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milo-my-beloved · 3 years ago

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chapter four of stupid things!

Read on AO3 // Playlist // Buy me a coffee?

Sorry this chapter is so late! I've had a lot of difficulties... but I hope you enjoy it!

On Monday, Inej wakes up to over a hundred messages. Groaning, she turns over and considers suffocating herself in her pillow, before forcing herself to unlock her phone.

You have been added to a new group chat.

99+ new messages.

Jesper: Sup bitches

Wylan: Hello! :D

Jesper: I thought we could use this to organise date nights

Kaz: It’s my turn to choose.

Jesper: ik dumbass

Kaz: Meet outside the library at 6pm on Friday. I’ll organise transport.

Jesper: doesn’t sound sketchy at all

Wylan: Is there anything we need to bring???

Kaz: Wear fancy clothes.

Jesper: are we gonna rob a bank?

Kaz: If we were, I wouldn’t bring you.

Jesper: rude

Inej scrolls past the rest of the messages, ignoring the endless bickering. Her finger hovers over the mute chat button as she imagines the headache that her dear friends are about to cause her, but locks her phone instead, sitting up. Surely they can’t be that bad? Besides, she would hate to miss out on anything.

{o0o}

By Wednesday, Inej is massively regretting that decision. Even she didn’t think Jesper is capable of starting that many arguments, and his incessant flirting with Wylan is going to be the death of her.

On Thursday, she runs into Kaz on her way home from class and they grab a coffee together. They find a bench tucked out of the way of any foot traffic and chat for a while, but Kaz refuses to tell her what his plans are for this weekend.

“God,” Inej says, leaning back in the seat. “Is Jesper addicted to his phone? I swear, I’ve never seen anyone send that many messages.”

Kaz raises an eyebrow. “Are you surprised?”

She shrugs, tipping the last of her latte in her mouth. “I shouldn’t be, I suppose.”

“What have they even been talking about?” he asks, taking their empty cups and tossing them in the bin beside him. “I muted the chat about an hour after Jes made it.”

Inej blinks a few times, staring out into the fields coated in mist as she reevaluates her life choices. Why did the universe decide that these would be her friends?

She groans, dramatically flopping sideways onto Kaz. “I should have done that days ago.”

{o0o}

When Friday finally rolls around, their evening plans are still a mystery to everyone but Kaz. No matter what schemes they had come up with, Kaz had refused to tell. Wylan had asked him politely, claiming the not-knowing is bad for his anxiety (which is probably true, actually) and Inej had even offered him a bribe, to no avail.

(Jesper had just pestered him over text. Inej doesn’t have the heart to tell him that Kaz has blocked his number.)

The three of them look ridiculous, standing outside the library in their fanciest clothes. Wylan is wearing a plain black suit, his bow tie slightly askew, while Jesper is wearing a colourful suit jacket and black jeans. A few students give them weird looks, but most of them are too busy with their own lives to give more than a few seconds thought towards them.

When a limo pulls up instead of Kaz’s shady minivan, Jesper’s mouth falls open. Kaz pushes the door open, sticking his head out. “Are you coming, or what? And Jesper, shut your mouth.”

Jesper and Wylan clamber in first, Inej gracefully sliding in after them. She self-consciously runs a hand down her dress, the purple silk soft against her palms.

“You look beautiful,” Kaz whispers while Jesper and Wylan are distracted by a bottle of champagne waiting for them, and she blushes.

“So do you,” she replies, smiling at his entirely black suit. Apart from their day at the beach, she’s never seen him out of a suit, but she can see why he wears them.

“Hey, Kaz,” Jesper interrupts, pouring the champagne into four glasses. “Will you tell us where we’re going yet?”

“Nope,” he replies with a smug smile.

“How did you afford all this?” Wylan asks, looking around at the luxurious. “Did you actually rob that bank? Without us?”

Kaz rolls his eyes, and Inej stifles a laugh.

“You’re not far off, Mr Van Sunshine,” Jesper laughs, sticking his tongue out at Kaz. “He’s always been secretly rich, but no one knows where it comes from.”

“His terrifying glare?” Wylan suggests.

“His suits?” Inej offers.

“I think it’s his sparkling personality,” Jesper answers with a wink.

“Oh, shut up,” Kaz mutters, just as the car comes to a stop.

No one moves for a moment, until Kaz rolls his eyes and climbs out first, muttering something to himself. He extends a hand to help Inej out, but he leaves Jesper and Wylan to fend for themselves as he leans over and gives the driver some instructions.

“Just in here,” he says, ushering them all towards a shady looking door. Jesper and Inej share an incredulous look, and Wylan looks like he is itching to run in the opposite direction of whatever this is.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Kaz grumbles, opening the door to reveal a dark corridor. “It’s the back entrance. Someone owed me a favour.”

There’s another blank silence where no one moves.

“I swear no one is going to get murdered and no crimes are going to be committed. Good enough for you?”

Inej can’t help but smirk at how nervous Jesper looks. Usually, he’s up for anything, but he keeps shifting his weight and staring into the long, dark corridor. Wylan, beside him, looks close to passing out.

“Oh, come on guys,” Inej says, stepping (with only a split second of hesitation) towards the doorway, her voice filled with false confidence. “I’m not having you ruin my hot date.”

Kaz doesn’t smile, but his eyes sparkle with that mischief she has come to love. In return, she gives him a glare that roughly translates as ‘I better not get stabbed, I like this dress without the blood stains, thank you.”

Begrudgingly, they all follow her inside, the metal door clanging shut behind them and shrouding them in darkness.

Now her eyes are adjusting, Inej can see a small gleam of light coming from around the corner, so she follows that, praying that she won’t trip over something or walk into a wall.

“This has to be the third sketchiest thing you’ve ever made me do,” Jesper mutters at the back of the group, and Inej hears Kaz snort in response.

“What were the other two?” Wylan whispers nervously, but no one answers him.

Inej comes to an abrupt halt when she reaches the end of the hallway, her mouth dropping open. Kaz must have been telling the truth about the back entrance, because standing in front of them is the most glamorous restaurant she has ever laid eyes on. Inej doesn’t think she has seen so much luxury in one place before; it looks like something straight out of a fairytale or a magazine, the huge chandelier above them dazzling her.

A waiter arrives quickly, shaking hands with Kaz. “Right this way, my friends,” he says, ushering them over to a booth away from the bustle of the kitchen and the other diners. “Here are your menus,” he continues, handing them out, “and I will return in a few moments for your drinks orders.”

“Thanks, Rotty,” Kaz answers, oblivious to the three wide-eyed stares he is getting from around the table.

Somehow, it reminds Inej of the night where she first met Kaz. Hopefully this time they won’t have to worry about getting arrested.

“What’s everyone having?” Kaz asks, and Inej realises he’s ignoring them on purpose. “I hear their duck is excellent.”

“I’ve never been to a super fancy restaurant before!” Jesper exclaims in a whisper shout. “I don’t know what half this stuff says.”

“Uh,” Wylan says, looking at his menu like it personally offended him. “I’m not that hungry…”

Kaz rolls his eyes. “How about I order for everyone, hm? Unless you have any objections, Inej?”

She shakes her head, her mind still swimming as she tries to figure out how Kaz managed to book a table in such a lavish restaurant. Maybe Jesper is onto something with the whole bank robbing thing, she muses.

Sure enough, Kaz orders for them all with no hesitation. When Jesper starts awkwardly shuffling in his seat, he adds, “Dinner’s on me, by the way. It’s only fair, after all.”

Everyone stares at him for a minute, floundering for something to say. Suddenly, Inej starts laughing, leaning her head forward onto the table as she tries to stifle her giggles and ends up hiccupping instead. Wylan joins in with a nervous chuckle, but Kaz and Jesper just stare at her, amused.

“‘Nej, you okay?” Jesper asks eventually as Kaz pats her back in what he hopes is a soothing motion.

“Yeah,” she manages to gasp out, trying to take some deep breaths. “Sorry, it’s just-” She bursts out laughing again as another table looks away, distaste written all over their faces. “It’s just so surreal.”

Luckily, the food arrives before she can embarrass herself any further.

Kaz must secretly be some kind of psychic, because there is no way he somehow knows exactly what Inej’s taste in food is. Whatever he’s picked out for her - some kind of posh pasta, she thinks - is maybe the most delicious food she has ever eaten, and if she wasn’t in public, she would be making all sorts of inappropriate noises as she eats it.

“Mmm,” Jesper moans, clearly not having the same reservations. “I think I can die happy now.”

Kaz rolls his eyes again, but Inej can see the smile peeking out from behind his fork.

Clearly, his food magic is also working on Jesper and Wylan, because they look equally happy with their choices. She has never seen Jes inhale a plate of food so fast, and he usually eats quite quickly. Wylan looks like he’s considering making out with the sauce left on his plate, and Inej decides that if she dropped dead right now, she wouldn’t even be mad.

“I can’t take you people anywhere,” Kaz complains, his eyes twinkling with the light of the chandelier. Inej laughs as Jesper pouts, and the waiter reappears to take their plates away.

{o0o}

“So,” Jesper says in the limo on the way back to the library. “Who has the best taste?”

“Me, clearly,” Kaz answers without hesitation. “You all like what I ordered for you, didn’t you?”

“No, silly.” Jesper whacks him lightly on the arm. “Who organised the best double date?”

Wylan actually raises his hand before speaking. “I liked bowling.”

Inej crosses her arms. “Of course you did. Was it the actual activity, or the fact Jesper was practically grinding-”

“Woah, ‘Nej, let’s not scar the poor boy,” Jesper cuts in, blushing almost as much as his boyfriend. “My favourite was dinner, actually.”

“I liked the game night,” Kaz states, “But I’m sure you’ll all accuse me of being biased.”

“Beach was best,” Inej declares, leaning sideways into Kaz. “So, who wins? It’s just a four way tie, isn’t it?”

“Well,” Jesper exclaims, “We can’t have that.”

There’s no sound but the noise of the traffic outside for a minute or two, and then Jesper jumps like he’s been electrocuted. He smiles, but Inej sees the mischief in his smug grin and immediately senses danger.

“Rematch?” he offers, and she sighs.

tag list below! ask to be added or removed :D

@hrtbreakprincess / @tooindecisivetopickaurl / @kazcoded / @saltyfortunes

#shadow and bone #six of crows #kanej #wesper #grishaverse #mmb writes #stupid things #kanej fics #userhbs #my writing

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myheartrevealedocs · 4 years ago

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Untouchable Ch 30: Faceless, Nameless (S5E1)

Warnings: anger/aggression, injury, swearing

Ch 29 | Ch 31

~ ~ ~

Around 7AM, Lydia got up for her morning class and was almost startled to see Spencer in bed beside her. He was practically comatose, so she left him be. He had just been working a case between Detroit, Michigan and Canada the past few days and clearly it had been rough, as he hadn’t told her he was on his way back. The team probably got back early that morning and he’d gone straight to sleep.

She went about her morning routine more carefully than normal, because with Spencer’s luck, he’d have to jump right back into work later today.

And lo and behold, she was right.

Lydia rushed into their bedroom at the sound of a phone going off, wanting to silence it before Spencer woke up, but by the time she’d opened the door, he’d already hit the answer button.

“JJ?... No, it’s fine, where?... Sure, yeah, I’m on my way.”

As soon as he'd dropped his phone, he groaned, throwing his head back.

“Another one?” she asked gently. “How much sleep did you get?”

“Around 4 hours. JJ says that the police need us immediately.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied, albeit a bit in vain. He was already getting up and grabbing his things.

“I know. Hopefully it’s short.” As he passed on his way out, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you. Talk to you this afternoon.”

“Don’t work yourself to death,” she teased.

~ ~ ~

A local surgeon, it seems, had been hiding his son after getting a threat on his son’s life. The unsub had made the promise to kill one person a day until the son was given up and he was holding up his end of the deal. Two dead, shot in the chest, with the letter’s LC as a signature. The case was extremely time sensitive.

Spencer was with the surgeon, Dr. Barton, helping him go through all the surgeries he’d performed within the last 6 months, but there were hundreds of medical charts for them to shift through. If Spencer could do this on his own, he could have finished them within a few hours, but knowing these people’s medical information wouldn’t help their case. Dr. Barton needed to tell them about threats he’d gotten, hard decisions he had to make, and interactions he had involving the cases and that meant Spencer was unfortunately only able to pull cases he thought were important.

Dr. Barton’s son, who’d been in the house for two days, had snuck out to go to school that morning, so Morgan, Rossi, and JJ were there to protect him and Prentiss was headed to Hotch’s apartment, because he hadn’t been answering his phone all morning and they needed the extra eyes.

Seeing Emily’s number pop up on his screen, Spencer breathed a sigh of relief to think she was on her way back. “Hey.”

“Reid, Hotch is missing.”

His eyes narrowed. “What?”

“He’s not here, there’s blood-”

“What-what are you talking about?” he stumbled. It was the most out of left field response he would have expected from Emily at this time.

“What’s going on?” Dr. Barton demanded, but Spencer was too busy listening to Emily to answer.

“I’ve got Garcia putting an APB out on him and there are FBI techs on their way-”

“Is this about Jeffrey?” Dr. Barton tried again.

Spencer pulled the phone away from his mouth. “No, no, it’s unrelated.”

“We only have a few hours left here.”

“I’m really sorry, I have to take this phone call, okay?”

“What could be more important than my son right now?!”

“I assure you this will take one second. Please, I promise.”

Dr. Barton simply huffed and stormed off.

“I’m sorry, Prentiss. What were you saying?”

“There’s a huge hole in the wall. Probably a .44, but there’s no blood or tissue spray around it.”

“Any idea how he got out?”

“If he was shot, there are no drag marks, but a body could have been wrapped in something.”

A body. Not Hotch’s body. “And Bureau techs are on the way?”

“Any second.”

“Okay, call Lydia. She should be done with her last class in… 15 minutes. She’ll help you build a profile.”

“How’s Dr. Barton?”

Spencer glanced over at the pacing father. “It’s a huge list of cases to go through with him.”

“Okay. Don’t worry about here. I’ll call Lydia and we’ll figure this out. Just stay focused.”

“Alright, you too.”

~ ~ ~

Lydia didn’t bother pulling out her badge, simply walking straight into Hotch’s apartment and past one of the concerned crime scene techs.

“Ma’am, ma’am, you can’t-”

“Prentiss,” she called, brushing him off. “What are we looking at?”

“She’s with me,” Emily told the poor guy, waving him away. “Everyone else is working the Dr. Barton case,” she began. “You, Reid, and Garcia are the only people I’ve told. The rest don’t need the distraction.”

“Got it. What did you find?”

Emily turned around and walked Lydia through the scene. “Hotch comes home this morning, drops his keys here, briefcase here, walks to the kitchen.”

Lydia could see where the trail ended for Emily. Clearly there was a scuffle, as there was broken glass on the floor, a gunshot through one of the walls, and blood behind the living room couch.

Lydia walked around a few times, picking up everything she could before telling Emily her theory.

“So, Hotch walks into the kitchen. Obviously, the unsub was hiding farther back in the apartment, because Hotch got this far without a struggle. Probably…” she glanced at the bottle of whiskey. “...poured himself a drink and was standing in the doorway when the other presence became known to him. Hotch moves-”

Lydia froze, stopping in the door from the kitchen to the living room.

“No,” she mumbled. “No, that’s not right. We assumed the shot was a misfire. If Hotch was standing here, it would have gone right over his shoulder. But the killer had another weapon on him, because there’s no other bullet scars in the walls, floors, furniture, nothing. If the blood didn’t come from a gun, I think he was stabbed. Did we check if Hotch was missing any knives?”

Emily shook her head. “No, there’s nothing out of place from what I can tell.”

“Only something like a bullet or stabbing wound would produce that much blood,” Lydia reasoned. “If the unsub didn’t take one of Hotch’s, he came prepared with the knife, which makes the bullet hole in the wall intentional. Maybe to get Hotch’s attention.”

“I don’t follow.”

“If he had a gun, why bring a knife?” Lydia explained. “Perhaps the plan wasn’t to kill, but to injure. You tend to have a lot more control over a stabbing. You can render Hotch incapable of fighting back or have him lose consciousness, but not kill him. So the gun was purely to have control over the situation. He shot over Hotch’s shoulder to scare him.”

“This unsub is confident,” Emily gathered. “He was lying in wait for Hotch and stayed even after seeing Hotch put his gun on the counter. So he likely already knew Hotch was FBI.”

“Makes sense, but why not just kill him? If it was personal, why take him?”

“Hotch makes a lot of enemies-”

“We all do,” Lydia corrected.

“Maybe he wanted to make the pain or fear last longer? But in the end, with all the cases he works, any number of details could be significant to this unsub.”

Lydia nodded. “Frustrating, but true. So, our guy fires a shot and Hotch smashes his whiskey glass over the guys head, trying to get a chance to reach for his gun, but he doesn’t get it. Unsub knocks him backwards, back into the living room. Maybe Hotch hits his head, maybe he struggles some more and the unsub hits him a few times, but Hotch isn’t at his best. He’s lying on the floor when he gets stabbed.”

“You sure?”

“Yep. The blood only pools like this underneath a still body. If he was standing, we would have seen splatter patterns from the height between the wound and the floor. And there would be multiple pools as a result of his swaying, even if he wasn’t walking around.”

“Okay, so we know generally how the scene played out. Anything else?”

Lydia sighed. “Not from me, no. I don’t have my gloves or evidence bags and we already have crime scene techs here to search physical evidence. I don’t imagine I’ll be much help.”

“You’re already a lot of help,” Emily promised. “We know we’re looking at an organized unsub. Someone who knows Hotch, or at the very least, knows of him. He’s cocky, arrogant.”

“Alright.” The two locked eyes. “Where do we go from here?”

~ ~ ~

“Talk to us, Garcia,” Emily answered her phone, setting it on speaker and holding it between her and Lydia.

“Okay, I- I called hospitals to see if Hotch had gotten himself admitted to an emergency room.”

“And?”

“He’s not listed as a patient, but someone dropped a john doe off at St. Sebastian Hospital, and that someone’s name was FBI Agent Derek Morgan.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Emily said.

“I know. D-do you think they got their credentials mixed up?”

The women were silent for a minute and then Emily’s face dropped.

“What is it, Em?” Lydia prodded.

“The reaper.”

“That case from March?” Lydia asked. She hadn’t been on it, but supposedly it wasn’t the usual find the unsub, stop the murder, type cases. Spencer said George Foyet had stopped killing for 10 years, before miraculously showing back up to taunt the FBI. He’d gone so far as to stab himself multiple times to fake his death and he’d escaped imprisonment not a few days after the BAU found him.

“Foyet took Morgan’s creds,” Emily explained.

“Why would he drop him off at the ER?”

“What hospital did you say again?” Lydia interrupted.

“St. Sebastian Hospital.”

“Let’s go.”

Emily nodded. “Garcia, I’ll call you with an update when we get there.”

~ ~ ~

Hotch had been stabbed 9 times in the abdomen, but was miraculously still alive. No arteries had been hit, so they just had to wait for anesthesia to wear off and for him to wake up.

Lydia was skimming through some of the emails she’d gotten from students and didn’t notice Emily pick up Hotch’s medical chart, read it, and rush over to his doctor.

“LC on the unsub’s note,” Emily was saying into her phone when she walked back in, catching Lydia’s attention. “It stands for ‘living children’... It’s administrative. It’s when they’re afraid a patient’s gonna go on life support and they don’t have a DNR order… Reid?”

Lydia could gather that Emily had seen the initials on Hotch’s medical chart, but seeing as she didn’t know the details of the case Spencer was working, she was lost on the rest.

Emily was silent, nodding distantly as if her mind was somewhere else. Lydia watched her, trying to see if she could pick up more of what was going on on the other end of the conversation, but it took almost a full minute for anything to happen.

