#I ran really quick and grabbed all the panels from a follow-up post I have in my drafts

[skania]

After reading your post for spoilers 123 I can now see why I never saw their relationship being romantic from Aquas side. I agree Aqua is seen treating Kana the same way he treated Sarina as well. He supports both by encouraging them saying he'll be their fan. He calls them both cute kinda like teasing with them and their looks are so similar too. They are both shown to like him. Remember when Ruby said he acts more like his old self around Kana can that be why....they kinda interact the same as well? If it goes to a romantic route for Aqua and Kana I really wouldn't know how to feel it would kinda feel forced. Not to mention all the Ai connections to Kana also!

Allow me to add some panels to everything you've said anon!

I'm with you, it makes perfect sense to me and now I can not unsee it. It's also the one interpretation that triggers the less cognitive-dissonance for me, the only loose end being Kana's romantic feelings for Aqua and all the emphasis they've gotten.

But I'm starting to think I may have gotten my Ai-Kana thing backwards. I thought that by figuring out his feelings for Ai, he would figure out his feelings for Kana. Now I'm wondering if it may not be the other way around.

After all, remember the first chapter?

Goro's feelings for Ai were perfectly platonic in his mind, there was no doubt whatsoever to him. The doubt arises when the nurse asks him what he would do if Ai asked him out.

From there onwards, Goro is no longer sure of what he feels for Ai. I believe that the same ambiguousness may be present in his current feelings for Kana. And it just so happens that through Kana's romantic feelings for him—and through the way she seems to be his Oshi—Aqua could actually face the same question that was presented to Goro in the first chapter. If this happens, he may finally be able to confirm what he felt for Ai as his Idol.

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter XXV

In the morning, Prompto was stirred from his slumber when he heard barking. Carefully, he scooted away from the sleeping (Y/n) before getting to his feet. Leaving Decratom Haven, he mounted the snowmobile and followed the barking. He crossed the snowy terrain until entering the forest. There, he finds a magitek axeman laying on its back in the snow. Dismounting the snowmobile, he strolls over to the corpse. He sits down in front of it and closes his eyes.

Prompto seemingly falls asleep and when he awakens, night has fallen and the magitek trooper is gone. Hearing the crunching of snow behind him, he leaps to his feet and turns around. A few feet away, he sees Noctis conjuring his sword and walking toward him.

With a horrified expression, Prompto begins stepping back and raises his hand to ask Noctis to stop. However, he couldn't find his voice when he saw his hands were that of a magitek trooper. Seeing Noctis was ready to attack him, the blonde begins to run away.

Noctis warp-strikes after him and swings his blade at  Prompto. "This'll be quick," the raven-haired boy said.

The magitek trooper, aka Prompto, ran through the forest to escape Noctis. The snow proved to not be a deterrent and he was able to get away safely. Realizing he was safe, he glanced back down at his hands and sees that they appear to be his own again. His mind wandered, wondering what was going on until he heard more barking. Searching for the source of the noise, he spotted a familiar white dog—Pryna. She was trotting away and Prompto didn't hesitate to follow her.

Eventually, they emerge into an open snowfield with several magitek troopers scattered about, seemingly dead. One of them, laying on its back, appears to still be somewhat functional. It raises its hand toward Prompto, as though pleading for help. He stares into its eyes and envisions seeing himself laying in the snow reaching out with his own hand for help.

Prompto shakes off the vision and looks back at the MT, seeing it for what it is once more. He then slowly, shakily raises his gun. Briefly, he lowers his weapon and looks away. He then just as quickly finds his resolve, raises the gun once more as he sheds a tear, takes aim, and pulls the trigger. The MT was dead. As its body collapses, it reveals the child version of Prompto huddled behind it. He kneels behind him and places his hand on his child self's back with a sorrowful expression.

•••••

Prompto as a child was sitting on the steps of the Citadel looking up at falling sylleblossom petals. As he watches the petals dance through the sky before landing on the ground, he discovers Pryna sitting in front of him with a letter in her mouth. He reaches out and takes the letter from the divine canine, unfolds it, and reads it. It was a message from Lunafreya.

'All I ask is that you continue to support Noctis, and that you remain ever at his side.'

Young Prompto pulls a few photographs from among the pages of the letter.

"How does she expect someone like me to support him? Am I good enough?" The child questioned himself.

He looks through the photos to find pictures of him, the guys, and (Y/n). His eyes focused mainly on Noctis.

"Does he want me around?"

Young Prompto comes across a picture of the royal retinue and the guardian at the Wiz Chocobo Post.

"Is that really what Noct and everyone else wants? For me to be with them? Does (Y/n) really want me around?"

He reveals another photo, which was the one taken at Cape Caem before the royal retinue and the guardian departed for Altissia. Seeing the faces of all the people he cared about, realization struck the child.

"Wait—but what about me? What do I want?"

Young Prompto stands and becomes his adult self as he does so. Now grown, Prompto also speaks out loud.

"It took me a while, but I finally found my answer."

He bends down and picks his camera up off the steps, then looks up at the Citadel. Hearing someone call his name, he looked to the courtyard and saw a four-year-old (Y/n) walking towards him. As she got closer, her body aged until she was twenty-four. She stopped in front of him, flashing him the smile he loved oh-so dearly. Smiling back, he took her hand in his.

"You're just one of the many things I want, (Y/n). It's thanks to you I can finally be selfish and reach out for everything I've always wanted."

Prompto held her hand tightly.

"It's time. Let's go together, (Y/n)."

Prompto runs up the steps of the Citadel while still holding the girl's hand.

•••••

Prompto opens his eyes and sees he's still sitting on the ground. Pushing himself to his feet, he turns to see (Y/n) standing not far away. He was surprised to see her, but his determined expression remained. Closing the distance between them, he didn't say a word. He watched her expression morph from one of solace to bewilderment. He saw her mouth open, but no words came out.

The moment Prompto reaches her, he wound one arm around her waist while his other hand clasped the back of her neck. Without hesitating, he covered her mouth with his and kissed her fiercely. She was taken aback at the intense kiss, but it only took her a few seconds to kiss back.

After the heated kiss ended, Prompto pulled away slightly so he could stare into her golden eyes. "I can be selfish, right?"

(Y/n) was perturbed by the question. "Everyone deserves to be selfish from time to time. Did something happen?"

Using the hand he had behind her neck, he combed his fingers through her (h/c) locks. "I...I think I finally know what I want, but it's kinda selfish."

"What do you want, Prom?"

"I want you and the guys. You four mean so much to me and I don't wanna let that go."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Noctis, Ignis, Gladio... They all care deeply about you." She trailed one of her hands up his arm towards his face, caressing his jaw with a single finger with a smirk. "Maybe not much as me, but I can tell from how they treat you. I know you may still carry some doubts, but the only way to get rid of them is to conquer them."

Prompto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and I think I know just how to do that. C'mon, (Y/n)." The couple hop on the snowmobile and ride back to Decratom Haven. When they arrived, Aranea was just about to leave. "Aranea," he called out to the ex-mercenary. Aranea turns around, eying the blonde as he dismounted the snowmobile and approached her.

"I'm ready," Prompto said with determination. "I thought about what you and (Y/n) said, and I've decided to face my fears once and for all. I can't choose where I came from, but I can choose where I'm going. I want to conquer the truth just like (Y/n) did."

"Alright—but slow me down and you're going to get left behind," the woman smiles at him. The guardian climbed off the snowmobile, allowing Aranea to have the seat. "What're you doing, firefly?" The older woman asked.

"You and Prompto can take the snowmobile. I'm faster than it anyway," the spirit answered.

Aranea smirked. "Damn, if only loverboy was a little slower on the uptake, you would've been mine."

(Y/n) blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I-It's nothing!" Prompto chimed in with a frantic voice before climbing back onto the vehicle.

"Anyway," Aranea mounted the snowmobile, sitting behind the blonde boy. "You're that nutjob-of-a-scientist's guardian, right? Got any idea where to go from here?"

"There is an annex research facility not far from here. I can lead the way," (Y/n) said.

"Then let's get moving."

The spirit transformed, her warm paws melting the snow around them. Taking the lead, she guided them away from Decratom Haven. When they arrived, she lowered her large form behind a boulder. Aranea remained by her side while Prompto took out the soldiers near the watchtower. Once they were dead, he went up to the top of the watchtower and grabbed one of the sniper rifles on the weapons rack.

Aiming the sniper rifle, Prompto took down many of the soldiers by utilizing the explosive barrels in the vicinity. After taking out more enemies, he was discovered by one of the imperial troopers and dove behind a wooden box to avoid their bullets.

(Y/n) and Aranea heard the frantic cries of the imperial troopers as they came running towards the watchtower. They both sprung into actions and joined the fray, stopping the soldiers from reaching Prompto. The fox swatted them away while Aranea used her lance to impale them. The marksman kept shooting from his vantage point, killing the final enemy. With the area outside the security gate cleared, he ran down the stairs and regrouped with his companions.

Proceeding to the sealed gate, Prompto wandered into a small building nearby and found the controls. He opened the large gate, allowing them to enter the inner courtyard. Crossing the threshold, they were immediately attacked by soldiers and an MA Veles.

Aranea and Prompto dealt with the imperial troopers while (Y/n) took it upon herself to fend off the mech. She dodged its missiles before leaping onto its metallic body. Using her tails, she yanked both of its arms out of its sockets and tossed them aside. Sparks shot out of the joints before it fell to the ground. Hopping off its body, she latched onto one of its legs and used her strength to toss it into a group of soldiers. When it exploded, it took out the rest of the enemies in the area.

"Oh-ho, nicely done, (Y/n)!" Prompto cheered, lowering his submachine gun. The fox was overjoyed to hear some form of delight from him. It reminded her of the time they were with Noctis and the others.

"You sure I can't have her, blondie?" Aranea asked, dispelling her lance.

"No way, not in a million years. She means way too much to me."

Aranea smirked at his declaration as the guardian changed forms. (Y/n) was smiling at Prompto's words as they headed towards the blast door. The guardian used the control panel to open the door. "I'm...a little surprised I remember the code."

"Wish my memory was that good," Aranea commented. "Let's go."

Entering the facility, they walk down a long, sloping corridor. It was dimly lit, making it almost impossible to see their surroundings.

"According to my intel, they're housing the new model here," the silver-haired woman explained.

"It's some kind of magitek armor, right? What's so "new" about it?" Prompto inquired.

"This one's got a ghost in the machine: Chief Besithia himself. Managed to fuse his soul with the core. No wonder you're still alive, firefly."

Prompto suddenly came to a stop. He eyed the ex-mercenary, unsure what she meant. "Why wouldn't (Y/n) be alive?"

"She's told you about her kind, right?" Aranea remarked, coming to a halt a few feet behind the boy. "A guardian dies if their master is killed. If Chief Besithia's little experiment failed, she wouldn't be standing here right now."

The spirit covered her gemstone with a sigh. "His physical form is gone, but his soul remains inside his newest creation."

Prompto had forgotten all about that part. His heart was racing in fear. "Th-Then if we destroy the machine, we'll kill (Y/n)...?"

The spirit spoke up to try and assuage his concern. "We don't know that for sure, Prompto. I'm a mere imitation of a deceased guardian. It's possible I'm no longer bound to Verstael's soul."

"It sounds like you've already prepared yourself for the consequences, firefly," Aranea stated.

She hung her head. "I was prepared many years ago..."

"I'm not going to do this if it means risking (Y/n)'s life!" Prompto bellowed.

"Then you better hightail it out of here, blondie," the older woman remarked. "Guess you really can't send a man to do a woman's job."

Before Prompto could argue, the guardian intervened. "This isn't a time to argue. I know the consequences and am willing to go through with this. Whether we're the ones who destroy the machine or someone else, we'll find out the truth one way or another."

"But (Y/n)—!" Prompto tried to protest.

"If you can't go through with this, I don't blame you. But Verstael must be stopped. I'm sorry, Prom..." She walked past him and headed towards the elevator located at the end of the corridor.

The boy stared at her until Aranea clapped him on the back. He turned his gaze away from his beloved and towards the older woman as she spoke. "Listen, this won't be easy for either of you, but she's right. Whether it be now or later, that machine will be destroyed. It'll be only a matter of time before the truth is revealed. So you with us or gonna run away with your tail between your legs?"

"I...I don't want to lose her," he whimpered.

"Sometimes you don't get a say. Just stay by her side for as long as you can."

Reluctantly, Prompto nodded. He followed Aranea down to the lift. (Y/n) summoned the elevator and they stepped aboard it once it reached the top. As they rode it down, the ex-mercenary said, "The daemons this guy created destroyed Insomnia. If we don't take him out now, he's liable to destroy the whole world."

"He truly has become a monster," (Y/n) muttered.

"Don't tell me he once had a sweet side."

"You might not believe it, but he did."

"You're right, I don't believe it," Aranea commented.

"Not surprised," the guardian chuckled.

Prompto fiddled with his fingers. He pushed their earlier conversation to the back of his mind and asked the one question that was nagging him. "Did you...love him?"

She had a feeling this exact question would arise sooner or later. "I didn't love him like I love you. It was more of a brother-sister bond, but Verstael believed we were much more than that. That's why he was so determined to recreate me."

"But aren't he and I...the same person?"

"You may share the same face, same DNA, but you're both opposite sides of the same coin. Verstael and I had a rocky relationship at the beginning. He was convinced he didn't need me, but he soon realized he was wrong. He never showed me as much kindness as you did, Prompto. You both are so different it boggles my mind..."

Prompto placed a hand over his mouth with a gasp as he remembered Verstael's appearance. "Oh, Six... I'm gonna look horrible when I get old.."

(Y/n) bursted at the seams with laughter. "That's what you're worried about?"

"Can't a guy worry about not aging like fine wine?"

"Just try not to linger on it."

The trio step off the elevator once the door slides open. They wander into a circular room illuminated with red lights. Passing through it, they move to the hallway located on the other side of the room. Walking down it, they hear an eerie sound somewhat like a mechanical howl.

Prompto swallowed in fear. "What was that sound?"

"Our cue to go," Aranea replied.

At the end of the short hallway were metal doors. They slid open when they stepped towards them. Entering a large room, they were immediately spotted by a defense node. The loudspeaker came to life with a familiar computerized voice. "Targets detected. Eliminate immediately. Commence elimination of compromised units."

On the metal catwalk above, imperial troopers used their rifles to shoot at the trio. Prompto was able to get a few shots in, but the soldiers were using railing's metal plates as cover. They located a flight of steps to the second level, killing any troopers blocking their path.

Prompto picked up weapon after weapon to deal with the enemies. Aranea used her lance to pierce soldier after solider while (Y/n) wielded the Creator's Blade to slice them in half. When they thought they'd kill the last soldier, MTs poured into the large room.

Prompto threw a grenade at the group of MTs who were on the first level from the catwalk. He watched in satisfaction as they exploded into pieces, but frowned when seeing two of them escaped the proximity of the bomb. (Y/n) ran past him and vaulted over the railing. She landed in a squat before charging forward with her sword by her side. She cut down the two remaining MTs on the first level. Aranea and Prompto continued to fight against the enemies on the second level.

Killing the last MT triggered the third wave of enemies. They poured into the large room just like the second wave. Prompto and Aranea joined (Y/n) on the first floor after dealing with the enemies on the second one. As they sliced through another group of MTs and soldiers, an MA Hoplomachus rounds the corner from the rear of the room. It was the last enemy they needed to face.

"You going to turn this one into a chew toy too, firefly?" Aranea asked.

"I'd rather not. Metal doesn't taste very good," (Y/n) answered.

"I've got us covered!" Prompto shouted as he grabbed a nearby bazooka. He aimed it at the mech and fired every missile loaded inside it. Each missile hit its mark, but it wasn't enough to destroy the MA Hoplomachus. Aranea and (Y/n) performed a synchronized attack, stunning the boy and tearing down the mech. The women jumped back just in time to avoid the explosion.

"Wha–when did you two get to practice that?" Prompto asked in amazement.

"Never did. Firefly and I are just in perfect sync," Aranea said. "You better keep her close or I'll take her from right under your nose, shortcake."

"Hey," (Y/n) chimed in before pointing to the back area of the large room. "There's a set of doors we can try."

Passing through the metal doors, they entered a hallway. Down a smaller hallway to their left, they found a pair of Ebony vending machines. The spirit sauntered over to them and peered through the glass. "Isn't this the stuff Ignis loves?"

"Oh, definitely," Prompto said.

"Let's take a quick breather," Aranea advised. She leaned against one of the vending machines, crossing her arms.

(Y/n) sat on the floor beside the machine with a huff, her back leaning against the wall. She reclined her head against the wall, closing her eyes for a few seconds. Prompto sat beside her, one leg propped up while the other was stretched out in front of him. He took her hand, trailing his thumb over her knuckles. Her head rolled against the wall until it fell and landed on his shoulder. "You okay, Prom?"

"Still worried, is all," he mumbled.

"About what?"

"Everything."

"I can't promise anything, but I do pray I'm still here once we deal with Verstael."

Prompto leaned his head against hers. "That's what I'm worried about the most."

"I really wish I could comfort you, Prom," she sighed melancholically. "But I don't want to feed you lies."

He ceased caressing her knuckles and laced his fingers with hers. "I'll just have to make every moment count then. And if everything's okay in the end, I'm gonna hug you and never let go."

She giggled. "You won't hear me complaining."

The couple fell silent and rested their weary bodies, unaware of the tough battles that waited ahead.

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist

[timextoxhajima]

Playlist Feels

Member: *in small* mingi (but the energy isn’t very small in this one i promise you)

Genre: bad boy/gangster/protective boyfriend mingi (film diary feels), high school break up? LIGHT smut (i’ll try)

Word Count: 2.9k

A/N: i did NOT expect myself to use mingi for my first smut post and i’m not entirely BIG on writing explicit, overwhelming stuff so bear with me ;_;

"yah-- i think you need to come see this." yunho runs into the classroom, catching you at your desk that was right next to the door. students outside were starting to create a fuss, and you could hear hurried foot steps rush down the halls.

"there's a fight in 4-A!"

"palli palli!"

“if this is about him, i don’t want shit to do with it--”

“please.”

you frown at yunho's urgent expression, before he clasps his hands together and begs you with his eyes. you roll your eyes with frustration, nearly slamming your palms on the table to push yourself off your seat and follow behind yunho's large steps.

before you could even reach the classroom, there were already a bunch of students crowded outside. yunho's yelling at them to get out of the way only brought attention to you, and you couldn't help but to feel everybody's eyes shift between you and the commotion inside.

yunho shoves his way through the crowd, creating a path for you to move through as well. yunho rushes into the classroom, hurriedly intercepting the commotion while you look on with horror.

"hajima!" yunho stops mingi before he gives another blow to the other student rolling on the floor in pain. seonghwa and hongjoong rush to the one on the floor, while it takes san, wooyoung, yeosang and yunho to stop mingi from lunging forward.

you look around the classroom for jongho, the only one who's probably physically strong enough to hold mingi back, but the boy was missing, probably ran off to look for a teacher or something.

"look at her one more time and i'll kill you!" mingi's deep voice booms through the classroom, his volume high enough for it to ring through the hallways and attract more unwarranted attention. four boys were barely enough, because mingi was still trying to break free from yunho's hold. san and wooyoung were busy trying to push him backwards and yeosang was the only thing blocking mingi's view of the guy on the floor.

one of mingi's arms break free from yunho's grasp and he was so quick that he was already in yeosang's face. amongst all the yelling, shoving and pushing, you stormed up and stood right in front of yeosang, adding onto the human barrier.

mingi stops dead in his tracks like a deer in headlights, allowing yunho to grab his arms again while san and wooyoung keep their hold on his torso and shoulder. he looks down at you, allowing you to take notice of the almost-bleeding bruise on his right cheekbone.

"what are you doing?"

the side of mingi's nose twitches at your question. it was the authorial tone that made him realise that he had caused a fuss.

"song mingi, i asked you a question."

he looks away angrily, chest huffing from the brawl. he purses his lips tightly, violently shaking himself free from yunho's grasp and pushing both wooyoung and san's hands off him. they reluctantly back off a little, knowing that mingi wouldn't move a muscle if you were here.

seonghwa and hongjoong finally get the other boy off the floor, and jongho returns not with a teacher, but a first aid kit.

mingi's eyes were locked on the boy who lost to him in a fight, and you could see his arms trembling from the urge to lunge at him again. mingi takes one small shift in the boy's direction, and it cues you to mirror his movements.

"stop it," you shove his left shoulder with force. mingi looks down at you again, the muscles in the back of his jaw visibly tightening. "you've got nothing to prove by beating him up."

"he had your photos in his phone--"

"he could've gotten it off instagram--"

"he saved them into his phone, you think i would've seen him scrolling through your instagram page but i didn't!"

"even if he did, why do you care? it's none of your damn business anymore!"

mingi's eyes dull at your last statement. it had been easily two months since you and mingi broke up. he still wasn’t used to the way his full name spewed out through your lips instead of what you used to call him. he wasn’t used to the way you avoided a second glance at him. now, all you were to him was a stop button that his friends needed to keep him in check. 

what was the reason you broke up? the same reason why he was involved in this fight. the way mingi's need to protect you turned him into some violent mercenary was scaring you. to the point where he became over protective and even when you were simply talking to yunho, your classmate, mingi never looked at the situation brightly.

everyone at the scene fell silent, some students had their phone cameras facing the situation in the classroom. seonghwa was busy dressing the boy's wounds, hongjoong and jongho rushing through the crowd and warning them to stop filming.

"what good does this do, mingi? you want to protect me but you do it at the expense of my feelings and your safety. just because you're tall doesn't mean you're fucking invincible."

you look straight at his chest, noticing his name tag wasn't straight anymore and the pin was pulling on the material. you turn and look at the boy who was mercilessly beaten up by mingi, and you felt disgusted. this boy had been following you around school after your face appeared on the school's banner outside because you won an award for a written piece of work that was published in some news platform. it didn't help that you were dating mingi at the time and the relationship was slowly being dubbed as the school's prettiest couple.

you got a new stalker nearly a day after news of your break up hit school grounds. 

you hear someone walk up to you from behind, and you saw mingi's eyes shoot daggers at whoever it was who landed his hand on your shoulder.

"you should get him out of here before the teachers come. we'll explain that mingi didn't start it. we'll tell them about your photos in his phone and that he's been following you."

you nod at hongjoong's words, mingi's nostrils flaring up at the reminder that you were the reason your own stalker wasn't in an ambulance now.

"mingi, let's go," you try to hold his hand, but he shifts away at the contact. your head was calm, the anger slowly seeping away, but it broke your heart to see mingi so kept to himself, so angry. he was always happy when he was with you or his friends until someone showed any pinch of interest in you. "mingi, stop being an ass and let's go. we'll have a serious conversation about this, alright?"

mingi hears the sincerity and the small pang of plead in your voice, earning you his attention. mingi looks around him, at the tables and chairs that were messily strewn about the classroom now. he looks at his friends, eyes filled with guilt that he's created such a mess and his friends had to clean it up for him.

"mingi."

you voice visibly slams him back down into this moment.

"let's go. we'll talk about this."

you were lucky the fight was at the end of the day. you wanted to stay in school to study, but after this commotion, there was no way you or mingi could stay on compound without being hunted down by teachers or paparazzi-ed by other students. 

in the year you were with mingi, walking around school like the both of you owned it, mingi never misbehaved when he was with you. besides his friends and you, he wasn’t particularly favoured by teachers or other students. he was a delinquent being taken under your wing, a student whom the school deems as a role model. so, seeing mingi so well behaved when he usually wasn’t came as a surprise to many teachers and students alike. the bigger surprise was when news about you being his girlfriend surfaced.

the dynamics hasn’t changed much though, because you were trailing behind mingi and making sure he was walking in the direction back home. his home. you were worried that he was going to take off all of a sudden, knowing that his long limbs would take him twice the distance your legs would, even with more effort. but never did he once flinch, never did he once look back at you. you don’t think he even had that thought in his head.

all you knew was that he was still angry and upset with your stalker. mingi would’ve killed him back there had nobody stopped him. his balled fists that were stuffed in his pocket gave it all away.

you reach the familiar two-storied bungalow, the exterior of the building reminding you of mingi’s brightest smiles when he was with you. nobody would’ve guessed mingi lived here unless they were close enough to know that he was truly a child at heart. 

you watch as mingi hurls his bag across the edge of his living room, the large glass panels allowing the reflection off the pool water to blanket the surface of the marble floor. he pulls off his uniform blazer and dumps himself on the sofa, looking up at you with stone cold eyes. 

you sigh with a frown cemented into your forehead, placing your bag nicely against the side of the sofa. how am i going to knock sense into him if he’s still this angry?

“mingi, i--”

“i only have one question to ask and you only need to answer it honestly,” mingi’s low voice rumbles through your head. you felt your brow twitch and your hands start to sweat. you folded your arms across your chest, tightening the school blazer around your shoulders. 

“was that one year nothing to you?”

you glared at him with a mix of emotions. how shallow of him to think that it was easy to break up with him... but you couldn’t give in. he’ll never change.

“you’re right. it was nothing.” your frown disappears and you tilt your head to the side. you hated to say it, because you don’t mean it. but you could tell that it crushed mingi. the way his eyes flashed when you said it didn’t mean anything gave his feelings away. 

