#I’m just seeing so much dooming on my dash like. we know how it’s gonna end!! hello!!!!!!

[birthmarkbuckley]

ok but the only way this storyline could realistically end is by eddie and chris choosing TOGETHER (and it must be together I really do think so) the joy of going back to their home in LA. and to the family that they have made for themselves there.

[edorazzi]

Well THIS has been a long time coming. Today we’re reviewing Part 2 of the Miraculous Season 4 finale; aka “Strike Back”, aka more of the Felix arc. Sorry for the delay guys, I was just living in fear!  ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Previous episode reviews: “Felix” | “Gabriel Agreste” | “Risk”

Like previous reviews this is gonna get pretty long, so I’ll throw the rest under a cut and let’s get started once again! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

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So here we are again. Literally everything delayed me from getting to this episode: catching Covid, Internet issues, IRL obligations, a general sense of doom. The universe was trying VERY hard to stop me so I think whatever I experience past this point is my own fault. I’ve signed the waiver.

Here’s where we’re at right now:

Everyone (except Felix?) is affected by the akuma “Risk”, whose power causes people within earshot to make impulsive decisions.

Felix is likely after the family rings again, and has taken over Adrien’s horrible modeling trip to stalk/rob Nathalie. I have yet to see how this affects Adrien negatively but I’m sure life will, uh, find a way.

No idea if Uncle Gabe is aware of this. He did set a trap for Felix in the office safe but that was a while ago; and he’s currently trashing Paris with a sentimonster believing Adrien is safe with Nathalie (he’s not lol) so I’m leaning towards him being genuinely ignorant.

There’s a VERY high possibility Ladybug is about to give a Miraculous to the wrong cousin.

So I’m very nervous. Lessgo.

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- No recap! I don’t think the last double feature had them either; I remember leaving a while between “Truth” and “Lies” at the beginning of the season and being very confused over stuff I forgot. Guess you either sink or swim when Miraculous decides to do some serious storytelling.

- So we start where we abruptly left off: with Adrien entering the Forbidden Office in search of his dad, finding Felix’s Phantom Thief monocle (what IS that thing...) and getting distracted by today’s sentimonster stomping through the city. He dashes up to his room, transforming into Chat Noir as he goes and leaping gracefully out the window without pause! Or paws. Haha. I’m in danger.

- Next we rehash the scene of Marinette talking with Tikki on the station roof, and getting the bright idea to go rescue “Adrien” (who is Felix in disguise) as Pegabug. She retrieves the horse glasses from her yoyo pocket dimension and is about to unify the two Miraculous when her attention is also caught by Strike Back. SHE JUST STARES, THEN TAKES THE GLASSES OFF AND PUTS THEM AWAY AGAIN. The timing was very funny. Brawl now, true love later! >:0

- Cut to the interior of the Startrain, and now THIS I’m interested in. Nathalie is seated next to “Adrien”, who is actually Felix, and he’s glaring out the window either in boredom or cooking up a cunning plan. Definitely waiting for Nathalie to let her guard down so he can rob her. First old men and now disabled women; where will it end, Felix??

- Nathalie gently puts her hand over “Adrien’s” in a way I’m sure she thinks is reassuring, showing off the family ring in full view. Isn’t actually touching this poor attention-starved kid way above her paygrade? She wouldn’t even give him a hug in “Felix” when she walked in on him crying in his room. Maybe her appreciation for Adrien has grown considering he brought her snacks while she was bedridden. Gabriel just came in and ate them while venting to her, but still.

Also, if this was Adrien, Nathalie flashing this ring so much (between the previous scene in the study and now) would be super rude, right? I know Adrien supports whatever his father has with her and it’s Gabriel who kicks off every time it’s brought up; but showing off his mom’s wedding ring like this with no explanation is another level.

And ALSO, again, where is this particular ring meant to have come from? The cover story in “Gabriel Agreste” is that Ol’ Gabe graciously bestowed his own ring unto his dear nephew (after Felix robbed, tricked and nearly outed him as Shadow Moth), and the other is still officially ‘missing’ because it disappeared with Emilie, who is definitely not in a fridge in the basement. Are they both banking on Adrien not recognising it, and it’s just terrible luck that this is Felix?

- ANYWAY. Felix reacts like he’s been burned, and I’m sure it’s because the ring he’s desperate for is right there on Nathalie’s hand, but I’m in tears thinking he’s just fucking OUTRAGED at being touched without permission. Like the first episode where he went to shake Adrien’s hand and got full-on hugged instead. He came here to rob people and he is feeling SO violated right now?? >:/

- Nathalie encourages “Adrien” to “try to make the most out of this trip”, and highlights how he’ll get to see the world and then come back to his friends with lots to share. Not that I believe this is going ahead, but I hope that means she’s at least planning to give him a decent amount of freedom; like in the Shanghai Special where Gabriel actually let Adrien go out and explore the city (with a bodyguard). Maybe she really does care! Just a little bit. :’)

- Felix says something ominous about “seizing the opportunity when it presents itself”, so I guess he’s recovered from being so RUDELY manhandled - literally the worst thing that’s happened to him today! Move over, Aunt Emilie’s frozen corpse! - and is back to plotting atrocities.

- Lila interrupts to claim she and Adrien will become “the best friends in the world” on this trip! Now, Felix has been mostly separate from Adrien’s social circle with the exception of Kagami and Chloe (and that time the Girl Squad tried to kill him), so he doesn’t know Lila’s reputation as a liar or how much grief she’s put his cousin through; but maybe it takes a sneaky manipulator to know one? 

- “Adrien” tells Lila he “hopes so with all his heart”. This should be her first clue that something isn’t right. He was ready to tear her to SHREDS during the photoshoot this morning and now he’s Prince Charming! Would the real Adrien be extra polite in front of Nathalie? :/

Also, if this is grounds for suspicion, does Lila know Adrien has a strikingly identical cousin? She hasn’t been around for this arc but she may have heard about him from their classmates. I wonder if Felix is common knowledge to people who haven’t been directly involved with his nonsense, or if he’s some kind of horrible unlockable item once you reach a certain friendship level with Adrien.

- At any rate, “Adrien” excuses himself to the bathroom with his duffel bag. Lila pokes her head over the seats with wide eyes to watch him leave; does she know something’s up? Gotta take those every-15-minutes model showers, I’m sure the Startrain has the facilities for it.

- In the train bathroom, Felix takes the fake Peacock Miraculous out of his bag and affixes it to his chest. What is it about the Agreste family and wielding dark magic in train bathrooms? The twins HAVE to be sentimonsters because I refuse to believe Felix isn’t related to Gabriel in any way, it’s ridiculous. He also retrieves Nathalie’s tablet and deletes her Candy Crush flicks through scans of the Miraculous book to find details on the Peacock and how to activate it. I’m so upset Shadow Moth’s presence confirms this brooch is a fake; this would be so cool! :(

- Felix is perplexed when no kwami appears from the brooch. He tries the magic words - “Duusu, spread my feathers!” - and nothing happens. He crushes the brooch in the palm of his hand and it shatters easily, proving it’s just cheap costume jewelry his uncle planted as a decoy.

- FELIX REALISES HE’S BEEN TRICKED. Score one for Uncle Gabe! Turnabout is fair play after all, and it’s taken him over three episodes to get back at his nephew in any way. During their last conflict Gabriel may have been a fool dressed as a peacock in his secretary’s bedroom, but he’s not a fool dressed as Adrien Agreste in a train bathroom with no Miraculous. That’s Felix.

- Back to Paris and Strike Back is stomping around. He looks like one of those Laputa golems (which I’m sure is intentional). Ladybug and Chat meet up and fall into sync right away, agreeing to wrap this up quick because they’ve both got other pressing business. This pressing business is Felix, lol.

- Shadow Moth leers from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Risk (who I completely forgot about, lmao) cycles through the sentimonster’s path of destruction and influences nearby Parisians to stick around in the danger zone so they can catch sight of the superheroes/get videos for social media. I’m surprised this isn’t a problem they have to deal with more often since the heroes are very popular; this is exactly what Alya was doing in Season 1 and it’s apparently been less than a year since then!

- Ladybug has to actively “shoo!” the civilians away, which is very funny. She also drags Risk out of danger, not realising he’s an akuma; then Risk pushes straight onwards again and nearly gets hit by a car. WHY IS EVERY SINGLE TODDLER IN MIRACULOUS SO TERRIBLE.

- Chat’s Risk mark lights up and he nearly Cataclysms the sentimonster, which as we know is a HUGE no-no because it makes them go haywire. Ladybug trips it with her yoyo wire instead, and Strike Back makes a massive dent in the city with millions in property damage. Chat gets annoyed and says that was literally no better than what he was gonna do! Which isn’t actually correct but I’ll give him this one; he deserves a little snark today. As a treat.

- The heroes go on to argue, appropriately, about how Ladybug never wants to take any risks. I like this exchange; both kids are very animated and I love Chat’s flow of sassy/disgruntled expressions in particular. Chat asks if Ladybug would ‘risk’ knowing who he was behind the mask, and Ladybug gets angry because she does NOT want to have this discussion right now! It’s REALLY dumb at this point. EITHER LET THEM SHARE IDENTITIES OR STOP ENGINEERING MORE REASONS WHY IT WOULD BE FINE TO DO SO, MY GOODNESS.

- This impromptu debate distracts them from Strike Back, who nearly flattens them. Chat grabs Ladybug despite them being super mad at each other right now (which is sweet); and the pair crashland in the streets and roll several feet while STILL arguing. This reminds me a whole lot of Stormy Weather and I wonder if that’s on purpose. Look how far we’ve come.

Geez, remember when this show wasn’t exactly what we’d expected but it also wasn’t a mess? Those golden days of staying up late and watching low-res Korean TV streams waiting for a new episode with no subtitles, instead of putting new content off for weeks because it’s too exhausting to see what they’ll do next. Edorazzi remembers. :’)

- Chat asks “Why do you know the identities of the other Miraculous holders? Why not me?” And Ladybug yet again tells him she’s protecting his identity in case Shadow Moth akumatizes her. Clearly the scriptwriters know what they meant, but I took that as Chat questioning why Ladybug shut him out of knowing ANY of the other superheroes so he couldn’t even help with stuff like Miraculous distribution. Wasn’t that where this started? Why are we back here??

- Chat says either he, she or both of them (I can’t figure out exactly what he says :/) will NEVER get akumatized. Ladybug has a flashback to Chat Blanc.

ARE WE REALLY BRINGING THIS UP. Like I’m sorry, but if we’re dragging that mess of an episode back into relevancy then Bunnyx should show up to slap Ladybug on the wrist whenever she’s about to do something which dooms the universe (because Marinette is somehow capable of breaking her own timeline without any outside influence); therefore if Bunnyx isn’t here right now then it’s fine and she has no reason to be defensive. Which is ridiculous but that’s the canon logic we’re living with. Welcome to the clown tent.

- “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” / “Maybe because you never talk to me about ANYTHING!” HE’S RIGHT, YOU KNOW. Ladybug doesn’t have to full-on share identities if she isn’t comfortable, but this season has a pattern of Chat getting left out of things and then being blamed for not knowing what’s up. Everything from Sentibubbler to the Scarabella mess and now this! JUST COMMUNICATE, HOLY SHIT. WHERE IS FELIX.

- IT’S ESCALATING. Through her earpiece Rena Furtive prompts Ladybug to dodge an attack. Ladybug’s Risk mark lights up and she thanks Rena loudly for Chat to hear. For a second she ACTUALLY tries to pretend she doesn’t know what Chat’s talking about, but ultimately confesses that Rena (who supposedly gave up her Miraculous way back in Sentibubbler) is on watch except she can’t tell him where.  I guess this is a sign she does want to share this stuff with Chat and just doesn’t have the courage; but it comes across as a slap in the face and more like she forgot he was there. Chat is getting FURIOUS and I’m not happy either, the disrespect!!! >:0

- Ladybug spots Risk heading back into the danger zone once again and swings off to save him. Chat spots Mayor Bourgeois breaking out his film camera to record the sentimonster and does the same (and it’s nice to see more followup on André’s passions!). The kids realise they can’t fight the sentimonster if they’re constantly saving civilians, so Ladybug goes for “reinforcements”. Which Chat isn’t allowed to know about, of course.

- Is she going for Felix, believing he’s Adrien and that this will be the perfect excuse to keep him in Paris. MAYBE.

- Ladybug dishes out a bunch of Miraculous to the usual suspects (Nino, Kagami, Juleka, Zoe and Mylene), including Marc and Ivan this time! That’s nice. Where is Luka though? I get the feeling the writers banned him from the rest of the season because all the drama comes from Chat and Ladybug arguing/ miscommunicating, and we’ve seen from Wishmaker that Luka knows exactly how to deal with that nonsense. Can’t change his nature so just lock him in the houseboat until Season 5. :/

- Apparently Roi Singe is here too. Why wasn’t he in the lineup? The heroes launch several attacks on Strike Back and nothing works, the sentimonster just duplicates and copies their powers into its clones. Is this an allegory for Ol’ Gabe FINALLY figuring out how to dupe Felix, by absorbing his trickery and turning it back on him? :V

- Strike Back rips up the Ferris wheel to throw at them, and Ryuko unknowingly deflects it towards the top of the TV studio where Rena is hiding. Carapace SCREAMS her name and throws Shellter over the building so she won’t get hit.

- EVERYONE INCLUDING SHADOW MOTH IS NOW AWARE RENA IS STILL AN ACTIVE MIRACULOUS HOLDER. Which could have been avoided if Nino just didn’t YELL OUT HER WHOLEASS NAME, right? It’s reasonable to protect one of the tallest buildings in Paris; might not have been the wisest use of his power but nobody would question it! It’s not even implied he shouted because of Risk, this particular dumbassery is all his own.

How on Earth did Nino know, though? Did Alya bring him back into the loop? I seriously don’t remember that happening, but hell if I can recall half of what goes on in this show any more. Not to be Old Woman Yells At Cloud but I used to have such a good grip on what was happening in Miraculous and now I’m barely clinging on. :’V

Also, for once Carapace is the one everybody’s going >:0 at, which is a nice change from him picking on Chat Noir so much this season. Ah ha ha.

- OKAY. Alya confesses she told Nino about Rena Furtive because she just “couldn’t keep it from him”, so this is something that happened behind the scenes. LADYBUG SOUNDS SUPER MAD AT HER. This is so funny. I don’t hate any of these characters but they’ve been deeply frustrating for the latter half of the season and watching this all turn around is cathartic. :D

- Rena FINALLY notices everyone’s frog-shaped marks. There’s also a moment where Ladybug is about to wring Risk’s neck but Chat intervenes because he’s “good with kids” and Risk clings to him immediately. It’s pretty cute.

- CHAT GETS THROWN FROM OFFSCREEN INTO A BUILDING. GUESS BABYSITTING DIDN’T GO WELL. The heroes finally realise Risk is an akuma, and Shadow Moth is pleased because now Ladybug will second-guess everything she does. It’s a neat little two-layered plan; first she’s blissfully reckless and then she’s paranoid! Ladybug immediately orders Chat to go detransform because she won’t trust him with his Cataclysm, which I’m sure will do wonders for this argument they’re already having. :/

- Chat is left on the rooftop as everyone else leaves, and the fragile little way he mumbles “But I can help...” has me in TEARS. His Risk mark flares up a moment later and he leaps off towards one of the Strike Back clones, presumably to do something reckless that Ladybug will get mad about.

- Meanwhile, the girls try to de-akumatize Risk but can’t find his akumatized object because he hid it. Which is REALLY sneaky and honestly something Shadow Moth should instruct every akumatized person to do. Forget all these “megakumas” or whatever else Ol’ Gabe’s working on, just hide the key items and they’ll be borderline unstoppable!

- Chat gets pinned by a vehicle and tries to Cataclysm it to get free, only to have his attack stolen by Strike Back. That’s disappointing; I really expected him to prove Ladybug’s fears wrong by being sensible regardless of risk-taking but I guess we’re not doing that today. :/

- Ladybug gets mad and Lucky Charms up a day-old zoo ticket. Not sure what her plan is, but she decides she needs someone who hasn’t been hit by Risk - and of course her mind goes to Adrien-who-is-actually-Felix who she vividly recalls having no mark on his neck as she watched him board the train. UH OH. I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, I JUST DIDN’T KNOW HOW.

- Ladybug goes on a confusing tangent about whether or not her ideas are too risky, just as Shadow Moth anticipated. She plucks the Horse and the Rabbit Miraculous out of her yoyo dimension - never mind how she has the stopwatch after Season 1 established it belonged to Alix as a family heirloom. I don’t know WHAT is going on with the Bunnyx subplot any more, IT’S ALL STUPID - and merges them with the Ladybug Miraculous to come out looking like a video game avatar when you equip all your high stat items at once; then jumps through a portal to (I presume) give Felix his fifth heart attack of the day.

- Pegabunnybug and “Adrien” come out of adjacent bathrooms at the same time and spook each other. It’s like when the business convention has to share a venue with the sci-fi anime con! Felix instantly goes into recovery mode, as is his #1 talent, and (after subtly throwing his bag of stolen goods into the bathroom stall and closing the door) puts on his best wide-eyed Adrien impression.

- Instantly getting into his personal space, Ladybug checks “Adrien’s” neck and confirms he’s unmarked by Risk. If Felix is trying to save his cousin from being a doormat this is a sign to redouble his efforts; he dresses up as Adrien for 20 minutes and everyone keeps touching him! >:0

- She produces a Miraculous from her yoyo (lord help me I can’t recognise any of them any more :/) and Felix is very interested in this little pocket dimension. Now I was already assuming he’d steal whichever item this is but IS HE PLANNING TO SWIPE THE WHOLE DAMN YOYO? SWEETIE. IF THIS IS WHERE IT’S GOING NO WONDER PEOPLE ARE MAD AT HIM.

