Too soon to say, huh, Kate?”

She looks up, letting her eyes slide from one face to the other, incredibly fond of them both. Slowly, she grins.

“Guess you’ll just have to keep watching the weather,” she tells them.

Kate slaps her hands on the table and rises to join the others on the floor.

#my writing #Twisters #Twisters (2024)#Kate Carter #Javi Rivera #Tyler Owens #Kate x Javi #Kate x Tyler #Javi x Tyler #Lily (Twisters #Boone (Twisters)#Dani (Twisters)#Dexter (Twisters)#Twisters fic

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eaglyn · 1 year ago

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Because you stuck around | Gojo Satoru x reader college au

Summary: you had been Gojo's only die-hard loyal friend in his so far twenty years of life, but it took saving him from a quarter-life crisis for him to finally admit to you just how precious you were to him Not proofread bc we're lazy Decided to switch it up a little from the usual Genshin stuff

You first met the man child when he was only a child, as your parents were great friends of his parents, which meant you two would get a whole lot of play dates as kids.

Whenever he looked into your eyes even back then, you felt like you were frozen in place by those radiant blues. There was also something about the way he looked at you, and only you. For a while you felt as if you weren't the only one who's stomach filled with butterflies when you gazed at one another.

Eventually, he got older and achieved a great amount of fame via all his amazing accomplishments, and also good looks. While he never had a weird phase in puberty regarding looks, he definitely did have a personality change.

All the praise went to his head, so much so that whenever he talked to you, it was always just about how awesome he was. In middle school, he had his own little cult, or gang of devoted followers, who by themselves could be considered the cool kids, but only when Satoru wasn't around.

He turned into one of the most insufferable of egotistical bullies, but he didn't bully you, and you stuck around. You always did.

In high school, you two went to separate high schools that were on the same street, right across from one another. Girls from your school would often sneak into his school during lunch break just to get a glimpse of him in the flesh, while you just rolled your eyes at the whole situation.

Still, you were there if he ever needed to boast about all the love letters he had received that week, or tell someone about all the details of his new girlfriend. You stuck around, even though it was a type of thankless devotion. It was a well known fact that you were his only long time good friend, so while many girls envied you and stared daggers at you in the halls or on the streets, other girls did anything they could to be friends with you, just to get information about Satoru.

You'd be lying if you said you weren't at least a little bit happy with your popularity.

Things changed when you two reached college. Both you and Satoru moved across the country to attend a prestigious college. During the first year, he got to live in his very own three bedroom mansion, while you just shared a dorm with three other girls, which you didn't mind, but it wasn't exactly luxury.

Your friendship was only being held together by the feelings you still had left for him after all this time, as now, he barely even talked to you anymore. He was way too caught up in his lavish lifestyle, blasting mountains of money on girls and partying each week, and steadily failing all his classes at the same time.

Still, you stuck around and watched over him from afar, but you could only roll your eyes and shake your head at what he was doing with his life. That brings you to this summer.

You had the highest grades from your entire year in your college, while it wasn't hard to guess that Satoru's were the lowest. You became quite popular, as many people asked you to help them with things they didn't understand, as well as just taking advice from you in general.

You'd never have expected a depressed looking Gojo Satoru to approach you one day, asking for help with dark circles around his eyes, messed up hair and clothes, and a look in his eyes that indicated a mental breakdown. Still, the way he looked at you was the same as back then.

"Y/n... can you please help me improve my grades? If I continue like this, I'll be kicked out. Please, I'll do anything." He said to you. If it were any other person with his lifestyle begging for help, you may have just laughed in their face and told them to change life paths entirely, but it was Satoru. You could only nod and offer a comforting hug.

You contacted his parents regarding his issues, and while they were furious at him, they couldn't stop thanking you for sticking around and helping him. They arranged for you to stay at his college house from now on, just so you could keep a closer eye on him as you two worked through his quarter life crisis together.

By the time you reached Christmas, his grades had improved majorly, and he was a completely changed person. He had gotten back his cheerful, bubbly personality that you once knew him for, and while he wasn't blatantly rude and egotistical, he continued to play into the act, partially as a joke, and also because old habits die hard. And you were the one to thank for this change for him, because as always, you stuck around.

This was his first time in so many years that he didn't spend Christmas partying, but instead with you, and only you, enjoying all the amazing foods you made, and otherwise curling up on the couch with you as you two binged movies.

You don't even know how many romcoms you two had gone through the past couple days, but while it was entertaining, you couldn't help but envy the people in those movies, always getting their happily ever after with the one they love, while you were just here, raising a man child that you had been in love with since you were two.

Little did you know that when you'd be opening your present from him on Christmas Eve, you'd find amongst all the amazing things he bought you, a hand-written letter, and that he'd be watching you anxiously as you opened and read it, praying to everything both up above and down below that you wouldn't react by ripping it up and tossing it on the floor.

My dear Y/n, This is my 89th attempt at writing this letter, but I'm afraid if I tried to tell you what I want to say in outspoken words, it would be even worse than this. Please don't hate me. I want to confess to you something that I was too scared to say out loud, so here goes. I know I might have never shown it, but I've loved you ever since we were just little kids. I know I was a really bad friend to you growing up, but you always continued to stick around, no matter how insufferable I got. I could never understand it. I was the one who was famous, the one who was deemed perfect by everyone on the outside, but it was you who turned out so amazing, while I just became a wreck, leaving you, the only one who stuck around after all this time, to fix me. I'm eternally grateful for everything you've done for me, and I wish I could repay you. I wish that some day you could find it in you to reciprocate my love for you, but even if you can't, I will always wait for you, just as you did for me, as a way of paying off my debt. Keep in mind that I've never actually confessed to anyone, as I never truly loved anyone that I've been with in the past, though you probably knew that by yourself. With sincere love, Satoru. P.S. I hope you didn't die of cringe by the time you reached the end of this.

You giggled as you read the line on the bottom of the paper, looking up at Satoru afterwards, and he seemed like a lost puppy with a begging look in his eyes. Even the time he came asking for your help, he didn't look like he was so hopeful.

"I didn't die of cringe, as you can see." You said with a smirk on your face, taking all of his constipated facial expression in as you kept eye contact for a long time period.

"...and?" He broke the silence after about fifteen seconds, gulping right after.

"I love you too, you idiot." You said, catching him as he practically flew into your arms. You had been waiting for this moment for way too long.

He leaned down and softly pressed his lips against yours, stealing your breath for a short time before pulling away after a few seconds. His cocky persona had returned.

"Why did I ever have my doubts? I'm awesome!" He said, making you giggle.

"What a man child." You shook your head before kissing him again, just enjoying the romcom moment you had been desiring for so long.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu gojo #anime #confessions #reader insert #female reader #college #college life #romance #first kiss #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #jjk gojo #childhood friends #fluff #fanfic

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senilthesynth · 4 months ago

Text

RIP Cohost

Cohost is shutting down the end of the year. While I'm kinda sad because it was a good experiment to see if non-federated social media could be viable that doesn't rely on selling data or anything, I think Anti-Software Software Club just made too many assumptions that didn't or couldn't pan out. Including just... not understanding what they wanted in the end.

(Read more because this was originally a Bluesky post and got long)

Number 1 mostly being them being "blindsided" by Stripe clarifying their policy that, in the end, means ASSC couldn't use them as a way for users to tip each other or the Artists Alley section and such. That policy existed for years, well before Cohost ever existed. For context, ASSC originally wanted to build a Patreon competitor, not a social media site. They would have failed so hard if they stuck to a Patreon competitor on this alone.

And in my opinion, number 2 is their pay. They were paying themselves very well-off all things considered, and everyone was paid the exact same amount (~94k last I heard). That's… a lot of money going towards pay that could've gone to hosting costs. They're a startup. You pay yourselves what you can. I appreciate that they paid themselves well, but again. Startup. You pay what you can, and they were nowhere close to breaking even at any point.

I think their financial model didn't do themselves any favors - they started out with "we got a lot of loan money to do this and now we have to make it profitable" which, yeah, sometimes that's what it takes. But that's venture capitalism. Especially since Cohost's source code WAS the collateral! They acted as a leftist group trying to market themselves as a non-profit/not-for-profit (they're a LLC, they're legally not forced to do either), paying themselves well more than they realistically, and hoped they could get enough people to subscribe monthly to break even.

That… doesn't work.

Not to say this would've fixed things, but I think them registering as an LLC didn't help. That prevented them from bringing on anything resembling a volunteer, and since their whole thing was "everyone gets paid the same" it meant they had to operate with very few people. If I recall correctly, they had one moderator. Maybe two. Maybe. Two developers, an artist, and a moderator. Four people. MAYBE five, I forget the exact number.

This is entering hypothetical territory so everything is unknown and is me guessing a lot of things, but is based on what I do know.

Being a non-profit comes with its own set of problems, but if they could become and maintain a 501(c)3 non-profit, they could pay themselves what they could and have people willing to help volunteer moderate. They could never get code contributors, though, since their source code was their collateral it by nature had to be closed off. Also, donations (recurring or one-off) are tax-deductible for US-members, so while it's not a HUGE benefit it offers at least that small bonus.

I'm glad that they tried, and got as far as they did (even if it meant loan after loan to not die instantly). It showed that it could be possible - that there's hope in this idea. It's just a question of HOW to make it a sustainable reality. I don't think there's a clear answer there, though. Like my non-profit idea hinges heavily on maintaining 501(c)3 status (or similar) and being able to bring on volunteers as-needed. Using a public spec for the back-end (like ActivityPub or ATProto) so the focus can be on implementing it (even if federation is never a thing) instead of doing it raw - which avoids the back-end development time but then means having to work with an existing spec that may or may not change substantially over time.