“really?” mingi stands up. “so all that talk about me becoming a better person and you helping me with that... it was for nothing?” 

you felt your brow twitch again, your chest suddenly starting to feel tight. mingi was well aware you hated the height difference between the two of you, because it was the only thing that reminded you that he was the one who gave in to you. he chose to let you have control over him, otherwise, you would’ve always been on the losing end. 

you gulp as you watched mingi take small, slow steps toward you, his hands in his pockets. there was a mess of thread around the material on his chest where the name tag was supposed to be. his white uniform was supposed to be buttons up all the way to the top with a tie, but since the break up, he’s never worn his tie once. 

he was now looking straight into your soul, almost like looking for a hint that you were lying. you were great at it, because you needed it to prevent mingi from breaking out into any angry phases, so you were sure it was going to take mingi a lot besides staring at you to tell if you were lying. 

you sucked in a deep breath so hard that your nostrils turned sour at the cool air in the bungalow. mingi was now barely a metre away from you, the height difference getting more painfully obvious, the ache from the angle your neck needed to tilt backwards becoming difficult to ignore. 

“was it?” mingi raised his arm and landed his palm on the wall next to your head, forcing you to shift back toward it and finally break eye contact at the lack of space. you just lost a fight you never had a chance of winning. 

you felt a chill run down your spine upon the contact with the wall, mingi’s tall physique fully covering yours. anybody standing behind mingi wouldn’t be able to see you at all. you turn away, looking at the corner where the wall joins with the large front door. you could feel mingi’s breathing getting heavier on your left ear, the sensation telling you that he was leaning forward. 

“i think you should know that you can’t lie when you’re panicking.”

you shut your eyes tightly, begging your heart to stop throbbing like crazy in your chest and the sweat to stop forming on your forehead. you felt the space before your face open up, only to feel mingi’s head press against your chest, right below the knot of your tie. 

you wince softly, at the physical contact, knowing that he was only doing this to soften you and dig you out of your cold exterior. you knew he would never hurt you, but it was this side of him that he never showed in school when he was with you. you were the one with authority in everybody’s eyes, but it was only because mingi allows it.

“oh, my girl...” you could already imagine the smirk that formed on his face when he heard your heart rate skyrocketing. “stop panicking. you can’t lie when you panic.”

you gritted your teeth and turn your head to look up at the ceiling. mingi pulls away and stands up straight, watching you turn your head to the side again. desperation was written all over your face and your stiff posture did not do anything to help your case. he already knew you lost and had given up keeping up your emotionless facade. 

“no,” he shakes his head and pulls your chin back towards him. “look at me.”

you saw your own reflection in his eyes as he studied your face, a small smirk creeping up on the side of his lips, knowing that his simple but bold gestures had ridden you of any will to fight with him, psychologically. 

“an honest answer,” mingi’s eyes traveled from your lips to your eyes, both his arms that caged you never faltering. “so i’ll ask again.”

“was that one year for nothing?”

you breathed like you were about to cry and reluctantly, you shook your head. mingi’s eyes softened the moment he picked up on your movements. a few moments of tense and awkward atmosphere hung in the air between the two of you, before he crashed his lips onto yours, hungrily taking in the sweet taste of you that he had missed in the last two months. 

your head was capable of convincing yourself the hardest things to believe, but your heart won this time round. you were still in love with mingi, and the true reason why you chose to broke up with him was because you couldn’t bear to see him hurt himself by getting into fights with other people. 

mingi pulls away from your face, grabbing your arms and wrapping them around his shoulders while he lowered himself to make it easier for you. “then why leave me?” 

“i didn’t want you to get hurt over me--” your breath hitched in your throat as he dips his nose into your neck, feeling his lips press into your soft, sensitive skin. 

“i’m listening.” 

you roll your eyes and shut them tightly, feeling mingi shift all around you but never actually seeing it happen. you felt your blazer loosening as the buttons came undone, and before you knew it, you felt mingi’s fingers play a game of push and pull with the knot of your tie around your collar. 

“i know how you get protective over me... but i couldn’t bear to see you get hurt because of some douchebag who doesn’t know who he should be looking at--” mingi gets the top few buttons of your white button down uniform undone, and the skin of your chest get exposed to the heat between the two of you.

“mingi--”

“do you still love me?”

you open your eyes at the question, looking at his face which belonged to the mingi you recognised. his strong features now displaying the soft, kind mingi he was only when he was with you or his friends. 

“i only asked you if the last one year meant anything. but it doesn’t mean you still love me if you said it meant something...” mingi rests a palm on the wall again, the other hand tracing the edge of your jaw while his thumb brushes over your lower lip. “so if you don’t love me anymore, then i respect it. but if you do, then it’ll be nice if i knew.”

you knew you couldn’t say it, because it just wasn’t your thing. so instinctively, you wrap your arms tighter around his shoulders to pull him in. you could only hope that he managed to decode the answer in the way you kissed him like you’ve never done before. 

[team-free-will-you-idjits-67]

This Crazy Life (Part 10)

DESCRIPTION: Your life changed the moment Jared Padalecki walked through the doors of your shit job, in your shit town. You helped him as much as you could, becoming extremely close. (Characters, Warnings, etc. will change per part.)

CHARACTERS: Jared Padalecki, Waiter, Reader

RELATIONSHIP: Eventual Jared Padalecki x Reader

WORD COUNT: 1458

WARNINGS: Some more fluff and a slow burn.

A/N: Ayyo, another part. Sorry I’ve been taking a long time between posts. 

TAGLISTMASTERLIST / JARED PADALECKI MASTERLIST / PART 9

 After your shower, you dressed quickly and put on a quick makeup look. You weren’t sure what the boys plans were for the night so you decided being comfortable was more important than anything after travelling all night. You tugged on your Pearl Jam band tee, flannel and jeans before checking over your reflection in the mirror one last time before exiting the bathroom.

The bathroom door swung open as you gathered your dirty clothes from the floor and walked out into the room. Jared was snoring softly on the bed, in the position he was in before you went in and showered. You giggled at the slumbering giant as you pulled your phone out of your bag, placing it at the foot of the bed next to Jared’s. 

You tapped on your screen and sighed at the flood of social media notifications and text messages that plastered the screen. You scrolled through your texts, landing on a frantic text from your mother. 

-Did you land? Are you okay? Are you back in the states? Please answer me honey. 

You bit your lip as you typed a message back to your mother. 

-Sorry mom. Yes, we landed and we’re at the hotel. Travelling was kind of crazy and we just settled down and this is the first time I’ve checked my phone since we left Vancouver. 

You scrolled through other text messages, replying to friends and family who were checking up on you or had questions. Since moving in with Jared, you had been kind of MIA from everything and everyone. Close friends knew that you moved away but not for what and with who. You were trying to keep your life kind of secretive. You wanted to enjoy your move and your time with Jared without gossip and speculations clouding things. 

But, now that peace was going to be cut short. 

You were sure it wouldn’t be long until the photos paparazzi took at the airport would leak online with a title that would be something like ‘Padalecki Moves on Quick with Young Mystery Girl’ or ‘Padalecki and Mystery Girl: The Reason for the Padalecki Divorce?’

You could already see all the fan theories flooding social media about you and Jared.

“Y/N? Are you okay?” Jared said as he sat up from the bed, breaking you from your internal turmoil. 

“Huh?” You paused, staring at him wide-eyed. “Oh, yeah. I just, I got thinking about those paparazzi taking pictures at the airport.” 

“What about them?” He stood up and walked towards you, concerned. 

You shrugged, “They’re going to spark a lot of talk, Jare.” You sighed, “The peace we had these last couple months will be gone.” 

He opened his arms and pulled you into his chest, “It’ll be okay. Like you said, it will be hyped up for a little while but it’ll die down afterwards. I can always have my manager deal with things to help with the media coverage too.” He rubbed your back reassuringly, “Don’t worry, everything will be okay.” 

A knock on your door startled you both, causing you to jump away from each other. “Jared! Y/N! Get out here!” You heard Jensen bellow from the other side of the door. 

You both chuckled as Jared walked to the door and opened it for Jensen. “Sup Ackles,” you said with a nod.

Jensen looked between you and Jared, “Misha’s panel is about to start. We gotta go man.” 

Jared nodded, “Okay. I have to change real quick and we can all head down.” 

Jensen looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist as Jared shook his head and laughed. He grabbed his bag and disappeared into the bathroom. 

You pulled out your phone again, checking for any new notifications when Jensen cleared his throat, “How are you doing?” 

You looked up towards him with a furrowed brow, “What do you mean?” 

Jensen sat down on the bed, “I mean, it’s a lot. The more you hangout with Jared and the more you’re in his life, the more things like the paparazzi at the airport will happen.” 

You ran a hand through your damp hair, “I’m not going to lie, it freaks me out.” Jensen nodded as he listened to you intently, “But,” you looked towards the bathroom door, “I really can’t imagine my life without that big dork. I need him as much as he needs me.” 

He stood from the bed and placed a hand on your shoulder with pursed lips, “I’m glad he has you.” He removed his hand and walked towards the bed, chuckling. “I was hesitant about you at first, being a fan and all. But, you’ve really surprised me. I can’t always be with him, but you are. I appreciate it.” 

“Wh-,” Jared opening the bathroom door cut your conversation short. 

“You guys ready?” 

You nodded eagerly. “I’m more than ready.” You stopped dead in your tracks, “Wait. How am I going to get into the convention? I don’t have tickets.” 

Jared ran a hand through his hair with a smile, “Don’t worry about that. We’ll give you exclusive backstage access.” 

You rolled your eyes playfully as you followed them out into the hallway. The boys talked and laughed throughout the hotel, putting their plan together on how they wanted to crash Misha’s panel. 

In minutes, you were down on the convention floor, walking towards the hotel reception hall. Misha’s voice softly floated through the halls and got louder the closer to the stage you got. 

A handler rushed towards the boys, “Jared! Jensen! What a surprise. You’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow.” 

Jensen chuckled, “Yeah, we know. But we wanted to surprise everyone,” he leaned towards her with a hand covering the right side of his face, “especially Misha.” 

She shook her head as the boys chuckled to themselves and you giggled along with them. Your giggle caught her attention, causing her to crane her neck around them, “Who’s your guest? We didn’t know someone was going to be coming with you guys. Does she have a ticket?” 

Jared shook his head, “She doesn’t but she’s with me so she’s fine. She’ll wait backstage.” 

The handler bit on her bottom lip, “Okay.” She sighed, “I’ll make sure that she gets a badge, go ahead boys.” 

They nodded and trudged along, heading backstage in hushed, gleeful whispers. Other handlers met up with the boys. They whispered their plans to them, causing them to giggle along and hand the boys microphones. 

Jensen stood at the curtain, looked back at Jared and threw a thumbs up to see if Jared was ready. Jared looked towards you, mimicking Jensen’s thumbs up towards you, seeing if you were going to be okay. You nodded at him. He turned towards Jensen with a small smile and nodded quickly. 

The boys burst through the curtain while Jensen yelled into the microphone, “Hello Minneapolis!” 

“Oh come on!” Misha yelled back. “Why are you two doing here?” 

Jared giggled into the mic, “Didn’t think this week at work was weird? We didn’t mess with you in any scenes?” 

“Ugh!” Misha roared. “Of course I thought it was weird, but I enjoyed the peace!” 

“You should know us better than that man.” Jensen chuckled into the mic, “We always have to mess with you.” 

The handler from when you all walked in together came up behind you, putting a hand on your back as she held out your pass beside you, “Here. That way, no one will question you when you aren’t with the boys.” 

You took the badge gingerly from her hand and smiled, “Thank you.” 

She nodded as she turned on her heel and walked away briskly. 

You listened and giggled along with the audience as the boys talked, joked and poked fun at each other. After talking for about 30 minutes, the boys started answering questions. Some fans had cute and fun questions like asking for stories about the kids and what animals the boys would be. Others though, asked some deep and thoughtful questions, almost stumping the boys. Too soon, Misha’s panel ended and the boys filed off the stage. 

Jared immediately walked towards you with an extended arm, “How are you doing?” He asked as he wrapped his arm around your shoulder. 

You chuckled, “I’m good, Jare.” You craned your neck to look at his face, “How are you doing?” 

He pulled you closer to him, “I’m great.” He leaned towards your ear and talked in a hushed tone, “I have you here. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

You giggled and shook your head as Misha and Jensen walked towards you both. “So,” Misha said as he rubbed his hands together, “You guys want to go get drinks?” 

tags:

FOREVER TAGS:

@emoryhemsworth , @nanie5 , @gabrielslittleangel, @alexwinchester23 , @witch-of-letters , @caswinchester2000 , @justawaywardwinchester , @thehufflepuffblog , @missihart23 , @spnfamily-alwayskeepfighting, @mogaruke, @supernaturalsammy01, @heyitscam99, @hobby27, @frozenhuntress67, @duskany, @mazie87 , @tumbler-tidbits , @mersuperwholocked-lowlife, @asfanfiction , @emilyshurley , @zephyrie , @ghostshadow1312 , @wholockmerlinlover, @singers-auto, @lokilove3112, @teddybeardoctorr, @sleepylunarwolf, @negans-lucille-tblr

SAM/JARED X READER TAGS:

@andyl394, @rebelminxy, @jointhehunt67 , @xxtheoutsidersxx , @paradoxical-sleep , @stoneyggirl, @smoothdogsgirl

THIS CRAZY LIFE TAGS:

@my-proof-is-you, @somilotopia, @everythingisoverrated, @emilyshurley, @squirrelnotsam , @drakelover78, @mannls, @sillydecoy, @daphne-fandom-writing, @haloliight , @racheladams77, @spn-ficfanatic , @dreaminemz ,

[unholyhelbig]

Scratching at the Door | #HW201

Prompt: Creature Feature/ Cryptids 

Summary: Emily is given a new job at a national state park, where something watches her through the windows, and scratches at the door. 

Read on AO3 here 

Emily could feel her stomach contract as the old Sedona made its way over the packed dirt path. Its giant wheels didn’t’ struggle as much as her pension for keeping her breakfast down. She instinctively grasped at the foam-covered bars that kept tourists seated and tried to will her first meal to stay put.

The yellow paint was chipping away to a rusty red and the logo “Fort Worth Guided Tours” had long ago faded away. They had tried to fix it with a poor attempt at gluing on a plastic design instead, but it was just as bad under the mercy of the sun.

Emily realized she had stopped listening just as they ducked under another canopy of trees. The sun that had been burning her skin raw vanished, if only momentarily, as the ride decided to smooth out.

“Not many people come out here in our offseason,” The woman at the wheel said over the sputtering engine. “Fort Worth is a beauty all year round but it’s more of a summer destination- Gee, you don’t know how glad I am that we found you. The job isn’t too taxing, I promise.”

The girl bit her tongue and laughed nervously. The forest stretched out for miles in front of them; Emily could hear water on all sides of them but hadn’t been able to locate its source yet. The air was beginning to sting against her cheeks and she loosened her death grip on the bars.

She had been staying at a motel right off the highway that smelled strongly of stale cigarettes and off-brand detergent. Someone had tossed a newspaper into the bin by the vending machines and against her better judgment, she pulled it from the old receipts and food wrappers. An ad for a winter caretaker was among the classifieds. Emily jumped on the chance for permanent room and board.

She had fibbed in her initial interview about previous experience; but as Chloe said, it wasn’t a difficult job and both of them took an instant liking to one another. So she considered herself lucky. Emily would fake it until she made it, and by then, the summer season would be in full effect and she could head to whatever small town she threw a dart at on the map next.

Chloe beamed and stepped on the gas a little harder to get over a big dip in the trail. “There are a few people who go fishing on the lake in the early mornings, but most of the time it’s just you and a few other employees. You’ll hardly see them.”

“What exactly am I doing?” Emily asked, holding her breath as Chloe took a sharp corner. She tried not to look at the steep fall to her right. “The ad wasn’t really specific.”

“You just need to keep an eye on the property. The City owns most of this place and they have pretty shallow pockets if you know what I mean. We put almost every other staff member on sabbatical. For the most part, it’s just you and the night shifter.”  

Emily nodded along like she understood and let the rest of the ride go as smoothly as possible until an old cabin came into view. It looked dusty; it’s wood paneling enveloped in the thick forest. There was an old grill and a hammock that had been wrapped inside of itself. The engine cut off entirely, and it made her ears ring.

She could smell the water, and hear the river trickling somewhere west of the structure. Chloe hoisted the one duffel bag out of the backseat and reached with her other hand for the rifle that Emily hadn’t known was there. She had never fired one off before, but that was one of the formalities that she blurred to get this position in the first place.

Her boots crunched on the gravel and she minded her weight on the creaking steps leading to the cabin door more than Chloe did. The door had been painted red at one time, a bloody-pulpy color that had faded away. There were sets of long scratches against the remaining color. Emily moved the pads of her fingers against the gashes and felt a chill run up her arm.

“What made these?” She asked. Chloe glanced up from her task of finding the keys to the cabin. Her crystal eyes reflected green under the trees. She narrowed them and finally grabbed hold of her prize.

“All sorts of animals out on Greer Island. Some of them are more curious than others.” She shoved the rifle into Emily’s hands. It was weighty and smelled old. “That’s why you have this.”

Whatever- free room and board. She could deal with a couple of bears and some daring deer. It was better than the cheap motel room and the scratchy sheets. It was a much better improvement than the backseat of her Toyota. She followed Chloe into the cabin.

A thin layer of dust covered the entire place; there was an old plaid couch and a matching chair that sat adjacent to the grey stone fireplace. A bookshelf devoid of much reading material was pushed against a far wall below a taxidermy bison that looked like it was missing an eye. The place had an open floor plan and lead directly into the kitchen. There were two closed doors that held firmly onto that crimson color.

Chloe set the duffel bag down with a loud thud, Emily felt her fingers clench around the barrel of the gun and her shoulders edge up to her ears. She stifled a profanity and took a few more steps into the little cabin.

“The fridge is fully stocked.” She continued, “I’m out here once a month to restock everything for you. There isn’t much service, but there is a walkie-talkie in the bottom right drawer that has enough power to get to the main cabin. If it’s storming, that’s not the case.”

Emily nodded again and tried to comprehend the quick instructions. Chloe talked too fast, she decided. But she listened eagerly. “What do I do if it storms?”

“Either use that gun or run like hell. You can try both but” Chloe frowned and ran her finger over the edge of the rickety kitchen table and picked up a layer of dirt. “Christ this place is dusty. Anyway, you have four patrols around the lake each day. It takes an hour for each one. Between them, you can do whatever you want except for swim in the water. That’s how you catch something nasty.”

“What exactly am I looking for?”

Chloe shrugged “Anything out of the ordinary. If you see people fishing make sure you check for their license. The date of expiration is on the top right corner. If they’re expired, ask them to leave and radio into the main cabin so they can keep their eyes peeled.”

“Ok.”

“And whatever you do, make sure you finish your last patrol before dark. The sun sets around Six right now but it’ll change to five soon enough. Make sure you have enough firewood and lock the door. Don’t open it until your morning patrol.”

“Ok,” She dragged the word out this time. Something about Chloe’s change in demeanor made her itch uncomfortably. There was a stillness to the air. “Sounds simple enough.”

“Like I said, not too taxing, you can get some writing done up here, I’m sure.” She was beaming again, like the desolate nature of her words hadn’t weighed so heavily on the atmosphere. She dusted her hands off on her jeans and informed Emily that her uniform was in the closet (Which she learned was the door to the left).

“Oh, and Emily?”  

“Yeah, boss?”

Chloe was standing with her hand on the door. She left the metal key they used to enter on the table on the clear spot that was wiped away earlier. Her eyes were that dark and stormy blue again. “Whatever calls to you in the middle of the night ignore it. It’s not real.”

Emily didn’t sleep well that night, despite the four-post bed being the closest thing she’s felt too comfortable in months. Chloe’s words weighed heavily on her, and she locked the three deadbolts that she hadn’t noticed before. She had located the radio and kept that on the nightstand until she fell into a fitful slumber.

The sun rose right at six and her alarm started blaring. She slid on the jacket with Lake Worth’s logo on the breast and the sleeve before following the clearly marked trail towards the water. It was a simple walk and it was too early for her to spot anyone fishing.

She ended up back at the cabin at 7:30 and collapsed in a cold heap on the dusty couch. It was oddly silent and she had two more hours to kill before she had to make the trek again. Chloe was right; she would get a lot of writing done here.

Emily brewed some coffee and downed two cups as she wrote a decent part of her manuscript, papers spread over the kitchen table. The alarm on her watch went off a few minutes before 10:00 am and she made her way back to the lake.

The autumn sun was warm against her cheeks and she decided to enjoy the walk more this time. She breathed in the scent of the season and kept her eyes out for anyone on the water. She checked one fishing license and went on her way.

Her next patrol wasn’t until 3:00 pm so she decided to crack open one of the many books on the shelf. She chose “The Howling” by Gary Brandner and settled onto the couch, getting lost in the cheesy horror novel from the ’60s.

Emily had fallen easily into the routine three days in; she did each patrol but struggled immensely to beat the sunset on her fourth walk around the lake. It was colder and it made her move slower.

The scratching started on the seventh day. Her world had grown colder and she had fallen into an easy routine of walking around the lake. She left the double-barrel rifle next to the front door but made sure the radio was strapped to her belt.

The first night she heard it was no different. She had nearly forgotten Chloe’s foreboding words, but it had become a habit to lock the door at night. She missed the moon and the crisp dark air. But even still, she headed the warning.

Emily had dozed off on the couch with the book at her side. It’s heavy spine hitting the floor startled her awake. The fire she had stoked burned out and her heart pounded in her chest. But that wasn’t what had stirred her, no, it was a dull scratching- barely noticeable if it weren’t for the quiet of the cabin.

She sat up and stared at the door.

It budged at the pure force of the animal on the other side, and Emily figured that she had been reading too much about the occult. As Chloe said, some beasts are more curious than others, and she had dead-bolted everything. She watched the door for a few more tedious moments before crawling into bed.

Emily saw the tracks the next day.

They were unlike any animal she had come across before; long and jaded. It’s nails dug into soft clay earth and trailed right up to her front door. There were fresh slashes in the red paint- and she swallowed back her discomfort.

She had to call the cabin on her fourth walk that day, the sun was setting faster than she cared to admit and she trudged through the icy path. An orange light coated the earth as she thought strangely of the animals around her. The particular animal that started to wait under her window at night, it’s breath fogging the glass. She made it to her porch just as the soft pink of the sky faded to a darker blue, almost black.

Emily had another restless sleep, like her first night in the cabin. There was the same scratching at her door and the radio crackled with feedback next to her. She wondered if anyone else heard the thing past her walls.

Chloe brought her new supplies on the tenth day, stating that the roads were a lot worse than usual and that a big snowfall had cleared out the entire grocery store in town. She presented her with stale bread and some orange juice that had enough pulp to create the fruit that it came from. Her boss stuck around and fried up some eggs.

“The scratches on the door,” Emily started.

Chloe stilled her movements, she had the blunt end of the spatula against the iron skillet. But it was just a beat where she was taken aback, barely noticeable. “Mm, have they been bad?”

“No. I mean, as normal as they can be. What kind of animal sounds like that?”

“We’re not sure. Not one you want to mess with.”

She tipped the pan over and divided the eggs evenly between the two before sitting in the rickety chair across from Emily. She didn’t wait to dig in, shoving a good heaping of the food into her mouth. Emily figured it avoidance.

“You said something about it calling out to me”

Chloe stopped the fork halfway to her mouth, a large glob of yellow yolk splashed into the grooves of the table. She lowered it and sat back in her seat. “Has it?”

“It hasn’t.”

“Good.”

She dropped the subject after that. They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence and Chloe left before the next time Emily had to trudge along the lake. It was getting harder, the colder it was, to get back to the cabin before nightfall. She gripped the radio tighter and let the eggs settle to the bottom of her stomach like rocks.

She put what Chloe said out of her mind until the scratching began again.

Emily had another fitful sleep. The air was growing colder and it made her chest ache. She rose when the sun did and took her first walk around the lake. She spotted two fishermen by the edge of the water and stopped just short of the tree line.

“Howdy,” one of the men said, he reached instinctively for his wallet, and Emily, drowsy from sleep, thanked him. “You’re new.”

“You’re out here a lot?”

She checked both of their licenses and watched as they effortlessly slid them back into one of their pockets. The sky was overcast and there was an odd stillness to the water. The man who had stayed quiet smiled widely and nodded. The fishhooks on his hat clinked together.

“Oh yeah, all the time. Most people don’t like to be out here in the cold but we love it. Fewer tourists and people trying to get a look at that dumb lake monster, they simply scare him off if you ask me.”

The other man shoved a pointed elbow into his friend “You know that shit ain’t real. It’s a money pit. Hell, they have shirts and bumper stickers. It’s nothing but a legend.”

“No, remember Mike? It hopped down from the trees an’ slashed all four of his tires. That’s why his hair is grey.”

“Mike Granger? His hair is grey because he’s an old lying bastard.”