The gunshot on the other side of the phone was loud enough for Lydia to hear it without the phone being on speaker or even remotely near her.

“Reid?!” Emily hissed. Lydia jumped up, trying to get closer and figure out what was going on. “Answer me! Reid?!!”

After another minute of silence, Emily took the phone away from her ear and hung up, typing in another number.

“What’s going on?” Lydia demanded. “Is Spencer okay?”

Emily put a hand on Lydia’s shoulder and put the phone up to her ear, not having time to answer her question. “This is Special Agent Emily Prentiss from the FBI. I need police and an ambulance to 120 Kensington Road, McLean, Virginia. Shots fired. Federal agent possibly down.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck-

~ ~ ~

“No one else is there?!” Lydia demanded.

“They’re with Jeffrey at the school,” Emily tried to explain. “We’d assumed Jeffrey was the target, so we sent most of the team there to ensure all the kids were safe. But they’re on their way there now. Please, just sit down for a-”

“Emily, the last thing I want to do is sit down and think about what this means, okay? You said you only heard one gunshot, yes?”

She nodded.

“So, maybe Spencer didn’t get shot. Perhaps he dropped his phone when he heard the sound and ran to help Dr. Barton. I mean, if the unsub hit Spencer, he would have kept shooting until he hit his target, yeah?”

Emily was clearly not convinced. There were plenty of reasons the unsub might not have kept shooting after hitting the wrong person, but she didn’t voice them outloud. There was no point. Lydia already knew them all.

“How long will it take the rest of the team to get to Dr. Barton’s house?”

“Not too long,” Emily admitted.

“Someone would have called me if Spencer got hurt, yeah? Like Morgan or Rossi, they would let me know if Spencer had gotten shot?”

“I don’t know.” Emily was getting exasperated. She was anxious too, but there was nothing either of them could do for the moment. If Spencer had been shot, an ambulance would get there much faster than they could. The only option was to wait.

“I’m gonna go outside,” Lydia said, before slipping out of the room and towards the exit of the emergency room.

Her arms shook with unused energy and she had to do something physical before she went into a full blown panic attack. She hadn’t felt the need to take out her anxieties with her fists in a while, but it was better than nothing. Finding a quiet, secluded spot outside, she made a few punches through the air, but it wasn’t enough. Before she could think any better of it, one of her arms went flying towards the wall of the hospital, the outside of her fist smacking against it and causing a gasp of pain to escape her mouth.

She cradled her hand for a minute or two and was just beginning to feel the compulsion to do it again when her phone dinged in her pocket.

Emily: Spencer’s okay. Got shot in the leg and is being brought here to get patched up. Team says he’s totally fine.

Thank god.

~ ~ ~

Lydia tried her best to look annoyed while approaching Spencer’s bed, but he gave her a tired smile and she lost her glare to a giggle.

“Should I dramatically start with ‘Wait, did I get shot?’”

Lydia smacked the side of his head, causing locks of his hair to fall across his eyes. “I’m pretty sure my bullet removal surgery in my abdomen was more complicated than the stitches you just got through the thigh. I was on all sorts of pain killers. Don’t make fun of me.”

He sent her a challenging look, but it became serious all too fast. “Catch me up on Hotch.”

Lydia had been keeping up with Emily since Spencer arrived at the hospital, so she relayed all the information she knew. “Foyet stabbed him, got Haley’s address from Hotch’s address book, then dropped Hotch off here. So, the team rushed to Haley’s house, to find her and Jack. They’re on their way here to say goodbye to Hotch and then, they’re going to be put into protective custody.”

“Poor Hotch,” Spence sighed. “He won’t be able to see his son again until we catch Foyet.”

“You guys will get him,” she reassured. “He’s just one guy against the smartest group of people I know… Now, catch me up on what happened to you.”

“Right,” he mumbled. “Um, the unsub’s name was Patrick Meyers. His son died in a car accident and was admitted to a hospital and declared brain dead. Meyers was threatening Dr. Barton’s son, Jeffrey, because he wanted us to send our forces to protect Jeffrey and leave Dr. Barton unprotected. Emily was the one who helped me figure it out. Meyers left the initials LC at the end of his notes, standing for living child. He was warning Barton that he was going to leave Jeffrey without a father. But when we came to that conclusion, I realized that Barton had walked out the front door and I rushed out to stop him. I dropped my phone, tackled Barton to the ground, and surprise-” he gestured to his left leg “-I got hit.”

Lydia nodded. “Went right through. Doctor says you’re going to be on crutches for a little while.”

“Now when people see us walking together, they’re going to pity us both. You’ve got your limp and I’ll be dragging my left leg behind me like a garbage bag-”

“Oh, you’re so right!” she laughed. “What a pair of outcasts we’ll look like. Although I think that when most people see the look in my eyes, they stop pitying me.”

“Why’s that?”

“A student told me the other day that I’m the most terrifying person he’d ever met. I asked if that meant he didn’t like the class and he was like ‘nah, I like it a lot, but every time you mention that you work with the FBI, I remember everything I’ve done wrong in my life and panic that you’re going to interrogate me one day.’ It was the weirdest compliment I’ve ever gotten.”

Spencer chuckled. “I’m with him. Whenever Hotch sends you into the interrogation room, I feel bad for the poor suspect.”

“When I interrogated Jonny McHale, he punched me! And there were four other people in the room!”

“Once I went to interview a murderer with Hotch as part of a study the BAU was doing and while we were there, Hotch tried to get into a fist fight with him.”

“No!” Lydia cried. “There’s no way!”

“Hotch is generally unpredictable, but when he’s agitated, I have to wonder how he got a job with the Bureau.”

“Ahem.”

The couple’s heads swerved around to find JJ standing in the door.

“Hey, Jayje,” Lydia greeted embarrassedly. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to check in with Spencer, before I went home. It’s been a long day.”

“No kidding,” he agreed. “I’m fine, though. I have to be on crutches for a while, but kicking down doors was Morgan’s job anyway.”

Lydia felt like a child for laughing at his words. But she’d long for those moments of innocence in the upcoming months.

Tags: @kris-stuff, @wooya1224, @bispences, @anotherr-fine-mess, @eddysocs

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rocket-remmy · 4 years ago

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What’s New, Scooby-Doo?|| Agatha, Grace, Julie and Remmy

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @detective-keen, @silveraccent, @purelikeviolence, and @whatsin-yourhead SUMMARY: An old treasure map, four meddling (not) teens, and a dog. What could go wrong?

Remmy couldn’t help but feel a tad anxious as the bus pulled up to the Commons drop-off. The map was stuffed in their bag, as well as a bunch of different things people might need on a trek through the woods. Water bottles, snacks, a blanket, a flashlight, flares, extra shoes, a jacket, and, stuffed way at the bottom, a handgun. They shuffled off the bus inside a crowd of people, before breaking away and heading towards the fountain, where they’d all agreed to meet up. Moose by their side helped quell some of the fear, but it was still there. It was sort of always there, now. The distinct thought that maybe gathering up a bunch of people they didn’t know to go on a wild goose chase was a bad idea came up, but Remmy pocketed it, remembering that Julie was going to be there, too. And even though they hadn’t hung out much lately, Julie had defended them without even really knowing them the first time they’d hung out together, and the thought of her being there made their relief almost palpable. They sat down on the ledge of the fountain and dug through their bag for the map, unfolding it to reveal the contents. It looked like whatever it was was around the cliffs near some sort of peak or drop-off, but Remmy was no genius at reading maps, or having a sense of direction. When they looked up, they saw a figure heading towards them, and though their stomach clenched at first, they grit through the anxious feeling and put up a smile. This was going to be a good day, they’d make sure of it.

Grace hadn’t been too sure what she was doing when she had agreed to go on a literal treasure hunt, especially with people who she didn’t know. It was odd, the amount of times that she had broken down her own barriers for the sake of letting other people in-- even if it was held at surface value. Grace checked her backpack 3 times before heading out the door, and even then, she wasn’t quite sure if she had everything. Still, it wouldn’t do her any good to keep checking, and so she forced herself out of the entrance of the apartment building, her legs having felt like jelly the entire walk to her car. The drive was short, and Grace was thankful-- Portland wasn’t large, not by usual city standards, but White Crest felt smaller and smaller every time she ventured out. After finding a place to park in the area that she had agreed to meet Remmy and the rest of the individuals who had wanted to go on the trip, she surveyed the area, hand held over her eyes. Once she spotted somebody who looked familiar, attached to a dog she had been made aware of, Grace held up her hand to wave, heading over to them. “Hey,” Grace said, trying to keep her gaze from going back to the dog every five seconds. “I’m Grace-- I agreed to go on on this thing with you, I mean the treasure hunt--” she laughed, moving her hand to push the hair out of her eyes. It was strange, as Grace had come across individuals in White Crest so far that were either normal in terms of emotions, or dulled. Now, she felt nothing. Maybe Remmy was good at hiding whatever it was they felt. “It’s nice to formally meet you--” Grace cringed at her words, but before she could finish her sentence, somebody else had walked up.

Well, this wasn’t milkshakes but Julie supposed going on a treasure hunt with Remmy would at the very least be entertaining. It’d been too long since she saw her buddy so she jumped at the first chance she got. It’s not like she had anything better to do with her time anyway. Although she was curious as to what other people had agreed on this hunt - maybe some more of Remmy’s friends? Julie was sure Remmy had plenty of other friends, they were just that kind of person. Nonetheless, they headed toward the meet point shortly after waking up. It was a little earlier than Julie would have preferred to be woken up but it was fine. Better to wake up and have something to do then to wake up and have nothing to do. Julie was doubtful that the treasure map would lead to anything truly… treasurable but she was interested in finding out what it led to, even if it might be a dead end. There was little thought of the safety of the whole situation (going out to explore unknown parts of the town) because Julie rarely felt her safety in danger. If there was one thing she was good at, it was being able to get out of tricky situations with herself intact. As she came closer she easily spotted Remmy with their mutt - her eyes narrowed at the sight that Remmy had brought Moose. A dog. But she knew he was trained and so he was considerably more tolerable than most dogs. “Sup, fuckers.” She greeted as she hopped closer to them. She smiled at Remmy before turning to the stranger, her smile dropping as she inspected them. “Is this everyone?”

Agatha, while she was convinced that there were no such things as treasure maps, had decided that she would tag along, and traded her brogues for a pair of trekking shoes. She had packed a backpack with snacks, water, a first aid kit, a flashlight, a survival blanket, a map of the town and a compass. She left her bicycle tied to a lamppost with her bike lock and approached a group of three who seemed to be waiting for her. Well, arriving last was not really what she had planned. Waving cheerfully at the group, she smiled at the trio, then glanced down at the service dog with an even bigger smile. Focus. “Hey, I’m Agatha,” she introduced herself, still radiating with positive energy. “Were we waiting for more people?” She had a look at her watch, and figured that she was probably the last. She sat down on the ledge to have a look at the map Remmy was holding. “Okay, I was a bit suspicious, not gonna lie, but this does look like a treasure map.” And it looked old too. She wondered if they knew when it dated back to. “Where did you get it?!”

The first person to arrive introduced herself as Grace, and Remmy was in the middle of saying hi when a familiar face caught their eye. “Hey! Hi!” they said, a bit excitedly. “It’s nice to meet you, Grace! Um-- like, formally. Or uh-- for real? Yeah! Hi.” Nerves buzzing just beneath their skin, they waved at Julie, giving a low chuckle at her. “Hey, Julie. Um-- I think we’re waiting for one more, the only person who said she can actually uh...read maps. So, we should probably wait for her.” They gave a sheepish grin, looking between the two. “Oh, uh-- Grace, Julie,” they said, pointing from the new comer to Julie, “Julie, Grace.” No that they knew Grace all too well, but from their conversation online, Remmy felt like they could be friends. They hoped nothing strange would happen here and scare Grace away. They just wanted a nice, normal trek through town. Using a treasure map. From a pie contest. Hmm.

The last person to approach looked a bit older than the others, but her smile was all the same and the friendly greeting helped calm Remmy’s nerves. Moose watched all three of the newcomers arrive with practiced patience, his tongue hanging out as he panted quietly. “Welcome! Uh-- I think this is about it, huh?” They held the map out to Agatha. “I’m Remmy. The map bearer. I’m...not really good at this, but I think it says we have to head towards Dark Score Lake and uhh...a cemetery near there? There’s something marked there, right?”

Grace looked at the new arrival, quick to be named as Julie. She didn’t miss the way that the woman looked at her with reproach, but instead of pointing it out, Grace smiled as Remmy introduced her. “I’m Grace.” Hadn’t Remmy just said that? She couldn’t get a read on Julie, but didn’t have time to sit on it too much, because another figure was bounding towards them. Grace was glad for the interruption. She despised small talk. Grace had gotten into the habit of not bothering to look at somebody’s body language, mostly because she almost always knew what emotions they were cycling through, but as she looked at Remmy, she picked up the telltale signs of nervousness-- not that she could feel any. It was replaced quickly by Agatha’s bouncing and bubbly manner. The difference was astounding and left Grace to reach up and press her index finger against her temple. “A cemetery?” Grace asked, an eyebrow raised. “Sounds like this is going to take us on quite the ride.” She grinned at Remmy, already feeling Agatha’s mood beginning to rub off on her. Better to be elated than to be down, she guessed. “So.. which way should we go?” She asked, tongue in cheek. She didn’t want to step on any toes, so from the get go, Grace decided to take the backseat and follow, rather than to try and lead. Though leading hadn’t ever been her thing anyways.

Julie curled her lip at the positivity from one of them, wondering who the fuck would have the energy to act like that. She stepped aside, moving closer to Remmy (unfortunately that meant closer to Moose). She looked down, mindful to not touch him. Her eyes darted from speaker to speaker, suspicious of the two strangers, naturally. She trusted Remmy but not these two, especially not the peppy one. “We can cut behind some of the businesses to get to the lake faster, if you want.” Julie wasn’t the most familiar with the area but she knew where the lake was in relation to where they were. Although, she wasn’t looking forward to going to a cemetery where they would run into lonely emo ghosts who are dying (hah) to talk to someone. As long as you didn’t acknowledge their presence though, they should be fine. Hopefully. Ghosts will do anything to get the attention they want. Needy fuckers. “What cemetery is it?” Julie asked, leaning over to look over Remmy’s shoulder, setting her chin on it. Depending on the one, they might either have to cross the lake or head into vampire territory. She wasn’t sure which she preferred.

Agatha smiled back at Grace, with all the warmth she could muster before she turned her attention back on Remmy. “That is correct, and that is also correct. Not so bad with maps, are we?!” She clasped her hands together enthusiastically. “I brought a compass and a town map, just in case but I think your map is good enough for now,” still she took the compass from her backpack and put it around her neck. “That sounds like a great idea,” she replied with enthusiasm as Julie suggested cutting behind some shops to get to the lake faster. This was going to be a lot more fun that she would have thought. “Could be Jericho Hill,” she mused, thinking out loud. She went on, inspecting the map a bit closer: “Could be Gallow’s grove, honestly.” Her brows furrowed. No, that could not be right. Her nose wrinkled. She paused, took out the map she had in her backpack and fell silent for a good minute before she looked up and declared, with undying glee : “We are going to Gallow’s Grove. I hope everyone likes completely gloomy cemeteries.”

“Well…” Remmy started, “at least it’s daytime, right? No uh--” glanced at Julie, her head on their shoulder, before looking back at Agatha, “--no weird things around during the day, right?” A grin, before they picked up their bag and slid it back on, nudging Moose along, falling in stride with Julie. The sounds of the bustling town faded as they cut across the fields behind the building, and Remmy glanced around at the other three with them, feeling a quiet sense of peace. Even though they didn’t know the other two, it felt almost comforting to have them around. Both Grace and Agatha seemed like good, normal people, and maybe that was all Remmy really needed right now-- something good and normal. “Thanks for coming,” they said to Julie after a moment, “I know it’s not milkshakes, but I’ll defs buy you one after this.” They turned back to Agatha, leading the way. “Once we get to the cemetery, what does it say we do? Or uh-- go? Can you tell? I couldn’t really figure it out. It looks kinda like it’s pointing to a house type thing...but there’s not like, uh, houses in cemeteries, right?”

Grace listened to the group as they spoke, only able to pick out pieces of the locations that they mentioned. She had taken a look at a town map, maybe when she first arrived. Most of Grace’s time had been spent looking up where to get the best chowder from her desk at work, however. Not knowing the people in front of her, Grace didn’t want to make them uncomfortable, but the way that Agatha was getting excited, Grace couldn’t help but exert the same energy, “I don’t think I’ve ever used a compass,” she admitted with a sheepish grin. Grace tightened the straps on her backpack after the blonde confirmed where it was they would be heading to. “Cemeteries are usually quiet, and the only reason people find them gloomy is because they probably have somebody buried there, otherwise it’s just a bunch of stones.” Grace shrugged and looked at Remmy as they began to speak. “There might be a tomb? Maybe the groundskeeper’s shack or something.” Grace knew little to nothing about White Crest’s cemeteries, but if they were anything like Portland’s, then maybe she was right. “We could just look for bigger structures when we get there?” Grace suggested, her voice sounding a little too high and peppy for her usual disposition.

Gallow’s. Julie’s brows raised at the mention as she glanced over at Remmy but gave nothing more than a telling smirk. She definitely knew how to get to Gallow’s, having been there before but they were in luck that it was daytime, otherwise she’s sure as hell wouldn’t do much to stop hungry vampires from attacking anyone other than Remmy… and Moose (although they would stay away from both of them). Turning as Remmy spoke to her, she gave a small nod, genuinely in good spirits to be hanging out with Remmy. Even if there were two weirdos being taken along with them. “Yeah for sure, don’t sweat it.” Although, she would prefer milkshakes on their next outing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten since she fell asleep. As Remmy mentioned the map, Julie recalled what she had seen. It was probably a mausoleum. Great. The vampires will love their resting places to be opened to sunlight. This was going to be lots of fun. As she looked over at Grace, she found it weird how upbeat you sounded. “You okay? You sound very happy to be going to a cemetery.” She looked over back to Remmy. “Jesus, Remmy, where did you find them?” She muttered, trying not to be too vocal about her thoughts concerning Grace and Agatha. It was too weird for Julie - she’d expect some ambivalence, potentially fear from either of them at the thought of going to a cemetery. Especially Gallow’s. Did they not know what they were getting into? All she knew was she wasn’t going to be pulling either dumb ass from harm’s way if they walked into it. She might push them towards it if they kept up this cheery routine. It was getting annoying.

"Nice observation," Agatha looked up at the sun, wrinkling her nose. "We have about 10 hours at least before the sun goes down, and the vampires come out," she said the last part with the most ominous tone to her voice. A diabolic laugh probably would have been too much and so, she refrained herself. Apparently those stories probably had gotten to Remmy's ears and they had stuck. Oh well, she was not here to argue about how stupid it would be for vampires to live in cemeteries when basements are a thing. Realistically speaking. Or at least as realistic as you could get when talking about myths. Grace then said something about never using a compass and Agatha was more than happy to get it off her neck to hand it to Grace and explain the basics to her. "Simple, right?!" She listened, stayed quiet and waited for their suggestions on where it was they were heading. "Could be, although I'd bet on a mausoleum. Lots of families have those in the area, although I'm not sure there's still a lot of these standing. That's a pretty old cemetery, and pretty big too," she paused. "But since mausoleums stand out it cannot be that hard," looking over her shoulder at Remmy and Julie, she grinned with genuine kindness.

