#I saw he already has buns in some of his animation frames

[angrybatart]

(Possibly cursed) Portrait of Grey Prince Zote.

YEAH. Buns and thighs.

[stellabk]

What Is Your Real Name?

Summary - Albus is carried away to fight in the Coliseum, but has a dark secret. He makes an unlikely friend within the confines of the palace, but still must hide who and what he truly is.

Warning(s) - sexual content, 18+, female receiving oral, cross dressing [?], penetration, pinv sex, sexual themes, violence, noncon if you squint real hard; let me know if I missed anything as always

This is not how it was supposed to go. Hanno sat chained in a cart, several other men around him,clenching his jaw as people threw rotten fruits through the bars as if they were enclosed animals. He took several deep breaths, willing himself not to reach through the bars and grab someone, anyone and rip their esophagus out. He was snapped from his violent thoughts at she sound of a hiss in pain sounded from his left. He glanced over, a small figured boy held his cheek where smeared red fruit splattered his features. The boy was so dainty, though he did have some muscle tone especially in his legs. The clothes he wore were baggy against the short frame, and his face seemed to be too feminine and made him look young in the face. In fact, his blonde hair was in a small bun at the base of his neck and was far too shiny to be a man’s, he had thought to himself. The boy’s eyes met Hanno’s, and Hanno knew he had been staring.

“What?” The boy murmured, wiping the spoiled juice from his cheek, then smearing the color on the fabric of the shift he wore.

“My apologies, you just look so young.” Hanno faced forward once more. “Does not seem as if you should be here.”

“I shouldn’t, but yet I must be.” The boy’s voice even sounded light and airy like a young girl’s. “Does not seem as if you should be here either, friend.”

Hanno looked at the boy once more, who’s cheekbone was splotched red from the impact of the fruit. “What is your name?”

The boy gave a small yet sincere smile. “Albus Cassius Drusus. And you?”

“Hanno… just Hanno. Where do you hail from?”

“From here, from Rome. I’ve known no other place. And where do you?”

Hanno smiled, almost bitterly, “Numidia.”

That was the only interaction they had before being thrust into a foreign home, lavish and tall. A man named Macrinus had purchased them as if they were livestock, and as soon as they had arrived at his home, Hanno and Albus had already had to face against a bald, intimidating looking man who they would regrettably come to know as Viggo. Albus had gone first, holding his own for a while, but had fallen shortly after. Hanno had been so infuriated he did not wear the knuckled metal gloves and beaten the bald man without them. Albus and Hanno had come to a mutual understanding, sitting in silence together as they ate, sharing a cell, and becoming slightly close acquaintances.

They had even fought together in the Coliseum the first day, Albus listening to every word Hanno said in order to defeat the opposing gladiator atop the back of a ferocious rhinoceros. Though the rhino had managed to land a sizable gash on Albus’s left side that needed tending as soon as the battle had concluded.

“You must get Ravi to inspect that; you have lost a lot of blood,” Hanno looked at the boy concerned as his friend winced, a hand coated in caked and some fresh blood holding tightly to the wound.

“I shall heal on my own. Or, I shall perish and not have to experience such pain in the arena again,” Albus let out a pained chuckle. Wincing at the movement, but Hanno had not laughed.

Hanno did not want to press the issue, but instead called for Ravi and let Albus have his alone time within the cell. Ravi had been a good friend to him, so he had no doubt that his new acquaintance would be cared for. He couldn’t however explain why he seemed to care so much for the boy. Maybe it was because he was so young, or maybe he saw the lonely little boy running and being left all by himself like he had experienced all his life. Still, he felt neither were the answer he sought.

As Hanno leaned against the wall outside the cell, Ravi emerged frantically, waving over Viggo, signaling him to enter. Hanno had tried to peek inside to see what was wrong but Viggo had shoved him aside, fighting his way into the cell. They reemerged seconds later, holding Albus by the arm as he wrapped himself in a linen sheet to cover himself from the chest downward, his blond hair let down and cascading a little farther than his shoulders.

“The man you’ve come to know as Albus is a liar!” Viggo threw Albus down, Hanno immediately went to step down and help, but Ravi stopped him. “This woman has defiled the Coliseum.”

Hanno’s gaze shot back down, everything beginning to fall into place like a puzzle. Albus, though now he was unsure that was her name, was a woman. She looked up at Hanno through terrified eyes.

“Her punishment shall be the gladiators’ whore. If you wish to fight so bad, fight against the men as they tear into you like you are nothing but flesh.”

Viggo left, the woman now visibly shaking on the floor, clenching the sheet between her fingers so tightly her knuckles became white. Men began to stalk toward her slowly, imagining all the things they could do to her.

Hanno stepped forward, a dark unreadable expression on his features as he loomed over her. “I claim the deceiver as my personal property. Anyone who so much as looks at her may challenge me to take her.”

The lustful, blood crazed men began to whisper, backing off out of fear to the gladiator that the gladiator could easily take them down if he was able to take down a rhinoceros.

“Woman, come with me,” he yanked her up off the floor, earning him a yelp as she tried to keep ahold of the linen she draped herself in. The gladiator and his new prize marched to the bathhouse, Hanno barricading the door from the other side.

“Hanno, friend, I am so sorry. Please, be merciful.”

Hanno turned facing the shaking woman. “What is your real name?”

There was a pause as the woman quivered, taking a deep breath, “Albina Cassia Drusus. I gave you my father’s name, I am sorry. I had no choice! They would have taken my brother, and he is no older than 10.”

He looked at her, sorrow filling his eyes. He knew how she felt all too well. She was a slave, forced to do what no one wanted just like he was.

“I do not blame you. I do not plan to do anything to you, you have my word. Viggo and the others will be watching, however, so we must play the part. If you help me, I can keep you safe.”

Albina nodded fervently. “What will you have me do? Anything!”

Hanno approached, glancing over his shoulder at the closed door, knowing men waited on the other side to hear the show. He whispered, for her to play along and not to be afraid. Before Albina could even nod in agreement, Hanno had ripped the sheet in a place that wouldn’t leave her vulnerable. He picked her up bridal style, carrying her into the warm waters of the bath, making the splashing excessive to maybe convince the men he had pushed her in.

“I shall enjoy being the only one to take you,” he spoke roughly, just loud enough for others on the other side to hear, but not loud enough that it seemed like a farce.

“Please, Hanno, I beg of you be gentle!” She yelped, playing along perfectly, the two of them couldn’t help but crack a grin.

“You begging is pointless. Spread.”

Albina couldn’t help but feel heat building in her stomach even if she knew it was all a game. The words surged something in her.

“What a beautiful sight. Tell me, has any other man had you?”

“No, only you. Please, I beg you be merciful toward me,” she whimpered.

It was Lucius now that felt his core twitch. She sounded so genuine and he felt his cloth grow tighter. He let out a groan for show, but in reality it was genuine. He did not remove his clothing, beginning to thrust into the water against her, daring not to touch her or he would spill over the edge. Even her fake moans seemed to be too much for him to handle. He sat down, pulling her on top of him, water splashing around violently like the ocean waves crashing against a ship.

“Ride.”

She bounced against his leg, the water cascading the white linen shift she covered with, billowing with small waves in the pool and showing her budded nipples through the fabric. He grimaced at the sight of her, shuttering at the imprint of her womanhood against him. This was the closest interaction with a woman he had since he had been with his wife, which was almost a month ago. It was becoming more and more difficult to will himself not to beg for her to sit on his cock.

“Hanno, p-please, I’m going to-“ she mewled, still bouncing and letting the water splash ludely.

“I will finish first. Hold yours or I shall teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget.”

Albina threw her head back with a mewling whimper, “Yes, Hanno.”

He tapped her hip with his hand, Albina immediately understanding to pace herself faster. Hanno groaned loudly, grunting as he watched her bounce up at down.

He threw his head back, letting the primal, guttural moan escape his throat as he came to a faux finish.

“Come for me, woman.”

She had almost forgotten the ruse and felt herself clenching around nothing, but obeyed, propping her hand between her legs against his leg, throwing her head back as she let out a mewling cry that echoed against the stone walls.

They both panted, smiling, knowing that everyone outside had the best show without even seeing what had—or rather had not—happened.

“I shall carry you into the next room to lie you down,” Hanno whispered, pulling the linen that had fallen from her shoulder back up as the two of them stood.

“Why is that?” She had whispered back, face contorting slightly in confusion.

“If it were your first time, especially with me, you would not have the ability to walk.”

Albina blushed and nodded letting him pick her up bridal style and carry her out of the room. Her arms were draped around his neck, face tinted pink and buried into his bare chest. All the men looked at him with proud expressions, and looked at her slyly, thinking she had become a plaything to a violent man. One even made a muffled comment about how scared she must be to have been taken by a savage of Numidia.

Days and nights past quickly. Albina had not been forced to fight any longer, but Macrinus had let her stay with Hanno, who she now knew as Lucius.

“Consider it a prize for a job well done, Hanno.” Macrinus had smiled devilishly.

There were many other times when they would have to fake their way into being believable, but everyone seemed to believe it. Men would make comments to her when Lucius wasn’t around, but he would always find out and scare them to the point they would leave her alone. She waited on him hand and foot, hoping she could make it up to him for saving her life countless times.

It wasn’t long before he had told Ravi that he needed him to take his ring to a commander outside the city and bring his army to help him reclaim the throne.

She had wanted to fight alongside him, ready to lay her life down for the man that had risked his so many times for her, but Lucius insisted that she wait for him in the barracks until all was said and done. When he did return, he was covered in blood that she prayed was mostly that of another person. He carried her into the palace like he had after their first interaction when he discovered she was a woman.

“So I guess this is where we part ways, Lucius. I suppose I should call you Emperor now,” she held herself straight, trying not to look so downtrodden that this was their last interaction.

“Albina,” Lucius knelt down in front of her, her eyes blown wide that the new emperor bowed before her. “I have not known you long, but I cannot push this aside any longer. I am enthralled with you, captivated by you. I do not wish to fake our interactions any more. If you wish to leave, I will not stop you, but if, however, you wish to stay with me even the smallest bit, I want you by my side for eternity.

Albina teared up, a smile gracing her features. She nodded, making Lucius stand and pull her into a tender kiss. Within seconds, it grew rough and needy. He gripped the swell of her ass over her linen shift, cupping and squeezing, earning her to moan against his lips. He threw her over his shoulder, smacking lightly against her ass, and began carrying her as his hand lingered where he had spanked.

“Where are you taking me?” She giggled from atop his shoulder.

“My chambers. I’ve grown quite tired and irritable having to pretend to fuck you senseless; I prefer to have the real thing.”

She burned in her core and face, glad that he couldn’t see how flushed she was.

He placed her gently on the plush bed, crawling on top of her and reattached himself to her lips, grinding his clothed member into her stomach, making her whimper pathetically. He ripped the shift down the middle, revealing her breast and already erect nipples. He went down hungrily against one, teasing with his tongue while he toyed with the other breast with his hand.

“Lucius, p-please.” She cried, desperate to actually feel him after so long pretending.

He kissed down her scorched skin, making his way to her heat and lavishing her with his tongue, making her back arch from the bed as she moaned. He couldn’t suppress his either, groaning against her clit as he lapped her up, only pushing her further toward her climax.

“I’m so close,” she whispered shakily, a hand clenching at the plush pillows above her head. His head came up from between her legs, earning a disappointed sigh from Albina as she eyed him impatiently. He chuckled before disrobing, letting his hard cock spring forward. Albina looked at it wide eyed, taking in how thick he was and the bulging veins that led from the base all the way toward his swollen pink tip. She spread instinctively, feeling herself shake in anticipation and nervousness.

He hovered over her on his forearm, using his free hand to guide his bulge to her folds, tracing up and down with his tip against her. He looked her in the eyes as he stuck it in slowly, both of them gasping at the sensation. His thrusts stared slow and gentle, but he couldn’t hold himself back much longer and began pounding into her unforgivingly. She cried out, not caring who heard her, as she wrapped her trembling legs around his waist. He leaned down to kiss her, groaning against her lips.

“You feel better than I ever could have imagined,” he panted.

Her eyes rolled back in her head at the sound of his gruff voice. “Lucius, I’m so close I cannot take much more!”

Lucius used his free hand to grasp her by the throat, intensifying her pleasure. “Come all around my cock, dove. I want to feel you.”

She did as he commanded, the knot in her stomach finally snapping and letting the waves of pleasure wash over her. He was not far behind, his cock twitching from inside her, shooting ropes of cum across her insides. He removed himself from inside her, his seed spilling over out of her onto the linens. He collapsed on top of her, both of them panting to catch their breath as they looked each other in the eyes.

“Would you become my empress, Albina?” he breathed out.

She smiled wide, looking into his eyes with adoration. “As long as it is not a farce like we had to face in the gladiator rooms, I will do anything by your side.”

[whentheynameyoujoy]

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

[geesaotblog]

R E D

Levi Ackerman x Reader x Eren Jaeger (Implied) Levi Ackerman x Reader

Tags: Fingering, Back seat fraternization. CEO Levi Ackerman COO Eren Jaeger. Personal Assistant Reader. 18+. 

         “Oh, now that’s not fair.” Eren’s own dark voice practically rang through your ear while Levi’s hands trailed up your thighs, fingertips slipping past your dress. “Levi, do enough for the both of us.”

          “I do what I want,” Levi answered back haughtily, pupils blown out as he watched your lips part with heavy breaths.

           You couldn’t really blame Floch for his current actions. After all, this was a rather huge company party, and the opportunities that came with such an event were overflowing. First of all, the networking possibilities were endless. The big named corporate goons were flooding the large Victorian banquet hall that had been rented out and hosted by Ackerman Co., the second largest technological corporation in the states. Everyone who was anyone had attended, ready to mooch off of the billionaires that walked through those lavish ornate doors.

           Second of all, employees of Ackerman Co. were all invited, as per request from their generous CEO, Levi Ackerman. You hid a scoff behind the pristine wine glass that touched your painted red lips. Levi Ackerman. The man was anything but generous. He was short, rude, and irrationally anal about the most particular things. You should know—after all, you are his personal assistant.

           More like glorified cleaning monkey but you digress.

           Then there was Eren Jaeger, Levi’s own little pet project. Eren was a few years younger than Levi but was already being groomed to succeed the company. The two were around each other, practically feeding each other’s egos like the little power hungry mongrels they were.

           Well, Eren was feeding Levi’s ego. Levi’s only words of praise being thrown towards anyone were ‘Nice job, not fucking up the data transfer you complete walking pile of shit stains.’

           Isn’t he absolutely charming?

           The two were also unfairly gorgeous; Levi’s sharp chiseled face and built frame making up for the slight height imparity as well as Eren’s other worldly iridescent viridian eyes and long brunette locks that looked soft to the touch.

           God, what those eyes did to you.

           Being Levi’s personal assistant basically meant being Eren’s as well. Regardless of just how handsome those two were, it wouldn’t make up for the absolute hell they rained down on you with the way they overloaded you with work.

           Maybe you can blame Floch for trying to kiss up to Levi right now. It was pathetic, really. The bumbling idiot’s rambles were only irritating Levi and pissing Eren off which meant four glasses of wine for you to be able to deal with their moods.

           Then Eren’s eyes locked onto your frame from across the floor. You wanted to narrow your eyes in distaste, to scoff and turn away, to pretend you didn’t see him—but it was hard to when his towering frame looked so unfairly good in that black tux. That was another thing that wasn’t fair when it came to the way Levi and Eren treated you; the sharp gazes that promised unbearable pleasure every time they laid their eyes upon you were inappropriate. You should be more upset, angrier at the way they looked at you with such possessive fervent hunger within their eyes. But in the end, it only served to burn embers deep within the core of your stomach.

           You’ve spent countless nights alone in your bed getting off at the memory of those looks, off at the memory of Levi and Eren. It just wasn’t fair.

           If there was a better time to say eat the rich, it would be now.

           Before you could comprehend the slight gasps of the awestruck women beside you, Levi and Eren had walked across the floor standing right in front of you, ready to give you a migraine that would last a century.

           “, Well don’t you look pleasant, this evening.” Levi snarked, your last name pouring out of his mouth like sweet, warmed honey, dripping down the octave of his voice that continued to lower as he spoke to you. “Usually you look like you’re contemplating murdering us, brat.”

           Bristling immediately, you pursed your lips in a tight smile and tried to calm down. He always just got under your skin so quickly.

           “Mr. Ackerman, I’d rather not discuss such grim topics in the middle of a party.” You brought the glass up to your lips again, not once breaking eye contact with that gun-metal gaze and took a sip. “Let’s keep that within work hours.”

           Eren’s sudden airy laugh broke your staring contest with Levi, garnering attention from both you and the ebony haired man in front of you.

           “Now that’s the bite we remember,” Eren murmured, smile softening and eyes glazing over with something more primal. “I was almost worried the atmosphere was affecting your mood.”

           “You’re rather confident if you think that the atmosphere you two provide with your money has any effect on what my mood is.” You quipped back, feeling heat rise to your cheeks at the tone.

           “Oh, we’re positive that we can provide an entertaining atmosphere, definitely something that’ll keep you…coming back for more,” Levi said, tone husky and guttural feeding the warmth in your stomach a little more. You swallowed thickly, ignoring their desire filled expressions and reached down to tug at the bottom of your dress, hoping to cover a little more of your thighs and hide the any evidence of the arousal that came when you were in contact with the two.

           Eren’s hair, though pulled back into a slightly messy bun, still had a few strands peak out of the tie, framing his already symmetrical face and bringing out his prominent features. He ran a hand through those locks, pushing them back as he looked down at you like some sort of animal ready to strike down on its prey.

           Levi was no different, more reserved than Eren, but his eyes held a deep promise of toe-curling ecstasy.

           You hated those two.

           Finishing your glass of wine as quickly as you could, you placed the empty cup on a passing waiter’s tray, fumbling with a hasty response and trying your damned best to get the fuck out of there. “Well, this was a lovely conversation, but I really should head back home for the night. I wouldn’t want to be late to work because of—”

           “Because of us.” Levi cut off. You pursed your lips at the implication behind his words and slowly nodded, unable to deny them.

           “Yes, because of you two.” You cleared your throat and tightened your grip on your clutch. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

           “Let us drop you off.” Eren offered, smiling almost childishly, throwing you off completely from the tension that had been building up between you three. “It wouldn’t be right to just let you take a cab on your own. And it seems like you had a little too much to drink so driving is out of the question.”

           Alone. Inside of a car. With Eren and Levi. You were slightly tipsy, but you also weren’t stupid.

           “No, I couldn’t impose—”

           “You’re not imposing, brat.” Levi tutted out, digging through his jacket pocket for his keys before tossing them at Eren who caught them easily. “Come on. We’re driving you home.”

           Eren sent another smile your way before gently laying a hand on the small of your back, the large encompassing palm warming the bare skin there but not at all inching any lower as to respect your boundaries. Him and Levi led you out before you could utter another word of protest and your mind was reeling with so many possibilities of just where this drive could end up.

           No, you stated sternly in your mind, chastising yourself for your indecent thoughts. You are not sleeping with the boss and the boss’s protégé. Or one. Or the other. Or—why has god forsaken me.

           You wanted to throw a tantrum at the fact that two delectable pieces of meat were hanging right there, right in front of you, but morally you understood that wouldn’t be right at all.

           Accepting your fate, you decided to just be pressed against the side door in the back seat of the car for the entire ride, hoping to avoid any inappropriate interaction with the two. As you walked between them outside into the slightly chilly night air, you saw Floch standing by the drink table, looking absolutely furious as if he was trying to bore holes into your very innocent skull.

           Hiding a smirk, you straightened your back and walked towards the black lavish vehicle, feeling much better from seeing Floch’s annoying little gerbil face scrunch up in envy.

           Oh yeah, that was nice.

           Rather chivalrously, Eren opened the back door for you, sending you another cute smile—damn him—before shutting it and stepping to the driver’s seat. You let out a small breath of relief. Good, this way Levi and Eren can sit in the front and you would be content, unbothered and definitely not sexually frustrated in the back.

           But then the sound of the door on your other side closing was heard and you turned to see Levi right next to you instead of in the passenger’s side like he should have been.

           “Um, sir.” You inhaled shakily. “I’ll be alright in the back alone, you don’t need to sit beside me—”

           “Oh, I don’t ever remembering doing something I didn’t want to.” Levi hummed back sarcastically, raising an arched brow at you cockily. If you hadn’t found the look to be so attractive, you would have shoved his face in the car seat in front of you.

           Saying nothing back, you sat still, hand curled in your lap and knees tucked together as you watched Eren start the car and begin driving to your destination.

           It was almost too quiet, only Eren’s off tune humming filling the tense heavy air while you tried to ignore Levi’s body heat radiating off to your side. Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him—you continued to chant that mantra in your head, thinking of anything but the fact that Levi’s hands were laying so close to your bare thighs. The scent of heady, almost sweet black tea touched the tips of your taste buds, the aroma of Levi’s cologne so strong it was enveloping more than one of your senses and it was addicting.

           No, you scolded yourself immediately, biting hard on your bottom lip as you clutched the ends of your dress unforgivingly. Do not go there.

           Unfortunately, because you were chewing so harshly onto the abused appendage, the sudden pothole that Eren ran through caused you to jump and bite down on your lip harder than before making you gasp in pain. You let the plush, swollen skin fall out from between your teeth, touching it tenderly and wincing in pain.

           “You fucking idiot.” Levi hissed towards Eren, grabbing your waist seeing as you had also unintentionally leaned onto him at the same time. “Watch where you’re fucking driving!”

           “Hey, don’t get mad at me! Get mad at city funding!”

           You giggled at Eren’s indignant remark, not minding the soothing rubs of Levi’s surprisingly large hands that grazed your back. “I’m okay.” You sighed out. “Definitely city funding’s fault.”

           Eren shot you an apologetic smile through the rear view mirror before looking back at the road and driving much slower than before.

           “Here let me see,” Levi murmured your name softly, uncharacteristically gentler than you thought was possible, and pinched your chin between his thumb and index finger. He turned your face towards him, nose only inches away from your own but not at all seeming to mind it as he ran his calloused thumb across the bruised skin of your bottom lip.

           “You shouldn’t be biting on it.” Levi mumbled, voice low and filled with something you couldn’t describe. His eyes trailed back up to lock with your own and you held your breath, those silver irises always muddling your brain and turning your head into mush. “Look how red it is.”

           “I-It’s fine—” You gasped as Levi practically yanked you onto his lap, your knees resting on either side of his waist. “Mr. Ackerman!” You yelled affronted, blush painting your skin as his breath fanned the sides of your neck making you tremble in unprecedented delight.

           “Oh, now that’s not fair.” Eren’s own dark voice practically rang through your ear while Levi’s hands trailed up your thighs, fingertips slipping past your dress. “Levi, do enough for the both of us.”

           “I do what I want,” Levi answered back haughtily, pupils blown out as he watched your lips part with heavy breaths. You squirmed on his lap, trying to simultaneously get away from his ministrations as well as provide friction to your slick cunt.

           “Mr. Ackerman we can’t.” You whined out, rather embarrassingly loud as Levi began to lay wet open mouthed, strategic, kisses onto the supple skin of your exposed neck.

           “I don’t tend to take orders really well,” He sneered huskily, your last name added with the formal ‘Ms.’ prefix making your already racing heartbeat against your chest. He pushed the edges of your dress past your hips, exposing your black lace panties that were damp with arousal.

           The alcohol must be getting to you because this can’t be okay.

           His thumbs traced the edges of you’re the lace frills that your panties had adorned on them—they were cheap and cute from Burlington. You had no idea that anyone, let alone your boss would be seeing you in them. But here you are. You were really thanking your past self for thinking of you now.

           “Do you want me to make you feel good?” Levi asked, teasing the edges of your inner thighs but never reaching that one place, making your pussy throb in need. “Answer me,”

           “Yes,” You choked out desperately, moving your hips in slow deliberate circles, grinding your wet heat onto his slacks, dampening them with your slick. You were so shameless, but it didn’t seem like Levi minded. In fact, judging by the cruel smirk on his face, he was having the time of his life.

           “Beg.”

           You stopped immediately, eyes widened as you looked down at Levi to see if there were any signs of him joking anywhere. But he only stared back at you, stern and unmoving, hands slowly inching away from where you needed him most. You could feel your eyes dampen in embarrassment and desperation, a tiny mewl escaping your lips as you tried to grab his hands and bring them back. But his strength was unmatched, arms unmoving even with your insistent budging.

           “You heard him, baby,” Eren’s heavy voice sending shivers down your spine. “Beg.” The command wasn’t any less powerful even though you couldn’t see him, and you let out a whimper, grinding your hips in slow circles, hoping to entice Levi into taking action.

           “P-Please,” You gasped out, face heating up at the admission. All this time you had sworn you would never bow down to money or reputation, but this kind of power was something that Levi and Eren were born with—you were sure of it. “Please, touch me.”

           “Touch you where?” Levi’s hands moved back to cup your aching folds, making you gasp and thrust your hips into the touch. “Tell me.”

           “Fuck—Levi, please just—make me cum with your fingers, touch my cunt please.” You sobbed, pressing your lips together at the humiliation and arousal that came with submitting to such a man.