Emily watched the exchange with wide eyes. She didn’t know much about this sleepy little town. She had pulled into the motel in the late hours and only spoke with one woman. Her voice was husky from years of smoking and the only vacancy sign in the place buzzed like a trapped fly. She should have paid more attention- should have eaten at a diner or asked Chloe more questions, even if she didn’t get the answers she wanted.

“I’m sorry… monster?”

Both men stopped their arguing and stared at her. She waited as her breath pooled past her lips. They were dried and cracked and tasted like blood. The taller one cocked an eyebrow and sent a narrow glance at his friend.

“Now, surely you didn’t take this job without knowing the Lake Worth Monster.”

She shrugged dejectedly “I’m afraid I did.”

“It’s a big hairy beast. Half goat, half-man, some bloke even said he can shapeshift. It’s got scales too and apparently claws long enough to slice tires. It’s been around since 1969 and our little town has capitalized on it since then. Like I said, a complete marketing scheme.”

Emily hugged her jacket closer and nodded. She thanked both of the men and continued on her way. She didn’t stop until she was back at her cabin. Her breath was shallow and she knelt down to stare at the long scratches on the door.

She struggled to put the beast out of her mind, to forget what the two strangers had said. She had checked and then double-checked the locks but still, she worried. Her eyes trained themselves on the ceiling and she listened as something crawled below her bedroom window.

Emily woke the next morning to the radio crackling. She reached for it blindly. “Hmm?”

“Emily, do you copy?”

“I copy.”

“I know it’s early. There’s been an accident. I need you to meet the sheriff down on the south side of the lake.”

Emily sat up and cursed herself for the quick movement as stars danced against her eyes. She pressed her palm against her forehead and blinked hard until they faded away. She squeezed the radio and told Chloe that she understood, even though she didn’t.

She saw the caution tape and the flashing lights that looked brighter under the half-risen sun. The sheriff was a tall woman with dirty blonde hair and soft pink lips. She was bundled up more than Emily and stood with her boots at the edge of the icy hardened shore. There was an overturned boat and the crackling of a radio other than hers.

“Emily, I presume?”

She nodded and her head was spinning “What’s all of this about?”

“Two fishermen are missing to the public.”

“What does that mean?”

“As far as anyone else knows, they’re just missing.” The sheriff grimaces and fixes her hat. “They were mutilated.”

Emily swallowed the dark feeling in her stomach. “By what?”

“You mean who?”

“Yeah, yes. By who?”

Emily didn’t’ mean by who; she meant what she had said and the sheriff stared at her as if she were to head back to the cabin and never speak of it again. Did this town have a vow of silence in the winters? She sheepishly kicked at the gravelly sand and listened as the woman spoke evenly.

“We don’t know. We were hoping that you had seen something but Chloe explained that you wouldn’t have. Said you were really good at your job and the time that these men were killed doesn’t line up with one of your patrols. I still wanted to speak to you.”

She could smell the blood and the way it mixed with the black water and looming fog. She wondered if they didn’t’ follow the rules and hadn’t gotten inside before the sun moved behind the horizon. This was the price to pay, for insolence.

Emily answered the remaining questions that the sheriff had before trudging back to the cabin. This time, she didn’t’ stop to feel the scratches on the door. This time she slammed it behind her and flopped onto the couch. She must have fallen asleep.

It was nearly dark, and she was late by the time she woke up. She had missed both of her midday patrols and wasn’t about to miss the fourth. Her body ached from the uncomfortable position she had winded up in. Emily slid on the jacket and thought twice before grasping at the shotgun behind her. It’s weight nearly throwing her off.

She was tired and the air was buzzing with electricity. There was a storm brewing and half of her knew that the rain would come down as slush instead of simple water. The twilight sky had clouds blocking a half-moon.

Emily had a job to do, and she wasn’t about to lose this one like she had the others. She had convinced herself, in the few weeks of solitude, that the manuscripts were coming along nicely because of the environment and the way she could listen to her own breath and the sounds of the cabin settling.

The sheriff and the boat, and the horrid scent of dried blood had been swept away with the wind. She kept further away from the shore, only stalling for a moment as the color in the sky began to fade away to black.

Emily didn’t know why she stopped. Why she listened to the ripples hit the shore and her own stilted steps against the sand. Her toes were numb, two pairs of socks not enough to keep the cold at bay. She recalled a conversation she had with Chloe the second time she dropped off supplies. This time she brought Emily a notebook and some pens- a few books about the Holocaust to lighten the mood.

It wasn’t a funny joke, but she chuckled anyway. “Thank you for taking this job, Emily. I’ve really taken a liking to you, you know?”

“I like you too, Chloe.”

She had flipped through the pages of the book and faired that if she got really desperate, she would give them a shot. She wasn’t’ much into history and neither was Chloe, seeing as she left them here with not much care.

“You been hearing weird things at night?”

“No,” She lied, setting the book on the step next to her “Whatever it was must have gotten bored enough.”

Chloe nodded and smiled before climbing back into her dusty yellow jeep and heading off to her next destination. Emily sat on the porch and watched her go. She breathed in the musty scent of the trees around her and flexed her fingers. Emily had made up her mind a few nights ago.

She wasn’t sure if she should watch the sun settle behind Lake Worth. If she should plant her feet in the sand and wait until whatever it was that wanted her came. A bit of caution tape was left behind, its plastic hissed in the wind so loud that she nearly didn’t hear the twig breaking.

Chloe had been hiding something; and as foolish as it was, Emily needed to know what. Those men, those that had settled onto the rocky lake with the intention of fishing had to be one of many. One of maybe thousands. Her morbid curiosity was too much.

Emily heard it before she saw it. She waited for something and nothing all at once, her breath solidifying in front of her as night finally fell. She hadn’t seen the way the sky lit up with stars all at once- but she enjoyed it now. Her eyes traced the constellations.

She clenched her eyes shut until those stars appeared within her mind and the sound of the water lapping at stones and sand and dirt moved over her ears. Almost too loud for her to hear it. Almost. Emily felt the heat of its sour breath on her shoulder, and even from where she stood, she knew it towered.

Emily drew in a cold, ragged breath and she tightened the grip on a gun, she didn’t even know how to use.

[urwelcomeforthis]

out of the ash, i rise

also posted on AO3

Alex doesn’t notice it, at least not at first.

In her defense, she – everyone, really – was exhausted.

It had taken a lot of time and effort and energy to figure out what Lex Luthor was up to in this new world, and then they had to stop him and it was a whole ass group effort, and it was one of the most draining things she had ever done.

But in the end, they had done it, and a lot of things were explained along the way.

Brainy’s sudden break up with Nia in order to protect her, so he could pretend to be a double agent while actually being a triple agent.

If she tries to think about that one too hard, her brain starts to hurt a little, but in the end, he was on their side, was obviously and desperately in love with Nia, and they were working it out, so whatever, that’s a nice ending.

Andrea Rojas being a weird shadow thing and enforcing arm for Leviathan? Wholly unexpected but apparently being shady as shit came with being a CEO in National City.

Although if Alex cares to admit it to herself the other female CEO of National City had been the one who really won it for them all.

She was glad, that in the end, Lena Luthor had been a force for good.

The surprise on Lex’s face when Lena had shown her hand was maybe one of the best things Alex had ever seen.

The look on Kara’s face when Lena, brain hooked up to the same machine as Lex, had fallen to her knees, lasting only moments longer than Lex himself, was decidedly one of the worst.

The newspapers had all heralded Lena as a hero, and they were right, she was.

Her sacrifice wouldn’t be forgotten, not by anyone.

Particularly not by Supergirl, who had shown more raw emotion in that moment, projected on screens around the world, than anyone had ever seen displayed by her or her cousin.

The picture of Kara on her knees reaching for Lena as a blood curdling scream of agony fell from her lips accompanied every single article.

It had been weeks now, and Kara was still sullen and desolate at the loss of her best friend, but she still showed up to work, still performed her duties.

Alex was just too tired to realize that it was more than just the loss of a friend, and that something in Kara’s behavior was…... off.

So, when Kelly, one night at dinner carefully asks Alex where it is that Kara has been disappearing to every night, she could honestly kick herself.

She sat, fork loaded with food frozen halfway to her open mouth, as her brain ran over every time she had seen Kara in the past few weeks.

Kelly, to her credit, sat and patiently let Alex work her way to the dawning realization that she hadn’t seen Kara once at night since the Lex ordeal, receiving mumbled excuses about articles when sister nights or game nights were cancelled on.

She lowered her fork down to her plate.

Kelly just reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a solid squeeze.

For the next three nights she does everything she can think of to try and get Kara to come over to watch a movie, or have dinner, but all she receives are halfhearted excuses and quick “I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?’ replies, but she never presses her sister.

Something about the look in Kara’s eyes stops her from asking.

Instead, she does something far dumber, ducking her eyes from her girlfriend’s when she reveals her plan, not wanting to see the way they roll.

It’s how she finds herself in a lead lined van at 8 p.m. every night, following the dot on the screen that is Kara, the tracker in her glasses lit up in green.

Kara always goes to the DEO’s desert facility. Alex isn’t entirely sure what happens there, to make the green dot disappear every single night, but she has an idea.

It takes her a week to work up the courage to follow her sister to the facility, waiting until the tracker goes dormant to walk down into the most secure reaches of the building.

Placing her palm on the coded security panel, she walks into the room that houses one of the two portals to Argo.

It isn’t shimmering with energy when she enters, but she can feel the warmth that radiates off of the coils and she finally knows where it is her sister disappears to every single night.

She tries to fight the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that for the first time she’s not enough for Kara, that this life and their family isn’t where she’s been going to seek comfort, but still.

It would be a lie to say it doesn’t twinge, a little.

She turns on her heel and heads home, chews the inside of her cheek raw trying to formulate the next part of her plan.

Like all Danvers Sister plans however, it falls apart the moment she sees Kara and decides to just wing it.

“I know you’ve been going to Argo.” She blurts the moment the two are alone together in a room in J’onn’s Tower.

Kara just blinks slowly at her, not denying it, not confirming it, not saying a damn thing.

The silence is thick, and Alex fidgets, chastising herself for her impulsiveness.

“Do you know why?” Kara asks, voice low when she finally breaks the silence and Alex lifts both shoulders in a desolate shrug.

“I – is it because you need your mom? I know I haven’t been the best sister lately, or maybe ever, but-” she shuts up the moment Kara holds a single hand in the air to stop her, eyes blazing.

“You have always been the best sister so please never say that again. And I did need my mom, but not for what you think.”

Alex tries to not ask more, tries to ignore the relief flooding through her that it’s not because Kara has finally done the one thing Alex has always feared most, that she hasn’t decided to leave Earth behind to go back to her first home.

Kara studies Alex for a long moment before nodding once, obviously having decided something.

“Meet me tonight at the portal at 8.”

Alex nods, her eyes staying on Kara’s retreating form before she’s out of sight.

She doesn’t tell anyone where she and Kara are going. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t but something in Kara’s reticence to even tell her makes her stop short, telling Kelly instead they’re finally having a long-needed sister’s night.

Kelly, always intuitive beyond what anyone else realizes, hugs Alex hard before she goes, requests that she be careful.

It doesn’t escape either of them that she’s not wearing the weapon J’onn gave her when she promises she will be and walks out the door.

She and Kara don’t speak as they wait for the portal to hum to life, but Alex casts small sideways glances at her sister as they stand there, shoulder to shoulder.

Her sister’s jaw is set, shoulders thrown back, entire body tense.

Alex can’t help but be nervous at whatever is awaiting them on the other side but still she remains silent.

The pink waves of the portal flicker into being and they step through together, the heat and light from the red sun invading every bit of Alex’s senses.

“Follow me.” Kara directs as they step down onto the gravel path in front of them.

She trudges behind Kara, dully noting that this side of the portal had been moved from its previous location.

Instead of opening on the out skirts of Argo City it’s now placed in what seems to be a back yard. The house in front of them is a few stories high, the stone fencing around it is at least 10 feet tall and a few feet thick.

It reminds Alex of a castle or a barricade, meant to keep invaders out. Or more likely, prying eyes.

Kara reaches a set of steps on the outside of the house that lead down into a basement and Alex continues to follow behind silently, taking in the colors and the strange plants surrounding them that were once a part of Kara’s past life on Krypton.

When they reach a metal door Kara stops and turns towards her.

“You can’t tell anyone. Not even Kelly. Not yet.” There’s a glaze over Kara’s blue eyes and Alex can’t help herself when she reaches out and places a hand on her sister’s arm.

“Kara what is it? What has got you this upset?” Her eyes are moving so fast across the planes of Kara’s face as she tries to communicate that whatever it is, Alex is on her side, always, always, always.

“It’s – you’ll see. It’s better if you see.” Kara swallows thickly before she pushes the door open and steps inside.

Alex follows, her eyes working to adjust to the manufactured lighting in the space.

The door swings shut sealing them in, and Alex looks around the room.

It looks almost like an Earth laboratory, benches and worktables pushed around to line the walls, alien equipment humming and littering every crevice.

In the middle of the room there sits what looks like an enclosed, glass coffin filled with a blue, glowing liquid.

It vaguely reminds Alex of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Kara, seemingly haven forgotten that Alex is with her, makes her way towards the Snow-White coffin, and Alex watches from her spot in the shadows as she places a careful, reverent hand on top.

She can hear Kara murmuring words to whatever is in the box, and she’s thankful that on Krypton there is no super hearing that can detect the way her heart has begun to pound in her chest.

She doesn’t have to move any closer to know who is in the coffin.

In her entire life there is only one person Kara has ever looked at in that way.

“Kara.” She croaks from her spot.

It feels like she’s stuck in a pit of thick molasses.

When Kara looks up her hand doesn’t move from its place on the glass, her tear stained cheeks and wide eyes silently begging Alex to understand.

“Kara what have you done?” She finally forces out, lifting her foot like it’s a dead weight to make her way across the room.

She comes to stand across from Kara on the other side of the glass. She doesn’t look down.

She can’t.

“I brought her to the one place I could save her.” Kara is no longer looking at Alex and is instead locked onto the woman laying locked in glass below.

Alex is dumbstruck, a thousand thoughts fighting in her mind to be vocalized as she watches her sister, a modern-day Frankenstein, fight to bring the dead back to life.

She must take too long to say anything because Kara speaks up again, her voice cracking as she talks.

“It’s working. I – it’s illegal. Even here. But my Dad, he knew how. It was in his books. My mom knows, she’s been helping me.”

Alex fights against her roaring in her ears and works to stamp down the panic building in her chest.

“Kara, will she even be…. Will it be her? When she wakes up?” She’s whispering, she can hear the fear in her own voice, but god, what the actual fuck was Kara thinking.

“Yeah, yeah it will be her.” Kara sounds sure but not sure enough, and rage licks its way up Alex’s spine.

“What if it isn’t, Kar? And even if it is, how are you going to explain this?” She’s gone from whispering to shouting in five seconds flat, but it’s justified, she’s justified in this, in her anger.

She can’t fathom it, what Kara’s done.

Robbed a grave, stolen a body, taken it off world and worked to fucking reanimate it, ripping a soul from whatever place it ended landing to rest for eternity.

Kara looks up at her now, eyes hardened but tears still flowing freely.

“I don’t know Alex, ok? I don’t know! All I know is I can’t be in a world where she doesn’t exist. I can’t. I can be in a world where Krypton exploded, and I lost everyone – twice. I can be in a world where Jeremiah is dead, where Kenny is dead, fuck, where even I’ve died! But I cannot be in a world where she isn’t alive.”

Alex is dumbstruck again, watching as Kara’s chest heaves after her outburst, after she admitted that a single soul is worth more to her than an entire planet of her own people, more to her than maybe anyone.

She feels the tug of an invisible string under her chin urging her to look down, but still she doesn’t, can’t. The moment she does this is real, and she can’t let it be real.

She watches Kara turn around and fiddle with the machines hooked up to the glass device, her shoulders shuddering as she sobs silently.

She takes a deep breath to steady herself.

When it doesn’t work, she takes another one.

She swallows heavily, ignoring the way every sense of self-preservation in her body is screaming at her to turn and run back into that portal and never come back.

She looks down.

The body is suspended in the liquid, floating a good five inches from the bottom. Bare feet are spread apart, toenails painted what looks like a dark red. Her eyes trace up pale, bare legs until she’s mid-thigh, a cream-colored gown covering the skin. Hands rest folded together on a stomach, a white petaled flower held between them. The crest of El sits on the shoulder of the gown.

Alex swallows thickly, realizes Kara changed her. Kara placed the flower there.

She shakes herself and forces herself to continue.

Her eyes trace up the pale neck, the familiar freckle taunting her from its spot there. Dark hair floats in the liquid, wavy and undone in death. She sees lips painted devastating red and finally allows herself to look at the closed eyelids, the sharp eyebrows above for once looking peaceful and relaxed.

She can hear Kara say something in Kryptonian, but she ignores it, still trying to process what her sister has done.

She’s not sure how long she stands there staring at the body of her former friend when the blue liquid flashes a bright purple color and begins to lower.

She watches it for only a moment before her gaze flits back towards the woman’s face.

When she meets the green and white of open and panicked eyes, her knees give out.

She stumbles back, falling hard on her ass as she watches the coffin click open, the liquid fully drained.

When a fully alive and reanimated Lena Luthor slowly sits up, hair heavy and dripping wet, Alex reaches for her wrist, forgetting she left her weapon back on Earth.

She doesn’t move as Lena turns her head slowly to face where Kara is standing, still as a statue, not even daring to breathe.

Lena’s voice is cracked and scratchy from disuse in death. She only says one word, her fingers clutched tightly around the flower in her hands.

“Kara.”

Kara falls to her knees, hands reaching out towards Lena, landing on either side of her face.

“i n̩.ʒa͡ʊ, i kɹuvuʒ.”

(My love, my miracle.)

When Lena’s forehead comes forward to rest against Kara’s, Alex lets go of the air she had been holding in her lungs.

Quietly she stands on shaking legs and walks back towards the edge of the room, uninterested in being a voyeur of the reunion happening between the two women.

With a last look over her shoulder at Kara and Lena who remain huddled together, gripping each other tightly, she opens the steel door and steps back out under the red sun.

[inkribbon796]

Invisible Blue

Summary: Ethan finds something a bit bigger while he’s spying on Damien. Much bigger than he planned on finding.

A/N: This is a hell of a long post, but I didn’t know how to cut it so here it is. This also contains two different asks from some anons. Hope you guys enjoy.

Ethan was honestly getting a little fatigued. Normally day to day, it was alright, he exchanged with Chase to keep an eye on Damien so that Ethan could get a break. He did simple patrol routes for the simple reason that Ethan had to make sure he was seen in costume so no one would think he was spying on the Mayor.

Marvin and Chase didn’t report that Damien was acting different or suspicious.

Ethan was really ready to stop watching Damien today because the mayor just worked, took a lunch break, and worked way too much, leaving often with his work with him when he went home.

If he was guilty of anything it was being a workaholic with barely a social life.

Today, Ethan considered leaving early, just because it was a slow day and he was already having a bad day. So while Damien was out to lunch, Ethan rushed out to grab a sandwich and was sitting in his chair in the corner just eating it and occasionally glancing at his phone. He had his brain halfway into whatever reddit post he was reading, and half concentrating on not choking to death on the burger in his mouth when he heard the doorknob being angrily turned as Damien stormed in.

Ethan’s reflexes were the only thing stopping him from being instantly found out, as he threw his own power over him and his stuff to make him invisible.

Damien was angry, he was clearly pissed and screaming into his phone, “What is wrong with you?”

Ethan was carefully taking his burger out of mouth and trying to keep his movements slow and eventually as still as possible so he could save the energy to keep the invisibility up as long as possible.

“Well, why did you call me now, are you somehow dying? You know I’m at work!” Damien shouted into the phone.

Whatever response he got, he clearly didn’t like it, because he still looked pissed and Ethan didn’t think he had ever seen Damien even close to this level of anger.

Damien glared at his phone, and Ethan could hear what he thought was a phone ringing somewhere in the distance. But Damien pulled the phone away from his ear to take a breath. “You have the five seconds it takes for me to walk up and close my door, to get Illy.”

The Mayor took an audibly deep breath, “If I see you in my office, I will put an axe through your chest and carve your heart out, am I understood?”

He didn’t even wait for the answer, almost dropping his black phone on the desk and stomping over to the door, muttering under his breath. Ethan only caught part of as Damien stomped past, “Dammit, William, I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.”

Damien paused at the door, looking a bit pained, he took a deep breath and ran his hands over his face, taking his time to close the door and walk back to his desk. After settling back into his seat, he picked up the phone, “Yes.”

Relief seemed to flood over his body, “Finally, how bad is it?

As Damien was talking as Ethan slowly started to clean up, trying to be as slow as possible to avoid making noise.

“How much damage are we talking? His usual amount?” Damien asked as Ethan was finishing up his burger and pocketing the trash from it.

“I’m supposed to going to a benefit gala tonight in my tux, I can drop by briefly and calm him down, but I need you to take care of Bim and make sure he doesn’t break anything either.”

At Bim’s name, the name of the lead suspect in a series of suspicious disappearances of co-eds and transients, just stunned and terrified Ethan. The invisible hero had been trying to quietly fold up the wrapper his burger had come with, and after years of working quietly to where Jackie had to concentrate to pick him up he was more than confident that he was quiet. But heard that name made his hand reflexively clench and a loud and clear crinkling sound quietly punctuated Damien’s sentence.

Damien froze, eyes darting around, he looked in the corner Ethan was in several times, and one of those times he seemed to be staring directly into Ethan’s eyes two seconds too long to be comfortable.

Finally Damien said, “I’ll have to call you back, there’s something in my office.”

Damien hung up the instant he finished the last word and looked around the room, standing up. He didn’t call out and Ethan felt unnerved and wondered if he should just come out of hiding and try and pass his nervous shock off.

After about a minute Damien straightened up his desk a bit, and then left the room. Ethan was quick to try and follow him to the parking lot but only got to the parking lot before in record time he lost Damien, rounding the corner and someone else almost slammed into Ethan and he had to duck out of the way and he heard the door front open and close and Ethan could see him after that.

Ethan made a quick call to Logan but he didn’t pick up so he had to step out and call Jackie who promised to get someone to the gala. They made sure to have a set of ear pieces they could use to communicate with each other.

Then he quickly finished cleaning up and just didn’t come back, not wanting to tip Damien off again.

Ethan and Roman arrived at the museum where they were hosting the gala in costume, early to help with the security detail.

“Be still my heart, what wonders of Apollo and the Muses above!” Roman gasped at one of the paintings.

The museum director walked out of his office, smiling but looking a bit nervous, “Always so great to have our city’s finest here for the gala. I take it you both are patrons of the arts?”

“Of course, Prince Creativity at your service,” Roman gestured to himself, then gestured to Ethan, “This is my esteemed colleague: Blank.”

“We would have come without the masks but no one would have recognized us,” Ethan tried to joke.

The man let out a little fake laugh, “Pardon me, I have one of the museum backers in a meeting, I’ll have to talk with the two of you after the event starts.”

“Oh, don’t let us keep you,” Roman insisted, “we’re just here to admire the artwork, I may walk off with something if my friends don’t stop me.”

“Thought that was Logic’s job?” Ethan smiled even though it couldn’t be seen very well under his mask. “Well don’t let us keep you, we’ll just walk around until the gala starts.”

He smiled and left and nothing too important happened, the gala began and they soon found Damien amongst the crowd. Their evening up until that point had been filled with talking with people and Roman geeking out with other artists over their sculptures, paintings; and Roman was quite excited about a woman who had sculptured what looked like a handbag out of clay that looked so realistic Ethan thought someone had just left on a pedestal. During the conversation, Roman noticed Damien. The mayor was standing talking to another woman but during the conversation he noticed Roman and Ethan standing there.

She walked off, and Ethan thought he might be imagining it, but Damien seemed to be watching them a little more closely. He smiled as they walked over, “Well, what a pleasant surprise.”

“As if I would miss such a fantastic venue,” Roman smiled. “I was made for this scene.”

“I suppose I should have expected to see you then,” Damien apologized.

Ethan was looking around the room, mostly out of habit, Mark and Jack had drilled it into Ethan’s head to survey the room to see if a villain was sneaking in or if there was anyone causing trouble, and after what had happened to Robbie it was insisted that he find a way out to get out of a dangerous situation.

So he was looking around and watched the direction heading towards the stairwell. Ethan wouldn’t have paid any extra attention but the direction was frequently talking to a person following close behind and the man looked scared, nervously glancing back at the man following him.

Quickly turning to Roman, Ethan signaled to him, acting like he was itching his ear. “Be back, guys.”

“If you fight ninjas, call for backup,” Roman told him. “I don’t want to be left out of the fun.”

Ethan headed off in the direction of the bathrooms, and the instant he was out of sight, he turned invisible and headed back to the direction he’d seen the director sped walked off into. By luck or just because of how fast he’d reacted, Ethan was able to catch up to the director and his guest, and something about the person, and after watching this strangely familiar person for a while he was following the two down into the first basement of the museum.

“I do hope this will be a short walk,” the familiar stranger said.

“The service elevator will take you all the way down to the service elevator,” the man promised, turning the key into a slot on the elevator panel. “No stops, no interruptions.