IDK. I have no idea what would make a medium-form social media such as Cohost viable. Maybe it's the same idea but with lower pay so it's easier to bring new people on as-needed, with the expectation that this is a passion project 'til it gets off the ground. Maybe it takes the "use a public spec for back-end" approach and focuses on the implementation of it with their own additions and flair. ActivityPub is one spec, but you have Mastodon, Pixelfed, Misskey, Wafrn, etc. that all go in different directions. ATProto will likely be the same one day - Bluesky being the obvious "reference" implementation right now.

Maybe it's something else entirely that I could never ever think of. I don't know, but all I do know is that I'm glad they tried. Unfortunately, the writing has been on the wall for months now and honestly? If you didn't expect that, that's on you. People have been saying that Cohost wasn't sustainable for months.

#cohost #they tried but ultimately failed #I just hope that someone gives it an honest go again and learns from their mistakes #because it would be great to see more platforms comparable to tumblr #instead of just trying to mimic twitter or instagram #wafrn is pretty early on but it's the closest ActivityPub-based thing to tumblr #hopefully it becomes much better with time

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studentinpursuitofclouds · 5 months ago

Note

Hello! Can you write a small fic about Mr. Qi falling in love and proposing to the Farmer pretty please 🥺

Sure thing, dear anon! Have some Mr. Qi x Farmer one shot! Enjoy 💕

_________________________________________

Of all Mr. Qi's quests and tasks that Farmer had ever received, this one was the strangest. And it was so because... well, there was nothing strange about it, which was rather atypical for the mysterious blue man. No descending into Skull Cavern under any conditions, no growing blue fruit with a funny face and sunglasses. Nothing like that, the paper of the letter they pulled out from the mailbox in the morning simply had only one sentence written on it, "I'm waiting for you at my casino today. Don't make me wait, dear."

"Dear"... If Farmer had told anyone that the man who for a year and a half had given them the most extraordinary tasks for generous and interesting rewards had become their lover, no one would have believed them. On the other hand, the people of Pelican Town are no longer surprised by the deeds of "The Hero of The Stardew Valley," "The Most Chaotic Farmer in the World," and "The One Who Drank a Jar of Mayo on a Bet" (Farmer definitely had a few more nicknames, but can't remember them all anymore). So if they introduce Mr. Qi, an unusual wizard and demi-god, as their partner, it'll be just like a normal Tuesday for the locals.

Hmm, no specific date was written, but Farmer's curiosity was as immense as their determination and stubbornness. So quickly rearranging farm chores, they changed into clean clothes and headed for one of the four teleport obelisks. A simple touch of the huge structure with their fingertips and in the blink of an eye, instead of blooming field of crops, the Calico Desert appeared before Farmer's eyes, with its relentless heat, palm trees, cacti, and of course, the Oasis.

Reaching the shop door, Farmer was greeted by the cool air conditioning and Sandy's warm smile. The shop owner always welcomes guests, especially guests like Farmer (best friend and good customer!). They handed the girl a bouquet of daffodils they had managed to pick before teleporting to the Calico Desert, at which the girl's smile grew even wider. Sandy offered Farmer a cup of cool milk, but they politely declined, heading toward the door to the Casino while the girl accompanied them with an interested look. Standing like an unshakable rock, the perpetually serious-faced Bouncer silently stepped aside to allow the club member to pass. Farmer nodded their thanks, and without wasting a moment more, entered the dark room.

The sounds of slot machines, the clinking of glasses with expensive cocktails, the smell of cigars, someone's loud laughter and a voice full of disappointment at the lost amount of money... Everything sparkled with gold and diamonds, luxurious carpets and expensive furniture, and even being an honored guest of the Casino, Farmer felt a little uneasy. All the noise reminded them strongly of the city environment they had lived in before. It was not bad here, but the wooden house, cows and and forest were more dear to their soul.

"It's good to see you, darling." Thankfully, Farmer didn't have to wonder for long what to occupy themself with until Qi met them.

They turned back around and their gaze softened at the sight of their favourite person. Still the same familiar black clothes and hat adorned with gems shimmering in different colours of the rainbow, still the same round purple glasses and still the same enigmatic smile.

Mr Qi stepped closer to Farmer so they could hear him better amidst all the noise in the casino.

"I knew you'd come as soon as you read the letter."

"You always know how to keep me intrigued." Farmer smiled slyly. "Though this time I'm all guessing as to what the assignment will be."

"Does it have to be another assignment? Isn't just spending time together an good reason to meet?"

Farmer also shortened the distance, almost walking right up to Qi, gazing into his face.

"Of course, it's a great reason too. Especially since I was starting to miss you," if they weren't in the centre of the room, surrounded by people, Farmer would have taken off Qi's glasses to see his beautiful, cosmic eyes. "It's just that usually on occasions like this you turn up on your own, rather than sending letters."

He chuckled. "True. And there is a reason for that, my soul. There is something I must show you. But first...

We need to move somewhere a little more... private."

The snap of Qi's fingers echoed loudly in Farmer's ears, and the world before their eyes faded into darkness. The background noise of the casino was gone - no more clinking of coins or chattering of club members. Before the young farmer could worry, the entire black space was filled with the glow of a thousand stars, as if they were in outer space. Qi's figure stood in the same place where it had been when they were in the Casino, still smiling mysteriously. Except that the blue man's gaze, hidden behind a thick layer of glasses, was full of love at the sight of his beloved Farmer and the thought of how beautiful they were, surrounded by lights in the pitch darkness. As they gazed with delight at the space into which Qi had transported them and himself - after all, he always knew how to surprise them!

Raising his hand upwards, Mr. Qi's palm was enveloped in threads of his magic until an object materialised a few seconds later. Farmer's eyes, mesmerised by the stranger's magic, nearly flew in or out of their orbits when they realised what their mystical partner was holding.

"I guess I don't need to remind you of the traditions of your cute little town," Qi rubbed the Mermaid pendant between his fingers, the material was smooth and pleasant to the touch, "though I think you deserve a whole world more than just this pendant."

Qi had planned this moment in advance, choosing the right words and the right time. However, the speech he was about to make was interrupted by Farmer's abrupt embrace and a passionate kiss. Not even the great Qi could have foreseen such a thing.

"Tut-tut," although he tried to look like he wanted to lightly scold Farmer, there wasn't an ounce of annoyance in his voice. "I've prepared a whole speech, dear. It is not very polite to interrupt your interlocutor so rudely-" but even here Farmer did not let him finish, but once more touched Qi's lips with their. The man himself didn't seem to mind any more - it was at least a little different from what he had planned, but hearing the quiet and happy "I accept" from his lover, Mr. Qi no longer thought of going according to the script.

It had turned out even much better than that.

#stardew valley #sdv #sdv mr qi #sdv farmer #mr qi x farmer #thanks for the ask!

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serraphinm · 22 days ago

Text

➹Chapter 5 - The War➹

WC: 9k

Warning: Blood, gore, and some NSFW stuff. Proceed with caution.

Taglist: @bready101

A whole moon has passed since Raul declared war... and things weren’t looking good. His armies had moved south towards us at an alarming speed. I also wasn’t well versed in war, and General Roe could only help so much. The Prime Minister decided to help take over some of my work so I could focus on the war efforts, but he wasn’t doing an excellent job. Who could blame him, though? He wasn’t exactly supposed to run the country.

Ellie had healed a substantial amount and was already walking around helping wherever she could. I insisted she rest, but she would brush me off every time and say, “you should too,” and that until I rest, she won’t either.

Why’d I have to fall in love with the most stubborn woman I could find?

Alas, I couldn’t get on her case too much since I didn’t have the time. She knew of my disapproval either way and just decided to do her own thing. Which I could respect.

Joel had decided to aid me in the war, which was surprising, but I guess Ellie had something to do with it. Currently, Jackson and Midiri were both at war with the Mortican Empire. Joel declared war two days after Raul did, which shocked even him.

General Roe is droning on and on about where I should send troops and what strategies I should use, but I can’t help but worry about all the innocent lives that will be lost while I hide in my palace of ice.

“I’m going to the battlefield.” I declare to the whole board meeting. Their heads snap to me in utter shock.

“-absolutely not!”

“Your Majesty, you can’t-”

“Midiri needs you!”

Shouts overlap each other, but I’ve heard enough.

“There are many people who can take over for me while I am on the battlefield. I refuse to sit around and let Raul take over my kingdom. I want to fight for my people, so I shall.” Standing on my declaration, the room erupts in complaints again—in one ear and out the other.

Pushing my chair back as I stand to my full height, the room gets quiet, and I pay attention with bated breath.

“This is not up for discussion.” My cold voice snaps throughout the room. Members of my council flinch as I make my way to the door.

“Your Majesty, please, think this through.” The Prime Minister’s voice reaches my ears.

I hesitate.

“There’s nothing I hate more in this world than having the power to change things and doing nothing about it. “A bit softer this time, “I will not think about it when I have already made my decision.”

Staring at the door handle, I reach out, take it, walk out of the room, and slam it behind me.

My little temper tantrum with the council caused an uproar of gossip. According to the nobles, I had become a Mad Queen undeserving of the throne. So, I may have upped their taxes in retaliation. Not my most mature moment, but I needed more money for the war anyway, and all they were doing was buying gems and clothes anyway. Rumors got worse, and I was leaving for the battlefield before I had time to fix them. The past month, Ellie had been teaching me all she had learned from Joel on fighting, so I was a little better. But I still mostly sucked. I was mostly heading to the battlefield to help commanders with troops and help in any way I could.