           “Good girl.” Levi husked out appraisingly, finally, finally, pulling the fabric of your panties aside and pushing his thumb to rub up against your folds towards your clit, rubbing the throbbing area with slow deliberate pressure. You moaned, the sounds coming out of you so wanton and erotic, you almost couldn’t believe that they came out of you. Your eyes fluttered shut at the pleasure of Levi’s skilled fingers, pressing in and out of you, rubbing your damp walls and eliciting more of your slick out of you, dampening your inner thighs with the obscene liquid.

           Each heavy thrust, each beckoning motion that he did inside of you, only served to abuse that one spot, making you see stars behind your eyelids.

           “Yeah,” You moaned out, leaning your forehead against his as he continued to play with your soaked pussy. “That’s so…ah…good—!” You cut yourself off, a sudden shriek spilling from your lips as Levi curled his fingers, pressing hard against your bundle of nerves while pressing his wet thumb against your abused clit. It was electrifying, the heat boiling from your legs, up to your stomach and straight to your head making you unable to think properly let alone comprehend the salacious praises that you cried out towards Levi.

           You wanted to rip away from that feeling. It was so terrifying the way that sharp coil tightened your insides and tore you apart with each push and pull of Levi’s skilled hands. It wasn’t fair. You had never reached the brink so quickly with someone before but within seconds you were putty in Levi’s hands.

           “Look at me,” Levi ordered, sharply using your name in his command and using his free hand to pull your face towards him. “Look at me when you cum.”

           You must have made such a sight. Debauched and ruined at the hands of your boss. But you couldn’t say you minded as one final purposeful shove of his fingers going knuckle deep inside of you sent you over the edge and into euphoria.

           Your thighs quacked in overstimulation as you tried to muffle a scream by crashing your lips against Levi’s who met your desperation with his own starved mouth. The messy kiss helped ease your orgasm and ride the pleasurable waves down to a dwindling content buzz.

           Pulling out his fingers with an almost sickening squelch, Levi eyed them with disgust mixed with a bit of arousal, before moving them towards your lips. He pried your lips open with his slick covered fingers, making you taste your own essence, shoving them inside your mouth unforgivingly. You shuddered at the strong taste but made no effort to disobey his unspoken orders, licking each appendage clean with your tongue.

           “If you think we’re done with you, you got another thing coming.” Levi growled darkly, groping and massaging your thigh while trailing his fingers out of your mouth down your chin, creating a thin line of saliva mixed with come down your jaw.

           “By the way,” Eren turned in his seat, facing both you and Levi with a sharp, toothy smirk. “We’re here. It’s my turn.”

           Judging by the look on Eren’s face, the night was far from over.

[keanureevesisbae]

Mister Cavill, your dog is kinda fat - Chapter 4

Summary: Veterinarian Olivia Tran has zero time for bullshit. After becoming a mom at age twenty three, the one thing she wants is a good life for her daughter Vanessa. Her ex didn’t want anything to do with her nor the baby and she decided that man are officially banned out of her life. But then she meets Henry Cavill at her clinic and her ban slowly starts to crumble apart. Henry on the other hand is looking for one thing: a family. And when he meets Olivia Tran, he finds just that.

Henry Cavill x Olivia Tran (ofc)

Warnings: None

Wordcount: 3.3k

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

Three weeks pass by. Three whole weeks of Henry hoping he bumps into his favorite pair again, but no luck. After that time he saw Olivia and Vanessa on the curb and the four of them went to the park, was also the last time he saw them.

He seriously regrets not asking Olivia for her number, so he could arrange more of those kinds of “dates”.  He already has an excuse: “Kal needs to be around kids more and since Vanessa doesn’t have a dog, it’s a win-win situation, honestly”.

After Vanessa fell face first into the mud, the two of them left, because she was in need of a bath and Kal was too, because he thought it would be funny to roll into the dirt as well.

These weeks passed agonizingly slowly. The fact that he wasn’t working, isn’t helping at all.

It did gave him the time to realize one thing though: he is falling for someone he barely knows. Google searches for Olivia Tran didn’t bring him a lot, except one of the things he already knew: she’s a veterinarian at Animal Clinic Westside. No social media whatsoever, something that he finds pretty rare and unique.

But finally the day he has been looking forward to has arrived. He is sitting in the waiting room of his favorite animal clinic. He hasn’t seen her yet and he sure hopes that she’s even working today and if so, that she is going to help him out. If she isn’t helping him and Kal, then it’s the universe telling him she is not the one for him.

If she does help them, he needs to ask her out, because he doesn’t know if he can’t endure time apart from her again.

While he is waiting with Kal, Henry looks around at the other animals, even the creepy bird who hasn’t stopped staring at him. For a second Henry is afraid that the bird will recognize him, but he shakes off that thought before he can think about it even more.

A door opens and he hears: ‘Kal?’

He noticed how in this clinic (and maybe elsewhere too, he doesn’t know), they call in the patients by the names of the animals, instead of the owners. He is eternally grateful, not wanting to draw attention that he is in fact Henry Cavill.

He looks up and sees his favorite vet standing in a doorway. He can’t help but smile. He notices a bright grin on her face and from that alone, this day can’t be ruined if it’s up to him.

Besides, he needs to ask her out now.

Henry stands up, tugs Kal’s leash and walks over to the doctor. Olivia steps to the side, letting him and Kal go into the room first. he smells great, he thinks to himself. Like lavender, he didn’t notice that before.

‘We should weigh him first,’ she says, placing her clipboard to the side. ‘He does look slimmer already.’

‘I’ve been restraining myself,’ he laughs. ‘It’s just really hard to say no to this face.’

‘Weak,’ she comments, chuckling in the process. Henry knew he missed her, but after that comment left her lips, he didn’t realized how much he missed her. ‘Come on, Kal, get your fat ass on the scale.’

Henry places his hand over his mouth, but a loud laugh leaves his lips anyways, especially when Olivia looks at him with a playful look on her face. She checks the screen and claps her hands when she hears a soft beep, indicating the scale is done measuring Kal’s weight. ‘Good boy, Kal, you lost three whole kilos already.’ She presses a kiss on top of his head and looks up at Henry. ‘You’re not as weak as I expected you to be, mister Cavill.’

Henry smiles, as he’s taking in her appearance. Those two times he saw her, she was already breathtaking, but there is something different about her today. Is she wearing lipstick? He notices her hair isn’t in the usual bun. Her wavy locks frame her face and when she runs her fingers through it, he has to look the other way, because damn, she is beautiful and this isn’t the time to faint.

‘Anyways,’ she says, a blush appearing on her cheeks, probably because Henry kept gawking at her, ‘this big boy needs to get his shots today.’

‘I do have to tell you, he isn’t the greatest with needles,’ Henry warns her.

She nods. ‘Aren’t you projecting your own fears on your dog?’ she jokingly asks him.

He wonders if she’s like this with other clients or if she strictly reserves this for him. He sure hopes it’s the latter, though he feels a bit attacked, because it may be true, that thing she said about projecting his own fears on his dog. ‘No, he really doesn’t like them,’ he says nonetheless.

Olivia prepares two shots for the big canine, who keeps staring at her, but letting out a small whimper. ‘I know, baby,’ she says to Kal in a higher voice, ‘it may be scary, but it’s over before you know it.’

She sits next to him, pats his head, while Henry crouches down near the dog as well. He can’t help but stare at her. She is so pretty and the way she is comforting the dog, he falls even more in love with her.

When she grabs the syringe, Henry swallows hard, while Kal’s entire body shakes with excitement.

Olivia glances at him, before she sticks the needle into Kal’s thigh. He doesn’t even whine, but Henry rubs his own face. ‘Are you okay, Henry?’ she asks, but he doesn’t hear what she says anymore, because he passes out.

≫≫≪≪

Henry wakes up in the corner of a room, his back pressed against the wall and his legs sprawled out in front of him. Kal is no where near him, while Henry swore they were together before he fell asleep.

He had a nice dream, of the beautiful doctor at the animal clinic. He dreamed that they were sitting in the park, her head against his shoulder, as they watched Vanessa and Kal play. It was nice to dream about her like that, just like he did that in those three weeks he didn’t see her.

He tries to remember where he is and when he looks around, he sees he is at the animal clinic. The examination table, his own dog sitting next to doctor Olivia Tran, who walks up to him and crouches down in front of him. ‘You’re up,’ she says with a chuckle. ‘For such a big guy, I never assumed you’d pass out like that, simply because I was giving your dog a shot.’

‘Oh fuck,’ he mumbles, rubbing his face, a sad attempt to cover his flushed cheeks. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘No need to, it was kind of funny, especially when I had to drag you around this examination room and had to explain to the assistant that the loud thud she heard, was the owner that collapsed and not the overweight dog,’ she laughs, handing him a paper cup filled with some water. ‘Here, drink this.’

He takes a tiny sip, still embarrassed of what happened to him. God, did he really just pass out in the examination room because his dog was getting a shot? ‘This is really painful,’ he chuckles, hoping it helps him not to feel the shame he is feeling right now, but it’s not working at all.

She places a slender hand on his calve, causing him to hold his breath because of the sudden touch. Him passing out like that, does have his perks come to think of it. ‘Listen, it happens to the best of us. The first time I had to help deliver a lamb, I threw up and passed out in my own vomit, in front of the entire class, so honestly: it’s okay.’

Olivia stands up again and holds out a hand. He carefully places his in hers and she pulls him up, though he mostly pushes himself up, because he is afraid he’ll drag her down. Not that he would compla—

No, he can’t think like that, not when his jeans is already this tight. Later tonight he can think about the possibilities that came with her pulling him up.

‘Thanks, Olivia,’ he says.

‘Are you feeling okay? You want something sweet to eat, before you hit the road again?’

That is so thoughtful of her. ‘Maybe some sugar would be of help,’ he says.

‘Perks of having a six year old,’ Olivia says, rummaging through her purse, ‘I’m always prepared for emergencies.’ She hands him over two candy bars. ‘You can have those, Vanessa doesn’t like them anyways.’

‘How is Vanessa doing, by the way?’

Henry might not know Olivia very well, but what he does know, is that something happened.

‘Is everything okay?’ he asks.

‘Yeah, it’s just that her teacher continues to pester me about how Vanessa should change her work ethic, which I think is too much to ask of a six year old and… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t bother you with this. You probably don’t even care.’

‘No, I do care,’ he quickly says. Way too quickly.

Olivia sighs deeply. ‘I’m just worried about my girl sometimes. Comes with becoming a parent I guess.’

He wishes he could agree. ‘Listen, it might be extremely inappropriate, but I have to ask.’ He can hear the wise words his common sense is screaming. Abort mission. Don’t do it, Cavill. For the love of God, don’t ask the gorgeous doctor out on a date. ‘Would you like to go out with me? Like… Tonight? For dinner?’

Olivia crosses her arms in front of her chest. Why isn’t she saying anything? ‘As in a date or as a thank you for saving your dog?’

She is not making it easy for him and he has to give her props for that. That’ll teach him from asking cute women out, who just smiled at him and were nice to his dog. ‘A date,’ he says, all of the sudden not too sure about this action anymore. ‘I know it might be weird, because of what you do for a living and how we met, but I… I’m really interested in you.’

‘In me as a person or what’s in my pants?’

Well both, but he can’t say that, without looking like an absolute creep. ‘In you as a person, what kind of man do you think I am?’

She chuckles. ‘A man who is afraid of needles and can’t say no to his dog,’ she tells him. ‘I’ll go out with you tonight. Can you remember my number or do you want to put it in your phone?’

≫≫≪≪

It took Henry about three hours to go through his entire closet, just to find the perfect outfit for tonight. He didn’t want to look like such a try hard, but he also didn’t want to look like a slob. He eventually opts for a simple black sweater with some fitted jeans and his Chelsea boots. It’s casual, yet it has a fancy streak to it. He grabs the grey blazer from the hanger and while he checks the pockets, he hears Kal whimper, who lays flat on his bed. ‘We’re going out tonight, bud,’ he tells the large canine. ‘You are going to keep Vanessa and her babysitter company, while I’m going out on a date with Olivia.’

He still can’t believe this is happening. He asked the doctor out on a date and the most bizarre thing of it all, was that she said yes.

Olivia Tran said yes to him.

He would lie if he said that he wasn’t nervous. In all honesty, he is about to die from his nerves.

He checks the clock and realizes he should leave his place now. He clicks his tongue, causing Kal to follow Henry downstairs. He puts on Kal’s leash and when he closed off his place, the two of them get in the car. He hums along with the song on the radio, as he drives to her house.

In the past he went on tons of dates. He likes dates, getting to know someone and finding out whether or not they are compatible. But there is something different about this date. He wants to get to know more about Olivia, but he is afraid that once she gets to know him, she’s not interested in him anymore.

He parks his car in front of her house and he takes a deep breath, trying to procrastinate the moment that he has to walk up to the door. Kal whines, as if he knows where they are and he sees that as a moment to get out of the car. The two of them walk up to the door and he rings the doorbell.

‘Mommy,’ Vanessa says from the other side of the door, ‘Henry is here.’

‘Do not open the door!’

‘But mom…’

‘Sweetheart, what if it’s not Henry, but a pervert?’ Olivia asks.

‘Oh my God, Olivia, the person on the other side of the door can hear you!’ he hears a different female voice scream and he can’t help but chuckle. He wondered what kind of household Olivia would have and somehow this situation seems fitting.  

‘Mom, what’s a pervert?’ Vanessa asks.

‘A disgusting human being,’ Olivia explains.

‘Is Henry a pervert? I thought he was Superman?’

‘Olivia, I mean it,’ the other woman says, ‘people on the other side of the door can hear you two.’

The door finally opens and he sees both Vanessa and Olivia standing in the doorway. ‘Hi Henry,’ his already favorite duo say in unison.

‘Hi there,’ he says with a smile. It’s six in the evening and Vanessa is already in her pajama. From the looks of it, it’s light pink with bears on it.

Kal pushes past him, to give the little girl a lick on her cheek, causing her to giggle.

As endearing as that sight may be, he can’t help but look at Olivia, who wears a grey plaid pants paired with a black shirt that hugs her upper body. The outfit shows off her godly proportions. He even sees a hint of tattoos on her arms, but she grabs a coat and it covers them up before he can see them properly.

But if he saw it correctly and she does have tattoos… That’s almost unfair. She is already beautiful, but add tattoos in the mix and that gives him enough to dream about tonight.

Another woman appears in the doorway and she hums in approval. ‘It’s such a shame that I wasn’t on call when your dog started to throw up,’ she says with a smile. She extends her hand and says: ‘Hi, I’m Belle.’

He saw her earlier today. She is another vet and when he was paying for the appointment, she bumped her hip against Olivia’s and they shared a look, one that best friends share. Guess Belle is the certified baby sitter. He quickly shakes her hand. ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Henry.’

‘God, you were right, Olivia,’ Belle says, ‘he is even more handsome in real life.’

Henry detects a fire red blush on Olivia’s cheeks, but she looks down and slips on a pair of boots that have a heel, something he hasn’t seen her wear before. He wants to take in her entire appearances, glancing her over more than once, but he restrains himself, since he doesn’t want to look overly eager.

‘That must be a sign that we need to go,’ Olivia says, before she pinches her friend in her side. She leans down, to give Vanessa a kiss. ‘Be nice to auntie Belle and Kal, okay?’

‘Okay, mommy,’ Vanessa says. ‘Can Kal sleep in my room tonight?’

‘He can,’ Olivia says.

The little girl smiles and looks up at Henry. ‘Is that okay with you too, mister Henry?’ she asks. ‘Kal is your dog.’

‘He can sleep in your room,’ Henry says, touched by the fact that she actually thought she should ask him about this. Olivia is raising such a lovely and polite girl. He truly admires her.

While Olivia rummages through her purse, Belle crouches down and whispers something in Vanessa’s ear.

‘Okay, I’m ready to go,’ Olivia says with a smile.

‘Enjoy your night,’ Vanessa says to the both of them, as Olivia steps out of the doorway. ‘And you two shouldn’t have too much fun.’

Henry nearly chokes on his own spit. ‘Belle, I swear to—’ Olivia wants to say something, but swallows the words before she can express her true feelings. ‘I love you, Vanessa,’ Olivia says to her daughter.

‘I love you too,’ she says to her mother. ‘Will you give me a kiss when you get back?’

‘Of course, angel.’

Vanessa smiles. ‘Bye, mister Henry,’ she says to him.

‘Bye sunshine,’ he says to the young girl, who starts to beam with happiness when she hears her new nickname. He doesn’t know where “sunshine” came from, it just slipped out.

Olivia and Henry walk to his car, but he can’t help but notice how she keeps looking up to him. He opens the door for her and he watches her get in. He waves to the two—three, if you include Kal—in the doorway, before he gets in himself.

‘I’m sorry,’ Olivia says, the second the door closes.

‘No need to,’ Henry laughs, starting his car. ‘It was funny.’

She snorts, while she waves to Belle, Kal and her daughter as he drives off. ‘Well, leave it to Belle to embarrass me.’

‘She a close friend?’

Olivia nods. ‘Very close friend. When I found out I was pregnant with Vanessa, she was there for me when no one else was. She forced me to live in her house for a while, even after Vanessa was born.’

Henry frowns. ‘I thought it was just your ex who wasn’t there for you.’

She sighs. ‘Well, my parents and two brothers weren’t too keen on me having a kid out of wedlock. My mom kicked me out seven years ago and since that moment, no one has tried to contact me. I haven’t seen them ever since.’

This is un-fucking-believable. He knows for sure that, had this happened within his family, his brothers would be over the moon to be an uncle of yet another kid and his parents would love another addition to the family.

And her family just kicks her out?

‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ he says and he means it from the bottom of his heart. ‘Were you close with your family?’

She shrugs. ‘Growing up I was. Not really with my mom, but with my father and brothers I was super close. I thought that they would love it, a little bean added to the family. Guess I was wrong. But you know, I have Belle, so that’s enough for me right now.’

Right now. That means the door is open for someone else, right? Or is he trying to read something that isn’t there?

‘By the way,’ she says, ‘how did you come up with “sunshine”?’

Why does Henry feels like he just got caught? ‘Just slipped, I guess. I’m so—’

‘Don’t you dare apologize, Cavill,’ she interrupts him. ‘I love the nickname and did you see Vanessa’s face?’

He does actually. He recalls the way her face lit up with happiness and pride.

Olivia looks to the side and when he stops for the traffic lights, he meets her gaze. She smiles. ‘I’m really happy we’re on this date,’ she says. ‘And maybe I’m a bit rusty in the whole dating department and is what I’m about to say way too blunt, but I need to tell you that you look really handsome tonight.’

Maybe that is too blunt, but Henry doesn’t mind. He doesn’t mind at all. His hands get a bit clammy. ‘Thank you, Olivia. Allow me to be just as blunt.’

‘Surprise me.’

‘You look stunning and I’m really happy that you agreed on going out with me.’

A/N: Don’t worry, the next chapter will cover their date 😉

Taglist: @thelastsock​ // @flhorah​ // @sausagefest1996​ // @laufeysodinson​ // @xxxkatxo​ // @memoriesat30​ // @henrythickcavill​ // @crimsonrae​ // @henryobsessed // @madbaddic7ed​ // @summersong69​ // @lyrafraiser​ // @peakygroupie​ // @coldmuffinbanditshoe​ // @mary-ann84​ // @thereisa8ella​ //@crazyandanonymous4u // @xuxszx​ // @emmaofgreengabbles​ // @jimmypagesandbrianmayshair​ // @onlyhenrys

[soliverse]

baby don’t like it - q.kn

pairing: royal au duke!kun x princess!reader ft my best girl, Irene of Red Velvet

genre: angst, much muuuch stronger than the last one

warnings: mentions of violence, cheating, cussing, alcohol consumption (again, nothing too explicit, just giving you a bit of a heads up.

word count: 3171

Prompts:

“Keep the change, ya filthy animal.” - Home Alone (weird choice, I know)

“Baby, whether rain or shine, naughty or nice. I'm by your side.” - Ariana Grande (Not Just On Christmas)

ps: did I just write another angst for another Christmas special?

Yes. Yes, I did.

Baby Don’t Like It is a part of my Walking in a Winter Wonderland Collab with @suh-insane​ and @neocitybynight​. Once again, this is one of my first collabs and I am thankful for the approachable anons that let me join this event.

You can check the Walking In A Winter Wonderland event and the works of my fellow NCT writers over here!

networks: @nctcreations​ @kdiarynet @kpopscape

Men.

You’ve always hated them.

You’ve hated how your father treated your mother. You’ve hated how you’re treated all your life just because you’re not born as a man. You've always hated how they controlled every single decision in your life. You've hated how you're forced to marry someone you don't love for "the sake of our people".

But out of all the men that you hated; it was the one right in front of you.

As your assistants helped you get dressed, your husband was just sitting there on his phone, looking all nice and fine and smiling from ear to ear. He looked divine, suit garbed in black and red, making him look almost ethereal. Strands of his dark hair falls into his forehead, framing his perfect face even more. At the same time, he decided to wear his circular glasses, something that he did if he didn’t want to use his contact lenses.

Overall, his outfit made him look like one of those princes from those fairytale books that you had as a kid.

You can't help but roll your eyes, but you can't say whether it's from your assistants eyeing Kun or that he just HAD to be there to see you get dressed. After hours of getting ready, they placed a heavy tiara on your head as a finishing touch.

You stood up from your seat and twirled, making sure that everything looked perfect. You walked towards Kun and did a little wave to get his attention away from his phone. It didn’t work, so you walked closer to the couch and tapped his leg. This time, he shot up a look in your direction, still smiling.

“Oh hey. You good to go?”

You nodded as an answer. The two of you then made your way into your car, him being the driver. The car ride was eerily quiet. None can be heard except for other vehicles passing by and funky Christmas songs blasting from people outside. Well, there isn’t that much to talk about. You’ve spent every hour with each other that you feel like there’s more to share.

This is probably the reason why he suggested the event in the first place. Social events aren't really your thing, but at least it’s better than to stay at home and celebrate Christmas in silence. Or worse, spend it at your parents' mansion.

“Hey baby, cheer up a little.”

He was the first one to break the silence.

“Thank you for coming with me to the event. It means a lot to me.”

His voice was soft, just like it had always been whenever he’s talking to you. He moves closer from the other side of the and took your hand, squeezing it tightly. You never said anything. You just smiled at him in return, not really knowing what to say. It stayed that way until you reached the venue.

It was already a bit late at night and the whole city glistened from the twinkling lights that adorned it. The snow slowly falling down made your entrance to the party even more magical.

The car door has opened and cameras started flashing left and right. Dozens of paparazzi surrounded the area while the guards tried their best to keep them out. Kun made a point to wave to everyone, a move that everyone loved. You tried to force a smile as he wrapped his arms around your hips, feeling the silky fabric of the dress that you’re wearing.

Everyone greeted him, of course. His cheery self was acknowledged by everyone around him. Meanwhile, you just politely bowed at everyone else, forcing an awkward smile whenever someone tried to make interactions. They were probably bummed up that YOU had to go with, though. After all, Kun was the life of the party. The darling of the crowd. The Diana to your Charles.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome our honorable guests for tonight. The main benefactor of Little Angels’ Children Hospital and the people behind this lovely event, Duke Kun and Her Highness Princess Y/N of the Northernshore.”

The crowd applauded as you made your way into the grand halls and took your place in the seat designated for the both you. It was a table that was isolated from everyone else, so the two of you are just stuck together. Sitting there was uncomfortable to say the least. You knew he wanted to mingle with people, but being the introvert that you are, he can’t leave you alone.

The program proceeded as usual. The children from the hospital sang some carols which touched everyone’s hearts. One of the cute little girls gave you a small figurine that she made. You gave her a warm hug before letting her join the other children on the stage. Kun, on the other hand, was trying his best to focus on the gala.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. Not at all.” He chuckled awkwardly, sneaking peeking on his phone from time to time. You didn’t pay him that much attention and shifted your focus back to the kids. The host announced that dinner will be served soon and the program will resume right after. You felt the need to go to the bathroom and so you tugged on his jacket to get his attention. Some Christmas carol was playing overhead and so he leaned down to hear what you had to say.

“Excuse me for a second. I need to powder my nose.”

You shyly whispered in his ear. He again flashes a sweet smile before nodding. Other people are so standing up from their seats, taking this opportunity to mingle with other people while dinner is being prepared. The guards offered to go with you but you declined and insisted that they stayed with Kun. From far away, you can see a bunch of people enthusiastically going to his direction. You just sighed as you walked across the crowd of people with your head down.

As you’ve finally reached the bathroom, the first thing you did was lock the stall and breathe. You rested your head at the door for a few seconds before finally doing your business. You’ve heard some people entered the bathroom. Your ears perked up to listen at their conversation. To your relief, none of them talked about you. They didn’t take long inside, probably just touched up, and left the bathroom.

Making sure that no one is inside, you opened the door and proceeded to look at yourself in the mirror. You weren’t that bad. Your red silky dress complimented your body and skin well. There are strands of your hair cascading from your messy bun, but that just added to your look. You look fine. It’s just that in everything that you say and do, everything pales in comparison to your husband. Opening the sink, you washed your hands and tried to snap out of Grinch mode. After all, it’s almost Christmas. You should be having fun.

///

After leaving the bathroom, this time with a much jollier attitude, you saw Kun sitting in the same table. This time, he was with a woman. A woman that you knew pretty well.