Oh, good. Agatha knew about the supernatural. That was a relief. Remmy looked back over at Julie and shrugged. “Internet,” they answered simply, before observing the interaction between Grace and Agatha. They all seemed genuinely excited to be here and Remmy’s anxiety was dissipating more and more. Even as they approached the cemetery and pushed the gate open, they couldn’t help but feel that excitement rubbing off on them. Moose must’ve too, because he gave a small bark as they headed inside, sniffing the air. “Come on, whatever happens, it’ll be fun,” they said to Julie, before giving her a little nudge. “Better than sitting around doing nothing, right?” They scanned the area, trying to pick out any sort of larger building. “Anyone see anything?” they asked, coming to stand near Grace. “I don’t think I mind cemeteries, either. They are always kinda quiet, huh?” Before shrugging and heading up the path. “What’s the map say? I think it looks like it’s a little farther in.”

Grace wasn’t sure what to say in response to Julie. She knew she sounded far too upbeat, but all in all, for whatever reason, Grace hadn’t had any issues with cemeteries to begin with. In Portland, she and Renee would grab breakfast burritos and sit on the hill overlooking the largest one in the city. She didn’t suppose it brought back great memories for everyone, based on the way that Remmy was reacting. At Agatha’s words, Grace blinked, but was unable to ask for clarification on the point made about vampires before she was being shown the compass, instructions pulled from Agatha’s lips. Grace thought back to her conversation with Blanche about the lighthouse. People surely believed in anything around here. “Oh, a mausoleum! Maybe.” Grace hadn’t ever seen any in the cemeteries in Portland, so she had forgotten they existed. “If anything, we could always split up and look.” The gate didn’t look half as ominous as Grace had expected it to, and as she stepped through with the remaining members of the little tour group, Grace looked to Remmy as they spoke. “They’re quiet, which is great for me.” She hummed absentmindedly as she took a step further, gaze flitting from plot to plot. “I can’t see anything just yet,” Grace said over her shoulder as she crouched down next to a dirt and vine infested headstone. “Nobody’s seen you in awhile, huh?” Grace muttered to herself as she got to her feet. She wondered how long it’d be before she’d go to visit either her Grandmother or Renee.

Julie snorted as they mentioned they enjoyed the quietness of cemeteries. She wanted to know which ones they went through. Anytime she crossed through one she kept her head down and walked through as fast as possible before a ghost could try and make itself known. God forbid she ever makes eye contact with one. Even just giving one the time of day would attract a bunch more and Julie would never have enough time to listen to a ghost bitch and moan. At Grace treating a headstone with kindness and cleaning it, Julie couldn’t help but side eye the whole thing. Girl… “It’s probably for a good reason.” Julie muttered knowing not everyone who was buried was a good person and deserving of being visited. As if to voice her thoughts she set her sights on a fallen pinecone and punted it into a headstone. Dead whiny fucks. She didn’t dare lift her gaze as they continued to walk, knowing well enough that they were drawn to her just as she was to them and if they were to make eye contact, she’d have to ignore them the whole fucking trip. Julie threw her hoodie over her head for good measures, blocking out her peripheral vision. Impatient as she was though, she picked her head up. “Are we almost fucking there?”

Agatha had been walking ahead of the rest of the group, stepping on a bench to see things from a pedestal. “Guys…” One mausoleum stood taller than the rest of them, and while it was in a poor state, like the rest of the tombs here, it stood out. If they had been in a video game, this would have meant that this was their goal. What could go wrong with trusting video games logic? “You okay Julie?” Jumping off the bench, she joined the rest of the group, her cheerful demeanor replaced with worry as she looked at the woman. She then glanced at Remmy, who seemed like they knew her best. “But to answer your question, I think we should head over there. This is where shit happens for sure,” she had literally no proof of that, but considering the instructions on the maps and their lack of clarity, it would do. Leading the way once again, she made her way to the mausoleum. “Mmmh, looks like that door hasn’t been opened in a while,” she observed, as she started to pull on the handle, with no luck.

Remmy paused to wait for Grace when she knelt to brush off the dirty grave. Julie’s comment could’ve been true, but Remmy knew Julie was more prone to looking at the darker side of things rather than the brighter. They didn’t really blame her for that, though. Everyone was different. When Agatha led them up to the mausoleum, Remmy came up behind her, examining the door. “Here uh, lemme try,” they said, before shuffling around, looking over their shoulder at Julie, then tugging on the door. It was definitely stuck, but all they needed to do was put a little of that getting hungry zombie strength into it and, boom. The door opened with a loud, forceful crack and Remmy stumbled back a little. “Must’ve uh-- just been stuck,” they said with a grin, before peering in. It was empty and smelled musty, spider webs and dirt lining every inch of it. “Uh, so….now what’s the map say?”

Grace followed after the group after brushing dirt from her knees. The words that came from Julie weren’t necessarily wrong, and Grace knew that, but they still didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t know this woman, however, so she kept her mouth shut. It was easier to let Agatha’s curiosity get the better of her than start an argument over something that was… technically true. Grace looked at the door with eyebrows raised. Just before she could open her mouth to ask how they’d get it open, Remmy was trying the door with a force that she hadn’t thought could come from them. Surprised, Grace took a step back and looked over them with astonishment before wiping it clean from her features. “You’re strong,” Grace said as she took a step around Remmy, into the doorway. There were spiderwebs scaling the ceiling, at least, as much as Grace could see. Before going in much farther, Grace turned her attention back to the group and looked from face to face, trying to gauge their reactions from Remmy’s strength.

“Oh, you’re sooo strong.” Julie mocked under her breath as she passed by Remmy, shooting them a knowing look. As she took the place in, she realized it was different than most mausoleums she’s been in. It was darker the further down and Julie wasn’t one to fear the darkness so she continued walking ahead, having lost sight on the map and more interested in exploring the area. However, she remembered that Remmy was here - along with the dog so she turned, only to see what they were doing. The whole feeling would have been unsettling to any normal person but Julie had seen worse than this. It was far too ridden with cobwebs to be a place where vampires stayed during the day. Then again who knows if they were trying to create an aesthetic of sorts. Vampires were just those kinds of people. She brought out her phone to scroll through it as she waited on the others only half listening to them.

Grabbing the flashlight in her backpack, Agatha then turned it on and started having a look around, inspecting the place as if it were a crime scene. Quite frankly, the place might as well have been one. It was one hell of a mess in here. The scent of dust, spiderwebs was everywhere, as well as a musty smell. You would have expected the place to be silent but the wind could be heard inside, whistling through stone. Strange, she thought. There was no sun coming through. She looked over at Grace and raised an eyebrow. Apparently she and Agatha were the only one surprised with Remmy’s strength. “You’re going to tell us where you go to the gym or…?” Kneeling down, she had a look at the name on the tombstones, to see if she recognized the family name. After all, with her mom being the former sheriff, they used to know a lot of the White Crest families. However, the name on these did not ring any bells. “Honestly, I don’t know where we are supposed to go next. There seems to be a path leading from this place to… I don’t know. Maybe it’s a tunnel but…” There nothing here, she left that part out. Standing up, she aimed her flashlight toward the walls, which would be when she noticed an engraving in the stone. A similar one could be found on the map. “Remmy, that was on your map…” The sound of wind grew bigger when you got closer to the symbol, and while she didn’t see how, she could guess that whatever path there were searching for was somewhere, close.

Remmy gave a sheepish grin to Julie and shrugged. “Uh, I mean-- I used to be a soldier. That uh-- that must be it.” They followed Julie inside and squinted against the darkness, before Agatha’s flashlight illuminated the inside. It was relatively small, just large enough to fit the lot of them. Lining the walls were plaques where bodies were stored, and there was one large tomb in the middle of the place. Agatha went over to the far wall, pointing her flashlight at it, where there was something on the wall. “Huh...weird…” they muttered, coming over and examining it. They looked at the map, then to the engraving. “It’s the same thing. What do you think it means?” They glanced back at Grace and Julie, as if they would be able to present the answer.

Well of course that explained it, Grace thought. Remmy had been a soldier, of course they were strong. Still, she was impressed, and she made no move to hide it. Grace crossed her arms over her chest as she watched them look around. Agatha seemed like she knew what she was doing, so she sidled up next to her. “It looks pretty narrow,” Grace said as she looked over her shoulder at the other two. This was quite the treasure hunt, she had to admit. Though, wasn’t it better than holing up in her apartment with the same book she had read over a dozen times? The contradiction of her actions for moving to White Crest in the first place were not lost on her. Grace followed Agatha’s gaze to the engraving on the stone and looked at it. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like that.” Grace reached out and padded her index finger against the wall and traced the pattern. “It looks like whoever did it, it took them a long fucking time.” Grace straightened up and looked between the three.

Julie sighed, kept in place because they were all busy looking at some symbol on the stone. “It means keep going,” Julie bluffed, still on her phone with her arms crossed. “So are we going to keep going or stop here and look at the wall until it gets dark?” Maybe they were scared - it seemed reasonably so, going into further darkness with people you don’t know and seemingly only one way out. Still, wasn’t that part of the whole excitement? Julie glanced up at them, wondering if she had anything to fear from Agatha and Grace. She knew better than to assume they were “normal” if there was anything she learned from this town was that the people here were more often unnormal than normal. However, Julie felt confident in her ability to evade trouble no matter how unexpected it may come for her so she had no reason not to continue on this treasure hunt.

Agatha looked over her shoulder to watch Julie, who was looking like a teenager who got dragged on a family trip. “Are you sure, Nancy Drew?” Yes Agatha still had her collection of Nancy Drew books, including the secret code activity book, and no she was not ashamed of it. She was pretty sure Julie would hate this, but that was kinda a compliment in Agatha’s mouth. “Alright, well the wall seems a bit…” She approached her palm from the nearest stone, and started pushing it. She expected some sort of struggle but the stone looked heavier than it actually was, and instead of bothering with the rest of them, she gave one kick in the whole, and hoped (way too late) that the others weren’t granite, and that this meant going to the hospital for being a stupid bitch. “Ta-dah, a doorway. Good job Julie,” she nodded in appreciation. Pretty and clever? “Let’s go?” She offered with a shrug, leading the way with her lamp.

The wall crumbled in front of them, and Remmy felt that little rush of excitement again. “Wow! Neat! Who woulda thunk, huh?” they asked, looking back at the other two. Grace looked a little nervous and Julie looked bored, but Remmy wasn’t going to let that get any of them down. Remmy paused to dig through their backpack and pull out a few flashlights, passing them around. “Ready?” they asked, before heading into the tunnel and shining the light ahead. After a moment, they looked over for Agatha and the map. “Well...what uh, which way do we go now? It looks like there’s more than one tunnel to follow.” And although Remmy and Julie didn’t have too much to fear, they weren’t sure the others could say the same. Getting lost wasn’t going to be a good idea down here, and Moose wasn’t exactly a tracker dog.

Grace jumped in surprise as the wall crumbled before them. She glanced between the group. Agatha’s energy continued to rub off on Grace, but her own uncertainty about the situation as getting the best of her. “Ready for what, more cobwebs?” She joked and took the flashlight from Remmy. Grace shone her flashlight at the map, careful not to hit anybody in the eye as she did so. “I think we go that way?” She said as she looked up from the map, then to their surroundings. “See that object there on the map? It’s on that wall--” She pointed to the wall with her flashlight, then back to the map. “They’re almost identical.” Okay, so maybe Grace wasn’t entirely horrible with directions. Or maybe she just knew how to look for context clues. Grace took a step forward after she directed the flashlight at the floor, checking to make sure there were no traps. Didn’t treasure hunts usually run into those? “It looks like there’s another door,” Grace said as she approached the end of the walkway.

Now things were getting interesting. Julie was first to step through the door, eager to see where it would take them. Lo and behold it took them to a fork in the path. Julie had not a clue what was the right path and turned back to see if those who had read the map would be able to figure it out. “Yeah, the map should tell us where to go next.” Ideally since it was a map it wouldn’t get them lost but who knows. Julie looked behind the group to where they had entered and chose not to think about that. Leave it to Julie and she would have taken any path as long as it kept them moving but unfortunately she had to wait once more.

“We could always split, but I’ve seen enough movies to see it not end well,” Agatha wrinkled her nose. The map was not exactly professionally drawn, and it was hard to get a good idea of where they were meant to go. Grace was however a lot more adventurous than them. Agatha directed her flashlight toward the door Grace claimed to be seeing, and followed behind her. “I swear to God, if that door is locked,” and expecting it to be so, she almost fell over. Stumbling into a new tunnel, she heard something crack under the heel of her shoe and grimaced. What exactly could make such a crunchy sound here?

Remmy was beginning to feel nervous. Could the other hear those noises, too? The low groaning up ahead? They glanced over at Julie as they stepped into the new tunnel, and then Agatha was opening the door. Remmy tried to hurry forward, to suggest they open it first, but the loud crunching of bone made them stop. The quiet groaning stopped, too. “Uh...must be real old,” they said, ushering everyone inside. Could the others see the red eyes watching them, too? They gave another glance to Julie. “Maybe we should just keep moving?” They suggested, putting themself at the front of the group, Moose trotting beside them, glancing at the map. “We’re almost there!”

The door opened and Grace followed Agatha through it, arms coming to wrap around herself. The sound of the bone that crunched underneath Agatha's foot made her wince, but she wonders if anybody else knew what it was. Grace nodded at Remmy’s words as she followed them further down the hallway. There were bones littered everywhere, and the air was growing cold. “Is anybody else freezing?” She asked in passing as they walked, keeping her voice low-- why, she wasn’t sure.

Julie was ready to jump in any direction and so she entered with confidence not even paying any mind to the sound. She knew what it was but was more interested in what laid ahead of them. Her hand reached out to touch the nearest wall, curious about these tunnels. It wasn’t like Julie to get scared but something about this was giving her just the slightest sense of unease. She wasn’t sure what it was though and glanced back at Grace whose tone seemed to be not as excited as it was back then. Was she scared? Probably. Underground tunnels would do that to you. Dark, ominous. One way in and probably only one way out - if that. For now though it seemed the best thing to do was to follow the straight path of the tunnel. As she kept ahead, Julie felt it was safe enough to ease her discomfort. She allowed herself to feel the dark in her hands not strong enough to turn it physical nor to create any darker shadow than there was but just enough to give Julie the peace of mind that if anything did happen that might threaten her or Remmy’s lives - she was still in control. “Maybe you should have brought a warmer jacket,” Julie threw over her shoulder as she dropped her hand back to her side. “You guys don’t have anything in those bags of yours? Like… food or something?” Julie has to admit this was working up her appetite.

Working as a homicide detective, Agatha had gotten used to a lot of things, but that did not mean that she found stepping on bones a pleasant Sunday activity. Cringing, she wiped her shoe against the floor. Even if she found it stupid to be scared of cemetaries or morgues, this place looked like a horror film set. Still, she managed to tell herself that the tunnel would have been not scary at all with proper lighting, and so she followed behind the others. Another silver lining of this would be telling the medical examiner about this place. Agatha wondered who those bones belonged to, and what else they would find here. Holding her flashlight tight, she went by Grace’s side, figuring that her company might reassure the other woman. “It will be fine,” she assured her. Other than perhaps rats and insects, she doubted they would cross anything’s path in here, and much like Julie, she was starting to get hungry. “You want something sweet or something salty?” She asked, her backpack now against her stomach. Searching through her things, she pulled out a lunch bag and handed it over to Julie.

Snacks were being handed out now, and Remmy glanced around the rag tag group. This was gonna be fine, right? There wasn’t anything down here that would, like, hurt them, right? Their skin crawled a moment as the moaning increased. Moose’s body stiffened and his ears went back, but Remmy kept him reigned in. The red eyes were still behind them. “Umm, maybe we should pick up the pace? We probably uhh...wanna be outta here before nightfall, yeah?” They stopped and went around to the back of the crew, waving their arms, trying to usher them all along faster, glancing back over their shoulder. Forms began to show in the shadows, crawling slowly after the group. Their noises getting louder. How could the others not hear? Did Julie hear them? “Uh, yeah, hey, so-- maybe we should um-- run.” They said, shoving against Grace and Agatha, hoping Julie got the idea as well, as they took off down the hall.

Grace looked to Julie, confused why anybody could be hungry when they were in the dark trenches of the unknown, but her own stomach growling made her look to Agatha’s backpack with vague interest. “I didn’t think I would need a jacket, I don’t know,” Grace finally responded to Julie, casting her a sideways glance. She looked to Remmy, then back to Julie, and finally to Agatha when she heard the deep groan. Grace turned around and peered into the darkness, trying to gauge where the noise had come from. There weren’t any pipes that she could see, but it didn’t mean that there weren’t any. Why did it suddenly smell like a morgue? Grace opened her mouth to speak, but focused on Remmy as they began to usher them forward. “What--” Grace asked, reaching up to cover her nose with the back of her hand, “what is that smell?” It smelled like a decomposing body, and she wondered if they had walked upon a horror house. Before she could investigate it any further, she was being pushed forward, Remmy’s hands at her shoulders. She followed the directions, despite being confused. She took off alongside Remmy with an urgency that matched the other two, the nerves suddenly draining the color from her face as she ran. “Why are we running!” Grace called out, breathing heavy, focusing on not tripping over the clutter of leaves, vines, and bones at her feet.

Julie just grabbed whatever she felt first in the bag before tossing it back to Agatha. Unwrapping it she started walking again but noticed Remmy coming close as if trying to rush them through it. It was fine with Julie to hurry through things but Remmy seemed the type to enjoy the moment. Then again given the current environment, most people would want to get out there as fast as possible. “Dude, what gives -” Julie shrugged it off, still eating before catching the slightest movement out of the corner of her eyes. Julie knew what could lurk in the dark and while she wasn’t terrified, she knew better than to put herself in a position to reveal herself as anything more than human in front of anyone. Remmy already saw part of what she could do. She didn’t really want them to figure out what else came with it. Not that she didn’t trust Remmy but - okay maybe she didn’t trust Remmy. Trust was hard, okay! Either way Julie wasn’t quick to get the memo until she caught one coming out of the shadows. She had no idea what the fuck it was and offered a menacing look before jogging behind the others. Julie knew better than to try and scare the others by saying she saw a humanoid figure with missing limbs and red eyes so she went for… “I think I saw a big rat. Maybe the food attracted it. My bad.”

Agatha covered her nose. She knew that smell. She knew that smell too damn well. Okay, as soon as they got out of here, she’d have the WCPD back in here. Clearly there was a corpse, somewhere, or maybe several corpses. And according to Julie, there were rats in here too. Fucking perfect. Sure those two things sometimes went hand in hand, but that did not make it more okay. “I’m pretty sure that’s not the food they came here for,” she commented, following behind the rest of the group without asking any questions. No way she was staying alone in the dark with a bunch of rats having maccabe snacks. No way. “Remmy, do you know where we are going right now?” She tried not to talk too loud as she called them out, and she hoped that they had heard her. Whatever they were searching for better be worth all of this because she really did not like that she was fleeing a possible crime scene right now.

“Yes!” Remmy exclaimed, “rats! I saw uh-- giant rats! And those are like-- not things we wanna mess with!” They hurried everyone along until they couldn’t see the red eyes following them anymore, down a hallway and around a corner, before realizing that they didn’t know where they were going anymore. “Uhhh, yeah, totally!” they lied nervously, pausing to glance around then back at the map. “It’s um-- here!” they splintered off to head towards what looked like a door, sliding it open-- only to find pale, fanged faces staring back at them. Remmy cried out and slammed the door shut, turning to look back at the others. “Uh-- not that way, actually. Um-- this way,” they pointed, walking back through the group and grabbing their hands to usher them away from the door with the scary monsters behind it. And as they came upon another hallway, a chill creeped in-- one that even Remmy felt-- and their breaths began to billow in front of them. A loud clattering up ahead could be heard. Remmy paused. “Do-- does anyone else hear that?”