I was much better at controlling the darkness affinity but had no time to work on the weird exploding one. Using it came easy but controlling it did not. So, for now, darkness was yet again my best friend. Ellie helped me work on my sneaking skills, so now I could make a large area dark and stealth kill a bunch of people all at once. Well, at least that was the hope, as I’d never really tried it before.

I had yet to tell Ellie about my plans but figured the night before I left would have to be good enough. She didn’t take it well…

“You’re going where?? Without me??” Grabbing my face, she shakes it a little.

“Is that brain of yours working right?” Her voice is concerned, and I can sense she’s hoping I’m joking.

“Ellie.. I’m not joking. You need to stay here.” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“Y/n, you will die out there if you go… tell me this is a joke..”

My eyes don’t reach hers as I stare at her cheek.

“I can’t just sit back and do nothing… we lose if I stay… but if I try to fight by their side, maybe I can save some of them.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it; what makes their life so much more important than yours, huh? And what? You seriously expect me to stay here while you’re out there fighting?? To do the exact thing you don’t want to do??” Her tone is harsh as I finally meet her face.

“I don’t expect you to understand-”

“I do understand! You need to listen to me... Some people are better help sitting at a desk than they are putting their life in danger!” She argues.

“That may be, but I refuse to be the person sitting at a desk! I can fight Ellie!! I’m not some weak, helpless Queen!”

“No one said you were!!”

“Raul believes that! I would rather die on the battlefield protecting my home than at a desk watching the numbers of my troops dwindle!”

I watch as her anger subsides a little, understanding creeping in.

“I’m sorry, Ellie… but I refuse to be known as a Queen who watched her people die. I may die on the battlefield, yes… but I will for sure die behind a desk as Raul celebrates his victory.”

Her breaths are uneven, and I watch her contemplate something for a few moments before she says, “Fine.”

I beam a smile up at her. “But, I want to come with... And we go to Jacksons front lines. I’m sure Joel will happily fight alongside us.” She sends me a small smile, and I can’t help but agree to her terms.

“Great.. We leave tomorrow morning.” My voice was quieter now that we were no longer arguing.

“Good.. I’ll uh see you at bedtime then...?” She fiddles with her fingers and looks me up and down, hopefully.

“Yea.. you will…”

Ellie grins.

That went relatively well.

The battlefield was nothing like I was expecting. Most of it was trying to figure out how to give everyone rations and take care of the injured. As of now, there was little fighting. Joel had taken charge of the troops like a pro and was giving out orders.

Currently, I was spooning some porridge to a wounded knight whose arms had been broken and who needed help eating.

“You’re a saint, miss.” His voice is scratchy as if he were parched, so I reach for the water.

“Thank you.. Just Y/n is fine. Thank you for your service,” I say, helping him drink from the glass.

He finishes drinking and signals with a nod. “That’s real kind of you; your husband is one lucky man.”

“Oh no, I’m not married. My girlfriend and I haven’t been dating long enough for either of us to propose anyway,” I say, my face flushed.

The knight raises a brow. “Well, you two better hurry then, don’t know how much more time you have left to be waiting.”

In a perfect world, his words would never ring so true or hit so close to home.

“Yea.. I know..”

Suddenly, sirens sound, and I stand up quickly. Setting his porridge down next to him, I call over a nurse to finish helping him.

“I must go help the others… but thank you for the lovely conversation.. “

He smiles at me, nods, and bids me farewell before I run out of the tent flaps. Once outside, I search for Joel and Ellie to see what is happening. They stand next to each other, looking over a map of the whole continent. The map is massive, with intricate details and figurines. There’s even a tiny me next to a tiny Joel and Ellie.

A soft drizzle soaks everything, including the map, but no one seems to care.

“This is where they’re coming from,” Joel says gruffly, his voice reaching the ears of all his commanders.

Approaching the table set up in the middle of the open field we are on, I give the map a once over. Raul seemed to be coming in from the north while spreading his troops to the southern parts of the Mortican Empire. Closer to Midiri. It seemed Raul was attacking both of us at once instead of focusing on one.

He was an idiot.

This caused us only two problems: one, it would be harder to spread rations out, and two, it would be more difficult to go offensive.

Other than that, we were doing well.

“Why don’t we force them to go through the mountains?” I ask, looking the map over once more. If we could hold them back like a wall and force them to take a risk through the mountains, we could gain an advantage. The people and troops of Jackson can maneuver through the mountains just fine, but only ’cause they know what they’re doing.

“If we can push them back enough, they’ll be forced to go through the mountains, giving us an advantage.”

Joel looks down at the map in thought. I can tell he’s thinking about something but is unsure how to execute it.

“How many men have they sent our way?” Ellie asks one of the scouts we sent out. The scout stands taller at the sudden acknowledgment.

“Around 2,000 men, Prince Ellie.” His voice is meek.

“Alright, Let’s take our troops up and block them. We’ll use Y/n’s idea and drive them into the mountains,” Joel says, leaning onto the table, his dark, wet hair dripping onto the map.

“I’ll go with them,” I say, gaining their attention.

“Fine, but then so are Dina and Jesse,” He doesn’t fight me.

Ellie speaks next, “If Y/n’s going, then so am I.”

Joel sighs but says, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Yea, yea, you got it, old man.”

I smile at their banter before getting ready to go. Jesse and Dina meet the two of us by the main tent, fully geared up. Opening the green flaps of the tent, Tess comes out in full uniform with an AN-94 strapped to her back.

“I’m coming with you,” The way she said meant it wasn’t up for discussion.

“Dina, Jesse, you guys never told me your affinities,” I say with a grin.

Dina grins back before flexing her muscles playfully and saying, “I have a strength affinity while Jesse has a glitter affinity.”

“It’s not a glitter affinity! It’s electricity manipulation!” he argues, crossing his arms. “At least mine does something other than enhance physical abilities.”

His voice is full of contempt as we all chuckle.

“Alright guys, enough messing around, we gotta get going, “Tess breaks up the conversation, effectively reminding us of the current situation.

“You think the Wolves will be there?” Dina asks as we begin walking to the stables.

“I’m not sure.. They could be heading to Midiri instead..” Ellie says lowly. The Wolves were an elite team of knights Abby was leading. Their members consisted of a few well-known names, including Owen, Mel, Nora, Jordan, Leah, and a few other bastards. None of them were too noteworthy, though, so I wasn’t too worried.

“I hope they’re with this group... I’d love to wipe their smug faces off with my knife,” Ellie mutters darkly. All of us turned to look at her, and she shrugged nonchalantly.

“Well, alright then…” Dina says in response to that before grabbing Japan’s reigns. Ellie hops up on Shimmer and makes room for me. I get up on the block and hop on, swinging my leg over.

“Jesse, just ride with Dina,” Tess says impatiently as Jesse begins looking for his horse.

“But-”

“Jesse.”

Tess was not having it.

Jesse gets on Japan.

We ride north for a few hours before we reach the front lines. People are screaming so loud I wonder how my ears aren’t bleeding. The battlefield sprawled across a commanding expanse of vibrant green, its lush grass covering the valley floor like a rich carpet. Towering hills flanked the field, their slopes punctuated by wildflowers that swayed defiantly in the breeze. Riding straight into battle, Tess starts firing her gun like mad. Knights drop like leaves in the fall. Ellie moves the earth from underneath hundreds of men and slams it back on top of them. Blood gushes from under the rock like a waterfall as I gape in horror. Dina hops off Japan and pulls her sword out of its sheath before running into battle. Jesse takes over Japan with ease and shifts so he’s no longer running into battle. That’s when I hear Ellie start to swear. I hold on tight to her waist and ask, “What is it?”

“The Wolves, they’re here,” Her voice is cold, and she hops off Shimmer.

“Stay here,” She orders. Not in the mood to fight, I decided to be of some use. Hopping off Shimmer and hiding her away, I move into the battle and follow Ellie. Watching her fight is mesmerizing. She knows she could use her affinity, yet she chooses to be brutal. Tossing a rock in someone’s face, she charges at them with her switchblade before hitting them with the machete she got from Joel. I wince and decide to stop watching. Running up behind her, I cast darkness over a small section and used my daggers on a few knights who were getting too close to her.

“I thought I told you to stay with Shimmer?!” Ellie yells at me through the sounds of screams.

“We both knew I wasn’t going to listen!” I yell back, kicking a knight.

She rolls her eyes as she makes the ground shake and cave underneath a bunch of knights.

Gunfire sounds, and I look to see Tess shooting men down.

“Does Tess not have an affinity?!” I yell.

“No! She was born a commoner!” Ellie digs the machete into a man’s chest before pulling it out and kicking his dead body to the floor.

“So she’s just a badass then!?” I ask as a sword grazes my arm. Seething in pain, Ellie glances at me and gets cut on the thigh.

“Yea! Pretty much!!” She says through the pain.

“Focus on your own fight! I’m fine!!”

I hear Ellie huff, but she thankfully listens.

“Oh yea! Ellie, one last thing!” I yell as I fight off a knight with a hammer.

I meet her eyes as she asks, “Yea!?”

“If we make it out of this, I wanna marry you!” Dropping that out of nowhere, I stab my dagger into the knight’s temple. His eyes roll back, and he falls to the floor. I bend down and pull the dagger out of his head before flicking some of the blood off it in a downward motion.

Elle just stares at me for a moment before she finishes off the person she’s fighting and walks over to me. I look up at her in confusion before she grins and licks her dry lips.

“Deal… but I get to propose...” She doesn’t yell this time, but I can somehow still hear the nervousness in her voice.