Minji used to be your bestfriend during highschool. She was the only one kind enough to talk to you and actually get to know you as a person. Unfortunately, things changed just as soon as you reached college. Kun was a junior at that time and he became the guide that toured the freshmen throughout the university. Minji has been whipped ever since and Kun returned the favor.

Her family aren’t a part of the royals, which meant they can’t be together. A fact that had always pained you whenever you think about it. A part of you still felt guilty upon breaking the former couple apart. You never had the guts to faced Minji and so you made your way towards the open bar. Maybe some drinks will help you clear your head.

Trying to hide from other people and the guards, you picked a seat just right at the farthest corner of the open bar. You sat at one of the counters and ordered whatever drink that can get you drunk the fastest. You downed the drink fast, not even minding the harsh taste that it leaves as soon as it hits your tastebuds.

A voice suddenly interrupted your drinking session. You tried to hide your face to avoid being recognized, but the woman still sat down right next to you.

“A princess shouldn’t be drinking like that.”

“Excuse me?”

You finally turned around, casually flashing a playful smile at you. Your eyes grew wider at the sudden realization of who she is.

“Irene! It’s been ages!”

You almost spilled your drink to the floor as you stood up to hug one of your old college pals.

“It’s been forever, and yet you still act like a royal novice.”

The lass never changed. She was still her snobby self, a trait that you used to hate before you came to realize that that’s just her quirk.

The two of you are almost squealing before finally letting go of each other. You sat back down excitedly before pouring yourself another drink.

“Okay. Why are you here?”

“Remember Suho? The doctor? Well, he’s thinking doing business with the hospital. He’s making it some sort of an extension.”

"I still couldn’t believe that you got married." You said while chuckling. The old Irene had always had this intimidating aura to her that no boy ever dared to talk to her. It’s something that the two of you had in common.

"I could say the same about you."

Irene snickered as she motioned the bartender to bring more drinks for the two of you.  She casually grabbed her wine glass, being the classy lady that she is, and took a bit of a sip at her sparkling champagne, eyeing you shadily like there’s something she’s trying to tell you.

“I see that your husband is having fun without you.”

You just sighed as a response.

“Royals are for royals, Y/N. Minji isn’t born with a title.That is not your fault. Keep your head high for fuck’s sake. You’re THE Princess.”

You raised an eyebrow at her, preparing to talk her down to filth. However, her phone lit up from a phone call that she's receiving.

"I'm gonna have to leave you for a sec. It's Suhyun's babysitter."

She gave an apologetic smile before grabbing her purse from the counter and finishing the last of her drink.

"I’ll be back in a moment.”

She tossed a wink at your direction before you’re left alone in the bar once again. You started drinking once again when you felt a tap on your shoulder. Thinking it was Irene, you turned around and was about to talk smack to her. Instead, it was your husband. He grabbed you by your wrist and took you to an empty storage room nearby.

“The guards have been looking for you everywhere.”

His voice was low, but you can tell that he’s incredibly pissed.

"I just needed a drink to lighten myself up. Figured you need some time to hang out with your colleagues without your boring wife tagging along."

“You’re glad that I found you first. What would the media say if they saw the princess drinking like she’s in a college frat party?”

You just rolled your eyes at him and tried to free your hand from his tightening grip.

“I want to go home.”

“You are not going home in the middle of the event!”

You scoffed.

“Yes, I can. I’m the Princess. Just tell them I feel sick or something.”

You finally managed to escape his grasp and you walked out of the storage room by yourself and walked back into the. Sure enough, you used your acting lessons to feign an illness. The guards took charge immediately and escorted you back to the car. It caused a bit of a scene, so it didn’t take long before Irene found you. She whispered something in your ear and you just nodded.

“Change of plans boys. I’m going to we’re going to the hospital.”

///

"Wakey-wakey…”

Kun felt a sudden surge of pain running through his body. His vision was blurry, pupil still adjusting to the light blaring through his face. Despite this, he can definitely see one thing. It was a silhouette of a woman.

"Ugh… Who are you?"

Moans and groans escaped his busted lips, the taste of metal fills his mouth. Not only was his mouth filled with his own blood, he was struggling to talk because of the dryness in his throat. He tried to move but his body felt sore. His arms and feet were tied up to this chair, making it impossible for him to get up.

The last thing that he remembered is that he is on a car ride somewhere, until his own guards pointed their guns at him.

The woman just laughed as a response. She walked towards him, dragging something heavy behind her. The screeching sound coming from the friction of the floor and metal stings in his ear.

Suddenly, he felt a hand run up to his shoulder into his neck making all of the hair in his body stand up. He had never felt more scared in his life. He felt her face lean over and whispered something to his ear.

"You know very well who I am Kun."

"Irene…"

The woman laughed once again. It sounded darker and more maniacal than earlier.

"I'm glad you remembered you my name after all these years. However, I'm afraid I’d have to cut this reunion short."

Just as she stood up, another silhouette appeared from the dark. The tapping of the back of her heels filled echoed across the hospital room, completely stealing your attention from Irene.

This time, he's certain about who it is.

"When you said that you'll make my problems disappear, this isn't what I had in mind."

You took the coat off of your body, letting in fall to the floor. He was about to beg you to release him, but he noticed something.

You had that dangerous look in you. Your blank cold stare even scarier than Irene's. The typical shy demeanor was dropped and instead replaced by those of predator. Someone that wants to eat him alive and make him disappear in the face of the Earth.

"I had a little fun with him already, if you don't mind.”

Irene walked towards your direction, smiling from ear to ear seeing her old friend back like this.

“I’m afraid I have to leave you here darling. Suhyun and her father is probably looking for mommy right now. Call me when you need me.” She gave you a delicate peck on your cheek before walking away from the room.

Now, the two of you are left alone. Silence once again peeks in as the two of you just stared at each other. Even up until now, that never changed.

This time, you’re the first one to speak up.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re in this situation.”

You took one of the seats and dragged it just a few meters in front of him. You sat down, leaned back while your arms and legs are crossed.

“I know about the affair between you and Minji.”

“Baby, please. It’s nothing...”

He used his sweet voice again, but to you it sounded more like teeth-rotting sugar. That sickly sweet taste that made you want to gag.

“Oh, stop the bullshit. I know about ALL of the affairs.”

You finally stood up from your seat and held your right hand up in the air.

“Let’s see. There’s Rosie, Jessica, Heather…” You spouted more names, taking down a finger every time you mentioned one. Kun is now looking even more uncomfortable. This time, it was his turn to look down, hiding the guilt-ridden expression of his face. Your finger touched his chin, tipping his face up in your direction.

“Wanna know how I knew?”

You poked your tongue in your cheeks and rolled your eyes before giving him one hard slap on his cheek.

“It’s because of those damn glasses! I can see every lewd picture that they send you, asshole!”

You look down at his direction and you saw tears running down from his face. He was trying his best not to sob because his own mouth betrayed him.

“What, baby? you don’t like being slapped in the face? Isn’t that what you wanted Minji to do to you whenever you’re fucking at the manor when I’m at business trips?”

The last sentence made you choke on your words. The combination of seeing Kun crying and the recollection of memories made you a bit soft. Your legs shook, making you kneel down on the ground and sob like a little girl when someone had taken her toys away from her.

“Why did it have to be Minji?”

“I-I’m sorry Y/N. Please… Let me fix this.”

You wiped you tears away just as you dropped this bombshell.

“Why did it have to be her? My first love?”

Picking yourself from the floor, you went back to where your discarded coat is. You wiped your tears out with the sleeves of the coat while you rummaged through its pockets.

“I can’t stand it. Even when you married me, she ‘s still stupidly in love with you.”

“W-wait… What do you mean?”

“Minji used to be my pretty little angel. You just had to turn her into your slutty mistress, don’t you?”

You felt something hard on your right pocket. It was the gun that Irene left you earlier at the party. Right beside it was your phone, blowing up with notifications of people greeting you a Merry Christmas as the clock just turned 12:00 a few minutes ago.

“It’s a sad thing that this will be our last Christmas together.”

You said once again, finally calmed down from the tears that you have just shed a few moments ago. Kun was now shouting at his seat, finally aware of what you’re about to do.

“You are not gonna get away with this!”

“Oh. But I will…”

You smirked at him once again.

“If I killed you right now, Irene and his men would take care of your body and discard it without anyone noticing. They do it all the time. If people suspect that I did something to you, I can just say that I went to the hospital to get treated. They have logs and cameras over here to back up my claims.”

You cocked the gun in your hands and started pointing it to his temples.

“..And as for you baby, text records show that you’re about to run away with Minji tonight. All of your other secrets will be exposed and people will finally see what you really are…”

You took a deep breathe before mustering up the courage to pull the trigger.

“Merry Christmas baby. I’m sure they’d appreciate charity events in hell.”

[backtobackbakubabe]

I am the Alpha Now Part 2

Bakugo X Reader 

Words : 2797

Reader is from America and somewhat of a delinquent with an alpha quirk that allows her to turn into a wolf as well as bond with dogs. She is sent to UA to straighten out her attitude. She ends up in a power struggle with none other than our favorite hot head. Words in Italics are words said telepathically

*****************************************************************************************************

You tossed and turned all night much to Mercy’s annoyance. He huffed every time you rolled over. He was usually a pretty heavy sleeper but it seemed even he was a little on edge. 

Before you knew it the sun was rising and there was a loud pounding at your door. There’s no way you slept through your alarm. You would have had to actually be asleep to do that. You rolled over and peaked at your phone and saw that it was 5:30 in the morning. A whole hour before you had originally planned to wake up. 

You tried to ignore the man outside your door but no matter how tight you pulled the pillow over your head you still heard his fist banging on your door. Finally, you gave up and rolled out of bed. You dragged your feet to the door and threw it open. Bakugo had been mid knock and was thrown off balance at the door being suddenly swung open. He caught himself on the door frame his eyes scanning you from head to toe. You were in an oversized t shirt, big fluffy socks, and your hair was in a messy bun with your hair hanging out in multiple places. You knew you looked rough, but you couldn’t find it in you to care before 6 am. 

You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and leaned your sleepy head against the door, “Dude what the fuck. Iida said you’d be here at 7…” 

Bakugo’s crossed his arms over his chest, “No he said I would be here no later than 7… now get ready and for shits sake put some fucking pants on.”

You quirked an eyebrow as the tips of his ears turned a little pink, “Oh? Do my bare legs seduce you?” You tugged on the collar of your giant t-shirt exposing your bare shoulder, “How about my shoulders? Do they really drive you crazy?” 

Bakugo rolled his eyes before turning his back to you, “As if I would ever be tempted by an extra like you! Now hurry up! I run on a tight schedule. I need to get my morning workout in before class!” 

You scoffed, “That’s why we’re up this early? So you can workout? You could totally do that without me… Come on man seriously!” 

You saw the muscles in his back tense up, “Listen here idiot! I’ve been instructed to help you until you acclimate or whatever so if I’m working out, you’re working out. If I’m studying, you’re studying. Now get your ass into some gym clothes and let’s fucking move!” 

You slammed the door and stomped over to your closet. There were two gym uniforms and two regular uniforms. Your eyes lingered on the skirts… you didn’t usually wear skirts, especially skirts that short. You packed one uniform in your school bag and quickly dressed into the gym clothes. 

You threw a pillow at Mercy on your way out, “Come on bud. Time to get to work..”

He slowly stretched before walking up next to you at a snails’ pace. “Do we have to? I was finally starting to get some real sleep.”

You grabbed his collar, leash, and collapsible water bowl as you opened the door again. “Take it up with sparky out here. He’s the one who is insisting we have to go.” 

Bakugo rolled his eyes as Mercy just gave him a bored stare, “Are you guys just going to talk shit about me all day?”

You shrugged, “Yeah, probably. It’s what we do best.” You reached for Mercy and went to put his collar on. He stiffened for a bit before mumbling at you. “I know you hate it, but you have to, now quit your whining.”

Bakugo tilted his head, “He doesn’t like his collar?”

You shook your head as you finally got it clipped into place, “He hates it. I can’t really blame him though. Collars are for pets. He’s not my pet, he’s my beta. He’s a pack member. But people tend to freak out when a huge wolf-dog walks by and I feel like the collar lets them know he’s not wild or something.” 

You were following him out of the dorms now. He nodded, “That makes sense I guess. So is he going to be with you all the time? I get that he’s kind of like an extension of your quirk but even when we’re in class?” 

You started to take your messy bun down so you could braid it later, “Well usually he’s with me pretty much 24/7. He really is smart. I think he could really benefit from being in class. If nothing else it’ll help him with his social skills.” You looked over at Mercy who was busy walking ahead of you sniffing everything he possibly could. “He doesn’t really like many people. I think it’s just because people tend to treat him like a dumb dog and it bothers him. I’m hoping if I can get him around other people he can actually make friends.” 

“Tch. You act like he’s an actual person..”

You gave Bakugo’s shoulder a shove, “Just because I was born a human doesn’t mean I am not also a wolf. The same can be said Mercy. Every day his mind grows and evolves. For me it’s like having a brother.” 

You thought Bakugo would have some mean comment about treating Mercy like a human but instead he shrugged, “Well just make sure little brother keeps those massive teeth away from me. He may be evolved or whatever but he’s still an asshole.” 

You giggled, “You got that right. But that probably has a lot to do with the fact that his personality is somewhat influenced by mine.” 

Bakugo nodded as he opened the door to the training facility, “That could also be why he doesn’t get along with other people. Seems like you two are kind of codependent.” 

Your shoulders tensed. That wasn’t the first time someone had said that. You ran your fingers through you long thick (h/c) hair, pulling out the knots. “I’ll admit we do live in our own little world sometimes. But until you’ve experienced the kind of bond we have being in a pack its hard to explain.” The watch you were wearing got caught in pretty bad tangle and you winced. 

“Dumbass. Do you ever brush your hair?” Bakugo was behind you now helping you free your watch. His fingers were surprisingly gentle and if you were being honest it felt kind of good. You couldn’t let him know that though.

“Of course I brush my fucking hair. I just have a lot of fucking hair!”

Mercy was now trying to put himself in between you and Bakugo, “He is too close. Tell him to back up. I don’t like it. Too close.”

When Bakugo didn’t budge Mercy gave him a nudge.“Seriously why does he hate me so much?”

You put your hand on his shoulder, “Why do you care whether he likes you or not?”

Bakugo leaned in and put his hand over yours, “I don’t.” He shoved your hand away, “Now let’s get started.” He turned to look at Mercy, “Go take a seat over there by the wall. You’ll have plenty of time to train with her later but right now it’s my turn.”

Mercy just cocked a head at him which lead to Bakugo narrowing his eyes, “Listen y/n already told me you’re fucking smart, so I know you understand me. Go sit by the wall and take a nap or whatever…”

Mercy gave you a quick look to make sure you were okay. You nodded and he trotted off to the side. 

Bakugo started to stretch, “So was he ignoring me to be an asshole or is your whole alpha thing really that deep?”

You started to braid your hair, “Actually I think he was just taken a bit off guard. Like I said most people treat him like a dumb animal. You spoke directly to him and in a normal voice. If anything I’d say you probably earned some brownie points.”

You could see him trying to hide a smile. He may not be as rough as you thought. 

Bakugo then sent an explosion your way with absolutely zero warning. Just kidding. He’s a dick. 

You could hear him cackling, “Gotta stay on your toes if you’re ever going to catch up.” 

When the smoke cleared he was met with your wolf form. Your bright blue eyes glaring at him. “Mercy whatever happens stand down. I need to prove to this crack head that I’m not the one who needs to catch up…”

Mercy nodded, “If only I had a snack to watch the show. Kick his ass.”

You lunged for Bakugo, pinning him under your full weight, baring your teeth and letting a feral growl rumble from your chest. 

“Damn! Someone needs to go on a diet! How much do you fucking weigh?”

You pushed harder into him before he faced him palms towards the floor and set off an explosion that sent the both of you flying. 

You scrambled to regain your footing and whipped your head around. Where the fuck was he? 

“I know you said to stay out of it but he’s sneaking up from-.”

Bakugo tackled you wrapping his arms around your large neck.

 “….Behind you.” 

You had to give it to him. Bakugo was a lot stronger than he looked. He had you in a tight choke hold and no matter how hard you tried you could buck him off. 

“Just submit already!” He was all you could smell. His sweet, sweaty, burnt caramel smell. It was driving you crazy. You needed to get away from him. 

You stood up on your hind legs and threw yourself backwards. Trapping him underneath you once again, but even then he didn’t let go. “Just submit! Shit!”

You thrashed around, bringing your back feet up to kick and scratch at his arms. You could smell the blood you drew, but somehow he still didn’t let go. Who the fuck was this guy the terminator? 

You could feel your vision going blurry. If you didn’t shift soon you’d run out of air. “Come on don’t be proud!”

Right before you blacked out you shifted back. Gasping for air you were now laying on top of Bakugo. His arm now loose around your shoulders. Your back against his chest. You were sucking in breath coughing now trying to get air back into your lungs. 

Bakugo sat you both up slowly but made no attempt to move you away from him. You were leaning on him now. “Oi! Mercy, there’s a water bottle next to my gym bag. Can you grab it and bring it here?” 

To your surprise Mercy did as he asked and brought the water over. Bakugo took the cap off and immediately handed it to you. “Get some water you stubborn woman. Seriously what were you thinking? You almost passed out?”

You chugged some water before handing it back to him. It was then you noticed the deep gashes in his forearms. “You could…. Have… let go.” 

“Tch, I’m not the one to tap out of a fight.” 

You turned to face him and picked up his arm examining the gashes, “Clearly…” You snapped your fingers and pointed to his bloody arms and Mercy reluctantly started to lick them. 

Bakugo hissed, “Oi! What the fuck! Get him off!”

You thumped him on the nose again like you did last night, “Relax dude, look.”

When he looked down he saw that his wounds had started to heal. “It doesn’t work on all injuries. But it’ll help. It only stings for a bit.”

He huffed, “Yeah thanks for the warning. It stings like a bitch.”

You just shrugged, “I figured if you could let me tear into you without letting go then you could handle a little pain.” 

His eyes lit up a little, “Oh I can handle a little pain you brat. The question is can you?”

Before you could respond Mercy was behind him shoving his nose deep in his hair sniffing him. “I still don’t like him. He’s cocky. But I like him more than other people I don’t like.”

You expected Bakugo to yell and push Mercy away but instead he just sat there looking like a grumpy cat, “Is this necessary?”

You stood up and held out your arm for him, “It can be helpful later if knows your scent. He can track down a scent for miles. He usually doesn’t care enough to remember people’s scents but you seem to be slowly growing on him.” 

He pushed Mercy’s face away from his, “Alright dude, I need to get up. If you don’t mind, please refrain from sniffing my ass when I do.”

Mercy snorted a few times which made Bakugo freeze, “Did he just laugh at me?”

You pet Mercy with you right hand and Bakugo with you left, “He sure did! Look at you guys becoming friends! It’s so cute!”

“Tch, don’t pet me like one of your dogs.” He looked at Mercy, “Do you seriously like that? You don’t like a collar but you like being pet all the time?”

Mercy jumped up and down barking with excitement, “Uh yeah! It feels nice. Is he dumb? Who doesn’t like a good pet?” 

Bakugo reluctantly reached his hand out and gave an awkward pat to the top of Mercy’s head, “I’ll take that as a yes.” 

You were still a little light-headed as you walked towards the girl’s locker room. “I’ll leave you two bros to it. I’m going to go shower and change.”

You could hear Bakugo protesting behind you but you just didn’t care. You needed a shower. You didn’t bother washing your hair. There was just too much hair and not enough time. It would be air drying the rest of the day. So your shower was pretty quick. The hang up came when it was time for that damn skirt.

You pulled it on and immediately felt so exposed. You much preferred shorts. At least with shorts you didn’t have to worry about accidentally leaning over too far and flashing everyone. 

“Hurry up in there we’re going to be late for class!” 

You blushed and grabbed your bag on your way out. You had put on a little bit of makeup to hide the fact you were running on fumes. You were exhausted. 

Bakugo turned to face you when he heard you approaching. You watched his reaction and he didn’t seem to see anything wrong with your uniform. Maybe all the girls looked like this. 

The whole time you followed him to class you were tugging on your skirt trying to make sure it wasn’t riding up. Eventually Bakugo caught on and sighed, “What’s wrong with the skirt? Does it not fit?”

You blushed, “I don’t know… does it? I don’t really wear a lot of skirts. You can’t really fight in a skirt…” 

It was Bakugo’s turn to blush, “You want me to look at your ass… on purpose… to let you know if your skirt fits.”

You threw your head in your hands, “Ugh well when you say it like that I sounds crazy!”

He grabbed you by the shoulders and turned you around, “Just don’t fucking tell anybody alright.” 

He went silent for a while which did nothing good for your anxiety. He finally cleared his throat as he reached down and tugged your skirt down just slightly. “I will say it is a little short. I think they gave you one based on your height, but I don’t think they knew how… you know…” 

You turned and saw that his cheeks were almost as red as his eyes, “What? Thick I am? I may be a little on the short side, but I work out all the time and I have the ass to prove it.” You tugged a little more, “Is it bad though? Like will I get in trouble or anything?”

Bakugo could see you visibly uncomfortable, “I mean technically it’s still in dress code, I would just highly recommend not bending over, or even making eye contact with the kid with purple balls on his head.” He gave your shoulder a quick shove, “Now let’s move it before we are late. I’ll see what I can do about getting you a different skirt later.” 

You nodded and gave him a mock salute, “Yes sir! Right away sir!” before giggling and walking towards the classroom marked 1A. 

Bakugo looked down at Mercy who was still standing next to him, “She’s going to be the fucking death of me, I just know it.” 

[meliaaizawa]

THE TYPHOON

Shota and Meiya get trapped in some pretty bad weather.

Word count: 2,054ish

*Shota's POV*

I walked down the street towards home when a light drizzle began. It had been cloudy for days, but it hasn’t rained, which is surprising since it’s rainy season. Because of the season, I had my umbrella with me, so I pulled it out of my bag and opened it in time for the drizzle to become a sprinkle. I stood, just looking out into the rain when I felt the approach of someone right beside me. It was Mei. “Hey, I was an idiot and forgot my umbrella… do you think I could squeeze under yours with you?” she asked as she stood next to me. I shrugged and said, “fine,” before continuing to walk in the direction of home. Mei has been one of my closest friends for all of high school, but she was also the last person I wanted to share an umbrella with. I’ve been trying to distance myself from her for the past year, but she seems to keep popping up from nowhere, making it harder for me to ignore her. The two of us walked in silence, with our elbows hitting each other on occasion as the rain gradually began to pick up. I had a bit of a growth spurt over the past couple months, making me a significant amount taller than Mei now.

I did my best to cover the both of us with the umbrella, but it was pointless, as the full force of the impending storm was now upon us. The wind was blowing the rain sideways, and it was hard to see directly in front of us. I felt Mei grab onto my arm with both of hers as if she were going to blow away, and I remembered her fear of storms. The umbrella blew inside out, so I ditched it and told Mei to make a run for it, grabbing her hand instinctively and pulling her along. We managed to make it to her apartment building and stood inside the entrance, both soaking wet. I looked through the window of the door we had just entered and saw nothing but grey. Mei was looking out as well and grabbed my arm again, and I could feel her hands shaking slightly. “I don’t think you’re going to make it the rest of the way home in that… You can come up to our apartment until it stops…” she offered. “I don’t want to intrude,” I replied. As much as I wanted to spend more time with Mei deep down, I knew it was highly irrational… but when I looked outside again, it was apparent I wouldn’t be making it home. I followed her up the stairs to their apartment, and upon opening the door, her mother was immediately there to greet us.

“Mei! Thank goodness you’re home! I was so worried you were stuck in the storm!” Amiyagi-san said, wrapping her daughter in her arms. “It’s alright, Mom… Shota helped me home,” Mei said, drawing her mom’s attention to me now. “Oh! Aizawa! Thank you so much for helping Mei back… she’s terrified of storms!” she said to me. I shrugged and replied, “I apologize for inconveniencing you. I will leave as soon as the storm lets up.” “Ah, well you may be here longer than you anticipated… according to the news, the ‘storm’ is actually a typhoon and is supposed to go through the night. I suggest you call your parents and let them know you’re staying here,” Amiyagi-san said. *Staying at Mei’s apartment for a whole night? Great…* I sighed to myself. “Oh, where is my hospitality? You’re both soaked! Mei, go get on some dry clothes… and if you have anything that would fit your friend, you should bring some out,” Amiyagi-san said. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Mei quickly turn and escape into her room. “Please make yourself at home however you can,” Amiyagi-san told me before heading to the kitchen. I pulled my phone out of my soaked bag and sent a text to mom. *I’ll be home tomorrow* was all I typed.