- Oh, the Dog Miraculous! SO IT’S GONNA BE LIKE THAT WHEN FELIX IS TRADITIONALLY A CAT HOLDER, IS IT.  Not that I’m NOT Pro-Felix, and I guess they’ve recast the snake, the bee and technically the mouse when their holders didn’t suit, but this feels kinda mean to Sabrina when she’s done nothing to deserve losing it. I already know giving the power of item retrieval to a thief is a terrible idea, but I wonder who’s most at risk here; Nathalie, Gabriel or Ladybug?

- I wonder about “Adrien” doubting himself for a second here. Is that part of Felix’s impression of his pathetic cousin or a genuine reaction? I don’t see the point in hesitating if Ladybug is freely offering what he wants but maybe he’s just covering his ass; can’t look too eager. 

I’ve talked about this before but this is what I mean with Felix, you know? When it comes to scenes like this nearly every Miraculous character can be sorted into two categories: “genuine” or “ingenuine but it’s very obvious”; but despite Felix’s theatrical villainy he has no clear goal or motivation like everyone else. I know this is a kiddie show for babies but I think the shift in parameters is why I’m consistently baffled and changing my interpretation of what’s happening.

That said, I’m sure he’s being fake as hell right now; just something to bring up. Let’s continue.

- HIS REACTION IS SO CUTE WHEN BARKK APPEARS. This is what Felix was expecting when he put on the fake Peacock Miraculous and he’s clearly amazed to see it for real! Now I think about it, wasn’t Barkk a little set apart from the other kwami in a couple of previous episodes; being a bit more vigilant and purpose-driven? Maybe she(?) and Felix will get along? :0

- OH MY GOD, THE TRANSFORMATION!!! THEY GAVE FELIX HIS THIGH HIGHS. GOD FUCKING BLESS. It’s a little disappointing he’s pretending to be Adrien right now, so we still don’t know what a costume tailored to Felix himself would look like (less gaudy than this, I imagine), but this is a lot more flattering than whatever Sabrina had going on and has several beats of Felix’s classic Chat Noir suit. The boots! The ball “bell”! The sharp shoulders, sleek arms and big ears!!! （ｉДｉ）

Throwing in a comparison. Those boots are spot on, pun fully intended.

Yet again I should switch this episode off here, I really should. Every single Felix Episode has a point where it can only go downhill and this is where I should stop; where he has yet to do anything horrific and also got a cute transformation. Alas, I press play. :(

- Yep, he immediately touches Ladybug’s yoyo under the pretence of learning how his powers work. Fortunately it’s ineffective since he needs to use the ball and not his bare hand, but he’s gunning for it. FELIX NOOOO.

- Ladybug’s plan is to go back into the past, I guess to find where Risk hid his akumatized object. That must be what the zoo ticket is for, I just figured it out. This is what happens when I don’t get a recap in a two-parter. She takes “Adrien” into Bunnyx’s rabbit hole dimension, and I can SEE him having an absolute meltdown trying to process all this but he’s holding it together like a champ. 

I should start keeping a scoreboard of Felix’s heart attacks because this makes at least six in one day. Dropping into the Butterfly Lair, discovering Emilie’s corpse, Gabriel nearly catching him in the study, Nathalie touching his hand (>:0!!!), Pegabunnybug ambushing him on the train and now the rabbit hole dimension scrambling his brain. Good thing he’s probably a sentimonster because this would kill a normal person.

- They get spat out into the zoo scene from the previous episode, where Risk has just been akumatized. “Adrien” is here to simply throw the ball and hit the akumatized object; I guess so they can locate it in the future and not disrupt the timeline by grabbing it now. 

I’d question why Ladybug couldn’t just quadruple up on Miraculous and do this herself, but they have thrown in the crippling doubt over her own actions (and I’m sure the excuse to get Adrien in on things is appealing to her) so fair enough. Turns out I was right about Felix being the key because he’s a sociopathic little bastard who can operate normally under these circumstances. :V

- Wow, Felix actually does as instructed! I thought he would tag Ladybug’s yoyo and run, but he just dutifully hits the frog toy and they both jump back into the portal. I assume he can’t pick more than one target without refueling his kwami, right?

- They return to the present and PARIS IS IN FLAMES, SOMEHOW. Is this shot a reference to the PV with Felix and Bri on the rooftop under the burning sky? It’s much less cinematic and Felix is dressed like a dog, but it definitely feels like a homage considering the characters we’re dealing with. That’s fun.

- The Miraculous Holders are dying, and Chat Noir is either the last one standing OR he’s gone off the rails and caused this whole mess. Ladybug instructs “Adrien” (who is still unnamed as a hero, I think?) to use his power and they locate the akumatized object with ease. This solves the Risk problem but now they have to deal with the duplicating sentimonster!

- Chat eavesdrops on Ladybug absolutely WORSHIPING the new guy. My first reaction was “wow she really is obsessed with Adrien”, but this is also after Adrien failed spectaclarly as Aspik (and Viperion became the new Snake Miraculous Holder), which I don’t think gets brought up often enough and puts a new angle on Ladybug congratulating him for doing everything right on his “first try”. :’0

- LADYBUG BLURTS OUT ADRIEN’S NAME. GIRL WHAT THE HECK, THE RISK MARKS ARE GONE. IS SHE JUST DUMB.

- Felix picks some absolutely horrific name for himself that I don’t know how to spell (but have since discovered it’s “Flairmidable”). I guess it doesn’t matter since he’ll probably never be a Miraculous Holder again. Maybe he eschewed some more on-the-nose dog puns like “Retriever” or “Courage” or Scrappy, lmao just to make Adrien look ridiculous? I can dream.  Either way this should be a massive clue he ISN’T Adrien, who settled on the very creative “Black Cat” and had to stay up all night with Plagg’s help to come up with “Catwalker”, but nobody’s close enough to him to connect those dots. Adrien’s arguably better at costume design though; the cousins should pool their talents sometime.

- Chat seems to have missed Ladybug’s slip of the tongue, so he’s just very upset to see her bonding so hard with this new guy. It’s like a glimpse into an alternate universe where Adrien and Chat really ARE different people. Don’t worry honey, Flairmidable isn’t interested in girls like that; he just wants to rob her! >:V

- Ladybug returns Froggy’s plush toy to him, protective charm attached. Also, Rena Furtive is now out in the open with everyone? I know her existence got re-confirmed but unless Ladybug’s about to take her Miraculous away this seems like a horrible idea. Shadow Moth knows who she is! At least preserve the illusion of being a different person!!! 

- Everyone goes to recharge, which I’m sure will give Felix another shot at stealing that yoyo. Chat is left alone and despondent. :(

- Shadow Moth is disappointed by Risk’s defeat, but is certain Ladybug must have made a mistake and “can’t wait to see what it is”. THAT WOULD BE FELIX, A TERRIBLE HORRIBLE MISTAKE UNCLE GABE IS PERSONALLY FAMILIAR WITH. :)

- Revisiting the sewers, Ladybug and Flairmidable detransform either side of the split tunnels like Marinette and Adrien have done before.  Mari resolves to return “Adrien” to the Startrain and feels wrong for interfering (as if the real Adrien didn’t have a whole outburst just this morning about how much he hated this?), but “Adrien” claims he wants to stay here and fight by her side instead, leering at Barkk in a comically menacing way. GUESS THE NONSENSE IS STARTING. I UNCLIPPED MY SEATBELT FOR A SECOND THERE BUT TIME TO STRAP BACK IN. :/

- “You’ve given me the courage I needed, Ladybug. I feel like from now on, NOTHING can stop me.” OKAY EDGELORD, TONE IT DOWN. 

I really want to know what Felix’s goals are here. He hasn’t shown interest in destroying the superheroes like Shadow Moth or obtaining power/control like Lila and Chloe - it’s mainly been about getting the family rings plus a side order of ruining Gabriel’s day (and Adrien’s if he gets caught in the crossfire, sorry buddy) and his interest in the Miraculous seems like a relatively new thing. He was also horrified by finding Emilie which tells me he’s not completely sociopathic. Clearly he’s about to do something horrible but I have trouble believing he’s just a villain with no good motive, you know?

- Back topside, the remaining Miraculous Holders (plus Rena, sans Chat) are on the exact same rooftop they nearly died on earlier. Very smart. Ladybug shows up with Flairmidable and officially introduces him as “the new holder of the Dog Miraculous!” SO I GUESS IT’S OVER FOR SABRINA. OOF. Chat Noir pops up over the railing right as she says this (while gazing at Flairmidable with adoration) which is VERY funny. Like oh no you DON’T. >:0

- Ladybug smooshes the pair of them together, clearly happy to have her two favourite guys side by side (Viperion wasn’t even invited today, second oof) and delighted with the cat/dog dynamic. Once again she’s ignoring Chat’s very obvious discomfort as if this setup is perfect! She laughs hysterically as the other Miraculous Holders look on with concern.

- Chat absolutely HATES this guy. Flairmidable gives a polite little “Nice working with you, Chat Noir :)” but it’s tinged with the same venom as Felix’s intro scene where he called Adrien his “favourite cousin”. I’m convinced this kid just can’t say ANYTHING nice without sounding evil, exactly like his uncle. :’)

- I’m wondering if this will be the consequence of all the times Chat had to put up with Rena. He didn’t trust her at ALL but had to just shut up and do what he was told as the girls worked everything out behind his back. Now Flairmidable is giving off positively evil vibes, but is Chat going to push it or assume Ladybug knows what she’s doing and he doesn’t have the right to say anything?

- Ladybug tells the boys to “shake paws” like they’re actual pets. Hold on to your ring, Chat, we all know what happened LAST time Felix shook hands with anyone. Chat reaches out very reluctantly but Flairmidable firmly grasps his hand and shakes it, putting in the extra distance like he’s REALLY determined to be friendly. Ladybug is trilling in excitement and completely ignoring Chat very obviously wanting to die right now. I feel kinda bad for them both, honestly. Also, is Felix lefthanded? :0

- Ladybug assures the boys they’re going to be spending a LOOOOT of time together now Flairmidable is on the team. FOREVER.  Wasn’t this the exact problem they faced in Kuro Neko; when Adrien put on his princely public persona as Catwalker and Ladybug couldn’t function around him because he was too hot? Does her determination to have Adrien on the team overpower her decision not to work with anyone she’s attracted to? I’m sure this won’t matter because Felix will have robbed her by the end of the day and never be allowed a Miraculous again, but still.

- Ladybug Lucky Charms up a pair of sunglasses which Marc duplicates. While she’s explaining whatever the hell this plan is, Flairmidable subtly touches his ball to her yoyo. I KNEW he was up to shit.  There’s various shots of everyone wearing their shades, and Flairmidable carefully handling his pair while Chat has just slapped them on and continued to glare is very funny.

- Flairmidable gets some kinda look on his face when he asks what Ladybug is planning to do with the sentimonsters, like he’s nervous. Hmm.

- Everyone leaps away but Flairmidable hangs back from the crowd. He looks like Dave Strider in these glasses and that wasn’t a comparison I was prepared to make today.

- Pegabug OPENS A GIANT PORTAL WHICH DROPS THE SENTIMONSTERS INTO THE FUCKING SUN. OKAY??? I GUESS THAT’S WHY EVERYONE NEEDED THE SHADES BUT JESUS....

- Flairmidable takes off his shades with a look of sadness, drops them at his feet where they shatter, then turns away with a sorrow-filled whisper of “I’m sorry”.

And I’m going to interrupt myself here with a post-liveblog sidebar because I WAS DUMB AS ROCKS ON MY FIRST WATCH. I initially interpreted this as Felix enjoying himself around the superheroes (especially after Chat accused him of having no friends; maybe this is his first experience being accepted by a group of peers) and being reluctant to betray them for whatever his bigger goal is, but now I absolutely believe he was talking to the sentimonsters, not the heroes.  He was fine dispatching Risk (an akuma) but instantly nervous about what Ladybug planned to do with the Strike Back clones, and ultimately had to watch them die at the hands of the Miraculous Heroes - in a sequence framed a lot more dramatically than other episodes - while being unable to step in. Jesus FUCK. “Felix is a sentimonster” isn’t even a question at this point, is it.

ANYWAY. 

- At the top of the Eiffel Tower, Shadow Moth is so enraged he jumps over the edge. I’m sure he’s bounding away to do more evil but THAT’S SO FUNNY; HE’S LIKE A TODDLER.

- Rena and Ladybug land in an alley just like before, perfectly synchronised. Are they still gonna have a serious discussion or is Ladybug riding high on inducting “Adrien” into the gang and ready to forgive everything? 

- Marinette is willing to let things go, saying she understands the need to share everything with her best friend (Chat Noir is CRYING on a rooftop somewhere), but it’s actually Alya who renounces her Miraculous because she knows it’s too risky to continue as Rena now Shadow Moth knows? WHOA. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. I’ve been liking Alya more and more this season; I found her pretty irritating and reckless earlier in the show (when all her plotlines were about hindering Ladybug, having a boyfriend and/or not respecting Marinette’s boundaries with Adrien) but she’s really pulling through. Miraculous or not I hope she stays as Mari’s confidante. 

- Ladybug goes back to the sewers to find Adrien, who ISN’T THERE. QUELLE SURPRISE.

- Cut to Gabriel returning home (in a very dignified way, after leaping off the Eiffel Tower in a blind rage) while on a call to Nathalie, complaining about this plan failing and demanding she cancel everything and bring Adrien home. THE WHIPLASH ADRIEN WOULD BE GETTING IF HE WERE ACTUALLY THERE. He strides into his study, still on the phone, and cue the funniest moment so far of this Gabriel/Felix feud.

- FLAIRMIDABLE IS JUST LOUNGING THERE, FULL COSTUME, FEET UP ON SHADOW MOTH’S DESK AND PLAYING WITH THE BALL. Strikingly similar to the way he greeted Adrien in the previous episode, and again lefthanded. 

He does shift to spinning it with his right hand later, and I think he was messing with Adrien’s basketball righthanded too; so Felix must be ambidextrous. It would certainly fit his character considering he takes whichever side is most beneficial to him.

- GABRIEL DROPS HIS PHONE, AND AFTER TWO FULL EPISODES FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES FELIX’S PRESENCE IN HIS HOME. Albeit this time with genuine surprise instead of murderous rage. Felix clarifies that he was the mistake Ladybug made, which is what we’ve all been saying.

I did have an extra note here to the effect of “I haven’t forgotten the remorseful way he abandoned the heroes tho”, but that’s out the window now I’ve realised Felix was upset about the sentimonsters. In his mind the Miraculous Holders probably deserve whatever they get!

- Also, Nathalie starts dying on the Startrain. Lila notices and looks pleased about it. Moving on.

- Cut to who I assume is the real Adrien exiting his ensuite bathroom, back in his normal clothes, and Ladybug leaping in through his open window. TO CHEW HIM OUT FOR STEALING THE MIRACULOUS FELIX TOOK, I’M SURE.

- Okay, at least Ladybug’s giving him the benefit of the doubt at first; assuming she forgot to tell Adrien where they should meet after the battle. You could say something about her trusting Adrien is in the right while Chat Noir is currently always in the wrong at ALL times, but I’m just glad Adrien’s reputation isn’t actually suffering because of Felix’s mischief. I’m Team Felix here but Adrien deserves a break.

- Ladybug mentions the train and Adrien realises what happened, ominously growling “FELIX”, and Ladybug’s horror movie reaction is amazing. Chill out guys, you don’t even know what he’s done yet! Adrien was still trying to figure out how Felix screwed him over by commandeering this modeling trip, you always expect the worst. Yes he’s actively committing an atrocity as we speak, but you shouldn’t just assume! >:0

- Back to the office and this is INCREDIBLE. I love these shots of Felix just making himself at home in other people’s stuff; he looks SO fucking full of himself. I also notice he’s got paw pads on his boots, which is another point on the “honouring Felix’s old costume” scoreboard:

The classic beans.

- So Felix wants the Peacock Miraculous now. He threatens to tell Adrien about the secret waifu dungeon beneath the mansion BUT offers Gabriel a trade: the Peacock for all the other Miraculous, and he’ll return the family ring he stole. I can’t believe we thought Lila was going to be the new villain striking deals with Shadow Moth, Felix is outrageous!

And I’m interrupting myself again, but lots of my commentary on this scene was “why does Felix want the Peacock? What’s up with him? Why is he giving up on the rings and why doesn’t he “need” the one he took any more?”; blah blah blah.��He’s a sentimonster and the Peacock Miraculous is like handing a dog its own leash. Endless freedom baybee.

I think he was after Emilie’s ring - the one Nathalie currently has - because it contains Adrien’s amok (while Felix’s is likely in the ring he’s been wearing this whole time, which I believe belonged to his dad?), so he’s comfy returning Gabriel’s ring in this bargain because its only value is sentimental. I’m playing 5D chess in my brain with all this but I honestly think that’s what’s happening.

- “If I’d wanted to harm you, Uncle, I would have done it a long time ago.” KINDA FUCKED UP, BUT I GUESS THAT’S ON PAR WITH “I need only snap my fingers to make you disappear from here”. Affectionate death threats must run in the Agreste/Vanily families and Adrien gets excluded because he’s sensitive. Felix really tries being nice to him with the “my favourite cousin” stuff but it still comes out sounding evil. :/

- HOLY SHIT, GABRIEL ACTUALLY DOES IT. He renounces Duusu and swaps the Peacock brooch for the family ring!!! Both he and Felix hesitate warily before grabbing the items from each other; they really do NOT trust one another (despite being family; or probably because they’re family) and I love that.

- Felix makes good on his promise and “fetches” Ladybug’s compact. Gabriel grabs it from him in glee, cackling that Ladybug has FINALLY lost. GUESS FELIX IS HIS FAVOURITE NOW. Sucks to be the Miraculous Holders but I always said some kind of bargaining system would make things way easier than just threatening each other all the time!