I look behind her and shove her out of the way as a man swings. Rage consumes me, and I let both affinities come forth. I don’t know how it happens, but I snap his neck with a thought as darkness creates a protective dome around Ellie and me. Everything gets quiet, and I step closer to Ellie since I know she can’t see me.

“How did you-”

“I don’t know!!”

“I thought you exploded things?!” She asks with a panicked voice.

“So did I!!” I respond equally as panicked.

She pokes the darkness dome. “What now??” I ask, still letting the energy flow freely.

“Release it, try and use the other affinity again, but try and make someone fly.” She says as if she’s figured it out.

“You think it’s telekinesis?” I ask, letting the darkness return to my body.

The loud environment returns, and I feel slightly overstimulated.

“I guess we’ll find out, babe!” She says, jumping back into action. Taking a deep breath, I let the other affinity reach my fingertips before I use it to lift a knight coming my way. I twist and turn him in all sorts of directions before I send him flying across the battlefield, his screams disappearing along with his body.

“Guess that solves that mystery!!” I yelled to Ellie.

She grins and uses vines to hold the surrounding men down.

“No more messing around, I’ll go after Abby. Think you can handle these guys?”

“Yea, I got them!” I say before she nods and rushes off to find Abby. With no time to watch after her, I focus on the knights she so kindly left for me and use my darkness to show them mercy. Suffocating them with it, I move on to a different tactic. Covering the entire battlefield in darkness takes me a little while, but I manage it. I grin as I watch my allies pull on their night vision goggles.

Dina turns and sends me a thumbs-up before she starts attacking relentlessly. I wasn’t sure how long I could hold this, but if it gave my allies an advantage, I’d hold it for eternity.

Thankfully, the land is flat and covered in grass as the rain pelts down, which allows me to see everyone in the radius of the darkness. I watch as Ellie begins full-on attacking Abby. However, upon looking at her, I realized Ellie wasn’t wearing the night vision goggles. She’s attempting to fight Abby one-on-one. Swearing, I glance at my surroundings before I spot a sharp rock. Checking back in on them, I notice Abby saying something to Ellie, causing her to get riled up... and sloppy. Abby may not be able to see right now, but neither could Ellie. I needed to act fast before she got hurt. Using all the energy I have left, I lift the sharp rock off the ground and send it flying straight towards Abby.

If I hadn’t been paying attention, it would’ve hit Ellie from how sporadic her fighting is. The rock ebbs itself in Abby’s side. She screams and pulls it out before throwing it on the ground.

“I thought you said no more messing around?! Put the damn goggles on!!” I scream from across the battlefield. It’s almost as if she hears be because she pulls them down and flicks them on before grinning. Just as she does so, the darkness comes back to me despite my best efforts to keep it up. I had to hold out a little longer, so I closed my eyes and dug up the dregs of energy I had left.

The world is quiet in the darkness. Someone taps my shoulder, and in a panic, I turn around, holding up my hands. Jesse stands there, looking concerned, holding his hands up.

“Woah!! It’s just me!”

I let out a breath and glared at him, “Don’t sneak up on people like that! I could’ve killed you!”

His eyes roll, and I detect some sass in his tone. “Dina has already tried it. Now come on, the Wolves are the only guys left.”

He starts running off towards Abby and Ellie, so I follow. Letting the darkness return to me as I run, I feel some energy come back. Dina and Tess meet up with us, and we head over to Ellie, who is still fighting an injured Abby.

“Just give up, Abby! You can’t win this!” Ellie’s voice is drained, and I can tell she’s reaching her limit.

“Not until that motherfucker dies!!” Abby swings at Ellie, seemingly having lost her weapons.

Ellie dodges and kicks Abby in the stomach. She falls onto her back with a choked noise.

“Raul will kill all you fools- you may have won this battle, but I swear on my father’s life-”

“Can’t really do that now that he’s dead, can you?” Ellie quips.

Abby screams in outrage and tries tackling Ellie, but I hold her in mid-air.

“Sorry Els. Know you wanna fight fair, but I’m afraid I won’t allow her to hurt you.”

Ellie glances at me, gives me an understanding look and smiles. Dina walks over to Abby in mid-air and pokes her.

“So how does this work exactly?” She asks as Abby practically growls at her.

“Put me down!”

“No.. I don’t think so,” I say, moving her to be upright.

“What do we want to do with her?” Jesse asks, walking over to Ellie as well. Tess stands next to me and crosses her arms.

“I think we should kill her.”

All heads turn to Tess without an ounce of shock.

“We could keep her and torture her for information?” I suggest. Heads snap to me, this time covered in confusion.

“I’ll never tell you anything!” Abby says, spitting in my direction. Doing my best not to chuckle, I address her, “It wasn’t a suggestion for you, Anderson, more of an idea.” She gives me a pointed look, and I grin.

“Where are the rest of the Wolves?” Jesse asks, surveying the battlefield. Despite having their leader held up like a pinata, no one had attacked us yet. I supposed that was why.

“They ran into the mountains along with the remaining troops,” Tess informs.

We all look at each other, silently communicating that we should bring Abby to Joel. Nodding to Ellie, she summons vines to contain Abby so I can finally set her down.

“I’ll bring the horses around,” Jesse says with a sigh before walking off, “Unless someone wants to help me..?” I follow his gaze to see him staring at Dina with puppy dog eyes. Dina rolls her eyes and walks after him. “Watch my ass as I walk away, guys. It's a great view, I promise,” She winks and saunters off with Jesse. Tess rolls her eyes as Ellie and I laugh.

Finally, walking up to Ellie, I match her post-giggle grin. “You ok?” Looking her up and down a few times. Tess walks over and shoves Abby away from the two of us.

“Yes, light, I’m fine; however, you-” She points to a cut on my arm that is bleeding down to my hand, “Are not.”

Currently, there is no pain, so I don’t mind it. “Tis but a scratch, a mere flesh wound, Milady. I swear I am perfectly well.” My tease causes her to roll her eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t fall out.

Grabbing my arm, she pulls me closer, and I hiss in pain.

“Now look who’s the liar,” she says lowly. I watch as she moves the tattered fabric to take a closer look at the cut. “It’s not that bad, Ellie. I wasn’t lying.”

In my defense, it wasn’t that deep of a gash. Letting go of my arm, she holds her hands out and grows a small thing of Aloe Vera. She grabs one and flicks her switchblade open, slicing it along the side.

“El, I don’t need-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll use some on myself too..”

She gives me an expectant look, so I huff and hold the fabric out of the way so she can rub the aloe vera on the gash. It hurts for a moment, and I wrinkle my nose at the feeling before a cooling effect settles in.

Ellie pulls out a med kit and wraps the gash securely before treating her leg. After helping her out a bit, I do the wrapping part for her.

“Are you ok to walk?” Glancing at the wrapped bandage as blood soaks it a little, I meet her eyes once more. “I was just fighting on it; I’ll be alright.”

“Yea, but that was with adrenaline. You should sit—” I looked around, and there was nowhere for her to sit except on the grass. “Uhhh, on the grass.” It sounded like a question, and I couldn’t tell if it was or who I was asking.

“Never mind, I’ll just carry you. We need to get back to Tess anyway,” I say, bringing her arm over my shoulder. She rolls her eyes with a smile but doesn’t complain.

Joel didn’t seem surprised at all to know Abby wanted to kill him. In fact, he seemed more surprised by the fact we all made it out of that battle alive. Ellie and I had gotten our injuries healed as soon as we returned to camp. The pain now was non-existent. Joel had determined that- as soon as we could- we’d head back down to Midiri to finish off the rest of Raul’s army.

Things were looking good as I went to bed in a cot set up next to Ellie’s. The blankets were thin, and I half-debated, joining Ellie in hers. Tossing and turning for a while, I ended up not being able to sleep. My thoughts were so loud—too loud.

Throwing the blanket over Ellie, I walked out of the tent and went for a little walk. The stars were shining brightly tonight. A fresh breeze guided the scent of wildflowers to my nose, so I inhaled. Everything out here was so much simpler...

Footsteps sound from behind me, and I see Ellie half awake, wrapped in our blankets.

“El- what are you doing out here awake?” I asked, walking over to her. I saw that her eyes were a little darker than usual.

“Why are you up, hm?” Her voice is groggy and low.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she says, taking a step closer. “That’s all,” I give her a small smile. That one stubborn hair of hers falls into her face, and she blows it out of her eyes.

“Hm.. wanna watch the stars with me instead then?” Her voice is low and soft.

“Sure, but only if you tell me what I’m looking at.”

She grins and lays the blankets down on the grass. “Deal,” she says, seeming excited. I lay down on the blanket, getting comfortable with her next to me. She starts talking about the stars and whether they are part of a constellation. I try to follow where she’s pointing but end up confused every time.

“- and that is Hydrus..” She points to a random spot in the sky yet again. Scanning my eyes, I try to remember where it is from the books I’ve read in the past, but it’s all lost to me.

“Got it,” Lie. I have no idea where she’s pointing, but if it makes her smile, then I’d do anything. “You know we’ve been to the moon 12 times?” she asks, looking at me now. Huh... interesting.” It really was.

“I’m boring you to death, huh?” A chuckle. An inhale.

“No, and that isn’t a lie. I like listening to you talk,” a glance at her mouth,” a lot..” She smiles before reaching over and messing with my hair.

Laughing, I swat her hand away. “Knock it off, you goof,” I tease. Ellie blushes like mad as I lean in closer. “So about our wedding… I was thinking we should hold it in the Midiri palace gardens…” My voice is softer than the breeze. She looks into my eyes before glancing at my lips and leans closer.