After I hit send, Mei resurfaced from her room wearing dry comfy-looking clothes and her hair in a bun, with some folded clothes in her hands. “I had to borrow a pair of shorts from Zashi one day over the summer, so I know those will fit you… and this is one of Obo’s old hoodies he gave me a while ago… hopefully it will fit,” she said, handing me the clothes. “Thanks,” I said simply before heading towards the bathroom to get off my wet clothes. *Why would she need to borrow Yamada’s shorts??* I thought to myself as I slipped them on. They fit just fine, but the hoodie was another story... As I mentioned before, I had gone through quite a growth spurt… plus with all the working out and training I’ve been doing, the hoodie fit on a lot more snuggly than I cared for… it must’ve been from middle school Shirakumo. I came out of the bathroom with the wet bundle of clothes in my hand. “I will hang those up for you!” Amiyagi-san said, holding her hands out to take the clothes. “Thank you,” I said with a polite bow. I turned to see Mei sitting on the couch reading a manga, trying to ignore the storm going on outside. I went over to where I laid my school bag down and opened it to find all my books soaked. “Great,” I mumbled to myself as I shook the water off. “You can borrow some of my manga to read if you’d like,” Mei said, looking up from her book. “you know where my bookshelf is,” she added before looking back down.

Manga sounded like a good form of entertainment to get my mind off of Mei, so I headed into her room to grab a couple of volumes. I hadn’t been in her room since Shirakumo died, so I was surprised to see so many of his things there. I recognized one of his Loud Cloud jackets hanging up on a hook on the wall, some hero posters that were once in his room, several anime figures that I remember him buying, and a number of framed photos on the shelf just above the manga. I looked at the photos as I stood at the bookshelf and felt bittersweet about it. There were several of just Mei and Shirakumo, many of which were before high school, but there were also many of our little friend group.

Though the memories that were pictured were good ones, I couldn’t help but feel sad and a bit aggravated… *How can Mei stand to look at him every day as if nothing happened?? She’s already moved on to the point where she isn’t bothered by it… but she should be* I thought to myself. “Oh, for a second there I thought you forgot where the manga was,” I heard Mei’s voice come from her doorway. “I know, I’ve made quite a few changes to my room,” she said, reading my mind as she walked over to stand next to me and look at the photos. I kept trying to rationalize Mei’s feelings in my mind, but couldn’t, so I decided to just ask her. “Are you not bothered by the fact that your best friend is dead? You and Yamada act like nothing ever happened,” I asked, feeling hurt, guilty, and sad that our friend was gone.

I couldn’t look at her when I spoke, but I noticed she didn’t look at me either. “I knew Obo better than anyone… and he was the closest thing I had to a brother… I couldn’t possibly move on from his death as easily as you say,” she began. “I am bothered by it, just as much as you, if not more… and I miss him terribly. But because of how much I miss him, I am able to ‘carry on as if nothing happened’ as you said… I felt guilty and sad about his death for a while, but the more I thought about him, the more I remembered the good times we had while he was still here. I knew that if he saw me being sad over his death, he’d be upset with me, so I decided to do what he always did… move forward,” she said, picking up a photo of her and Shirakumo as young kids. “And even though I keep going forward, I’ll never forget him and all we’ve been through, which is why I like having so many reminders of him around me. It makes me feel like I can be at least a fraction of the great friend that he was,” she said. In that moment I admired Mei. If anyone deserved to sulk over Shirakumo’s death, it would be his best friend since childhood… yet here she was smiling and being the great friend that she said she wanted to be a fraction of. I wish she could see how she has never left my side in the past year. She has handled this situation a lot better than I ever could.

Before I could come up with any reply, the lights suddenly turned off as I heard a crash of thunder… we had almost forgotten that we were in the middle of a typhoon. As the thunder crashed, I felt Mei grab onto my arm again, as if I could do something to protect her. When she realized what she had done again, she let go of my arm and said, “sorry…” before turning to look for a flashlight in the dark. A light from the door came and lit up the room. “You kiddos alright in here?” Amiyagi-san asked as she came into the room with a lit candle and flashlight. “We’re fine, mom…” Mei said nervously as more thunder crashed. “Ah, well I finished cooking just in time, so let’s go ahead and go eat!” Amiyagi-san said cheerily as if there was no storm going on outside. We all sat at the kitchen table eating silently. I kept thinking about Shirakumo and about Mei… *if she could move on and heal from this, why am I having such a hard time?* I thought.

I noticed she was more quiet than normal. Whether it was because of the storm or because of what I said, I wasn’t sure. “You know what? We should play a board game or something after we finish eating!” Mei’s mom said, probably noticing the somber mood of the table. The storm continued to rage outside as we finished our food and transitioned into playing monopoly. It seemed to take Mei’s mind off of the storm, and she was soon back to normal, giving me a smug smile when she took ownership of all my properties after I had gone bankrupt. By the time it was finished, it was quite late, and the typhoon wasn’t getting any lighter. “Mei will sleep with me tonight, so you can sleep in her room… I already changed the sheets and everything!! Hopefully you’ll get some sleep tonight despite the storm,” Amiyagi-san said to me. I bowed politely and said, “thank you for your hospitality.” The two went back into the master bedroom while I made my way back into Mei’s room and got settled into her bed. It felt a little weird at first laying in her bed, but the scent of her put my mind at ease. Though I was relaxed, I felt like I wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight after all… not because of the typhoon, but because of my mind not shutting up.

[writings-of-a-hufflepuff]

James Tobias Moore: An Introduction

Name: James Tobias Moore

Age: 29

DOB: February 25th 1867

Height: 6ft 4

Body type: Broad, large, strong, he got a soft tummy tho cause he’s weak for sweet baked goods

Hair: Long enough to tie up at the back in a bun, messy, ginger

Appearance: Covered in freckles and scars. So many scars. He’s had a tough life and nearly died more times than is probably reasonable for his age. 

Career/Lifestyle: Lives in a cabin in the woods and is self-sufficient. Hunts, fishes, forages, and grows his own vegetables when the weather is right. Earns money from hunting and fishing, but also does odd jobs around, helps people with things they need. 

Personality: Comes across quite gruff, brash, straight to the point. Not much of a conversationalist and never going to spout poetic at you, but he’s soft with those he cares about and loves. Will show you how much he loves you by providing for you, bringing you blankets, making you dinner, carrying you to bed when you fall asleep in front of the fire. Amazing with children and animals. 

Pets: Brandy, a large bay shire horse, more of a companion than a pet though. She’s been in his life a good while now. 

Series: And Bluebells Gleamed on Mountain Wild

While ‘requests’ are technically closed i’m happy to have them for my OCs. I’d like to start writing for these guys and i’m also happy to have questions and be asked for ‘headcanons’ about them although technically they’re canon facts if they’re my characters right? I don’t know, Just i’m happy to engage with you guys and talk about these soft boys because I want to write reader inserts but want that control of knowing the character and having them be my character. Also rugged mountain man in the 19th century? What a vibe. 

Reader for this is described as female because time periods, not sure if i’ll being doing gender neutral stuff for these guys or not. But if it’s not i’ll always sign post it so you don’t have to worry!

The year is 1896, the weather is turning colder. Autumn melting into winter, the first snow falls will begin soon, he thinks. James Tobias Moore has a lot to do, a lot to prepare before the cold season truly hits and the flurries come in. Living in the woods away from town, he spends most of the year living off the few plants he grows beside his cabin, the herbs, mushrooms, and roots he forages, the animals he hunts and the fish he catches in the nearby lake.

When the snow comes he won’t be able to hunt often and fishing will be more difficult and not worth the effort of sitting in the cold for hours. So he pulls his thick coat on, covers his worn hands with gloves and sets off with his worn satchel. Locking the door behind him, he takes a moment to turn dark brown eyes to the sky. It’s growing greyer every day, a sure sign that a snow storm would hit before long. He needs to make the trip to town now before he misses his chance, he wouldn’t be in dire straits without the supplies, but it would be a trickier winter for certain.

He whistles, loud and clear. Brandy comes plodding from around the corner, the large bay shire horse bobbing her head up and down in greeting. He smiles softly, quietly, gently pats her neck searching in his coat pocket for an oat cake he knows he left there last time he took her out. She’s impatient, large head pushing at his pocket, nibbling at the coat until he finally finds the treat and proffers it to her, she accepts it quickly, nickering quietly at him.

“C’mon then, girl, we have work to do.” His voice is quiet, a southern twang to it that hasn’t left even after moving further north. The shire follows along behind him, following him to the cart he uses on occasion to get goods from town or sell the spoils of a successful hunting trip. He’s careful as he hitches Brandy to the cart, making sure everything sits right, nothing too tight, nothing incorrectly harnessed. She’s his one companion out here and he’s careful to look after her.

The horse nibbles at ginger strands of his hair as he adjusts part of the harness and he huffs at her, giving her an admonishing look that she no doubt doesn’t understand. He gives her one last pat on the nose before getting into the cart and taking the reins, beginning the journey into town.

It’s a long journey, but in the winter months a necessary one. He’ll stock up for the winter, tinned foods, matches, extra blankets, hay. Things he doesn’t already have and can’t source himself. He has enough salted and dried meat, he’s been preserving hunts since the weather started to turn colder and it’s just the last bits he needs. There’s you too. It’s his last chance to see you before the snow hits, he won’t be able to see you till spring. Not that he’d ever admit that he goes to town to see your soft smile. He was just a gruff mountain man after all. He wasn’t good with his words. 

He hadn’t always been a hunter, fisherman and outdoorsman. There was a time he worked in the sunnier parts of the country on a horse ranch, a time he worked shifting goods in a factory and a time he worked as a bounty hunter. The odd jobs are behind him now and he likes the life he’s built for himself, quiet and secluded, he fends for himself and enjoys the noise that comes from nature. It’s a different sort of life than living in a crowded, smoggy city, or a populated town. He’s never been much of a conversationalist, never was very good with words, and the isolation suits him fine. Even if there’s one person he’d happily share his cabin with. 

At 29 years old James is happy with the cabin he’s built, the life he currently has. He helps the odd stranger here and there, usually from their own incompetence, is known in the nearest towns as a man you can rely on and keeps mostly to himself. It suits him just fine. 

“Easy, girl” He soothes Brandy as she tosses her head at a stick on the ground no doubt believing it to be one of her least favourite creatures, a snake. She calms quickly, trusting that her owner would let her know if danger was near.

The cold late autumn sun is dappled through the trees as they ride along the dirt track road. The light hits across his suntanned skin, constellations of freckles stand out next to old scars. He yawns low, bringing a gloved hand to run tiredly through his beard. It’s beginning to get too long for even his liking and while no one will see him once winter hits, the voice in his head that sounds too much like his late mother reminds him that he should look after himself and make himself presentable. Especially if he wants you to take notice. 

The ride is quiet, an hour of birds chirping in the trees and mammals moving through the underbrush. He passes a few riders on the road, nods his head and says a quiet good morning. It’s a good ride, for once he doesn’t find himself reaching for his gun to fend off a particularly wild pack of wolves or a thief intent on stealing his horse. He’s in a pleasant mood when he rides into town. Made even more pleasant by the sight of you taking a quick breath of fresh air outside the small schoolhouse you work at as the small town's teacher. 

He slows Brandy and nods his head at you, “Morning, Miss Y/N.” The bright smile you turn on him is part of the reason you’re one of the few people in town he stops to talk to. He’s not one for chatter, but you warm him up like a blazing fire whenever you turn your gaze on him. You make him want to talk, even if it’s just to please you. 

“Good morning, Mister Moore. Coming to get your winter supplies?” After 2 years of knowing each other, you know his late autumn routine as if it were your own. He is a man of routine and structure, predictable in many ways. 

He nods an affirmative and you smile, he’s never been a chatty one, but the soft brown of his eyes and the pleasant gentleness of his features whenever he interacts with you makes each short conversation a pleasure. You have always been happy to talk for the two of you, even if you secretly wish for him to open up a little more, to crack open that hard outer shell and learn more about him. 

“Well, I shan't keep you...Will you stop into the school on your way out? The children love to hear your stories.” There were two exceptions to the quiet nature that James Moore had, one was with animals especially horses. You had seen him chatter on to Brandy enough to know he was comfortable chatting with animals. Another was with children, whenever he stopped by the schoolhouse he always had a story to tell. Half were true, some exaggerated and the rest no doubt fiction. But the children loved to hear how he’d wrestled a grizzly or caught a salmon with his bare hands. He was good with them too, a gentle giant. His 6ft 4, broad frame could often be found with children hanging off it by the end of the school day, being used as a climbing frame or tree. He was gentle with them, playful, more so than you ever saw him. It was a side you and the children only saw. 

“Well…” He looks to the sky, it’s darkening and he knows he can’t. He wishes he could, but he has to get back before it snows and it seems more and more likely that that will be later today rather than tomorrow. “I can’t, Miss...I’d love too but...the snow looks like it’ll come soon and I have to make sure I get back, ‘m sorry.”

“Of course...have a lovely day…” He’s already half way down the road, nearing the general store by the time you whisper his name, “James…” You watch with longing as he hitches the horse by the store and makes his way inside. 

[jj-lives]

Sing to Me: i can hear you open up to breathe

Song is Shake it out by Florence + The Machine if anyone hasn’t heard it. I imagined tempo and acoustic similar to the Glee rendition of the song. Naya Rivera’s voice haunts me in the first verse. Highly suggest this version, don’t be snobs cuz it’s “Glee” lol.  Enjoy. I may have a part 2 or 3 planned.

ao3 link

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The crowd’s booing echoes long after the man trudges off stage. They’re not being fair. She thinks he wasn’t horrible. Maybe not on par with the other talent before him, but not horrid. Drinks flow steadily from behind the bar. Verbal jeers rising as inhibitions drop. Fate would have been kinder to showcase him first, before the crowd became bold with alcohol filled bellies. 

“Poor guy.” Ever the empathetic one, Ruby is quick to applaud, though she’s the only one.

“Don’t encourage that.” Their other friend speaks up from her right. “He was horrible. I saw no breath control, and he was so -pitchy.”

“Not everyone can be classically trained like you!” Ruby shoots back. “Who could control breaths while crying. I swear there were tears in his eyes as he ducked behind the curtain.” 

Their bickering continues, muffled now by the shouts for the next performer to take the stage. The set is early. They don’t care that they chased the last one off ten minutes early. 

Servers hurry to replace empty glasses; tributes to placate the ravenous horde, but their hunger is for entertainment not drink. Yang wonders if their demands now turn for more blood. The one constant ringing true throughout history - men are never sated. Always they want more, and more. Having a taste of viciousness, would anything curb that appetite now?

She spares what little empathy she can for the next performer, wishing it into the universe in hopes to protect them, even but a bit, from what’s to come. Ruby worries for the wrong person, his embarrassment although tragic is now over. 

“Here we are now, entertain us.” It rings over and over, so much so Yang can’t tell which are the true roughened lyrics and which are the reverberations from the rafters.

A girl rushes from side-stage, skidding to a halt a few paces in. It’s obvious from her deer-in-the-headlights look that she’s been rushed, pushed up there, like a lamb to slaughter. A simple acoustic guitar hangs from her white-knuckled left fist. She wears simple clothing, no fancy dress or designer jeans, no blazers or grunge band shirts hang off her frame. There’s nothing to indicate this girl’s trying to make an impression. Nothing saying she wants to be seen. The opposite in fact. She wears simple black jeans, blue converse and a long sleeved grey shirt. No gaudy jewelry or bold make-up marr her skin to grab the audience’s attention. Her hair is pulled back in a simple bun at the back of her head. Fingers tremble as they slide across her temple, tucking a wayward strand of ebony behind her left ear. Higher up, two points flatten as she takes the half a dozen strides to collapse on the stool awaiting her at center stage.

The horde goes silent, staring slack-jawed.

She’s a faunus.

Yang’s muscles all tighten. Only noticing the way her hands grip the table when a splinter wedges underneath a nail bed. She sucks in a breath, releasing her grip on the wood, claw marks a visible indicator of her instant unease. Faunus don’t showcase here and there’s a good reason for that. She searches the crowd for a manager, a bouncer, a goddamn server would do. Someone has to get her off that stage. A sharp tug at her elbow yanks her back into the booth. She doesn’t even remember standing.

“Where are you going?” Weiss glares at her, jaw clenched. 

“Someone has to do something.” Already murmurs are rising up. Scornful, racist slurs whispering all around her. “They’ll slaughter her.”

“No one can stop this.” Weiss’ voice drops, saddened, resigned.

“A manager.” She stands again, determined to do something.

“Who do you think shoved her up there, Yang.” Ruby’s voice is opposite of her friend’s. All scorn and hatred. She’s never heard that tone from her sister before. “She’s a barback. I saw her earlier when I went to get our drinks. She works here.”

Yang falls heavily back into her seat and stares in horror at the uneasy flick of the girl’s ears. Ears that now have the attention of every racist blowhard in the joint. Her obvious nerves will prove her downfall, they aren’t something a drunk, malicious pack will ignore. She’s become their prey, at no fault of her own, or even under her own decision. She’s been forced into an impossible situation against her will. 

Yang growls aloud.

Weiss’ cautious stare flicks from her to Ruby. “We should go.” She says at last. And Yang knows her reasons. She doesn’t want to see what’s coming, doesn’t want them to see what they all know is about to happen. Ruby releases a breath and Yang can see her nod in her periferal. 

“Yang l-”

“I’m staying.”

“But-”

“You can go if you want.” Yang’s eyes haven’t left the stage. She watches as the girl busies her trembling fingers by tuning the instrument in her hands. The pickguard wears many scars and the body is faded where her forearm comes down to rest. Each chord plucked ends with a nod, meeting her approval. 

“Are all faunus this’low?” A man slurs from somewhere off to Yang’s left. “No wonder they can’na keep any good jobs.” A roar of laughter ripples the air.

“Yang, let’s go.” Ruby pleads.

“I’m not leaving.”

“You can’t do anything.” Weiss reasons.

But they’re wrong. “I can stay.” They hover, concern in their eyes. Yang feels it. “Go, I’ll be alright.”

Doubt hangs in the air but it’s not spoken. Finally Weiss pulls Ruby from the bar by the wrist. They weave between the tables at a brisk pace. Yang watches the door swing closed when they leave. 

Then she starts to sing.

“Regrets collect like old friends

Here to relive your darkest moments

I can see no way, I can see no way

And all of the ghouls come out to play”

She starts without accompaniment of her instrument. Voice: soft and fragile but with a haunting strain, she sings the first verse. Yang’s never heard anything like it. For the first time she wishes for different ears -like hers- if only to hear her better.

Her wrist moves, playing softly as her voice strengthens.

“And every demon wants his pound of flesh

But I like to keep some things to myself

I like to keep my issues strong

It’s always darkest before the dawn”

The once rowdy crowd is silenced, hypnotized by her. Eyes glued to her as hers remain on nimble fingers running along the guitar's neck with practiced ease. She doesn’t spare a glance to the patrons and hasn’t since she first took her seat, but the way she keeps returning to worry her bottom lip between piercing teeth relays her fear. 

“And I’ve been a fool and I’ve been blind

I can never leave the past behind

I can see no way, I can see no way

I’m always dragging that horse around

Our love is pastured, such a mournful sound

Tonight I'm going to bury that horse in the ground"

So enraptured Yang is, she doesn’t notice the whispers rise again. All her senses are focused on the beauty on stage. A brow furrows as she sings through the first chorus. Shoulders stiffen as a note is missed. Delicate eye’s slam shut and her voice quavers for the briefest of moments. 

She plays on.

Mutterings of ‘faunus, animal, savage’ finally reach her. Yang curses them all to the deepest pits of hell. This girl’s not a savage or an animal. She’s an angel.

“And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back

So shake him off, oh whoa

And given half the chance would I take any of it back

It’s a final mess but it’s left me so empty

It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Yang hears laughter off to her left and she’s sure it’s the same table the man hollered from earlier. Dying down to snickers, Yang tears her eyes from the stage with a pain almost physical. There’s a group of men, boys really, goading one of their own. Elbows jab at him teasingly as they whisper into his ears. Yang knows it’s coming, knows it before he sports a determined mask, before he lifts his mug to chug back the rest of the courage it contains. He stands.

“Look boys!” His booming voice carries, “Guess you can teach ‘em beasts a trick o’ two.” 

Yang turns to the stage, hoping -in vain she knows- that he’s remained unheard on stage. A human might have been blessed in ignorance, but not her. Not when she can hear and see so much more than they. Yang watches her flinch, sinking lower on her stool. Her eyes shoot to the side, seeking help they both know won’t come. 

The man continues, emboldened by his mate’s prodding. “They taught’er ta sing. Wonder if she can dance too.” Whistles rise up, taunting. “Give us a jig-” he hiccoughs through his laughter. 

She stops playing, staring at the crowd. Pleading with them. 

Yang turns to grab a server rushing passed. Glares daggers at her until eyes avert with a sad shake of her head. No one is going to help her. They’ll make her dance for their entertainment.  

But she’s proud, or scared, and doesn’t move from her stool. After an eternity she strikes the cords in the same tune. 

Yang prays it’s the end. Even as the same man steps out of the booth, she prays. She urges him to just leave it, to be headed home or even the restroom. His lumbering steps carry him in a wobbled zig-zag to the stage. Her fist throbs as it hits the table. She stands, moving before she processes what her next move will be. He’s intercepted not far from her abandoned table, the alcohol has made him bold, but also slow.

Yang anchors herself in his way. He tries to sidestep her. “I don’t need another drink, honey.” Her hand plants on his chest as he tries again to pass her.

“What you need is to go sit down.” Her voice is low, dangerous, but he misses the warning resting within her words.

“I’m just havin’ fun, she’ll be lucky ta dance with a real man.” He motions with one trunk of an arm to his goal. To her. “This’ll be a treat. After all ‘em savage brutes rutting up on her e’ery night she’ll enjoy-” 

Yang hears a crack and she’s not sure if it’s his nose or one of her knuckles. But she stands where he crumples, unconscious to the beer soaked floor. Adrenalin pumping, Yang spins looking for her next target. Instead she’s met with boisterous laughs. They hoot and holler. And a few close enough pat her shoulder. 

“Taken down by a girl,” they yell. His friends' angry looks are the only thing she contends with as they drag his limp body to the exit. 

Behind her the guitar picks up and the girl begins to sing again, continuing where she left off. Yang stalks to the bar to order another drink, needing to calm her racing heart. Fists clench with a need to punch something or someone else. Whoever served up the faunus buffet is first on her list. A beer is placed before her. She looks up and sees the bartender smiling gratefully at her. “On the house,” he says. His eyes flick to the stage. 

She forces a smile through still gritting teeth and turns, listening again to the girl’s angelic voice. It’s not her guitar she stares at as she sings this time. It’s Yang.

“And I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t

So here’s to drinks in the dark at the end of my road

And I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope

It’s a shot in the dark and right at my throat

‘Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me

Looking for heaven, for the devil in me

Well what the hell I’m going to let it happen to me

Shake it out, shake it out

Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

Shake it out, shake it out

Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back

So shake him off, ooh whoa”

When the song ends she’s called off stage. It’s the first thing Yang’s grateful for all night. She stays to finish her beer. It’s the reason she tells herself. It would be rude not to finish the offered beverage, but when a cold cloth is placed over the knuckles of her right hand and she looks up Yang knows; she’s waited for her.

“Thank you.” Her voice is soft, careful. Unable to make eye contact with her now that only a bar separates them instead of a crowd. Her eyes dart everywhere except in her direction. She avoids her corner of the bar at all costs. Yang’s just happy to watch her. They don’t speak, but Yang’s gaze follows as she completes her duties. Her beer is replaced when empty, her money refused again. The girl looks up from filling the ice bucket and smiles softly at her boss, witnessing the transaction, or lack thereof. All Yang wants is to be the recipient of that smile, just once. She could die happy.

Hours later as she’s wiping down the bar Yang reaches out to touch her wrist. Her hand is snatched to her body with practiced reflexes. It breaks Yang’s heart. She deserves more than this fear humans instilled in her. Their eyes meet and Yang feels herself smile, genuinely, for the first time all night. 

“When are you off?” Careful to keep her voice low. She doesn’t want to scare her. Yang hates that she’s already been responsible for that telltale constriction of her pupils. 

“Why?” Her voice is just as careful as Yang’s, skeptical of her reasons.

“Do you-” Yang lifts her hand to scratch her nose, flustered by the amber that’s studying her now. “If you’d allow, I’d like to walk you home.”

“I don’t need supervision.” She turns to stack the clean glasses another faunus has brought out in a grey tub.

“I know, but I’d like to.” She watches Yang stretch her right hand, watches the wince Yang can’t completely hold back. No one has ever studied her as hard as the girl across the bar is now. “Just in case.”

“I’m off in an hour.”

“I’ll wait.” Yang nods as if sealing the deal. The girl grabs the empty tub and makes to disappear into the back. “My name’s Yang.” She blurts before she’s out of sight. “Can I please have yours.”

Without turning she answers, “Blake.”

[iam-kenough]

Will  you ever notice me? Arthur Morgan x Original Female Character

Summary: During they wandering in deep snowstorm, man from van der Linde gang found odd looking girl and Dutch decides to take her to camp to see if she can be any use, leading life of outlaw with them. Quickly, new girl develops feelings towards Arthur, but he sees her just as a kid...and she won't take that! It's an original character story that starts in the place where Arthur, Dutch and Micah were supposed to first meet with Sadie. Instead she's already with them.

Authors notes: It’s second chapter and you can find the rest of chapter on my blog if you want to read more of my fanfiction.

Word count: 2978 Chapter 2

It was next day's evening when they landed on new camp's place. Everyone started arranging their tents and some of them decided to go to the lake and bath after long trip.