- Upstairs, Ladybug is having a panic attack in Adrien’s room. Wouldn’t the yoyo disappear if she detransforms then reappear on her person? It’s tough to think clearly in a panic though and I do feel for her. I want to give her a hug. :(

- ADRIEN IS A TOTAL BESTIE. 10/10. He takes charge of the situation, instructs Ladybug to think and breathe, and shoves her into the bathroom where she can detransform in privacy. His ring is in full view for this shot - he’s ABSOLUTELY in Chat Noir mode and THIS is why he’s her partner! But poor Mari doesn’t trust anything about herself, her decisions or even that Adrien isn’t Felix right now and tricking her again. Sweetheart...! ; n ;

- Downstairs, Felix renounces the Dog Miraculous to Gabriel as well - who is cackling over his haul - and leaves the study with (I assume) just the Peacock. I’m sure Adrien’s about to rugby tackle him across the foyer and THAT I would love to see.

- Ladybug retransforms (baby girl, sweetie, if only you’d done that instantly...! :’0) and is too late! Gabriel took ALL the Miraculous except hers, Chat Noir’s, and the Peacock. Even the Fox is gone because Alya gave it back to Marinette this afternoon. THIS HAS ALL WORKED OUT HORRIBLY. Is this implying Season 5 will draw back on the huge fleet of heroes but deliver on crazy new outfits for Gabriel? I hope so.

- Adrien gets a burst of courage (this time not from an akuma) and opens the bathroom door to speak to Ladybug; maybe planning to reveal his identity as Chat Noir to give better support than his civilian self can. She’s gone by the time he enters. :(

- Ladybug is outdoors crying in the rain. Hawk Moth (I guess he’s not Shadow Moth any more?) does a ridiculous Eye of Sauron thing in the sky; like his introduction in Origins except even campier with a massive ring of Miraculous symbols.

- During his evil speech we cycle through several of the (ex) Miraculous Holders looking mad about it. Hi Luka, nice to see you at least once before the season ends. They have Chloe here too and even she looks upset; could this be a hint she’s coming back as Queen Bee or at least allying with the heroes?? PLEASE. It’s only been half a season and I am SO tired of Zoe.

- Cut to Felix on the Startrain, and I’m sure Ladybug’s wellbeing comes first but frankly I’m amazed Chat Noir hasn’t camped out at the train station to beat his ass. He’s gotta go home sometime! >:0

We see the Peacock Miraculous has redesigned itself to suit him which is really cool. It reminds me a bit of his classic Black Cat ring.

The pointed edges almost look like cat ears.

Felix also looks, like... really happy to have it. Not ‘evil’ happy, relieved happy; holding it to his chest and closing his eyes with a peaceful smile. This is clearly important to him on a personal level and not just about causing more chaos. And here is my VERY belated realisation that Felix is a sentimonster who just won his own freedom, holy SHIT.

- Back to Ladybug. Chat Noir appears by her side, standing upright and fierce while she’s curled up and small. She FINALLY realises all the nonsense she’s been putting him through this season and can’t understand why he’s still here. 

I’m glad they’re actually addressing this. I’ve enjoyed the angsty dynamic of Chat getting sidelined but it’s frustrating when every confrontation has gone nowhere. Marinette’s had a huge amount on her shoulders this season so I don’t blame her for being stressed and distracted, but she will NOT let Chat help her and has preferred to ignore/placate him in small doses instead of actually sitting down to address the problem. Like it’s wildly inconvenient he doesn’t know what’s going on with her, but she also won’t tell him and then gets mad when he steps on her toes. I don’t think they should reveal identities if Ladybug isn’t ready (and Chat is wrong to keep asking, even if he’s only pressing so hard because he thinks it’ll fix things), but it’s a big leap between that and just, like... keeping Chat in the loop so he isn’t confused. Fortunately that shouldn’t be a problem any more! :D

- ANYWAY. Chat pulls Ladybug to her feet and into a hug, swearing to her they’ll get all the Miraculous back one by one. GUESS THAT’S THE PLOT OF SEASON 5. Also the entirety of Paris is out here cheering for her (despite Hawk Moth blaming her for allowing this mess to happen) which is really sweet. And if the blush on her cheeks is any indication, maybe she’s falling in love with Chat Noir now? :0

Gorgeous final scene. Very atmospheric.

-

SO WOW. HOLY SHIT, WHAT AN EPISODE. 

I was anticipating a Miracle-Queen-esque storyline which would take Felix from an intriguing character to a ridiculous villain with bland motives (and then I’d have to work overtime to insist he’s still likable/interesting), but this was so much more exciting than I expected!!!  Once again Felix gets more done in one episode than the rest of the characters in a whole season, but the way the status quo has been changed up is fascinating. It might not be just Hawk Moth vs the Miraculous Heroes any more - it looks like Felix has created a third side for sentimonsters and he’ll ally with or step on whichever group benefits him most. This is WILD.

So my thoughts on Felix specifically. I think he’s a perfect example of a “chaotic neutral” character. Here’s a DND definition I swiped from Google:

‘A chaotic neutral character is an individualist who follows their own heart and generally shirks rules and traditions. Although chaotic neutral characters promote the ideals of freedom, it is their own freedom that comes first; good and evil come second to their need to be free.’

Doesn’t that sound like him? Like they literally printed this out and stuck it on the wall while designing Felix “God Damn” Vanily.

I imagine a lot of fans hate him because he’s made things harder for the main characters, and I agree, he did! He tricked Adrien, undid three seasons’ worth of progress, delivered all the extra Miraculous directly to Shadow Moth, and Ladybug’s breakdown towards the end of the episode was painful to watch. I absolutely get it. But that doesn’t make Felix a villain. It doesn’t even make him a bad person per se - he’s just not on anyone’s side. He shows up, gets his shit done and leaves. Fair play. 

(That said, I really do think he was planning to help Adrien get out of this international photoshoot and got distracted by the ring. Yes he wanted to break into Gabriel’s safe, but he could have done that at just about any time without engaging his cousin! Felix took the time to push that “freedom is something you make” sentiment and yet again encourage Adrien to stand up for himself. I think he does genuinely care about him his wellbeing at least, not Adrien’s reputation lmao and just has no clue how involved Adrien is with the Miraculous stuff.)

I also don’t know what to expect from him in the future. I’ve seen assumptions he’ll wield the Peacock Miraculous as a new villain, but if he sees sentimonsters as living beings then will he? Shadow Moth and Mayura were fine creating and dismissing as many as they pleased but I don’t think Felix could do that; he’d have to be extremely picky if he even used it at all. Gabriel is the only one who knows Felix has the Peacock right now too; so it’s not like the Miraculous heroes will be kicking down his door looking for it (RIP my hopes for the London Special :’D). They know he’s a traitorous bitch but not what he got out of the deal; at least not yet. 

I also wonder what his relationship will be with Duusu. Maybe part of Duusu’s emotional fragility is because he feels the same way about sentimonsters being alive/enslaved/abused, and if Felix is a sentimonster himself then they might get very attached to each other. And Felix has worked completely solo thus far, bouncing off people but having no actual allies, so giving him someone like Duusu (a magic pet who is a lot of responsibility and can hold a conversation) will be a very interesting exposé of his character.

I’m personally in the camp that he’ll huffily take care of Duusu’s ridiculous needs, loudly complaining that he should just ship the Peacock Miraculous back to his uncle while putting together an expensive Barbie Dreamhouse for him to live in and pre-slicing Duusu’s favourite trashy pizza rolls. Maybe they’ll just make Felix super duper evil in Season 5 but I can dream. :’)

SO. I THINK I’M DONE. JESUS CHRIST I NEED TO LIE DOWN. Thanks for reading if you got this far! Rehydrate, take an Ibuprofen, tell me your thoughts and I’ll see you again for the next round of Felix nonsense! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 318: On Your Left

Previously on BnHA: The Hawksquad+Lurkers were all “well this sucks” and sat around a bit talking about how maybe they should actually come up with a new plan that is actually good, but then in the end they were like “nah.” Deku was all, “THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE ME THAT PULLS BENEATH THE SURFACE!! CONSUMING, CONFUSING!! THIS LACK OF SELF CONTROL I FEAR IS NEVERENDING. IT’S HAUNTING HOW I CANT SEEM TO FIND MYSELF AGAIN. MY WALLS ARE CLOSING IN.” Just, literally that whole entire song. All Might was all “Deku you should take care of yourself, try eating a thing,” and Deku was all “BYE, ALL MIGHT,” and just LEFT. He left!!! What the fuck!!!

Today on BnHA: Endeavor is all, “maybe if Deku didn’t listen to All Might he’ll listen to me instead.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t listen to Endeavor]” because, well, yeah. The Vestiges are all, “surprisingly, even we are a little concerned -- maybe you should get some rest, kid.” Deku is all, “((Ò ‸ Ó)).” The Vestiges are all, “holy shit.” Deku is all, “[wanders the ruined city streets terrifying the populace on account of him looking like Shelob had a baby with one of the Nazgul].” Some shriveled-up puppeteer villain asshole is all, “HORIKOSHI SAID IT’S MY TURN TO ATTACK DEKU TODAY SO I AM GOING TO SUMMON MY FRIGHTENED HELPLESS ATTACK MOB!!” Kacchan is all “WHADDYA MEAN THEY FOUND THE NERD!!! -- oh wait, that’s me, I found him. I found the nerd, you guys.” And just in time, too. I was about to owe a whole lot of people a whole lot of dollars.

so I have been super good about spoilers this week as always, but let me tell you guys, for the past 36 hours my dash filters have basically been nonstop “manga spoilers” this and “bnha 318” that, and so I’m coming in with a fair amount of hype here. your move, Horikoshi

oh, good! they got Endeavor to call Deku to try to talk him out of it. what a great and wonderful plan

“listen up kid, you haven’t slept since March and you are basically a walking biohazard right now, I’m just telling it like it is. didn’t you get shot like three times?? and there was a whole thing about how you urgently needed medical attention?? and supposedly we gave it to you, but I mean you haven’t even changed your clothes and don’t seem to have any fresh bandages or anything, so did we?? did we, really?? and also we all got blown up yesterday, so yeah.” hmm he’s making some reasonable points here you guys, but you sure do go on and on, Endeavor

oh he says foreign aid is finally on its way! I’m sure they’ll be very helpful. I mean in fairness they can hardly be worse than the home-grown heroes at this point

hey Enji, could you maybe try appealing to Deku the sixteen-year-old human boy, as opposed to Deku The World’s Last Hope? he does have value beyond his quirk. I know that’s always been an incredibly difficult concept for you to grasp, but could you maybe TRY, jesus

and also we’re worried about you as a person?? you’re just a kid and you’re pushing yourself way too hard?? you were going to say that part next, right. why the hell didn’t Hawks make this call instead

“don’t worry about me... I’m completely fine” Deku you do understand that saying it over and over again doesn’t actually make it true

and again with the rush!! all the rush rush rush!! we’re running out of time, we can’t let AFO and Tomura keep getting stronger, I have to end this now, there’s no time to rest, etc. etc. etc. just the constant pressure of this whole big countdown on top of everything else

holy shit, you KNOW it’s bad when even the Vestiges are telling him to chill

these guys are basically the walking talking embodiments of self-sacrifice; if even they’re telling him he needs to take five, then he must seriously be like half a step away from death’s door

OH SHIT LMAO

DIDN’T EVEN LET HIM FINISH HIS SENTENCE BEFORE HE SENT HIM INTO THE FUCKING SHADOW REALM WITH THAT FUCKING LOOK. HOLY FUCK. DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DIE TWICE. SHIT

(ETA: so I’m pretty sure this was just Danger Sense activating and so he cut them off to go do more hero stuff, but I’m gonna go ahead and stick to my original interpretation anyway lol.)

anyway so how’s everybody doing. we all good? En, you good? Banjou? Shino? I’m imagining you guys all curled up in a little ball on the floor right now lol. can’t say I blame you though, no shame

lmaoooooooooooo

“SHEESH.” sheesh indeed, lmao. “what in the FUCK was that”

see, this is why y’all need Kacchan. you need someone who’s not going to back down from him no matter what. if it’s a matter of out-stubborning Midoriya fucking Izuku, then there’s only one other person on the planet capable of that, and we all know it. don’t pretend like you don’t. I am not going to shut up about this! we’ve had our hurt so now what about SOME COMFORT, DAMMIT

“I’m afraid that he’s becoming influenced by my conscience” nah are you kidding Nana this is all 100% made-in-Japan pure original Deku right here

see, Banjou gets it. “that kid, he’s totally going on his own.” exactly. this was so inevitable it was basically scientific law

“well I for one don’t see the problem with Deku being so obsessed with saving everyone else that he pushes himself until his body and soul literally fall apart” okay, whose speech bubbles are these?? we’re about to have words

lol of course

well you always did prefer the direct route didn’t you. but even you can’t possibly think this is okay lol

dark AU!Kacchan please tell us more about your badass doomed timeline in which everything went to shit and you apparently had the same character arc that Deku is having right now except it somehow made you sexier instead of turning you into a rabid t-rex. I have so many questions

oh so now you want to help??? well -- good, actually. sorry if that sounded offended just now lol

(ETA: so at first when I got to the end of this chapter I was wondering if Katsuki B. had somehow summoned his alternate-universe counterpart through trippy OFA space telepathy lol. but in the original Japanese there’s no reference to “we”, so this appears to be a mistranslation. this line should probably read more like “if there’s something/someone out there that would be able to complement/complete the current Midoriya Izuku [it would be]…” which, oh hello, is that Horikoshi once again reaffirming that Deku and Bakugou complete each other lol. “guess what guys, the Vestiges ship it too" heck yeah. they know what’s up!)

look how admiring his boyfriends are. HORIKOSHI GIVE US THE REST OF THIS BACKSTORY ALREADY GODDAMMIT

“meanwhile somewhere in the depths of the ruined city, Deku was having a dance-off with the villains”

I like how the villains all have this “AHH WHAT THE FUCK” kind of body language to them lol. I mean if it were me, and an eldritch horror suddenly clawed its way from the shadows with its writhing glowy tentacles and pants-shitting nuclear death stare, I would probably just die on the spot. no need to stick around. only pain awaits

lol for a minute I thought this was Can’t Ya See-kun and I was like “WHAT A FASCINATING CROSSING OF PATHS” but it’s just some random girl

he seems genuinely confused lol

Deku it’s because you look like something that crawled out of a sewer drain, sweetheart

lol they just took his word for it?

so trusting. even though they’re immediately hauling ass anyway just to be safe lmao

“my appearance is frightening to others” no shit Deku it’s because you look like a fucking alien exorcism. you look like a Lich that got caught up in an oil spill my dude

NO NOT THE CHOSEN ONE ANGST AGAIN

I RAN OUT OF ESSAY JUICE FOR THIS ALREADY HORIKOSHI!! I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR MONTHS NOW WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!! BUT ANYWAYS, GOOD!! I MEAN, BAD, THOUGH, OBVIOUSLY. BUT YES

“ENJOY THIS MONTAGE OF DEKU BATTLING A RANDOM KAIJU AND WANDERING THE WOODS LIKE A DERANGED GREEN BABA YAGA” okay yes but sir, exactly how much longer is this going to go on. if it’s a matter of you wanting to make sure we get it, let me assure you that aside from a few stray chuunis who think that Deku embracing the Darkness is the coolest thing he’s ever done, all of us here in fandom fully comprehend that this is Not Good

-- OH SO IT’S LIKE THAT

really. with the flashbacks to his loved ones’ smiling faces and everything. not even gonna try to aim above the belt, huh

AND NO KACCHAN??! NO CLASSMATES?!?! IS HE PURPOSELY NOT THINKING OF THEM??? OR ARE THEY BEING SAVED FOR THE NEXT PAGE??? SO HELP ME, IF THE NEXT PART OF THIS SENTENCE IS “CAN PROTECT THEM”, OR EVEN WORSE, “CAN SEE THEIR SMILING FACES AGAIN”, I...

WHAT DID I JUST SAY

(ETA: my man did Sero and Kaminari fucking dirty lmao. I miss their smiling faces too omg.)

the sheer, unparalleled irony of him saying this while he stands there looking like the gargoyle demon from Fantasia got crossed with an umbrella that got struck by lightning. Deku :(

oi who the fuck is this clown

is he controlling this mob with his evil hair. “what if I made an exhausted, running-on-fumes Deku battle a brainwashed mob at Ground Zero.” Horikoshi do you just have like a checklist of horrible things you want to do to your protagonist

easy there Sasori

well joke’s on you buddy because he’s apparently “completely fine”, so

“here’s to hoping that you know more about AFO’s location than the others” jesus christ Deku you really have hung your mercy out to dry huh

now he’s forcing his mob of terrified prisoners to attack Deku ahhhh. sucks to be them. at least they’re not being controlled by bees

so Deku is saying that Sasori’s control can be broken with “physical trauma.” similar to Shinsou’s quirk I guess. but so does that mean he’s gonna have to hurt them? ( •﹏•)

NO NOT MORE SAD EYES

“DEATH BY EMPATHY!!!” HORIKOSHI NO

fuck. he looks like he’s on the verge of passing out

this is what happens when you nerf a character’s self-preservation stats in favor of spamming their bone-breaking stats instead. NOW ACCEPTING BRAIN CELL DONATIONS FOR A BOY IN NEED!! with your loving generosity we can hopefully help him live to the ripe old age of seventeen

OMGFGGG

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[grabs your hands] ლ(*꒪ヮ꒪*)ლ [swings you in a circle] へ(ﾟ◇ﾟへ)

THASSSSSSSS WHATSSSSSSS UPPPPPPPPPP

HORIKOSHI REALLY SAID FUCK THAT MASK (ノ°ο°)ノ YOU FINALLY LEARNED!! IT’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!

JUST FOR YOU KACCHAN, HORIKOSHI LEFT THIS ONE BAD GUY WHO’S STILL WEAK TO FIRE. GOD BLESS

IT’S YOUR COUNTERPART, KATSUKI B!!!! HOW WE DOIN OVER THERE IN THE TRIPPY COSMIC OFA SPACE REALM LOL. DO WE BELIEVE YET, FANDOM???

LIGHTS!!!!

INSTANT RESULTS!!! IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!