“Thinking about our wedding already light?” She whispers as her nose touches mine. “It’s only fair. I need something to look forward to.” A hum and another glance.” I haven’t even proposed yet.” Her face is red. With a small smile, I turn so my whole body is facing her. “Are you going to? Or will you get too nervous?” My tease affronts her. She glares at me before dragging her thumb across my lips.

“I can be bold when I want..” She whispers before kissing me softly. I kiss back as she wraps a hand around my waist to pull me closer. Leaning to be on top of her, I make a noise as she bites on my lower lip. Her fingers trail up my back before she pulls me wholly on top of her. It’s clumsy and messy, but we don’t stop; instead, her other hand finds its way under my shirt. She almost gets it off before screams reach our ears. We both stop and turn to see a fire spreading through camp. I get off her stand with such speed my mind spins.

“Ellie?!”

“Yea, I see it babe! Get behind me!” She yells over the screams. I help her get up before we start looking for our friends and family.

“How did they get past the guards!?” I ask, looking around for any troops. Dead bodies litter the floor, and I get my answer. Ellie says nothing as she leads me through the camp. We reach the central area of the fire when Raul himself comes along with a smug grin. Swearing, Ellie grabs me, and we hide behind a supply crate.

“Find the bitch. I know she’s here somewhere..” His voice is excited, and it sickens me to the core.

‘Yes sirs’ ring out as a response before Ellie makes a run for it. I do a double-take before rushing to follow her.

“I’m guessing I’m the bitch..” I whisper to her. She huffs. “You’re not a bitch so don’t listen to him,” Her voice is dripping with rage. I huff. “I wasn’t going to Moth,” My voice is barely above a whisper. All she says is good before she sneaks into the main tent at camp.

“Keep an eye out for knights; I’m gonna look for Joel,” Ellie walks further into the tent while I guard the door. A few minutes later, she comes back over and shakes her head. We keep moving. The fire continues to spread as screams come from every direction. Ellie grabs my hand and crouches through some tall grass with me in tow. We manage to hear a short conversation between two knights on Raul’s side.

“They’re still looking for the Queen; I think I saw some group near the north end of the camp, though.”

“Think she’s with them?”

“Don’t know. Just keep looking.”

They both nod and start walking around the area. Glancing at Ellie, I noticed she was gone and sneaked up behind one of them before killing them quietly. I follow her lead, sneaking up behind the other knight and taking him out. We meet back in the middle of the area, and she whispers, “We gotta head north... seems like that’s where the others are.” Her breath tickles my face.

“Alright.. lead on.”

We managed to find the others despite all the chaos. Joel and a bunch of knights had fled towards the north but were sticking around to find me. Raul’s army had attacked with numbers we’d never seen before. Things were not looking good, and we couldn’t even determine how many of his men had been sent to Midiri. Joel had managed to secure a small section of camp. However, Raul’s men were making their way here while we had barely any defense. We all stood around a small table lit by torches at the edge of our secured space.

“How far away are Raul and his troops?” My eyes meet many familiar faces, and each one is more concerned than the last. This was it. Our final stand…

“Twenty minutes out..” Maria says lowly. 20 minutes till we fight to the death.

Was there seriously nothing we could do?

We debated what to do, like rapid fire, but nothing sticks. Either we all die and lose, or we let Raul take over our homes with the hope he lets us live. Neither option sounded pleasant. Ellie stands closer to me, her face hollow. Looking back to the group, I notice everyone but Joel sporting grim faces. He just seemed mad. Tommy sets his gun on the table, and we all look at him.

“This is bullshit. I say we fight till our last breath,” His voice is strong as if he’s decided that’s how he wants to go. Dina yells out her agreement before Maria follows.

“I’d rather die than submit to that bastard,” Ellie says, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers.

I look at each and every one of them and make my own choice as well. Dying by their side is much more worth it than living a lie.

“Then let’s take a stand here… as one, regardless of how cheesy that sounds,” My voice is as light as I can make it, and I feel Ellie squeeze my hand.

Tonight, we’d fight to the death.

The battle rages on for hours to the point I can no longer feel my arms. Somehow, we’ve managed to last this long despite the large amount of men attacking. None of them seemed to have affinities, so we were killing them off like flies. I hoped Oren and Nakir were ok. I had left them in charge of Midiri. As I’m fighting, a knight manages to get the upper hand and grabs me by the hair. I scream as he drags me off, but no one else can help me. They’re all fighting their own battles. The knight throws me into a field as I try and wield my affinity. Nothing. I’m weaponless against this bastard, and he knows it. He saunters forward and pulls me up by my hair again.

“Where’s your little affinity?” He gives me a fake pout, “All out of energy?” He slaps me across the face, and I grunt. Tilting my chin up, I smiled at him.

“What are you smiling about bitch? Huh?” He pulls on my hair harder and grins, so I spit in his face. Disgust covers his face, and he wipes it off before rearing back and punching me in the stomach. I cough up a bit of blood, tasting it on my tongue. Swishing the rest of it in my mouth, I spit it out as he lets go of my hair.

“You bitch.. I’m gonna make you regret that..” He grabs a dagger, and just as he goes to stab me, I roll out of the way. The dagger grazes my side, and I scream in pain. My hand flies to the cut, and warm blood seeps onto it. Wincing, I look up to the knight, who is grinning down at me. I wanted to cry. To scream. To do anything. But the pain was blinding, and I was losing blood fast.

“I’ll bring your head to Raul all pretty, don’t you worry,” He spits out as he leans down to me. But before he can make another move, an arrow flies straight into his temple. The knight flops to the side as blood sprays out. I scream and back away from him. Looking around, I spot a woman with blonde hair and a warm smile.

Lady Isabella.

She walks over to me and helps me up.

“I was afraid I hadn’t made it in time. Seems like I barely have,” Her voice is soft as she helps me stand straight... My hand is covering the wound with as much pressure as I can muster.

“Isabella.. You came!” My hopes lift. She smiles and looks out to the battlefield a little ways away. A massive army begins attacking Raul’s troops along with Midiri’s and Jackson’s. Lady Isabella and I had been exchanging letters ever since we met at my coronation ball. She’s become a wonderful friend of mine.

“It’s actually Queen Isabella now," She says shyly. The ring on her finger is more prominent now, and I smile at her.

“That’s wonderful..but why did you come? You owe me nothing?”

“Because I want peace. Ruling during a war is no fun for me or my people. It affects all of us. And besides… you’re a dear friend.”

My heart warms. I wasn’t the perfect Queen, that’s for sure, but I had made changes that impacted my life. “Thank you, Queen Isabella… now let’s win this thing…” My body is growing weaker, and by the look on Isabella’s face, I’m fading fast. She catches me before I fall to the ground.

“Queen Y/n? Oh my…”

I flutter in and out of consciousness before my lovely darkness overtakes me, and I close my eyes.

My head hurt. A lot.

I crack my eyes open a bit and feel silk beneath my fingertips. Looking around, I notice I’m back in Midiri palace… and in my room. Taking a deep breath, I hiss in pain from the gash in my side and attempt to sit up. The sun is streaming into the room in a breathtaking manner. My room looks the exact same as I left it. My maids are here right now as well, cleaning away.

“I wonder when Her Majesty will wake up,” Anais says, dusting my desk. I blink. Once. Twice. Assumed they were too busy to notice I was awake.

“Prince Ellie should be coming by soon, right? She always does around this time of day..” Mariah is working in my closet.

A knock at the door has me fighting to pretend I’m still asleep. I clear my throat and say, “Come in!” All four of my maids snap their attention to me with various shouts of surprise. The person outside the door slams it open, and Ellie stands there with a few flowers in hand.

“You’re awake!?” She rushes to my side before setting the flowers down on my nightstand.

All my maids rush over and begin asking me millions of questions. How was I? Did I want water? Pain meds? Food? “How long have I been out?” My voice is groggy, and I stretch a little.

Ellie glances at the maids before saying, in a grim tone, “Four years.” Her voice is so serious that I almost believe it.

“Knock it off Moth. How long, really?” She huffs before pouting, “I thought that was pretty convincing…” I watch as she adjusts to sitting on my bed, her button-down wrinkling under the change, “Don’t worry, just a few days. Doctors said you’ll be fine in a month, so take it easy.

“You weren’t, but nice try. What’s been going on while I was out,” I say, removing the covers and trying to get out of bed. Ellie grips me so harshly that I feel a bruise forming already. She pulls me back down into bed, and my maids chuckle.

“Honestly, miss, give yourself a second,” Ivone scolds. Man, I missed these girls.

“If you think I’m just going to let you walk around while you’re still bleeding, you’re dead wrong light,” Ellie says sternly. I huff and lay back on my pillow, flicking her arm. “Fine, but I still want to know what’s happening..”

I watch her eyes soften. “Alright… but no getting up, or I swear I will carry you back to bed myself.” Her tone is playful, but I know she’s not joking. “Ok, ok, I get it!” Putting my hands up in defense, Ellie finally seems satisfied.

She takes a deep breath as she begins to recall the events of the past few days. According to her, Queen Isabella and King Alwyn have decided to ally themselves with us. Fortunately for us, they also have a large army due to the funds they get from trading. Our combined forces drove Raul to flee for now. Jackson is safe, and the knights who ran into the mountains have been dealt with as well. All was well—for now, at least.

“Well… I guess it’s a good thing we’re back home. We can do more from here for now since there’s no active fighting.” I still felt the need to be useful despite actively bleeding, but hey, I did that once a month—nothing I couldn’t handle.