- The water is so damn cold! But it was nice to take a bath after all those hours- Iris was talking to Mary-Beth and her teeth were chattering. She decided to wear woolen dress Mary gave to her, not being even slightly suspicious why Iris would wear a dress so badly. It was nice, wine red and warm one. She decided to tweeze her brows a little bit and she brushed her long, black hair putting them in loose bun. Even though she will undress and wear only chemise in her bed in less than 3 hours.

Iris looked around and sighed. All good places for a tent were taken and she couldn't sleep with girls in their tent 'cause it was too small. She had to prepare her own but there was only one way left to do that.

- Knock, knock - she said awkwardly, knocking on one of polls holding Arthur's tent. He was on his coot, drawing something in his journal. It catched her attention. Didn't know he's romantic soul who would sketch while sulking like this.

- How can I help ya? - he closed the book and looked at her shyly. He analysed her posture in new clothes but very quickly so it wouldn't scare her or make her uncomfortable. Girls usually didn't like his sight on them.

- Will it bother you if I will place my tent right next to yours? All good spots were taken when I took a bath - her cheeks flushed a little bit. She even tried to flirt with him and bat her eyes, while she squeezed fabric of her dress.

- It's rather if I won't bother you, kid.

If I could I would devour you right here, Mr Morgan and you would be the only person not bothering me. I would undress you from your bright blue shirt which matches your eyes so good and I would let you pop my cherry...

- You'right out there, kid? Asked ya if I won't bother you.

- N-no, never. Thank you, Mr Morgan - she jumped into the air and disappeared to set her tent. It was mirroring his and when she was looking above her trunk she could see him, deeply in his thoughts. Honestly, if they would rearrange it a little bit more they would have big, shared tent with two beds next to eachother. But she they wasn't close enough for Iris to ask for it even if she wouldn't mind.

Later that night they had supper prepared by her and Mr Pearson. Almost everyone was eating together but she noticed Arthur hidden in his spot. She went to her tent and sat on the coot mirroring his position.

- I hope it tastes good? - Iris asked after few minutes. He raised her eyes surprised at her.

- You eatin' with my poor companion? I see everyone gathering around the fire.

- They're all nice and stuff but I like to eat in peace. You're not bad to be with, Mr Morgan.

It sounded a little bit frivolous and she actually liked it, surprised with her own temper.

He blushed. Or rather tips of his ears did.

- It's just surprising 'cause yall girls are always eating together. And yes, this stew is amazing - he liked his fingers and brushed his dirty mouth with his sleeve.

Normally she would jerk away on this kind of behaviour but she giggled at sight of big man eating messy like that.

- Girls are okay, especially Tilly and Mary, but Karen has...a little bit to intense character. Oh, and Dutch's girlfriend. That lady hates me.

- She hates everybody, dont'cha worry.

- Today she hit Dutch with a book, saying he's throwing me looks - Iris was giggling and she brushed loose hair behind her ear.

- Looks, ya say? Oh don't worry, you just new, that's why he does that, kid.

- She's rather young too, you know. It's just the make-up she uses, makes her look older.

- Ya say? Nah, you still look like kid to me. With all those freckles and you being thin. Not so sure you should go with us to rob that train, I will have to watch you all the time - his voice was low and he chuckled.

Ouch, that was bad! So he doesn't like freckles...It's nothing I can do about it. But maybe if I'm gonna eat more I'll stop being thin, get some bust maybe and then-

- You sure you want to sit here with me? You seemed bored with my old feller talkin'.

- I-I am not bored at all. Can you show me what are you drawing?

He brushed his chin, sign of him being shy and he passed her the journal. On two pages he drew their whole new camp.

- I must say you can draw, Mr Morgan. You've got talent - she passed the journal back and their hands brushed against each other. She blushed again.

- Talent that's useless for sure - his voice was low and nice and he almost sounded like purring cat. Iris felt knot tying up in her stomach.

- It's not, it's not! - she shaked her head - I find it really pretty. You could draw something for me one day - it was supposed to be flirt and she bit her lower lip but he didn't notice that. He just cheered up.

- What you like, then? I can draw it for you - he patted her arm in friendly manner. They were so close right now, their faces next to each other. She could smell him.

What do I like? Your lips, your intriguing eyes, the fact that your hair was so messy and the fact you smell like whiskey, cigarettes and sweat.

- Flowers - she said plainly, looking at her feet - Any flowers are good. Or animals. I saw you sketching deer one day.

- I've been hit on my head a lot so if I would forget remind me of it, kid - she looked at him once again and licked her lower lip, becoming red on her cheeks. He started looking at her quizzically.

- I think you catched a cold, kid, you seem burning up. Better go to sleep, tomorrow's a day too.

Knot in her stomach popped and she lowered her head. Kid, you say. Im gonna show you, one day I will gain weight, have some reall boobs and nice mature dresses and you will look at me the right way. She got up a little bit too quick, tears forming in corner of her eyes but he was facing her back almost immediately and he didn't see.

- Y-you right, I don't feel my best - she answered with shaking voice and she rubbed her eyes - I'm...gonna get some rest. Goodnight, Mr Morgan.

- Uh-, yea, good night - he read her bad, he was sure she's sick but she seemed rather irritated by the fact he noticed? I will apologize tomorrow.

She put on the curtain between the halves of tent which was giving them privacy now and she sighed. At first she looked in small mirror she owned and analised her own face. You ugly, Iris.

Girl looked at herself quizzically. Big, green eyes with long lashes and nice, pink lips but then freckles happened, covering her nose and cheeks. Her hair were jet black but wavy instead of sleek locks of other girls around. Iris started undressing herself and she looked at her figure with disgust. She had round hips and long legs, but that's it. She looked thin and had small breast and that was not what men would look at. It's not what he would look at.

When she put on her night gown and layed down she looking at tents ceiling and thinking. Oil lamp in Arthur's half stopped giving light, he was going to sleep. She heard him getting comfortable on his bed and after few minutes he was breathing heavily.

She drifted away in her sleep, thinking how it would be to cuddle his big frame.

Another few weeks passed and in this time Iris tried her best to prove she's mature and strong but also femine at the same time. It was difficult to kill a man at 4 and then acting like a subtle lady few hours later. It was nice, warm evening and girls decided to go swimming after long day of work. Iris was so happy and relaxed as she and Mary - Beth was looking at red sky and Tilly with Karen was fooling around in water.

- Can I tell you a secret? You will like it - Iris whispered. Mary seemed excited immediately.

- Tell me, tell me! - she giggled

- I fell in love - Iris whispered to her ear and her friend become red from blushing.

-No way! Who, who is he? Or maybe she? - Blond girl tickled brunette a little bit.

- It's him, yes. But I wouldn't mind you...- they purred at each other and then burst into laugh.

- Who? I bet it's John, all girls are sweet on him and Abigail hates us for that.

-Nope!

- Bill!

-No!

- New O'Driscolls boy!

- Ew!

- Then who, Dutch?

- You must be crazy! I mean...he's not bad if you think about him but this red-head witch he's with? I have no chances - Iris was laughing so badly.

- You have to tell me! But then it has to be someone from outside the camp...

-No! He's there, Mary-Beth, please don't make me say his name out loud.

And then Mary became pale. Then red again. Then she got up.

-No! From all of them you choosed Arthur Morgan?!

- Shhh! We are too close to the camp!

- But why?! He's sweet but we have never seen him with woman, you know. I think he's a little bit weird about it. Dutch once laughed at him taking a bath with a dog when camp had one.

- W-Well...he seems a little awkward and he's like wild animal more than a man but he's charming and he always complemented food I make and he always talks to me in the evening.

- At least he talks to you, he usually doesn't. To no one.

- That's my problem, he talks to me but he seemes to see me as a kid. I tried everything! Few days ago I was sitting with him and we was both reading a book and I looked at him so nicely, I tried my best to look at him with hazy, flirting eyes. And he asked me if I needed glasses because I blink a lot.

- Well...I don't know how to help you - Mary said as they were walking towards camp - usually it's easy, a little bit of exposed skin and being close. You should try it.

- I should...I should go to his tent dressing my nightgown for example?

- Oh, that's an idea! I saw it and it's really cute and...hot.

-Mary- Beth, are you hitting on me? - she joked as they was passing Hosea's tent. Girls heard him talking with Arthur and they would ignore but they heard Iris's name. They started listening immediately, hiding behind the tent to eaves dropping.

- And this new girl, Iris's her name - Hosea said.

- What's with her?

- Just wanted to know what you think about her - he seemed to tease Arthur a little bit.

- It's good kid, she seems to like my company. And honestly, I like hers, she doesn't talk that much comparing to any of you fools - he cleared his throat.

- I thought that you are much closer. Basically sharing a tent and talking every evening...

- What d'ya say, Hosea?

- How long have been since you had a woman, Arthur?

- Not long enough to think about it again- his voice became angry in the nick of time - it's kid we talking about, don't get the wrong idea.

Iris inhaled sharply and bit her lower lip, while her eyes became glossy. But she listened, she couldn't stop.

- Isn't it obvious, Arthur? She looks at you very odd way and she enjoys your company a lot, lot more than others.

- I didn't notice. By the way, she's not stupid. I'm much older and I have past, just no way I would be with her. She doesn't love me to start with. One day she will leave the camp to have a normal life.

Sound of tears dropping on Iris's dress was the only sound she was making. She got up quickly and in a blink of an eye disappeared, running into the woods.

- Iris?! - Mary- Beth tried to follow her but she tripped over one of tent's strings. She sweared ugly.

This is bad, so bad - was all Iris was thinking. Her breathing heavy, her eyes red. She stopped in the middle of nowhere, just when she was sure all around her was dark forest. She didn't even know why she was so agry. Maybe because he said out loud things I thought about myself? Maybe because she was sure that his ears getting red were sign of him considering her as someone hot?

But look at yourself, c'mon. When father lived, he always told you you gonna become a maid, because no man would touch something so fragile, that looks constantly sick. He was right, oh so badly right. And now Iris had to apologise to Mary-Beth for leaving her like that.It was dark night when she got back to the camp, everyone sleeping in their tents. Only one oil lamp was glowing. She decided to act like nothing happen, just not to lose his friendship, ever. So she took a deep breath and peaked her head inside his part of tent.

- Just wanted to say good night, Mr Morgan - was all she said, smiling faintly.

- Kid! You weren't there for supper. Did something happened?

- N-no...just small fight with girls - she lied without hesitation. Then smiled a little bit more so he won't be suspicious. He always was but he was taking her lies as an answer, 'cause she lied when it would expose her feelings.

- Small fight made you disappear without word? Y'got hot head then - he joked. His blue eyes were piercing her.

- Maybe a little - he didn't see nothing good about her anyway, she could become hothead in his eyes even it was inappropriate for woman.

- Wanna talk about it?

- With you? I-I mean we can but it's nothing. Really.

- You seem sad lately, kid. Is someone or something bothering you?

- Ah...no, just stupid, girly things.

- Girly things - he seemed a little bit scared now.

- Interests of heart, to call it. Nothing too exciting, especially for you.

He became silent. So she wasn't considering him as a close friend if she didn't want to tell. He thought different for a second but...she was right, he was no friend.

- Were you ever in love, Mr Morgan? - he heard her voice from behind one of trunks. She probably lied on her bed.

- F'course I was. But if you askin' me 'bout those things ya need to share with me first, ya know? What are those Interests of heart, huh?

She took deep breath. After few seconds she knew how to tell it without being obvious.

- I just fell in love with someone who will never accept me. He's good friend and that's only reason I didn't tell him yet. But I know....I heard what's he talking about me, no need to share my feelings with him, because he considers me strongly as a friend, nothing more. It would make our relationship awkward.

He furrowed his brows. So she was seeing someone. He wondered who.

- That sounds a lil' bit bad, kiddo. Maybe I don't look like but I know how to have a broken heart - he said as his eyes become glossy. She couldn't see them anyway, so he didn't hold back thinking about Mary right now - But if it's your friend he shouldn't judge ya, ya know. Even if he doesn't share feelings with you. You sure, he does not?

- One hundred percent sure - she said that very slowly because those words left bitter on her tongue - and I'm not afraid of being judged, I just know it would destroy our friendship.

- He's no friend then - Arthur replied shortly. He felt like dumbass but if she liked talking to him about all of this he felt appreciated.

Iris took deep breath. You are a friend. The closest one I have now after those weeks that passed. And I will cherish you forever, even if your lack of knowledge will hurt me sometimes.

- He is. About this I'm sure. I really love this person. Thank you, Mr Morgan for listening to me - it sounded like she thanked him for listening but she was actually thanking him for everything.

It seemed like yesterday when they rescued her but it wasn't. Many days passed and she already shared with him many thoughts but also many jobs, even dangerous one. They robbed trains together after all. They was murdering together. And every evening they were lying in their beds and talking. They usually looked at their tent's ceiling but she didn't mind. He seemed so sad and distanced, always worried. She also noticed his extremely low self-esteem, he always was talking that he's not good man and that he's stupid on account being hit on the head to often.

She had fallen asleep to those thoughts.

[eyes-of-simha]

my love is like a dream

Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)

Pairing: Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian/Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji

Word Count: 1500

Summary: Lan Wangji comes home, not even aware that it's his birthday. Wei Ying on the other hand is fully aware of it.

Beta Reader: @spots-of-gold

Read On AO3

The cloudy sky was a good reflection of how Lan Wangji felt. He was exhausted. His day at work had been longer than usual and now he couldn’t seem to get rid of the pounding in his head. Even though it wasn’t that long the quiet ride home in his car was a bliss. He knew that he shouldn’t work that much overtime but if it meant that other people would get to go home earlier to their families, it was worth it.

But there was also someone waiting for him at home.

The thought of Wei Ying made Wangji smile and the pounding in his head seemed to slow down. Wei Ying always had this effect on him. He calmed him down and grounded him. When Wei Ying was present, Wangji instantly felt relaxed and comfortable. Time and time again, he was surprised how well Wei Ying could ease his anxiety and make him feel safe.

Lost in thought about his boyfriend Wangji didn’t even realise he had already arrived home. As he made his way through the cold evening from the car to the door of their apartment building he thought he could maybe drink a cup of tea with Wei Ying before going to sleep. Of course that would only be possible if Wei Ying wasn’t sleeping already.

Wangji shook his head. When has Wei Ying ever gone to bed this early?

That suspicion was confirmed as soon as Wangji reached the door of their apartment. He could still hear noises from the other side of the door. He was excited to see Wei Ying. Although he saw him everyday, there was still a slight flutter in his stomach as he unlocked the door.

But what he saw then was indeed unexpected.

The room was mostly dark. The only light came from the coffee table in the living room. On it were a bunch of lit candles that glowed like stars through the black of the room. In between the candles lay a plate of muffins as well as a couple of packages wrapped in colorful paper. Gifts, Wangji realised.

It was his birthday.

How did he forget that? He usually had his calendar very well memorised. But mostly concerning his appointments and meetings, not really birthdays. Although he was certain he would never forget Wei Ying’s birthday.

Speaking of Wei Ying, he sat on the couch looking up at Wangji and even though the light was dim, Wangji could see the bright smile on his face. It glowed even brighter than the candles.

Once he got through the stage of surprise and shock, Wangji realised what was happening and a warm feeling like he had already drunk his tea began to spread through his body.

Wei Ying bounced off the couch and a took a few steps towards Wangji, still smiling.

“Happy birthday, Lan Zhan!“, he said and and threw his arms around Wangji.

He buried his face in the crook of Wangji’s neck and his warm breath caused Wangji to get goose bumps. Ignoring the feeling of his ears blushing vigorously, Wangji closed his arms around Wei Ying. He was wearing an oversized hoodie and had his hair in a messy bun so it felt like hugging a big stuffed animal.

They broke apart but Wei Ying still had his arms on Wangji’s shoulders.

“Well?“ Wei Ying said in an expectant voice. Wangji wasn’t really sure what to say to that so he remained silent.

“Are you surprised?“ Wei Ying added.

“Yes.“ Wangji tried to keep his tone as neutral as possible. Wei Ying raised a brow.

“Did you forget?“

Wangji didn’t say anything but it seemed to be enough.

“Oh my god, Lan Zhan! You forgot your own birthday! How could you just forget? I always spend weeks looking forward to mine. Now I’m even more glad I planned this. It really is a big surprise now, isn’t it? Oh god, next year I promise you I will plan the biggest birthday party just so you never forget again. Stop smiling! Do you know how long I’ve been looking forward to this-“

Wangji cut Wei Ying off by pressing their lips together. He could not express how much he loved this man in any human language. Wei Ying giggled and deepened the kiss.

After a few minutes of blissfull kissing Wei Ying suddenly pulled back. “We have to stop. You have to unpack your gifts!“ Wangji didn’t want to stop so he leaned in again but was stopped by Wei Ying putting a finger on his lips half way. “Nope. I will not let myself get distracted by you. You have to open your gifts.“ Wangji gently kissed the tip of Wei Ying’s finger and Wei Ying groaned. “To be continued,“ he said with a suggestive look on his face before turning towards the couch and pulling Wangji with him.

They sat down and Wei Ying turned the lights on so they could actually see the gifts.

“Look what I made!“ Wei Ying exclaimed and pushed the plate of muffins in Wangji’s direction.

“You baked?“ Wangji raised an eyebrow.

“I did,“ Wei Ying stated proudly. “Well, Jiejie helped. But it was my idea! And they’re vegan.“

Wangji smiled at Wei Ying’s demeanor. He looked like a proud toddler presenting something they made to their parent. “They look very delicious,“ Wangji said as he picked up one of the gifts to start unwrapping.

The first gift was a book of poetry by one of Wangji’s favorite authors. Wei Ying complained about the poet having written “just way too many“ books and him not knowing which one to get.

He ended up choosing this one because he liked the cover art. It was a watercoloring of a cherry blossom tree on a mountain. Wangji smiled to himself as he had actually been planning to read this one next.

The second gift was a bunny plushie. It was pearl white and stared at Wangji with big eyes. Wangji stared back.

Wei Ying started petting the stuffed bunny. “I know we were talking about getting bunnies because you had them when you were a kid and you really like them and I know that we can’t right now because of our jobs but I thought this little guy could stand in for them until we get real bunnies. Do you like him?“

Wangji answered Wei Ying by kissing him on the cheek. Wei Ying turned pink and quickly handed him the next present.

It was a box with different kinds of teas. Green, black, fruity, herbal, sweet, and some that Wangji had never heard of before. “We can try some tomorrow if you want,“ Wei Ying suggested. “Mmh,“ Wangji nodded.

He was quite proud of turning Wei Ying into more of a tea drinker. He still drank a lot of coffee. More than Wangji thought was good for him but at least he wasn’t at the three-cups-just-to-wake-up-stage anymore.

Wei Ying handed him the last gift. Wangji hesitated but before he could even say something, Wei Ying already protested, “Don’t even say that it’s too much. It’s your birthday. It’s your day and I want to do something nice. And I didn’t have to pay for this one, so…“ and he put the gift in Wangji’s lap. Wangji sighed and unwrapped it.

It was a framed drawing. Wangji immediately recognised that it was Wei Ying’s work.

The drawing itself was of Lan Wangji. He was sitting with his legs stretched out but slighty bent. He leaned back on his arms for support. He was naked except for a thin silk cloth which was elegantly laid over his crotch. His head was thrown back, his eyes were closed and his mouth slightly open as if in deep satisfaction. Strands of black hair fell into his face and a flower was tucked behind his ear. It looked a bit like a lotus.

At the bottom of the drawing were a few finely written chinese characters. They spelled out two lines out of one of Wangji’s favorite poems. They translated to:

‘my love is like a flower my love is like a dream‘

Underneath, Wei Ying’s signature was scribbled.

Wangji looked at the drawing for a couple of seconds. It almost felt like he was holding his breath. Then he touched the glass of the frame and started to gently follow the lines of the drawing with his hands. He hovered over the arms, the legs, the chest and the face of his drawn self. Lastly, he caressed the delicate lines of the words at the bottom.

„My love is like a flower,“ he breathed, barely more than a whisper. „My love is like a dream.“

He looked up and found Wei Ying’s eyes softly looking at him. Wangji moved his hand to meet Wei Ying’s and intertwined their fingers. Wei Ying scooted closer to him until there was barely any space between them anymore.

„Happy birthday,“ Wei Ying whispered.

„Thank you.“

[onebourbon-oneshot-onetear]

Aquatica

Chapter 7- The Brave and the Bold

I do not own D.C Comics, and I only own my OC and my versions of the plots.

"Evie, you're still in Gotham, correct?" Diana asked me through my earpiece. I sat up in my chair and pushed the button to answer her.

"Yeah I'm down here," I said. "I was just about to leave to go back to the Watch Tower. Why?" Currently I was reading the newspaper, looking for any big events where a crime could take place. I was due to go up to the Tower for my monitor duties in about an hour.

"Good, stay down there. Green Lantern is heading to Central City, where there was a report of a stolen truck full of radioactive isotopes. Are you available to help him?" She asked.

"Sure, I can be there in 10 minutes," I said.

"Thanks Evie, it's much appreciated." Diana said.

"Yeah, sure," I said while tying the laces on my boots. There was a click on the other end, signaling she hung up. I threw my coffee mug into the sink and ran out to my fire escape and climbed up to the roof. From there I jumped onto my ice disc and flew towards Central.

Within ten minutes I was in the city's limits. I pressed my ear to activate my communicator. "Hey G.L, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Head towards the bridge. It looks like Flash is chasing the stolen truck now," Green Lantern said.

"I'm on my way." I flew as fast as I could to get to the bridge, and just as I came up on it I saw the truck Flash was chasing drive over the edge. In a blur of red Flash had gotten in the truck and saved the two men from going into the water. I was about to try and stop the truck from hitting the water but G.L beat me to it.

"Lose something?" he asked, levitating the truck using his ring.

"I was handling it," Flash said, seeming a little offended that we had to step in and help him.

Green Lantern and I both looked over at the rest of the bridge and the small fire that was leaving a trail of smoke in the sky.

"So I see." Green Lantern said.

"What are you guys doing here?" Flash asked us.

"G.L is responding to a police call and I'm his back up," I said, floating down to stand next to Flash on the bridge.

Green Lantern followed and set the truck back onto a stable section of the bridge.

"Someone hijacked a load of radioactive isotopes." We opened the back of the van doors and saw containers that had the radioactive isotopes in radiation containers. Yikes, imagine what trouble they can cause if these things had gotten away.

"No wonder these guys were in such a hurry," Flash said picking up the two drivers by their collars. The man in the glasses started to stir, and he opened his eyes and seemed very confused as to where he was.

He blinked a few times and he let out a groan. "Oh…where am I?" He asked, rubbing his eyes, almost as if he had a headache. The other man Flash was holding stirred and woke up as well.

"You hijacked a truck and drove it off a bridge," Flash said setting the men down on their feet. "Any of this ringing a bell?" He asked, getting in the face of the dark haired man in glasses.

"What?" the man asked, sounding utterly confused. He looked around as if he would be able to find the answers written somewhere on the bridge. My gut was telling me that this man really had no idea what we were talking about.

"Before we start accusing them of anything, why don't we figure out who they are first?" I said, stepping forward, trying to relieve some of the tension that was mounting.

"Let's see some I.D," Green Lantern said. Using his ring he took the men's wallets from inside their jacket pockets. "Professor Arthur Chin and Dr. Mark Stevens," he read. "Both work at the River Bluffs Research Center where the isotopes were stolen from."

I raised my eyebrows, now I definitely knew they really didn't know what they were doing. I couldn't see these two respectable men who worked at such a high end research facility all of a sudden become truck hijackers. Just glancing over them I could tell they seemed genuinely scared.

"Man, and I feel guilty when I take paper clips from the watchtower," Flash said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"That's you? I can never find any when I need them," I said.

"Can you focus?" G.L glared at us. "Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this." We decided to call an ambulance to take the doctor and the professor to the hospital so they could be checked out and make sure there are no internal injuries that need to be taken care of. Once the ambulance left and workers started cleaning up the bridge, G.L put us in a green bubble and we made our way over to the research center.

The center sat alone on a cliff, facing the ocean. I thought it was a really nice and peaceful spot, that is, until I walked into the facility itself. The inside of the building was all painted steel grey, with no decorations or anything to make the office look nice. Once we were led to the actual laboratory the building became really unpleasant. The entire place was full of stainless steel counters that reflected off the harsh fluorescent lights, and the walls were lined with different cages filled with monkeys, some ranging from tiny ones that could fit in your palms to a giant gorilla, who sat sitting in his cage listening, as if he could understand us.

The scientist we were meeting was Dr. Sarah Corwin. She worked with both the professor and the doctor, but quite frankly, I didn't trust much of what she had to say. Her entire appearance was cold, she had bright blue eyes that were framed by dark rimmed glasses and dark hair that was pulled back in such a tight bun I though her forehead was going to tear into two. She wore a simple lab coat over a tight black dress.

"I'm sorry. I can't explain their behavior," Dr. Corwin said after we asked her what she knew about the professor and the doctor. "They're both highly respected experts in their fields," She continued saying.

"They certainly don't fit the profile of armed robbers," G.L said as he looked over their files. It sounded like he didn't believe what Dr. Corwin was saying, and quite frankly neither did I.