(ETA: imagine what this must look like to Deku though. he’s been caught up in this dark cloud of despair and exhaustion that’s been building up over... I’m gonna go ahead and say “weeks”, because yeah. and now he finds himself here, in the place where All Might’s legacy ended and the torch was passed to him. and the world is in ruins, and he’s surrounded by frightened people who are all trying to hurt him -- because who isn’t trying to hurt him, these days -- and he’s scrambling to figure this all out, but meanwhile the weariness is finally starting to catch up to him, and so he’s basically just standing there in a fog of complete and utter misery.

and then all of a sudden through that haze, he hears the one voice that’s more familiar than any other that he knows. like, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he was just imagining it at first. Kacchan showing up to save him right when he’s at his most desperate and feeling the most alone. Kacchan, showing up to save him.

this is the person he always looked up to as a child (to be fair he was quite a strange child lmao). the person who was even closer to him than All Might. the person he always thought was amazing. and bam, here he is now. appearing in the sky out of nowhere to one-shot the bad guy with a single blast (which, btw, that was his armor-piercing attack too lmao dslkjlk take it easy there kiddo). like, that must have felt absolutely surreal to him, especially coming at a time when he’s already half-delirious and barely hanging on to reality. he must have really thought that he was losing it there for a second.

but he’s really there. it really is him. and for this brief moment -- before the rest of the situation catches up to him, and he remembers about all of the fucked-up AFO stuff, and remembers why he was so afraid and why he was pushing everyone away -- for just this one brief moment, he’s too exhausted and stunned to do anything except to just react. just stands there, looking up at him in awe.

and you know, it almost reminds me of...

just. you guys. the character development. the freaking character development. someone who brings reassurance. someone who shows up and makes you think, “oh, it’s all going to be okay now, because [person] is here.” the role reversals. the growth. the payoff!! because who is the one person who always had faith that Kacchan would one day grow up to become an amazing hero like that. WHO IS IT. YOU ALREADY KNOW.

omg. anyways, bless you Horikoshi, my feels which have been on backorder since fucking September have finally arrived lmao. yes, good, thank you. worth the wait. it is always, always worth the wait. fuck yeah.)

“LOWFRIES” SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THE WHOLE GANG IS HERE, AHHHHHHHH (º̩̩́⌣º̩̩̀ )

BEAUTIFUL. WONDERFUL. SENSATIONAL. I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT JUMP IS ON BREAK NEXT WEEK. THIS RIGHT HERE WILL SUSTAIN ME

[ellana-ravenwood]

“You are not hard to love” - Bruce Wayne x Fem!Reader

Something very VERY quick, that I suddenly felt compelled to write, once again in the middle of the night. I didn’t plan on writing it, but here we are. This is for anyone who ever felt like they were “hard to love”. You’re not. You just haven’t found the right person...Anyway, here. For you : 

__________________________________________________

To be “hard to love” is a character flaw Bruce always felt he had. 

It was actually hard, to exist with this knowledge, no matter how little he tried to make himself feel. Or not feel, for that matter. 

As “Brucie Wayne”, a lot of people liked him, and the rest hated him for being so arrogant and smug. There were no inbetween. 

Many people judged him to be just another idiot with a lot of money. They hated his guts. Or they admired him for his self-confidence. Still thinking, though, that he was a bit of a dunce. 

It was fine. He wanted them to think that of him. To see him for someone he really wasn’t. So it’d blur the line, so they’d never guess who the Batman really was. 

As a result, it was difficult, to love, truly love, “Brucie Wayne”. Then again, he wouldn’t want anyone to love him for what he wasn’t. This public persona of him, would never know real love. It was fine. 

But his real self. His real self. 

Batman. 

Was probably the number one reason Bruce felt he was so hard to love... 

Who would want to put up with this shit ? Who, in their right mind, would want to love a man like him ? Bruce knew himself very well. Unfortunately. 

Sometimes, even him couldn’t stand himself. 

He knew he could be abrasive, arrogant, self-important, cold, too focus on a task at hand to care about anyone’s feelings etc etc...He knew that his real self, the one he showed more with his Batman side, wasn’t very likable. 

He found it hard, to connect to others. It was hard to stay connected anyway, when he was always stuck in his own head. 

He knew himself very well. He did. He knew how he was, and he couldn’t possibly see anyone putting up with it, and loving him. 

He didn't even like himself very much...

Every single time he fell in love, things didn’t end well. Because he’s too high maintenance. Because it’s hard to keep up with him and his moods...even for someone like Selina Kyle. 

Even she, whom he felt understood him more than anyone he met before, got tired of his games. Ah, but she was also too fiercely independent for what he wanted. Mmm...But who was he fooling ? He knew she’d never stay too long with him, not only because she was independent, but because he was too difficult to be with. 

And it hurt. It really did. 

Because deep down, what Bruce really wanted...It’s love. Real love. True love. Unconditional love. As stupid as it might sound, to anyone knowing him. Ah but, if you truly knew him, it all made sense. 

He would never admit it, not even to himself, but his fear of being completely abandoned ran deep. And his want of finding someone who would accept him for who he truly was was even deeper. 

But he was hard to love. 

Who could ever put themselves through the ringer like that, and love someone like Bruce Wayne ? Like...Like Batman ? 

And then...then you came in. 

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

He still thought he was hard to love. Difficult to be with. 

Your relationship, at that time, was somewhat new. It hadn’t been serious for long. But serious it was, in Bruce’s eyes, at least. 

Ah but he kept thinking he was too hard to love. That you would leave for sure, once you would realize it. His insecurities got the best of him often, even as he tried to ignore them and just enjoy what he had for the time being. 

Up until...

It happened shortly after his first real fight with you. He had one of his “dark day” (which he didn’t have much anymore), where he would be ultra-focus on his Batman work, and be a jerk to any outside distraction. 

Except you would have none of it, as you were trying to tell him something important. And thus, the fight began. 

And he shut down. Put up walls, once again, between him and you. Because that’s what he did. And it made everything worst, of course. 

He couldn’t stand the flood of feelings that came from being too emotional. Angry because of the fight, sad too, and absolutely terrified he might lose you if you guys fought enough for you to realize he’s just...Too hard to love. 

So he suppressed his emotions. As usual. It was much easier for him to give you the silent treatment than go through the pain of talking it out. It was too overwhelming for him, he wasn’t good at the whole “feeling things”. 

He was too afraid he’d say something he would dearly regret. He knew it was healthier, to talk it out. But he just couldn’t. He couldn’t deal with those emotions. And so he shut you out, you got frustrated, and then Dick tried to...

The sweet little boy tried to get you two to talk, to calm down, and Bruce snapped at him. He didn’t meant to. He instantly regretted it. But he did.

Which was the last straw that broke the camel back for you. You told him to “go to hell”, took Dick’s hand (who looked absolutely crestfallen, just remembering his facial expression made Bruce’s heart hurt), and left. 

Bruce felt like this was it. He just ruined the one good thing in his life. 

The one thing that, after years of being stuck in the dark, brought him light. 

You, and his newly adopted son. 

Lights of his life. 

He needed you two. But he understood if you decided to go...He was too hard to love. He would let you go, if it meant you’d be happier (what a fool). 

He was too much, too much. 

For hours, hours and hours, he beat himself down for it. Stuck in his own head once again. Hating himself. 

Sitting alone in front of the batcomputer, barely paying attention to what is scrolling on the screen...Bruce felt like shit. 

Why ? Why did he have to be like that ?

Why couldn’t he...be someone who was easy to love ? Who wasn’t a constant challenge to everyone around him ? 

Yes. That’s it. He was a challenge. A challenge who could’nt-

Footsteps. Taking him out of this darkness spiraling downward and downward. 

And it’s you. You’re right there. Looking at him critically, and he’s sure...

He’s sure you came to break up with him. That he shut you out one too many times. That him being a jerk to little Dickie was too much. That-

“There’s-”

He couldn’t. He couldn’t hear you say it. So he cuts you off, with words that made his heart bleed : 

“I know, we’re done.”

“Excuse me ?”

He can’t look at you. Can’t bear it. He turns around, and continues, trying to sound as neutral as possible, trying to not let his voice crack, going right to the point, as fast as possible, so he can keep it up : 

“I went too far. Too many times. You’ve...had enough of me. I understand.” 

“What ?” 

In your voice, he can hear surprise. Ah. You were too nice to realize that one day, it would come to this. That one day, you were doomed to leave him because he was too much. 

You were too...good for him, to him. Too good to realize he knew it all along. 

And so here you were, surprised he figured it out. Surprised he knew, before you told him, that you were leaving him. 

“I know I’m hard to love. I do. And you-”

“Wait wait wait, uh ? You think I’m gonna bail out because you were a jerk ? You think you’re too hard to love ? Oh Bruce...”

There’s a short pause, as if you’re searching for your words. 

He looks up at you, feeling a dash of hope invade his heart. He tries to fight it, but he can’t. Because...Because...Finally, you say : 

“Bruce. When we started this, when it became serious, when I decided to jump in your life and in Dick’s...I knew what I was getting myself into. I know you enough. I know the Batman side of you. I know you have moments you’re just...you’re just too stuck in your own head, and in your pain. I know.” 

You put a soft hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at you by raising his head. 

“I know what you think of yourself. And I know what others think of you. You’re arrogant, cold, unforgiving blahblahblah insert many more words saying how difficult it is for you to show your true self and emotions. But...But I also know that’s not all there is to you. I know you, and others, are wrong about you. Too hard on you. I know you.” 

You take a step closer to him, and lay your forehead against his. 

“I know you’re funny, like, seriously hilarious. No one ever made me laugh like you. I know you care, sometimes too much, and it’s why things are so hard for you many times. I know you’re actually a great dad, no matter what you think. I know many admire you, you’re truly amazing. You’re smart, caring, loving...I know that it’s hard for you to open up, to love...but when you do, when you do...You love really hard, Bruce. Fully, intensely, passionately, with your entire being. I never felt so loved, than when you hold me. When you-”

There’s a short pause, and Bruce realizes it’s because you’re blushing and have to regain control of yourself again. It doesn’t surprise him. What you’re saying right now, makes his heart beat a hundred time faster, and he can feel his face burning. 

Only you, ever made him blush so...

You take a deep breath, and say : 

“All my life Bruce. All my life I felt I was hard to love.” 

At this, Bruce can’t help but scoff, and he’s about to say something but you cut him off sternly : 

“I’m not done, mister. As I was saying, my entire life, I too, felt like I was hard to love. But when I met you...When I met you, I realized I felt that way because the people around me always made me feel like that. Always made it sound like it was a chore, to put up with me. That they could love me without making any compromises, while I had to change completely for them. Because I was too “difficult” you know ? Because sometimes, I too would have mood swings, or a need to be alone, or...just things that are not considered normal. That are associated with being hard to love. And I was surrounded with people who made me feel bad about this. Who made me feel like I had to change to be normal, and to finally have love.” 

Your arms snake around his shoulders now, and you hold him tight against your chest, kissing the top of his head. 

“You made me realize, Bruce, my Bruce, that...That I’m not actually hard to love. That I was just surrounded with people who weren’t willing to make the effort for me. Which is fine. No-one has to put up with anything if they don’t want to. But...Nobody is hard to love. They just never found the right person. The one willing to fight for them. It’s what you made me realize.”

He holds you back now. With all his might. What is this stinging feeling in his eyes ? 

“I love you. Unconditionally. I know who you are. And I want to fight for you. I will always fight for you. I’m not promising that I’ll never grow frustrated, and yell at you back, to then storm off. I’m not saying we’ll never fight. I’m just saying...It doesn’t matter. Because I love you. And I’ll always find my way back to you.” 

In your eyes, he can see it, there’s a strong light shining. 

One that proves him you love him. Deeply, and unconditionally. 

One that led him out of a dark pass many times before. 

One that proved...That proved maybe, he wasn’t that hard to love. 

Not when he finally found the right one. 

He couldn’t believe you ever thought YOU were hard to love. Ah. Has anyone in the world ever been as perfect for each other as you two were ?

“I love you.” 

He says. His entire being, all his emotions, poured in those three little words. 

“I love you too Bruce. And believe me, saying those words to you ? It’s very easy.”

His arms around you tightens even more. And then you add : 

“Now that this is out of the way...We can talk more about this later, but for now, there’s more pressing matters at hands. I actually came down here to ask if...if you wanted some ice cream ? Dick and I went out for a little bit, and brought all our favorite. Yours, too. We thought we’d need a “pick-me-up”. All of us. As a family. We’re supposed to go through things together...And ice cream helps, yes ?”

He nods. His throat too tight to say anything. And for the moment, it’s fine. He’ll tell you later. He’ll tell you how much you mean later. If he can’t find the words, he’ll find other ways to show you. 

You know anyway. You know he loves you. Just as strong as you love him. 

He loves you just as you are. You love him just as he is. 

“I love you.”

He whispers, and you smile at him, of this life-changing smile that showed him the light... You peck him on the lips, before taking his hand and walking out of the batcave, to the Manor. 

Where ice cream, and a very sweet little boy eager to raise his dad’s spirit, were waiting. 

Unconditional love. 

Bruce Wayne, wasn’t hard to love. And now, he was surrounded with the right people to make him understand this.

__________________________________________________

I just have a lot of feelings about Bruce Wayne haha. I just wanted to write a little something. It also stems from my own feelings. I’m sure we all felt at some point, that we were/are impossible to love. That no one will ever put up with our shit...yet there are people unwilling to give up on you, people who make you “better” etc etc. So. Yeah. I wrote this very quickly. Once again, watch me feel too much in the middle of the night haha. Sorry if this isn’t very good, it’s one of those “bonus” story I suddenly think about and write quickly in one sitting. I enjoyed writing it, but I admit it took less effort than most stories. So. Yes. 

If you liked it, don’t hesitate to leave a little feedback and reblog if ya want :). 

[sinnergetreadymp3]

CHAMERON FIC CHAMERON FIC CHAMERON FIC

Uhhhhh I feel like I should give this a title but I have no idea what to call so uh, nevermind !!

Anyways,I finally finished the fic I said I was writing like,a month ago lol. All my Chameron stans out there this one's for u,I rlly hope at least one person enjoys this,I rlly enjoyed writing it !! Ok sappy stuff outta the way,here it is:

As rain pounded against the window Charlie sent what was probably the thousandth crumpled ball of paper across the room.

"Jesus Charlie,is your arm not getting tired?"

Charlie smirked at that, clearly preparing to make a dirty minded joke,but a thoroughly exhausted Richard Cameron was already one step ahead.

"You know what,forget I asked, you're gross."

Getting up from the seat at his desk and ignoring an indignant retort from Charlie, Cameron thought of the rest of his friends,out for the weekend. Todd and Neil celebrating their one year anniversary, Meeks and Pitts embarking on a two day road trip,for what they still claimed to be, entirely platonic reasons (although the rest of the poets were all too aware of the almost palpable romantic tension between them). Even Knox had found something to do with himself on this miserable Friday night.

And here Cameron was,stuck in his dorm with nothing but stacks of extra homework and his obnoxious roommate to keep him company.

Speaking of that obnoxious roommate, "Oh come on Cam,you're not seriously going to bed already,it's barely eight!"

"Shut up Dalton,I'm tired."

Refusing to admit defeat, Charlie sprung from his own bed into Cameron's, attempting to wrestle the poor boy from his comfortable position.

"Charlie,get off you psycho!" Cameron managed to get out, already laughter threatening to give away just how welcome his friend's childish antics were.

After a few more minutes of "fooling around" as Charlie insisted on calling it (mostly because of how profusely it made Cameron blush),the two boys lay breathless beside each other,trying desperately to think of something else to do that would ward off impending boredom.

After a few moments of comfortable silence,Charlie suggested,looking expectantly towards the ginger, "Wanna go to the cave?"

With extreme,mind numbing boredom as motivation, it was inevitable that Cameron would say yes. It certainly helped that Charlie was gazing at him with those oh-so convincing doe eyes of his. Charlie Dalton and his stupid,gorgeous eyes. And his stupid,gorgeous smile,which Cameron was abso definitely not thinking about as he got up and grabbed his coat.

The two boys trudged through the woods,bickering lightly when Cameron complained of the cold that Charlie apparently couldnt feel at all,but always with an unusually friendly air between them. Before long they were sat together in the middle of the cave,sharing an apple that Cameron had managed to salvage from somewhere (a feat Dalton was of course impressed by),and trading stories of girls and parties galore. In Cameron's case, the stories of girls were few and the parties were from years long before even middle school,so Charlie did most of the talking.

After a while though,the boys came to discussing their friends,and the luck they all seemed to have in finding each other so easily. Charlie, ever the romantic,made no waste of his extensive vocabulary,tediously lamenting on all the opportunities of love he had missed and the everlasting loneliness he was doomed to,all because his dashing knight in shining armour would never come to find him and-

"Why dont *you* just find somebody?"

Charlie,still sprawled dramatically over a rock ,and mildly offended at the interruption,indignantly questioned "What do you mean?"

"What I said? You dont just have to wait around for somebody to come find you and fall madly in love. Why don't *you* just find somebody?"

He thought for a moment,taken aback by the ginger's harsh words,but eventually decided to humout him for a moment.

"And where exactly do you suggest I find him then, hm?"

Cameron shifted in his seat,not expecting to be taken seriously and certainly not prepared to be giving advice. Especially not *this* kind of advice. Especially not to *charlie*.

"Well,uh," he looked up to see the other boy looking at him expectantly,with that ever-present smirk on his face that, oddly enough,made Cameron feel a little more comfortable.

"Maybe,you could,I don't know, consider that the guy you're looking for has been here the whole time?"

"Wow Cam,Pittsie and Meeks' radio must've really gotten to you. All those love songs have turned you into a big softie." Charlie joked,grinning and nudging Cameron playfully.

Through a soft laugh,Cameron continued, "No I'm serious man,I think you're making this whole love thing way harder for yourself. I mean- and be honest with me, what's actually wrong with the guys at our school?"

"Other than the fact that about three quarters of them are raging heterosexuals?"

Laughing again,Cameron replied "yeah,other than that."