“Rats?” Grace yelled out, “we’re running from rats?” She had lost it at the sight of a mouse in her apartment, so much so that a neighbor had knocked down her door at the screams, and now she was getting logical about rodents? Grace huffed as she followed Remmy, trying to ignore the burning in her calves, as well as her ankles. “You don’t sound like you know where we’re going!” Grace yelled out after them. She didn’t need to feel Remmy’s emotions to tell that much, despite not being able to feel it at all-- the nerves from the other two was enough, however, to know that there was confusion around them, and outright fear. Grace nearly rammed into a wall, but managed to push off of it in enough time to follow Remmy in their new direction, before coming to a stop just behind them. The door slammed before she could reach it, which made Grace wonder what Remmy saw, because she saw nothing, but smelled death. “Hear what?” she asked as she reached out towards the grimy wall, her hand coming into contact with something sticky and sopping wet. She quickly rubbed her hands against her jeans. “What is that smell?” Grace knew what it was, but she didn’t want to be right, didn’t want to come across decomposing bodies, didn’t want to see death etched in the ground at her feet. Grace swallowed thickly, the smell of death filtering into her nose.

Julie just hoped they didn’t catch up to them and by the time turned back, there was nothing in sight. She wondered for a moment if they were lost and then remembered there was a map. She didn’t really understand how they could be lost but nonetheless followed the group into a hallway. “Are we going the right way?” Julie supposed they were but had her doubts. “Can’t you guys check the map?” She was about to say something sassy but heard a noise up ahead and took note of how she could see her breathe. “Where the hell are we going?” She muttered as she stepped forward, wanting to see what was up ahead and not really afraid to confront it. It might be those red-eyed fuckers but so what if it was? If this was the way out, then there was no choice but to go straight to the source of noise.

Can’t you guys check the map? Agatha’s eyebrows raised, and she had to prevent herself from being unpleasant with her reply. “Weird smell, weird noises, this is great,” she said instead, blocking the flashlight between her cheek and shoulder to examine the map. Truth was, with them having run around like that, she had no damn clue as to where they were, but if she were to take a wild guess, from what she was observing, and what her compass was telling her, she would have said that they were… “Here.” Totally winging it, she thought to herself, cringing internally. But hey, if she was right, this would be great. All she knew was that she needed to be out of here. The atmosphere of the tunnels alone was certainly eerie, but she couldn’t stop thinking of the graveyard of the sort they had stumbled upon. And unlike others, it took her more than an old creaky house or a swampy basement to get scared. Proving that ignorance was truly bliss. “We need to head this way,” she sounded pretty damn sure of herself, but she rarely didn’t.

When Agatha finally set them on what seemed like the right path, Remmy felt a little wave of relief. It was, however, staunched when they saw a shimmering form up ahead. It wavered, disappeared. Remmy turned to look to see if anyone else had noticed, before leaning over to murmur to Julie. “Did you see that, too?” they asked under their breath. It shimmered back into life, in the same spot, and Remmy stopped, prodding Julie. “There!” Oops, too loud. They looked at the others. “Uh-- a doorway! Look!” And there one was. And it looks different from all the other doorways, with a large arch above it and those same engravings they’d found upstairs in the mausoleum around the threshold. That was promising, right? Remmy went to head in when a voice stopped them. “None shall enter!” rang the small voice-- a very distinct child’s voice. Remmy paused, looking around, but no one else had reacted yet. “This is my castle! And my stone treasure! On guard, ye trespassers!” Something swung by Remmy’s face, but when right through. They spun on their heel-- only to find themself face to face with a child. Except, they could see right through them. And the kid was floating about three feet in the air. “Ah, some sort of ghostly fiend, I see!” the kid spat, swinging around what was once probably a wooden bat in life. Remmy blinked, dumbfounded. The ghost-child frowned deeply, then pointed his sword at Julie. “I know you can see me, too, shadow monster!” he said in his attempt at an intimidating voice. It was more like a puppy trying to bark. Remmy looked back at Julie and shrugged.

Just inside the room, they could see the chest. It was covered in dust and grime and cobwebs, untouched for decades. Maybe even centuries. Remmy wondered what could possibly be inside. The ghost-child phased through them to stand in the doorway again, hands on his hips. “I will guard this treasure with my life!” he shouted, pointing the sword at all of them. Remmy didn’t know what to say-- if they spoke, they risked looking crazy. If they didn’t, would the ghost get mad? “Let’s um-- let’s just take it easy and all go inside real slow, yeah?” they said, putting their hands up. Hoped that wasn’t as weird as it sounded, to either party.

“I think the map is only useful if you’re following it to begin with…” Grace muttered under her breath, loud enough so anybody could hear. It wasn’t that she cared-- she didn’t know what was happening. Her heart rate was abnormal and there was sweat beading at the back of her neck, dripping down the back of her shirt, leaving her shivering. Despite their situation, it seemed as though Agatha had found where it was they needed to go, and so she followed blindly. Did she really have a choice? She was stuck now, and the only way she was going to get out of here was if she followed them. Grace’s eyebrows furrowed at Remmy’s sudden burse, and she looked towards where Remmy had motioned. The doorway lay before them, and Grace felt her heart sink. It looked like both Remmy and Julie were focused on something, but Grace couldn’t tell what. She decided to ignore it, because as long as they weren’t running, there was no threat… right? She swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the taste of death at the back of her throat. The room looked as though it hadn’t seen the light in what could’ve been eons, and she was careful with her steps as she looked at the chest. It was just like on the map. She couldn’t believe they actually found something, especially with all of their running. Grace looked to Remmy, “but it’s right there?” She hesitated before taking a step forward, closer to the chest. It looked like any old chest. “There’s no lock on it,” she observed as she knelt down close to it, interest piqued. “I can’t believe we actually found something,” Grace said as she turned back to look at the group. She reached for the lid and heaved it upwards, revealing an assortment of rocks. “It’s not… gold, what are these?” She asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Oh hell no, Julie was not going to have to deal with a child much less a ghost one. Rolling her eyes she fought the urge to argue back with it. However she couldn’t help but feign a move toward the ghost, trying to get the kid to flinch. However as they entered the room her attention went to the chest and… of course it was disappointing. A bunch of rocks. “Looks like some kids lame ass rock collection.” Julie scoffed as she crossed her arms. As if on cue she heard the child’s annoying voice. It was easy to tune out but then she saw him shut the lid and lay down on it. “Oh come on…” she muttered as she rolled her eyes, looking over at Remmy seeing what they would do. Julie had no patience for children and even less for ghosts. It seemed though that he wasn’t willing to get off the chest now, using his own energy to keep weight on it. Julie tried to tip over the chest with her foot. “Get off,” she mumbled as his weight was more than she was expecting.

Agatha didn’t interject with what Grace had to say because negativity was really not needed right now. Instead she put the light of her lamp below her chin and gave Grace a force smile, nose scrunched up and all, as if to say Don’t. “See, I told you it was the way to go.” Oh Agatha please, she told herself. She had absolutely no clue of what she was doing, but this proved one thing, sometimes, you could just be lucky. She approached the rest of the group, although as she looked over Julie’s shoulder, she watched the chest’s lid close shut, and she couldn’t help but be startled, jump a little and cover her mouth to muffle a scream. Would rats be drawn by screams ? Probably not. Who knew? Not her. "Are we really going to fight this chest for a bunch of old rocks?" Her brows furrowed. She hadn't even gotten to see what was inside and she was curious. Sighing, she tried to assist Julie, with no goddamn idea of what was truly going on here.

Agatha and Grace didn’t seem to see the child, but Remmy knew Julie did. She was even talking directly to him. Remmy gave an innocent smile when he slammed the lid shut. They looked between everyone. “Uh, well-- maybe they’re special rocks!” they said, eyeing the ghost. “Rocks that...mean a lot to someone. And they’ve been here...where it’s safe so that the wrong people don’t get their hands on them.” When the ghost perked up as they spoke, they took that as a good sign to continue. “But we’re, you know-- good people, right? Whatever this treasure is, we won’t misuse it, will we? We’ll cherish, and um, well--” they looked at the boy with a big smile, hoping this worked-- “treasure it, pun intended.” He chuckled at first, then laughed a little harder. Then he burst out laughing, rolling around so much he toppled from the chest-- allowing Agatha and Julie to finally open it again-- before floating up and away. “Okay,” he said in his sing-song voice, “but if you’re mean or not nice to my treasure, I’ll come haunt you all forever!” Remmy grabbed the map from Agatha as they all dug into the box, and turned to the boy, hushing their voice a little. “Here, I think this is yours,” they said, before reaching in and taking one of the rocks and holding it out to him as well. “We’ll guard your treasure now, and make sure everyone knows how great it is. Okay?” he seemed forlorn, at first, as if he were about to cry-- but then his hands took the objects Remmy was holding out to him, and he smiled, big and bright. “Thank you,” he said, “that’s all I wanted. And also! I made a special, hidden door. It’s behind the chest. You all can get out faster that way. I would use it when my mom would call me home.” Remmy grinned. “Thank you,” they muttered. “Okay. Bye funny people! Remember what I said!” And when his outline disappeared, Remmy couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

They turned to look back at everyone, before grabbing a few of the rocks. They looked relatively normal, though they were smoother and had funny patterns inside the stones themselves. And, somehow, Remmy knew they were special. When they looked up again, they pointed to something on the map.

Grace yelped as the lid to the chest shut. She wasn’t sure what had happened, maybe one of the hinges was loose? She folded her hands in her lap as she rocked back on her heels. She twisted around to look at Remmy as they spoke, and it seemed far too encouraging to be for any of them. She wondered if Remmy just really liked rocks. Grace stood up and dusted her hands against the backs of her jeans. She looked down as Agatha and Julie were successful in re-opening the chest. She looked on at the rocks with a tilt of her head. She still wasn’t sure what was special about them. Grace wasn’t blind to the fact that Remmy was suddenly speaking to the air, their hands outstretched with a rock in their palm to nothing. She bit her tongue, not sure what was going on-- she couldn’t discount that there was something going on, especially with what she had already been through. She looked at the rocks in Remmy’s hand, interest baited her, “what are those?” She wasn’t sure what was going on, or why Remmy had spoken to the air, but she wanted to know what was so special about the rocks that they’d go on a treasure hunt to find them. Grace was curious, to say the least. “Should we get out of here? Look at them where we’re not being threatened by killer rats?” She asked, half-jokingly.

A way out? That was good to know. This trip had run its course. Julie reached for a rock, turning it over in her hand before putting in her pocket. She wasn’t really one to carry things like that but eh, it would be nice to have something to remember this trip. Moving to the chest, Julie pushed it away, surprised the ghost runt was telling the truth. “Hey, seems like this is the way to go.” She pointed at and glanced over at Remmy who was well aware. She gave them a knowing smile before looking at everyone else. This was definitely a lot weirder than she had anticipated but hey, at least they got some lame rocks at the end? She winced at her own thoughts. It was definitely time to go home before she started to feel touched by some stupid ghost’s rocks.

“We could have arrived through here the whole time?!” Agatha exclaimed. All this had been a lot of fun, and she had grabbed a rock as a souvenir of their adventure. Had they arrived through the exit door, it might have not been as enjoyable. She wondered if the rest of them had had as much fun as herself, or if they would admit to enjoying their little trip. The memory of those bones was however feeling like an itch in her head, and she wouldn’t take too long to report it, starting with animal control. She doubted anyone would be thrilled by the idea of working among rats after all. “Well, this was fun. We should do it again sometime soon!”

As everyone dispersed, Remmy couldn’t help but smile. They climbed up the back stairs and found themselves almost on the complete opposite end of town that they started in. Not only had they had a good time, no one had gotten hurt, and they’d made a few new friends-- at least, they hoped. Agatha was nice and not afraid to take control, and Grace was sweet and seemed new to all this. Both of them seemed like great people Remmy wanted to get to know more of. And Julie, of course, was her usual self. Not that Remmy minded. Her casual demeanor and grumpy attitude was kinda cute, after all. She reminded them of Luce a little. And, even after all of that, they’d been able to help a ghost move on, even if just a little. All in all, it had been a good day. Maybe things really were looking up.

“C’mon Moose,” they said, patting him on the head, “let’s head home. Figure out what’s so special about these rocks, huh?”

#chatzy #wickedswriting #what's new scooby-doo #chatzy: agatha #chatzy: grace #chatzy: julie #group chatzy #agatha #grace #julie

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prettymuchdolansbitch · 5 years ago

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moved on (2) | Zion Kuwonu

After Zion running away from you, you decided you had enough interaction for the night. You told Izzy you were leaving and she said that she was gonna catch a ride with someone else.

You said bye to her and everyone else. Before you were about to walk out the door, Wolfie stopped you. “You leaving?” He said blocking the door with how big he was.

“Yeah, i’m tired as hell. I’ll see you soon, hopefully.” You hug him and he hugs back, but whispers something only you could hear. “Zion misses you a lot, more than he’ll probably show. But i just thought you’d know” He pulled away and waited for a reaction of any sort.

“I’m sure he’s fine” You smiled and walked out the door to go to your car. Driving home you felt uneasy. You did want to talk to Zion and work things out because before anything happened between you two, you guys were friends.

—

It’s been almost a week since the tour ended and you have surprisingly been hanging with Izzy and Maggie a lot. You didn’t think they would still hang with you considering Zion & your’s situation, but they never mentioned him.

That was until they invited you to the PM house after a brunch date you guys had. You had nothing better to do since Grayson was busy filming all day, so you figured it’s now or never to have your talk with Zion.

You got more nervous the closer you got to the house. When Maggie pulled into the driveway, you were tempted to call an uber to take you home already.

You guys got out of the car and Brandon was the first to greet you guys, ending with greeting his girlfriend with a kiss.

“Go head, everyones inside just chillin” B said gesturing towards the door. You followed Izzy inside and immediately got pounced on by Simba. “Hi baby!” You giggled as he licked your face.

You saw Neveah, Choppy, and some other guys playing games in the living room. Edwin was in the kitchen making tik toks with some friends, and Zion was no where to be seen. “I’ll be right back.” You told Izzy and slipped into the hall with the bedrooms.

You walked to the familiar door and knocked. The first thing you noticed was the strong smell of weed coming from his room. “Hold up” You heard his voice and wanted to run around the corner and pretend you weren’t there. Before you could run, the door swung open.

“Y/n? What’re you doing here?” He said coughing up smoke. “Uh, Mag invited me over after our brunch.. If you don’t want me here i can-“

“No no, come in.” He said opening his door wider. You saw his friend Malak sitting in front of Zion’s computer rolling another blunt. “Aye bro, finish outside.” Zion said from behind you.

“Huh? Oh. Ight say less. Sup Y/N” He said grabbing all his things and getting up. “Hi M” You laughed watching him carry everything he needed.

As soon as Malak closed the door, Zion sat on the chair his friend was just on. You stood, not knowing if you should sit on his bed or just stay standing. “You can sit” Zion said scooting closer to his bed. It was as if he could read your mind.

You sat on the edge of his bed, not knowing how to start. “Well you’re obviously nervous, you wanna smoke? Then we can talk.” Zion said pulling a small joint from his dresser. “Please” You laugh a little.

You hold the joint in your mouth as Zion lights it for you. You inhale and hold it in for a second. You blow out the smoke and feel the nervousness slowly leaving your body.

“God i missed smoking.” You say before taking another hit. “When was the last time you smoked?” He asked taking a hit. “Before you left on tour.” You were suddenly hit with a wave of nostalgia. Zion was really the only person you ever wanted to smoke with. His vibe and energy was everything you wanted in that kind of state of mind.

“Listen, i’m sorry about ghosting you. i didn’t mean to, it’s just things got hectic and i-“ “You mean the groupie thing? Honestly, i don’t really care anymore, that was however long ago and i moved on. We broke up before tour for a reason, i shouldn’t have been surprised.” You said not really thinking before speaking.

“I mean yeah, but i should’ve spoke up and told you the truth about all of it. Maybe if i did, we wouldn’t be having this talk right now..” Zion began biting his lip and you couldn’t help but stare. “Things happen for a reason. And if i didn’t find out the way i did, i probably wouldn’t have met Grayson” You smile to yourself thinking about your boyfriend.

“How did that happen, if you don’t mind me asking.” Zion took another hit to prepare for this story. “Well, i was with Choppy and them promoting Young & Reckless, when i found out about you. Broke my heart, so i went to the beach for some peace and quiet. When i got there, Grayson was there for a night swim. He scared me really, i didn’t know what the fuck was coming out of the water.” You laugh thinking about that night.

“But something just felt like he was literally sent to me. I don’t know” You finish the joint and throw it out Zion’s window.

Zion hated hearing how you guys met. He hated that you had to find out from Chop. He hated that you weren’t together. “That’s good.. I hope you’re doing good.” Zion said staring at the floor. “No yeah i’m great. Might love the kid, don’t know yet..” You noticed that Zion got silent. “So the groupies, were they actually?” You teased him.

“Funny. No, they were actually friends. Just friends that the fans didn’t know so you know how they escalate things.” Zion laughed. “Good good. Alright, so we’re good right?” You got up now. “Yeah, glad we got that over with. Friends?” Zion said opening his arms.

You hugged him and then went for the door. “Can you tell Mal to come back in here?” Z said before you shut the door.

You tried to compose yourself before heading back into the living room. You saw Malak by the window about to light up. “Mal, Z requested you” You laughed and sat on the couch next to Maggie.

He got up and went back to Zion’s room. “How’d it go?” Maggie asked patting your leg. “We friends again” You smiled slightly. “Thank god.” She said and tilted her head back dramatically.

Zion on the other hand was in his room stuck in the chair. Malak walked into the room and saw Zion frozen, deep in thought. “You good bro?” He asked while lighting the blunt.

“I’m gonna win her back.”

#zion kuwonu imagine #zion kuwonu #prettymuch #grayson dolan #moved on

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365daysofsasuhina · 5 years ago

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[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Twenty-Nine: Watermelon ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto ] [ SasuHina, NaruSaku, pregnancy ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

Watermelon isn’t exactly something Sasuke’s really considered when it isn’t Summer. To him, it’s a mysterious fruit that only exists when the sun is shining and the temperature is enough to melt your shoes to the sidewalk if you don’t walk quickly enough. Otherwise, it’s like a cryptid: you swear you saw it once, but only when it wants you to.

But, he’s got a bit of a dilemma on his hands. You see, Sasuke is married. Newly so...sort of. It’s been about a year and a half. And Hinata - his wife, his darling, his missing piece - is about three months pregnant.

And she is craving watermelon.

...in the dead of Winter.

At first, he gives her a confused blink. “...how am I supposed to find watermelon now? It’s too cold.”

Sipping her tea, it’s Hinata turn to look befuddled. “...I’m...pretty sure there’s imports from further south. Where do you think all the other f-fruits come from, Sasuke?.”

He then proceeds to feel like a massive idiot. A faint hint of red tinges the tips of his ears. “Er...right. I’ll just…” He gestures. “I’ll run to the store, see if I can find some.”

“Thank you.”

“Anything else you’ve been craving lately? I’ll try to get a few things in case you change your mind.”

Her lips pout. “I haven’t been that bad, have I…?”

“Not really, but if I’m gonna go…”

She sighs. “...peanut butter. Cucumber. And...pretzels.”

“...all right then. Do we need anything else?”

“Check the list on the fridge. I’ve been t-trying to keep track.”

“Got it. Text me if you think of anything else, okay?”

“I will!”

Lifting from his seat, Sasuke takes a moment to press lips to the crown of her head, making a pitstop in the kitchen for the list before heading out to the car. Thankfully the list of necessities (even counting Hinata’s goodies) isn’t too long. Shouldn’t take him too much time to zip in, cross them all off, and then head home.

Simple, right?

Pulling into the parking lot, Sasuke double checks the list. Most is written in Hinata’s bubbly, tidy handwriting, with his own scratchy scrawl adding her little addendum for pregnancy snacks. Phone, wallet, and keys in his pockets, he leaves the vehicle behind and heads in.

It’s a bit busy, but thankfully not too crowded. A cart’s grabbed, wheeling it through all the proper aisles. By now, he’s more than familiar with the place’s layout. He’s been coming here since he was a kid with his mom, after all.