"To be fair, they've been under enormous pressure to finish their current project," Dr. Corwin said. "It's possible they simply snapped under the strain." I quirked an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest, having a bit of a hard time believing what this girl was saying. "I wish I could help you, but frankly this whole things seems…so preposterous."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Flash walk over the cages to look at the monkeys.

"What exactly is their project on?" I asked. If these two guys, who had perfectly clean records, would resort to armed robbery as a way to deal with their stress then this project better be really important.

"That's classified information," Dr. Corwin said, grabbing the file out of Green Lantern's hands. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her.

Behind Dr. Corwin, flash walked over to one of the bigger cages where a fully grown gorilla was sitting. "Want one?" He asked the gorilla, offering him a banana that God knows where he got it from.

The Doctor turned around and saw Flash offering the gorilla a banana and her cheeks flushed a deep red. She stalked over and snatched the banana out of his hand, and pointed at a sign on the wall that said 'Do not feed the lab animals.'

Corwin seemed to compose herself. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do." And with that, she turned around and walked out of the lab.

"She seems a bit suspicious, or is that just me?" I asked. Flash only shrugged his shoulders and we all turned and walked out the door.

"Are you staying with us Evie?" Green Lantern asked.

"Sure, I have nothing else to do today. Besides, I'm intrigued." I said, stepping outside and squinting my eyes from the sudden sun.

"Yeah, Evie wouldn't leave her favorite people behind, would she?" Flash said, throwing his arm over my shoulders. I rolled my eyes at his antics, and kept walking away from the facility.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

After going to the lab we went back to Central City, looking for more leads in the investigation. That is, we would be investigating, if someone didn't get hungry. The second the three of us walked into the park, he got a whiff from a hot dog cart, and that was the end of that. He ran over to the cart, practically dragging me and G.L with him.

"We're supposed to be conducting an investigation." Green Lantern said, crossing his arms and looking very grouchy.

"Can I help it if I have a hyper accelerated metabolism?" Flash asked. "Besides, it's just a little snack," He said lifting up his entire armful of food.

"He has a point, Green bean," I said, nibbling on my own hot dog. Green Lantern only rolled his eyes and became even grouchier.

I looked up from my hot dog when I heard sirens in the distance and they were coming closer. "Uh-oh," I said, shoving the rest of my food into my mouth.

"Now what?!" Green Lantern said, obviously not liking another distraction. Suddenly, people started running from the direction the police car was going.

More and more people started running by us and we could hear part of what they were saying. "There's a gorilla on the loose!" One blonde man yelled.

"Did he just say gorilla?" I asked, not quite believing what I was hearing.

"I'm on it," Flash said, throwing all of his food at Green Lantern.

"Wait, I'll go…" Green Lantern started saying but Flash had already taken off.

"…with you." He finished. I looked at him, already jumping on an ice board.

"No worries Greenie, I'll help him." I said. I flew as fast as I could to try and catch up with him, but the speedster was too fast. I only was able to catch up to him when he stopped at the park and changed direction. I decided to follow the officers, incase anything serious happened and they needed help. The officers were wearing patrol gear and their swat gear.

It looked like they were chasing after something silver, but it moved too quickly for me to get a better look at it. By the time I flew around all the officers the silver thing was gone and all I could hear was the screeching of tires. I went over to the street and saw a man sitting on the ground.

"Sir, what happened?" I asked him, hovering a few feet above the pavement.

"I don't know, but something pulled me out of my car, it looked like a gorilla," He said, rubbing his head. Okay, he must have hit his head because as far as I know, gorillas can't drive cars.

I decided to follow the direction his car went anyway. After a few seconds of flying and dodging lampposts as fast as I could, I caught up with Flash, who was chasing a car…with a gorilla driving.

"Are you seeing this?" I yelled at him, trying to make my voice carry over the wind whipping in my face. Flash grabbed a rake and sped up, throwing the rake in front of the car, wrecking the tires. The car sped out of control and crashed against a dumpster and landed on its side.

I jumped off my disc and stood next to Flash. The gorilla leaned out of the car and landed on the ground.

"Easy, boy," Flash said, walking over and tried helping the gorilla and making sure I wasn't hurt. "We'll have you back behind monkey bars before you know it."

"Uhh, Flash, are you sure we should be going near him? He could, ya know, rip our faces off." I said, standing a few feet behind him.

Flash only shot me a look before putting his hands on the gorillas arm.

The gorilla rolled around and said, "Get your stinking paws off me you filthy human." That's right. The gorilla said that. Said! As in, speaking plain English. Flash and I both jumped back a few feet.

"Say what?!" Flash exclaimed.

"Did you slip something into my hot dog? Cause if not I may have hit my head on something," I said, staring wide eyed at the silver gorilla.

As we were standing there, there was a soft shooting noise and seconds later, electricity enveloped me and my body felt like it burst into flames. The pain was absolutely unbelievable, it felt like my body was on fire and being electrocuted at the same time. All I could do was scream, I couldn't move or feel anything other than the white hot pain.

I don't know how long the pain lasted, but it felt like forever. I remembered the day I got my powers, and the pain I felt when the chemical machine exploded. Then I saw myself, but it was like looking at myself from outside my body. I could see everything happening to me, but it wasn't me. I was walking along a hallway, but I was slowly melting onto the floor until I was a big puddle.

Suddenly I was in Gotham, flying around the city, when my body couldn't move. I was just stuck to my ice, until it started melting and I fell through. I was falling and falling until I saw a bright light at the bottom. As I fell through the light I landed on the ground and tried picking myself up, but I kept slipping.

I looked down at my hands and realized that I was see through, and cold. I was made of ice. I was finally able to stand up on my feet, and I was trying to think of what I could do next. I heard a noise, getting louder as it approached me. I looked up and saw that it was one of Batman's batarangs, and it was heading straight for my chest.

I tried to move but I couldn't, and the second the batarang hit me, I broke, shattering into a million ice shards.

I opened my eyes to see a bright white light right above me. I groaned and blinked, trying to make my eyes used to the light. Suddenly a face was over mine. "Hey, wake up," the man said. I looked at him, but only for a few moments as my head seemed to pound the longer I kept my eyes opened.

The man looked fairly old, probably around his late 50's. He had a neatly trimmed mustache and haircut that was a beautiful silver. He had piercing eyes that seemed to look right through you.

"C'mon, you're in my spot." He said. I sat up and looked around me, not recognizing where I was. I saw red out of the corner of my eye and saw Flash, he looked like he was slowly coming too.

As I looked around, I noticed more men were in the room with me, all wearing ratty clothes, and not looking like very nice people.

"Where am I?" Flash asked. He walked over to me and helped me up.

"I have no idea," I said, holding my head. There was a loud clanging noise and we looked at the front of the room, where there were metal bars.

"Flash, where the hell are we?"

On the other side of the bars were two men, one in uniform and the other a man wearing black pants, a tie, and a white dress shirt.

"You Justice League hotshots think you can do whatever you want," said the man, putting his hands on his hips and looking angry, quite angry. "Not in my city."

The officer stepped forward and put handcuffs on Flash and I.

"Hey!" I yelled. Flash tried protesting but he was cut off by, who I assumed, was a detective.

"Let's go, red. You too frosty."

Frosty? I thought, how rude.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do." He said. I was walking next to Flash and at this point I was seriously freaked out.

"Flash, what happened? All I remember was chasing the car with the gorilla in it," I whispered.

"I don't know, Evie. It'll all be okay. I'm sure," He said, being quite serious. That freaked me out the most, Flash being serious.

We were both taken to an interrogation room, where another man in a suit stood in the middle of the room, next to a table that had a really old t.v. on it.

"Sit!" The first detective said, pushing us into the two chairs at the table.

"Hey, easy. What did we do?" Flash yelled. The uneasy feeling in my stomach grew when the two men walked over to the t.v. and put in a VCR tape.

"This is a surveillance tape from the police impound," said the first detective. The screen flashed on and showed a surveillance feed of the truck that we stopped earlier that day. The back of the truck was open and the rest of the radioactive isotopes were still in the back. "See that stuff?" The detective said, pointing at the yellow barrels. "The isotopes from the robbery you two and Green Lantern broke up? Watch."

Flash and I sat there, looking at the screen. A few seconds passed and I noticed something different on the screen. Two barrels of the isotopes were gone.

"I don't understand," Flash said. The detective walked over and leaned between Flash and I.

"Too quick for you? Let's try the freeze frame." He said, rewinding the tape and pressing play again, this time in slow motion. The video showed Flash carrying one barrel of the isotopes…and I was flying next to him, carrying another one.

My heart quickened as I looked at the screen. What were we doing? I don't remember going back to the truck, let alone stealing the barrels.

"Recognize anybody?" He asked us. I glanced over to Flash and saw that he had the same look of disbelief on his face.

The detective walked over to the other side of the table and sat down. "Why'd you steal the barrels?"

"We didn't!" I exclaimed. "I mean, those are our bodies but we didn't know what we were doing."

The detective raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you stole the barrels without knowing what you were doing?"

I wanted to face palm myself. "No, you're just twisting what we're saying."

The detective continued to glare at me some more, then he looked over at Flash. "Let's go over this again," He said.

"There's nothing to go over. We're innocent," Flash said, sounding even more frustrated than I was.

"So that's not you on the tape?" The detective asked.

"No. I-I mean, yes," Flash said, not quite sure how to explain what was on the tape. "I mean, I don't remember!"

"Where did you stash the isotopes?" The detective asked us yet again. It was pretty obvious he didn't believe us. I mean, why should he? We have only saved the world countless times, why wouldn't he treat us like criminals?

The blonde detective stepped forward, finally speaking up. "Just tell us your side. I'm sure the DA will understand. After all, you're a hero after all."

"Was a hero," the other detective said. "Forget his statement. We've got the tape."

"He's right. If you want to help yourself out, you got to do it now." The blonde detective said, walking over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup. Okay, now I'm done.

"Would you two quit the good cop, bad cop routine? If you're going to charge us with anything you would have by now. Just because you have the tape doesn't mean anything. I'd rather sit in jail then confess to something I wasn't responsible for, so you can take your tape and shove it." Flash stared at me, shocked by my outburst. Oops.

The detective across from me looked even meaner than he did before. I may have stepped over the line, just a little bit.

"I can't think," Flash said, thankfully breaking the shocked silence that had enveloped the room. "I'm tired, and hungry." He held his hands up to his face, almost like he had a headache.

"Maybe some coffee will help. How do you take it?" He asked, holding a mug of steaming, probably crappy, coffee.

"Cream and thirty seven sugars," Flash said, turning around to look at the blonde detective. I rolled my eyes.

When the detective turned around, obviously thinking he was joking, Flash said "No, really."

Suddenly the door opened and someone said the greatest sentence I had ever heard. "Put it in a paper cup. He'll be taking it to go." Dramatic and poetic? No. But it was still amazing to hear anyway.

Green Lantern walked into the room, holding a file in his hand. He threw the file on the table and the grouchy detective picked it up. "You actually posted bail for these lowlifes?" He incredulously asked.

"Hey!" I said. Excuse me, but I am not a lowlife.

"If they were really guilty do you think you could have held him here with a pair of handcuffs?" Green Lantern asked.

I smirked and took some moisture out of the air and used it to make water and put it over the handcuffs. Then I froze it and pulled my hands apart, the freezing cold easily snapping the metal.

Flash had already gotten his off and was twirling it around his fingers. Green Lantern led the way and we walked out of the department. I was pretty quiet, since I could sense that Lantern wasn't happy.

Once we walked outside, Flash was the first to speak. "Thanks for sticking up for us in there." *SMACK*

"Ow!" Flash said, rubbing the back of his head after Lantern slapped him.

"What were you thinking?" He yelled at him.

"I wasn't thinking anything," Flash yelled back. I just stayed where I was on the stairs and hoped that if I didn't move neither of them would notice me.

"Obviously," Lantern said as he started walking down the street.

I followed a fairly safe distance behind them, close enough where I could hear them but far enough I wouldn't be in range of a head slap.

"Look, if we wanted the third degree, we would have stayed in there."

Oh no, don't drag me into this argument.

"Like we told 'em, we don't remember." Flash continued. I decided now was the time for me to speak up.

"Alright, let's start with the last thing you do remember," Lantern said, continuing his fast paced walk.

"Look G.L, the last thing I actually remember is seeing you in the park and then flying off. Everything after that was just a weird acid trip." I said, remembering the visions I saw before I woke up.

"Yeah…after we caught the gorilla it told me that…" Flash said but he was cut off by Lantern.

"The gorilla talked to you?" Boy, did Lantern look at us like we were crazy.

"Yeah, it did!" I said, coming to Flash's aid. "It called us filthy humans. I mean, for a talking gorilla he was kind of rude."

Flash glanced at me and was trying to fight a smile. "She's right. It talked right after we stopped his car."

We had stopped walking and Lantern was full on glaring at us. "And I'm supposed to believe this?"

"Hey, we all got a Martian's phone number on our speed dial," Flash said.

"Yeah, we should get a benefit of the doubt here," I said. Lantern must have realized we were right, albeit he still looked a little skeptical.

"Let's check it out. Together this time." Lantern powered up his ring and flew behind Flash, who had already whisked away.

"Hey!" I called. I jumped on my ice disc and flew after them.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The three of us went back to the park where the original call came in, where the gorilla was on the loose. When we got there we saw there were still police in the area, apparently the gorilla wasn't caught.

"Looks like he's still at large," Flash said, once he stopped running.

"Or maybe he made like a banana…and split." I said.

Flash chuckled and we followed behind Lantern, who was using his ring to look for any clues about where the gorilla had gone to. Flash went looking in the bushes and I went on the other side of the sidewalk, looking for footprints or fur of any kind.

"Wait. I've got something," Lantern said. We walked over to him and saw that his ring was illuminating a giant footprint, of what I assumed, was made by a gorilla. He raised his ring and his beam of light followed a trail of gorilla prints.

"Of course the prints would lead to a dark tunnel. Why wouldn't they lead to, oh I don't know, somewhere bright and cheerful?" I grumbled. We all walked towards the tunnel and Lantern lit it up with light.

Standing in front of us was a silver gorilla standing on its legs. He was so tall that his head was practically scraping the ceiling. Did I mention that he didn't look happy to see us?

He let out an enormous roar that shook the tunnel and he started beating on his chest. "Oh no," I squeaked. Suddenly Green Lantern used his ring to zap the gorilla back, and sent him tumbling out of the cave. He sat up and instead of fighting back, he just sat on the ground.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked.

"I don't know, was scaring us really necessary?" I muttered. I followed Flash and Lantern as they walked out of the tunnel and closer to the gorilla.

"Okay, so he can talk." Duh, Lantern. That's what we've been trying to tell you. "Who are you?" He asked.

The gorilla stood up and walked over to us. "My name is Solovar," He said. "I'm chief of security for Gorilla City."

"Gorilla City?" Flash asked him, disbelief written all over his face. "You have got to be kidding."

"I assure you this is no laughing matter." Solovar said.

"Go on." Lantern told him.

"Safely hidden from humanity, we apes have lived in peace for thousands of years," Solovar said, looking up at the moon. "Until the black day when a power-mad genius named Grodd tried to conquer our city with advanced mind control technology." Well, that explains the doctor and professor from earlier, along with Flash and I, I thought. "We were able to thwart his evil plot but we couldn't prevent his escape. It wasn't until later that we discovered he had also stolen our city's security plans. Grodd has sworn terrible revenge on all who reside in Gorilla City."

Great, a power hungry gorilla wants to destroy a city full of other super smart gorillas. Why exactly are we being involved in it?

"So that's why you're here?" Flash asked him.

"Yes," Solovar growled. "To stop him from carrying out his threats."

"If it's true he has a mind control device that could explain the isotope thefts, and your memory loss," Lantern said, looking between me and Flash.

"He needs those isotopes to power his devices," explained Solovar.

"Alright, so where is Grodd?" I asked. Solovar stepped away and towards a bush behind him. Well, I thought it was a bush. As soon as he came closer to it, the bush disappeared and a bike took its place. Well, not just any bike, but a super fool futuristic bike.

"My investigation showed that Grodd had been carrying on an e-mail correspondence with a local scientist, Dr. Sarah Corwin." Solovar said, handing Green Lantern some papers out of a gold case.

"I knew there was something weird about that lady." Flash said.

"I hate to say it, but I totally told ya so." I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest. I didn't like her from the start, and now I have actual reason not to like her.

"We better call the others." Lantern said.

"Why?" Flash asked. "You think we can't handle one dumb old gorilla, no offense." He said turning to Solovar. "It'll be a piece of cake." I actually face palmed my head.

"Could you not insult the bad gorilla in front of another gorilla?" I asked him, elbowing him in his ribs. "I would like my arms to remain in their sockets." I turned to Solovar, "No offense."

And, for the second time that day Flash ran off, leaving the rest of us in the dust. I learned my lesson for the day, I stayed behind with Lantern.

"He's very fast." Solovar said.

"Yeah," Lantern said, obviously sounding displeased. "What were you gonna say?"

Solovar picked something up from the gold container in his hands. "These headbands will protect us from Grodd's ray." He held up a thin silver band that had a circuit board on the inside of it.

"Do you happen to have one in black?" I asked. The gorilla only looked at me and I scrunched my nose a bit. "Alright, silver it is." I took the band and out it on my head but under my ponytail. I felt a bit ridiculous.

"We'd better catch the kid before he gets into any more trouble." Lantern said, putting his headband on.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Solovar told us that he believed Grodd was back in Dr. Corwin's lab, so that's where we headed. We got to the building we assumed Flash had already gotten there. Lantern flew up to a window to see if he could see anything. "Great, Flash is out cold and Grodd is in there with Corwin." He called down to us.

I pulled my staff off my hip and extended it. "Hey G.L, you got the wall?" I called up to him. He floated down and nodded. Using his ring he blasted a giant hole in the wall and we all stepped through.

"Don't move, Grodd." Solovar said, holding up a gun. I winced a little bit at that, I really hate guns.

The black gorilla stood up to his full height, and I saw he was wearing a gold helmet on his head. "Solovar, you're a fool to come here." He said.

"You can't control us while we're wearing these." Solovar said, gesturing to the headbands.

I looked over at Flash and saw he wasn't wearing a band. Oh, no. Please don't let Grodd notice, please don't let Grodd notice, I chanted in my head.

"Actually, I wasn't thinking of controlling you," He said. Oh great, he noticed. The red button on Grodd's helmet glowed red, and Flash sat up, wearing an uncharacteristic scowl on his face. "Destroy them."

Flash immediately went over to Solovar and quickly threw a punch, strong enough to knock the gorilla down.

I jumped on an ice disc and rose up to the ceiling, trying to get out of the way and think of a way to stop Flash. Lantern used a force field to prevent Flash from hitting him, but Flash only bounced back and grabbed the gun that Solovar had dropped.

"Flash, snap out of it!" Lantern yelled. Flash must have noticed me because he shot up towards me, hitting my board and shattering the ice. I started to fall, but I was quick enough to grab onto the ceiling beam. I swung myself up and crouched on it, trying to protect myself from the blasts.

Flash was distracted from me and turned his attention to Lantern. I looked over and saw that Grodd and Dr. Corwin were escaping. I made another disc and flew down and chased after them. They got to the door, but I froze it shut.

"Hey monkey breath! Don't move." I yelled. Grodd turned to me and looked furious. "Oh, I wasn't talking to you." I said, and looked over at Corwin, indicating I was talking about her. Grodd looked even more furious. He picked up a piece of concrete that had fallen during the fight and threw it at me. I put up and ice shield but the force was too much and it threw me back. When I sat up, Grodd and the doc had already left.

I walked back over to Lantern and saw him standing over Flash, who was out cold. "You guys okay?" I asked.

"I am, Flash…not so much." He said. I could already see a bruise forming on Flash's face. Ouch.

Solovar and Lantern ran through a door and I stayed behind with Flash, who started groaning and stirring a little bit. A few minutes later I heard a really loud buzzing coming from the other room of the lab. I stood up and walked towards it when I saw a bright yellow light coming.

I ran over and put Flash and I into a strong ice sphere, but the second the light touched it, it melted. The light hit us and it felt like a really weird prickling sensation, almost like my entire body had fallen asleep and I had pins and needles everywhere. As quickly as the light came, it vanished and I collapsed on the floor.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I woke up, with yet again, another small headache. I groaned and rolled over on my back to see G.L and Solovar standing there.

"Good, you're awake." G.L said, lending a hand to help me up. I took it and he hauled me off the ground.

"Geez, what happened?" I asked, rubbing my temples.

"We don't know."

"Well that's comforting," I snapped. Lantern only gave me a look. "Sorry."

Flash was laying a few feet next to me, groaning.

"The mind control, is he still…" Lantern started to ask Solovar.

"No. This should protect him." He said, walking over to Flash putting a band around his head.

Within seconds Flash sat up, now wide awake. "Who? What? Where?" He spluttered, trying to get a grip on his surroundings. We all looked down at him, hoping he would remember what happened. "Oh, man, not again." Flash said, rubbing his head. "What did I miss?" He muttered.

G.L only put out his hand and helped pull Flash off the ground. "That dumb, old gorilla got away." G.L said, referring back to what Flash called Grodd only an hour before.

"Go ahead, rub it in." I looked at Flash, then back at Green Lantern.

"There isn't anything to rub in. It could have happened to any of us. No hard feelings, right G.L?" I said, giving him a pointed look. He only sighed and shook his head.

"This time, we're getting some backup." He said. He reached up to his comm and called the Watchtower. "Green Lantern to Watchtower. Watchtower, come in." He waited a few seconds to see if he got a response. "My comm link's off line."

Flash and I both reached up to check ours, and lo and behold, mine only gave a small static noise, and nothing else could be heard. "Same here." I said.

"And for good reason." Solovar said, walking over to the opening in the wall. We all followed him and saw the city was still there, but there was a haze in the sky. It was moving, and I assumed it was a shield or something.

"Man, what is that?" Flash asked the silver gorilla.

"It's just like the shield that protects my city." Solovar said. "Nothing can get in…"

"Or out." I said, finishing his sentence. Great, now we have no way to contact the team and let them know where we are.

"Unless I can shut down the generator." Green Lantern said. We all raced into the back room where the light came from and saw the generator was still running. It was a giant ball of light that was being held in the air. Lantern held up his hand and used his ring to try and penetrate the light, which would cause the shield to go down.

His green light only hit a shield surrounding the generator and created a bright light, but it didn't do anything more than that.

"Not even a scratch." Flash said.

"Gorilla technology is highly advanced." Solovar said.

"Yeah, no kidding," I said, still in awe over the generator.

"Come, let's find Grodd." Solovar said, leading us out of the room.

"Are we sure we want to go back and find the crazy, super smart, mind controlling gorilla?" I asked. And as usual, I didn't get an answer. "Right, good plan everyone."

"Oh relax Evie, we can handle him again." Flash said.

"Again? We didn't handle him a first time." I said. He thought about it for a second before accepting that I was right. We walked out of the building and into the rest of the city. Except it didn't feel much like a city. It was dead quiet, with not a single person out walking, well, except for the four of us.

"Weird, am I the only one creeped out here?" Flash asked, sensing that the city was too quiet. "Where is everyone?"

"Nope, I don't like it either." I said.

"Perhaps the shield frightened them." Solovar said.

"Could be, but usually when a city looks this empty flesh-eating zombies are involved." Flash said.

"Seriously? You just had to say that? I swear to God, Flash, if I see a zombie I'm whooping your butt." I said, taking out my staff.

"You two watch too many movies." Lantern grumbled.

"Shh! Listen." Solovar said, sticking his arm out so we stopped walking. We could hear voices, lots of voices. And they didn't sound too happy.

"Well, the apocalypse has started…I call Batman on my team." I said. Lantern rolled his eyes and Flash chuckled. We hurried closer to the sound and saw a giant mob gathered in the amphitheater, staring at a screen that had a live feed of Grodd on it.

Grodd raised his arms above his head and the crowd did the same, screaming and cheering for him. "We're too late. They're already under his control." Solovar said.

"Uh, how many of these headbands you got left?" Flash asked him.

"Two." He said, simply.

"That's not gonna be enough." Flash said, eyeing the mob up. We pushed our way through the crowd up towards the front. Grodd silenced the crowd and began to speak.

"People of Central City, the age of hairless simple-minded humanity is over. Today, a new age dawns. Today, Grodd rules." He finished and the crowd erupted around us.

"Guys, we have to figure out a way to snap them out of this." I said, hoping that no one would realize we weren't cheering.

"Humans are slow, ugly, immoral, and have an unpleasant body odor."

"Hey! Who are you calling slow?" Someone yelled from the crowd. It took me a second to realize that that someone was Flash.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him as the people around us became silent and looked at us.

"Flash, don't heckle the supervillain." Lantern scolded.

"We don't have to listen to this."

"Humans are inferior creatures," Grodd continued, thankfully he hadn't heard Flash. "fit only to serve at my whim. But after Gorilla City falls, you will be the paving the stones on which I will build my new empire!"

"Hey, monkey boy, why don't you go climb a skyscraper?" Flash yelled, even louder than before. Great.

Grodd must have finally noticed us. "Intruders! Destroy them!"

We all made a circle and had our backs towards one another. "Couldn't keep your big mouth shut, could you?" Lantern asked him.

The people just kept coming closer and closer, and I didn't know what to do. Yeah, they were trying to destroy us, but they still were civilians. I can't just go and punch them in the face.