After about zero seconds of careful consideration,he had come to a conclusion, "Well,I guess nothing,but I dont know? Cameron, I don't see how this changes-"

"It *changes* things because clearly you don't anything about half the guys at our school. And you can't write off people you don't even know." At some point, Cameron had gotten up and started pacing around,but with the end of this triumphant speech,he finally sat down,a little closer to the other boy than he had been before.

Charlie looked across at Cameron and was suddenly met with a wave of fondness. Weird,how all it took was to sit and talk for a while before someone you thought you near hated,started to feel like your favorite person in the world. And,was he going completely crazy or Cameron at his most comfortable, without the fear of a teacher lurking nearby,without the stress of constantly trying to prove himself,was he... A little..... attractive??

All at once,Charlie made a decision,partly to try and prove himself wrong,but also because hey,if Richard Cameron was the surprise love of his life,what better time to figure it out than right now?

"So how,sir Richard Cameron,do you propose I get to know all these charming suitors?"

Cameron, completely in the dark about Dalton's recent epiphany,was still stubbornly trying to explain how much easier Charlie's love life could be,if only he would let it.

"Well,maybe by actually talking to them? Y'know,kind of like,What we're doing right now."

"So,what you're saying is,*you* could be my knight in shining armor," he said with a smirk.

"Well,that's not what-"

"No,no it's fine,as long as we're talking about this version of you. Regular Cameron is kind of a buzzkill but Cave Cam is actually a kind of.... And I can't believe I'm saying this but,in here,like this...well. You're actually a little hot."

After this, overwhelmingly romantic confession, Charlie was certain he had completely stuffed it,and sure enough,

"Gee Charlie,thanks. Really makes me wanna ride into the sunset with you." To say Cam's ego had been hit was an understatement,but before he could make a swift exit from the cave and lock himself,alone,in his dorm for the rest of the weekend,of course Dalton kept talking.

"God,I'm sorry,that was, I have no idea why I said that. I thought I was being funny but out loud- god I'm so sorry," while he had initially been mad,seeing Charlie fucking Dalton blush (and because of *him* no less) was rather funny. And sure,a little cute. So Cameron decided to hear him out.

"Can I start over? You're not saying anything so I'm gonna start over. I,uh, I really do think you're hot. Like really hot. And not just right now,all the time,like that time we were at rowing practice and I started pushing you around and we ended up on the floor and I saw like,a single sliver of skin because your sweater had ridden up,and I couldn't stop thinking about it all day,which I thought was a little weird but then-"

"Uh,I think I get it,Charlie." Now Cameron was the one blushing.

"Uh,sorry. What I meant was,that I *do* think you're hot l-"

"As you've said"

"Yeah,yeah,but it's more than that. Like,when I realized we'd basically be spending the whole weekend alone together,I was actually sorta excited for that,even though I knew I'd just be sitting by you while you did homework the whole time,I like,wanted to do that. And tonight,I haven't talked like this with anyone who isn't Neil like,ever. What I mean is,I guess,is that,I think that uh,"

Deciding to lighten the mood,Cameron tried for a little sarcasm, "Wow,Dalton, stuttering? I must be superman or something."

"I'm trying to be romantic here Carrot top," Charlie said with a grin,

"Listen,I don't really know what I'm doing here,but I think it might be kinda nice if we tried having a little romantic weekend of our own. Just to try it. If it totally sucks we can pretend it never happened and the others don't have to know about it and-"

"Charlie."

"Yeah?"

"Relax," Cameron said with yet another laugh ,he didn't think he laughed like this since... Well,he couldn't even remember.

So with a radiant smile on his face,he said,"A romantic weekend of our own sounds amazing. Gotta warn you tho I'm not a great kisser."

"Well, lucky for you I am a great teacher," Charlie replied,with a somehow even bigger smile on his face than Cameron's,

"Why are you laughing,I *am* a great teacher!" Unfortunately for Charlie,his indignance only made Cameron laugh harder.

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"If you shut up and stop laughing,maybe you'll get to." After this was all it took to get the ginger to sober up, the look on his face pushed Charlie to make his final,but (in his opinion) most important decision of the night.It was high time he flirt with Cameron way more often (which was *very* difficult to explain to the other poets,at least the first time).

[yunhostinyuyu]

no one‘s gonna believe that

pairing: co-worker!ten x fem reader ft. co-worker!johnny

genre: work!au, suggestive, little smutty

wc: 2.1k

synopsis: Y/N tried to escape the flirtatious attempts of one of her colleagues, but thankfully someone else stepped in to help...

warnings: mentioned sexual harassment, hickeys, they’re basically just making out at work

—

You find yourself in the break room by the water dispenser, and waiting for what feels like ages for your jug to fill up all the way. Internally praying that a certain someone would leave you alone, and that he would not appear out of thin air right now, just to hit on you. But of course, your prayers were not answered:

„Hey there, Y/N, how are you doing?“ the tall man in question walked up to you and stood just a few inches away from your small form. Internally cursing at him, but not letting your discomfort about his presence show.

„Hi, Johnny... I‘m good, thanks for asking“ you tried to dismiss his attempt on starting a conversation with you. It could be nice having someone like Johnny swoon over you, yes. He was indeed a very handsome man, but everyone knew that he isn’t a keeper, and quite frankly you were just not into one night stands or anything casual. Admitting to yourself that you were a hopeless romantic, but  at the same time you were okay with being single for now. This way you could have all your attention on work, no distractions. And if you didn’t knew better from your other coworkers, who have worked here longer than you, you would think he just really attentive in trying to seduce you. But not only have you witnessed him behaving worse in order to get what he wants, the stories that are being told about him around the office are ten times worse. So you wanted to avoid him at all costs, telling him you are in a relationship, or currently seeing someone, but he doesn’t believe you - lack of evidence. Today however, you came prepared.

As your jug was full enough, you tried to walk around him in order to get back to your office, but you were unsuccsessful in your attempt. He took another step to cut of your way back. “Why are you always in such a rush? It’s break time soon, isn't it?”. You sighed to yourself, but quiet enough for him not to register.

“I would really love to Johnny but, I have an important file open on my PC that i need to finish and submit tonight...” you dragged your hand up to your shoulder, pushing the soft material of your loose blouse to the side, revealing a hickey you placed there by yourself. Yes, you went as far as giving yourself hickeys to get rid of him. It sounds stupid, yes, but he has been trying shooting his shot for weeks now and he didn't accept any of your excuses, assuming you were playing hard to get. And you tried every trick in the book, except for one: being said love bite on your pale skin that was on show now for him to see.

His eyes wandered to the red and purple spot and widened in shock. You send him a quick apologetic smile as you walk around him, dashing towards your cubicle in a hurry.

You placed the jug on the edge of your desk and turned your attention back to the piece of work that was right in front of you. Only sounds coming from you were the keys of your keyboard being pressed rythmically and and eventual clicks of your mouse. Even if this wasn't your favorite type of work, it was a way of proofing that you are indeed a talented writer and deserved the promotion your boss was dangling in front of everyone in your division for the past couple of weeks. And you were eager to get it. Minutes pass by and you loose track of time as you only focus lies on the task at hand.

“Now, you know that no one’s gonna believe that?”

You turn your head around and find one of your colleagues at the entrance of your little cubicle. But as you see his face, you turn right back around and continue typing. “Believe what, Ten? You see that I’m busy, right?”

He just chuckles and moves towards your chair, starting to explain his intrusion. “Of course i know that, Y/N, we all work our asses off for that promotion. But I’m speaking of your amateurish attempts on getting Johnny off your back. And I have to admit, the idea wasn't bad, but poorly executed. You played yourself.”

The only thing you could manage for now was a half hearted scoff. Ten was a decent guy, but borderline annoying some times, now being an excellent example. He was friends with Johnny, so you didn't understand what he was hinting at.

“Last time I checked my relationships were non of your business.” you remonstrated. But Ten wasn't buying it as easily as Johnny did minutes ago.

“Listen, I’m not trying to defend him, I admit that I think most of the women in here give him a bad wrap for things he might have said or done while being drunk, but that’s not the reason why I’m here right now, Y/N. You see, first of all, who would give you a hickey on your shoulder of all places? Chest, okay, i get it, neck, i get it. But shoulder? He will become suspicious of it soon enough.”

Your cheeks started to burn with embarrassment as Ten dismantled your disguise right on the spot. It was humiliating being called out like this. You couldn't even keep you lie up for longer than a day, but Ten was right, you both knew it. You pushed the keyboard back in frustration, turning yourself to the side to look at the slim figure.

“What else am I supposed to do? He won't take no for an answer and I fucking enjoy my single life. And I can't be mean enough to tell him to fuck off now, can I? I don’t know, Ten, tell me!” you exclaim, both anger and frustration tangible in your tone, and he whips his head in all directions to make sure no one heard your mini-outburst. 

The older one crotches down, so that he won't be visible for people walking around in the office. You try to calm down and get your focus back to work, which seemed almost impossible after Ten took apart your plan into small bits and pieces, trying to hide your state behind your hands and covering your face up with them.

“Listen, I know you damn well by now, so don’t fight me on this. But, I may or may not have a solution for you, that could get Johnny off your heels for good. But feel free to tell me to fuck off anytime, darling. It’s just an offer.” He asserted while patting your hair lightly. Slowly but surely taking your fingers off your eyelids to look him into his eyes. There was no sign of pranking you or any sarcastic comment being in sight, but you still sneered at him in response.

“Don’t pull any shit on me, I’m warning you. What’s the solution?”

ignoring your moody comment, he continues his explanation unbothered.

“If you would really have a boyfriend, Johnny would leave you alone, but you play hard to get without realizing it... You see, your own mouth can only reach so far...” his fingers trailing up to your selfmade hickey, traveling further up to your throat and neck, “while someone else's mouth can reach much further”.

Without a second thought, you slap his hand away. “Thanks, but no thanks. Can you now kindly piss off?” Ten visibly took offense to your reaction, pulling himself back into a standing position. 

“Suit yourself. But don’t come back to me when you realize your plan was doomed to fail.” and he disappeared out of your workspace. To say his offer didn’t leave you hot and bothered would be a lie, but you pushed all that aside, before taking another gulp of water and once again, shifting your concentration on the file.

-

Another week goes by, and unfortunately, Johnny didn't leave you alone, still hitting on you every time you crossed paths. The hickey on your shoulder left a sour taste in his mouth, and it really didn't imply that you were in a relationship at all. His comments teasing you about the guy that gave you the hickey, making it harder and harder each day to get out of his presence, to the point were you didn’t leave your cubicle on your own anymore. It was all starting to eat on your conscience and take your confidence away. With every passing day, you were conflicted over and over again, debating if you should pick up on Ten’s offer. Yet, you find your eyes glued onto his work space, were he busied himself with a shit load of work. What’s the harm in asking him to do what he has come up by himself? you keep thinking to yourself, but then still unsure if it was the right thing to do.

Sighing to yourself, but your legs are already taking you to his desk, only a few cubicles away from your own. You turn again, just realizing that it was past 18:00 o'clock and most of your co-workers already left, leaving only a handful of people that are all eager to finish their work as soon as possible.

As you bring your hand to knock on his glass shield, immediate regret makes itself present in your system, but it’s already too late now. He turns around in his office chair and a smile appeared on his lips the moment he saw you. Genuinely glad about seeing you right now.

“Hey! What’s up? You’re still here?” he asks as he leans back and lets his eyes trail over your form, oversized black blouse that is messily tucked into your blue high waisted jeans. A forced smile stretching over your thin lips before you replied.

“Yeah, uhm, kinda... Am I interrupting you or something?” stammering and tumbling over your own words, awkwardly crossing your arms. He eyes you skeptically, clearly noticing your nervousness.

“No, not at all, why? Did something happen, dear?” his tone calm and comforting, even if you didn't expect this reaction from him. You bit your tongue before you continued.

“No! Well, uhm, yeah... kinda? The Johnny thing- you know, uhm... I was just wondering if-” you stammered and tried your hardest to avoid eye contact, feeling uneasy about the whole thing still. You felt stupid, really, even after he reacted so harshly after he suggested this whole thing for the first time.

He coos as he gets what you’re hinting at, “Aww, so you did realize your plan wasn’t working out, huh? I figured, but I didn’t realize you would actually take up on my offer after all, even if you were rude last time.”

Your ears turn red the longer you stood in front of him. “I’m sorry about that, I didn't mean it...” Truly expecting him to tease you further, but that wasn't the case. Instead he stretched his arms out towards you, motioning for you to come and take a seat on his lap, and you carefully did just that. Making him look at the side of your face from the angle you sat down. Ten took hold of your hands, and rubbed little cirlces into your palms. 

“Are you sure you want me to do this? Just tell me to stop and I will.” He asked for consent, but you nodded eagerly in reply. “I trust you with this. It’s okay.”

He nodded as his eyes were fixed on your exposed neck, fingers slowly touching the skin before he leaned in. Hands wandering to the crook of your neck and your hip respectively. As he started to place wet kisses all over your chest and neck area, sucking on the skin quite harshly, your fingers gripped his hair at the sensation, and you readjusted your sitting position, for Ten to have better access. You quickly lost yourself at the sensation of his lips and tongue working on creating dark marks all over yourself.

To your surprise, after only giving you a few more sucks and bites, he pulled back to admire his work of art. Secretly hoping that he would continue for a little longer, but you snapped back into reality quite quickly. Hands detaching from each other. 

“You okay? Look at them.” he held out his phone, which had the front camera opened. After a few seconds you started to giggle and hand him his device back. 

“They look okay, thank you.” you stood up and told yourself that this would never happen again as you went back to get your stuff from your desk.

But in the end, you found yourself in Ten’s lap more often then you expected.

—

[mediocre-writerr]

the nights [leah rilke]

leah rilke x reader

part 2 of 3:00

requested by anon: omg can we please get a second part of 3:00 where the girls come up with an escape plan and when leah goes to her room and she’s not there. she finds her hooked up to sedatives and did get sick like she was scared she would LETS CONTINUE THIS ANGST TRAIN

warning: mentions of overdose and ptsd

*not my gif*

“Isolation isn’t that bad,” you remember telling yourself that every time back before the island.

For example, whenever you said no to a party and they’d tease you about you would just say: “Isolation isn’t that bad,”

Turns out it is.

You don’t know what happened, but your PTSD got worse. The amount of times Dr. Fader was sending nurses in to sedate you was becoming more time than you could remember.

But as they kept coming in the less it started working and the more doses they started giving you.

You don’t remember what happened, but the entire day you were feeling a little uneasy. You had a bunch of dizziness, difficulty breathing, and felt cold the entire day. So you tried your best to fall asleep and for the first time ever you fell asleep peacefully. Little did you know, that your life was on the line.

The facility hallways were dark at night. After taking a page from Leah’s book the girls all snuck in napkins and shoved them in their doors. Everyone except for you, who apparently missed the memo because the girls were now on their way to grab you and get out of the shit hole.

Leah remembered putting the napkin there to allow you to walk in and out freely. But with your state of mind it was a lot harder for you to remember simple things.

She pushed open the door to see your room empty, even checking the bathroom to make sure you weren’t in there, but came up empty.

“Where is she?” Fatin whispered.

Leah shrugged, “I don’t know, but I don’t have a good feeling about this,”

“You never have a good feeling about anything,” Rachel pointed out and Dot smacked her arm, “What? I’m not lying,”

“We don’t have much time Leah, we got to find her if we want to get out of here,” Dot mentioned.

And for some reason the blue eyed paranoid brunette just knew. The aching feeling in her stomach just seemed to be proving her point.

She left her room in a quick dash leaving the other girls far behind, “Leah, wait,” Shelby whisper-yelled as the girls followed suit.

The brunette was already far ahead, walking as quickly as possible to the medical center. She peeked her head around the corner and made sure that there was no one there. Before entering the examination room.

And there you were. A IV hooked up to your arm and a ventilator covering your beautiful face. Leah let out a shaky breath rushing over to your side immediately, her face filled with tears.

She let out a small cry when she noticed a tube in your esophagus and a small machine sucking stuff up out and into this small bag.

“Baby, what happened?” she whispered, brushing the hair away from your face as she watched your sleeping face.

There was no way she could leave the facility now, not with you in this condition.

“Leah! How could you leave us-“ Toni was about to scold her when her eyes landed on your condition. The blue eyed girl turned towards her friends with tears pouring down her face.

“What the hell happened?” Fatin questioned.

Leah let out another muffled sob, “I knew. I knew she was struggling and I just wanted to be with her and stay with her, but they took her away. I knew she was going to be sick. I should’ve been with her, I should’ve,” she whispered over and over again.

Shelby rushed to her side, pulling her close and holding her. The two grew close ever since the incident where the blonde decided to cut her hair and have a small breakdown.

Dot just stood there in shock, horrid flashbacks started filling her mind from when her dad was sick. But she snapped it out of it as quickly as she could rubbing at her eyes.

She scanned the room for some type of chart and found one right by the door. As she skimmed over the chart she realized her mouth opened agape. All of the girls were sitting around your bedside or trying to console a now sobbing Leah.

“What happened Dot?” Leah asked, noticing the somber look on her face.

She didn’t quite know how to say it, but she tried her best, clearing her throat, “Y/N’s in a coma right now,” and that’s all it took for Leah to sob even louder, despite the crack in her voice Dot continued, “She was given too many shots of sedative liquids to the point where the higher does caused her to overdose,”

“They’ve been sedating her?” Rachel asked, “Like we’re in some fucked up asylum. Have they done it to anyone else?”

Most of the girls shook their head, but Leah nodded. It only happened to her twice, but never as more times as you experienced it.

“Agent Young found her unconscious in bed,” Dot whispered.

“I should’ve been there with her,” Leah mumbled.

Shelby wrapped her arms around the girl, “You couldn’t have known,”

“But I did. One night Agent Young got me out of my room to help her because her PTSD caused a panic attack. I knew she was gonna get sick and Dr. Fader came in and took me away. He wouldn’t let me stay with her and the next thing I know she’s in a fucking coma!” she explained.

“We can’t leave now guys,” Toni brought up, “Not with the state that she’s in. I don’t know about you guys, but we have lost way too many people to lose her too,”

“She needs us,” Fatin whispered.