Ethan watched the situation for a bit, it was all kinds of shifty and he didn’t like it, but Ethan and Roman were here to spy on Damien. But something didn’t sit right with him about this. And either way he was going to get chewed out. He could almost see Amy’s face when he would have to give his report of this mission. Maybe he could give it to J.J or Patton, they usually weren’t so tight fisted on what he did.

Quietly Ethan weighed his options, lamenting that regardless of the fact he’d more than earned his right as an official hero, most of the team tended to baby him. Hell it seemed like the whole city wanted to baby him.

While he thought about what to do, the elevator finally arrived and opened. The director said, “Give Dark my regards.”

Ethan moved without thinking, slipping into the large service elevator, once he was inside he crammed himself to the back and whispered into his earpiece, “Hey, Princey, keep your eyes on the Mayor, I’m following a network member.”

“Ill advised,” the enforcer dismissed coldly, looking down at his watch, getting into the elevator. He was getting more and more familiar to Ethan, his sharp and angular features and dark black square glasses. “It would be a waste of his time and mine. Remember your payment, I’d like to be able to have this month’s ledgers done on time.”

“What?” Roman’s voice crackled over the earpiece and Ethan huddled further away from the enforcer. “On your own? You’re not supposed to do that.”

The elevator closed and slowly began to descend.

“I’m not an apprentice anymore, I know what I’m doing,” Ethan whispered and his eyes seemed to focus in and see through whatever illusion was around him and finally caught why the enforcer looked so familiar.

“Logan?” Ethan asked in surprise, much louder than he should have. Ethan covered his mouth and froze as Logan snapped his head to look at Ethan’s direction and the invisible hero kept absolutely still, making sure he stayed invisible.

Logan was looking around, suspicious, and clearly not believing he’d just hallucinated his own name being called out in an almost empty elevator.

He was slowly lifting his hands up to his lapel of his immaculate suit coat when the elevator grinded to a sudden halt and the lights began to flash, all the buttons lighting up as laughter began echo off the metal walls.

“Hello Four Eyes,” a scratchy voice echoed off the walls.

Ethan’s invisibility almost flickered a bit in surprise but braced himself for a fight. Logan seemed to calm down significantly. He just watched as a mass of tentacles and spikes shot out at him. Logan had been standing almost a foot-and-a-half from the elevator door and didn’t even flinch as he was attacked.

The invisible hero almost jumped in to save him but realized that Logan wasn’t being touched and he was just staring at the creature as if it was throwing feathers at him.

“Ah, greetings Anti, how has your day been?” Logan adjusted his glasses.

“Oh, cone on, I had yeh!” Anti materialized out of the button panels, coming out of the tentacles.

Logan was scanning over his suit again, “I do have to admit, I was a little perturbed when you called my name, I was not aware Dark had confided it to you.”

“That horsearse don’t tell me shite,” Anti spat. “It was probably Wil fishing in waters he’s not welcome. I thought he knew yer Aro ass was off the market.”

“No, I would recognize his voice,” Logan answered, looking away as he murmured to himself, finger resting against his lips and his brow furrowed in concentration. “It was probably Dark, he is the only person I can think of who would know my name. I must talk to him about using it in public, it’s quite dangerous and risky. He must be in a good mood today.”

Then Logan looked at Anti again and nonchalantly asked, “Do you mind removing yourself from the panel, I have a meeting to get to and Dark will not continue to be in a good mood if I am late.”

Anti had just been staring at Logan and at his request the glitch demon just started laughing. He did, however, pull himself out of the elevator and punched it before it continued its descent. He laughed as if Logan was the funniest thing in the world. “Do yeh think if I bugged Dark enough he’d let me pick yah apart and watch yeh break. I bet even yeh have a point where yah fookin’ fall apart.”

Logan only blinked, as if the glitch demon wasn’t threatening him. He adjusted his glasses in the Logan-like way Ethan had always seen him do. There was something in Logan’s eyes that looked inhuman. As if the person Ethan had known for years wasn’t there and Logan’s body was being piloted around by some demon.

Which wasn’t completely unlikely given the crazy, messed up world Ethan lived in.

“While highly improbable,” Logan answered while Ethan was having a crisis, “the likelihood is not 0.”

Anti was quiet for a second before cackling again, still floating in midair. “Wonder if I could clone you and get the same person.”

“Impossible,” Logan answered, reaching a wooden door, “you cannot perfectly duplicate another person.”

“Shame,” Anti commented, still smiling and the elevator door opened, Ethan followed them out into a room with a couple boxes all with serial numbers and labels. There was what looked like a large office on the other side of the room.

“Hey if you wanted to get a guy you like to annoy a birthday gift, what would it be?” Anti asked.

“I don’t think I am the one you should outsource gift ideas to,” Logan cautioned.

Anti kicked open the door the instant Logan had it open enough not to destroy the frame. “We’re home.”

Inside Ed Edgar had been napping in a chair leaned up against the wall and grunting in panic when the door was kicked open, pulling his gun out and almost shooting Anti before recognizing who it was and lowering it.

“Hey Eddy boy,” Anti grinned. “Guess who got an invite.”

“Hey dipshit,” Ed Edgar spat out at Anti before tipping his hat at Logan. “Howdy, Sanders, I see yah haven’t died yet?”

Their argument and the fact Anti had kicked the door open when Logan probably would have closed it behind him, made it easy for Ethan to sneak in.

Logan walked off to the side of the room, three ledgers stacked up on a small desk.“If you were commenting on my state of existence, I don’t know how I could have given you the impression my life was at stake.”

Ed stared at him, pointing at him, “Yer smart mouth is gonna get yer teeth kicked in, an’ that’s what worries me.”

“Your concern is noted,” Logan not even looking up from the books. “Hopefully Dark will be in a better mood than he has been in the past few weeks, otherwise this will only be more bad news.”

“The only news is good news,” Wil patted Logan’s shoulder, suddenly appearing at his side.

“Statistically untrue,” Logan corrected, pointedly staring at Wilford’s hand and when he was slow to move it, Logan brushed it off.

“Someone seems to be in a sour-dour mood of their own,” Wilford gave a full, toothy smile.

“I merely do not appreciate you putting your hand on my person,” Logan reminded. “You historically have very promiscuous behavior and rarely understand someone turning you down. I am not interested in earning my employer’s ire because of a misunderstanding.”

Wilford laughed, “I knew you’d be fun.”

To Logan’s mounting ire, Wil roughly patted him on the back, “I’m glad Darky hasn’t run you off.”

“I am paid far too much, and leaving now would end in a rather painful and drawn out death,” Logan huffed out, looking Wilford dead in the eye.

The madman let out a booming laugh, “What a card that Dark.”

Wilford’s smile got wider as he sat on the desk, ignoring Logan’s glare. “Why there was this time down in Florence where there was this lovely Parisian magician I was seeing and Dark threatened to cut his fingers off.”

“That was because I caught you two having sex on my desk.”

The voice that spoke wasn’t Dark’s usual scratchy, deep tenor. It was higher pitched and sounded feminine. The echoey ringing was the same though.

Logan almost jumped out of his chair, and Ethan saw someone in short black hair, Dark’s red echo around her and in an immaculate suit.

“Celine,” Wil uttered, saying her name like it enchanted and enraptured him.

She sighed and sat down in the chair. Ethan got his first good look at Celine. He was surprised at how much she looked like Damien . . . and even scarier how much she looked like Dark.

“Ma’am,” Edgar stood up and took off his hat, bowing his head slightly. “Nice of you to join us.”

“Great,” Anti rolled his eyes. “The fun police is here.”

“Nice to see you too Anti,” she replied in an equally barbed tone. “Are you going to be useful here or just a waste of my time?”

“Ugh,” Anti groaned. “I’ll see myself out a’fore ye get even less fun. Tell yer other half he’s a dipshit.”

“Tell him yourself,” the woman replied. “As you can see, I’m a bit busy.”

“Yeah, making Wil suck ye off,” Anti muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” She barked.

“Ye heard me!” Anti tore a hole into the Void and vanished, he flipped her off as he left.

“Now you can’t talk to a lady like that,” Wilford snapped at Anti as he left, even leaning into the Void to finish berating him.

“Leave it Wil,” Celine told him and Wil pouted as he watched the Void close.

She snapped her fingers and a chair appeared from the Void, jolting into place beside her, a bright pink and yellow wood chair with a large mustache carved at the top of the backboard.

Then the door closed and Ethan distinctively claustrophobic while he was trying to keep his mind clear of thoughts Wil could read.

Wil flopped down in the chair. Celine patted him on the arm, saying, “Don’t worry he’s just upset I don’t let him walk all over me like he does with my brother.”

“How is the old bean?” Wil asked, “haven’t seen him in ages.”

“He’s fine dear, he’s just keeping a couple stiff shirts upstairs,” Celine dismissed. Then she turned to Logan and she smiled. “Well, well, you have turned into quite the useful little bookworm. So do you know who I am?”

It was Logan’s turn to smile, “Yes, I would recognize you anywhere. Do you have a specific name you wish to go by, Ma’am?”

She hummed, ignoring Wil who was inching towards her and clearly salty about not being the center of attention, but she gave that sticky sweet smile reminding Ethan of Dark when he was being especially sadistic. “I think for you, Madam Celine will work just fine, you rarely see the outside of your office and I am planning a new debut of sorts.”

Logan nodded, “Very well, Madam, I took the liberty of checking over the books again, and regrettably there is bad news.”

“When is there very good news these days?” She groaned, she leaned her hand over to trace around Wil’s face. “Sweetie, if you can’t be patient and behave, I’m going to kick you out of the room.”

Wil smiled, “Oh I can behave.”

“After,” She pushed him away, “Ed, Logan, reports, I don’t have all night to play charades.”

“Well the feds have been doing a lot more snooping about the old Downwich orphanage for one, and they’re getting nosy,” Ed began, “it’s just taken them a couple months to make any progress.”

Celine thought for a bit, Wil just shrugged and commented, “None of the kids are minors anyways.”

She glared at Wil, grabbing him by the collar, “Did you forget the heroes have someone who can control time on their side?”

“They do?” Wil smiled. “That’s a neat trick.”

Celine’s eye began to twitch and the fierce ringing that usually accompanied Dark pitched up. “Wil, if I lose them because you chose to play games instead of taking this seriously, I will carve out your heart and feed it to you.”

Wil kept quiet at that.

“Ma’am, if you would allow me to make a suggestion,” Logan spoke up and Celine looked over at him.

“We should cut all ties with these sites,” Logan proposed. “They are becoming too dangerous to manage.”

“That’d cut mah supply at the ankles,” Ed snapped,

“If it puts the whole network at risk then your supply should be disallowed,” Logan commented in a dry but firm tone.

“What do you know about risk?” Edgar threatened, “you stay in an office all day.”

“Edgar, you strike him, and I’ll start removing fingers,” Celine threatened. “Logan has a point, distance has to be put between us and the sites, immediately. I want all their records destroyed. They never existed.”

“We can do that,” Ed promised, “how do you want me to handle Yanc’s paperwork, he’s already in a hot mess.”

“I don’t care,” she spat angry, “take care of it.”

“I can run a cost analysis for how to handle the situation without creating too much suspicion,” Logan offered, adjusting his glasses again. “It wouldn’t do to act without an informed decision.”

“That would be best,” Celine agreed.

“I can have those reports on your desk by the end of the week,” Logan promised. “The sooner we can make a decision, the better we can prepare for the consequences.”

“Another thing,” Celine added. “I don’t think I was clear to you in our last conversation. I want Brody moved up. He has top priority.”

Ethan got an uncomfortable tightening in his chest at hearing Chase’s name so casually thrown around.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh, “Might I ask why?”

“His unpredictable bravery mixed with his gift has the ability to turn the tide of a fight,” Celine corrected firmly. “Even if he is more than a little dim.”

Logan was quiet for a little bit, straightening his glasses, “If you are this certain about the threat he poses, then I will make him a priority target.”

“Oh no,” Celine smiled. “Not that list, the other one. The same one I put the others onto.”

Logan paused, sounding confused, “Very well.”

The office door opened and Illinois in a nice tweed suit and glasses walked in, he was carrying his hat, under his arm was a package. Celine smiled at him and Ethan took his change to escape, slowly heading for the door. He made it to the other side and hid behind the wall.

“Hello sweetie, how’s the gala?” Celine to him.

“Oh it’s going great,” Illinois announced as Ethan began to make his way slowly and carefully back to the elevator, Logan seemed to be in more than friendly company and anything else he learned wasn’t important if he was dead. Once he was at the elevator, he sighed in relief when he saw it had a button to go back up and didn’t need a key.

“Charming,” Ethan whispered into his ear piece.

“Sweet Aunt Jemima,” Roman sounded panicked. “I have been trying to find you everywhere.”

“Coming back up,” Ethan promised, and hit the button.

“Back up,” Roman repeated in confusion, “where are you?”

The elevator dinged as it opened and Ethan froze, looking back at the room as he backed up into the elevator and hit the third floor to avoid being on the same floor as the elevator had first come down from. When it closed without investigation, Ethan made a sigh of relief but didn’t turn visible yet, he was tired but not out of trouble yet.

“Do you still have eyes on the Mayor?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, he’s been fine, talking, laughing,” Roman answered.

The elevator opened and Ethan stepped out, ducking into a room that didn’t have people inside, so he turned tangible. “Coming down from the third floor, where are you right now because we need to leave and fast.”

“Wait a second, what about Logan?” Roman asked as Ethan began to head for the first exit he could find. “You said his name and then went radio dark. Shoot, I lost him.”

“The Mayor?” Ethan stopped on the stairs. “Leave Logic, he’ll fine.”

“Just get out, we’ll talk, late—” Ethan kept going, and stopped when he rounded a corner in the twisting staircase and saw Damien at the bottom of the staircase, hands resting on the pommel of his cane and a smile on his face. Ethan immediately pressed a button on his wrist watch and sent a silent alarm for back up to his location. “Mr. Mayor, how are you?”

Damien smiled. “Oh, I’m doing well, I just was a little worried, you walked off and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of you for the last half-hour.”

“Has it been that long?” Ethan let out a nervous chuckle. “Lost track of time, I guess.”

Damien’s eyes narrowed, and he gave a smile that reminded Ethan of Celine. “You were in my office.”

“Depends on the day, I’ve been to your office before loads of times,” Ethan said.

The Mayor took one step up the stairs and Ethan took a matching one back up, “Then let me clarify: this afternoon you were spying on me in my office, I caught you around lunch time and you didn’t come back when I tore the room apart later.”

Another step up, another retreating one from Ethan.

“Why?” Damien asked, his smile growing into something else as they took another step. “Am I under investigation for something?”

“Uh,” Ethan stalled, forced to take another step.

“Crank!” Roman yelled and Ethan felt relief as Roman stood at the bottom of the stairs. Damien looked back at Roman.

“Stay out of my office or bring smarter back up,” Damien threatened and headed up the stairs, moving past Ethan without laying a finger on him.

“Are you—” Roman began but Ethan thudded down the stairs and ran for the exit.

“No, come on,” Ethan didn’t let up until he was outside and saw Jackie heading towards the door.

“Anyone hurt?” Jackie demanded.

“No, we need to get back to base, we’re being watched,” Ethan told him.

Despite Ethan’s warning, they weren’t attacked and there was no sign of being followed. Mark and Iplier were waiting for them, Mark looking relieved when Ethan came in looking unharmed.

“What happened?” Mark demanded.

“The Mayor and his sister are working with Dark,” Ethan accused, “they might even be his hosts. I saw Celine acting like she was Dark and no one even seemed to blink at that.”

“At the museum?” Mark demanded.

“No it was in some underground office underneath the museum, it looked like it was a place they shipped stuff out from,” Ethan explained. “Worse of all Logan was there talking to him and Wilford, he wasn’t in a mask and he was in this really nice suit.”

“Why would Logan be working with those shifty shadlings?” Roman huffed, insulted. “Maybe it was an illusion?”

“We’ll deal with the Logan problem when he comes into the base tomorrow,” Mark sidelined. “You said you two saw Dark possessing Celine? How? Dark’s never taken a Host before.”

“That’d make him no longer the exception ta the rule,” Jackie cut in. “Every other demon we’ve fought with has either worked with a host before or is using one.”

“It’s only two demons,” Mark reminded.

“No, remember that time Marv got possessed by an undead witch, she was technically a demon,” Jack corrected.

“In any definition, the heroes have it wrong,” the host announced himself, walking into the room.

“Really?” Mark asked. “Which part, the fact we have to replace another mayor or the fact Dark is taking hosts?”

“The Host doesn’t see the city’s current mayor leaving his post for the foreseeable future,” the Host denied, whispering into his cupped hand as a lack piece of paper folded itself into existence and it looked like a spindly paper person. “As for the Entity, he is not what he or she seems.”

“Who cares what he is?” Mark reminded sharply. “Dark has the keys to the city.”

Jackie drew his hand over his face, “Shit, how many identities does that asshole know?”

“Chase’s, Celine, or Dark, she mentioned him as “a priority target” or something,” Ethan said. “I’ve never told him mine.”

“Chase goes over ta talk wit’ the mayor e’ery week,” Jack groaned. “I’ll talk wit’ him. Mark let’s see if that asshole is anymore arrestable if he looks human.”

Jackie ran off and Mark turned to Ethan, “You are never to go off like that alone again.”

Ethan glared at Mark, “I am twenty-three, I’m not a baby. You go up against Dark and a group of his goons alone all the time.”

“I can be slammed against a wall at sixty miles an hour and not get hurt,” Mark reminded. “I don’t want to attend another funeral, especially if it’s for someone else who went into Dark’s territory with no back up and then got themselves thrown into a blender.”

“My powers are perfect for spying and you’re not letting me use it,” Ethan felt frustrated, taking his mask off. “Come on, I’m not an apprentice anymore.”

Mark took a deep breath, clearly not liking the situation, but he turned to the Host, “Hey Host.”

“Yes,” Host answered prematurely. “It would be the Host’s honor.”

Mark pointed at Ethan, “I want you to get so good I can’t find you when you start pulling pranks.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Ethan smiled, excited, he started to slink out, turning invisible halfway through his sentence. “I’ll be so stealthy that no one will see me.”

Mark rolled his eyes, “You can’t be a good spy if you keep running your mouth.”

“I was never here,” Ethan said to him, next to Mark’s shoulder.

“You’re not making me feel good about this,” Mark told him.

“Where am I?” Ethan asked, making his voice sound ghostly.

“A mistake was made,” Mark just shook his head smiling, “clearly.”

Ethan joked around for a bit before he and Mark eventually went home, Roman already off trying to track Logan down.

[bitchin-beskar]

Found

Chapter 2: The Offer

Rating: T

Word Count: 2.8k

A/N: Ahhhhh I’m so so sorry this is so late!!!!!! I was without internet for a couple hours, so I couldn’t post at 2pm. But, better late than never! Here is Chapter 2 of Found!! There will be one more chapter in this story before I move on to the next in the series. I really hope you guys like it!!! Also, I posted a prompt list here, feel free to send in requests! I will be trying to work on any requests in between chapters of this story. 

Cerliah blinked, staring at the towering form of beskar in front of her. His dark, T-shaped visor tilted down at her, and she felt a brief flash, wishing for just a moment, that she could see his eyes, if only to know what in the kriffing hell he was thinking in that moment.

The Mandalorian stood just as still as she, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d say he’d shocked himself with his words. She struggled with what to say, how to even begin to answer his offer, but she didn’t have to. 

“We can bring you back to Markon-Vel after,” he offered. “It’s–It’s the least I can do.” 

Cerliah struggled to keep her expression blank while her mind raced, her hand absentmindedly coming up to brush against the side of her neck where she knew the implant was. Was he really offering–? 

She’d had the transmitter implanted when she was young–too young to really remember much except for the pain–and she’d only been told that if she disobeyed her master, the trigger could make the tiny bomb underneath her skin go off. She’d spent most of her life with the tiny explosive resting just underneath her skin, and in all the time she’d spent with it, she’d never entertained the idea that someone could, or would, willingly deactivate it. 

She looked at the Mandalorian, still standing in front of her, waiting for her to speak. She opened her mouth, despite not knowing what her answer would be, when the little one, still wrapped securely in his guardian’s arma reached for her. 

Eyes wide, she stared at the little baby with his tiny three-fingered hands reaching out towards her. His guardian tilted his head down to look at the baby, but didn’t seem inclined to let him go, until the baby’s big black eyes began to fill with tears, little whimpers working their way out of his little mouth. The Mandalorian quickly straightened his arms, holding the little one out for Cerliah to take, even as she’d begun to stretch her own arms out. 

Stepping forward, she reached out, taking the baby in her arms, her fingers brushing over the Mandalorian’s vambrace as she did so. She pulled him in close to her chest, and the little one tucked his wet cheeks into her neck, his ears laying flat against the exposed skin of her collarbone. His fingers twisted in her dress, and she began to slowly sway to and fro, humming softly as she tried to calm his sobs. 

The Mandalorian watched as the woman in front of him calmed his son with surprising speed, her movements reflexive and unconscious as she cradled him. When his son had reached for the woman, he’d unconsciously tightened his grip, but when the telltale whimpers of an oncoming tantrum began to increase in volume, he’d relinquished his grip to her. 

She seemed to know instinctively how to calm him down, the rocking of her body and the humming coming naturally as she soothed the baby. He watched in awe as his son settled down without fight, his tiny body relaxing in her hands. 

He felt a sharp, stabbing sensation as he realized this wasn’t this woman’s first time calming a child. Seeing the maternal instinct in the woman in front of him brought forth memories of his own mother–faint as they may be.

He could barely remember his mother’s face, but he still dreamed of the sensation of being held in her arms as she’d soothed him in a way only a mother could. Seeing his son experiencing that same comfort he himself could barely remember brought a tightness to his chest. 

“You’re good with him.”

Cerliah looked up almost guiltily at his words. For a brief moment she’d forgotten that he was standing there. Holding the little one in her arms, she’d allowed herself to imagine what it might have been like, holding her own baby in her arms. Would she have been able to calm her baby as easily? With the little one, it was instinctual. Would it have been just as instinctual with her own flesh and blood? 

She went to try and dislodge the child from her chest, trying to pry his fingers off her dress, but the Mandalorian held up a hand to stop her. She stared at him for a moment, before looking down at the child tucked against her bosom. She watched for a moment as the baby nuzzled into her, before making her decision. 

“If–if it’s not too much trouble–” 

The Mandalorian nodded as she spoke, watching as his son seemed to relax even further at her words. Narrowing his eyes–although neither she nor the kid had any way of knowing that–he groaned softly under his breath, too low for the modulator to pick up. He’d have to explain to ad’ika later that the woman wouldn’t be traveling with them for any longer than it took to bring her back to Markon-Vel. It was already cramped on the Razor Crest, and he didn’t need to worry about another mouth to feed, no matter how useful it would be to have someone willing to watch the little womp rat while he was away on jobs. 

“Do you need to grab anything?” 

Cerliah bit her lip in thought. “How far away is your friend?” 

The Mandalorian was silent for a moment, thinking. “We should be back within a standard week.” 

Cerliah nodded. “I’ll grab my things.” She had better luck getting the child to let go this time, and she handed him over to the Mandalorian, turning quickly on her heel and walking back towards her hut. She packed her dresses into her knapsack, grabbing the small medkit she’d purchased in the village, and after only a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed the small stuffed bantha toy that she’d bought the little one as well. 

She left the small hut, shutting and securing the door behind her as she walked back to where the Mandalorian and the baby were standing, not having moved an inch while she’d been gone. As she approached the duo, the little one caught sight of his stuffed bantha, and immediately began wiggling in his guardians arms, little three-fingered hands clutching desperately at the air as he reached for the toy. She relinquished the toy to his hold, smiling softly as the baby immediately cuddled the stuffed animal close. 

The Mandalorian tilted his head, a silent question, asking if she was ready. Cerliah took a deep breath, glancing back at her hut one last time. 

“We’ll be back in a standard week.”

Nodding, she turned away from her home, gesturing for the Mandalorian to lead the way. He spun on his heel, still cradling the baby, and began his march back towards town. Somewhat surprised at his quick pace, Cerliah walked quickly to catch up, struggling to keep in pace with his long stride. They marched through the village, and although she flushed slightly at the curious stares from villagers, her face otherwise remained impassive. 

She nodded at Katriel, who stood next to Grandmother, watching her leave. Kat had become a fast friend, and Cerliah felt a pang at leaving without saying goodbye, although judging by the look in Kat’s eyes, she understood. The Mandalorian was already doing a lot for her by taking her with him to get the transmitter removed, and she didn’t want to risk his wrath by asking to say goodbye when she’d only be gone a week. 

They left the town behind them as they walked into the woods. After roughly half an hour of walking, Cerliah was just mustering up the courage to ask if they were close to his ship, when it came into view. 

Eyeing the craft, Cerliah took in the carbon blasts that marred the silver panels of the Clone War era gunship. There were scrapes and dents in the hull, and the remnants of what might have once been red paint, but otherwise the ship looked to be in decent condition. As they approached, The Mandalorian pressed a button on his vambrace, and the large ramp began to lower. As they approached the ramp, Cerliah could see the carbon freezer, with empty slots, waiting to be filled. 