"We need some breathing room." G.L flew up and created a trench around us, forcing the people in the mob to slow down in order to get to us. "Make yourselves scarce, I'm going after Grodd." He said and flew up into the sky.

People started climbing the trench, and they were doing it pretty quickly. "We need to do something." I gathered some water from my staff and coated the inside of the trench with it, then froze it, making a solid sheet of ice. One man started slipping down the ice, and they were having trouble getting a good grip.

Suddenly, two girls that Flash knew (I don't even want to know how) started throwing rocks at us. I put up some ice to deflect them off of me and started making ice in the trench thicker, so it would be harder to climb up.

Suddenly an explosion went off above us and we saw guards aiming missiles at G.L. "Would you excuse me?" Flash said, leaving me and Solovar on the mound surrounded by a mob. We kept trying to keep the mob away without using too much force, but it became too much.

"Flash is coming back, you stay here and I'll go with Lantern." I told Solovar. Before he could respond I was already on an ice disc and flying up. I flew next to G.L and he was frantically looking around. "What's wrong?"

"Grodd got away. We need to meet up with the others." Lantern said, sounding disappointed. Lantern used his ring to follow Flash and Solovar's trail and we found them in an alleyway a few blocks away from the mob.

"Grodd got away again." Lantern said, interrupting the conversation Flash and Solovar were having. "But if he used his rocket bike, my ring can follow his trail."

"I've gotta get me one of those." Flash said.

"What would you need a bike for? You're already fast. If anything, the bike would slow you down." I asked, putting my staff away and making step back onto an ice disk.

"Yeah…but I would look cool. Besides, chicks dig guys on bikes." Of course. Flash is thinking about how attractive he would be. What else is new?

Lantern used his ring to follow the trail of Grodd and the rest of us followed behind him. We had travelled a few miles before I recognized where we were at. "Isn't this near the military base?" I asked.

"Yeah, and the trail is heading directly towards it." Lantern said.

"Great, a crazy monkey with a genius level IQ and mind control technology went to a military base where they store military grade weapons. Could this day get any better?" I said.

"Yeah, we could have zombies." Flash added to my little rant.

"Enough you two." Lantern said, landing next to Grodd's motor bike. Well, looks like we are finally here. "He must be inside."

"Okay, so what's the plan-" I started to ask, but a movement out of the corner of my eye stopped me. The guard came out, and pointed gun at us.

"Stop, in the name of Grodd." He yelled before shooting at us.

"I thought the saying was 'Stop in the name of love'." I yelled over the shots. Solovar jumped over to the soldier and knocked him out with one swing. If only I could do that, my days would be ten times easier.

"Hurry, before Grodd finds out we're here." Solovar called back to us, before he broke the barrier. Suddenly a loud alarm started blaring, and I thought it was the intruder alarm going off.

"Something tells me they already know we're here." Flash said. I started to agree, until I actually listened to the alarm carefully. Wait, I know that sound. I could feel the color draining from my face as I realized what the sound was.

"No, that's a launch alert." G.L said, confirming my fear. I don't know how I could forget about that noise, I used to hear them all the time when I was in the military.

Suddenly four missiles were blasted off from their launch pads and shot into the air. "Guys, those are nukes." I said, immediately recognizing the shape and designs of them. I looked at Lantern and a mutual understanding was passed between us.

"Evie and I will go after the missiles. You stop Grodd!" Lantern yelled, already soaring towards the missiles. I jumped on a disk and shot after him.

"G.L, we have to get the control out from the middle of the rocket, it's the only way not to set it off!" I called to him, trying to make my voice heard over the rushing of the wind past my ears. We each caught up to one of the rockets and went on either side of it.

Lantern used his ring to cut a square right where the detonator was, and I used my water to slash through the wires, rendering the missile useless, just before it caught fire in the air and flew down to the ocean. Well, one down, three to go, I thought.

We caught up to the second one and did the same thing, taking out the control box and exploding the rocket before it hit land. We looked back at the rocket just in time to see it explode, but a piece of metal flew off in hit G.L right in the face, rendering him unconscious and sending him straight to the ground.

"Lantern!" I screamed. I glanced up at the other two rockets, but decided I needed to save G.L before he became a green pancake. I surfed through the air as fast as I could, trying to get to him but he was too fast. I gathered my water from my staff and sent it around him, creating a platform of ice for him to fall onto. He woke up right as he hit it.

"Are you okay?" I asked, making sure he didn't break anything in the fall down. "Let's just go." He said, taking off at super speed. I followed him, going faster than I ever had before.

"NO. I'm too late!" Lantern said, seeing the missiles almost make it to the city. I thought for a second, before thinking of something really stupid.

"Make a slingshot and throw me." I said.

"What?" He asked, looking at me like I was crazy.

"Just do it!" I yelled, seeing the missiles get closer to the city. Lantern actually listened to me, and he made a giant slingshot out of his ring energy and put me in it.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Nope." This is the dumbest thing I have ever done, but there is no way we would make it there in time just by flying. I've always wondered how fast a bullet traveled, and I think I just found out. I flew through the air, catching up to the missile in seconds.

As I entered the airspace around the town I saw that J'onn had already taken out the detonator in one missile, and Diana was trying to stop the other half of a missile that Hawkgirl had broken in half. I may not like her, but I knew it was the right thing to help her.

I flew down and grabbed the back of the missile while Diana was trying to push the front. I used all the water I had around me and froze it to the edges of the missile and pulled the ice up. I couldn't tell if it was helping or not, but I had to at least try something.

We were heading to the ground, after crashing through a couple buildings. I was pulling with all my might and I kept putting more ice and water around it, pulling every molecule up and trying to relieve the force.

I felt the missile hit the ground, with Diana holding the front of it. Which was great, except that meant the back flew up…and hit me in the face. The edge came up and cracked me in the forehead. I lost concentration and my ice melted, which meant that all the pull from the back end was lost. The missile came apart and the back end was thrown up, and since I was still holding onto the edge, I was catapulted through the air, and landed on the ground.

As if that wasn't enough the entire piece of missile rolled right over top of me. It was completely dark and my ears were ringing. I tried lifting the metal off me but I was in no way strong enough. That seemed more like a Superman worthy job. I thought I could hear yelling, but my ears felt like they were clogged with cotton, it was all muffled.

There was a loud groan coming from the metal moving and there was a sliver of light. I reached my hand over to the edge of the missile where the light was coming from and felt someone grab my hand. Still disoriented from hitting my head I tried to crawl my way over but my legs were stuck. Suddenly a green light enveloped the missile and the hand that had grabbed me lifted underneath my arm and dragged me out.

I blinked at the sudden bright light and felt someone grab my face. …Evie…you…alright?" I blinked some more and saw that the person holding onto me was Batman. "Evie! Are you alright?" He asked again and I winced at just how loud his voice was.

"Why are you talking so loud?" I asked. He only looked at me, but his hands were still on my face. "Bats?" I whispered.

"You have a concussion." He said, dropping his hands from my face and standing up. I tried standing up only to fall back down again. Bats bent over and picked me up bridal style. Normally I would be throwing a fit, but between my head feeling like it was going to explode and the bruises and cuts that littered my body, I didn't worry about it.

Bats suddenly looked up suddenly and put me down. "I need to go help Diana." He said, before rushing off. I looked towards the direction he headed and saw the other half of the missile lying on the ground with no Diana in sight.

Bats slid down and started digging near the missile and I realized why. Diana was crushed underneath of it. I somehow managed to stand up and walk over next to J'onn. "Diana?" I weakly asked.

J'onn walked over after a minute and laid a hand on Batman's shoulder, signaling that there was nothing he could do. I just stared, tears filling my eyes. Just cause I didn't like her, doesn't mean I wanted her to die. I mean, I should have done something more, I could have tried harder to stop the missile, I could have-

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of metal being lifted. I jerked my head up and saw Diana lifting the missile off of her and throwing it aside, with the detonator in hand. I let out a breath that I was holding and thanked whatever being there was that she was alright.

We all helped each other stand up on the ridge that was made by the missile and looked at the citizens of Gorilla City.

"The fates were kind today. Your city is safe." Diana told all of them. The gorillas al cheered as they learned their city was safe again. I was standing in between J'onn and Batman when I realized that I was starting to get a little dizzy. Not wanting to seem weak, I stood there, trying not to puke on all the happy gorillas.

I saw Diana shift and walk over to Batman and kiss him on the cheek after saying something to him. I would have laughed at his really red face, except I noticed the feeling inside of me. Now, I could blame this on the concussion, but when she kissed him I felt this burning in my stomach. Was I jealous? I mean, why should I be? We're all only friends. Right? Another wave of dizziness came over me and I couldn't take it anymore.

Sorry Bats, but I'm about to make you a little uncomfortable. I took a step sideways and put my head on his shoulder. I felt him immediately tense up at the close contact but I really didn't care. "What are you doing?" He asked, his voice sounding harsher than normal.

"I really don't feel good and the world is spinning, so just let this happen." I said, really quietly. His muscles relaxed a bit and he turned his body a bit so it wasn't so uncomfortable for me to lean on him.

"Evie, come on, we are going to one of the main buildings to talk with the, uh, silver gorilla…?" He trailed off, not quite sure what his name was.

"Oh, Solovar? He's nice." I said. I stood up straight and blinked a few more times.

"Are you good to walk?" Bats asked me.

"Yeah…I'm sure I'll be fine." I said, before taking a step and feeling no ground beneath my feet. Apparently in my concussed state, I didn't see the end of the trench right in front of me. Two hands grabbed my arms and pulled me back before I could fall on my ass, and probably concuss myself some more.

"Here." Bats said. He picked me up bridal style again and I started to protest before he stopped me. "Just let it happen Evie." I looked up at him for a second before shrugging and laying my head on his shoulder again. I had to hand it to the man, he was very comfortable.

We arrived at the building and walked in (or carried in) to see Flash, Solovar and another gorilla standing there waiting for us. "You can put me down now." I said. Bats gave me a look and he seemed a little reluctant to do so. "Seriously, I feel a bit better." He set me down gently and I wobbled a bit, but it was a definite improvement from the last time I tried to stand on my own feet.

"I'm sorry we misjudged you." The gorilla with the scar over his eye said to us. "We can never repay you for all you've done."

"No biggie." Flash said, taking most of the credit for himself. He deserved it though, after the day he had today. "What's gonna happen to Grodd?"

"I'll show you." Solovar said, leading us over to a cage on the side of the wall. "The feedback from his helmet completely wiped out his mind." Grodd was just sitting in the cage, holding a banana in one hand and pushing a tire swing with his other hand, a completely blank look on his face.

"I almost feel sorry for him." Lantern said. Yeah, I did too. I mean, sure he almost killed us but he just seemed so…empty now.

"You have my solemn word that he will receive the best of care." He turned and led us down the stairs and out the building.

I heard Flash and G.L talking in the back but my head was hurting too much to understand it. "Can we just go home now?" I mumbled.

Bats put a hand on my shoulder and led me towards his jet. "I'll take you back to the Watchtower now and get you fixed up."

"Don't you have to go back to Gotham?" I asked, gently sitting in the jet.

"It can wait until tomorrow night. You need to fix your head first."

We took off and I leaned my head against the window.

"Thanks, by the way." I said.

"For what?"

"Helping me after the missile landed."

He was quiet for a few minutes, and I thought he was just going to ignore me. "You really should be more careful. You're lucky you weren't killed." He said, and I was thankful he was keeping his voice quiet.

I continued looking out the window and I noticed we were seeing stars now. "Are we almost there? I'm tired." I hated how I sounded like a little kid, but my head was hurt and I was getting tired.

"Yeah, just hold on." He said, landing the jet. He helped me out of the jet and walked into the Watchtower. We were walking for a few minutes but I wasn't paying attention to where we were going. I just assumed we were going to the med bay.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me.

"A little better, why?" I asked looking at him.

"Just wanted to make sure you won't drown." He said with a smirk on his face.

"Whait…what?" I said and I looked around and realized that we were in the pool room. Then, the Bat pushed me in the pool. I landed with a splash and I sunk to the bottom. I immediately felt better and I watched my cuts and bruises heal. I popped up to the surface to see Bats standing above the pool, with an actual smile on his face. A smile, might I add, that looked very familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Feeling better?" He asked.

"Much. My head still hurts but it isn't as bad, and I'm still tired." I said, climbing out of the pool. I took the water off me and threw it back into the pool.

"You should still sleep here tonight, just in case something happens. Someone will be here to help you."

He was probably right, but it still sucked I couldn't go home. "Yeah, you're right." I said, walking towards the bedrooms. I felt like a zombie. My eyes were half closed and I was stumbling around. I thought it was a little weird that Bats was still following me, but I didn't say anything other than a few mumbled words that he couldn't make out. He followed me into the room and I took off my jacket and my boots, and sat on my bed.

"You sure you're okay?" He asked me again.

"I'm fine Batsy. Be careful, you ask too many questions people will think you actually aren't that scary." I teased. He smirked a bit and leaned up against the door frame. "Thanks again for everything." I said, climbing under the blanket and closing my eyes.

"Just get some sleep Evie." Bats said quietly.

The last thing I remember was closing my eyes and mumbling, "Night Bruce."

[ninadewitt]

Colour me Curious Part 2: Monday

Just another Ben Solo High School AU! 

Warnings: Swearing 

The only thing worse than a regular Monday, was the first Monday back after the winter break. It never mattered how long the holiday was, you just never felt rested; Christmas created the perfect opportunity for drunk family members to strangle you for information and force their, unwanted, opinions down your choked throat. The holiday was made worse by the pre-celebration preparations, where your mother would go on an intense cleaning spree creating a (Y/L/N) house reformation. Everyday household items such as the straighteners were deemed too offensive to be allowed to be within two miles of a guest. Therefore, your mother took it upon herself to move them to a nondescript location, without informing you that she was doing so, just to save you the embarrassment of having to explain to your relatives why you owned such a perverse item in the first place. Over the years you had gotten used to this strange behaviour and just let her be, but this time she had forgotten where she had hidden the appliance. So, when Monday morning came around and your, normally gloriously crisp locks, were stuck in a bun looking like a tumbleweed had made a home atop your head, it made an already shitty day into one that included some equally shitty hair. Thanks Mom!

And so, you sat at the lunch table with your group; Finn, Rey and Poe, shifting your hair around hoping to keep it in order, at least until the end of the day, and at the same time, actively trying to avoid being dragged into one of Poe’s daily school football rants. Although, one of your best friends he was a bit of a hot head regarding the sport, and ever since Kylo joined the team, with around a hundred pounds more muscle and an extra 8 inches in height, challenging him for captaincy, he became even more insufferable than usual. Finn usually listened intently, his doe eyes fawning over his ‘friends’ passion but even now he seemed a bit sick of listening to Poe’s anti-Ren speech, yawning and rolling his eyes.

This continued on until Rey eventually threw her hands up in the air and smacked them dramatically on the table, gritting out “Poe, please stop, my head is going to explode if you mention Ren’s ‘bad attitude and poor tactics’ one more time”

“All I’m saying, is that if a guy disappears for years, he can’t just come in expecting to be Captain, it just doesn’t happen, right (Y/N)?” For some reason he smacked your shoulder confidently while smirking at you, expecting some support.

“Oh please, as if she’s gonna be on your side, (Y/N) is the biggest traitor here, giving the Big Emo, ‘stalker’ eyes, every time he walks past. Haven’t you guys noticed how she’s become a massive book worm recently, hanging around the library, where Kylie spends all his spare time?”

“Well, now that you mention it…” the boys looked at one another and then back at you, with curious looks on their faces.

“Rey! What the fuck, why is this about me now? I have not been giving him ‘stalker’ eyes” and in an attempt to defend yourself, you sacrificed your last chip, chucking it at her with immense force and scrunching your brow in a way that let her know that you were pissed.

And Rey being Rey, was willing to challenge that look. picking the chip up from the table, looking you dead in the eye and crunching it, signalising that she did not give a fuck. “I can’t listen to football talk anymore, and if I have to sacrifice you to make him stop, I will. Sorry (Y/N) nothing personal.”

Sometimes you really hated her.

 Watching the silent chip filled stand-off that was occurring between the two of you, Finn, wanting to avoid being covered in lunch meat before his fifth period Trig, attempted to diffuse the situation

“So, who watched the Witcher over break?”

  “I did, it was great, loved Geralt” You replied, eager to change the subject but unfortunately, it looked as though you weren’t going to get out of this mess yet.

  “Of course you did, your love of Ren has exposed your cave man kink, you love an angsty man” Poe teased, apparently, he decided he didn’t want to be on your team anymore and high-fived Rey, forgetting their past beef as she joined in, deepening her voice and widening her shoulders:

  “Hm fuck, (Y/N), I love you, be Mrs Ren”

  “I’d die for you (Y/N), I’m ignoring you to keep my heart safe”

  “you like it when I grunt, I’ll show you a grunt”

  It was at this point that you regretted munching down all your chips with such haste, and noticing the unfortunate lack of ammo you, instead of attacking the duo, proceeded to flip both of them off and dig your head into the table, with your bun whacking it dramatically in the process. However, this seemed to only give the pair more confidence:

 “I only ever hunt for my own food and I kill my prey simply by raising my left hand threateningly, I can provide for our family (Y/N).”

“By the grace of my goth training I will not be seduced by Coldplay.”

 When the bell went off, you practically skipped to biology, moving away from the trio, still holding up your middle fingers, as Rey and Poe practically crawled to class, wheezing the entire way. It was Monday lunches like those that really made you thankful that none of your friends were interested in bio, with both Rey and Poe focusing on Physics and Finn avoiding sciences as though they were the plague. Its not that you didn’t love them and their bantering, but sometimes when you were in a mood, like today, it was hard not to get a bit salty about the whole situation and just need a break.

A break to work on your Solo experiment. It was on the walk to class when you thought about whether Kylo would acknowledge you today, that you realised that maybe Rey was right about your stalker eyes. But now was no time to back down. You knew that with Kylo it was all about consistency, he was like a jittery animal; jump at him and he will almost definitely run for the bushes and avoid you for life, but if you approach him slowly, letting him gain some familiarity, maybe throwing in some “sksksk-ing” as though he were a cat, he might let you in. So, in that logic you assumed that if you popped up around him now and again, he might realise that you mean no harm. Or he would avoid you further, only time would tell.

Reaching the class room and plonking down in one of those high-up science stools you began to ponder; why did science feel the need to make its seats absurdly tall. They were those types of seats that were, normally, exclusively used at hipster ice cream parlours or smoothie bars. They always made sitting down so uncomfortable, giving you absolutely no back support and your knees would consistently knock off the metal bar of the desk leaving an unflattering gum stain on your jeans, for the rest of the day. Maybe that’s why everyone found science hard to grasp, because they spent the whole period trying to contort their bodies in a way that would make sitting comfortable.  It was during that very intelligent inner monologue that Kylo stomped in and plopped into his seat, on the other side of the class, crunching his knees under the desk. You could practically hear his six-foot frame groan at being pushed into such an awkward seat. That couldn’t be comfortable you thought, before diverting your attention from the dark prince to Mrs Barr, ready to be riveted by some spores, fungi and bacterium. Delicious.

And all was going swell up until the end of the period; your notes were tidy, you only lost interest a couple of times but you seemed to understand what she was getting at, then she started talking about the next assignment. Partner work was the first issue with the task. It wasn’t ideal but you always knew that Jess would be willing to group up, but then, issue number two, Mrs Barr pulled a fast one and said that she would be picking the pairs. Well, fuck. Finally, for issue number three, what did the woman do? She only went and paired you up with Kylo, just before sending the class away, to go figure out in their teams what they were going to do their projects on.

To some people this would have been a godsend, but when you saw his gaze latch on to you and his frown deepen, you couldn’t help but want to crawl into a hole and die. Yes, you wanted to get him to be your friend again and yes, you suppose this would help, but you wanted the reconciliation to be done on your terms. Your slow and steady pace. This caused the process to go from a crawl to a sprint and quite frankly, it was probably going to give you whiplash. And if that didn’t Kylo suddenly being right in front of your face would. Somehow despite his large stature, he could move incredibly quietly if he put his mind to it. It made you wonder if he stomped down the hallways for theatrical purposes, maybe you could ask him when he stopped staring daggers at you. But it didn’t look like he would anytime soon.

 “Oh, Hi, Kylo” you stuttered out to him, tilting your head up as far as it would go, he was much taller up close.

 “We are gonna need a study space, my house is empty, Leia’s working. So, assuming you can walk ten feet without falling we can work there.”

 Wow, maybe Poe was right about him lacking some social skills.

“Yep, that’s fine” you replied in a less friendly tone than before, sure you wanted him to be your friend, but you weren’t going to be a doormat.

 “Fine, four o’clock, don’t be late.” And with that he stomped away in a cloud of rage.

 Well, maybe you made a mistake in wanting to be his friend again. You supposed you would find out after school.

~This cool Kid wanted to be tagged and you can be too @shockwavee (But Idk if I’m doing it right)

[thatshithurted8]

When You Grow Up (III)

Summary: As Y/N’s wonderful day comes to an end, Tom seems to ruin it by asking questions that need to be answered.

Length: 2,259

Series Masterlist 

A/N I’ve decided that this is going to be a series!!

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

When you first read the message Tom sent, you simply turned your phone on silent, rolled over and tried to go back to bed. Tried is the key word. You wanted to answer him in the morning when you are well rested and are thinking clearly, but your body had other plans. 

After a few minutes of tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable again you groan out of frustration and pick up your phone. As you type away you delete, rewrite, delete and rewrite the message over and over again. You finally send a text back, deciding to keep it short. 

Y/N: Marv’s diner tomorrow (technically today) at 1?

Almost instantly Tom responds.

Tom: See you then :)

His quick response makes you wonder what is he still doing up at this hour? Then it dawned on you, he was partying and he was drunk texting you.You grumble as you slam your phone down annoyed, that your ex woke you up from texts he won’t even remember in the morning. 

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

“Where the hell are we going?” You ask your sister, Faye as you waddle down a long hallway in a hotel near your house. Faye woke you up early and decided to take you out on a girls day. The first thing you two did was go out for breakfast at your favourite restaurant. Then the both of you guys got your nails done, you opting for a shade of light blue. And now you were in a hotel you’ve never stayed at following your older sister with confusion evident on your face. 

“You’ll see in a sec.” She says stopping in front of two wooden doors with a smile on her face. 

“Well go in.” Faye says looking at you expectantly once you catch up to her. 

You follow her orders and as you open the door family and friends pop up yelling, “Surprise!”  

You jump slightly in your spot as your right hand flies up to your heart, a shocked smile forming on your face. You were at a loss for words as you look around, Faye threw you a surprise baby shower. 

As the party commences you stand in the same spot, shock still on your face as your mom and dad walk up to you and your sister. “Surprise!” Your mother says, placing a blue flower crown on your head. 

You couldn’t believe this was happening. Ever since you were little you dreamed of what your future baby shower would be like, but now that you’re a single mother you decided that spending money on a baby shower wasn’t worth it, when you could be buying Alexander necessities. Your family knew you were secretly disappointed at the fact you weren’t having one so everyone secretly chipped in to fulfil your dream. 

You and your parents exchange hugs before you start to walk around the medium sized conference room, greeting friends and family. As you walk around music starts to play and you marvel at the decorations around the room. 

When you first walk into the room the first thing you see is a table set up at the wall directly in front of you. On this table are two flower arrangements at each end and the table itself is filled with cake and sweets. Above the table hangs a white stuffed bear holding onto a bunch of blue balloons to make it look like it is floating away. The second table on the other side of the room is filled with refreshments, snacks and games. The third, and last table is stacked with presents on top. There’s blue balloons scattered around the room and a make shift photo booth area could be found hidden in a corner.

To your dismay the party flew by in what seemed to be minutes with all of the fun you had. This is the most carefree you’ve felt in awhile and if you were honest it felt refreshing. You make sure to say goodbye to all of the remaining guests before leaving yourself. 

Faye and your parents told you to go home, that they will see you there in an hour or so after cleaning everything up and putting the gifts in their car. You wanted to stay and help after all, they just threw you a baby shower, it’s the least you could do. However, they persisted for you to get some rest. 

So currently you found yourself turning into the driveway of your childhood home. Once you shut off the car you remain seated for a few minutes as you lean your head against the steering wheel of Faye’s car with a giant smile on your face. 

As you finally get out of your sisters car you clutch your prominent stomach and hum while you walk up the stairs of the porch, looking at your belly. Once your eyes look up they instantly land on a figure sitting on the wooden bench your dad built. 

Your smile instantly disappears and you can feel your happy mood diminish when your brain registers who’s sitting on your porch. 

It was Tom. 

He didn’t look happy as he looked up at you from his spot. “W-what are you doing here?” 

“Well I was at Marv’s diner waiting for you, but you never showed up.” 

Your eyes widen at the statement Tom made. “Tom I thought you were drunk when you texted me.” You say with a sigh. 

“I wasn’t drunk Y/N.” He says while standing up. “What made you think I was?”

You roll your eyes at the man in front of you. “I don’t know, maybe the fact partying and getting drunk is your favourite past time.” 

“I was at a party, but I wasn’t drunk.” 

“How am I supposed to believe that?” You ask with a raised eyebrow and a hand on your hip.

“Because after Chelsea and I saw you yesterday I realised how much I miss you.” 