There was a clearing of throat by the door. Everyone’s head snapped to the side. There Dr. Fader was, disappointed again at the sight of all of them out of their room.

“Why are you guys here? How did you even get out?” he asked, but none of the girls were going to answer, “All of you need to leave right now!”

“What are you gonna do, huh? Sedate us to the point of overdose like you did Y/N!” Toni screamed.

“See now that’s not fair, Y/N was struggling with some major anxiety and PTSD, she needed something to help keep her calm,” he explained.

Dot scoffed, “You’re a doctor, right?” he only nodded, “Then you should know that sedatives are highly addictive and your body gets used to them the more you use. You practically set her up for this!”

“I should’ve been there with her,” Leah finally mumbled, yet again, “I should’ve fucking been there with her!!”

Everyone seemed to shrink at the sound of her screams, “My girlfriend is on the brink of death because you wouldn’t let me stay with her. She didn’t need sedatives she needed me, she needed us!”

The girl collapsed back into the chair that she was once sitting in, lying her head on the edge of the bed. She grabbed your hand and intertwined your fingers together, your skin was cold against her warm ones. She squeezed your hand tightly.

“Love, please, I’m sorry. I should’ve been there, I should’ve been there,” Leah kept mumbling to you.

“There’s no harm in this,” Shelby tried to explain, “We just want to be here to support our friend and make sure she’s okay,”

“I’m sorry I can’t do that,” he snapped his fingers like an ominous villain in one of those classic movies.

There were five nurses with needles in their hands and bigger agents with them. Agent Young was nowhere to be seen. The agents wrapped their arms around each girl.

“Hey get your hands off of me!” Fatin screamed as the liquid was being shot through her.

Toni and Dot were putting up a fight even elbowing the agents in the face, but at the end of the day it was no use, “Fuck you!” Toni yelled before going limp along with Dot.

Every girl seemed to be out for the count when arms wrapped Leah to steady her. She flailed in their arms, “No let me go! Please! Just let me stay with her! Fuck!”

No one was listening to her though. She placed a small kiss against your cheek, trying her best to push off the inevitable doom.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve been there,” was all she could get out.

Isolation isn’t that bad.

[pemfrost]

For the prompt, maybe a fake dating au with dimiclaude? Like academy-era Dimitri decided to go asks girl out (sylvain c/b support ) and when things go out of hand- instead of going to sylvain for help, he went to Claude who suggested fake dating - but when announcing it to the girl; it turns out the entire academy finds out...leading to the king regent (who sends Rodrigue) and Grandpa Riegan to actually sign a marriage arrangement. 🥺❤️

And honestly Edelgard is confused about the development that she doesn’t declare war since the two nations are gonna team up -so golden ending jk

♡ cute idea! The meat of this drabble went a little long, so no specific mention of the royal consequences.

"You did what?" Claude actually had the audacity to laugh. Not one of his usual calculated laughs, either. A bellow of a laugh which shook his whole lithe frame and put an extra shine in his eyes. All at Dimitri's expense, of course. It seemed to be happening a lot lately. 

"Never mind. Clearly this is not a matter you are capable of taking seriously." Dimitri turned to leave, but quickly remembered his predicament. On Sylvain's insistence, he approached a female student with the offer of a tea date. Nothing untoward, but it seemed the poor girl thought it to be more than what Dimitri meant it to be. It really was his own fault for taking Sylvian's advice, afterall. 

Of course, Sylvain initially offered to help Dimitri hide in his room, and Dimitri had been naive enough to think it would end then and there. Yet, there he was, two days later with the same girl chasing him and Sylvain was… preoccupied doing the very thing he promised Dimitri he would stop. 

Claude's room seemed the next logical escape plan. It was merely the convenience of location. Felix was still at the training yards, and even if he was in his room, Dimitri would rather face the advances of Colleen and her friends than be stuck in close quarters with Felix and his sharp tongue. The next closest room was Claude's.

Dimitri was quickly regretting his hasty choice of hiding spots. He was regretting a lot of things. 

"I'm sorry for laughing, but you have to admit it is funny." Claude sat down on the edge of his bed and motioned to his desk chair, "You're welcome to hide as long as you need to. Though, perhaps it is best to just confront the whole thing head on and clear it all up?"

Dimitri eyed the chair and considered a moment before sitting. "I have attempted to be direct, yet my efforts are constantly misconstrued."

"You're too nice," Claude said, his gaze intense. 

"Too… nice?" Dimitri raised an eyebrow. It was not an accusation often leveled at him. 

"I've witnessed some of your conversations with girls and you have a tendency to, well, be too nice." Claude broke eye contact and looked towards the door. "You do not wish to hurt their feelings, so you phrase your rejections so delicately the girls do not take it as one."

"Oh?" Dimitri was unaware of this shortcoming. 

Claude sighed and made a vague gesture at the door as a girl giggled out in the hallway. He turned back to Dimitri and said, with air quotes, "There is such love in the world, yet my heart is yet-"

"-I get it.'

"Your beauty is unmatched, and one day you will make the most beautiful bride-"

"Claude," Dimitri hissed. He could feel his cheeks begin to warm. 

Of course, Claude continued, his grin spreading as Dimitri shifted uncomfortably. "My heart is heavy at the prospect of you no longer being at my side, and your smile will-"

"Enough!" Dimitri stood quickly and his booming voice drowned out the sound of the chair hitting the floor. 

"Colleen!" A girl's voice came from the hallway. 

"Oooo, you did it now!" Claude clasped his hands behind his head and looked at the door with far too much amusement. 

Dimitri stared at the door with trepidation, debating the merits of crawling out Claude's window. He could hear the clicking of multiple pairs of heels, his time was quickly running out. Returning his voice to a whisper, he turned to Claude and asked, "What do I do?"

"Be blunt and tell her you are not interested." 

"I… can you do it for me?" Even facing certain doom, he didn't know how to break up with the poor girl without making it worse. Again. 

Claude rolled his eyes. "Riiight, because that will work."

There was a sharp knock at the door, followed by a croon of, "Dimiiiitri! Are you in there?"

"Colleen, it may have been this one instead!"

Dimitri backed away from the door and again wondered if he could fit through the window. He looked helplessly to Claude. He had no experience in such matters, certainly Claude had an idea. 

"Do you trust me?" Claude stood from the bed and stared into his eyes. "I have half an idea, but I need you to-"

"Yes. Whatever your scheme is, yes." Dimitri may regret it later, but in the moment his only option was to trust Claude and deal with the consequences later. It couldn't be worse than entertaining the vapid noble girl one more time. 

Claude stared into Dimitri's eyes a moment more, his green eyes more serious than Dimitri had ever seen this close. Before he could contemplate Claude further, the look shifted, once again full of mirth. 

"Quietly unlock the door." Claude nodded to the door and crossed his arms. 

"I-" Dimitri swallowed and did as he was asked. Quietly, he stepped over the overturned chair and flicked the lock. He braced for the next step, it wouldn't surprise him if Claude shouted his location as revenge for all of this. He needed to stop spending so much time with Sylvain. 

When he looked back, Claude wordlessly motioned him back to him with the wave of a single finger. Once again, Dimitri stepped over the chair and stood in front of Claude, intently listening to the commotion in the hallway. 

Nothing happened for a few breaths, and just a Dimitri was about to ask what the plan was, Claude took half a step towards him. 

"Oh! Dimitri!" Claude projected his voice, not taking his eyes off Dimitri.  

Well, maybe he shouldn't have expected more from Claude. His initial assessment was correct after all. He sighed, resigned to his fate. 

The click of heels returned, and as they approached the door Claude reached for the front of Dimitri's shirt and slowly tugged at him as he took a step backwards. The movement was unexpected and Dimitri stumbled forward, tripping over Claude, and sending them falling to Claude's bed. 

Dimitri caught his knee on the edge of the mattress as Claude landed on his elbows. 

"Claude? Wha-" 

The creak of the door handle turning cut him off. As the door opened, Claude reached back up with one hand and pulled Dimitri closer, and closer, until they were breathing the same air. Everything else faded, all that existed was Claude; his breath smelled faintly of chamomile, and this close Dimitri could count the faint freckles under his eyes.

"Dimit- ah!" Colleen's screech broke the spell Claude cast over him. 

Dimitri pushed himself away from Claude and looked towards the door in time to see Colleen running out. 

"Uh…" Dimitri said to the empty doorway. He looked down to Claude, "What just happened?"

Claude dropped his hand from where he still held Dimitri, letting it fall to his side. "I wasn't expecting her to run so soon. The plan was to make her think we're together- but she didn't stay for me to tell her that. Hopefully she understood."

He didn't want to end up in another relationship just to get out of the first one. That was a terrible plan, and he was about to tell Claude as such when the boy in question began to laugh. Dimitri became abruptly aware of how close they still were as Claude's body shook with laughter. 

Dimitri stood as quickly as his trembling legs permitted. 

"I'm sorry, but your face!" Claude smirked up at him, still laying on the bed. "I didn't mean date for real," he added with a whisper, mindful of the open door. 

"Oh, I see…" Dimitri did not see. 

"It's a farce. A lie. And once she leaves you alone we don't need to pretend anymore."

"She saw… us. In that compromising position. I am free then? Thank you." Dimitri slowly pieced his words together. 

Claude hummed and finally sat up. "It may not be that simple. Be prepared in case she doubles down tomorrow."

Dimitri nodded and cleared his throat. His eyes trailed towards Claude's lips briefly before he turned to pick up the fallen chair.  "Hopefully I will not require more assistance. Thank you for your efforts, this farce was not something I would have considered."

With a shrug, Claude stood. "Always happy to help. Good luck with-" They both froze as the sound of heels returned. 

Dimitri turned to Claude, eyes wide, unsure what to do. His hope of being done with Colleen dashed with the click of a heel. 

"Still trust me?"

Dimitri nodded. 

"I'm going to kiss you." Claude stepped up to Dimitri and gently placed a hand on his cheek. As the girls stepped into the doorway, he leaned up to press his lips to Dimitri's. 

In the few seconds he had to contemplate kissing Claude, Dimitri imagined it would be rough, quick- awkward. It was none of them, and he found himself leaning into the kiss, moving his lips against Claude's like his very soul depended on them never separating. He thought he finally understood Sylvain a little, the desire to experience this everyday, to have someone so close, so intimate, to feel wanted-

But it wasn't real. Claude wasn't kissing him because he wanted Dimitri, he was doing it as a friend, as a favor. Not because he actually desired him in such a way.

"By the Goddess! It is true!" Hilda's sweet voice broke through the moment. 

Claude dropped his hand and turned to the door, breaking the kiss. Dimitri could feel the lingering heat on his cheek from Claude's calloused hand, and he let his eyes dart to his lips before reality caught up with him and he looked towards their audience.  

In the open doorway stood three of their classmates. Hilda was in the middle, looking like she was solving an advanced math problem. To her right was Caspar, who was more focused on Hilda than Claude and Dimitri. And to her left was Sylvain who was sporting black eye and looking between the two of them with a widening smile. 

Sylvain reached around Hilda and closed the door with a wink and an amused, "Have fun, you two!"

Dimitri stared at the door as he listened to them walk away. "Should we tell them?"

"Tell them what?"

"That it isn't what they think? Because otherwise this lie will spread around the whole school."

"Oh, Dimitri. It already has. If Colleen hasn't ran all the way through the monastery by now I'd be surprised." He looked everywhere but Dimitri. 

"If we tell them the truth, then she'll find out… and I'll be right back to square one." Dimitri frowned and began to pace. 

"I don't mind keeping the charade up. It will keep Hilda off my back about dating someone, too. We'd both be free of the burden of that aspect of social expectations."

"That-" Dimitri's eyes darted to Claude's lips. 

"No pressure, man. Wouldn't want His Highness to be uncomfortable, afterall." 

Dimitri couldn’t think of a good reason not to go along with Claude's plan. He was sure the consequences would find him, they always did, but he found he didn't care what they were. 

He nodded, then realized Claude turned to look out the window while he was thinking. "Yes, I believe this could be mutually beneficial."

Claude dropped back to his bed and picked up the book he tossed aside when Dimitri barged into his room. "Great. Hang out in here for a while to sell it. Want to borrow a book?"

Dimitri settled next to Claude on the bed, "If we are to actually… do this, we should get our story together. I am sure we will be inundated with questions tomorrow."

Claude shut his book. "And he I was worried you wouldn't take this seriously. Alright, let's plan."

-

Thanks for reading!

[harrypotterbrainworms]

Valentine’s Doom

Summary: A very oblivious young boy has caught the loving eyes of Remus Lupin, but how can one express his feelings if every time (Y/N) opens his mouth, Remus melts like a box of chocolates in the sun.

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Male Reader

Key: (Y/N)- your name, (H/C)- hair colour, (N/N)- nickname

Words: 2587

A/N: I spent way to long on this, almost a week ;-;. I hope you enjoy it!

“Remussss, please. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I promise I’ll make it up to you” (Y/N) pleaded Remus to let him copy his homework. He had completely forgotten to do his own which was mostly Sirius’s fault, keeping him up all night.

“You do realise you have to do your homework in order to graduate, right? It’s a basic skill to have.” He cocked his eyebrow, looking up at the pleading boy in front of him.

“I know, I know, Blah blah, if you don’t learn you’ll never survive in the “real” world. I know the spiel.” He rambled on, motioning a small Remus puppet with his hand mocking the tone of his friend’s warnings.

He had spent the whole night playing tag with Sirius and racing around the courtyard like the drunk children they were. Remus knew this of course, waking up every so often to look down at them being idiots from the tower.

“And yet you still go on late night joy rides with Sirius” He sighed and closed the book he was reading as he watched his friends stuff their faces with toast and eggs.

“Please, Moony.” He begged once more, pulling the sweet and innocent face he knew Remus couldn’t say no to, even adding a slight quivering lip for dramatic affect.

The shorter boy pressed his fingers against his temples trying his best to distract himself from the sweet face of his friend, but gave in.

“Fine, last time I swear to Merlin.” He repeated the same line he always said when (Y/N) or any of his friends asked. He always managed to give in too soon to the pleads.

“Thank you!” (L/N) chirped up giving Remus the warmest smile he could, taking the few pages Remus handed him then took his seat again.

“Y-You’re welcome.” He stuttered out, blushing a bit. James wiggling his eyebrows at Remus, receiving a death glare in return.

“Padfoot, get your ass here! We have t-minus 20 minutes to copy it all” He pulled Sirius’s arm to climb over the table and sit next to him. Both of them pulled out paper to start.

“Wait you didn’t-“ The flustered boy said, not being able to finish his retort before he was interrupted again.

“Thank you again, Moony. We appreciate this so much” Remus could barely get any words out after that, only being about to nod his head in response. (Y/N) did look like he appreciated his friend’s effort to help him stay in school.

James gave him a knowing smile before continuing to devour his breakfast plate while Remus just sighed looking at the two boys copying his homework.

“You lads are gonna be the death of me.” He finally said, opening up his book again and continuing to eat his own meal.

Remus always thought he fanced boys a lot more than girls, but he knew for sure when he set his eyes on (Y/N) for the first time. They were never that close, not that he had tried to get closer. The taller boy just seemed to take a liking to Sirius more than anyone else in the group, always fooling around and getting into trouble more so than himself and James.

He spent many nights awake with James, while the other two snuck out, talking about (Y/N) and how much he liked everything about him.

The day passed by quickly as they always did, pranks and studying. Waiting for the next moon adventure.

Remus sat in the dull light of the common room that evening, relaxing to the sound of the fireplace when (Y/N) burst through the door as chaotic as ever. Collapsing on the sofa next to him.

“Hi, Moony” He smiled nonchalantly, taking a peak at the book he was reading. Remus partly ignored him, giving him an acknowledging hum.

“Oh, I see you’re reading one of my books. Do you like it?” He said while bending over to read the cover. (Y/N) as dumb as he could be, enjoyed reading just as much as Remus did. A lot of the time they spent together was in the library or reading together.

“I do, rather exciting. Didn’t expect to enjoy it this much, but thank you for borrowing it to me” Remus smiled, making (Y/N) blush a little.

“I’m glad!” He said, thumping back onto the sofa. Now trying to keep up with the pace his friend was reading at. He yawned softly, he was quite exhausted from a long day of school.  He was about ready to take a nap.

Laying his head lightly on his friend’s shoulder, he asked Remus to read aloud so he could rest his eyes.

As much as (Y/N) was a pain in his ass, he was a joy to be around. A light in his life unlike the light of his other friends. The heat on his face didn’t help either.

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?" "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...” He spoke in a hush tone, narrating the book for (Y/N).

“I love this part, it’s so nice” (Y/N) smiled, getting comfortable for this afternoon nap. Remus stopped for a moment looking at his soft (H/C) hair and sleep ready face.

“Why did you stop? Was it me? I’ll shut up now” He said half asleep, waiting for his friend to continue the story again and that’s how they both fell asleep that late afternoon.

His book laying over his chest, his hands wrapped around the smaller boy like two cats huddled under a sun beam.

The next week was stressful with Valentine’s Day approaching and love in the air, it was all James could speak out.

“Oh Lily, a name so sweet just like the flower. A scent so alluring, oh Lily, my love, oh how can live without you. Life is , but a muggle roller coaster going up with you” He sighed, hugging the small envelope in his arms. Sirius gagged and pretended to throw up while Remus and (Y/N) laughed at his attempt at poetry.

“This is the year, boys. This is the year Lily Evans will be mine” He looked up at the great hall’s morning sky, his eyes twinkling with the love in his heart.

The other Marauders were painfully single, as was James, but the way he talked about Lily you’d think they’re already married. Lily however looked as though she would vomit at any given time James looked at her.

Tomorrow the whole hall would be filled with hearts and love potions. He was sure someone would slip one of them a potion, it happened every year, last year they had to nurse Peter to health ‘cause someone thought it would be funny if Peter fell in love McGonagall.

“Merlin, Prongs. One more word about Lily and I might curse myself” Sirius sighed and hid his own small envelope under his robe.