A chill ran down her spine as she saw the empty units, and her breathing hitched. Pointedly avoiding looking at the freezer, she took in the rest of the ship. Towards the nose, there was a small cot with crates stacked on top of it, shoved next to an even tinier ‘fresher. There were crates secured against the wall with tactical nets draped over them, and multiple cabinets lined the walls of the ship. Cerliah could only imagine how many weapons were contained on just this ship alone. 

She followed the Mandalorian up the ramp, watching as he stored his rifle in one of the many cabinets before closing the ramp and ascending the ladder next to the cot and ‘fresher. She paused, wondering if she was supposed to wait down in the hull when she heard him speak.

“Come up here.” 

She ascended after the Mandalorian, and as she went to step off the metal bar and on to the upper deck of the ship, the worn sole of her shoe slipped on the smooth metal, and she began to fall. A hand wrapped around her bicep and jerked her forwards with such force that she crashed into the solid form of beskar. Her hands flew to his shoulders, gripping at the fabric just to the sides of his pauldrons. Her body smacked hard into the beskar cuirass, although the Mandalorian didn’t move an inch.

He waited a beat, while she found her footing, and once she let go of him, his hand detached from her bicep. She stepped back slightly, looking down at the metal grates on the floor while the Mandalorian moved to the pilots seat. She looked around the cockpit, and upon seeing the child sitting on one of the two remaining seats, she sat down in the other, just to the left of the Mandalorian, after taking off her knapsack and tucking it next to her. She buckled her belt quietly as he began take-off procedures, and she watched in amusement as the baby kept pushing buttons that the Mandalorian would quickly re-press in order to undo whatever chaos the baby was trying to cause.

After a minute or so of that little game, she reached over and plucked the baby off the seat, pulling him into her lap, holding him so he couldn’t press any buttons. 

“It’s a wonder you ever go anywhere if all you do is cause trouble.” she murmured down at the child, who just looked up at her with an innocent look in his eyes. His ears twitched upwards slightly as she cooed at him, and she stroked the soft skin she found there. She didn’t look up, though if she had, she would have seen the Mandalorian watching her distract the baby. He stared for a minute at the sight, before turning in his seat and continuing to set the course. 

“We’re about to take-off,” was the only warning she got as the ship began to vibrate beneath her feet as it rose in the air. Her hands tightened imperceptibly on the child as the ship rose, rattling and clanking as the engines hummed. She watched through the transparisteel windows in the cockpit as the ship rose above the trees of Markon-Vel, leaving the atmosphere and entering the cold darkness of space. 

Cerliah hadn’t imagined that she’d be back in space so soon after landing on Markon-Vel, but anxieties building in her chest about the upcoming deactivation of her trigger distracted her from those thoughts. She couldn’t help but let her mind race as she wondered what all could go wrong. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice as the Mandalorian engaged the hyperdrive, although the jolt of the ship entering hyperdrive certainly caught her attention. 

She looked up as the Mandalorian stood from his seat, gesturing for her to follow him. She unbuckled her belt, and grabbing her knapsack with one hand, cradling the baby with the other, she followed him through the door and into the back part of the ship. There was a door off to the right, and a slightly larger ‘fresher to the left, with a shower. Towards the back there was another cot, and floating beside the cot was a small, white, spherical orb. The Mandalorian pressed yet another button on his vambrace, and the orb opened to show that it was a floating crib. 

He stood beside it silently, and Cerliah took the hint, setting the baby down inside the padded interior. She watched as the baby laid down, closing his big, curious eyes, and the Mandalorian closed the crib, allowing him to rest. 

“Here’s where you’ll sleep,” he offered, and Cerliah turned to look at the small bunk. “It’s not much, but you won’t be on the ship for long.” The bunk, while rather small and depressing, was not the worst sleeping arrangement she’d ever had. She’d had masters who preferred their slaves not to have any amenities at all, so she’d grown to appreciate little comforts, no matter how small they may be. She turned to thank the Mandalorian, but he was already walking back towards the cockpit. 

“You should get some rest. We’ll be in hyperspace for a while yet.” He threw out over his shoulder, and Cerliah shrugged. Pulling off her tunic, leaving her in just her chemise, she set her knapsack down and crawled into the small bunk. Tucking herself under the coarse blanket, she fell asleep with surprising speed.

The Mandalorian sat in the pilot’s chair, pointedly not looking towards the back of his ship, where he could hear the woman’s soft breaths as she slept. When she’d almost fallen down the ladder, his hand had shot out on instinct, not wanting her to fall. He’d overestimated his own strength, which had resulted in her entire body pressed tight against his, her hands on his shoulders, dangerously close to his helmet. Strangely though, that wasn’t what he’d focused on when she’d fallen against him. His mind had catalogued how she’d felt against him, her soft curves pressed against the cold ridges of his beskar. He’d been able to feel the heat of her skin, even through the thick leather of his gloves and the heavy canvas of his outfit. He’d waited only until she’d gotten her footing back before stepping away, although it had pained him to do so. 

He told himself it was only because it had been practically years since he’d felt any kind of touch that hadn’t led to pain, aside from a rare few. He ignored the fact that he’d never felt that rush of adrenaline when Omera had stepped a bit too close, or that sense of comfort when he’d felt Cara’s presence at his side. 

He could only stare at the view out the cockpit window for so long, and he eventually found himself rising out of his chair, about to make his way to the lower deck when a soft sound floated towards him from the back of the ship. He paused at the ladder, waiting–for what he wasn’t sure–and when he heard the noise again, he slowly walked back towards the cot, unable to control his movements. 

The woman lay curled on the cot, the canvas blanket clenched in her grasp as she pulled it tighter around her body. It took him a minute to realize she was cold. Before he had time to second guess himself, he spun around and made his way to the door towards the front of the ship. It slid open with a hiss, and he quickly grabbed the blanket folded neatly at the foot of the bed–his bed, although he rarely used it–stubbornly ignoring the voice inside his head asking him what the hell he thought he was doing. He moved quietly back to where the woman lay, and he gently arranged the blanket over her body. 

As though with a mind of its own, his gloved hand trailed up her shoulder and across her cheek, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen across her face behind her ear. He paused, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest before he realized what he was doing, snatching his hand away as though her skin had burned him. 

Chastising himself, he made his way to the lower deck, busying himself with cleaning one of his already pristine blasters. He needed to do something, anything, to keep his mind off the woman asleep above him. 

For Maker’s sake, he didn’t even know her name.

[sonatanotwo]

Today was a sleepy day, yeesh. I’m nearly falling asleep, but ohgosh somehow on a roll. Edited back through the 3rd chapter and got it to point think I can post it. ^^

...how should I be doing this... um...

Angelus Erarre (A Very Tentative Title)

(Aka as Jen’s fanfic she’s been working on forever)

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

Chapter 3:

Jerking awake, Virgil sat up, once again feeling incredibly disoriented. The unfamiliar room served to bring back everything pretty quickly, however. Rubbing his face, let out a frustrated groan. He hadn't meant to go and fall asleep as he had, but at least he felt a whole heck of a lot better now.

Pushing himself from the bed, he made his way over to the windows, peering out. The sky was a dark blue, light starting to spread across the horizon—dawn was quickly approaching. If Scott was, well, Scott, he'd likely be getting up soon, so if Virgil wanted to try to get out of here, he needed to do it fast.

The large windows opened up to a veranda that appeared to wrap around much of the house from what he could make out. Examining the glass, Virgil quickly ruled the windows as being a good choice of escape—they were definitely made to weather even the harshest storms, as needed on an island in this region. Besides being tough, if shattering them was an option, it would be far too noisy. They did appear to slide open somehow, but given the door had been locked, it would have been a pretty big oversight to not lock them. Now, there was the option of using his laser tool, but doing so without his helmet felt a little risky, not to mention it would take time.  For now, Virgil turned his attention to his other option.

Going back to the door, Virgil ran his fingers over the control panel thoughtfully. This looked more like a lock for privacy than for really keeping someone inside. Digging his fingers around the edge, his confidence grew as he found it was hardly sealed.  Apparently it hadn't even occurred to them that leaving him with his tools wasn't a very smart idea. Plucking one from his belt, he easily managed to pry the cover off the panel and within a few minutes he let out a quiet, triumphant "Ha!" as the door slid open. Well, that had been even easier than he'd thought it would be.

Slipping through the door, closing it from the other side, Virgil glanced up and down the dark hallway. Which way? Unsure, he randomly chose a direction, coming to a stop where the hall turned a corner. Hiding there at the corner, Virgil carefully peeked around it. No one was in sight, but he could see light streaming from frosted windows beside one of the doors, much like the room he'd been in, suggesting it was another bedroom. He had no idea who's bedroom, but wanting to avoid any risks, Virgil decided to check the other end of the hallway first.

Retreating back the way he'd came, he tried a couple of the other doors. One was locked. Another just seemed to be another guest room. Then finally he found something promising—the door led to a narrow corridor. Luckily, windows ran along one side keeping it from being pitch black, thanks to the slowly brightening sky. Making his way quickly along it, and through another door at the end, he carefully slipped out into a large room.

The feeling of familiarity and almost wonder flooded over him as he slowly made his way into the room. The sensation was most akin to the day they'd finally made the big move from the farm back in Kansas to the island. To see all their belongings in a completely new place, but arranged all differently. This was almost like that.

The giant photograph of a space rocket and right beside it, two suspicious lamps on the wall and a row of portraits. A red desk and a piano, albeit white, over in the corner. There was probably more similarities, but his attention was quickly drawn to five portraits. They were photos, unlike the ones that hung in the lounge that he'd painted himself, but there they were, on the wall, in the same way. In the growing light, he could just make them out.

The first certainly was John, but a blond haired John, which was definitely strange to see. The second was Scott who, of course, he'd met in person. And the third... Wow. A brown haired and certainly older, well... him. It was rather unsettling, to say the least. Virgil moved on quickly. Then it was Alan, who definitely older than his Alan. Finally, there was Gordon a little more strawberry blonde than his brother and no where near John's ginger, but still certainly not the colour he was used to seeing on him.

Wow.

Virgil dragged his gaze away from the portraits, realizing he was likely wasting precious time. Something that hadn't been a waste of time though was taking a moment to glance again at the desk to the side. A familiar object had been left there and Virgil was quick to reclaim it—his wrist controller—he'd almost forgotten Scott had taken it from him. Slipping it back onto his wrist, Virgil made his way over to the glass panels. They appeared like they should slide, much like the bedroom one, except hopefully these wouldn't be locked.

Luck was still on his side, as Virgil was able to easily push one open and slip out onto the veranda, quietly sliding it shut behind him. Making his way quickly down the staircase to the pool level, he backed up to press against the villa while he took in the surroundings. The horizon was far brighter now—the sun would soon be making it's appearance. With no idea of the schedule of those residing inside, he needed to get away from the villa as quickly as he could. At least he was fairly certain the runway was below the villa, from what he could remember. The only downside was the cliff. Yeah, that was going to be a pain. He'd need to get down somehow. Though, yeah, he could fly Thunderbird 2 up to him, the sound of her engines alone would probably wake the entire household. Taking off from the runway would be a far better plan.

A sudden feminine gasp behind him made him almost practically jump. Turning quickly, he was faced with someone he didn't know at all. That wasn't the problem though. The problem was she was backing up as if to dive back inside. "W-Whoa, wait a minute!" He dove forward, grabbing her arm to halt her movements.

"No! Please!"

Guilt fell over his face as he took in her frightened expression and Virgil promptly released her arm, holding both his hands up, in a peaceful gesture. "Sorry, I didn't mean to... I don't want to hurt you. I just... Please. Please, listen?"

Slowly her startled face settled and she hesitantly gave a nod. "Alright. I'm listening."

Thank goodness. A chance to at least stall her a moment was something at least. "Look, I don't know what's going on or how this happened, or anything really. I just know I got to figure out how to get home to where I belong. I don't want to cause trouble. I just want to get back to my ship and leave, okay?"

"Your ship... Thunderbird 2?" she questioned him, looking still a little wary.

"Yeah."

Virgil watched her look him up and down before her gaze met his. Then something seemed to change. Her eyes widened for a moment before her expression settled into something Virgil wasn't entirely sure of. Recognition? Whatever it was, she wasn't looking at him as she had before. In fact... there was something about her, but he couldn't put his fingers on it.

"Could you at least give me a head start?" he asked, hoping she might at least do that much for him. Thunderbird 5 would be hard to escape, but he knew it's blind spots. He just needed enough time to get down the cliff and get into the air.

"You do realize the cliff is quite steep?"

"Yeah, I noticed. It'd be quicker to get down with a grapple, but I'm pretty sure I'll manage," he said, not sure where she was going with this.

"Come. I’ll show you another way," she surprisingly offered, gesturing to him to follow. Virgil hesitated, remaining where he stood, unsure if this was a good idea or not. He'd just managed to escape, after all. It seemed rather a bit counterproductive to go back inside the very place he'd just snuck out of.

"Virgil...?"

Hearing his name made his head snap up, a look of surprise now on his face as he looked over at her. "What did you say?"

"You are Virgil, aren't you?" she asked him, tilting her head.

"I... Well... Yeah, but..." Virgil replied, staring at her slightly dumbfounded. Yeah, he thought he'd seen recognition in her eyes, but he hadn't dared to believe it. Who was this girl?

"You’ll be safe as long as you're with me. Come... hurry!" she said, beckoning him again to the door.

Hoping he wouldn't soon regret this, Virgil decided to take the chance and follow her back into the villa. Moving as quietly as he could, he was introduced to the lower level of the villa, which seemed to be mostly hallways and doors. Beckoning him again, she led him through various corridors before finally ending up in a lift.

After standing there silent for a moment, he finally looked over to her. "So... Sorry didn't have much of an introduction. You're...?" he asked, breaking the silence to hopefully quell the weird sensation he had about her.

"You don't know?" the girl asked, sounding a little confused by his question. Then again, she'd seemed to work out who he was, so he supposed maybe she thought he'd know her too...

"No... I'm afraid not," he told her apologetically, trying to figure out how to put this. "At the risk of sounding, uh, kinda crazy... the world or whatever I'm from... I can't say I know you."

"I'm Tin-Tin... Tin-Tin Kyrano," she introduced herself.

"Kyrano?" he echoed, eyes widening as he turned his head to look at her once more. She didn't really resemble Kyrano or Kayo to him, but... No, that wasn't true at all. Her eyes were a very distinct colour; a very familiar colour. The shape of her eyebrows and curve of her jaw...  He really hadn't been paying attention, had he?

"...Tanusha?"

"Pardon?"

"Oh... never mind. It's not important. You just remind me of someone."

Virgil dropped it for now, though he had a feeling his gut was right. (And if it was somehow wrong, Tin-Tin was undoubtedly was related to Kayo.) At this point he really had to concentrate on getting to Thunderbird 2 and then hopefully figuring out how on earth to get back where he belonged. He could think about things like who Tin-Tin was another time.

"So you believe you are from... ah, what is it called... An alternate universe?"

"Honestly? I have no idea what to believe right now," Virgil answered truthfully. "I just want to get back to my brothers." And Grandma, Kayo, Brains, Lady Penelope and Parker... even MAX and EOS. He'd be happy to be back with them all about now. In fact, he really wished he would just wake up and find this was all one hell of a dream. Yeah, that would be nice.

The lift came to a halt and the doors opened, revealing a long tunnel. It didn't take too long to long to arrive at some doors which brought them into, what appeared to be, another residence. Glancing out the large windows, Virgil quickly realized was likely the structure he vaguely recalled seeing overlooking the runway. And there, sitting still on the runway, was Thunderbird 2. So far, so good. He was almost there.

Tin-Tin pointed to another door. "There is another lift there. It will take you down to an exit to the runway," she told him. "I am afraid I must hurry off. If I am gone any longer it will be noticed."

"That's alright. Thank you for taking me this far, Tin-Tin," he told her, glad for the help. This might have not been exactly the fastest way down, but it had been certainly been an easy way. It was very likely her assistance had kept him from getting caught once more.

"I am glad I was able to help, but... Virgil, are you certain you should be leaving? We could help you, surely?" Tin-Tin asked, sounding like she was pretty puzzled by his actions.

"Scott wouldn't even believe I was who I said I was... If I can't convince Scott, how could I even hope convince the others?" he explained, still feeling sort of shocked Scott hadn't been even willing to listen to him. He didn't really want to be leaving the people who were most likely to be able to help him in some way, but he didn't have much choice right now.

"Perhaps he just needs more time...?" she suggested, but Virgil shook his head at the suggestion. "Don't worry about it. I'll figure out what happened myself." Somehow.

"They've probably noticed I've escaped by now, so I really gotta run and you do too, right? Thanks again, Tin-Tin," he told her, then turned, hurrying to the door to the lift.

“Good luck!” he heard her call after him.

Soon he was out on the runway approaching Thunderbird 2. He went to reach for his wrist controller, but let out a curse as he noticed a jet not far from the island that was definitely making an approach for the runway. He dove behind one of the palm trees, hoping he hadn't been spotted. Virgil watched as the jet fired it's VTOLs, landing not far from Thunderbird 2.

It was frustrating to be SO close to his ship and yet so far. He contemplated trying to find a longer term hiding place, but... no, he hadn't gotten this far to turn back now. All he had to do was get on board—they'd be hard pressed to stop him once he got inside.

Slowly, hiding as best he could, he dove between cover making his way closer to his aircraft to the point he was only a handful of yards away. Touching his fingers to his controller, Thunderbird 2's hologram floated above his wrist. Taking the hand controller from his belt, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Alright. He just had to make a dash to jump onto the cockpit elevator and he'd be home free.

He decided to run on the count of three. One... Two... Three!

Virgil dove from his cover, running towards Thunderbird 2. The next thing he knew something, or rather, someone had slammed into him. Dazed, it took a moment for him to realize what was happening as he lay on his back on the rough pavement of the runway.

"Just where do you think you're going!?"

Oh no...

It was Scott.

----

(Just a little end note since I feel like maybe I should explain few things. Um. 1. Yes, it’s a crossover because I’m dumb and love crossovers... though it’s only kinda since it’s the within the same franchise. lol 2. Okay so like... my thinking into why they’re being so kinda... awful. The TOS folk here. ...They’re kinda pretty paranoid in TOS. XDDD Bring couple kids in a ship that doesn’t even have really windows... who probably couldn’t even begin to tell where they are... BUT STILL. BLINDFOLDS. Someone’s in the pod? They’re all there with their guns. Like. Yeah. Some guy shows up saying he’s Virgil... with a “copy” of TB2 like The Imposters... shows up on their secret island... Plus Virgil and their TB2 went missing same time? Yeaaaah. XD They just wouldn’t be too trusting at this point, I figure. SO UH YEAH. That’s my brain thinkings into all this.)

[fanfictrashdump]

Queening a Pawn, 9

[Am I procrastinating? Damn right, I am! 2020 is just a throw-away year, y’all. Strap in, it’s a long one.]

Summary: During the Time Heist, Loki stole the Tesseract and escaped. He did not expect, however, to be pulled through a Time Loop that delivered him to a Midgard more than a decade older, wiser, and bitterer. Having just lived through his unsuccessful attack in New York, Loki must learn to live in Midgard after the defeat of Thanos (post-Endgame). The question is, who is Loki without a quest for a throne or total domination?

Pairings: Loki x OC

=

Delilah flipped through the papers in her hand, filing cabinet drawer open, as she put them away in their designated location. Her day had been the normal array of meetings and putting out imaginary fires before she had been left alone to her fortress of paperwork a half hour earlier. It was getting late into the evening, and though Lilah knew she should have called it quits hours ago, she had decided that finishing this menial, mindless task, would be the perfect excuse for sleeping in tomorrow.

She slid another file into its allotted slot, when the hair on the back of her neck all stood at attention. It wasn't that playful sensation in the back of her head when she felt Loki was trying to scare her, and it wasn't the cursory glance of the maintenance staff cleaning up, after hours. No, she was being well and truly observed. She couldn't see anyone out of her peripheral vision, but she could practically feel their heartbeat. 

Bending to lower some files into the lowest drawer, she silently unholstered a pistol taped to the side of the furniture. She wanted to groan. That gun had been there since her first day of work nearly a decade ago and this was the first time she had ever needed to reach for it.

Straightening up, she took a few steadying breaths. Turning on a dime, she shot a single round, catching the intruder in the chest. For a moment, she debated between throwing up and screaming for help, but neither would do her any good at this time of night. Instead, she stepped lightly to the lifeless figure. He was dressed head to toe in tactical gear, several guns strapped to his person, and Delilah had managed to catch him just above the bullet vest. This was unlikely to be an isolated incident, and she didn't want to wait for his friends to show up.

With a weapon raised, she quietly hurried down the corridor, using any and every shortcut she knew to get back to the rooms. If she could have FRIDAY wake the agents, they could possibly live to see another day, but she did not enjoy the fact their fate depended on the least trained individual in the entire building.

"I really need to go to more voluntary training," she muttered to herself, turning down a hallway, only to find a group in the same tactical gear. She shuffled backwards, gasping. Her feet lost their grip on the ground below and she was forced back into a closet, hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

"It's me. It's only me." Her struggles settled down to a bare pant at Loki's voice. "There was a patrolman coming up behind you." He turned her to face him, moving her face this way and that to assess the damage. "Are you alright? I heard gunfire."

"That was me." Loki looked oddly impressed at the response. "I'm not entirely useless."

"You're entirely too modest. Where were you scurrying off to?"

Delilah sighed, puffing her cheeks out as she thought. "They disabled FRIDAY. I need to reach a securely rooted computer to sound the alarm." There was shuffling just behind the door. Loki and Delilah held their breaths, trying to think themselves invisible as the intruders ran past. The echo of gunfire further away made her start, and she found herself clutching onto the front of Loki's shirt, rooted to the spot.

"Hey. Hey! Where's the nearest secure whatever you need?" Loki cupped her face with both hands, forcing her to focus on him, rather than the thunder-like sound of bullets. It was a helpful distraction, but it made her no less terrified of what lay beyond their door.

Delilah stuttered, her brain a mess. The adrenaline had started to fade and her fear had begun to take over. Not to mention the guilt of having put a bullet through someone's chest just a few minutes prior. "Um… I–I… er…" Her eyes caught the barest piece of an insignia for Stark Industries and lightbulb came on in her brain. "Tony. We need to get to Tony's case."

He rolled his eyes, groaning. "Nowhere better, really?"

"Loki–!"

He clapped his hand over her mouth. "Don't yell, you imp! You'll give us away!" Eyes wide, she nodded frantically, and he lowered his hand. "On the count of three, we'll go through the door, take a right and we'll walk as quietly as possible to the Memorial Hall. OK?" She nodded again. "If someone comes and they shoot, you get behind me. If I die, you run. Do you understand?"

"No, but–"

"Do you understand?"

There was a beat of tense silence between them before she nodded and Loki grasped at the doorknob with determination. He mouthed his count: One, Two, Three, and swung the door open. They crept away to the right. As they turned the corner, two figures were incoming. With a flourish of his hand, there was a dagger in one of their chests, but before he could reach for another blade, thunder rolled beside him, leaving him slightly deaf in one ear. The figure crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"Color me impressed," he whispered, taking Delilah's hand and pulling her along. He stopped only to collect his dagger, as well as the daggers attached to the fallen men. Loki sighed. No magic meant he had to police his daggers like a commoner, but it didn't mean his aim was any less true.

Down the hall, they could see the shining beacon of Tony's hologram in the darkened room. Lilah ran ahead, sliding to a stop in front of the case while Loki dealt with a couple of intruders who had just stumbled into the hall. She dropped to her knees, opening the panel just below the hologram as Loki rejoined her.

"Pygmy puff, what the hell is going on?" The hologram whispered, bending down to talk to her.

"Not sure. All I know is that someone's put FRIDAY offline. I need to sound a warning."

"Behind you!" Tony warned, and Loki spun, digging the blade of his weapon to the hilt before kicking the attacker back to retrieve it. "What's he doing here?" Tony eyed Loki distrustfully, and on any other day Delilah would have thought it was sweet, but right now, she had to figure out what the hell had happened to their security system.

"Saving my ass. What’s it look like, Tony?" She groaned. "Where the fuck is the keyboard!?"

"Jesus, settle down, Li! It's under the external drive." The projection held his hands up in defense. "Be gentle. It's my first time," he joked as she stuck her arm into the box and dislodged the keyboard from its hidden recess. "It's gonna get a little loud here, kids." From atop the box, two miniature missiles flew out and locked onto a new wave of attackers. Neither Loki nor Delilah were surprised.

"Tony, someone's been tweaking your algorithm." Delilah commented, her fingers a blur over the keyboard.

"What?" He bent over her work with a frown. "That's not my coding."

"I know! Do you recognize it?"

"No, I don't know anyone who's that sloppy," he retorted. "Other than Criss Angel here."

"Not the time, Tony!" A peal of automatic gun fire echoed the room. Loki had snatched her back so fast, she felt a little like a ragdoll, and the hologram was quick to wave them both behind the display. "Really? Bulletproof glass?"

"I'm worth it!" He said defensively. "You didn't seem to mind when I was saving your behind earlier."

"Well, yeah, but–" More gunfire followed, and Delilah let out a scream of pain.

Loki bundled her up, pulling her further behind the display, leaving the extra screen and keyboard forgotten. He smoothed his hands over her, looking for a source of pain. "Delilah? Talk to me."