Last, he hits up the produce section.

The little sprinklers give the coolers a spritz, but that’s not where Sasuke’s headed. The little pre-packaged bits of melon are stupidly expensive compared to a whole one by the pound. Sure, it’s all a bit high given the season, but he can’t not get what Hinata wants. She’s currently in the middle of letting an entire new person take up residency in her middle. The least he can do is shell out a few extra bucks to help make that a bit more bearable.

Approaching the melons in question, he flicks eyes between them all. Some are long and thin, some are stout and plump. Is there...any difference? Tentatively, he picks up one of the rounder fruits, and...gives it a tap.

...he really doesn’t know what it’s supposed to sound like, though. He just knows everyone does that.

Sasuke gives his surroundings a furtive glance. Thankfully no one is watching him… This is the last thing he needs to get, and he doesn’t want any weird looks for his attempts to find a decent melon.

“Hey! Sasuke!”

...oh, great.

Pulling up alongside his friend’s cart, none other than Naruto gives a grin. “Bit out of season for that, huh?”

“...Hinata wants one,” the Uchiha explains a bit flatly.

“Ohhh...cravings, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Man, I know how that goes...Sakura’s been ordering me around to get her all sorts of stuff lately! It wouldn’t be so rough if she didn’t get so grumpy about it.”

Sasuke can’t help a small scoff. “Hormones making her temper even worse than usual?”

“Oh man, you have no idea!” After a pause to glance around as though fearing she’ll appear behind him, Naruto leans forward and whispers, “She went on a huge rant this morning cuz I left the toilet seat up! I’ve done that for ages, but all of a sudden it’s like I insulted her mother or something!”

The Uchiha’s nose wrinkles. “...you leave the toilet seat up?”

“I - what? Are you gonna scold me now, too?”

“...you ever try to sit on a toilet when the seat is up? Not fun. But still...yeah, the hormones can be a killer. I take it you’re on a mission to make up for it, now?”

“Ugh, yeah...that and restock on her current craving…” Reaching into his cart, Naruto pulls up a jar, looking disgusted. “Green olives. That’s so gross!”

“They’re not that bad.”

“Says you! Your favorite food is a vegetable, you can’t be trusted.”

“Technically, a tomato is a fruit.”

“Whatever!” The blond replaces the jar with a sigh. “Every time she eats some, her breath smells so rank! And if I tell her, she gets mad again! I even got her some breath mints, and she got all offended!”

“You just don’t know how to read people, Naruto. Especially women.”

“Hey man, I’m trying my best! I just can’t wait until she has this kid and goes back to normal...she might be grumpy most of the time, but nothing like this…!”

Sasuke sighs, giving his friend a sympathetic smile.

“What about you? Any disasters yet?”

“Well, she hasn’t gotten angry at anything.”

“Really?”

“No. But she cries at the drop of a hat. She stepped on a bug on the kitchen floor the other day and sobbed about it for like fifteen minutes.”

“Whoa…”

“I mean, Hina’s always been a softie. But it’s like Sakura’s temper: cranked up to eleven. Which hasn’t been so bad, but man...seems like every time I turn around she’s crying about something. She even sulked all day last Wednesday because I only said I loved her once before I left for work. And she was still mopey when I got home! Took me forever to get her to tell me why.”

At that, Naruto laughs out loud. “Wow, yeah...that’s pretty bad, dude. But I think I’d trade you any day of the week. Tears aren’t as bad as shouting and glaring…”

“Sorry, no exchanges on wives. I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got, tears and all. You got yourself into that temper trap.”

The Uzumaki sighs with a pout. “Yeah, yeah...I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s great. Smart, and funny, and sassy! And don’t even get me started on the se-”

“Don’t go there, please.”

“I just wish she’d chill out sometimes. But then again...I think my volume gets on her nerves. Guess we’ve all got something that drives people crazy, huh?”

Sasuke blinks. In all honesty...not much comes to mind when he tries to come up with something Hinata does that bugs him. Now he wonders if she’d say the same about him…

“Anyway, uh...guess I’ll leave you to your melon picking, huh?”

“What? Oh...yeah.”

“Here...lemme see…” Taking the fruit, Naruto puts it to his ear and thumps. “...yup! That’s a good one!”

“...how can you tell?”

“I dunno, I just...know! Trust me, she’ll love it. Better get it back to her before she starts sobbin’, huh?” The blond gives a cheeky grin before waving. “Later!”

At a bit of a loss, Sasuke glances down to the watermelon before just...putting it in the cart. Naruto better be right about this…

One stint in the check out line later, and he’s loading up the bags to head for home. Everything’s been crossed off his list, and it’s only been about half an hour. Hopefully Hinata’s all right...and her craving hasn’t changed.

“Hinata?” he calls, juggling the bags and the door handle.

“Coming!” She quickly joins him, taking a bag or two and shutting the door. “That was quick!”

“Was it?”

“Mhm!”

“Oh...ran into Naruto at the store. Stopped and had a chat.”

“Oh, that was nice! Did he know anything interesting?”

“Eh, not really...he was on craving-food duty, too.”

She makes a sound of understanding. “Poor Sakura...she’s been having really bad leg c-cramps the last few days. It’s made her a bit, um...short-tempered, seems like. I was talking to her this morning.”

“...oh yeah?”

“Mhm.”

“...you doing okay?”

“Oh, yes! I’m fine.”

“...all right. Let me know if that changes, all right?”

“...Sasuke…?”

“Just want to be sure you’re comfortable.”

There’s a pause, and then tears well up in Hinata’s eyes, lip trembling. “Y...you’re so sweet…!”

Aw, jeez… “Look, uh...let’s get stuff put away, and I’ll cut open your watermelon.”

“Okay!” Immediately chipper again, Hinata beams, carrying said melon into the kitchen. “I’ve been looking forward to this a-all day!”

After a pause, Sasuke just snorts. So much fuss over one little melon...

.oOo.

This is...super random xD I honestly was at a loss as to what to write for this one, so uh...this is very much out of thin air. idk how pregnancy cravings really work, so hopefully this isn't too unbelievable lol Poor boys, running around keeping their ladies happy x3 But it'll all be worth it in the end, tears and tempers and all, haha! Anyway, it's sups late and I've got stuff to do yet, so that's all from me! Thanks for reading~

#sasuhina #narusaku #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #uzumaki naruto #pregnancy //#best years of your life [ au ]#365daysofsasuhina

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freddiesaysalright · 5 years ago

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Catching Up Part IV

A Joe Mazzello x Reader Story

Summary: Reader is a writer for an entertainment news network and after Joe comes in to do an interview, they reconnect.

Word Count: 2.6K

Tag List: @crazylittlethingcalledobsession, @jennyggggrrr, @somethinginthewayiam, @grandaddy-roger-trash, @rogerloveshiscar, @hopefully-aesthetically-pleasing, @danamaleksworld If you’d like to be added let me know!

Part I Part II Part III

Part IV here we go!!!

Monday rolled around and you dreaded going back to work. Although, you knew Joe was coming in to re-do the Bohemian Rhapsody interview, so you had that to look forward to. The past few days with him had been bliss. Cute dates and great sex. You couldn’t have been happier. The only damper was that Joe was leaving New York a week after the interview at your station. He’d be back the next month, but going so long without seeing him was going to be the wait of a lifetime.

You walked into the newsroom, humming to yourself. You stopped in your tracks when you saw Don sitting at your desk, smiling eerily at you. You shot him a questioning glance as you slowly approached.

“‘Sup?” he said when you reached him.

“Good morning,” you returned. “Is something wrong?”

“Come on, let’s go in my office and talk,” he said.

You set your purse in your seat when he stood up. You shook your jacket off your shoulders and followed him. He closed the door behind you. You worried for a moment he was going to ask you to do the interview again, even though Emily was already at her desk. You took a hesitant seat across from him.

“What’s going on, Don?” you asked.

“Are you seriously going out with Joe Mazzello?” he replied.

Your gaped at him. “I - I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“It is my business,” he said. “When our own magazine Tweets pictures they caught of you two together this weekend.”

Your heart sunk. You thought you’d been so careful.

“Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is for us?” he said, raising his voice slightly. “One of our own writers is sleeping with a source!”

“Hey!” you cried. “He’s just doing a promotional interview. This isn’t an ongoing story. Even if it was, I’m not the reporter on it, so it doesn’t violate any ethical rules!”

“So you are sleeping together?” he wondered.

“You know I’m not going to answer that,” you returned levelly. You were impressed with your own composure. Anger was boiling in the pit of your stomach.

“You can’t see him anymore.”

“You can’t ask that of me.”

You glowered at each other over his desk for a moment. He sighed, rubbing his temples.

“I just don’t get it,” he said almost under his breath, but you still heard.

“There’s nothing to get,” you replied. “Joe and I are two adults having a relationship. It’s no one’s business but ours. If those are your only concerns, I’ll be going now.”

You stood up, turning on your heel and going for the door. He leapt to his feet and grabbed your arm to stop you, turning you to face him. Then, before you could ask what he wanted, he kissed you. You scrunched up your face and shoved him hard away from you.

“What the hell, Don?” you demanded. “Is all this because you’re jealous?! You don’t even like me!”

He looked down, clearly embarrassed. “It’s - uh - well, it’s a weird self preservation thing. When I like someone, I’m ruder to them.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” you returned. “I’m going to say something to you that is insubordinate and grounds for termination, but you need to hear it. If you are attracted to a woman, man up and ask her out. You’re an adult, so quit pulling pigtails.”

You stood there, waiting for him to tell you to pack up your desk, but he just looked at you, shocked.

“Well?” you said. “Are you going to fire me or do I have to tell you how to do that too?”

He rolled his eyes, his usual self returning at last. “You’re not fired. Just...don’t mention this to anyone. I’m sorry.”

“Fine,” you said coldly, and you swept out of the room.

You walked over to your desk. You looked up and saw, once again, the four stars of Bohemian Rhapsody coming into the newsroom for their interview. This time, when you caught Joe’s eye, you smiled. He winked and you waved at him. His presence made your anger melt away. Don didn’t matter.

Putting off your work, you made your way to the green room to say hello.

“Welcome back, guys,” you said warmly.

They all said their thanks as you went to Joe and wrapped your arms around his waist and rested your head on his chest. He kissed the top of your head and you hummed with satisfaction.

“What’s up, babe?” he asked.

“I just like holding you,” you said.

“Well, then by all means, carry on,” he said lightly.

You considered for a moment telling him about what happened between you and Don, but decided against it. He was about to do an interview Don was producing, and you didn’t want any tension there. Especially on Joe’s end since he would be on camera.

Emily came into the room shortly afterward. She was definitely made for daytime television. She had think, beautiful blonde hair. Round, brown doe eyes, and a wide, sparkly smile. She was so pretty, but it was hard to be jealous of her because she was also so kind.

“Hey!” she greeted, her thick Georgia accent coming through already. She took in you and Joe. “Aw, y’all are cute! Good for you, Y/N!”

You and Joe looked at each other and smiled in a way you were sure was disgusting to the onlookers in the room.

“Well, I’m Emily,” she said, shaking hands with all of them. “I just wanted to come by and introduce myself before we got started. And apologize for last week. I heard Don was pretty rude.”

“Well, to Y/N, yeah,” said Joe. “But not to us.”

“Still, it was unprofessional,” she said. “He’s still producing the segment, though.”

“Really, it’s alright,” said Gwilym.

As if summoned by the mention of him, Don poked his head in the door. You refused to meet his gaze, burying your face in Joe’s chest and closing your eyes.

“Emily, gentlemen,” he said, nodding to them. “We’re gonna get started in just a few minutes. Y/N, if you could get back to your desk and do some actual work, please.”

You rolled your eyes. To be extra snarky, you kissed Joe long and passionately before you left. But when you got to your desk, you ignored your work further. You jumped on Twitter - which wasn’t abnormal since you often wrote for the social media accounts associated with the network - and found the magazine’s page. The first thing up under the pinned Tweet was the picture of you and Joe. It was a nice picture. You were grinning at each other.

The Tweet just said your name, under your byline, and that you and Joe were the “new flame.” It had pretty good traffic too. There were about two hundred comments, eight hundred retweets, and one thousand likes. You clicked on it to read the replies, hoping that no one recognized you. You had not posted a picture of yourself online since the ones your ex leaked, for fear that someone would reverse search and match your face to the one in the nudes.

The replies were mostly shocked emojis, people congratulating you and Joe, or something nasty about your appearance. You read every single one of them, looking for any chance that someone had linked your image. You breathed a sigh of relief when you read the last one and it hadn’t happened. You kept the page open to keep an eye on it in case that changed. But for now, you could breathe a sigh of relief.

When the interview was over, Joe took you to lunch. You chose a casual place and got burgers. You laughed and talked together. At one point you were tossing French fries at each other, trying to catch them in your mouths, much to the amusement of a baby at the next table over, who giggled, high pitched and adorable.

“Oh, hey, bud,” Joe cooed. “Didn’t see you there.”

The baby gurgled some nonsense back and Joe nodded thoughtfully. “You make a very good point, there. I agree.”

A smile parted your lips as you looked on at Joe having a full, made-up conversation with this little baby boy. It was the sweetest thing you’d ever seen.

“What’s that?” Joe said, leaning closer as the boy said something that sounded like “a-goo.” Joe looked between you and the boy. “Well, you can tell her that yourself.” A beat passed and then the boy went “ga!” loudly and pumped his tiny fists in the air. “Alright, I’ll tell her if you’re really that shy about it.” He looked at you. “He says you look very beautiful today.”

You brought your hand to your chest and gasped dramatically. “My, my! What a kind compliment from such a handsome boy!” You looked at the baby and wiggled a finger at him.

Finally, the mother, who had been in deep conversation with her girlfriends, noticed you and Joe entertaining her son. She smiled.

“Wow, I didn’t realize Russell was over here making some new friends,” she said kindly.

“He’s quite the chatterbox,” said Joe, offering his hand to shake. “I’m Joe, this is my girlfriend, Y/N.”

“Nancy,” she replied. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for keeping him busy.”

“No problem,” you assured her.

“He is a great conversationalist,” Joe continued. “And a bit of a flirt.”

She chuckled. “Would you like to hold him?”

“Heck yeah!” he replied.

Smiling still, she took Russell from his carrier. He shrieked with excitement as she put him in Joe’s arms. He twisted his face up to earn laughter from Russell. They babbled back and forth to each other and you thought your heart might explode from how adorable it all was.

“Honey, you need to keep him,” Nancy said to you under her breath. “He’s gonna be an incredible dad one day.”

“We’re just starting out,” you told her. “But it’s something to keep in mind for sure.”

Russell and Nancy left shortly after, but you looked at Joe like he hung the moon.

“You really like kids, huh?” you observed.

“Oh, yeah,” he returned. “My nephews are like, the lights of my life.”

“That’s so sweet,” you said. “Are you going to see them while you’re in town?”

He nodded. “Yeah, actually. This afternoon. But I’m free the rest of the week if you want to spend some time before we leave.”

“Absolutely,” you returned. “I already took the time off work.”

“Aw, you didn’t have to do that,” he said.

“I want to be with you, Joe,” you said. “Work just isn’t as important.”

He smiled and leaned over the table for a kiss. You thought of how your day started compared to what you were feeling now. Don didn’t matter. Twitter pictures didn’t matter. All you needed was Joe to take you out of your fear and and anxiety.

The week passed far too quickly. You took Joe to the airport, parked, and walked him inside. You hated that you couldn’t go all the way to the gate with him, but he had a little bit of time before he absolutely had to be there. After he checked his bag, he came back to you. Hot tears filled your eyes and you tried to wipe them away before he saw. He still saw.

“Aw, baby, don’t cry,” he said, pulling you into his arms. “I’ll call you every night. And, if you’re comfortable with it, we can face time.”

You looked up at him, color draining from your face. “I don’t know about that.”

“That’s okay,” he said, rubbing your arms. “Like I said, only if you’re comfortable.”

You rested your forehead on his chest, relishing each moment you had him here in your arms. Where you could really feel him there with you. You etched the details into your memory to hold you through the next eight weeks until he returned. The rhythm of his heartbeat. The soft warmth of his skin. The way he drummed his impatient fingers against you.

He leaned in and kissed you, and you gave the kiss similar treatment. Although, with the way he kissed you it was hard to concentrate. It was passionate and yet soft. Romantic. A kiss to remember on nights you missed him most.

“I’m not saying this to freak you out, okay?” he said. “But Y/N, I really think I’m falling in love with you.”

Neither of you had used the word “love” before. It felt soon, but it also didn’t. It didn’t scare you to hear that from Joe. In fact, it excited you. You beamed through your tears.

“I’m falling in love with you too,” you said.

He sighed, relieved, and kissed you again. He checked his watch.

“I’ve got to get through security,” he said.

“I’m gonna miss you,” you told him.

“I’m gonna miss you too,” he returned.

With one last kiss and squeeze of your hand, he let go. You watched him until he disappeared through the line. It felt like your whole heart was going with him.

The weeks without Joe passed in a haze. You were exhausted all the time and becoming oddly emotional about him. Each time you hung up with him at night, you cried to yourself a little, missing him so much. You were an emotional person, but you’d never felt so weepy before. It concerned you, but you knew you’d also never felt this strongly about someone before.

After a month of Joe being gone, you were finishing up your feature article on up and coming female directors. The deadline was the following day, and you were making the final edits before submitting it to your editor to look over.

A sudden wave of nausea hit you. You felt your stomach churn uncomfortably, and you pressed your hand to it, frowning. You’d had a normal breakfast so you couldn’t imagine what was causing this. Your body heaved, and you jumped up to run to the bathroom. You just barely made it into a stall - not even having time to lock it behind you - and you vomited into the toilet. It took a few minutes before you were done and sat back on the floor.

“Rough night?” came the voice of Don from the door.

You jumped and squeaked with fright. “God, Don! I know this is a unisex, but don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Are you sick? Do you need to go home?”

“I don’t know,” you replied.

“Well, whatever this is, I don’t want it spread around the office,” he said. “Go ahead and take the day off.”

Tears sprang to your eyes. “Don…that’s so nice.”

“Holy shit, it’s not that nice,” he said, eyes widening. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Everything makes me cry recently, so I’m sorry for the waterworks,” you said with a sniffle. “But I probably should go home.”

“Please do,” he said. “I’m...so uncomfortable.”

You thanked him again before leaving the office and heading home. When you entered your apartment, Christy was there, reading on the couch. She worked in an upscale restaurant that was only open in the evening, so she was home all day.

“You’re home early,” she said.

“Yeah,” you said, wiping tears from your face.

“Everything okay?” she wondered, setting the book down.

“I don’t know,” you told her.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m so tired, I’m emotional as hell, and I just threw up at work. In front of Don.”

“Jesus,” she muttered. “I hope you’re not pregnant.”

You stared at her, wide eyed. She sighed.

“Let’s go to the store.”

You went together and picked up a couple tests. When you came home and took them, the result was always the same. Pregnant. You still had two weeks before Joe returned to New York. How on Earth were you going to tell him?