“By the way, where’s Jane?” I ask the other maids. She was usually the happiest to see me.

“Jane felt sick this morning, so she opted to stay in and rest,” Ivone’s soothing voice said.

Which was odd because even when she wasn’t feeling the greatest, Jane would be by my side. I guess she really wasn’t feeling well. “Well, alright then.”

Ellie studies me momentarily, and I shrink a little under her gaze. “When we need things, we use our words, Ellie,” I tease. But her expression doesn’t change. My smile falters.

“Girls, why don’t you give us a moment?” My eyes don’t leave hers as I dismiss my maids. They curtsy and close the door behind them.

“Are you ok, El?” I say lowly. She looks away from me, suddenly wiping her eyes. That’s when I realized Ellie was crying. I’d never seen her cry before. She’s always been private about showing people her emotional side. Shifting so I’m in her lap, I wipe her tears and kiss where the streaks remain.

“Oh, Ellie… talk to me.. What’s going on?” My voice is as soothing as I can make it. She meets my eyes, and my heart breaks. Puffy eyes, red nose, and a tear-streaked face.

“I thought… you were going to die..” she whispers before looking back down, “When Queen Isabella brought you back to us in such a condition.. There was so much blood… I just didn’t know if I’d ever see you again and-” Ellie starts to ramble before I can even comfort her,

“-Ellie, you need to breathe-”

“-and for days, I wondered if you would ever wake up-” My lips slam onto hers, and I cup her face. I feel her relax as she wraps an arm around my back, the other running her fingers through my hair. Pushing my tongue into her mouth, I hear her moan lightly. She moves a hand to my chest and the other slowly down my right side when she grazes my cut, and I wince in pain. She pulls away immediately and apologizes profusely. Shutting her up again, I kiss her before moving both hands to her hair and pulling on it gently. She moans. Alright, so Ellie has a hair-pulling kink. Grinning into the kiss, I continue kissing her while gently tugging her hair. I pull back to assess my work to see her breathless and puffy-lipped.

“Better now babe?” I whisper against her lips. She nods and bites her own before pressing her mouth to mine again. Moving me gently with her hands, she lays me on my back, careful not to aggravate my injury. Stupid right side. I moan into her mouth as she cups one of my breasts through my shirt and flicks the nipple.

“Mmmm, Ellie-” I start but she shushes me. “Not while you’re injured my light..” Her voice is low, and I want to argue, but I know better. Damn, how well has this bitch trained me. “Fine..” I’m breathless and puffy-lipped, too, and can feel my growing arousal. Oh, how she tortures me so..

“Promise I’ll fuck you so well someday..” She whispers against her lips. The sincerity in her voice takes me by surprise, and my legs clamp shut. I wiggle underneath her as she trails her finger along my jaw.

“Kiss me again, Ellie... Kiss me till I can’t breathe...” I beg so quietly that I wonder if she hears. It seems she does as she smashes her lips back to mine.

We spend the rest of the day in each other’s company.

A few weeks later, I’m doing much better. Ellie finally stopped following me around the palace, so I can actually get some work done. Walking into the Prime Minister’s office, I see he’s at his desk reading over some paperwork. He smiles when he sees me before standing to bow.

“Your Majesty, what a pleasant surprise!” His voice is cheerful and warm. I can’t help but smile. “Give me one moment, Your Majesty. I am just sending off some important information.” He writes a quick letter before walking over to a Peregrine falcon. Gently folding the letter, he hands it to the beautiful bird and opens the window. The Prime minister watches him go before turning to me with a smile.

“What can I help you with today, Your Majesty?” He asks, closing the window and walking over to me.

“I just came to let you know I can resume my duties now. If you want to have the work sent to my office, I’d be more than happy to take it off your hands,” Truthfully, I didn’t want him doing the work anymore anyway.

“Ah, I see… I shall have it sent over immediately…” His tone has changed. I watch his face for a different expression... but he’s still smiling. My brows furrow a little, and I feel my gut screaming at me.

“Right... well, I’ll be going now…” Deciding not to ignore it, I head towards the door when he’s suddenly in front of it. With a beaming smile, he closes the door and locks it with a key. Tucking the key into his pant pocket, he pats the spot as if mocking me.

“Perhaps it’s best you stay…”

Ok, now I was really freaked out. Maybe the Prime Minister had been replaced by a shapeshifter? But nothing seemed different about him physically.

“What is the meaning of this Prime Minister... Let me out this instant.” My tone is demanding but wavers a little. He hears it, too.

“I don’t think so. You still don’t get it, do you..?” His smile was pissing me off now.

“Don’t get what? You are mental if you think this is ok-”

He sighs and rubs his temples. “I was hoping you’d figure it out before I revealed myself. But alas, here we are.”

“Figure what out? I don’t understand?” I’m beginning to panic. There was a high chance he was going to kill me if I didn’t get out of this room. I glance at the window, but it’s too high a drop.

“I suppose I better start from the beginning. With Barrow..” My eyebrows furrow again. What did this have to do with the previous Duke?

“Barrow was working for Raul,”

“But that doesn’t make any sense-”

“Doesn’t it? Just as soon as he was no longer useful, you got the very thing you needed to get rid of him…” The Prime Minister’s words run chills down my spine, and I begin to question everything. Pieces of the puzzle were still missing.

“The late Duke Haleson was trying to hand Midiri over to Emperor Raul.. in exchange for the blackmail he had on him... His birth certificate.”

The very thing that destroyed him was what he coveted all along. My kingdom was the price. How fucking dare he… I clench my hands into fists and feel darkness swirl around them. The Prime Minister continues while I continue looking for a way out.

“Barrow knew that under Emperor Raul’s reign, he’d still get to live the life of a Duke.. he had nothing to lose and everything to gain!!”

“I thought you said you two were friends!” My voice cuts him off. The Prime Minister seethes, “That was until that bastard forced me onto his side!! I was loyal to your parents. They were the best king and Queen there had ever been.. but Barrow couldn’t hand the kingdom over to Emperor Raul without them dead.. so Raul had them assassinated and you kidnapped.” All this new information was hitting me like a brick.

“Why are you telling me all this?” My voice wavers once more, and I curse myself internally.

“Because now I’m going to kill you,” He says so simply as if it were about the weather.

I did a double-take to make sure I heard him correctly. Then it all made sense. Raul had something on him—something Barrow gave to him.

“Listen to me. Whatever it is Barrow gave him, we can get back…”

The Prime Minister looks so defeated, “There’s nothing you can do except die Your Majesty..”

Scanning the room once more, I realized I needed more time. So I started asking questions, “Why not have me killed like my parents?”

“If you were dead, so was the royal bloodline, and Emperor Raul couldn’t have that.”

“Why not? What is so important about me he’d rather have me live.”

“He wanted to marry you when the time was right. Your bloodline is the most powerful in the world, but you just wouldn’t marry him! You had to go and fall in love with that prince!”

The Prime Minister starts getting more and more upset as my heart begins to race.

“So he knew where I was the whole time? You knew, too?”

“Yes.. we knew everything about you..” Shivers run down my spine once again before I feel rage. Suddenly, another question pops into my head, so I ask it before I forget.

“What about Rose then? Was she working for you too?”

He huffs before giving me a pitiful look, “Rose never betrayed you; it was Jane. The assassins Raul sent were supposed to bring you back to him, but Jane tried to have you killed... It was foolish of her, really. I ordered her to have you kidnapped and brought to Raul of your own violation..” Where was Jane now then? Was she even really sick? So many questions swirled my head, but I knew I had to be smart about this if I wanted to get the most out of him.

“Why did she want me killed..?” My heart breaks. Rose was wrongly accused and sent to death, all because I was too foolish to see what was really going on.

“If you were gone, Emperor Raul would have been mad, yes, but he would’ve moved on.” His voice is oddly calm now. It almost sounds like…

“The man in the hallway... with Barrow... That was you! You were the one defending me in the halls!” The conversation I overheard ages ago suddenly makes more sense now. They were talking about Raul and me.

“Huh.. so it was you who overheard that… I did wonder who it was for the longest time.. But no matter, I still have to kill you now. Emperor Raul doesn’t want you any longer.. I’m sorry.”

His voice is low and a little menacing as he approaches me slowly. I back away from him, not wanting to kill him.

“Bennet, please..I don’t want to kill you. What do they have on you..?”

He doesn’t answer and pulls out a long, thin dagger. Deciding I can’t be kind anymore, I pull the dagger from his grip with my telekinesis. Before it reaches my hand, though, he swipes it from the air with a speed I’ve only seen from speed affinities. Suddenly, he came at me at a speed I couldn’t handle. Wrapping darkness around myself, I manage to avoid getting cut by the dagger. But the blunt force of his blows still hurt. Grimacing, I focus on his heart and slow it down with my telekinesis. He begins to slow down and coughs up blood. While he’s down, I kick him over and take the dagger from him.

“Bennet… I’m sorry they took whatever is dear to you.. Just talk to me..” He rolls onto his side and props himself up.

“I can’t.. He’ll know if I do..” More blood drips down his chin before he wipes it with his pure white-gloved hand. I lean down to him as he slowly dies.

“You’re going to die, Bennet… you might as well tell me anyway…” Moreover, my curiosity was getting the better of me.

“My daughter…” He whispers as tears fall down his cheeks. Dread fills my entire being as I realize what Bennet is implying. If he doesn’t cooperate.. His daughter dies.

Well, shit.

No wonder he hates Barrow… I couldn’t imagine the rage I’d feel. My eyes soften, and I ease up on his heart.

Bennet lays his head on the hardwood floor and blinks blearily up at the ceiling. My emotions overwhelm me a little, and I tear up alongside him.