“How can I?” James sighed once, looking over the Lily who was sitting with her own friends pretending he didn’t exist. He rested his hand on his arm, sighing loudly and dramatically.

The day passed once again leading the five back into their common room, all tired of classes. The conversation immediately leaped to what would happen the next day.

“I bet Lily will finally accept that we are soulmates separated by a tragic past life” James said proudly once again pulling out the small heart littered envelope he had been carrying all day.

“I bet it’ll be another Valentine’s Day alone for you, dear Prongs” Sirius said in a soft and sweet voice, not mirrored with the evil little smirt of his face.

“Fine. Let’s make a bet then. All five of us, come on” James challenged the boys in the room who looked angrily at Sirius who always started these silly bets.

“Okay, Moony? Wormtail? (N/N)? You in?” Sirius chirped

“No way, last time I had to change my hair green and silver.” Remus said shaking his head profusely, Sirius looked at him and (Y/N) with his puppy dog eyes. Almost considering changing himself into a dog to guilt trip them.

“No need to convince me twice, I’m always in for a bet”

“I’m always in too” Peter chimed in, though no one was surprised as he just did whatever James asked anyway. “Fine, I’m in. What’s the bet?” Remus finally gave in after the whole group joined in, he felt as though he was gonna regret this.

“All us dashing young men need to find a date tomorrow. Anyone who’s rejected has to spend the night on the Quidditch pitch, no blankets, no clothing. Only underwear”

“Deal.” Sirius said quickly, shaking James’ hand.

“How do we always get dragged into this?” Remus sighed and let his head fall back onto the sofa, his arms over his face.

The next day was grueling work, everyone already had a date. James hadn’t asked Lily anything yet, his anxiety suddenly overcoming him, Sirius had been slapped in the face about 5 times, (Y/N) remembered he didn’t know anyone else, Peter had actually acquired a date out of some miracle and Remus was nowhere to be seen.

“Anyone see, Moony yet?” Sirius sighed, a small ice pack on his face. All the men looked completely defeated except Peter who had practically skipped over to them with the news he had gotten a date.

“Nope” (Y/N) quickly looked around the great hall as they sat for lunch, he was a little worried about him. Maybe he was brooding somewhere alone. Maybe was crying that he couldn’t find a date, maybe he was-

“I’m gonna go look for him” He stood up quickly, speed walking towards the closest boys bathroom, then the next and the next. He couldn't see him in any of the bathrooms. He was a little more worried now, well a lot more worried.

A little tired and defeated with the next bell ringing, he got to the next class first and to his surprise and relief Remus was there.

“Idiot. You scared us, we barely saw you today, what the fuck?” He came up behind him and flicked his forehead scolding him. He apologised and said he had to fetch a special package from the owlery alone. (Y/N) didn’t ask anything, just glad to see nothing bad happened.

“Any luck on a date?” He said, still waiting for the other classmates to arrive.

“Not yet, might look at real estate on the pitch” He chuckled, his eyes crinkling in his wide smile, flushing (Y/N)’s cheeks a bit.

They chatted for a short while before the last three troublemakers burst through the potion room door. Peter still has a bright smile on his face.

“Why so cheery, Wormtail?”

“He’s the only one of us with a date” James sighed loudly, still clutching his letter for Lily. He looked a lot less confident than yesterday, Peter deflating his ego even more.

The day passed and soon they were sulking on the sofa together, all now very painfully single besides Peter who was happily owling the Hufflepuff girl he had asked out. James finally had the courage to give the letter to Lily who just gave him a small smile before immediately b-lining out of potions. He was crushed, a broken shell of a man, at least that’s how he described it. Sirius had received about ten more slaps across the face. The other two had just accepted they would be huddling for warm on the pitch or so they thought.

“Here guys, we deserve it” Remus stood up suddenly grabbing the mysterious bag he was hiding under the couch.

He handed each one of the boys a small box of handmade chocolate, Remus’ specialty. They all lighted up suddenly at the prospect of chocolate except for (Y/N). Who got discreetly given a slightly bigger box and when he opened it, they were all heart shaped unlike the other threes’.

“Thanks so much, Moony! What would we do without you” (Y/N) smiled brightly, causing Remus to stiffen up a little.

The other two very quickly realised their chocolates were different than the (H/C) boy’s were. They know what was up, but (Y/N) was not in the loop.

“I’ll be back.” Remus quickly said, doing a 180 turn towards the porthole, leaving the others.

“I hope Moony’s okay. Maybe he got rejected.” He frowned looking at the closing door. He wanted to check up on him, but maybe he just wanted to be alone.

The other two in the room looked at each other, at their chocolates and back at (Y/N). They both decided it was about fucking time, if Remus wasn’t gonna do it. They would.

“You really are dense, (Y/N). He likes you, isn’t it obvious?” James said not looking up from his homework as he sat on the desk in the common room. Sirius shrugged in agreement and (Y/N) looked a little shocked.

He looked down at the box of heart shaped chocolates in front of him, everything finally clicking in his mind as he face palmed his brain.

“Oh my god. Wait really?” He questioned again, the thought had never crossed his mind that Remus would feel the same way he did. He never thought Remus was gay like he was though now that he thought about it, it was kind of obvious.

“You really didn’t know?” Sirius said while struggling to unwrap the ribbon off his own valentine chocolates. (Y/N) really felt dumb as a rock.

“Fuck.” He cussed under his breath, quickly exiting the room to find Remus.

He saw a flash of light hair belonging to the boy on his mind, he raced toward him in a fast walk. Quickly catching up and grabbing his shoulder.

“Moony! Wait! I’m sorry, I didn’t know these were those kinds of chocolates” (Y/N) said a little out of breath still clutching the box in his hands, looking at them briefly before turning to the taller boy.

“It’s fine, (N/N). I don’t think you would’ve accepted them anyway.” Remus sighed softly, what looked like a few tears running down his face which (Y/N) immediately wiped off with his finger gently.

He smiled widely at the crying boy next to him, then gave him a huge hug.

“Yes I would have! I would’ve loved getting chocolates like that.” He said brightly, gripping onto the taller boy’s neck tighter. Not wanting to let go.

“You would?” Remus sniffed quietly, barely speaking over a whisper. He breathed into the (Y/N)’s necks, smelling the sweet smell of his coconut shampoo and cologne.

“Of course! I’m sorry I’m a little oblivious sometimes. I do like you, though… a lot.” He said sheepishly, blushing into the crook of Remus’ neck.

“You do?” He questioned again, his crying stopped and he felt very warm and fuzzy. The butterflies in his stomach beating him up.

“YES! Now come eat these with me. We won the bet.” He let go of Remus and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the common room again.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” Sirius said as he saw his two friends hand in hand.

“Looks like we’re sleeping outside” James sighed, looking at the pitch from outside the window...

“So cold.”

[blueskiesandstarrynights]

Whatever Happens I'ma Stand Tall- Jatp time loop au, Chapter 2: Loop 2, Didn't We Already Do This?

And here's chapter 2! I'm glad to get this one done, it's been bugging me for a bit.

Word Count: 2120

Tag list: @enby-chaos-fox @lagoonaaa

If anyone else wants to be added, just let me know!

Masterpost of chapters (x)

Looks like today is gonna be another sunny day, with temperatures in the low to mid eighties.

Julie awoke with a gasp and scrambled to shut off her alarm and wipe away her damp cheeks from her tears, trying to figure out what had just happened. She nearly knocked her phone off her nightstand trying to grab it, but once she got it she checked the date on her phone and nearly started crying with relief when she saw the date: Saturday, March 7, 2020.

It wasn’t real.

It wasn’t real.

Whatever she thought she had just experienced was just a dream. A nightmare created from her fears that today’s plan didn’t work. It was ok. They’re going to play the Orpheum and her band is going to crossover. She’d still lose them, but she had already accepted that.

But she had to be sure. Had to be sure it really was just a nightmare and her boys are still here. She quickly got dressed and dashed down to the studio only to find the guys a few seconds from poofing away.

Reggie noticed her first and called out, “Oh hey Julie! We were just about to-”

He cut himself off once he saw that Julie’s eyes had filled with tears and asked, “Whoa, Julie are you okay?”

She wiped her tears with a soft smile before saying, “Yeah, yeah I’m okay. I just had this really vivid dream that you guys were jolted out of existence and I couldn’t save you.”

“Well you don’t have to worry, it was just a nightmare, we’re right here and not going to go down without a fight.” Luke smiled at her.

Julie nodded and wiped the final tear tracks from her face before smirking and saying, “Don’t you guys have a gig to secure? You’re not crossing over without it.”

“We were just about to go and check on Wil- the gig,” Alex replied, looking anxious to leave and check on someone who she assumed to be Willie, Alex’s ghost friend who was going to be helping them get the gig for tonight. Julie wondered if he was more than just a “ghost friend” and filed that piece of information for later as Luke gave her a salute and a “See ya later boss,” before poofing away with Alex and Reggie in tow.

Julie took a deep breath to steady herself and push down the anxious thoughts and worries that had pushed their way to the front of her mind since the guys had left.

But every second that passed meant they were one second closer to being jolted out of existence. Every second that passed brought them closer and closer to their doom. Every second brought them closer and closer to that horrifying nightmare she had.

But it was just a nightmare, she tried to remind herself. It wasn’t real and she was going to help the guys peacefully cross over tonight. But then why was her dream so vivid and detailed? Was it-

No. She steadied her breathing and made her way back inside the studio, worrying about this wasn’t going to do anything, anything good at least. She decided to spend the morning in song writing in the studio, but when the guys came back with info about the Orpheum, the events of the day started unfolding in an eerily familiar pattern. A pattern suspiciously like her vivid nightmare from the night before. By the time she was at the Orpheum and the guys were once again running late, she brought up her concerns to Flynn.

“Have you ever had deja vu? Or had an oddly vivid dream that came true in real life?” Julie asked abruptly, causing Flynn to pause munching on the snacks that had been left in the room.

She gave Julie an odd look before replying, “Closest thing I can think of is a vague sense of deja vu when I was younger, but nothing vivid. Any particular reason you’re asking me this?”

Julie sighed. “Kinda. Last night I had this super vivid dream of today that ended with the guys being jolted out of existence. I failed and they experienced pain up until the moment they were just erased from all existence. And normally that wouldn’t scare me, because it was just a dream, but every single thing that happened in the dream has happened, and I’m terrified I’m going to have to watch them die all over again!”

Flynn placed the snacks on the table so she could move closer to Julie and give her a hug.

“C’mon that’s not going to happen. It’s not going to play out, it’s just a dream. And even if it did, they’re going to cross over, this is their unfinished business. My guess is the part in the dream where they die was simply your brain creating what you fear is going to happen. As for the rest of the day...well I can’t really comment on that, I’m neither a psychic nor a psychologist.”

There was a knock on the door followed by the stage manager calling out, “Hey Julie! It’s time!”

“Just a second!” she called back.

“Look, not to sound weird for using a dream of all things as a source of valid information, but what happened in the dream at this point? Did they come?” Flynn inquired.

Julie looked like she was holding back tears as she shook her head and said, “Yeah, they come in partway through the performance, that’s not even my main worry right now. I just-” she rests her forehead against Flynn’s. “I don’t know if I can-”

The stage manager once again knocks on the door and announces, “Hey Julie! You’re on!”

With too many emotions swirling around, Julie pushed her way out the door and into the alley at the side of the Orpheum, ignoring her best friend's shouts behind her. As she takes a breath of the stink of Hollywood Boulevard, she finally lets out the tears she had been holding in.

“I don’t know if you can hear me mom, but I don’t think I can do this. If I was supposed to help the guys, I don’t think I can. They’re not here, and I’m scared that even if they do come, it won’t matter. I’m worried they’re not going to come, but I’m terrified that I’ll have to watch them die; I don’t know if I can do that a second time. I just-” she gives a soft sniffle before saying, “I miss you so much. Every day. And it hurts every day that you’re not with us. The guys have helped, playing music with them makes me feel closer to you. Every time I look into the audience, I can see you smiling and cheering me on.

I miss you Mom. More than you can ever know. I miss being held in your arms and being told everything’s going to be okay, because even when all the odds say it’s not, you still made me believe it anyway.” She’s trying to wipe her tears from her eyes when she notices a woman next to her offering her a flower. It’s a dahlia. A red dahlia, like the ones Mom used to love. She hugs the flower to her chest and she feels like she can feel everything that made her mom who she was. She can hear her mothers laugh ringing in her ears, right next to the beautiful melody that is her voice, and she can feel the warmth of her hugs, can smell the flowery perfume she always used, and she can almost see her mom’s signature dark curls.

With the dahlia in hand, Julie barrels back through the Orpheum side door, heading straight for the stage, stopping only to show Flynn the dahlia and declare, “Signs,” before rushing onto the stage, not even thinking about what she was doing. Seeing the dahlia had reminded Julie of Flynn’s theory that her mom was behind everything, and took the flower as a sign to go up on stage. To keep going. To stand tall.

And she did. She performed the Orpheum, and her boys came and being up on that stage gave her a ridiculous amount of euphoria. After the guys disappeared and she was hounded by her family and Flynn backstage, the adrenaline from the night almost caused her to forget about the guys. Almost.

Once they get back home, Julie wants nothing more than to go to the studio, but is stopped when Carlos asks her, “Hey Julie, can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Uh, sure just give me a minute.”

“Ok, I’ll wait up. Don’t ghost me,” he responded, adding a completely unsubtle wink at the end, causing Julie’s eyes to grow wide in shock. Had he figured it out? If so, how? Or was this just another one of his theories that didn’t hold any merit?

She shook her head, deciding to deal with that later, before turning to her dad and saying, “Just a minute,” and headed for the studio.

She opened the doors and stared inside the darkened room, taking a large shuddery breath, scared of what she’d find if she turned on the light. Scared that the guys’ didn’t cross over, but instead are here, collapsed on the floor, moments away from dying a second time. Not wanting to prolong this any further, she reached over to the switch on the wall and turned the light on, and lo and behold, there they were piled on top of each other just as she feared, and seeing them like this caused her breathing to grow more ragged, which wasn’t helped by a jolt that simultaneously racked the boys bodies.

They coughed and moaned from the jolt but forced themselves up once they saw Julie and all tried to put on brave faces for her.

“Julie what are you doing here, why didn’t you just go straight to bed?” Reggie asked.

“I said she’d come out here, but nobody ever listens to me,” Alex complains.

Julie sniffled and pointlessly tried to wipe her eyes before saying, “I, uh, wanted to say goodbye and to thank you guys.”

Watching them now feels so much worse than the dream. She knew playing the Orpheum wasn’t going to work, yet she still performed there anyway. Now there was nothing she could do. They were being forced to relive the pain of dying over and over again, until they were wiped from existence entirely. There were so many things she wanted to do with them, and things they wanted to do. In fact, there was something they needed to do, considering they were ghosts in the first place and therefore had unfinished business. They had so much ahead of them, yet their time was being cut short too early, just like their lives in ‘95.

She collapses onto the floor and tries to get as close to them as she can without passing through them; doing so would just be another painful reminder of the separation between her and them, and how much they’re about to be separated permanently.

She numbly listens to them as they list off their final requests just as they did last time, before they’re finally killed and she is left in an empty studio, left with nothing but instruments that won’t be used again and her tears. Oddly enough, just like in her dream she finds the world being taken over by a blinding white light accompanied with still quiet before-

Looks like today is gonna be another sunny day, with temperatures in the low to mid eighties.

Julie’s eyes shoot open and quickly shuts off the alarm trying to make sense of what just happened. Why was she back in her room? What was that white light? Her theory about a dream turned out to be garbage since you can’t have a dream within a dream right? Confused, Julie reached over to her nightstand to grab her phone to check the date and what she saw nearly made her choke on air.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Saturday, March 7, 2020

That was yesterday’s date. And now that she thought about it, it was the date for the day before as well. Panicking now, Julie goes straight for Flynn’s contact and texts her:

Julie: 911

Julie: Flynn

Julie: Get here asap

Julie: Somethings wrong

Flynn: What

Flynn: Jules whats wrong

Julie: Idk

Julie: Its weird

Julie: Just come here itll be easier to explain in person

Flynn: Alright be there in 5

Julie closed her phone, sighed, fell back into her pillows and groaned. This was going to be a long day. Again.

[hyrule-kingdom-updates]

Astor just sighed to himself as he walked down the castle’s long hallways.

The windows on this level of the castle spanned from the floor to ceiling, with natural sunlight dripping in through the gold trim. His eyes squinted at the light, and he let his hair fall closer to his face. I should get a hood one of these days.

His footsteps were mostly quiet and unnoticable, which unfortunately for him, led to a less than ideal collision with someone as he turned the corner.

“SON OF A—”

The man ran straight into Astor, his papers scattering across the floor. He shook a fist at the prophet, angrily—he was some old soul with blond hair with bits of grey, and a weathered round face with a set of furious blue eyes. 

“Watch where you’re going, you clod!” Ligero yelled. “I have half a mind to report you for interfering with sensitive documents!”

Astor leaned down, picking up the papers—seemingly just full of various recorded tax benefits—and rolled his eyes, mumbling. “Yes...and we wouldn’t want you to stress yourself working on only half a brain…”

“What was that?”

“Mm...nothing…”

“You youths...I hate mumbling…” 

Astor fitted the papers into a neat stack before handing them back to Ligero, which he snatched up, flipping through them carefully. The prophet gave a shallow, shallow bow. 

“My deepest apologies...Lord Ligero.”  

Ligero suddenly stopped reading, raising an eyebrow and looking him up and down for a moment. “Do I...know you?”

He narrowed his eyes. “If the stars had aligned correctly, this would be our first and last meeting.”

The Lord wagged a finger at him as his eyes lit up. “Ahhh...you’re that crazy star seer. The one aways snuggled up in the queen’s shadow…”

“Gh…...I’m not—”

“Yeah…” Ligero rubbed his chin. “You’re that sickly twig that’s been whining about our deaths and such...always making a fuss since Elane died.” He chuckled to himself, while Astor scowled.