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello x you #joe mazzello imagine #bohemian rhapsody #borhap #borhap boys #borhap imagine #borhap cast #queen #queen imagine #john deacon #john deacon x reader #john deacon imagine #john deacon x you #gwilym lee #rami malek #ben hardy

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stripey-demon-man · 5 years ago

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Chapter one // Chapter two

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Beetlejuice x Reader chapter 3

2nd person pov

You wake up at 7:30 AM, well before your alarm is supposed to go off. You didnt have to be at the bakery until 10 and it was only a 5-10 minute drive there, so you decide to cook some breakfast. Right before you reached the kitchen, memories of the day before flooded back to you. You remembered that there was a dead guy in your house as of now, and why he's here. After a while of standing there, you finally start moving to the kitchen again. You were about to get out enough for the both of you, but then you remembered that, well, he's dead. Could dead people eat food? You didn't wanna take your chances, and ended up making enough for the both of you. You had just finished making the pancakes when Beetlejuice walked out of the guest room. "What's that smell?" He asked, which got a laugh out of you for some reason. "I made pancakes, you want some?" You asked him, and he quickly nodded. "Alright, just go sit down on the couch, I'll bring you some," You said, and he quickly went over to the couch. You put some pancakes on yours and his plate and brought them to the table in front of your couch. "I'll be back with the syrup," You told him. You went to the kitchen to grab some syrup and silverware, and then returned to the living room and placed the container of syrup on the table, and a knife and a fork on each plate. You honestly didn't expect him to use the knife or the fork, but you also didn't wanna be rude. He reached for the syrup and went to pour some on his food, but unfortunately, he has terrible aim. He ended up getting some on the table, and he did his best to laugh it off but it was so obvious that he was embarrassed. "Haha, uhh, I'll clean this up," He said, but you quicky stopped him. "No, i can get it," You said, and got up to go get a washcloth and ran it under some water. You returned to the living room and moved his plate a bit so it'd be easier to clean, and quickly washed up the syrup before returning to the kitchen to try to wash some of the syrup out of the washcloth, and then putting the washcloth into the laundry hamper. You returned to the living room to see a very embarrassed looking Beetlejuice on your couch. "It's fine, really. You'd be surprised by how many times that happens regularly," You told him. He seemed to relax a bit at that statement. "Here, let me pour it for you this time," You suggest, grabbing the container and pouring some of it onto his food. "Thanks," He said, and you simply nodded with a smile. You then turned to your own food and poured some syrup on it, and began cutting it to make it easier to eat. Meanwhile Beetlejuice was just picking them up and eating them over the plate, making a mess on his fingers. You laughed a bit, but not loud enough for him to hear. You didn't wanna hurt his feelings, after all. You finally start eating and after a bit you're already done. You look over and see that Beetlejuice was done as well, and looked rather satisfied with his meal. "Hey, you might wanna go wash your hands bud," You suggest, he then looks down and sees that his hands have syrup all over them, and looks at you like hes actually confused. "If you need help or something i can help you, i just know that sticky hands are no fun," You tell him. "Yeah, uh, somr help would be nice," He says, and so you take him to the bathroom to help him wash his hands, and after a while he figures it out. You two then walked out, and you went to go wash the dishes, and after you finish up, it's about time for you to get going. You see Beetlejuice in the living room, standing awakwardly. "Uh, well, i gotta go to work. I wish i could stay but i kinda have to make a living. I'll be back at around 5:30 to 6 PM, please don't destroy anything while I'm gone," You say, and he nods, and with that, you're off to work.

(time skip to after work bc im lazy)

You stop by your house for a bit, it was curently 5:46 PM and you needed to tutor Lydia at 6:30 PM, but you wanted to see how Mr. Bugjuice man was doing, so you step into the house to see him sitting there on the couch watching TV. You greet him by saying "Hello," and he responds with "'Sup babes," and a smile on his face. The nickname was kind of unexpected, but you weren't exactly against it. You go to the kitchen to grab a small bag of chips before putting it in your bag, you then go to your room and grab the papers and books that you would need to tutor Lydia. "I have to leave again, since i gotta tutor someone, but I'll be back in probably half an hour," You tell him. He had stood up after you had gone to the kitchen, and so he just looked at you. "Why are you always so busy?" He asked, and you shrugged. "Dunno, between work and tutoring there isn't a whole lot of time," You tell him. He pauses for a moment, looking down, before looking back up to you. "Is that why you were at Lydia's house the other day?" He asks, and then you started to wonder how the heck he knew her name. "Yeah," You say, and he simply nods. "Oh, okay," he says, then goes back to the couch. You walk out the door with your bags in hand, and make your way back to your car. On the way to Lydia's house, you began to wonder again how he knew Lydia's name, but then you remember the conversation you two had had the previous day. She had said that there was one other person that was there that she "wasn't gonna say the name of." Beetlejuice had asked you to say his name right? What is he's the one that she didn't wanna talk about? It would make sense, she wouldn't say his name because then you could summon him. You decided to keep it to yourself, though. You still wanted to see how he would act naturally, and if you were to interrogate him about his relationship with Lydia, he probably wouldn't be too happy. This was a lot to process, but hopefully it would be fine. You eventually reach Lydia's house, and then knock. A woman answers, looks at you, and then shouts "LYDIA, SOMEONE'S AT THE DOOR I THINK IT'S YOUR TUTOR!!" This was kinda loud and unexpected, but you didn't say anything. "Ok, I'll be right there mom!" You here Lydia's voice calling down from upstairs. You see her walk downstairs, and then the woman who was at the door motioned for you to come in, and so you did. Lydia was already downstairs, and sat down at the table with her stuff. You walk over and sit down with her, and pull out your stuff, then the two of you get to work.

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aaahhhh this took me a while im sorryyyyy i really hope you liked this i tried

also yes Lydia calls Delia mom

#alex brightman #beetlejuice x reader #broadway #beetlejuice #delia beetlejuice #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice broadway

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razorblade180 · 5 years ago

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Lasting Embers pt21: Wariness of battle

[Menagerie]

*Blake still on the phone with Yang. Sun and Ilia are in the room.*

Sun:So, what’s the situation?

Yang:Nora got attacked in the Emerald Forest by what looked like to be at least fifteen cult members. They new when to get her, what time to take out Mercury and Emerald, and also knew about Tenzen despite them being out of the fight for so long.

Ilia:Are Mercury and Emerald okay? Those two aren’t the kind to just simply go down easily.

Yang:They were ambushed and said before they could really do anything they were overwhelmed by grimm. If it wasn’t for Tenzen then this story would have a pretty horrific story. He’s the only reason we even know about the attack; the only reason we made it in time.

Blake:Where is everyone now?

Yang:We’re all at my dad’s house recuperating. Emerald wounds were bad but not life threatening while Mercury is currently bedridden. He got pretty roughed up but he’ll pull through. Nora is up and active thanks to Jaune. Tenzen however, he’s unconscious. Things got dicey for him at the very end. I’m told he’ll be fine. Everyone should pull through.

Sun:Blake, this seems to be way too coordinated to be the acts of a dying cult. Whitley, Jacquelyn, now Nora. I hate to say it but-

Blake:We missed something huge; something detrimental.

Yang:I hate to ask but it would be really nice to have you here. Ruby’s is on edge about this and frankly so am I. Weiss already said she’ll head out as quick as possible.

Blake:As much as I would love to hop on a airship right now I can’t. The festival here is in honor of my return and I have to attend; honestly everyone knowing I’m back is gonna make everything from here on out difficult for me. I’ll show up first chance I get when it’s all over though. I’m technically not in power again yet.

Sun:That role is still on me miraculously. *making a call*

Ilia:Who are you calling?

Sun:All these attacks on families yet I’ve heard nothing from Neo in Argus. It has me concerned.

Yang:Don’t you mean “text?” Last time I checked she wasn’t really chatty.

Ilia:Oh she’s pretty chatty these days. Adam’s eye wasn’t the only thing the creation relic was used for. Neo can talk and next chance you get you should tell Mercury to roll up his pants. Seemed like a fair trade for working in our organization.

Yang:I can see why you were a team leader; you’ve been busy.

Sun:Just making the most of crappy situations.

*a hologram pops up with Neo standing there waving. There’s blood on her clothes*

Neo:Sup boss, I was just about to report in actually. The Arc family was attacked yesterday.

Ilia:WHAT!?

Blake:This just keeps getting worse...

Neo:Relax, everyone is fine. Adrian had a construction job and thought one of the buildings listed seemed a bit off. He notified me about it and sure enough 45 members using it as a place to hide until they captured everyone.

Sun:Why am I hearing about this only now!?

Neo:I’ve been busy being your top operative that’s why!

Ilia:You’re ranked number three; only behind myself and Adam because you’re a bit.....of a wild card.

Neo:Regardless, I’m arguably the best around; especially with assignments like these. My report is late because I moved the entire family to a safe place on the Atlas base then made an identical copy of their house for the cult to raid with my semblances. Shit like that takes time that can’t be wasted.

Yang:*shocked* 45 members? That’s extremely excessive and more than a few stragglers.

Neo:They were all basically fodder. The only reason for their numbers so high has to because either they wanted the family captured in one fell swoop, or they thought that would be enough to stop me. I guess they might’ve feared the military being close by too.

Sun:Where are the members now?

Neo:They walked into the decoy house only for it to be an abandoned building with me inside. All of them fought their hardest but ended up the same; tortured for information and killed. Now they’re buried deep under rubble because it “just so happened” that building was set for demolition and destroyed by Adrian. Simple as that.

Blake:You tortured and killed 45 people....

Neo:infiltration and information gathering is why I’m ranked so high. Not to mention I did it all alone. I’m a wild card for sure. I’m sort of a badass.

Sun:Focus Neo, what did you learn?

Neo:Nothing important; like I said they were fodder. Given orders by some boss they don’t even know the name of. I thought they were bluffing but annoyingly they were all just pawns. Not even an actual member here looked like they could lead for a second or even the grimm using type. Now someone like that might know something of use.

Ilia:What are chances any of your assailants are still alive Yang?

Yang:Surprisingly, exactly one. He lead the attack and Jaune wanted answers to. He isn’t saying anything though; he’s been trained real well or still in too much pain from his broken legs.

Neo:I bet I could get him to sing like a bird if I had a moment with him.

Yang:More than welcome to try. Frankly I’m tired of looking at the guy and I don’t have the stomach to do what you do.

Neo:Well you might have to because unless you ship him over here I can’t leave. The Arc family is safe for now but I don’t them alone.

Ilia:They won’t be, I’ll take your spot and you can go to Atlas to catch a ride with Weiss to Vale.

Sun:Are you really okay with that? You just got back.

Ilia:Eh, this is very important. Besides, festivals were never really my scene anyways. *smiles*

Blake:I guess it’s settled then. Let’s keep everything about this between us for now. That includes Adam; I don’t want him involved in this if I could help it.

Ilia:You’re the boss. Well, former boss. *leaves* I’ll pack my things and head out.

Neo:I’m gonna go clean up. Blood takes forever to get out. *hangs up*

Sun:Sigh, this sure kills the festive mood a bit. I’m gonna triple check all set ups and just make sure everything stays peaceful for tonight. *kisses Blake and leaves*

Yang:You want to keep Adam out the loop?

Blake:You can call me soft or sentimental but I don’t want him wondering around the world more than he needs to. His family really missed him.

Yang:I know how that goes. This whole thing is gonna blow over right....?

Blake:We can only be so lucky. Be safe alright?

Yang:You too Blake, I’ll call back later. *hangs up and starts walking through her childhood home*

Despite the countless years, things remain the same. From the scuffs on the wooden floor to the photos on the wall leading to her old room.

Yang:*slowly opens the door to peak in on Tenzen.*......

Tenzen:*laying in her old bed asleep. A purple bruise across his nose and on his left cheek. Bandages across his bare chest and slightly bruised ribs*

Yujin:*sitting by his bed on the floor. Placing the bracelet he gave her back into his hand and holding it tightly* I think you need jade dragon luck more than I do right now....

Yang:Sigh.....

Jaune:*behind Yang* She’s not gonna leave his side until he wakes up you know? Hopefully it won’t take too long.

Yang:Can’t you help speed up the process a little? I mean the kid still has some pretty bad bruises.

Jaune:Tenzen’s semblance and mine don’t really compliment each other. I’ve done all I’ve can for now; natural rest is the best thing for him now.

Yang:How’s our special guest?

Jaune:See for yourself *gestures outside*

*Jericho tied against a tree as he’s propped up on the ground as the remaining friends and family of Yang rest outside*

Nora:*watching him like a hawk*......

Jericho:You know is this really necessary? *looks at his crippled legs* I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to. You worried I might almost kill you again.

Ren:Talk to her again and I’ll snap your neck.

Jericho:That would make you really bad at interrogation. I guess your mind has gotten weaker with your body.

*Before Ren gets the chance to walk over to him he’s stopped by Nora. Quelling his anger and preventing him from doing anything he’ll regret*

Jericho:Honestly both of you are a little disappointing. I thought huntsmen where supposed be honored by civilization and feared by villains. I don’t feel very afraid of-*cresent rose wraps around the tree as the blade presses against his neck*

Ruby:If you’re gonna talk then it better be about something valuable. Otherwise I’d recommend you keep quiet.

Jericho:So the Red Reaper finally speaks. I’ll admit that you are the only one that’s worth being afraid of around here. After all, you’re the only one here with nothing to lose. *smirks*

Ruby:*adds more pressure, cutting his neck slightly*

Jericho:Ooo did I strike a nerve?

Tai:Don’t let him get to you Ruby.

*Jaune and Yang finally come walking out the house. Jaune’s sword drawn and ready to strike*

Jericho:Someone looks a little-AH!!

Jaune:*stabbing his leg* I can understand a lot of things like attacking people who are actively going after you. But please explain why the hell I was just told my family was almost murdered?*digs the blade in*

Jericho:*grits teeth* Hehehe so I guess that means they screwed up the job. How *spits blood* unfortunate.

Jaune:Honestly what the hell is wrong with you bastards!? Why rope kids into this? Why go after distant relatives and people who don’t know anything about how the world really works.

Jericho:Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one? Can you truly not grasp the simple concept of our warfare? I know one of you probably gets it as clear as day. *looks at Raven*

Raven:....Sigh, it’s psychological and emotional torture. However, I’ve never known anybody to commit to that kind of tactic for over a decade.

Jericho:True but what choice do we have? You’re all too damn strong for your own good. No well we could move the way we want to when you people are at your best. So we use fear.

Ruby:*stares him down* No one here is afraid of scum like you.

Jericho:Mmmm such hate in those eyes. We aren’t trying to make you afraid of us my darling, you’re fear lies in living another day knowing things will never be the same.

Everyone:......

Jericho:Does it haunt you often? Knowing tomorrow is another day without the intimate love you once had? The mentor’s warm embrace you grew up with ripped away from you? Are you even sure how they died?

Ruby:*eyes slightly soften as she takes a step back* What are you going on about.

Jericho:It’s a simple question I know you’ve had to talk about. I bet you like to think it was as painless as possible but that’s impossible to know. The screams of your late husband as he burned alive, or maybe it was quiet gasps as he crushed by the debris of your burning home.

Ruby:Shut up.....

Jericho:Did your Uncle put up a valiant fight and almost won? Not likely, he probably screamed as the grimm ripped him apart and dragged him into his flames! Both of them wishing you were there to save them. I bet silver eyes would’ve saved them!!!

Ruby:I SAID SHUT UP!!! *she drops to her knees crying and covering her ears*

Yang and Tai:Ruby!!! *rushes to her side*

Jericho:Oh she looked so dangerous just a few minutes ago and now look at her; far from her best.

Jaune:.....

Jericho:Loved ones, children, family, and friends. It doesn’t matter how strong you are when you have these ripped from you. Knowing that you’ll never see their face again eats away at a persons mind. Awake, asleep, everyday life, or on the battlefield of war. Even just a close call messes with people’s head. *looks at Ren* ever wonder how much your wife might blame herself for your condition? Seeing you in pain everyday thinking how she should’ve been better.

Nora:*stares at the ground clenching her fist* Someone shut him up already please.....?

Jaune:*walking over to him*

Jericho:Have a said too much? Hehehe I didn’t even get started on how this involves all of your kids.

*Everyone freezes in place for a moment*

Jericho:You do everything for them, including leave them. Believeing it’s the best option to stop people like me. Praying you don’t come back home to find them dead and not even by us. Ten years is a long time, any natural disaster could’ve happened. A simple car or mugger is all it takes and next thing you know is the person you fought ten years for died seven years ago. These plans all of you make are simply the works of people clinging on to what little hope they have. Stop us all you want; when the fighting is over you gotta live with what you lost until you die and-

Yang:*picks him up and slams him against a tree. Her eyes a deep blood red* You can stop spouting all of your crap now. You’ll have plenty of time to talk later when our friend gets the information we want out of you. Then all of us can finally move on from this nightmare!

Jericho:Are you *cough* sure you want to know how many of us are left? It could be 50 or it could be 500. Do you think you can take another indefinite journey; I wonder how your daughter would feel about her mom leaving again?

Yang:.....*drops him*

Jericho:HAHAHAHA! Oooo boy! If she doesn’t hate you now then she’s definitely going to after that! So much for coming home to loved ones; if you both live long enough to see each other that is!!! HAHAHAHA- *knocked out by a punch from Jaune*

Jaune:The moment he wakes up....knock him out again. I don’t wanna hear his voice for the rest of my life. *looks around at everyone*

Ren holds a crying Nora in his arms to comfort. Both of them obviously shaken by the man’s words. Raven proceeds to hug her daughter who’s eyes still haven’t calm down her body heaving out rage and fear of the future. Then there’s Ruby, wailing and trembling on the ground until she can barely breath. Tai holds back his tears as he holds his youngest daughter close to him. The sun is finally going down but nobody seems to care. It helps hide the pain on their face. So Jaune doesn’t say anything; he just walks back upstairs to Yujin.

Jaune:*peeks through the door*.....

Yujin:*Fast asleep and still clinging to Tenzen’s hand*Zzzzzz

Jaune:*picks her up and places her in bed* sleep tight*

Yujin:*barely awake* Dad? Hey, how is everyone doing?

Jaune:They’re....they are doing just fine. Gets some rest okay? *kisses her forehead*

Yujin:Alright dad; feel bad though. Not like I’ve been doing much. *yawns* at least.....it’s almost over....*passes out*

Jaune:........*tears well up as he leaves the room* Damnit *sniff* stay strong Jaune. You have to be the strong one right now. You have to keep things-*looks at his wedding ring*.......

*he slides down the wall and just sits on the floor*

Jaune:For crying out loud *tears finally start running down his face* she’s gonna leave again isn’t she?

#rwby #sun wukong #lie ren #nora valkryie #renora #ilia amitola #rwby neo #neo politan #jaune arc #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #taiyang xiao long #raven branwen #yujin xiao long #lie tenzen #rwby blacksun #rwby dragonslayer #rwby lasting embers #ruby rose

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atruththatyoudeny · 5 years ago

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Monthly Reads | September 2019

Happy belated 28th! This month I managed to read 29 fics so all of them are under the read more. Among others you'll find fics from @hlmpregficexchange, @hlmusicalsficfest, @1dtwistedtropesficexchange and @1dridicficexchange! Thank you so much to all of these authors for their hard work! Happy Reading!

Smokey vanilla | louisnights | mpreg - a/b/o - trans character - threats of violence - 25k Louis is the sole guardian to his younger siblings, and he's fallen pregnant. A new neighbor moves in next door, Harry, and they become good friends. Harry is kind and beautiful. Louis can't help but fall for him.

Hooked on a Feeling | dandelionfairies | mpreg - famous/not famous - 37k Louis is a famous actor. Harry is not. He also has no idea who Louis actually is. After a one night stand, Harry ends up pregnant. Louis finds out the day he walks into the bakery that Harry owns. From that moment, he makes it known that he plans to be in the baby’s life. Over a short time, their own friendship builds into something more. How will Harry handle knowing who Louis actually is? How will they handle it all when the paparazzi get a hold of the story?

Going My Way | jacaranda_bloom | mpreg - strangers to lovers - fluff - banter - 20k The one where Harry gets a replacement LYFT driver, Louis is just trying to earn some extra cash before the baby arrives, and they both end up with way more than they bargained for.

Love Me Like Tomorrow's Never Gonna Come | stylescantstop | mpreg - exes to lovers - past breakup- 20k Harry and Louis are broken up but run into each other at a mutual friends wedding. What they don't know is that night will change their lives forever.