"Fucking ricochet off the fucking glass," she hissed, holding onto her leg with a groan.

"We need to get you to the infirmary and–"

"I'm fine." She groaned, though he continued fussing over her. It took a jolt of her pulling on his shirt to rouse him from the panic. "Loki, I'm fine. I swear. It's just a graze."

"Oh, God. Are you two–"

"Shut up, Stark!" Loki and Delilah both echoed, narrowing their eyes at the projection.

Delilah reached for the keyboard and continued trying to restart FRIDAY from Tony's hub, to no avail. "Tony, how do we get FRI up and running?"

"There's a failsafe in the basement. It'll override any programming that they've coded into her. In it’s a drawer labeled Taxes. Problem is, you're gonna need Bruce for the final jolt."

She nodded, pulling herself up to test putting weight on her leg. It was blindingly painful, but she could walk. "That's fine. Lo, you go get Bruce, and I'll start the resetting FRIDAY downstairs, OK?" She had intended to just run the opposite direction to Loki, but he reached out to grab her wrist at the last moment, pulling her back roughly.  

"I'm not leaving you, if that's what you're suggesting." Loki announced, decided.

His human companion growled. "For fuck's sake–we don't have time for this, Loki! Just go get Bruce."

"Are you mental? You'd have to navigate several floors on your own. They might be waiting to ambush you!"

Delilah pushed at his chest, trying to usher him the other way. "Loki, you are the patron sinner of logic and thinking three steps ahead and you know splitting up makes sense!"

His thumb, index and forefingers gripped her face at the hollows of her cheeks. In the low light, he looked eerily like a nightmare creature, angry and out for blood, but more importantly, worried out of his mind. The expression wasn't a particularly common sight on his face, and his hesitation sent a cold drip of fear down her spine. "I don't give a flying fuck what I would do on my own in the name of logic. Those rules are non-existent for you." Delilah raised her eyebrows in surprise. Cussing wasn't Loki's style (at least any cuss words used in the current century), so it was particularly impactful when he slung the phrase out like it was nothing.

Delilah bit her tongue, taking a deep breath and concentrating, instead, on the burning in her leg. "Where's Bruce, Tony?"

Tony looked like he was thinking as he accessed the building cameras. "Mess hall. Trying not to go savage." Loki and Lilah nodded to each other. "Hey, hey, hey. You keep an eye on her, Danny Phantom. Got it?"

"Won't let her leave my sight, I assure you," Loki called over his shoulder as he ran after Delilah. 

He pressed her back against the wall as a group of soldiers in black, trying not to stare at the long swooping eyelashes that were fluttering against her cheek. Loki shushed her quietly when she went to say something, holding a finger to her lips. Another three watchmen strolled past and neither moved for a few seconds after the coast was clear. It was an open area to the mess and they'd be exposed all the way there. Not to mention, they didn't know what would await them on the other side of the door. Taking in a shuddering breath, Delilah offered her hand, waiting for Loki to thread his fingers through hers. With a nod, they shot off, Loki dragging Delilah after him because of his significantly longer strides, and they slid into the mess hall with a sigh.

Bruce swept Delilah into his arms and squeezed her as tightly as he dared before setting her back down, leaving her to teeter uncomfortably on her feet. "Finally! Are you OK? Who the hell are these people?"

"I don't know, but they took down FRIDAY. I need you to help me reboot."

"Are they with him?" His voice grew into a roar as he stared down at Loki, eyes dark.

"No," she assured, turning back to glance at Loki, who seemed fidgety around the gentle giant. "At least I don't think so. It'd be too much of a hassle to keep me alive all night if this were all him."

"It wouldn't be the first–" The snarky remark was cut short by a knife whizzing through the air beside him and finding its mark in the chest of an intruder who had attempted to sneak up.

"Not that I don't adore the scathing review of my character, could we please not give these people an opportunity to kill agents in their beds?" Loki rolled his eyes, his hand instinctually reaching for Lilah to have her lead ahead.

The basement was nothing remarkable. There were boilers, power switch boxes, and server panels that kept the compound running. Loki looked at the room as if it were the landscape of some distant planet. Delilah had tugged him to some dark recess in the room, past mountains of circuit boards and wires. She opened a drawer in one of the various cabinets against the wall, labeled Taxes, and just as Tony had promised there were two terminals and a set of relays with the words Smash Here written on some silver duct tape. Beneath, there was a set of laminated instructions which she quickly glanced over, bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

"Loki, I need some help!"

He was beside her a moment later, wiping blood off his knife. "Yes?"

"I need you to help me type. To reset FRIDAY, commands have to be typed into both terminals at the same time," she explained, pushing one of the keyboards towards him.

Loki hesitated. "I… maybe I should get Banner in. He's better at this–"

"You can drive spaceships. I'm pretty sure you can handle typing."

"We have no use for this crude technology."

"Yeah, well, right now this crude technology is all that's standing between us and reinforcements, and Bruce's fingers are too big for this keyboard."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but her narrowed eyes offered little purpose in complaining. "What do I have to do?" His dagger disappeared into a sheath behind his back and he reached for the keyboard.

"There's a reset code, but in true Tony fashion, it can only work if they're typed at the exact same time. I'm going to need you to keep perfect pace with me, or…"

"Or?"

"It might completely wipe FRIDAY's interface off the server, but, you know, no pressure."

"Just keep pace with you." He stared at her for a second too long, enough for her to shift her gaze at him and tilt her head in question. "I can do that." He studied the keys with rapt interest. "Norns know I try hard enough," he added under his breath, leaving Delilah to ponder the severity of his words.

"Alright. Take a breath and in 3, 2, 1…" She started calling out the code, line by line, watching as Loki carefully matched the clacking of her keys with his own. It was a long program and Lilah was sure the Science Bros™ had made it so infuriatingly difficult just for giggles– she didn't think they could ever foresee FRIDAY going dark because of some crappy Trojan. When the final return was entered, the screen flickered with the message Pressure realignment pending. "Bruce!"

A scuffle was heard just outside the door before Bruce peeked into the server room, carefully skirting towers of data to avoid collision and potential loss. Delilah set the relay on a countertop and gestured the green genius with her hand. Banner stared at the thing for just a second before letting out a roar and driving his fist down on it, leaving the counter creaking and slightly dented. A second later a beep, followed by a Good evening, Strongest Avenger echoed.

"Oh, thank God! FRIDAY, code purple. Security code three-six-eight dash fourteen thirty."

"It looks like someone jammed the locks on the agent barracks. Do you want me to remotely unlock the hallway, Del?"

"Yes, please!"

"It's too bad you won't be able to see them free, Lilah." The trio turned. At the door stood five men, guns raised with Dwyer leading the pack. Banner lumbered, ready to pounce, but a small dart cut through the air and stuck into his neck before he even had a chance to make any headway. He fell unconscious with a mighty thud.

Loki hastily shoved Delilah behind him and brandished his dagger. "Oh, I knew I didn't like you even before you drugged me."

"And if you had just died, Delilah wouldn't have to die now." Dwyer sighed.

A sadistic sort of smirk tilted the corners of Loki's mouth. "If you come near us, I'll slit your throat, you pustulous bilge snipe."

"Oh, I'm not going to do a thing. You are." If the Asgardian was confused by the comment, he didn't mention it. "Those drugs weren't just for me to watch you trip. They had a special little ingredient to help ply your mind. Thor will be so distraught, he'll beg to join our cause. Magic is the devil's plaything, after all."

Loki caught Delilah by the wrist, pulling her back behind him when her ire got the better of her and meant to smack the self-satisfied grin off his face. "Thor trusts me about as far as I can throw Mjolnir. Why would he be surprised if I went feral again?"

"I'm afraid you've missed a lot. It's not your fault, really." He sighed wistfully, though it was all for show. "I mean, he didn't even want you out of your prison cell. Said it was better for everyone if you were kept there or taken back to New Asgard. That you didn't belong in the world." Loki glanced over his shoulder. Lilah was staring at the floor with a frown and his heart sank. "If it wasn't for Delilah you'd still be rotting in the dungeons. Not that she's any better. I mean, she'll let you walk around with the rest of the humans, but will sure as hell leave you collared like a dog. When's the last time you even thought about doing magic?"

"He never asked me to take them off, so I haven't. He's already adjusting to a whole new decade, much less–" Delilah snapped, nearly growling.

"You don't fucking trust him!"

"Standing next to Loki is a risk. There's nothing he wants that he doesn't get and the bracelets can only motivate him. I wouldn't be in this room, with him if I didn't trust him with my life!"

"Then take them off!"

"No," she hissed, glaring daggers at the man. "If the choice is you killing me or turning him into a weapon, then shoot me now."

Dwyer laughed. "Oh, I’m turning him into a weapon regardless." He dug into his pocket and pulled a glowing yellow stone that made Loki blanch even paler than his usual self and take a half-step backwards. "What? You don't like your friend, anymore."

"You don't know what you're playing with, Dwyer," Loki said, carefully. "The Stone controls you as much, if not more, than you control it."

"Oh, this isn't the original stone. Stark got desperate, at one point, and tried to recreate the stones to undo everything Thanos had done. This was the only one he got close to replicating with Vision's help." He tossed it into the air, like a penny. "Much less fuss, just as effective. Now, ask her to unbind you."

"What?"

"She said she would do it if you asked. So, ask her. It's obvious Lilah already kneels for you quite readily. Might as well make it worth my while. I don't want to waste the stone's power on her."

"Keep her name out of your mouth or I'll relieve you of your tongue!" Loki growled and it was Delilah's turn to hold him back.

"It's OK." Loki pulled away from her, holding his hands to his chest. "It's happening one way or another. I'd rather consciously free you, if that's alright with you."

"You have nothing to prove to him," Loki whispered.

Delilah smiled and brushed his cheek with her thumb. "I know, Lo. It's not for him."

"Or me." He added, passionately.

Lilah sighed, looking between the men before gesturing to Loki's hands. "No. Keep the dagger," Dwyer urged when Loki offered her the hilt without hesitation. 

Delilah slid her fingers over the pressured pins on his wrists, the metal detecting her fingerprints before clicking quietly and dropping to the floor with a deafening clatter. Her fingers twisted into his and squeezed reassuringly. As much as he tried, he couldn't find it within him to look away from soft eyes. It hurt how little fear he saw, the blind trust. When had he earned this no-questions-asked vote of confidence? He felt the magic trickle down his spine and couldn't even bring himself to feel glad to have it back. Not when he was sure that was coming would be awful.

"How's it feel to be a big boy again?" He hated Dwyer's voice for breaking through what should have been a private moment; that he too could see Delilah laying herself bare to his tempest. "It's not going to feel good for long." He whispered some words to the stone and it only glowed brighter, forcing Loki to look away.

"Loki," she whispered as he teetered, his head bowing. "Focus. You can do this."

Loki straightened up, his eyes wrenched closed. Blindly, he reached for her, closing his fingers around her wrist uncomfortably tight. "Delilah, please go."

"Don't give up on me, Lo. Just–"

"LILAH!" He snapped in a half-growl. He was gritting his teeth now and the hand on her was shaking uncontrollably with effort. "Lilah, please. My love, please run." He blinked his eyes up, eerie blue and shining with tears. "Go now. Run." She hesitated again, frozen in place. "RUN!" With a start, she stumbled back, bolting out the back of the room and into the emergency stairwell.

Despite the blood rushing in her ears, she could hear the pounding footsteps behind her, like a predator stalking her every move. A blade whizzed past her. Then another. And another. He was playing with her, enjoying watching her squirm as she feared for her life and scurried like a mouse. When she exited the stairwell at the next floor, he was standing right outside the door. She yelped, stumbling back against the slab of metal when he swung a blade at her head and just narrowly missed her. 

Lilah drove her elbow against the still-sore ribs on his left side, watching him stumble back with a hiss, but return with even more fervor. A swipe of the blade cut a path across her jaw, just shy of slicing into her jugular. With a jolt, he rammed her into the wall, knife at her neck just barely skimming as he slowly pressed the blade into her warm skin. The pain radiated through her body, fueling her adrenaline and she kicked him square in the chest, knocking him onto the floor. The crack of his head on the floor jarred his brain enough that he blinked in confusion for a moment.

"Loki, snap the fuck out of it!" He hoisted himself back onto his feet and charged. Delilah remained in a fighter's stance, fists up, aiming at anything she could reach while also avoiding his daggers. She managed another jab at his head and stomach, slowing him down. "What are you doing? Letting your mind being invaded by some mortal with some sick delusion of grandeur to get you to act for him? You know me–I’m your friend!" He faltered. "Since when do you obey anyone other than yourself?"

The dagger ready to fly towards her head dropped to his side as he considered. Lilah would have laughed if she wasn't in active danger– leave Loki's ego to save the day. If she could count on two things in the Universe, it was that the Sun would rise and Loki would think very highly of himself. She inched carefully towards him, his ghostly stare following her across the hallway, though his body remained unmoving. He was now within arm's reach. He didn't react when she touched his chest, her palm sliding up his front, winding up his neck and onto his cheek. There was the slightest change of pressure and she realized it was him barely pressing his jaw onto her palm out of instinct.

"God, I'm so sorry for this," she whispered as she reared back and decked him in the jaw so hard it made her whole arm ache. Loki raised a hand to his face and hissed, turning his eyes back on the panting woman for her to notice that his eyes were the seaglass green she was so familiar with. "Good to know this stone has the same design flaws as the other one."

It was a minute or two of quiet contemplation and confusion before Loki managed to return to the present. There was blood on her neck that he knew he was responsible for. The reality of the situation flooded him with a gasp and he threw his arms around her form and pulled her into his chest. "I nearly killed you. Oh, gods, I very nearly killed you."

"You're OK. Everything is OK." She whispered, carding her fingers through his hair as he panted. Delilah bridged the gap between them with her lips. She had nearly died and she would be damned if she dared feel guilty for indulging in a kiss. Not when he tasted like cinnamon from the pastries he hoarded in his rooms, spicy and familiar. He clung to her form, fists grabbing handfuls of her shirt as if she'd disappeared if he let go.

"You're bleeding. I– I… you're bleeding and I nearly–"

Lilah smiled through tears. "You didn't. Thankfully, you obey no one but yourself."

"No," he objected, vehemently. "It was you. No one but you." His mouth desperately searched for purchase on hers repeatedly, as if it were the only thing keeping him from breaking. And it may as well have been, for all either of them knew. "I'm so sorry."

"I know you are, Lo. And you can make it up to me later, but right now, maniac with a Mind Stone– what are we doing?"

"Running sounds like a champion idea," he said after a moment's hesitation.

"Loki–"

"I know, I know." He was silent before reluctantly loosening his grip on her with a sigh. He rubbed at the marks where his manacles had been with a conflicted look in his eyes. "I may have an idea."

Ten minutes later, he marched back into the basement, eyes glowing blue and tossed the bloodied, carved body that was once Delilah onto the floor before Dwyer's feet. He let out a chuckle, nudging her slack head with the toe of his boot. "Oh, that didn't end too good for her, did it? How'd it feel, Loki? Dispensing with the only person who would have given you a second, third, or millionth chance in the world? You really are just a snake in the grass." Loki stood still, shoulders squared and awaiting his next command. "You seemed to fawn after her, too. Did you like her?"

"More than anyone," he replied, mechanically and the villain laughed.

"Oh, that's even better! You've always been such a good pawn– for your parents, for Thanos, the Avengers, me. Now, before you make your exit, how about you leave your brother a little goodbye note. Make it poignant, OK?" Loki flourished his hands and a projection of him glimmered in pale blue light, moving as it spoke a pre-recorded message of revenge on humans and vengeance on his enemies. "Good boy. Now, put the shackles back on." Loki collected the metal manacles and slid them onto his wrists, feeling the instant relief of no magic in his veins to cloud his judgement. "Any last words?"

Loki smirked, the expression looking manic on his bloodied face. He sank slowly to his knees with one fist over his heart. "My Queen. Precisely on time." Dwyer turned, suddenly. At the door, Delilah stood, gun loaded and raised with Sam, Bucky, and a dozen SHIELD and STARK agents, in tow. The body on the floor had lost its glamour and turned into one of the black-clad intruders.

"You tried to trick the trickster god? How stupid are you? Really?" Bucky asked, weapon at the ready.

Dwyer cackled, hands raised in surrender. "This is cute. You think this was the big one? You haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg. How's your Doctor Strange doing?"

"I'll check in with Stephen– you rally these people up and destroy that stone replica." Delilah's gun lowered, clicking softly as she put the safety back on and sliding into the back of her trousers. "Lo?"

Loki shook the cobwebs out of his mind and offered her a weak smile. He felt heavy and confused. The short freedom from his shackles should have been a breath of fresh air, and it turned into the worst nightmare he had had in a long while. Not to mention there was the issue of his brother. He had never expected Thor to simply give up on him, much less without a needlessly emotional conversation beforehand.

"Are you OK?" Lilah looked worried and it was actually painful for him to see her bleeding by his blade and still worried about him, of all people– Loki of Asgard, a snake in the grass.

He nodded, his eyes falling to the ground. "Mind is a little muddled, is all."

Delilah offered him a sad smile. “How about we get you home?”She gestured with her head to the door. "Come on. I'll call Stephen on my way to yours."

[mustardprecum]

So I’ve seen what you written with your past few posts and it’s literally so good!! Absolutely adore your style of writing xx if you want, could you do a little ficlet about Steve and billy maybe being stuck in some place together and slowly getting more comfortable and closer with each other?

[AWWWHHH THANK YOU T wT lemme try now that im sober. Hope you’re in the mood for stuck in an elevator] This sort of got away from me, so I’m putting it under a read more. 

Everyone had been excited for the field trip to Chicago. It was a big city with so much to see and do, and they were getting a whole 90 minutes of free time in between scheduled stops and tours.

Maybe if Billy wasn’t a midwestern hick who hadn’t grown up in San Diego, with frequent visits to LA and more than a few times, San Francisco, he would have been excited too.

He made one snide comment about cities on the coast, someone took that as an invitation to compare the ‘great’ lakes to the ocean, and now he was in an even worse mood. They were standing in front of the lake, which had nothing on the Pacific, and were about to be released.

“Stay with your buddies,” said the chaperone, holding out slips of paper. “And meet back at the hotel by 4.”

Tommy H. muttered something, but Billy didn’t bother trying to hear him. He was ready to go back inside because it was too fucking humid, his hair was heavy, and it felt like the air was sweating on him.

If he had listened to what Tommy said, he would have known that the chaperone had assigned him and Steve Harrington as buddies, and that Harrington was walking over.

“Try not to get mugged, Harrington,” Tommy jeered like it was an insult.

Harrington rolled his eyes as he came to stand in front of Billy. “Hey.”

Billy stared back at him blankly.

The other students began to disperse around them while Steve fidgeted. Finally, he sighed loudly, “look man, we just have to get through the next hour and a half. Can you handle a truce for that long?”

In fact, Billy had been handling a baseball bat enforced ‘truce’ with the grace of Laurence Olivier. That didn’t mean Harrington’s face didn’t piss him off, didn’t remind him of that night in the Fall where nothing made sense and violence was the only option. It didn’t mean that he had to deal with other feelings regarding Steve that were weird and deeply confusing.

“Cool, so,” Harrington threw his hands up, looking around at the cityscape. “Where do you want to go?”

“Inside.” Billy turned on his heel and began marching back towards the hotel, which thankfully was only across the street from the park.

Harrington made some kind of noise and followed after him. “What does that mean?” He asked; God he had the worst nagging mom voice. “Do you want to get food?”

“I want to go back to the hotel,” Billy said shortly. The stupid fucking traffic was heavy, and the stupid fucking crosswalk was red.

“But we’re in Chicago. I would have thought you’d be happy to be here.” Steve had his hands on his hips like he was telling Billy to wash his face and eat his vegetables.

“Happy,” Billy said disdainfully, “to be in Chicago.”

“How are you this much of a snob?”

“I’m from California.” Billy didn’t actually mean it as a joke, but Steve started laughing. He didn’t get happy looks like that very often anymore. Billy let him laugh until the light turned green.

The sour look returned. “Seriously, it’s not a city on the West coast, so you’re not even interested?”

Billy couldn’t imagine being interested in any place that wasn’t on the coast. The furthest inland he’d thought he’d ever travel was Las Vegas.

“I’d visit New York,” he said, “and New Orleans.”

“So...if it was called New Chicago you’d be interested?”

Billy had to stop, because Steve sounded completely serious. He stared at Steve, who looked totally guileless, like the fact that ‘New’ was in the two cities Billy listed was the common thread. Billy blinked several times, before he decided there was literally no answer to that.

They reached the hotel entrance and Steve opened the door for him even though he was still complaining.

“I wanted to see the Hard Rock Cafe!”

Billy snorted. He’d been to the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles, it had been amazing, and any other place would be a disappointment. He pressed the arrow on the elevator a few times in quick succession, still ignoring Harrington.

If Harrington wasn’t such a goodie-goodie (sometimes) he could just leave and explore on his own. Billy didn’t bother pointing it out.

“Do you even have a room key?”

Billy tapped his pocket where the key resided and Harrington huffed. “This is my first trip to Chicago, why are you ruining it?”

The elevator doors opened and Billy stepped in. He raised his eyebrows with his finger poised over the 6 button. “Comin’ or going, Harrington?”

Harrington sighed again, wilted like he might drop deadweight onto the floor, before he stomped into the elevator and crossed his arms. “You suck.”

“You swallow,” Billy replied instinctively.

Harrington went on an impressive face journey before the meaning clicked in his head. “Gross,” he went to smack Billy’s arm.

If he hadn’t been mostly in Billy’s periphery it would have been fine. But for a moment, all Billy saw was a fist coming toward him out of a blindspot. He turned sharply, catching Harrington’s hand in a bruising grip.

Harrington stared, Billy stared back, and then the lights flickered just before the elevator jerked to a stop.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Billy threw Harrington’s hand away and slammed his hands on the door.

“Don’t, what if we fall,” Harrington edged around him and started poking at the panel. “Is there an emergency phone--oh, here it is. Billy, stop yelling!”

He didn’t hear his name from Steve a lot. It was enough to pause his yelling about how much Chicago sucked. He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the doors while Harrington talked into the phone.

When he hung up, he was chewing his lip. “They said it might be an hour.”

Billy’s jaw clenched, “no.”

“Oh great, I’ll just call ‘em up again and say you said no,” Harrington ran his hands through his ridiculously fluffy hair and looked around the small space. “If you had just come out, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“No, if this wasn’t a garbage city, with a garbage hotel, with a garbage elevator, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Why,” Harrington snapped. “Why are you like this? Why are you always this fucking negative?”

“I’m not,” Billy lied. “You just never unclench, Harrington.”

“Oh, fuck you too.”

They stood on opposite sides of the elevator, pointedly not looking at each other. Billy wasn’t a claustrophobic person, but the air felt stale now that they were stuck. He itched for a cigarette that was packed discreetly in his overnight bag in his room.

“And another thing,”

“Jesus Christ,” Billy’s head dropped back against the doors.

“No, you got me stuck here, you’re going to listen to every damn word I have to say,” Harrington had his finger up, practically wagging it. “Just call me Steve.”

“What.”

“I don’t like the last name thing. I never did. So stop it.” He fidgeted some more, crossing his arms, then uncrossing them, putting his hands on his hips and shifting from foot to foot until Billy wanted to force him to sit down.

“Fine,” Billy waited until Steve looked up at him, surprised at the acquiescence. Billy gave him a shit eating grin, “Princess.”

Steve looked annoyed. “I don’t know why I bother.”

“I don’t either,” Billy drawled. “I made my feelings about you pretty clear.” Some of them, at least.

“You made your psychosis pretty clear,” Steve muttered, “before, you know, anything happened.”

He was worse at dancing around that night than Max.

But Steve wasn’t done. He moved to the middle of the elevator, a tiny bit taller than Billy but somehow looking up at him like a petulant chinchilla with big brown eyes. “I never did anything to you,” he said.

No, he hadn’t. On Halloween he barely looked at Billy, as if being dethroned meant so little that he couldn’t offer more than a short smile before wandering off after his girlfriend. Billy had hated him for it so much. Hated him for ignoring the taunts, for practically refusing to look at him.

Showers were the worst, because etiquette was to leave a buffer spot whenever possible. Steve didn’t even care when Billy stood right beside him.

“You piss me off,” Billy said simply.

“Why?” asked the chinchilla.

Billy felt his face twitch, the way it did when his temper was acting up but he didn’t want to make a scene in front of his dad. There wasn’t an easy answer to why, how dare Steve ask it while staring at him with all the attention Billy had been craving for months.

“Why was Max at Byers’ house?” he countered. Steve’s face shutdown and it pleased Billy. He stalked forward, stepping into Steve’s space with a manic smile. “Why the fuck were you all alone in a shack with a bunch of kids, Steve.”

Steve stared over his shoulder. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said quietly. “And if you got mixed up in it, you’d hate me.”

Billy wanted to say, I do hate you. “Do you hate whoever got you mixed up in it?”

Steve’s face crumpled. He always looked expressive that Billy never fully realized how composed he kept his face. His nose got red when he was upset. “Not hate,” Steve looked down at his feet and sniffed. “Just, it’s hard.”