You could feel your heart wince at this. This can’t be happening, after months of getting used to being on your own he has the audacity to come back and say he misses you? After all of the emotional and mental turmoil he put you through? 

“You should’ve thought about that before telling me to abort Alexander and leaving.” You say with venom laced in your voice. Tom was clearly hurt at what you said, but you didn’t care after all, does he think everything is going to go back to normal just by saying he misses you? He has a girlfriend for fucks sake. 

As Tom stands in the same spot you turn towards the front door and insert the key and open it. While you take a step to walk into the house Tom grabs your hand and says, “Wait!” A little too loudly, making you have deja vu to Target.  

You turn around to look at him, but you look down at your connected hands, trying your best to ignore the butterflies in your stomach. Tom notices you staring and instantly disconnects his hand from yours. 

“Can we please talk?” At first you were going to say no, but then you thought about the precious baby boy growing inside of you. Maybe this chat can benefit him. 

“Fine, but you can’t stay long.” You say walking into the air conditioned house with Tom following behind you. Both of you take off your shoes and the brunette follows you up the stairs towards your bedroom. 

When you guys walk into your room Tom is taken aback at how much it’s changed. While you guys were semi-dating Tom came over to your family home numerous times, especially since it was so close to your apartment on campus. 

Once you reach your room Tom watches as you grab a few articles of clothing from your dresser. “I’ll be right back I’m going to get changed.” You say before exiting your room and walking down the hall to the washroom. As you change Tom takes this time to look around your new and improved room. He notices how you got rid of most of your teenage stuff and replaced it with items that were appropriate for your age.

Instead, of keeping the purple walls from your teenage years your room is now beige. You got rid of your bean bag chairs and replaced it with a grey rocking chair. Tom noticed how you moved your dresser to the other side of the room and on top is a changing pad. Beside the dresser is a small bookshelf filled with books from your childhood and framed pictures of Alexander from ultrasounds. On your bed is a giant pillow that Tom thought was a person at first, but in reality it was your pregnancy pillow. The last thing Tom’s eyes land on is the light brown crib beside your bed. 

As Tom inspects your room he can’t help, but to pick up one of the framed ultrasound pictures and walk over to the crib. He didn’t realise he was doing these actions it came naturally. 

He looked down at the black and white picture in awe before looking into the crib and seeing stuffed animals along one side and a fuzzy blue blanket. He looks up and see’s a baby mobile hanging above the crib. Tom reaches up and touches one of the animals attached to the mobile. 

He could already tell his son was already loved so much. So why didn’t he love Alexander the same way as you did with the same intensity when you told him? 

“What are you doing?” You ask as you stand in the doorway of your room. 

Tom instantly turns around feeling adrenaline course through his veins as he didn’t expect you to catch him. “I-I don’t know.” He chokes out as he takes in your appearance. You took your make up off from earlier, had your hair up in a messy bun and were wearing black leggings with an over sized shirt with the name of your college on it. Despite, the shirt being oversized your stomach still stood out. Tom loved it when you dressed like this and seeing you wear this particular outfit is making the brown eyed boy be reminded to when you two were together. 

You simply shrug your shoulders while putting your dirty clothes in a hamper and walking over to your bed. Tom puts the picture back where he found it as you do this. You climb into your bed, getting under the covers, while leaning against the headboard of your bed. You simply nod over to the rocking chair in the corner and Tom silently understands what you mean. 

After Tom sits down in the grey chair you speak, “So what do you want to talk about?” 

“I think I want to be in Alexander’s life.” He breathes out. 

“You think or you know?” 

“I-I know. I know I want to be in his life.” Tom stutters looking around the room before finally meeting your gaze. 

“Why?” You ask as you fold your arms over your chest. 

“What do you mean why?”

You sigh. “Well there has to be a reason right? Just a few months ago you were adamant you didn’t want him and now all of a sudden you do. What changed?”  

It took Tom a few minutes to gather his thoughts before he spoke, “When you first told me I was scared and I’m sure you were too, but at that moment in time I didn’t even know if I liked kids, let alone wanted them and then I find out you’re pregnant with my child. I was so shocked and scared that I acted immaturely and said some really stupid things Y/N and I’m really sorry for that.” He pauses looking at you in the eyes and you could tell how he truly sorry he was. 

“I’d be lying if I said every day away from you I didn’t think about you because I did. I thought about you and the baby all of the time.” Tom’s statement causes a blush to creep onto your face and you hope that he doesn’t notice it. “I wanted to reach out to you I really did, but I was scared that you’d shut me out. And to be honest after our last talk I thought it would be impossible to fix things.” Tom says looking at your hands caressing your stomach then back up to your eyes. 

“But then Chelsea and I saw you at Target and once my eyes landed on your bump I felt ashamed. Ashamed for what I put you through, ashamed for letting you go through this pregnancy alone, ashamed that I missed watching Alexander grow along with your belly. So please Y/N can we do this parenting thing together? I’ve already missed so much please don’t let me miss anything else.” He asks - begs you. 

You sigh as you gather your thoughts. You know you can’t let your emotions get in the way for what’s best for your son, but a part of you is scared that he’ll leave again. No matter what your answer is it won’t fix everything, you know that for sure, but if it will have a positive impact on Zander then you’re all for it. However, you will never forget what Tom did. 

You chew on your bottom lip knowing what you’re about to say will make or break yours and Alexander’s future. “Yes Tom we can do this parenting thing together.”

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

Tags: @livasaurasrex @bellamyblakemorley @mutuallynotmutual @cheshire-salvatore-mikaelson @badgalll88 @ilyholland @bangtan-serendipity @itsbebeyy @ghostinparker @onelovesr @newleta 

[meganshinsou-tm]

Sugarcoated. (m)

↳ chapter seventeen: the void

❧ genre: pro-hero hitoshi, adoptive siblings, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: mentions of suicide/self harm, depression, anxiety, comfort

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

The loud and obnoxious sound of the alarm on your phone woke you from a deep slumber. You groaned and reached behind your head to the arm of the couch and grabbed the device, picking it up and touching the 'off' button. Your fingers went to clutch the phone but it slipped from your hold and landed straight on your forehead.

"Oh for the love of fucking christ why!"

Groaning and moaning in pain, you rolled over and fell straight off of the couch with a yelp. 

"I'm just going to lay here and die," you thought to yourself as your face stayed buried into the rug. 

The phone started to ring only a few seconds later, startling you from the serene quietness of the house. With a sigh you sat up on your elbows and grabbed the phone, seeing that it was Hitoshi calling, more than likely to make sure you were awake from your nap.

"Ayeeee," you answered with a tired and un-enthused tone.

"I swear you're something else woman, are you awake? Like awake awake?"

"Yeah I'm awake, trust me," you replied rubbing your forehead.

"Okay, just making sure sweetness. The kid has dance this afternoon right?"

You confirmed Hitoshi's question as you rose from the floor with a groan. The two of you continued to converse as you put on your hoodie and coat, shoes and grabbed your car keys. It had been exactly three weeks since you moved in with your now boyfriend to help him with the care of Eri. It was an exhausting and busy three weeks but so wonderful at the same time. You liked the hustle and bustle of bringing Eri to and from school and her different lessons. More than anything you loved being part of Hitoshi and Eri's life, sharing a home with them both and having your own life full of love and happiness, all because of them.

"How about I meet you two after her lesson and we'll go out for dinner since it's Friday?"

You quirked a brow and counted back your days, realizing that Hitoshi was right but also causing another important detail to pop into your brain as you saw a sparkly pink duffel bag by the front door.

"Uh – I think it'll be just me and you actually. Eri is supposed to go to some little slumber party tonight after dance. I just remembered!"

"That's fine then, you know what, since you'll be back at home before me I'll just pick up some take-out on my way home and we'll have a night in together. It's been a while since we've had one of those, kid free. Maybe even have a copious amount of sex squeezed in between some movies and video games?"

You laughed as you were already out the door and getting into your vehicle, knowing good and well that your lover was at his work desk surrounded by his colleagues and not giving a single fuck about if they could overhear him or not.

"Mmm, food, movies, video games and sex. Should I wear my 'holey' pants, I just know how turned on you get when I strut around in them!"

A sharp inhale was heard on the other end of the call, making you laugh again from imagining Hitoshi grinning through his gritted teeth as he thought of your pair of pajama pants with pink pineapples all over them and a good number of frayed holes. You never cared to throw them away because they were the most comfortable pair of pj's you owned.

"Oh now you're talking, maybe even wear a matching trash bag top. Mmm, that'd be so fucking hot!"

More laughter erupted from your mouth, making Hitoshi laugh as well. You sank back into the seat of the vehicle after starting the engine and turning the heater on full blast. "I love you weirdo."

"I love you more sweetheart. Be careful on the road please, and text me when you get there."

"You got it captain!"

After picking up Eri from school, the two of you had a small amount of time to drive-thru and grab a quick snack. Eri sat in her booster seat, eating her fries and drinking her juice happily as you did the same. You turned down the music on the radio and glanced at the little girl in your rear-view mirror.

"So cutie, what do you want to be for Halloween? We're gonna have to start looking for a costume because you got that party coming up, plus we're all going to the festival at UA."

As Eri chewed on a mouthful of salty fries she thought with a finger to her cheek. After a few seconds, her ruby eyes lit up and she looked at you.

"I want to be Alice!"

"Ooh, that sounds easy enough! You'd make a very cute and fitting Alice! You know I think we should make Toshi be the Cheshire Cat!"

"Yeah! He's purple already!" Eri pointed out.

You laughed and agreed with her. You couldn't wait to tell Hitoshi the decision you and his sister made in regards to his Halloween outfit. Eri followed with asking what you would be, which actually stumped you. You weren't much of a fan of the classic tale but you had a general knowledge of it. The Mad Hater or Queen of Hearts just didn't really float your boat. 

"Hmm, who else is there?" 

A light flickered in your head as you thought about making you and Hitoshi match at least in the animal department.

"What about the White Rabbit?"

"Yeah! Then we would all match!"

The rest of the drive you and Eri planned out the pieces of your costumes. Once at dance you walked in with her, hand in hand and helped to get her dressed in her dance outfit and put her long silver locks up into a nice and neat bun. You stowed her stuff away and walked to the dance room, crouching to her level before she went inside.

"Alright, you're going home with Mai and her mommy today for her slumber party. All your things are in your bag, and if you need absolutely anything you let her mom know and she will call me or Toshi."

"Okay Unnie, you and Sou-Sou will come get me tomorrow?"

"Absolutely, whenever you're ready to come home, we'll be on our way!"

Eri smiled and nodded before hugging your neck tightly. You placed a kiss to her head before standing and coaxed her into the dance room. She smiled and waved goodbye to you and ran to join her little group of friends. You waved back and proceeded to give the other girls mother yours and Hitoshi's numbers and made your way back home, more than ready to have a lazy night with your equally exhausted boyfriend.

Hitoshi struggled to open the door of his home, after many failed attempts of calling your cell or kicking at the barrier since his hands were full, he had to manage by himself knowing that you wouldn't be coming to help him. Once inside he heard it was quiet for the most part, which had him worried until he walked more into the kitchen and could hear a vacuum cleaner running down the hall. His heart was put at ease, realizing that's why you didn't answer him.

The hero placed all the bags of food on the counter, he went all out and got everything the both of you enjoy from your favorite take-out place. You had been working so hard the past few weeks caring for Eri, cleaning the house and cooking in your free time, even if it was already spotless. 

Of course Hitoshi wasn't the type to just sit back and let you do these things, either you'd have them all done before he could get home or when he'd offer his help you'd decline it and suggest he spend time with Eri helping with her homework or just playing games with her. Tonight he wanted to make sure you were satisfied in more ways than one, a belly full of good food, a nice bath to relax your tired body, nice soft and comfy clothes and a whole bunch of doing nothing.

After Hitoshi's arms were empty he slid his shoes off and made his way towards the whirring sound of the cleaning appliance. It led him to Eri's bedroom and he poked his head around the corner of her door frame. The sight his eyes fell upon was very welcomed, making him chuckle and smile. 

Your ear buds were snug in your ears, your phone on the toddlers dresser. As you vacuumed you danced along with the music flowing into your canals, singing to it as well. Your hips swayed in a hypnotic way and you had great footwork as you stepped along with the beat. Your entire body was moving - shoulders, waist, head. (H/c) locks swayed along and your free hand was raised up dancing along too.

"Y se emociona, ya no razona. Y me empieza a cantar, me canta así, así. Bidi bidi bom bom. Bidi bidi bom bom."

Hitoshi's eyes lit up as he heard your voice speaking the Spanish language so flawlessly. He knew you liked many different types of music and knew countless songs word by word, the language barrier being no problem. 

This wasn't the first time the male had caught you like this either, there were multiple times he'd walk in on you dancing and singing in the shower, while baking or cleaning. Each time he'd scare the piss out of you by not making his presence known and you'd stop immediately. It wasn't like you couldn't dance or sing, because you could and so well. The sheer embarrassment of it all though is what would make you end the show. 

This time though, he didn't want that to happen. With the help of his own sounds being muted by your ear buds and vacuum, he was able to sneak inside the room and place himself a close distance behind you. His violet eyes watched your foot work and learned it quickly, they'd also gaze to your ass as you'd roll your hips and stick the plump flesh out.

He panted, seeing you in black leggings and a plain long-sleeve shirt. You didn't have to wear fancy or revealing getup's to get his blood pumping and his tongue hanging from his mouth. 

Hitoshi held his hands up and lined them with your hips as he got ready to step in with you. You sang the song so well and perfectly it's like he could hear the beat of it and easily became in-tune with your movements. Hitoshi took a deep breath and waited for just the right moment and took it. 

One arm wrapped around the front of your waist, pulling your gyrating hips into his, the other grabbed hold of your hand that swayed up in the air. Chuckling, his lips brushed against the skin of your neck, making a shocked gasp escape from your mouth. You hadn't fully registered what was happening as Hitoshi danced with you, moving his hips along with yours and pressing his hard chest to your back.

You stopped vacuuming, letting go of the machine and Hitoshi took the chance to twirl you around and face him. He took a bud from your ear and placed it in his so he could hear the music you listened to. It was lively and fun, his hands took hold of yours, fingers intertwining and holding them in the air as he danced along with you quite well.

"Toshi-ah! What the – you never told me you could even remotely dance!"

Hitoshi twirled you, making you giggle and tugged you towards him and kissed your cheek, "You never asked."

"That's my line you turd!"

Smiling, Hitoshi pulled you into his chest and dipped you, timing it perfectly with the end of the song. He was so pleased with himself and placed sweet kisses up your neck to your cheek before standing you straight up again. His arms wrapped around you and hugged you close, you hummed and hugged back burying your face into him. Hitoshi pulled away and removed the bud from yours and his ear, grabbed your phone and shut off your music.

"Come on sweetness, let's get that thing put back up and get our night started!"

After eating all the food you could until you were miserable, Hitoshi ran a bath and you both bathed and relaxed until you were prunes. Now you laid on the couch together watching a movie. Hitoshi played with your (h/c) hair as you laid on his chest until you lost interest in the film and moved to sit up and straddle his lap. He smiled and touched your warm cheek, drinking in the site of you wearing one of his shirts and looking adorable.

"I didn't ask yet, but how was your last full week at the agency?"

Hitoshi explained his week and you listened closely, your hands playing with his.

The time had come finally for him to start his teaching job at UA that following Monday, you were excited and nervous for him, he was more excited than anything. All week after he'd get off work, he'd stop by the school to set up his classroom and get everything in place and ready. 

You and Eri stopped by one day to bring him dinner and you weren't exactly surprised to see just how much he put into the room. It looked chaotic with all the sketches, posters and prints that hung from the walls but it was somehow like an organized chaotic. Everything flowed together well, it was cozy and very inviting. As he stated before, there was a big print of your picture from Disneyland on one of the walls, along with an equally sized picture of Eri. Hitoshi said he was going to make the classroom his own and make it his own he did.

"You excited for your first day of teaching?" You asked, moving your hands up Hitoshi's chest to wrap around his neck and play with his hair.

"Definitely, it'll be a nice change and new journey. I can't wait to meet my students and see how creative they are."

You smiled at your lover's excitement and leaned forward to kiss his lips softly. Hitoshi hummed as his hands rested on and squeezed your hips. He grinned after you broke away, asking what the kiss was for.

"Just because. I'm really proud of you Hitoshi, you set your sights on something and you go after it."

"Well thank you sweetheart. I'm so lucky to have you," he replied and pulled your lips to his again, giving you a kiss to express his gratitude.

You smiled and leaned down, hugging his chest and pressing your cheek to it. Hitoshi wrapped his own arms around you and kissed the top of your head.

"It's definitely the other way around Toshi."

Shinsou smirked as he rubbed your back and you went back to watching the movie on the tv but suddenly it's like your words brought a past memory up, from that night in the bathtub a few weeks ago. 

"I don't know how much longer I would've lasted in this world." 

Somehow he had forgotten to ask you about that night, about your life and emotional health before moving in with him. Looking down at you, Hitoshi figured now was a good enough time to ask you, you were awake and aware and already in a somewhat mushy and open mood. You never had been the type to really hide anything from him, even before your relationship became official. Hitoshi picked up on clues to your moods and he'd ask you about them, sometimes you'd be hesitant or annoyed with his line of questioning but you always answered him. In the end you'd feel better having him to vent to.

"Hey baby," Hitoshi started off as his hand on your back squeezed, "I've been wanting to talk to you about something."

You remained in your place, your hand holding onto Hitoshi's bicep and your thumb brushing his skin under the sleeve of his shirt. "What is it Toshi?"

"Do you remember a few weeks ago, when you and Eri made that cake, me and you took a bath that night and you were dozing off? You said something to me, something about how if I hadn't come along with my job offer then you didn't know 'how much longer you would've lasted in this world'. Does any of that ring a bell?"

Your brows knitted, trying to recall that nights events. The memories were blurry, you were in a dazed state after all. You remembered Hitoshi bathing you, holding you close and letting you melt into him. When you're extremely tired and trying to fight it off, you tend to blabber a lot about your hearts innermost feelings. More than likely that was the case that night, no denying it.

"I don't remember it exactly, but it sounds like something I would've said."

"What exactly did you mean by that? You weren't planning on hurting yourself ... were you?"

There was a pause before you replied, letting out a long and ragged breath as you thought how to form the words that wanted to fall from your lips. 

You had thoughts before, of how much easier life would be if you didn't have a life at all. You wouldn't have to worry about meeting due dates for bills, wouldn't have to be bothered with your families problems and above all, wouldn't have to see that monster you worked for ever again. Each day going back and forth to that café seemed to just break a piece of your soul off more and more. The looks, whistles and words that you'd hear. 

Your only saving grace being Hitoshi when he'd stop by and grace you with his company. For those few moments or hours, you'd feel that everything was good in the world, that maybe you could make it one more day if it meant seeing that tuft of purple hair and those glistening amethyst eyes one more time.

"Uh – not exactly, I guess? I don't know. I think back then I honestly had just given up on caring about my life Hitoshi. I was in the mindset that if something 'bad' did happen to me then I'd be okay with it. Truthfully, I'm too much of a little bitch to ever off myself, I wanted it to be done for me. I'd go as far as seeking out dangerous situations sometimes."

Hitoshi clenched his jaw, letting your words hit him hard, his hold on you grew tighter. You kissed the inside of his elbow that your face rested in and continued.

"I – I'd purposefully walk through the rough and bad areas of the city on my way home some nights. Hoping someone would think I was good enough to mess with and even hurt. Other times I wouldn't pay attention to my surroundings as I walked crosswalks during heavy traffic. I feel disgusted with myself that I even thought of giving into that man I worked for, then trying to back out of it, hoping he'd get mad enough to lose his control and just ... end me. I almost got what I wished for huh? Except that night, my entire view had changed, I didn't want that situation anymore but still it ended up happening, like some sick joke."

Hitoshi could feel his chest tightening, his heart aching and squeezing. The thought of seeing a story on the news about a girl with your description found behind a dumpster in the slums of Japan had his stomach in knots and made him nauseous. The fact that you sought that out, made it even worse. 

If you truly had gotten everything you wished for back then, Hitoshi would've been guilt ridden for sure. It was his fucking job to read people, how did he not see that dead and hopeless look in your eyes? 

Was it because when he was around, even if you acted annoyed, that you were at your happiest? Just the act of him stopping by and requesting you, was that what kept you going? What about your own family, there's no way they didn't play a part in your life and no way they wouldn't have helped you, had you asked for it.

"(Y/N), what about your family?"

Your shoulders shrugged and you hummed. 

"Well, I distanced myself from them. My parents especially, I just wanted to escape all the – the idiocy. My brother and his wife, their kids, they were another reason I kept going. My mother and father though, nothing happy every comes out of those relationships. Just being let down time and time again, picked over for something better."

You had no family really, except for your sibling and his small family. Those two kids of theirs were your entire world. Then Hitoshi and Eri came along and your world grew. You and brother would go a few weeks without talking to each other, it was normal. They would get busy with the kids and work, and you would be busy with whatever was going on in your life. Always though, you'd check up on each other after too long and pick up from where you left off.

Hitoshi was silent as you explained your sad and chaotic life to him, taking it all in. He never knew any of this went on, had he known, he would've done more, made his move earlier! You finally pulled yourself from his chest, going back to straddling his hips and looking at him. The man looked to be on the verge of tears. 

You pouted and cupped Hitoshi's face, leaning forward and resting your forehead to his.

"I'm sorry Hitoshi. I'm sorry I didn't value you my life like I should've. Sorry for not being strong enough and being a coward, for being stupid and endangering myself. I just, I had enough of it all, I was tired," a shaky breath left your lips, " - so tired. I wasn't going anywhere fast enough for my liking, I had these dreams that seemed so unrealistic and I got discouraged. You saved me though and each day I'm so thankful you walked into that café almost every goddamn day and showed me that smile and kindness. It got to where I lived for it, now wholeheartedly I live all because of you."

Tears flowed from your eyes and from Hitoshi's as well. When he felt a tear drop onto his shirt the hero captured you in his arms holding you as close as humanly possible. Your cries rippled through him as he held your head to him and pet your hair. You apologized over and over, for the smallest and most unnecessary reasons. Hitoshi quietly cried with you, comforting and shushing your un-needed words.

"You have nothing to be sorry for towards me (Y/N). I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner or did something about it. The thought of you suffering alone, not being this person I've been so blessed to see these past few weeks, it fucking kills me. As long as there's a breath in me, I promise to do everything in my power to make sure you're happy. I'll support and back all your dreams like you do for me, I'll always be here for you to vent to and let your frustrations out on, I'll be absolutely any and everything you could ever need. You have to promise me though that if you ever feel yourself slipping, even just the smallest bit, back into that void, you'll let me know."

You nodded, sniffling and wiping your nose and eyes with the backs of your hands and arms. "I promise Hitoshi. Thank you so much, for everything. I love you so much."

Hitoshi closed his eyes and squeezed you tight, placing a kiss to your temple and wiped your eyes. "I love you so much more."

The next few minutes were spent with Hitoshi holding you close, both of you calming down and getting back to normal. Your boyfriend instructed you wrapped around and hold him tight as he got up from the couch, carrying you to the kitchen and sitting you on the counter. He grabbed a clean rag and wet it with warm water, wrung it out then placed himself between your knees. As you sniffled, Hitoshi used the rag to wipe and clean your eyes and face. The warmth of the cloth made you relax and you gave the man an appreciative smile.

"Sorry I kind of ruined the whole vibe tonight Toshi."

"Baby, you didn't ruin anything. As painful as it was, I'm glad we had this talk. How about we play a friendly game of Mario Kart to get the mood back up?"

You chuckled as Hitoshi took your face in his hands, pulling you to look up at him towering over you and placing a kiss to your lips. Your hands hung from his as you kissed back eagerly. His warm and soft lips were helping to bring the warmth back to yours. The taste of spicy curry was still on his tongue that was welcomed into your mouth and lapped at your own muscle, you enjoyed it honestly. Tongues retreated back to their own caves and your lips enveloped each other one last and long time before breaking away.

"You're on Hitoshi, get ready to get your ass kicked!"

A cocky grinned grew on Hitoshi's face and he quickly tossed you over his shoulder, placing a firm smack to your ass as he carried you back into the living room. It stung more than usual being you weren't wearing pants to protect your skin. You playfully bit at the back of his shoulder, making him only bite your thigh in retaliation.

"Ow you fucker! I'd be nice if I were you, I do get to put together your Halloween costume in fact, and I could be evil about it!"

"What costume? I haven't told you what I wanted to be yet."

You smiled as Hitoshi flung you onto the massive couch from over his shoulder. His arms trapped your head and he looked down on you and leaned on the couch.

"You don't get a say in the matter, Eri chose for you and it's great! You see, you'll be going as the Cheshire Cat, ears and all! For once I'll be the one drooling over you in a kitty cat getup!"

Hitoshi narrowed his eyes at you and grit his teeth. Your finger reached up and glided under his chin then to bop the tip of his nose as you giggled.

"Cat got your tongue Toshi?"

"Bite me," he snapped back.

Propping up on your elbow, your hand cupped his neck and tugged him down roughly and closer to you, the tip of your tongue licked up the side of his throat and stopped at his jaw where you nipped lightly. "Don't mind if I do!"