Another One For The Road | reminiscingintherain | mpreg - famous/not famous - established rlationship - 15k The one where Louis' on tour when he finds out the hard way that men can get pregnant too....

Sowing the Seeds of Love | ShapeOfLou | mpreg - established relationship - fluff - 18k When Harry finds out that he's pregnant, he worries that Louis might not be ready to take on a task like parenthood. To prove himself, Louis buys a potted plant to keep alive—only it's much harder than he ever imagined.

I Get To Love You | lovelarry10 | mpreg - strangers to lovers - One Night Stands - friends to lovers - friends with benefits - famous/not famous mutual pining - 83k A one night stand leaves Harry with a permanent reminder of the night he spent with a stranger. Louis has no idea who the handsome stranger he took to bed is... until his friends make a shocking discovery. A baby is on the way, and Louis and Harry have nine months to get to know each other before they become a family...

The Long Way Round | yourpricelessadvice | mpreg - friends to lovers - slow burn - breakup - 44k 2002 is going to be Louis’ year. He’d said that about the departing 2001 as well though, after declaring the first year of the new millennium ‘a trial run’. But this year will be different.

Race You to the Stairway | Chelsea Frew (chelseafrew) | mpreg - angst - fluff - 6k Harry. Louis. A stalled lift. Labour. Will the first responders get there in time?

Falling For You | Halos_Boat | mpreg - homelessness - light angst - fluff - 28k "I'm Harry," he extended his hand out for Louis to shake but quickly retracted it as if he were ashamed. Louis frowned, pushing out his own hand, "I'm Louis." Harry's lips twisted up slightly, accepting Louis' handshake happily, "thank you so much for your kindness, Louis."

Silent Night | Snowy38 | mpreg - 14k Louis is a shepherd who’s resigned to spending Christmas alone when his flight home is cancelled because of snow.When he hears a caroller out in the cold he plans to pay them and send them on their way.He didn’t plan for that caroller to be so mesmerising. And he certainly didn’t plan for Harry to be heavily pregnant!

A virgin to that money | eversincewefellapart | college/ university - sex tapes - love/hate - 7k Harry and Louis are broke university students who hate each other and make a sex tape. (In which Louis gets fucked a lot, Harry can't find the camera, and the road to falling in love is different for everyone.

More Than You Know | brightlyharry | miscommunication - fluff - funny - 64k The one where Louis is a doorman for a luxury apartment building and Harry is the newest resident of the penthouse. Timing fails to be on his side as he tries to catch a glimpse of the building's newest occupant and prove he's a call-boy. When he finally does see Harry in the flesh, he's more captivated than ever. Featuring Liam as a mailman and Louis' trusted friend and no one knows what's going on with Zayn.

Perceive with your mind | rsadelle | college/ university - invisibility - 5k Harry grabs a piece of paper and scrawls a note: Freshers think a ghost lives here. I told them to stop bothering you even if you are a ghost. If you are, you're probably lonely. You're probably not a ghost, so maybe you have loads of friends and we haven't met because you're busy with them all the time. If you are a ghost, maybe you can knock on my door, or leave a message in the bathroom mirror. Wouldn't want you to be lonely! - Harry (35A) He adds his mobile number to the bottom of the note so whoever's in 35B can text him if they want, then opens his door, crosses the corridor, and slips it under the door of 35B. He waits for a moment, then shakes his head when of course there's no immediate response because of course there isn't a ghost living in 35B. That would be ridiculous.

Ain't We Proud | yeehawharry | WW II - minor character death - PTSD - period-typical homophobia - slow burn - 20k Louis Tomlinson returned to Manchester in 1945 with survivor’s guilt, no job prospects, and a promise to check on the brother of his wartime best friend who didn’t make it home from the front. Things began looking up when he heard a radio advert for the Tribute to the Troops Song Competition and decided to put together a band of fellow vets, combine their talent and experience, and hopefully rocket to stardom. A Bandstand AU.

Symptoms Of The Culture | alienharry | college/ university - video/computer games - fluff - 14k Harry's fraternity has become obsessed with the newest online game, and they'd like to think they're getting pretty good at it. Only, they keep getting killed by The Rogue, an online player who has no connection to the Frat, but seems to have a vendetta against them.

Up For It | jacaranda_bloom | OT5 - lads holiday - secret relationship - banter - 18k Each year, the five friends take a lads holiday; it’s tradition, and this year is shaping up to be a jam-packed, fun-filled trip with their best mates just like all the rest... or is it? OR the one where Liam is Mr Organised, Zayn is too perceptive for his own good, Niall is a compulsive matchmaker, and Harry and Louis might just have the surprise to shock them all.

Laundry Room | beautlouis | flirting - banter - pining - slow burn - humor - 10k Louis and Harry are both students living in the same apartment complex. They end up having the same laundry night and time. Louis can't stop staring at Harry and he can't figure out why Harry consistently points out Louis’ inside-out shirts, and his untied shoes, and messy hair. Enter slow burn-ish flirting, banter, awkwardness, and a lot of laundry.

Right Side of the Wrong Bed | eyesofshinigami | humor - fluff - 11k The one where Louis wakes up on the wrong couch only to meet his future husband (even if Harry doesn't know it yet).

Never Been Knotted | allwaswell16 | a/b/o - non traditional a/b/o - fluff - strangers to lovers - 9k Harry doesn't mind that he presented as a beta. It mostly just makes his life easier and more convenient. There's just one small problem: he'd really like to be knotted.

Small Doses (Loving You It's Explosive) | QuickedWeen | boxing - light angst - dom/sub undertones - 38k Louis Tomlinson finds himself at Vitality Fitness to try and turn his life around after having left his cheating boyfriend of four years. The gym's owner, Liam, quickly becomes a good friend, but his right hand man is rude and dismissive from the get-go. Louis and Harry continue to clash all while Harry is trying to move his way up the ranks in Manchester's amateur boxing circuit, but they can't seem to stay away from each other.

Everything I need I get from you | jaerie | a/b/o - mpreg - strangers to lovers - emotional/psychological abuse - sexism - 10k In a world where music and sound are just as vital to health as food, Harry is stuck in a town that thinks professional music is a scam and a relationship he never wanted. One chance event changes his life.

Sweet and lowdown | wreckingtomlinson (karasunonolibero) | 1920s - prohibition era - 13k Harry is about to be married for the fourth time, Louis’ never been kissed, Niall can’t cook, Liam can’t dance, and none of them are very good at acting.

Like electricity | cupcakeL | Billy Elliot AU - ballet - 1980s - period-typical homophobia - mentions of dementia - mentions of alcohol abuse - 17k The one where a 12-year-old Louis Tomlinson, an orphaned coal miner's son in Northern England during the strikes of 1984/85, stumbles upon a ballet class during his weekly football training. Soon he finds himself in dance, demonstrating the kind of raw talent seldom seen by the class' exacting instructor, Madame Malik, who starts pushing him towards making use of his abilities while Louis struggles with feelings he doesn’t quite understand.

'Sup | MediaWhore | fluff - awkward flirting - meet-cute - silver fox Louis - 6k Gemma really wants her little brother to sign up for a dating app and get back in the game after a messy divorce. Harry thinks he’s way too old to swipe. They compromise to devastatingly embarrassing results. Meanwhile, all Louis wants is to finish the play he’s been commissioned to write, but one of the regulars at his local coffee shop keeps distracting him. ft. older larry, pushy gemma, harry being a disaster gay and silver fox louis.

Adore You | isthatyoularry | courtship - age difference - love/hate - fluff - angst - 67k “We invited our new acquaintances from uptown. You’ve simply got to meet their oldest son!” said his mother with a flourish, and suddenly it became abundantly clear as to why his parents had so adamantly demanded he join them in Deansville for the entirety of the summer. Against his wishes, Harry spends the holidays at his family’s summer estate, and is reluctantly pulled into a courtship he didn’t ask for. Harry doesn’t want to get married, but Louis does. They don’t fit, but then again they really, really do. Vaguely set in the 1920’s. Headpieces, jazz, fashionable canes, and flapper dresses, and that.

I Wanna Be Alright With My Baby Tonight | graceling_in_a_suit | college/university - trans character - football/soccer - mentions of transphobia - anxiety - insecurity - fluff - humor - 18k Harry Styles' university football team (Go Queers!) is on a losing streak, and so is his love life. Louis Tomlinson—a fellow trans man and the team's new co-captain—might just be able to help with both.

We're not who we used to be | louistomlinsons | exes to lovers - road trips - slow burn - 30k “Harry…” Louis’ voice catches in his throat, thick with tears threatening to fall out, so he coughs to clear it before trying again. “Harry is Liam’s best man?” “You didn’t know?” Harry is standing at the entrance of the garage, mouth slightly open and face pulled together. He sets his bag on the ground and puts his hands on his hips. When he does that, he looks just like the Harry that Louis remembers (and loves, he thinks with an aching heart). “I’m sure I mentioned it,” Liam says, but Louis can tell he’s lying by the way he chews on his lower lip and twists his fingers together. “You’re all a bunch of dick heads, I’m getting in the car.” Louis isn’t sure if he’s being unreasonable. He has no idea what the protocol is when your ex-boyfriend shows up after three years and nobody bothered to give you a heads up. He’s pretty sure he’s allowed to be upset about it, even if it’s only for a bit. or an exes to lovers canadian roadtrip au

Tan Lines and Some Memories | twoshipstiedup | fluff - humor - summer romance - 11k It’s summer in California and blockbuster movie star Louis Tomlinson is looking forward to a break and spending his days lazing away at his beach house. Harry Styles is the indie movie darling he’d been avoiding ever since Louis saw his movie at Cannes and harbored an unreasonable grudge against him. A unicorn t-shirt finally brings them together in person. Summer romance ensues.

#fic rec #28th appreciation #my reads #my fic rec

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thedeviltohisangel · 6 years ago

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The Way The Story Ends//1//You Should See Me In A Crown

Fight Club AU; Duncan is in love with his best friend’s sister and that it not the only secret he is keeping.

Fight warning

masterlist in bio!

send in thoughts, questions or ideas!

“I told Tala she could host my sister’s welcome back party here tonight.” Duncan looked up quickly from where he had been wiping down the bar top.

“Your sister’s back?” He thinks he was doing a poor job of containing his excitement at the news. Charlotte had spent the past few years at nursing school, only coming back every once in awhile to visit her brother.

“Her graduation is in a couple days but she had time in between and thought she’d spend it here,” Liam said as he finished sweeping under all the tables. Liam was his best friend ever since elementary school. While Duncan had never thought college was right for him, he went to trade school, Liam had gone and gotten his MBA. Together, they had decided to open a bar. It was doing well enough that they both afforded their apartments every month.

“Are you going to her graduation?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not like anyone else is around to support her and celebrate her. You wanna come? The three of us could make a weekend out of it. Maybe she could introduce us to some of her hot nursing friends.” Duncan laughed. As if he could ever focus on anyone else if Charlotte was in the room. He had been in love with her for as long as he could remember. But she was his best friend’s little sister. It would be wrong to act on his feelings for her. He couldn’t risk losing his friendship with Liam.

“Sounds fun. I’ll come if you think she won’t mind.” Liam scoffed.

“My sister and I both view you as family. I’m sure she’d be upset if you didn’t come.” Their parents had passed away when they were young and they had supplanted their family with friends. Duncan was their closest friend.

“Hey, hi, hello.” They both looked towards the door to see the woman in question. Charlotte. The object of Duncan’s love and affection ever since she had crashed a weekend beach trip while they were in college. There had been something about her on that trip that had struck a chord in him. She was no longer just his friend’s little sister but had become the most beautiful girl in the world to him. He hadn’t been able to recover since.

“Hey! I thought you weren’t getting in until tonight!” Liam embraced his sister in a big hug, kissing the top of her head. They were each other’s only family and it felt wrong to be apart.

“I was if I took the train. Then Finn offered to drive me so I could bring a bunch of stuff home. Less to move out after graduation.”

“Oh. Who’s Finn?” Charlotte slapped her brother’s arm.

“He’s gay and even if he wasn’t, not every boy I mention is someone I’m dating or fucking.” Duncan gripped the rag tighter at the image.

“Hey, Charlotte.” Duncan figured it was best to interrupt the conversation before if got out of hand and became a fight.

“I was working my way over for a hug, I promise!” She ducked under the side of the bar and wrapped her arms around Duncan’s waist. Charlotte squeezed him tightly, finding just as much comfort in Duncan as she did her brother, before pulling away and kissing him on the cheek. “How have you been? How’s the bar been?”

“I’ve been good. With the weather warming up there’s been a lot of people needing their AC fixed so I’m keeping busy.” She nodded but looked at him confusedly. The past couple times she had seen Duncan, he had kept the conversation very surface level. As if they were just strangers bumping into each other on the sidewalk. She wondered what had changed.

“The bar has been doing great! We’ve been booking some bigger acts for our music nights and the little appetizer menu has been really taking off,” Liam exclaimed.

“I’m happy for the both of you. Glad you’ve kept the place standing since I’ve been gone. I can’t wait to hang out here like every day.”

“We don’t want you here.”

“Is that true, Duncan?” She looked at him with a teasing smirk. He doesn’t think anything sounded better than seeing Charlotte every day.

“I’d love to have you here. You’re much nicer to look at than your brother.”

“He does set the bar so low…”

“Okay enough out of you two. Charlie lets go and unpack all your crap. I’m gonna have an anxiety attack over the mental image of unpacked boxes in my living room.”

“I’m surprised you don’t punch him in the face more often,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Duncan looked at her with momentary alarm. Did she know about his fighting? How did she know? She wasn’t supposed to know. No one was supposed to know.

“Thankfully, my business partner isn’t a violent guy. Just a big teddy bear.” Liam clapped Duncan on the shoulder before picking up the backpack Charlotte had dropped on the floor and walking out to his car.

“You’ll be at my party tonight?” she asked the other man hopefully. Her fingers twisted with themselves in front of her, eager to not let her hope of seeing Duncan again show too much.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he whispered back, keeping his eyes locked onto hers the entire time. It was almost as though the tension and chemistry between them was choking the truth from coming out of their lips. Charlotte had always thought it was cliche and embarrassing to have a crush on her older brother’s best friend. Thought Duncan viewed her as a child and would view her feelings towards him as immature. He deserved a strong, powerful, confident woman. Not a little girl who he probably only viewed as a sister.

“Okay. Then I’ll see you tonight.” She waved over her shoulder as she exited the bar to join her brother who was about to honk the horn of his car. He released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding in as soon as she was out of his orbit.

“Fuck me.” He hadn’t anticipated having a reaction to Charlotte being back in his life. Had just thought they’d exist with each other the way they always had. But it seemed fate had an entirely different plan for him. He was monumentally screwed.

----

Duncan felt the blood of the other man splatter against his knuckles as his fist made solid contact with his jaw. He had tried to get out of his fight for tonight so he could make Charlotte’s party but the amount of money people had spent on bets had prevented him from being able to do so. His own eye was swollen and the tape had ripped away from his knuckles a round or two ago. There was no way he could go now looking like this. He was channeling his heartbreak into beating the shit out of the guy. His opponent rebounded slightly from the last punch, Duncan ducking under his arm and nailing him right in the stomach. The cheers of the crowd shook the underground room where the fight club took place. It was hard to get in and even harder to get the chance to fight. With one last kick landing on the side of his opponent’s head, he fell and Duncan was the winner. It hurt his shoulder when his arm was raised above his head but he took the pain and took the cheers because it meant he’d be leaving with a lot more money in his account.

He cleaned up quickly, signing up for a couple more fights that month, before flipping up the hood of his sweatshirt and meandering to the back entrance of the club. People were required to check in their phones and any other type of device before entering so no one could get audio or video of club happenings.

“Hey, Al,” Duncan said as he approached one of the guards that held the keys to the phones.

“Sup, Dunc? You looked really good out there tonight. Like you needed it to be over quick.” He took his phone when Al handed it to him.

“There was a party but I can’t go looking like this so…”

“Well, there are some girls waiting in the back alley for you. Think they were looking for a good time with the winner.” Duncan rolled his eyes. There were always girls that lurked around afterwards hoping one of the fighters would pick them up and show them a good time while his adrenaline was still running high. He had to admit that he had taken up the offer before but it felt odd to do it tonight. Since he had promised Charlotte he’d be with her. He couldn’t be with another girl.

“Maybe next time. You can tell the next guy they’re all his.” Al nodded in understanding, Duncan increasing his speed through the alley so they wouldn’t try to stop him. The route from the warehouse back to his apartment took him past the bar and part of him considered taking a different way so he didn’t have to risk running into anyone or having someone see him and wonder what had happened to his face. But something told him it was worth at least just walking by to check it out.

People were on the roof laughing and dancing and drinking. He saw Liam dancing with the girl he had been trying to go out to dinner with. He recognized some of Charlotte’s friends sitting at the bar. Saw some of his old friends that had gathered to celebrate the accomplishment of someone they loved. And he loved her too. He loved her so much. But he couldn’t tell her about his fighting. Couldn’t tell anyone. It would put them in too much danger.

----

Charlotte was feeling entirely dejected as she sat at the bar. Duncan had told her he wouldn’t miss it for the world. And she had believed him. Thought everything was going to be just as it always had been. That he would be back in her life again. She hadn’t thought that perhaps he had moved onto bigger and better things in her time away. That maybe there was a woman in his life. That maybe he had other friends he wanted to hang out with. She felt stupid for assuming he’d want to hang out with her at all. Everyone around her was having so much fun and they wanted her to have fun as well but she couldn’t find the strength. How do you recover from being heartbroken when the love might have been one sided all along?

Maybe it was a sixth sense but she looked over to the glass wall at the entrance and saw a dark figure looking in. She couldn’t see the details of his face but the way he carried himself looked familiar. At any rate, if someone was being creepy towards her friends at her brother’s bar then she had to take care of it. Charlotte walked towards the door and the man didn’t move and now she was getting annoyed.

“Excuse me, can I help you? This is a private event.” He turned his head and she thinks it was Duncan. She thinks it would be impossible for anyone else to have eyes that blue. But Duncan, at least not the Duncan she knew, would have a black eye like that. One that looked like it was painful and new. “Duncan? What happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Just walked into a pole when I was texting earlier.” Her eyes fell to his ripped open knuckles that were clenched around his gym bag.

“Let me look at those for you. Have they been cleaned? You should wrap some bandages around them.” She turned to go back into the bar and look for a first aid kit when he grabbed her arm.

“I’m fine. Really. I just wanted to stop by before I went home. I promised you I would come and I…” he swallowed, “I couldn’t break a promise to you.”

“I’m so happy you came. Now my night feels complete.” Even if she wasn’t in love with Duncan, he was still like family to her. Celebrations like this were meant to be spent with loved ones and family. “Do you want to go sit on the side for a minute? Let me get a first aid kit?” He got the sense that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer so he nodded, waiting for her to join him again before moving to sit on the side of the building where they could have some privacy.

“Are you trained in school to never leave an injured man be?” he teased. She smiled at him but remained serious as she dabbed at the cuts with an alcohol wipe.

“Do they hurt?” she asked delicately. She was cradling his hand in both of hers as if it was the most fragile and precious of items.

“No.” He didn’t want to admit to her that he had gotten used to the feeling. Had gotten used to the pain.

“I think you should maybe put your phone on airplane mode until you’re sitting down from now on.” She pressed a bit of ointment to his knuckles before wrapping them in a bandage.

“Thank you. I feel better already.” And it was true. From the inside out.

“I was starting to wonder if you got a better offer for tonight and weren’t going to come.” She didn’t want to sound whiny or childish but she needed to get the feeling off of her chest. The weight of her feelings was heavy.

“You mean a lot to me, Charlotte. Any chance to let you know that and to celebrate you, I’ll come running.” Oh how good it felt for Duncan to say that. He meant so much more than what the words conveyed but it was a start and it felt glorious. Like bathing in sunlight. She placed her hand gently on his cheek that wasn’t injured and tugged his head to inch closer to hers.