“Is it something illegal?” Billy asked, “is it a drug den?”

Steve laughed and Billy felt the air from it on his chest. “God, I wish.” He tilted his head, looking at Billy, looking over his face and Billy wasn’t sure what he was looking for.

Billy really wanted to smoke.

“Why do you hate me, Billy?” Steve asked again. “You already won, you know?”

“It’s not about winning.” Billy really fuckin’ wanted to smoke.

“So what’s it about?” Steve frowned. “I don’t get it. I even get it with Max, history there and all that, but it was like you hated me on sight.”

“Why does it matter?” Billy grabbed the stupid popped collar of Steve’s stupid preppy polo and shook him. “Why do you suddenly give a shit?”

Steve’s eyes are wide, so wide that when they jerk to the left, it’s clear that they’re looking at the bruise on Billy’s temple that was mostly hidden by his hair. Billy claimed it was a fight like normal, there was something on Steve’s face that made Billy’s stomach twist: he knew something.

Billy was frozen, trying to sort through what Steve might know. He thoughts zeroed in on Max, that little shit. It was her fault that Steve was looking at him with a soft expression. He shoved Steve away, hoping it would end the softness. “I don’t need your fucking pity.”

“You have a fucked up idea of what constitutes pity,” Steve barely stumbled when Billy pushed. “I just think, maybe, all things considered and since we’re here,” Steve gestured to the elevator as if Billy had forgotten where they were, “maybe you could help me understand.”

“You’re such a saint,” Billy sneered. “Maybe I don’t give a shit what you understand.”

“I was kind of an asshole before,” Steve continued. He was starting to look soft and determined, and he was moved back towards Billy. “I remember wanting to stop, and not knowing how. Max said you used to be okay.”

“Max doesn’t know shit.”

“Why do you hate me, Billy?” Steve stopped in front of him, staring at him.

Steve cared way too much about what people thought about him. By Billy’s estimate they hadn’t even been stuck for twenty minutes, and Steve was trying to go full therapist on him. No wonder Hawkins was making Max so soft, if she was hanging around this kind of guy.

Billy felt his anger under his skin, it itched and burned, and he wished he could just explode into a ball of fire because that had to be less painful then staying human shaped while feeling this way. But he couldn’t muster it up to his lips, it wouldn’t become the words he needed to shut Steve down.

“I don’t.” It was so involuntary that the words were more growl than voice.

Steve blinked again, as if he was genuinely surprised by the answer. As if Billy’s desperate ploys for his attention hadn’t been pathetically clear. Then he smiled, he had a goofy, infectious smile.

“Why was Max out there?”

“She got mixed up in something.” Everything about Steve was warm. “That was the safest place for her to be.”

Billy frowned, “trouble with cops?”

“Monsters.”

“Liar.”

Steve only smiled more, until he laughed like he couldn’t help it and dropped his head on Billy’s shoulder. “I wish,” he said around his giggles. “But shit went down. Government shit that I’m legally not supposed to talk about. I’m tired.”

His hair tickled Billy’s cheek, and it smelled nice. Billy let him stay like that while he pondered over what the answer meant. “Can you prove it?”

Steve heaved a sigh and turned his head so he was looking at Billy’s neck. “Once you know, there’s no not-knowing. No checking out either, I tried.”

For some reason, that made Billy think of Steve’s visibly dwindling relationship with Wheeler at the beginning of the year. Wheeler’s little brother had been at the house too. Wheeler, Byers, Sinclair and Max. The broken window, the bat with nails, the syringe that knocked him out.

“I beat the shit out of you,” he said absently.

“So did Jonathan.”

“Am I supposed to know who that is?”

Steve started laughing again, and Billy was taking so much of his weight at that point, it felt natural to wrap his arms around Steve’s waist. Steve’s laughter started to come out harsher, until he was crying against Billy’s shoulder.

Panicked, Billy tried rubbing Steve’s back but it only made him shake harder. Jesus, how long had Steve been holding onto all this? For the sake of argument, Billy considered monsters and government shit, how Steve had been watching a bunch of kids all by himself, how he still sat at the lunch table with Wheeler and the guy she’d dumped Steve for. (Oh, maybe that was Jonathan.)

Maybe that was why Steve had been so quick to start opening up in the elevator. He was so desperate for someone he could actually talk to that he would even talk to Billy.

The elevator jerked again and the lights showed it was moving slowly down. Steve moved quickly, stepping back and wiping his face and in the span of ten seconds he looked like he was completely back to normal.

The doors opened on the ground floor, and a man in a coverall was waiting for them. “Sorry for the wait,” he said in a grating Chicago accent. “Dropped everything soon as I heard there were kids in there.”

Steve made polite small talk while Billy wandered out into to lobby. He stood there, hands in his pockets, until Steve came to stand next to him with a quizzical look. “I thought you wanted to go to the room.”

Billy shrugged, “I’m kinda hungry. Maybe could go for a burger.”

It took a second for a slow, hopeful look to cross Steve’s stupid chinchilla face. “Like, maybe at the Hardrock Cafe?”  

“Sure.”

Steve cheered, a little too loud for Billy’s taste, and started dragging him toward the door. Billy pointedly didn’t read into the fact that Steve didn’t drop his arm until they made it to the restaurant.

[lordsister]

I’m Fine...If You’re Fine (Edogawa Ranpo x Reader)

Biting the inside of your cheek, it took every bit of willpower you had not to storm out of the restaurant. Taking a deep breath in and out you closed your eyes and prayed for patience, hoping your vexation wasn't showing on your face. You knew from experience that being annoyed would only fan the flames of his cockiness.

Really, you should have expected this sort of thing from him by now. He said it over and over, that as long as he was fine, everything was fine, and if your present situation was any sort of indicator, you apparently fell more into the everything category. You had waited nearly an hour for your arrogant ass of a boyfriend to show up to the date the two of you had agreed upon nearly a month ago. With each passing second your anger towards Ranpo had grown, the pitying, concerned stares of other restaurant patrons and the waitstaff boring into your back and making you even angrier. And with each passing second your own self-doubt had grown as well.

Why were you here again? This was the third time he'd done something like this. Hell, you were sure he would show up at the last second with that infuriating cat's grin just like he had the past couple times.

You were so sick of it all. You loved Ranpo, despite everything, but not once had he ever made it clear that he felt the same way about you. He treated you with more affection than the other members of the Armed Detective Agency, but it was the sort of affection one would show a plaything, a toy to amuse himself with for a time before he got bored again. There didn't seem to be any actual care behind his gestures and it was slowly eating away at you. You wanted to stay with him, but you couldn't endure a one-sided relationship in which you were merely an object to be kept or discarded at any time. It just wasn't healthy.

As you had predicted, Ranpo had finally shown up a moment before you would have decided to leave, his signature smile on his lips. He didn't make any excuse for himself, a simple "I forgot" the only sort of explanation you received.

An hour of waiting with no reply to any of your calls or messages and "I forgot" was your consolation.

It was so like Ranpo to do this, it was almost laughable and would have been had you not been so furious with him. You felt numb as you watched him sit down and begin chattering away as if nothing was wrong. Considering his motto, maybe nothing was wrong to him. He was fine, so everything was fine, right? That certainly seemed to be his thought process in this situation.

Your mind reeling and your blood flowing hot through your veins, you couldn't hear him as he sat down and started talking about God knows what. You felt weak, as if something had taken ahold of your heart and was slowly squeezing the life out of it.

Again, you asked yourself, why were you still here?

And that was just it, a moment of clarity that nearly took your breath away. You shouldn't be here, sitting across from someone who cared so little for you that he couldn't even remember to be on time for a date.

Standing abruptly, you tossed some money on the table, turned, and left without a word, without a single glance back. You thought you heard Ranpo call your name, but you didn't care anymore and you doubted he did either when you walked out the door.

Stretching your arms above your head, you yawned and took a moment just to stare out the window of your bedroom. The sun was high in the sky, a few puffy clouds dotting the blue expanse and a gentle breeze rustling the branches of the tree outside your window. All in all, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Maybe if you went out for a walk some of that loveliness would rub off on you and lift your low spirits. Lord knows you needed the air and by no means did you want to stay cooped up inside after last night's break-up.

The calm that had taken hold of you when you walked out of the restaurant last night dissipated the moment you shut the door of your apartment, tears welling in your eyes and soft sobs escaping your mouth as you crumpled against the door. You didn't regret what you'd done, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

When you'd finally calmed down, you had picked up your phone and left a message on the Armed Detective Agency's answering machine, letting the president know that you were calling in some vacation days you had saved up. Before you saw Ranpo again, you needed some space to sort yourself out and build your resolve. The last thing you were going to do was let him see you crumble.

Days went by and you were left blessedly alone. Every now and then you would get a concerned message from Yosano or Naomi asking if you were okay or if you needed anything, but for the most part you had little contact with the Armed Detective Agency. Part of you hoped Ranpo would send a message or call and ask about what had happened, but no such contact was made, much to the fulfillment of your low expectations concerning the brunette male.

Determined not to fall into a post break-up depression, you had thrown yourself into distractions, working on paperwork you had taken home from the office, reading a book you had been meaning to finish, going out for long runs, and it had worked...for the most part.

It was an odd feeling. You missed Ranpo...and yet you wanted to stay as far away from him as humanly possible. Hopefully, this feeling would pass with time, but for now it was a wound in your heart, capable of festering if you dwelled upon it too long.

One morning dawned the same as the others, the sun peaking over the rooftops and an unshakable weight on your chest. Running a hand through your mussed hair, you sighed and rolled out of bed, trying to get your blood pumping. Turning on the small radio on the kitchen counter, you started to brew some coffee, tossing some bread in the toaster and rolling your shoulders.

It had been a week since that night and you were finally starting to feel a little better...at least you thought you were. Either that or you were just becoming used to the ever-present ache in your chest. And despite how much you still didn't want to see Ranpo...it was probably best you head back to work. Sooner or later, you had to rip off the band-aid.

You blinked and stilled, ears straining over the sound of the radio. For a moment, it sounded as if something had brushed against your front door. A few seconds later you heard it again, a soft scraping sound as something shifted against the paneled wood. Ever so quietly and carefully, you moved to your kitchen table, reaching under it to grab the gun you had attached to its underside when you moved in. Tucking the weapon behind your back, you soundlessly moved to open the door, grasping the handle for a moment before yanking the door open.

Surprised green eyes met yours as you stared down at the man sprawled flat on his back in your doorway, your grip on the gun tensing for a moment before relaxing.

"Ranpo..." his name escaped your lips as a cross between a whisper and a whimper. Inside you were panicking. You weren't ready to see him yet, you hadn't prepared yourself for this moment. Swallowing down the emotions rising in your throat, you averted your eyes from his, desperately trying to harden yourself. "Why are you here?" you said lowly.

"For my health."

You began to close the door, despite his body still laying in the doorway. At this point, you were ready to just smash him in the door a million times.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ranpo scrambled into a sitting position, one hand on the door, the other on the doorway as he held the door open. "I'm here to talk!"

"What is there to say?" You glared down at him coldly.

"Well, for one thing..." He shifted uncomfortably. "Would you let me in so we can talk about this?"

You didn't answer, only continued to stare him down in the doorway for a few more seconds before turning around and striding back into your kitchen. "Make it quick, Ranpo."

Jumping to his feet, Ranpo followed, stopping a few feet away from you when you leaned against the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee in your hand, appraising him through narrowed eyes. "Okay, so..." His mouth opened and closed and it was all you could do not to let your surprise show on your face. Ranpo not knowing what to say? It seemed like he always had something to say so this was...strange. Finally, he asked, "Are we...still together?"

You raised an eyebrow. "You're a smart man, Ranpo. What do you think?"

"Okay, right. So then..." He ran a hand through his bangs, his gaze flitting around the room before resting on you. Unlike their usual closed state, his eyes were open, allowing emerald depths to reflect your image back at you. "When you walked out...I wasn't fine anymore."

You frowned.

"Ah, that wasn't right. Uh..." He looked away for a second before trying again. "You know my motto? As long as I'm fine, everything's fine?"

"Oh, I'm familiar."

"When you left me at that table, I felt awful."

"How do you think I felt?"

Ranpo laughed wryly, holding his hands out to his sides. "I'm selfish, I admit it. How I treated you was about as shitty as it gets." His arms dropped to his sides. "I knew you would eventually get fed up with me, but I didn't do anything to prevent it. I felt so awful when you finally left, but I thought it would pass if I just acted like I usually did." Tired eyes regarded you with an emotion you had never seen in Ranpo, something you couldn't quite place simply because it was Ranpo. "I'm not going to lie to you, (y/n). Not anymore. This week has been absolute hell."

Tears welled in your eyes and you bit your lip.

"I know you probably won't believe me when I say this, and I don't blame you, but I'm sorry. So sorry for how I treated you and not realizing how important you were to me until it was too late." He stepped towards you tentatively then more confidently, regaining some of his usual bravado. "I'm sorry I'm here now, making you more upset," he said, just above a murmur. "I know I don't deserve another chance with you, but I've never been the kind of guy to believe in whether I deserved something or not."

"God, you're such an asshole," you choked as he drew you into a gentle hug, his loose grip allowing you to break away at any time. One hand rubbed soothing circles into your back as you let your tears soak into his vest.

"Give me another chance, (y/n)? And let me treat you right this time? Please?"

A few moments passed in silence except for your soft hiccups and sniffles as you went over everything he just said. If you accepted him, it was possible that you were just setting yourself up for pain again, repeating the same mistake you made the first time. Raising your head from his chest, you looked Ranpo straight in his green depths. "Look me in the eye and promise me you won't hurt me again," you whispered, your lips so close to his.

For once his gaze was serious, not joking or mocking or insincere. "(Y/n), I swear that I won't hurt you again, so long as I can help it."

You breathed in deeply, expelled it slowly, and took a leap of faith.

A/N: This was a request from Wattpad. As always, I do not own Bungou Stray Dogs or any of its characters. I do own the plot of this fanfic, though. Thank you for reading!^^

[seanshumblehome]

The Secret Trio in:The Sons of Liberty (Part 4 - Assault on Black Stone).

       After spending the rest of yesterday resting and acquiring any gear they might need for the hike, Jake called in some favors from magical residents in San Fransokyo he had saved awhile back, Danny conversed with local sprites for information about Black mountain, while Randy got a map of Black mountain and prepared all of his ninja equipment.The plan was simple, head out at sunset, find the base hidden within Black Mountain, stop whatever they where doing there and destroy the base.It was a simple plan, but they knew that it’s execution would be less than simple and far more complicated.They met back at the hotel, it was still a few hours before sunset so they decided that catching some extra sleep before heading to Black Mountain.Randy and Jake fell fast asleep but Danny laid in his bed, his mind to restless to allow him to fall asleep.He stared at the ceiling thinking of home, of his friends, of his family, of Sam.The Sons of Liberty might not know them, or where they are, but if they knew who he was, who Randy and Jake where, then finding their families and friends wouldn’t be too hard afterwards, he hoped that the Sons where too focused on whatever they where doing to care about capturing their families or friends, but as he continued to think and stare off into space he felt that old familiar feeling creep up from the back of his head again.

“We don’t need them, don’t you see, we could stop them all by ourselves yet you refuse, why?”

“Because if I let you loose you could very well decide no to come back.”

“How much have we been through huh?! Even after a year you still don’t trust me, after all the power I have given you.”

“Trust is earned, may I remind you what happened the first time I let you take control?”

“...“

“You hurt so many people that day I had to hide, the moment I thought you where going to do some actual good for us you went and pissed it away, your lucky I didn’t rip you out and throw you to void.”

“...“

“If you have nothing else to say then let me sleep so I can do my damn job.”

      Danny rolled to his side and closed his eyes content that he had but him back in his place.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I just wanted to show you how it felt, how strong we could really be.”

“I know, and when it comes to that, I will.”

      Danny once again closed his eyes and within several minutes, he was as fast asleep as his fellow hero’s where.

“Three hours later.”

      The loud aggravating beep of the hotel room alarm clock rang out through the room stirring the boys from their sleep, after grabbing a quick bite to eat and drink and a bathroom stop the boys began to make their way to Black Mountain. Thankfully it was only an hour flight to Black Mountain, but knowing that they might have scouts posted to keep an eye on things, they planed only to fly to the edge of the forest then hike the rest of the way, avoiding any hostiles that could sound the alarm.It plan was set, the trio made their way to the roof and took off for Black Mountain.

“One hour later“

      Though he had flown at night before that was usually in New York, but San Fransokyo’s lights only stretched for so far, but thankfully his keen dragon eye’s helped navigating to the edge of forest, the trio landed and moved to cover behind some trees.

“You think they have scouts this close to the city Danny?” Randy whispered.

“Maybe, but I don’t want to find out, we’ll keep low and move cautiously got it, if they spot us we could very well never get another chance to learn what they’re doing by with nukes.” Danny whispered back.

“Then let’s quit sitting here and get moving yo.” Jake whispered as walked past them.

      The boy’s began their slow hike up Black Mountain, staying off foot paths and avoiding clearings.Danny took point, leading Randy and Jake up the route he had chosen to get to the base, using the map Randy had gotten to insure that they where staying away from any landmarks or foot paths.Suddenly Danny stopped and crouched down.

“What do you see, Danny?” Randy whispered as he looked over his shoulder.

“We’ve got headlights up ahead, looks like a truck or something.” Danny answered.

“We gonna take ‘em out?” Jake whispered.

“No we let them pass.” Danny whispered back.

      The trio sat in a ditch and watched as the truck pulled up, their suspicions where confirmed when a soldier pointed a gun out the passenger window and scanned the tree line with a flashlight, the truck then slowly drove off allowing the boys to crawl out of the ditch and continue towards the base.

“How close are we to the base Danny?” Randy asked.

“If the map from the file is right we’ve only got three miles to go.” Danny answered.

      After several minutes the boys reached the top of a hill to see what looked like and outpost with a large gate behind it leading into Black Mountain itself.

“So I’m guessing that’s the place where looking for?” Jake asked.

“Yeah that would be it.” Danny answered.

“It’s gonna be tough sneaking into that place.“ Randy said as he starred at the gun emplacements and patrolling guards.

“We might not be able to sneak into that place at all.” Jake said nervously.

“I’ll scout it out and see if there’s a way we-” Suddenly a crack rang out across the night sky as a bullet blew a chunk of tree into splinters that showered over him, “Sniper! Get down!” Danny shouted as they all rushed to cover.

“Hey maybe if we’re lucky they didn’t hear the shot,” Jake said optimistically before a loud siren began to ring out, “Nevermind, they heard it.” He said as he slumped in disappointment.

“Danny, you wouldn’t happen to have a shield power would you?” Randy asked nervously as 50. caliber bullets flew over their heads.

“Yeah I do.” Danny said as he formed a small glowing shield in front of him.

“Can you make it big enough for Jake so we can fly in there on his back?” Randy asked.

“Yeah, why?“ Danny asked in confusion.

“Well let’s quit sitting here and get moving!” Randy shouted as he climbed onto Jake’s back.

      Danny nodded and rushed over, after climbing on Jake he took to the air as Danny’s shield formed around them.As they took to the air bullets began bouncing off Danny’s shield.

“Ha yeah boy, you sucka’s ain’t getting through this ghost homies shield!” Jake boasted as he got closer to the outpost.

“Uh guys I should probably tell you something about the shield.“ Danny said concerned.

“Ah it’s fine Danny, what could go wrong.“ Randy gleefully replied.

      Just before he could respond a rocket struck the right side of the shield, the force of the explosion sending them careening towards the ground, but shield caused them to bounce off the ground with a comically loud boing as they smashed through a wall of the outpost and next to some parked HMV’s.

“I was going to say is that the shield can protect from physical harm, but if gets  hit hard enough, it’ll bounce.” Danny said aggravated as got up and he rubbed his head.

“Thanks.” Randy and Jake said simultaneously as they got up.

      Bullets began flying past them, quickly Danny raised his shield again just as a heavy machine gun began spraying their position with bullets.The trio quickly moved to cover allowing Danny to drop his shield.

“Danny there’s no way me or Jake can fight with that machine gun blasting us!” Randy shouted as bullets plinked away at their cover.

“I’ll handle the big guns, just make sure that the gate to the mountain doesn’t close or all of this  would be for nothing!” Danny shouted over the gunfire.

      Danny leaped out from behind cover and flew towards the first machine gunner, drawing both gunners fire while Randy and Jake rushed towards a small control room.Danny kicked the gunner in the face knocking him unconscious. Danny turned the machine gun towards the second gunner, ripping him to bloody shreds with a single spraying of bullets.With the machine guns silenced Randy and Jake waved Danny over.

“How are the doors?” Danny asked as he approached.

“They’re open, but who know’s for how long.” Randy answered nervously.

“Then let’s get in there!” Danny shouted as he ran towards the open gate.

      Randy and Jake quickly followed behind as soldiers began closing in on their position.As they entered Randy stabbed the gates control panel forcing it to close the gates.As the gates locked with a metallic thud, the boy’s faced each other.

“Well guess we can’t leave through the front then.” Jake mentioned as he heard guards beat against the locked gates.

“Then we’ll leave through the back once we’re done here.” Danny said as he approached an elevator.

“Oh this is just great.” Randy groaned sarcastically.

      The took to their places in the elevator, after hitting one the buttons the boys watched the elevators closed, followed by the awful feeling of descent. This is it, the belly of the best.

To Be Continued in Part 5.

[team-free-will-you-idjits-67]

This Crazy Life (Part 9)

Description: Your life changed the moment Jared Padalecki walked through the doors of your shit job, in your shit town. You helped him as much as you could, becoming extremely close. (Characters, Warnings, etc. will change per part.)

Characters: Jared Padalecki, Waiter, Reader

Relationship: Eventual Jared Padalecki x Reader

Word Count: 1360

Warnings: Some more fluff and a slow burn. 

A/N: I’ve been gone for an eternity and I’m BAAACCCKKK. I’m going to stick with just this series for a bit because I overloaded my self before. So, I’ll post a part a week most likely. Enjoy! 

TAGLISTMASTERLIST / JARED PADALECKI MASTERLIST / PART 8

You yawned and stretched as you walked out of the terminal, “I don’t know how you guys travel as often as you do.” 

The boys chuckled but Jensen was the one to speak, “You get used to it. Eventually.” 

You shook your head, pieces of hair that slipped out of your bun on the flight fell into your face, “I don’t know if I could ever get used to that.” You tucked the hair behind your ears as you walked beside the boys through the airport, “The cramped spaces, babies crying, people coughing everywhere.” You shuddered, “I don’t think I could get used to it.” 

Jared shook his head with a smile, “We just got a bad flight. Not every flight is like that Y/N.” He threw his arm around your shoulders, “Besides, this weekend will be so amazing, you’ll forget all about it.” 

You giggled, “I sure hope so, cause that flight alone makes me want to burn my skin off and stay home for a week.” 

Jared squeezed you closer to him as Jensen chuckled, “You’re so dramatic.” 

You playfully rolled your eyes towards him and scoffed, “Whatever Ackles.” 

Jared’s arm didn’t leave your shoulders as the three of you continued through the airport, which ended up being a mistake. 

You heard the camera clicks before you saw any one. “Jared! Jared!” 

Jensen groaned loudly as paparazzi continuously snapped photos of your travelling trio. Jared didn’t say anything. He continued walking while holding you close to him. You couldn’t tell if he was doing it to protect you or doing it the calm his own nerves. 

Maybe it was a little bit of both. 

You continued walking through the airport as the paparazzi followed, firing questions off like a machine gun. “Jared! Moving on fast? Haven’t you and Gen only been broken up for a couple months?” “Whats her name?” “Is she a new cast member for the show?” “How long have you two been together?” 

You all pushed forward, walking out of the airport towards the blacked out escalade the boys had arranged to arrive before you got off the plane. You and Jared slid into the back as Jensen jumped into the passenger seat. The paparazzi continued to take photos as the driver pulled away from the curb of the airport pick up. 

“I’m sorry Y/N,” Jared said as his hand landed on your thigh for comfort. 

You softly smiled at him, “It’s okay Jare.” You placed your hand over his and squeezed it lightly, “We’re going to be gossiped about all weekend anyways, this can just get it out of the way now.” You giggled, “Besides, it could be worse.” 

Jared raised a brow quizzically, “How could it be worse?” 

You shrugged, “I mean, they aren’t pestering us. Especially back home. Someone is just trying to make a quick buck with some,” you air-quoted with your free hand, “‘breaking news’ about a celebrity. It won’t stick. People will get bored with it.” 

Jensen turned around from the passenger seat and looked between the two of you, “You know, she’s pretty smart.” 

You laughed, “I can be, sometimes.” 

You all rode in silence the rest of the way to the hotel. Jared’s thumb ran along your thigh absentmindedly as he looked out the window onto Minneapolis. 

Your mind wandered to how the weekend would actually be. How would the fans be towards you? You were a fan just like them, but a series of unfortunate events in Jared’s life made you two cross paths, letting you become friends with the person you once idolized. You figured people would assume you and Jared were dating and from the boys past relationships, fans have been particularly nasty to the women they dated. 