“Save her..please..” His voice is fading, and I can tell he’s barely holding on. “Do what I couldn’t do.. And save my daughter.. please… “I start to cry and sit down on the floor next to him.

Oh, to be loved so much, you’re their dying thought.

“I’ll try..” I whisper. He nods slowly, understanding I might fail.

“If you don’t. I hope to be worthy of meeting her again in the afterlife. My precious daughter..Annabelle..”

His last breath flows from his lips, and I close my eyes. So much made sense now. The photo of them on his desk was a constant reminder, not of what he had, but of what he was fighting for. The grief he must’ve had looking at that photo brings more tears to my eyes. Reaching over and closing his eyes for him, I stand and grab the portrait. Setting it on his dead body and grabbing the key, I unlock the door before closing it behind me. Somehow, I was not covered in blood, but my heart was bleeding.

I was going to save his daughter… Not for him, but for the innocent life he left behind. Because, for some reason, I had to prove that I was the better person.

Besides... I had a plan.

And it was going to end this war.

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magewolf-the-artist · 10 months ago

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Domestic K-9: The Worst Pokemon Evolutions Ever

Oh boy, time to explore the ramifications of trauma and how it impacts people!

(Note: I do NOT have trauma or PTSD, although I've done a fuck ton of research on the subject for a different story and am applying the things I learned here. If anybody with any kind of trauma or PTSD spots any inaccuracies, please please PLEASE feel free to let me know. I wish to portray these issues with as much care and respect as possible)

So here I've display the three, I guess, stages of these fuckers. Life, the immediate response to, y'know, everything, and how they're holding up now. Except for Rosemary because I'm kind of an asshole to my blorbos. But obviously with Charles and Susan, they are not in any way "fixed" or even "healed" from their trauma, they moreso stabilized and got used to it. And now let's finally get into it!

SUSAN WOODINGS: So in life, Susan was generally closed off except for a select few amount of people and, while she could be snippy, she was actually pretty chill despite always looking like she wants to murder everybody in the general vicinity. Basically she looks a lot meaner than she actually is.

In death though, that's a completely different story. For the first year or so she had an EXPLOSIVE temper and would blow up over the smallest things, like a powder keg kept near sparklers. If the facility had a swear jar and money, she probably could've funded college for Sophie, Edd, AND Molly. She said many hurtful and cruel things to people she was close to (mostly Charles) that she now deeply regrets. It's all water under the bridge at this point but it still sometimes keeps her up at night.

As of the current point in the timeline, she's since calmed down quite a bit. She's less likely to snap over small shit unless it's Bon, to which she will gladly be just as bitchy as she was. She does have bad days though and is generally much more easily irritated and snippy.

CHARLES BROOK: In life, Charles is the ultimate dad. Easy going, friendly, very jokey, admittedly kinda naive, loves his kid. In death... well...

When they first got to the facility, he was an absolute wreck. He had resisted giving into Bon up until the point where he was starting to fade and, absolutely terrified of the idea of being Thanos snapped out of existence, reluctantly possessed the Boozoo animatronic. But even still he deeply regretted that choice. As well as that, he was extremely distraught about leaving his daughter and wife behind, on Lily's birthday no less, and that he was never found. He spent the first several weeks consumed by the intense misery and grief and was incoherent at best and delusional at worst. As previously mentioned, he got it into his head at some point that if he could just break down the walls, he could escape and constantly flung himself into the solid concrete walls. It didn't help that Susan wasn't terribly understanding and had little patience for this.

After a few weeks passed though, he began to stabilize and was generally able to recover a semblance of his goofy, friendly personality. That's not to say the trauma hasn't impact that though; he has to constantly distract himself or else he'll have a full on breakdown and desperately tries to change the topic whenever his death or his family is brought up. He and Susan have also since smoothed things over and Charles holds no resentment towards her now.

ROSEMARY WALTEN: Everyone's favorite sad mom!

So in life, Rose was generally kind, caring, humble, creative, and introverted, although she had come out of her shell since her younger years and was perfectly capable of being social.

But in death... hooooo boy, buckle up chucklefucks, 'cause this is gonna get SAD

As previously mentioned, Rosemary is a mess. Constantly crying, completely drawing into herself, rarely speaks to anybody but Rocket, and is unable to bring herself to do anything outside of draw, think, or cry. She's kinda just frozen in time, unable to stabilize like Charles and Susan, which is why she has no stage 3. The closest thing to that I can confidently say she's gotten is pouring herself into her art and caring for Rocket, but even still it's not much.

#the walten files #walten files #susan woodings #charles brook #rosemary walten #twf fanart #twf susan #twf rosemary #twf charles #twf #the walten files fanart #Domestic K-9

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deuterosapiens · 2 months ago

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Finally watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and had a bit of a fun time with it, though I'll call the pacing in the first act unnecessarily slow. I'll ignore this, however, for all of the obvious things this movie does oh so delightfully well. A few personal favorites:

Charles Deetz's death: beautifully animated, ridiculously over the top and most importantly, his half-eaten corpse wandering the Afterlife is a fun gag.

Monica Bellucci. I'm gay, but that's still Monica fucking Bellucci. She's stunning and no amount of staples can change that.

Willem Dafoe is clearly in a completely different movie than everyone else. Did he show up on set thinking he was filming a Boondock Saints sequel? He's such a wonderful presence!

Sandworms!!

Way to go, Practical Effects! See, things are so much more impressive when there's actually something there!

So we suffer a bit from an over-dose on villains. Since each has their own separate motivations, none are really fleshed out well enough to be dispatched properly. Jeremy wants to trade Astrid's life for his own. How does Rory or Delores affect that, or how does that affect them? There's no connection, which means resolving this plot will by necessity require it to be inconsequential to the finale. Rory is a lying scumbag obsessed with Lydia's money (why was this a Reveal again? Not a single person was surprised by this development). How does this tie into Delores's revenge against Betelgeuse? Delores is hell-bent on having her man back and will stop at nothing in pursuit if that. How does this tie into Rory's plans?

Since none of these separate developments are really in any way connected, each has to be resolved separately, meaning none can be given the proper amount of time needed to be resolved in the appropriate manner. I guess the connecting thread is intended to be the Juice himself: Betelgeuse is brought in to save Astrid from Jeremy's plot, which is unceremoniously foiled. He interrupts Rory and Lydia's wedding to attend his own, after using said wedding as the price of admission for saving Astrid. And Delores is a scorned bride who just sort of shows up at the wedding in pursuit of the Man Himself.

Jeremy being foiled is given no real weight, acting as a stepping stone to get Lydia back to the Living World for her wedding, making this entire sequence feel, sort of inconsequential. Delores is an actual threat, the primary subject of Willem Dafoe's entire storyline, but since he has nothing to do with her defeat, his part feels fairly inconsequential. Rory and Delores are both fed to a Sandworm summoned by Astrid, so even Betelgeuse in the finale feels fairly inconsequential.

Since the stakes are so muddled, and the villains are all basically everywhere in motive and function, there's no real strong sense of resolution to anything. What's the status quo at the end? Well, Delia is dead, there's that. But her death had nothing to do with any of these other events, so that would have happened regardless. Lydia is unmarried, which is exactly where she was at beforehand. I guess maybe her relationship with her daughter is better? Maybe?

Okay, so the script might have needed a smidge of tightening. I would dismiss issues of character motivation here if this one hadn't tried to make its focus a character-driven one. I can get behind the sort of fun, absurd nonsensicality of the first movie quite happily. I like strange and unusual things. Weird things presented without explanation, weird character who exist just because the world itself is weird. But trying to tell a character story requires you to effectively tell a character story, you know?

This one is still delightfully crazy, but I like it a smidge less than I could have if it were a half hour shorter and either committed to bits, or committed to character moments. You can easily do both, I would have loved for it to do both!, but unfortunately, in pursuit of one, it neglected the other and is therefore great, but not entirely perfect.

Also, to hell with Crime and Punishment. Am I the only one who did not like that book? I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who did not like that book.

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice beetlejuice #beetlejuice 2024 #beetlejuice 2

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dr-spencer-reids-queen · 1 year ago

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Cold Comfort: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Summary: You meet another psychic on a case that doesn’t want to work with you, and everyone’s faith is tested on exactly what you can do.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

The three victims found are Annette Hagen, the first, Erin Bonham, the second, and Melissa Claire, the recent one. The only one who is still out there is Brooke, but you know she is still alive. All three victims were embalmed, but they all died of blood loss.

That means they were alive when they were embalmed.

Tox screens show significant levels of Barbiturate which is a heavy sedative to the point where someone can become unconscious. All three women were found with the same haircut even though they were taken with much longer hair, which means the unsub cut it. Another thing the unsub has done to them was pierce their ear so that they all have double piercings.

None of them were sexually abused since there has been no tearing or bruising, but the ME did find trace amounts of semen.

The unsub had sex with their bodies after they died.

You don't want to pressure Sandra into making a decision on who she wants to work on the case, so you head back to the station where you're needed.

"Hotch," you say and he excuses himself from talking to someone, "I just talked to Stanely and he refuses to work with me."

"Don't bring him in, Aaron," Rossi backs you up. "Y/N is here. She's proven she can take care of things."

"We won't bring him in," Hotch shrugs.

"I just spoke to the families," JJ walks into the room. "None of the victims had double-pierced ears at the time of their abduction."

"He's changing them."

"Into what?" Derek asks.

"Not what," you say, "it's who. The burial suggests an affection for his victims, which says he might be remaking them into the image of a loved one."