“You mean so much to me, too. More than I may ever be able to show you.” He thinks this was it. The moment he should finally tell her how he felt. Admit that he was in love with her and take on any of the consequences that may come from doing so. It’d be worth it. Worth it to live his life with the freedom of knowing the woman he loved knew he loved her.

“Charlotte, I-” She shushed him gently with a finger to his lips, closing her eyes and giving into the pull of Duncan’s heart and the push of her own.

“Oh my God, Charlotte! There you are!”

“We’ve been looking all over for you!” They jumped apart from each other as the door being flung open startled them.

“I was just-” she turned to look back at Duncan but he was already gone.

“Come back inside. It’s too chilly to sit out here.” Charlotte let them drag her back in but she kept her eyes on the spot where he had been only a few seconds ago. Hoping there would be a sign that it hadn’t been a dream. She didn’t know that he was only a block in front of her. Praying for the same thing.

@ticklish-leafy-plant @aveiangdon @and-shes-not-even-pretty @avesatanormalpeoplescareme @bbyduncan @khaleesimel @langdonslove

#duncan shepherd #cody fern #house of cards #michael langdon #jim mason

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thewritewolf · 6 years ago

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Rekindle Chapter 4: Birthday

It looks like Marinette is going to be spending another birthday alone, unless a certain feline hero intervenes.

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@marichatmay

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Adrien opened the door to his house and immediately began fumbling for the light switch. It had been another long day at work, where he had been back to modeling again. The modeling sessions were getting fewer and more spaced out, but that just seemed to mean that when his father did call on him to pose for the camera, he expected him to do the work of two or three sessions in one day. So much for slowly getting away from modeling and into the business side of things.

His eyes felt heavy, and his limbs heavier still. A few weary steps inside and he collapsed onto the couch in his living room, unable to make it to his bed. Plagg emerged from his jacket pocket, the kwami hesitating over Adrien for a few moments.

“Kid, you need to stand up for yourself.” It was all Adrien could do to avoid rolling his eyes. This was becoming an ever more common topic of conversation for them and it was starting to wear thin. "Gabe always had did run you ragged, but these last few years he has practically run you into the ground."

“I get paid for all that work, you know. Someone has to pay for your cheese habits.”

Plagg's fur bristled in irritation. “No way kid, you’re not putting this one back on me. You know as well as I do my delicious camembert is a drop in the bucket with what you make. Besides, you don’t even spend most of it since you don’t do anything. If you really wanted, you could stop working right now and be fine for what? A few months? A year? More?”

“Father pays for the house. I can’t just say no to him.” Adrien yawned and rolled away from his kwami, only for him to zoom back into his field of view.

Plagg shook his head. “Yeah, the house that you hate to be in and always try to find an excuse to get out of. You need to tell your old man-”

The ringing of Adrien’s cell phone cut Plagg off. “Oh no. I guess we’ll have to shelf this conversation. Too bad.”

Plagg glared and pointed a grubby paw at him. “This ain’t over, kid. You gotta stand up for yourself eventually.”

It was a struggle to pull out his phone, but he managed it. Nino’s face appeared on the screen.

“Sup, dude!” He took in Adrien’s appearance and cracked a smile. “You look like crap, man.”

“Thanks for sparing my feelings. I may have collapsed on the couch after getting home from the shoot. All the hard work of the makeup and hair teams - wasted!” He threw his arm over his face dramatically, earning a chuckle from Nino.

“Whatever you say, dude.” His face eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Wait. Another day of modeling? I thought you said those were a thing of the past and you were a management guy now?”

Adrien winced on the inside and shrugged. “I’m still the face of the company which means my face needs to be in some of the company’s products. For now, at least,” he rushed to add when he saw the look on Nino’s face. “Soon enough they’ll all be done and someone else can be the face of the company.”

“I dunno, bro. Your daddio’s got his claws in you and if he keeps you modeling, you’ll be too tired to do anything else. I think he’s really dragging his feet if he still hasn’t moved you to some other part of the company. Or he’s just saying he’s gonna promote you to keep you placated.” Nino shook his head. “You gotta talk to him, dude. Nothing’s going to change otherwise.”

Somewhere else in the room, Plagg cackled and Adrien shot a glare in his general direction.

Nino’s face brightened. “You got some peeps over? Good on you! Not gonna lie, I feel guilty sometimes when I realize how little we get to hang out. Especially with all the traveling Al and I do.”

“No, no one’s here.” Growling at Plagg, he added, “Just a stray cat that I’m considering shooing away.” Nino’s words caught up to him. “Wait, are you guys going to be still be gone in a couple weeks?”

“For Mari’s birthday, you mean?” Nino chuckled while Adrien felt his cheeks heat up slightly. His smile faded away as he continued. “But yeah, you’re right. We won’t be able to do anything with her this year. It’s a real bummer.”

“Yeah…” Adrien frowned. He was used to his birthdays being disappointing, but Marinette had always been surrounded by friends and family. Being alone for such an important day after being used to that… it couldn’t feel great.

“You know, this might be the perfect time to rekindle that friendship,” Nino said hopefully.

“I don’t think she’d want to spend so much time with the guy who broke her heart.”

“I’m telling you, dude, I’m sure you guys would be the best of friends. I get that you don’t see her in a romantic light, but I know she’d be happy to have a friend close by, you know?”

A friend? His heart clenched in sympathetic pain. “Yeah… okay, maybe. No promises, though, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“That’s all I can ask.” Off screen, Adrien heard Alya calling for Nino. “Sorry, dude. Gonna have to cut this call short. Best of luck with you two, okay?”

“Thanks, Nino. Stay safe and goodbye.”

“I do what I can. Bye!” The screen went dark as Nino hung up.

Adrien lowered the phone onto his chest, still staring up at the ceiling. Despite what his best friend had said, he didn’t think Marinette would be happy to see him appear out of the blue. At least, not if it were Adrien showing up. Smiling, he ran his fingers over his ring. Thankfully, he didn’t have to be Adrien all the time.

But… he shouldn’t just show up empty handed, right? This wasn’t just a normal day to hang out. This was a birthday party for two! They couldn’t leave her apartment, but he could make it feel the special day that it was. Oh, and he should get her presents too.

Adrien leapt to his feet and sat down in front of his desktop computer, searching for anything that he thought Marinette might like. Maybe he could get away with getting her two presents - one as Chat Noir and one as Adrien? That’d be a good way to ease into a normal friendship, right? And had nothing at all to do with the fact that this allowed him to justify buying her twice as much as was socially acceptable.

In a dark corner of the room, Plagg watched his chosen more around the room, more lively than he had been in months. The cat kwami couldn’t help but grin. There might just be hope for him yet.

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

Marinette trudged up the long staircase to her apartment, once again cursing the broken elevator and her aching legs. Which only made her even more angry with herself because she was Ladybug! Is a couple flights of stairs really going to be the thing that causes her to break down today?

Then again, she knew that if she did get reduced to tears because of this, it wasn’t simply stairs that did it. The stairs were just the latest in a long line of awful things happening today. Spilt coffee, manically working in preparation for the fall line, asshole bosses - all on top of the frustration that they aren’t letting her do much work on actual designs since she is an intern, which is apparently another word for errand girl. No, the stairs weren’t the problem. They were just the final insult on the terrible, terrible day that was supposed to be the celebration of her birth.

She fumbled for her keys, which were somewhere on her person, feeling the tension as the breaking point starting to arrive, ready to great it like an old friend. Before it did, she caught a scent in the hallway that made her pause. Something like… Italian? But very spicy. It was making her mouth water just smelling it, which made her pout. Great, she smelled something delicious and now has to go and heat up a frozen meal. A normal day then, since she rarely got the chance to cook for herself these days.

With a sigh, she unlocked the door and stepped into her apartment, only for the scent to hit her full blast. She turned to her right, towards her kitchen. Standing there was Chat Noir in a chef’s hat, wearing an apron with a cartoon cat on it saying 'Feline Up for Some Dinner' - the cartoon cat also had a chef's hat, she noted in a daze. Chat Noir was merrily humming to himself while stirring a red sauce on the stovetop, a tall pot boiling nearby. Her small kitchen table, normally overburdened with distinctly non-food items like fabrics and dishes, had been cleaned off with two plates and a vase with a pink flower adorning it. She watched the scene for a few long moments before Chat Noir turned around and noticed she was standing stock still in the doorway.

Brief surprise gave way to a broad grin. “Hey, purrincess! I wasn’t sure when you got off work today, so I kinda got here way earlier than I needed to.” He rubbed the back of his neck when she didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she walked towards him, dropping off her purse on her couch as she passed by.

“Sorry I didn’t call or anything, I wanted to surprise you since its your birthday! Oh, that reminds me,” he disappeared below the countertop between them. He emerged with a box covered in cartoon cat face wrapping paper and pushed it towards her. “Happy birthday!”

She looked down at the box, slowly unwrapping it. Inside was a handmade card saying that she was “Pawsitively the best fur-real friend a cat could ask for,” a couple quality sketchbooks, and a few dvds of her favorite movies that her collection had been sorely lacking.

“Chat… I don’t know what to say…”

The feline hero shrugged, his lips quirking up in a barely suppressed smile. “Then don’t say anything. Dinner is almost ready, so go ahead and take a seat while I finish making it.” He turned back around to attend to the red sauce and stir the pasta.

Once she sitting at the table, she took a deep breath to savor the scent of the food. “I didn’t know you could cook, chaton.”

“I can’t,” he laughed, “I know just a few dishes. It’s been a while since I made arrabbiata, but I’ve been practicing for the last two weeks to get it right.”

“Why that dish?” Not that she was complaining - it smelled delicious.

“Well, you’ve mentioned that you liked spicy food, all I can cook is Italian, and arrabbiata is the only Italian dish I know of that’s got the heat.” She had a vague memory of them discussing food choices when they were considering if they wanted to order take out a few weeks ago. Had he really held onto that little tidbit of information for that long?

Before she could ask more questions - like, for example, why he could only cook Italian - he took her plate and handed it back laden with the steaming pasta and red sauce. Despite what he seemed to think, it had ended up amazing and if he tried to talk down his cooking abilities in the future, she’d have to give him a firm smack upside the head.

Somewhere between the unexpected meal and the ensuing conversation, Marinette felt the tension that had been building up throughout the day melt away. And for the first time since she moved here, her apartment felt like a home.

#MarichatMay2019 #Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Chat Noir #Plagg #Nino Lahiffe #Marichat #ml fanfiction #my writing #Rekindle

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acoolguyscoollife · 5 years ago

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Chapter 32: The Grid

The next two days were, to put it simply, busy as hell. Tabitha was closing in on Uchen’s location, and while we hoped we were wrong, it definitely seemed like we were going to fight, which meant training. I didn’t mind too much, finding that sinking my time into what I was doing helped keep my mind from other issues, but I could tell that people were getting as tired as I was, and had no reason to push themselves further like I did. I felt especially bad for Amy and Aki, who were the ones that were training with me constantly.

Seth and Tabitha only came in when there were short periods of downtime between the computer doing… something I wasn’t aware of. Aki, however, was forcing herself to fight on the same level as I was, challenging me at every chance she got. I wasn’t stupid enough to go easy on her, because if she thought she was already on a similar experience level as I was, she would end up being reckless and it could get her hurt. I tried not to pull my punches too much, but there are only so many ways you can fight with a sword without actually severing any limbs or stabbing them. Amy posed more of a challenge, with the two of us pretty much hitting an even level of exhaustion when we duelled, only stopping because if we tried to fight harder, there would end up being more than just basic injuries. By the end of the second day, however, Aki had gotten a lot more improved, only having slight flaws in her fighting style that seemed more like flukes than anything else. When she challenged me to another duel, once again with no holds barred, I could tell that something was different. Sure enough, I hadn’t been as prepared as I should have been, and almost got my ass kicked for it. However, at crucial points, her attacks were slower than they could have been, so knocking her down was an opening quickly given to me. It was only when she used one of my signature moves against me that things began to click. Her foot connecting with my groin, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to cry out in pain, made the gears in my head turn. The slower movements, where she had been as agile as the cat that most of her appearance and mannerisms seemed to come from, were because of tiredness, more than usual. And while I didn’t have a patent on groin-kicks, the way she had let herself fall onto her back, and how she had been fighting leading up to that, made it clear that she had chosen to mimic me, presumably with the recording of us training. The sheer number of cameras in this place was insane. With her having taken me down, and with my own move no less, I had to concede her victory, and congratulate her, both while keeping my cool demeanour.

“Ow.” I said, one hand on the back of my head and the other on my unmentionables. Looking around the room, I could see that Amy was wincing, one eye covered very poorly by her hand, and that Aki was clearly considering whether she had gone too far. “Good round.” I reassured her, despite still not being able to feel my legs. “Here’s hoping that whatever we fight has balls though, otherwise that move won’t really work too well.”

“Well, it’s just one guy, right? No matter how smart someone is, they can be defeated by a kick in the nards.” Amy’s wisdom as to testicular torment got me thinking, mostly about how much pain I was in, but also in how little I actually knew about Uchen’s former protégé. Tabitha had told me that that the guy was smart and also insane, which, judging from her having roped us into this whole thing, wasn’t too uncommon. The more I thought, the more I wanted answers, and I knew I wasn’t going to get those answers by sitting around and fighting someone who was now able to fight back. I needed to go straight to her.

The three of us marched back into the main room, where we were greeted by a bleary-eyed Seth, and a manic-haired Tabitha, neither of whom were a very good welcome wagon.

“Sup, man?” Seth asked, or it might have been Eddie. It was getting annoying that there wasn’t any way to distinctly figure out who was who, but what could I really do except bitch about it? I gave him a wave, not stopping my stride towards Tabitha.

“Oh hey guys, you’re just in time. We’ve pretty much locked on now, but obviously we need to brief each other and prepare for what’s coming.” Tabitha said, looking up at us with a smile that definitely suggested that we were test subjects.

“Yeeah, on that subject…” I began, drawing out my words ever so slightly because I had a feeling that she wouldn’t like putting her plans on hold for some boring exposition. “Me and the others were thinking that maybe we should know more about the guy we’re fighting. The last thing we need is to go in unprepared.” I finished, and before I had even been given a chance to close my moth, I was sold down the river.

“I never said that.” Amy said, to which she got murmurs of agreement from Seth and Aki. Tabitha raised an eyebrow.

“Why would you screw me like this, damn it?” I said, turning back around to face her. Seth giggled from where he was, and I quickly knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“That’s what she said!” He almost exploded, before bursting into peels of laughter. We let him take a second to finish, before turning our focus back to the main task at hand.

“So, you were saying something about how we should delay the important thing we need to do in order to make sure you know some life details about someone we’re probably gonna end up killing?” The room quickly fell silent as Tabitha finished her question, with my only response being to nod.

“Honestly, now that he brings it up, it makes sense.” Seth conceded, making me feel less like the only one who actually gave a shit about this stuff. Tabitha gave a sigh, before turning her attention to the computer again. Without looking at us, she began to speak.

“His name was Gerald Untermeyer, and he was… well, amazing.” She began, almost as if fangirling over him. “I told you about the stuff he’d been working on, but I barely even touched on everything he’d already made. Without his help, I doubt Uchen would have even been able to get as far as he did with the machine.” Though Tabitha didn’t say what the machine was, it didn’t take much effort to figure it out from context clues.

“He helped that much? Surely if he was that smart, he’d have made it by himself and the whole issue of what to do with it would never have come up.” I said, briefly forgetting that the guy in question had been insane and probably would have just not thought to do that. However, Tabitha had a more reasonable explanation.

“He lacked the money. While some of what he had worked on was astounding, it was a net loss overall. So he came to work under Uchen, and soon enough they were like partners.” Tabitha tapped a few buttons on the computer keyboard, and diagrams appeared on the screen. There was a lot of scribbling that I could barely decipher, but a 3D-rendered image of some of the machinery I could see in the room was also visible. “Uchen worked on the hardware, and Untermeyer worked on the software, including…” She trailed off as she hit more buttons, causing the screen to now display something entirely different. It almost looked like a room of sorts, with neon lighting covering the floor and walls. I watched as the colours pulsed, and changed, with every few moments. “The Grid.”

“Aptly named.” I replied, deadpan. “What is it?” The room didn’t changed as the view zoomed out, revealing more of what was inside the room. Or rather, revealing more of what wasn’t in the room, which was anything.

“The void we stay in sometimes is an offshoot of The Grid. The void holds our physical attributes, while The Grid digitizes whatever data it can, serving as a backup in case of any issues that might arise.” Tabitha pressed a button, and figures appeared in the grid. Though I’d never really seen it from an outside perspective before (aside from the clone in Despair), one of them was unmistakably me. The others were everyone else that was in the room and listening to her, which only prompted more confusion. “These are our data selves. They remember pretty much everything we do, but they’re not alive. If we end up losing memories, we can use them to restore our own.” Tabitha looked over at them. “I’m not going to lie, even I’m not completely sure what they can be utilised for.”

“Then what’s the point in telling us about The Grid? Surely we should be focusing on Untermeyer, right?” Seth asked, and I could tell from Tabitha’s expression that it wasn’t that simple.

“In theory, that would have been the situation, but the closer we lock on to Uchen, the more apparent it becomes as to where he is.” Tabitha bit the bottom of her lip as she paused, looking back at the screen. “They’re inside The Grid.” Of course they were.

“What does that mean for us?” Amy questioned, and Tabitha shrugged.

“How are we going to get in?” Aki chimed in, and Tabitha shrugged again.

“Will we even escape?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer, and not sure that Tabitha even knew it. Sure enough, Tabitha shrugged in response.

“I can’t answer any of these questions because I don’t know The Grid like Untermeyer or Uchen do. Thankfully, when we get to him, Uchen should be able to help us get out of there.” The general situation didn’t bode well at all, but Tabitha at least had a plan for getting out. “My assumption is that Untermeyer ended up becoming purely digital, so the mirrors, while working, will only be splitting him into separated chunks of data. From there he should hopefully fade into nothingness with time.” Tabitha reassured us, or maybe it was herself.

“I swear to god, if we end up riding on motorbikes and throwing disks at each other, I’m going to kill myself.” I said, looking back at the rest of the group. “Actually, thinking about that, what are we going to be fighting with?” I asked, unsheathing the Cobatana and the magic dagger and looking at them. It would be the first fight I would have done with the dagger, which was definitely going to be interesting.

“Well, nothing really changes, we still have everything we had.” Tabitha said, doing a hand-wavey gesture to signify her magic. “Except Seth, who for some reason threw away a shotgun ages ago.” Tabitha raised a very valid point, and soon enough all eyes were on Seth.

“I like my pistols more.” Seth said, and I groaned aloud. He had forgotten what every game we’d ever played together had taught him, and had decided against hoarding everything he could weapon-wise. What a moron. “Besides, Eddie should be able to help me, and I’ll just get Amy to make me a second pistol.” Seth finished, and now it was Amy’s turn to be annoyed.

“What am I going to be making a second gun from? The air?” She asked exasperatedly, and from the look on Seth’s face, it was clear he didn’t know that wasn’t possible.

“I… uh…” Seth began, which was a glorious way to start a sentence, in the grand scheme of things. Amy rolled her eyes.

“I can probably tweak something we have, but you really need to tell me when we’re doing stuff like this.” Amy replied, and Seth moved to thank her. However, a chime rang out across the room before he had a chance, and I looked around in confusion.

“Was someone microwaving something?” I asked, unsure of where the noise had come from.

“We’ve locked in. Ready or not, we’re going.” Tabitha said, moving to the area where we would be in the sights of the machine. I was most certainly not ready, but I was also definitely not about to say that. We were in the endgame now.

#A Cool Guy's Cool Life #cool guy #story #creative writing #writing

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