Nerves bubbled up and settled in your stomach as the driver pulled up to the back entrance of the hotel. You all thanked the driver, got out of the car undetected and filed into the hotel. Since the convention was in full swing, the lobby was empty. Jensen and Jared went up to the concierge desk to grab room keys as you walked around the lobby. 

 The large front entrance of the hotel was adorned with all sorts of art: statues beside doorways, exquisite paintings along the walls, and art even carved into the mouldings of the building. You were admiring a statue by the elevator when Jared came up from behind you and laid a hand on your shoulder, startling you. “Jesus!” You turned around, ready to swing until you saw Jared, “Don’t scare me like that!”  

Jared smiled, “Sorry.” He paused, looking you over, “Room’s ready. Did you want to go up to the room now or did you want to go explore a bit? We can have them bring our bags up to the room.” 

You thought for a moment as you picked at your lip, the nerves from Jared scaring you still fading, “I wanna go up now and shower the airplane stench off of me.”

Jared chuckled as he handed you a room key, “I’ll go up with you. I have to change before Jensen and I crash Misha’s panel anyways.” 

Smirking, you turned towards Jared as he hit the elevator ‘up’ button, “You guys are really still going to steal the show from him?” 

Jared chuckled, “Yeah. We didn’t mess with Misha while filming this week so it’s only fair to do it during the con.” 

You shook your head with a giggle as the elevator doors opened and you both stepped inside. Jared wrapped his arm around your shoulder like in the airport when the elevator doors began to close. You leaned into his embrace and wrapped your arms around his torso and sighed in contentment. 

“Thank you for coming.” 

“Of course, Jare.” 

He snickered, “No, seriously. I didn’t think you were going to say yes and it kind of scared me.” 

“Why?” You asked, pulling away from him slightly.

“Why to which statement?” He questioned as he looked down towards you. 

“Both.” 

He cleared his throat and looked towards the elevator doors. You settled back into his side and stared forward as he explained. “Well, it was really short notice. I know we spend all of our time together and I didn’t know if you had plans for this weekend since Jensen and I wouldn’t be home. I didn’t know if you’d want your alone time.” He sighed, “And, I was scared because we spend all of our time together.  You’ve become my safe haven, my home so-to-speak. I don’t get as anxious about things out in public or away from home if you’re with me. Before, when Gen and I were having issues and a little before that, I had to prepare myself for a day or two beforehand to make sure I was in a good mental space to be myself.” He sighed once again as the elevator dinged to the floor you were staying on and the doors started to open, “I just, I need you more than I want to admit.” 

You squeezed his side, “I’ll always be here for you Jare. You’re a huge part of my life now.” You shrugged into him as he pulled out the room key to unlock your room that was rapidly approaching, “I can’t imagine my life without you in it in some way.” 

He slid the key into the door and broke from the friendly embrace you both shared to enter the room. He threw his bag down at the foot of the bed as he fell onto the mattress backwards. 

You chuckled at him as you walked towards the bathroom, “I’m going to go shower. I’ll be out in 30. If you leave, just text me.” 

He nodded from the bed, “Okay, will do.” 

You closed the bathroom door, threw your bag on the floor, and walked towards the shower to turn the water on. You sighed as you felt the water warming over your fingertips. You peeled off your clothes and stepped into the steaming water, letting it run over your sore muscles as you thought about the weekend ahead of you. 

TAGS:

FOREVER TAGS:

@emoryhemsworth , @nanie5 , @gabrielslittleangel, @alexwinchester23 , @witch-of-letters , @caswinchester2000 , @justawaywardwinchester , @thehufflepuffblog , @missihart23 , @spnfamily-alwayskeepfighting, @mogaruke, @supernaturalsammy01, @heyitscam99, @hobby27, @frozenhuntress67, @duskany, @mazie87 , @tumbler-tidbits , @mersuperwholocked-lowlife, @asfanfiction , @emilyshurley , @zephyrie , @ghostshadow1312 , @wholockmerlinlover, @singers-auto, @lokilove3112, @teddybeardoctorr, @sleepylunarwolf, @negans-lucille-tblr

SAM/JARED X READER TAGS:

@andyl394, @rebelminxy, @jointhehunt67 , @xxtheoutsidersxx , @paradoxical-sleep , @stoneyggirl , @smoothdogsgirl

THIS CRAZY LIFE TAGS:

@my-proof-is-you, @somilotopia, @everythingisoverrated, @emilyshurley, @squirrelnotsam , @drakelover78, @mannls, @sillydecoy, @daphne-fandom-writing, @haloliight , @racheladams77, @spn-ficfanatic , @dreaminemz ,

[forthetaintedsorrow-whump]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dystopian AU WIP

*Cross-posted from my main, ikiyou.

Chuuya’s heard of the mysterious disappearances.  That the government is kidnapping those people without a job, without a family, without friends – nobody who would miss them, nobody who could put up a fight if they disappeared – and taking them to hidden facilities where they they do questionable experiments on them, testing out hand crafted Abilities, genetic experimentation.  They’re just stories, surely.  But as Chuuya’s poor luck would have it, they aren’t.

Contents/Warnings: Human Experimentation, Intimate Whumper, Dehumanization, Drugging, Dystopian AU, Sci-Fi AU

Chuuya’s eyes fluttered open, and he stared at the ceiling above him, his thoughts sluggish.  He slowly blinked once, twice, and then attempted to roll over.  His left arm caught, and he couldn’t roll more than an inch or two before it stopped his movement.  Vaguely puzzled, he looked down at his arm.  His wrist was shackled to the table he was lying on by a thick leather strap. Chuuya frowned in confusion.  A white cloth brushed past his head, and he looked up.  Men in long white coats bustled about the room he was in, but he couldn’t quite tell what they were doing – his vision kept lagging and speeding up.  He lay there for a few minutes, waiting for it to settle, his mind unworriedly blank.  

A body brushed against his arm, the sensation now not quite so detached.  The distant voices he’d been vaguely aware of finally sharpened all in a rush, and he blinked as his mental awareness nearly returned.  He shifted again, arms yanking against the restraints.  

“Hey,” he mumbled thickly. His mouth felt like it had cotton balls in it, and his voice was muted as if he were talking through them. Chuuya swallowed and tried again. “HEY.  Where am I?”

The activity around him didn’t stop, and he turned his head, watching the workers.  “Hey, are you listening to me?”  One of them, a tall man with long blond hair and thin rimmed glasses briefly glanced down at him before continuing his hushed conversation with another man in the same white coat.  Chuuya frowned, annoyance beginning to set in.  “Hey, listen to me!  Where am I?” He attempted to sit up again, but got nowhere.  He yanked against his restraints deliberately this time.  “What are you doing?  Why am I here?  HEY!!”

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of his neck as past conversations about kidnappings trickled into the back of his mind.  “Hey…let me go!  I haven’t done anything!”  He rattled the restraints furiously.  “Let me GO!”

The blond scientist’s eyes flicked toward him before making a few more remarks to his coworker and then striding away.  Chuuya turned his head as much as his restraints allowed, following the man’s progress as he walked to the side of the room toward some sort of computer panel along the wall.  Everyone else ignored him.

“HEY!!!”  Chuuya’s voice was desperate, his heart hammering in his chest.  He twisted futilely, legs wrenching against the table.  The bindings had a few inches of give in them, but the thick leather held them securely around his wrists and ankles, and try as he might, Chuuya couldn’t find any slack in them.  “Damn it!” His head banged back against the hard table with a dull thud.

After several minutes, a pair of scientists approached his table.  It took a moment before he picked up on their conversation, muffled as it was by white medical masks.  

“The dosage is a little bit stronger this time.”  A female voice.

“Our physicists have cautioned that for this experiment, it might take longer than usual to see effects.  Hence we’ve adjusted the dose to keep the DNA sequence open for refining.”  This one was male.

“Hey.” Chuuya tried, swallowing weakly.  “Could you please let me go?”

One of the two gazed down at him, but any relief Chuuya might have felt from finally gaining some attention was short lived.

“Such a lovely specimen this time,” the man’s voice crooned.  His hand reached down, caressed the side of Chuuya’s face slowly, hand sliding down to rest at his jaw.  He cupped Chuuya’s jaw between thumb and fingers and firmly turned his head, exposing the side of his neck.  Chuuya saw the man’s other arm come down out of the corner of his eye and felt a gloved hand brush the side of his neck, the light touch sending cold shivers down his spine.

“Right here will do,” the man spoke again before releasing Chuuya.  Chuuya turned his head to look up at the scientist, who turned to the cart beside him and picked up a syringe filled with a pale yellow liquid.

“O-oi, what are you…” Chuuya’s voice came out shakily.  He could have sworn the man was leering down at him.  

A brief glance from the doctor spurred his assistant into action.  She reached down, pressed on Chuuya’s forehead firmly with one hand and cupped his chin with the other, lifting his jaw and tilting his head to the side firmly.  Fingers brushed hair away from the side of his neck; Chuuya could feel his pulse beat butterfly fast.  Eyes wide, he saw the man lean over him with the syringe, and he thrashed against the table, but the hold on his head was unyielding, and did nothing to deter the scientist who didn’t even blink at his actions.

Chuuya inhaled with a whimper and froze as the syringe pierced his skin, the sharp pain pinning him to the table as securely as a mounted butterfly.  Coolness seeped into his arteries, spreading down his neck into his chest, and up into his head.  He barely registered that he’d been holding his breath until he exhaled shakily due to oxygen starvation and drew in short quick breaths through his nose.

And then the needle was pulled out, and Chuuya was released.  With a single calculating glance at Chuuya, the scientist left, his assistant wheeling the cart away.

Anxiety crept up his throat as he watched the scientists work.  At some unclear signal, they started to vacate the room.  Chuuya’s brow furrowed with worry, and he panted, feeling like he was out of breath, even though he couldn’t move.  There were soft footsteps behind him and the table he was on jerked as a scientist grabbed some handles near his head and started pushing, rolling the platform forward.  Chuuya started and tried to lean forward to see where he was going. Beyond his feet was a large machine, set into the wall.  The opening gaped open, a round maw waiting to swallow him up.  SHIT.  SHITSHITSHIT.  

Chuuya renewed his struggles, yanking on the straps, twisting his body, anything he could think of to get a hand, a foot free, achieve any amount of slack.  Eyes wide, he thought his heart would burst from his chest.

As his feet neared the machine, Chuuya tried pleading again, craning his head back to look at the scientist behind him.  “Please!  Don’t do this!  I can pay you, somehow!  I don’t want this!”  But he was steadfastly ignored.

The table bumped against the sides of the opening, then slid smoothly in on rollers.  Chuuya thrashed violently as he saw his legs start to disappear into the machine, to no avail.  A scream welled up in his throat, and he clenched his teeth shut and closed his eyes as his head slid in.  

The movement stopped, and there was silence.  Chuuya opened one eye.  The curved walls glowed a soft pale blue.  Chuuya looked down and jerked his feet against the restraints again, but didn’t get anywhere.  He bit his lip, trying not to hyperventilate, and tears welled up at the corners of his eyes. He couldn’t believe his luck, how could this be really happening??  It was just supposed to be a story….

There was a faint resonant thud accompanied by a shudder that ran through the equipment, and up Chuuya’s body.  It took Chuuya a moment to realize that the machine was giving off a low hum, resonating through his bones.  Chuuya tossed his head about, trying to get some idea of what was happening, but saw no moving parts.  Then, his body started to float upward, until the restraints on his arms and legs stopped his movement.  His breathing quickened.  The moments stretched into minutes with no further activity.  Chuuya could feel sweat trickling down his arms, despite the cool temperature of the chamber.  Little by little, the tension in his body slowly ebbed, as he hung there, weightless, mouth parched.  

Whump.  Chuuya started.  The illuminated panels dimmed and then one by one, starting at his feet they flicked on, following a building electric whine that steadily increased in intensity. When the last panel over his head was fully lit, there was a snap, the lights blinked, and Chuuya screamed. Pressure like being trapped under a three-ton truck pressed in on him from all sides.  He tried to twist, struggle, but his muscles wouldn’t move, such was the weight they were under.  He felt like his head was in a vice, and his vision began to dim.  Just when he felt the world going black, the pressure stopped, and he reflexively jerked against his restraints in the sudden weightlessness, sucking in a gasping breath.  He heaved for air, eyes darting about, looking for anything, anyone, to tell him what had happened.

A minute passed. Chuuya whimpered, pulling at his arm strap futilely.  Whump.  The light panels dimmed again, slowly recharging and flickering back on.

Snap.  

Snap.  

Snap.  

“Oh, nononono…..” Chuuya’s eyes widened and he shook his head as the remaining panels over his head popped on.  “No, please no –”  Another scream was ripped from his mouth as gravity bared down on him again. Chuuya wanted to run, pass out, die.   He lost track of how long he was encased in pain before he was released again.  Slumping forward, Chuuya panted, eyes glazed as he watched the lights slowly dim again, after too short a time.  This time they popped on in reverse order, glaring red and black.

Snap.

Snap.

Snap.

All gravity was suddenly voided, the vector outward straining Chuuya’s limbs and body, his very cells straining against his bones to follow the sudden absence.  He gasped and writhed.  His very organs pressed against the inner walls of his body, everything trying to escape.  Blood rushed through his head, pounded in his ears, his fingers and toes felt hot.  The pressure built up and up, and Chuuya squeezed his eyes shut, tears caught on his lashes lifting and drifting upwards.

His eyes were shut so tight, he didn’t notice the reversal of color, and suddenly gravity slammed back down, choking off a scream he couldn’t get out.  His lungs were crushed, heart stopped, the pain radiating out through his veins was too much.  The heat in his limbs was replaced by tingling cold as blood flow stopped. Chuuya slowly sunk away from consciousness, but wasn’t given the grace of even a short reprieve before the void was back and pulling him to full awareness.  

The red and blue light defining his world mixed, and pain shattered through his left arm, bones and nerves compressing, while his right shoulder twisted, yanking away from his body seemingly on its own, as his very blood felt like it wanted to escape from beneath his skin.  Chuuya wasn’t sure if he’d gone deaf from his own screaming or if his vocal cords had finally been irreparably damaged.

Chuuya’s concept of time fractured, splintering like a planet slowly crumbling into a black hole. Gravity and void warred with each other, catching Chuuya in the crossfire. His limbs, body twisted, strained against the very bonds holding him together.  Pain was his reality, caught in heartbeat flashes of red, black, and blue.

[tracies-tales]

can we pleeease get another game gyaru ficlet 🥺🥺

as a matter of fact, i just passed 700 followers (i’m still reeling over that one!!) and i’ve been trying to come up with a new ficlet idea and LUCKY DAY MY FRIEND this is the first suggestion i’ve gotten in awhile!! and you know i love my gal pals, so really how can i say no? :D 

this is gonna be a semi-continuation of my last game gyaru fic so i’d refer to that one first maybe, but buckle up y’all we in for a wild ride~

(ps this one starts a little steamy/mild nsfw)

Daniella pushed Arina back against the wall beside their bed, leaning forward to place her leg between the shorter girl’s. She leaned to kiss her neck as Arina said, “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, be getting a mission debriefing or something right now?” Arina set her hands on Dani’s waist anyway, pulling her forward.

Dani giggled, “As opposed to what we’re doing instead?” She kissed Arina’s jaw, her fluffy hair tickling her nose. 

“Technically we could be doing this at headquarters,” Arina pointed out, biting her lip with a quiet moan as she felt Dani’s teeth nip at her jugular.

“Oohh, kinky,” Dani said, then peered up at her, “but I like having you here, all to myself.” She shifted up to press their chests together and leaned down for a kiss, which Arina enthusiastically reciprocated. Arina grasped at Dani’s scarf with one hand, and she had just slid her other into the mass of dark curls atop Dani’s head when they heard their work phone ring, making the pair groan in a much different context. 

“Come on, now?” Arina whined.

“Look what you did, you cursed us,” Dani said, giving her a peck on the forehead before she stepped away to answer. She brushed her hair out of her face before she pressed a button on the projector and typed in a short code. 

Veronica’s head appeared floating as a small hologram in the room. “Ladies, hope I’m not interrupting something,” she said.

“Nope, not at all,” Dani said with a tight smile. “What’s happening?”

“We’ve got a new lead,” she replied, the image suddenly showing a glass case which had a hole melted in the side of it. Whatever artifact had been within it was missing. “Security footage was shut down before the theft occurred in this vault, but the microphones planted in the same room picked up on the voice of your favorite villainess.”

Arina raised a brow as she straightened her vest, “Brianna herself showed up? Doesn’t she usually send grunts like Roxanne to do her bidding?”

“She does, which is what interested me so much about this,” Veronica said as the hologram switched back to her head. “The item taken was a watch.”

Dani and Arina exchanged a look. Arina said, “Oh shit, now she’ll be able to tell time. Guess we ought to turn in our badges now; it’s game over, guys.”

Dani nodded mournfully, “Maybe it even counts her steps.”

As Arina gasped theatrically, Veronica interrupted to say, “Yes, a watch which can show time across multiple timelines.”

Arina paused at that, “So, like…a watch that can read the future?”

“If the curator is to be believed, yes. The armed guards posted outside the vault were killed and the security system bypassed, which would have notified authorities of a break-in to begin with,” Veronica explained.

“Of course, leave it to Bri,” Dani said. “She might be a bit of a bitch, but she’s a genius.”

Arina rubbed her hands together, “So, what’s the mission?”

“Retrieving the watch is your top priority,” Veronica said. “An item so valuable fortunately was installed with a GPS tracking system, but the signal was lost just after they entered a small town called Onimore. You’ll have to do some digging once you get there to locate the exact building it’s in. You’re only to engage Brianna’s crew if it’s absolutely necessary,” she added firmly.

Dani scoffed as she tossed a small bead bomb up and caught it again repeatedly, “Stealth is our middle name, bosslady.”

“Yeah, tell that to the last five damage reports,” Veronica said. “Move out as soon as you’re prepared.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Arina saluted her before she pressed ‘end call.’ As soon as the hologram was gone, Dani tackled her backwards onto the bed. Arina snorted, “Were you listening to a word of what was said?”

“Yeah, Brianna’s responsible, stole a watch, get it back,” Dani said, slipping her top off. “We’ll make it quick, she’ll never even know we’re late to pick up the car.”

“Oh, if you insist,” Arina grinned, pulling her down into a kiss. 

~~~

Dani and Arina eyed the barbed top of the electric fence. Arina set her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Damn, you’d think she’d at least have made her defenses a little more fun.”

“Tell me about it,” Dani replied, pulling a device which looked something like a Swiss army knife from her pocket. She fiddled with it until it folded into a clamp, which produced a soft electrical hum of its own. She squeezed the handle and closed it around a part of the fence, tapping at the chain-link a few seconds after. “We’re all set. Your move, baby bear,” she smiled.

Arina grinned back and jumped forward; she scaled the fence in due time, getting her own wire cutters from her pocket to laser-cut some of the barbed wire out of the way. She motioned for Dani to follow before jumping down the other side. Dani triple-wrapped her scarf around her neck so there was no excess flowing behind her as she fell, landing safely in Arina’s arms. Arina kissed her nose before putting her down so the two could make their way to the seemingly abandoned warehouse of a building.

Dani softly said, “Twenty credits says this is a trap.”

“You’re on,” Arina said, leading the way to the back of the building where an old loading dock was. She picked the lock of the human-sized door, peeking her head in without seeing anyone. She crept her way in, staying low with Dani right behind her. She froze and held up a hand when she spotted a guard. 

Dani narrowed her eyes and dug a metal bead out of a hidden pocket in her scarf. She gave it a squeeze between her fingers, waiting three seconds before chucking it at the back of the man’s head. He winced as it struck him, but collapsed a moment later as it released a cloud of gas which knocked him out. Arina dragged his body behind a box as Dani pressed forward, scanning the area. She noted there was a truck in front of every garage door to the loading bay and a large, two-panel trap door in the center of the floor, along with a crane hook hanging from the ceiling above it. 

She pointed up when Arina was looking her direction. Arina followed her finger and grinned, taking her grappling gun from its holster. She fired it at the catwalk above them, hooking it to a railing. She put her arm around Dani and hauled them both up. They grabbed the railing and hauled themselves up the remainder of the way, not noticing until Arina had unhooked the grapple that a guard was staring at them, jaw partly slack.

There was a moment of silence before Dani asked, “What, this rack too big for you?” before she grabbed the gun from Arina’s hands and shot the hook at him. It nailed him in the chest and knocked him onto his back. “Go, go move!” she said, turning the other way and sprinting.

Arina followed suit, retracting the grappling hook so he couldn’t pull it. They made their way to a control room with glass windows as an alarm blared to life.

“So much for stealthy,” Arina said. 

“It’s fine, this makes it more interesting,” Dani smiled, digging another bead from a pouch in her sash. She gave it a squeeze and threw it, the bead creating a minor explosion which cracked one of the windows into the office. Dani stood to the side as Arina moved in, slamming her gun into it to break it. She pushed her way in and unlocked the door, Dani locking it again behind her. She took a phaser gun from her own holster and took a position at the broken window, firing a stun shot at the first guard who appeared at the top of the stairs, making him fall backward and trip another.

Dani asked, “How’s it coming back there?”

“Working on it,” Arina retorted, pressing a button which opened the trap door. In the basement, a harness still around it, sat a metal crate. Arina grinned and figured out how to lower the crane, glancing over her shoulder to where Dani was ducking shots from the guards and firing back some of her own. “God you look hot when you do that,” she said.

“Thanks, I really like going for the plasma-swept hair look,” Dani said, wincing as there was a bang at the door. “You sure that’s the right crate?”

“It had better be, or I’ll skin Brianna myself,” Arina grumbled. “Meet me at one of those trucks?”

“I’ll save you a seat,” Dani said, getting up and throwing open the door. As the man on the other side stumbled forward, Dani kneed him in the face and shot him with a stun blast, followed by a shot at his cohort. Arina ran out and down the catwalk again, flipping a guy over the railing before she climbed onto the rail herself and jumped off. She grabbed the chain of the crane and slid down with a, “Woooo!” When she hit the bottom, she hooked the crate for them and called up, “Got it!”

Dani hit the switch to bring it back up before she left the room herself, jogging down the stairs. She shot a guard and said, “’Scuse me!” as she stepped over his body. She skid to a halt when she spotted a woman with short silver hair in a black suit with gold trim standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Brianna said, “Evening, girls. Leaving so soon?”

“Ugh, with the cliches, Bri. Find a new evil genius line,” Dani said. She quickly fired her gun, but Bri dive rolled to the side, drawing her own gun as she stood. She aimed it at Arina as she rose up on the crate. “Drop the gun,” Bri instructed.

A pulse of fear beat through Dani’s chest before she said, “If you say so,” and chucked the gun at Bri’s face. Bri had to dodge it as Dani ran forward, grabbing her wrist and moving it up so she could only fire towards the ceiling.

Arina started pulling back and forth on the chain, making the crate begin to swing. She pulled out her laser cutter and waited for the opportune moment, starting to saw through the chain so that it broke as it swung towards a truck. The crate landed on their floor, but not in a truckbed as intended. Arina groaned and started pushing it towards the vehicle.“Sorry hun, but you’re not robbing me today,” Bri said, twisting out of Dani’s grip, aiming her gun for Arina’s back. 

Dani shouted, “Ari!” and tackled Brianna as a shot rang out. Arina winced as it left a gash in her side, but she continued shoving the crate forward determinedly. 

“You girls don’t know when to quit, do you?” Bri asked, kneeing Dani in the gut and throwing her to the side. Dani hit the ground and rolled, dodging another shot from Bri’s gun. 

Arina said, “That’s one of our best qualities,” as she threw a flash grenade. She yelled, “Smile!” as their code word so that Dani would know what to prepare for. Dani shut her eyes just before the room exploded in a flash of blinding light. Bri stumbled back and put her hands to her face as Dani ran over, helping Arina load the crate into the truck.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Arina waved a hand. “It was a lucky shot, anyway.”

“Shit, wait, we need a key!” Dani frowned.

Arina twirled one around her fingers, “Lucky for you I nabbed one off an unconscious dude. Let’s roll.”

Dani grinned and jumped into the driver’s seat, shouting, “Get fucked!” out the window while Arina hit a button on the wall to open the door and climbed into the passenger side. She put the keys in the ignition for Dani, who slammed the pedal to the floor as soon as the engine revved to life, peeling out of the garage. 

Dani laughed as they sped past some guards, who fired at them as they made their way to the front gate. “Oh man, the look on her face,” she grinned, setting a hand on Arina’s knee. “You did good back there.”

Arina had a hand on her side, leaning back in the seat. “Not as good as you.”

Dani mellowed a bit when the wound was brought back to mind. “Hang in there, baby. We’re getting you home.”

~~~

Veronica stood with her arms crossed as Dani and Seth unloaded the crate from the bed of the truck. Seth tucked his dark hair behind one ear, the stripe of blonde hair moving with it. Veronica said, “Well, let’s take a look see,” and nodded to him. Seth plugged a handheld hacker into a panel on the side of the keypad lock, and moments later the light turned green with a click.

Dani moved to stand proudly by Arina, until she saw what it was that Veronica removed from the box. A hand written note with the words, ‘Better luck next time, xoxo -B’ was in her hand. 

Arina snatched the note and read it a few times before she said, “Son of a bitch.”