"The ME found high traces of Barbiturate, right?" JJ asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"It's something the psychic said. Brooke felt tired and heavy."

"Why are we talking about the psychic? It's a scam. These guys talk without saying anything and you fall for it."

"Is it so wrong to want to believe?" JJ argues.

"JJ, you know the profile. A necrophiliac has no use for a live victim."

"Can I talk to you?" you ask Rossi. You pull Rossi off to the side away from everyone else. "If there is a small part of you that believes what I can do, doesn't that mean you should believe in what other people can do? Not all psychics are frauds."

"You've proven to me you know what you're doing."

"I understand that, but you're limiting yourself by not giving people the benefit of the doubt. You did it with me."

"You kind of forced it on me."

"Yeah, I did," you chuckle, "but that doesn't mean it's not true."

"What did you read about him?"

"Stanley is mostly right with his ability. There are things that are so obvious that he can pick up, but he's not as strong as me. I read between the lines, he sees what's right in front of him. He puts the puzzle together and guesses, and because of that, he was named a fraud. He thought he could get away with it."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

"I'm just theorizing. I make mistakes too, Rossi."

Rossi is already walking away and calling Penelope. He won't listen to reason, but you have more important things to do like give the profile. Detective Ron Fullwood gathers his men and women to hear what your team has to say.

"By now we know the DNA found on the victims did not match anyone in the system, so we're gonna have to look beyond physical evidence to identify the killer," Hotch begins. "Our unsub is a white male in his mid to late twenties with a lot of money. He lives alone in a large residence. There's enough space and ventilation to accommodate an embalming suite. He's awkward with people, especially with women. An inability to relate socially is common in homicidal necrophiles."

"Because of the alterations to the bodies, we believe the unsub is attempting to recreate a woman he once loved. Like a girlfriend, wife, or mother. Someone who left or died suddenly."

"This projection of the loved one coupled with his need to preserve the victims through embalming is similar to the psychopathology of serial murderer Ed Gein," Spencer explains. "Gein had an oedipal complex which developed in the years he nursed his paralyzed mother back from a stroke. After she died, his obsession compelled him to dig up the corpses of women who resembled his mother. He was so persistent to resurrect his dead mother, he actually dressed in female suits fashioned from human skin. Eventually, Gein grew unhappy with the flesh of dead bodies, which had a tendency to dry and crack. So, he shifted his focus to live victims whose bodies he could better preserve."

"The evolution from dead to live victims will also be mirrored in our unsub's maturation. We've put together a list of incident reports prior to 2006. You're gonna want to follow up on these. They are inappropriate postmortem conduct, cadaver theft, and graveyard disturbances," Emily says.

"Sixty percent of necrophiles work in the death business, so be sure to canvass local cemeteries, mortuaries, and morgues. Since we have the killer's DNA, we're gonna be sending you out with kits to swab potential suspects."

"The odds of finding Brooke Lombardini alive are slim, but the quicker we identify the killer, the better her chances are. For her sake, let's work fast."

Everyone broke into teams of two to go around the area and talk to different suspects, different MEs, and anyone else who might have information on the case. You're paired with Hotch and you walk into the third ME office that afternoon. You didn't get anything with the other MEs but hopefully, this one has information. When you explained the situation to her, about someone defiling corpses, she wasn't that surprised.

"I won't lie. It happens in the industry, and we put a stop to it when it does."

"You don't report it to the police?"

"We like to keep that kind of thing quiet."

"A killer is dressing up his dead victims and violating them. Maybe quiet isn't the best way to go," you say.

"He dresses them up?"

"Does that mean something to you?"

"We hired an apprentice a while back. He's an odd guy even for this business. I didn't like the attention he paid the female cadavers. I came to find out he liked to do their makeup and put a wig on them and such."

"Can you describe the wig to me?"

"I can do you one better. I have the wig he used on the females." The ME brings you over to the box they have with the wig. "We cleaned out his locker after his termination. He never came back for it. Imagine that."

"I need this man's name."

Ivan Bakunas lives close to where he used to work, so you and Hotch head over there immediately. Detective Fullwood wants to come along to catch this guy since he promised Sandra that he'd find her daughter alive. If this man truly killed the three victims, then you will be able to feel them on him. This either could go very well or not well at all. You knock on the door and Ivan answers. He keeps the door cracked open slightly as if he's nervous or scared for someone to see what's inside his house.

Just from one look at him, you know he didn't kill those women. You've seen the bodies, and his energy doesn't match up to the energy left on them.

"Ivan Bakunas?"

"Yes. Can I help you?" he stutters.

"You could invite us inside. It's a little cold out here."

"I can't. Mother's sleeping."

"We're investigating a series of murders in the area. We believe the killer works in your field."

"You're kidding. Do I know him?"

"You might. His victims are just your type with blond hair and blue skin," Hotch accuses.

"You're suggesting I'm some kind of murderer? You are way out of line."

"So, you wouldn't object to giving us a sample of your DNA?"

"No."

"We can get a warrant."

"I think I've said all I'm gonna say."

He shuts the door in your face since he refuses to talk to you further.

"He didn't do it, Hotch. He's an icky person, yes, but he's not our killer. His energy doesn't match up to the ones I found on the bodies."

"Are you a psychic?" Ron asks.

"Yes, a better one than Stanley is." You look at Hotch. "It'll hurt a little bit if you don't believe me at this point in our relationship."

Hotch believes you one hundred percent, but he still has Penelope look into him. If he's a killer for other women you haven't found, then you can kill two birds with one stone. By the time you get to the police station, Penelope has some dirt on Ivan.

"Did you find anything on Ivan?" Emily asks.

"Nothing in juvie, but he was expelled from Evergreen State for sexually assaulting his girlfriend. He was slipping her tranquilizers and having sex with her while she slept."

"That qualifies."

"Between that and the wig, we should be able to persuade a judge," Ron says.

"Listen, Ivan is icky, and he's done stuff he should definitely be arrested for, but he didn't kill these women."

"How do you know?"

"You won't understand."

You look at Hotch for backup, and this time, he stands up for you.

"Detective, Y/N has been with us for years. She's helped catch killers and save victims plenty of times by using her abilities. I'm not gonna stand in your way if you want to serve a warrant on Bakunas, but I think you're wasting your time."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Alongside Y/N, we profiled a man of means. According to his tax records, Bakunas hasn't held down a job since he graduated college. He lives with his mother and doesn't have a car. The embalming equipment and the drugs aren't cheap."

"Look, this guy likes to get it on with dead people. If that's not probable cause, I don't know what is."

"Hotch," JJ interrupts, "a 911 operator just got a distress call from someone claiming to be Brooke."

You follow JJ into a conference room where she has a recording of the 911 call Penelope sent in. Brooke's mom is also in the room so she can identify her daughter's voice.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Hello?" Brooke whispers.

"Can you speak up, ma'am?"

"No. He'll hear me. This is Brooke Lombardini. Please, I need help."

"Where are you calling from, ma'am?"

"I'm being held prisoner."

"Okay, ma'am. Can you look outside? Can you see a street name or an address?"

"Please... I think he's gonna kill me. Please help me."

The call ends there like Brooke hung up abruptly since the unsub came to check on her.

"That's her. That's Brooke," Sandra says.

"You're certain? She's barely audible. Any surveillance expert will tell you it's almost impossible to positively identify a whisper."

"You think I don't know my own daughter's voice?"

"Why would someone who was not Brooke call 911 and say they were?" Ron asks.

"Sometimes people get off injecting themselves into the story. You've been on TV now and that could bring out a lot of sick individuals."

"Stanley said she was alive. This proves it."

"Ma'am, Stanley isn't reliable. He has a vested interest in telling you that your daughter is alive," you say.

"Do you have a vested interest in telling me that she's not?"

"He has a record, ma'am," Rossi says. "I had a colleague look into it. Usher was charged with fraud in Oregon before he moved here."

"I need my baby to be alive."

"Listen to me, Sandra," you interject. "I'm not Stanley, but I am more than happy to help you out. I don't have a record, I am not a fraud, and I am the real deal. I want to help you find your daughter just as much as you want her to be alive. Let me give you hope."

She looks around the room at everyone before moving closer to you.

"You better find her alive. I'm placing my faith in you now."

She leaves the room and everyone inside is speechless. They all stare at you as if you promised to move mountains.

"I'll find her alive," you promise.

"The only reason I have so much faith in you is because you've proven yourself that this is real," Hotch says. "You can do things others think are impossible. What is your true and honest opinion about Brooke?"

"I believe she's alive. Her mother is her anchor, and I can feel her through Sandra. I feel her alive."

"Alright," Emily gets back on track, "the 911 call came from a disposable cell. There's no ID but they traced it to the nearest tower. That narrows it down to a twenty-mile radius just southeast of Seattle."

"That's a densely populated area. Were they able to triangulate?"

"Garcia tried to ping the phone, but it was already dead. The unsub probably turned it off when he found her with it."

"What do we think?" Hotch asks. "Why is the unsub keeping Brooke alive? How long do we think she has until he kills her?"

"Maybe he needs them alive to effect their transformation."

"I don't think so. The change in the hair, makeup, and pierced ears would only take a few hours. He's had her for almost five days."

"Maybe it's about something more than just appearance. Maybe it's something deeper. On the phone, she made it sound like she was being locked up, and she sounded drugged. These are control mechanisms used in cases of sexual slavery and mind control. It's brainwashing."

"So, he's trying to break her down and make her surrender her identity. That's what he's waiting for. That's the version of them he wants to hold onto. The longer she holds out, the longer she stays alive, and as soon as she accepts her new role, her fate is sealed."

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

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