“Her Majesty’s...passing, puts the future of Hyrule on a path of certain doom. I believe I’ve made my predictions of past clear, that the princess will not awaken her power in—”

 “Ayap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap…” Ligero opened and closed his hand like a mouth in mockery. “Listen boy, you won’t win any favours by spewing your miserable thoughts at every meeting.”

“Maybe I don’t desire your favour.”

“Well then who are you looking to please? Cause I’m afraid it’s a little late to cuck His Majesty any further.”

“Excuse me?” Astor took a step forward, but the Lord stood his ground with a smile, cocking his head to the side. 

“I mean, that’s the only reason some nobody like you is here in the first place, isn’t it? Royal connections? Lovely pity on a scrawny useless orph—”

“I’m here to do my job.”

“Aw, don’t live in denial, boy. I have an eye for this sort of thing. And I’m always partial to helping a lad in need…”

Astor was already turning to move past Ligero, but suddenly stopped. He smirked to himself in amusement. “Is that so…?”

“Oh sure. My own son I’ve raised to be the peak of perfection. Striking young man, dashing blond—like me—and skilled. Rising up the knight’s ranks faster than an octo balloon! That’s all me, all my parenting right th—”

“And which son is that?”

“My oldest, my…...one, son.” He glared at him with a frown. 

“Hmm…” Astor could barely hold back from snickering. “And what do you think of this oldest son then?”

“Oh, too much of his mother’s child, if you ask me. But much better than I in some regards, though of course, not all of them. Ohoho…”

“Yes…” Astor smiled to himself. “You’re a funny man, Ligero Hartell…”

Ligero finally stopped laughing to himself. “But you see, perfection like that isn’t born. It’s made and nurtured, you have to coax it out of them.” He poked Astor’s chest, and he flinched away in disgust. “Quit your mumbling, your babbling, your little grief stricken dreams, it’s all useless. No one cares for it.”

The Lord went to pat his head, like a puppy, but Astor dodged out of the movement with a verbal “nope” as he whipped behind him. Ligero just shrugged. “If you can’t churn yourself to be a better man, then you’ll have to settle for the next best thing. You want to be something more? Something of actual merit? Taken more seriously than some child that was dragged up these polished steps out of a late woman’s mercy?” He flicked his wrist, adjusting the cuff of his pristine white sleeve. “Stop chasing the dead. Don’t be blinded by replaceable things like compassion and the sort. Find a wealthy friend or something, get rich, get power.” 

Ligero turned to continue walking down the hall. “Besides, even if it is like you say—then all the more to ride the sayings of, ‘You only live once.’”

Astor glowered, watching Ligero walk away. He scoffed, and started to turn back towards his own destination, before the Lord called out once more—  

“And cut your hair or something! You’re no Rito, quit with the braids. It’ll get all greasy and frizzy...Trust me, I knew someone with hair like that, once.”

Astor’s expression softened just a bit—nearly undetectable—before immediately being replaced with a darker scowl.

He kept walking, his deep purple robes dancing just a finger-widths above the stone polished steps. He opened and closed his hand to himself, miming Ligero’s speaking.

“Always partial to helping a lad in need...gods, seems childhood memory has still captured him to perfection.” Astor came up on the wooden door, and walked inside. 

The ceiling was a stone dome, littered with old parchment maps, and Sheikah charts, along with chalk that outlined ancient constellations and designs. There was an old chalkboard—stolen, from the Sheikah department—with further sketches and notes, torn out pages from old journals and texts pinned to the board and walls. Even the window was covered by hanging gyrospheres and astrolabes, twirling in infinite suspension. Since they blocked the window’s hinges, they were probably the reason why the room smelled so musty.

Astor closed the door, and flopped down on an old velvet bench, staring at the ceiling in silence.

“BOO!”

“GAAaaAAAh!” Astor shot up, whipping his head at the dangerous intruder, only to find a giggling, blonde girl.

She was doing her best to muffle her laughter by holding her hands to her mouth. “Gotchu again, Mr. Astor!” 

He sighed. “What are you doing here?”

The princess shuffled towards his desk, hands already bored and ready to play with the nearest pointy object. “You took so long to get heeeeree….why was that old guy even talking to you?”

He fixed his hair behind his ears, not really paying attention. “Oh? You heard all that, then?”

“Yeaaah, the halls are—” she cupped her hands over her mouth, “—ECHOEY, Echoey, echoey...echoey….” Her voice grew fainter at each repetition. 

“Stop shouting in my study. You’ll attract the rats…”

“I like rats!” She ran back up to Astor, sitting on the other end of the bench. “They’re like dogs! But small!”

“They’re rodents. Think more possums and mice.”

“Like that old guy, right?” She played with a loose thread on her dress. “Last week you called him a gross...virgin? Vermin… Velvet…? I forgot the word—”

Astor suddenly scooped the young Zelda up under her arms, holding her out in front of him like she was a disease. “Don’t tell anyone I said that, alright? That’s our secret.”

“Put me doooooooown!!”

“No. Get out. I’m working.”

The princess struggled in his grip so much that by the time he reached the door with her, she was nearly upside down. He opened the door and she craned her neck up, pleading at him with an upside down frown.

“Pleeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase let me stay??? Dad never bothers to look for me here….and your room is so cool! Even mom hung out here a lot…” Astor physically flinched, and Zelda took that as an opportunity to let loose some puppy eyes. “Pweaaaaaaase????”

Astor was so ready, so ready to shake her off his arm and let her possibly break a bone tumbling down the steps. “Oh! It was an accident, Your Majesty. She was so busy talking and talking and bouncing off the walls she forgot how stairs worked! I tried to stop her but she used her superglue prank again! Oh what a shame!” It would have been so easy…

Instead, the prophet just sighed, turned around, and let her topple onto the room’s floor. She yelled a “Yay!” before scuttling towards the windowsill, adorned with sparkly objects. Astor made his way to his desk, muttering.

“You can stay for five minutes. But don’t touch anything.”

Zelda immediately started touching and spinning the gyrospheres around in her hand.

The princess pranced and sat and played and pondered around the room—five minutes, ten, fifteen, and twenty. Finally she hobbled up to Astor, her arms full of shiny orbs and trinkets. She peered at his desk.

“So whatcha working on?” Zelda asked, looking at the weird sketches. “You seeing the future and stuff?”

“Something like that,” he replied stiffly. Silence resumed in the room.

Zelda set down her arm full of collectables, before standing on her toes to catch a better glimpse. “So what’s gonna happen? What’s gonna happen in the future?”

The prophet rolled his eyes, still trying to focus on his work. “Oh, you know. Death, doom, destruction. You’ll fail to awaken your powers, everyone perishes...the usual sort.”

Zelda crossed her arms and sat on the ground with a huff. “You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.”

“Oh yeah? Well if you can see the future, then WHAT am I gonna do next? Betcha can’t tell!”

“You’re going to attempt a backflip.”

“I’m going to do a b—” Zelda had jumped up, her arms already in the air, before she let them drop and sputtered angrily. “H-Hey! How’d you know that?!”

“Because that’s what you always do to try and disprove me.” He nodded towards the broken chair beside the door, along with a broken shelf, and a broken footstool.

“Hmph!”

“But that’s not how telling the future works anyways.”

“Oh yeah, well how am I supposed to know if you never TELL ME!” She suddenly scrambled into Astor’s lap, trying to steal his papers. 

“H-Hey! Get off you insolent—”

“Tell me what your jooooooob issssss you never doooooooooo anything despite having the coolest room…” Zelda palmed her face on his papers, refusing to move.” 

Astor was just about pulling his hair out, before taking a deep breath. “If I tell you, will you get off me?”

“Maaaybe.”

“Ugh. You’re insufferable…” Astor leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. 

“Well it’s like this. Every choice and possibility exists. Every universe and timeline with every outcome and conclusion you could imagine exists in the grand unknown. There’s a universe where you’re a boy, there’s a universe where you don’t exist, there’s a universe where you’re quiet and don’t bother me all the time—”

“Is there one where my mom’s alive?” Zelda leaned her head back and looked up at him.

He was silent for a moment, pondering his words. “...Yes. There is.” 

He finally raised an arm, gesturing to the decorated ceiling. “See now, predicting the future is all a matter of trying to identify exactly what kind of universe you’re in. You look to the stars—gifts from the spirits, who roam as a constant in all timelines. You look to dreams, and magic, and visions...your surroundings, the people...there’s a pattern and predictability that I can use to identify what universe we’re in, and how the future will play out.”

“So you think we’re in the one where the Calamity wins?” Zelda raised an eyebrow.

“From what I’ve seen, I’m almost certain. Yes.”

“That sucks.”

“It does...suck.”

Zelda jumped up and went back to playing with the gold and silver trinkets. “Why don’t we just go to a universe where we don’t lose?”

Astor turned back to his work. “Because that’s not possible.”

“Really? You sure?”

Astor stopped, pondering for just a moment, before shrugging and continuing to work. 

“Probably anyways. I imagine millions of people have tried before, millenia ago. And from the looks of things, nothing’s worked.”

Zelda fiddled with an Ancient Core. 

[mourntheantagonist]

a little something I wrote for @smashmouth-hargrove after converting me with all their tommy content!

Breaking Character

3.3k | Explicit

warnings: tomgrove with sprinkles of harringrove and stommy, graphic depictions of violence, drinking, sexual content, homophobic language.

read on ao3

Billy didn’t really know what to do when he woke up on the hardwood floor of the empty Byers house with his car missing from the front yard, his movement off kilter from whatever was in that vial still coursing through his veins, and a death wish waiting for him at home considering the red-head he had been ordered to fetch was nowhere to be seen. With all of his energy lost in that fight he only vaguely remembered, just little flashes of a bloody Steve beneath him and sounds of breaking dishware echoicing in his brain, he’d given up on finding her, noting the time on the clock was already passed midnight and his father would have his ass either way. So instead of searching the town on foot, or parking himself in the Byers house on the off chance she’d come back, he stumbled over to the phone on the wall and dialed the only number he’d remembered from his short stay in Hawkins.

Tommy’s.

The guy was like a fucking lost puppy with the way he had followed him around from the moment he stepped foot into the high school. Coming up from behind him, firmly grabbing him by the shoulders and boldly introducing himself as “Tommy H.” making him wonder exactly how many people were named “Tommy” at such a small school. Billy had just brushed him off at first and searched for his locker, but Tommy persisted. Following him to first period which they just so happened to share, and even cornering him at lunch to sit with him and his group of other assholes, to which he declined and instead pulled the first girl he saw looking at him aside and invited her to eat lunch in his car with him, where they didn’t actually eat lunch at all.

Billy planned to just blow the guy off completely, not interested in being part of the “popular crowd” or whatever the fuck Tommy had called it, and he was kind of getting creepy, stalkerish even with the way he followed him around and practically begged for his attention, which he wasn’t interested in giving until the two words, or rather, the name had escaped passed Tommy’s lips.

“Steve Harrington and that freak Byers look to be getting a little close wouldn’t ya say? Think we should tell little ol’ Nancy?” He said it with a string of laughs and a slap on the shoulder of the nameless guy in the letterman’s jacket that stood beside him. Billy couldn’t give a shit about who Byers or Nancy were, he was far more hung up on “Steve Harrington”. The guy who stumbled into his fourth period class five minutes after the bell had rang and followed him to fifth where he watched from the corner of his eye as he stripped down into his gym clothes. He only heard his full name when they all stood in a line alphabetically by last name when he was called directly after him. Hargrove, then Harrington. Then they were all paired off into groups of two and of course, he got paired up with a Steve and his ridiculous head of hair and thighs he wanted to crush his fucking head.

Billy stuck around Tommy after learning he was the one with the most intel on the guy. Tommy told him about the Halloween party where “Keg King Steve” might just get dethroned if Billy had anything to say about it. He didn’t know the guy he was dealing with was fucking royalty.

Tommy became a second shadow after that. He was with him everywhere he went and if it hadn’t been for the service he did provide, he would have kicked him to the curb a long time ago. And now with him standing in a strangers house in the middle of nowhere without a means of transportation and the only phone number on hand belonging to fucking Tommy, he was lucky he hadn’t.

“Hello?” Tommy’s voice came over the receiver.

“Hey uh, it’s Billy. Think you could come pick me up from somewhere?” Billy’s voice was still groggy from the drugs.

“Are you drunk?”

“No, but I wish I fuckin’ was. Look I’m at the Byers and I have no car so if you could just come and rescue me that would be great.” he said it with the utmost sarcasm to his voice, despite none of it actually being sarcastic at all.

“Okay I’m on my way, I’ll bring beer.”

Tommy pulled into the front in less than five minutes from the moment he set the phone back on the hook. Apparently he didn’t live too far from the Byers place in the middle of the woods. Billy stumbled out the front door and managed to barely make it to the passenger door without toppling over, which didn’t do much to help his story that he wasn’t in fact drunk.

“Dude! What the hell is going on? What happened to your face?”

Billy just slumped into his seat and pulled a beer bottle from the six pack sitting in Tommy’s back seat and opened it with the ring on his finger. “Just drive, I’ll explain when I can’t fuckin’ feel it anymore.” he said, kicking his feet up on the dash earning a grunt out of Tommy.

“Where?”

“Anywhere but here.”

Tommy took off the parking brake with a smirk on his face and turned the car around.

“To the quarry then.”

Billy had been around there once or twice since he’d arrived in Hawkins. The first time was when they had first driven past the welcome sign and he stumbled upon it while scoping out the town for any reason to stay in the shithole. Instead he stumbled upon the two hundred foot cliff into bone crushing waters. But he’d only ever been there during the day when the sky was overcast and it looked like nothing more than doom and gloom, much like the rest of the town. This time it was late, the sky was clear and the stars and the moon were brightly visible and reflected on the water's surface. The headlights illuminated the space around them and it was oddly peaceful.

“Now you gonna tell me why you’re getting blood all over my car?”

Billy finished off the last of the beer that was in the bottle and tossed it out the open window. “I got into it with Harrington.” He said, wiping away at the blood that still was dripping from the nose that was definitely broken. Harrington was a shit fighter but he threw a mean punch.

“Why was he at the Byers? Why were you at the Byers? What the fuck is going on?!” Tommy had his seat belt off and his body fully turned towards Billy who was still sitting with his feet up on the dash reaching his arm back for a second bottle.

“I don’t fucking know Hagan. I was looking for my little sister and Harrington chose to pick a fight with me. My sister fuckin’ drugged me and when I woke up my car was gone,” Billy took a large swig out of the bottle in his hand, “that’s where you came in.”

Tommy took the bottle from Billy’s hand and took his own drink from the bottle, committing to staying with Billy at the quarry with that first swallow of bitter liquid down his throat. Billy quickly stole it back from him and chugged the rest of it, prompting Tommy to grab his own from the pack in the back seat. “So King Steve finally won a fight huh? Never thought I’d see the day.” Tommy said while he fiddled with his key trying to pop the bottle cap off. But Billy was quick to set him straight about exactly what happened.

“Harrington did not win the fight.” Billy let out a pained laugh. “Last I remember he looked dead on the floor.” Tommy was speechless, staring back at Billy with the mouth of the bottle held against his lower lip, frozen in place. “You got a smoke?”

“Is Steve okay?” Tommy’s voice was panicked, a total tone shift not only from how they were previously talking, but a tone Billy hadn’t yet heard out of the guy before. His eyes were wide and filled with concern and Billy had been trying not to think about everything that was currently swimming through Tommy’s mind since he had woken up on that wood floor.

“I don’t fucking know man, he wasn’t there when I woke up,” Billy just ignored eye contact with Tommy and began rummaging through the glove box in search of a pack and a light. “I’m sure he’s fine, they wouldn’t have just left me on the fuckin’ floor if I was wanted for murder.” he says it to Tommy, but also to himself as he finally finds a loose pack of reds and holds a cigarette in between his fingers, letting the words and the feeling of warmth as he lights up calm his nerves about whatever situation Steve was currently in. Nothing he could do about it now.

“What the fuck Hargrove? How bad did you hurt him?” Tommy was practically yelling at him, almost becoming teary eyed, punching Billy in the shoulder like he was trying to hurt him but didn’t know how.

“Why the fuck do you care so much? You got a boner for him or something?” It was meant as a joke. Billy really didn’t have anything suggesting Tommy was “of the same crowd” as he was from his observations over the past week aside from his weird infatuation with him that he’d just written off as him using him to get chicks after noticing how every girls eyes darted toward him as soon as he stepped foot out of the Camaro. But the way Tommy reacted to the accusation without immediate denial or fucking any other reaction that wasn’t his eyes growing even wider before turning his head down and away from Billy. “Did I strike a nerve there?”

“Can it Hargrove.” Tommy’s voice is low and quiet and he’s practically one with the steering wheel with how close his forehead is to it.

“What? That Little Tommy Hagan is a queer for Harring-“

“Shut Up!” Tommy yelled and surged forward from where he was sitting to being practically in Billy’s seat with both hands clutching the collar of Billy’s shirt and pinning him up against the car door. “Get the fuck out of my car Hargrove, walk home.” Tommy said in a mean voice, his teeth clenched and his knuckles digging into Billy’s collar bones.

And Billy just laughed his maniacal little laugh he gave whenever someone tried to start a fight they would inevitably lose in the end. Instead of reaching a hand back for the door handle and following Tommy’s strict little orders, he did exactly what he always did when it came to men he could win against. He fought back.

With the same swiftness that Tommy had, he flipped the script, turning everything right back around on Tommy so that he was the one pinned up against the drivers side door, his head slamming back against the glass window. Billy took it even one step further and pushed their combined weights against the door and with a free hand, opened it, causing Tommy to roll out onto his back along the gravel path they were parked on where he let out a pained groan.

Billy walked out unscathed, the only marks on his body being the result of a separate H name. Billy reached for Tommy’s bottle out of the cup holder and finished it off before chucking it out into the water below with a strong throw.

“So, Tommy H. eats dick for breakfast, I can’t say I’m totally surprised.” Billy took the keys from Tommy’s pockets and stuffed them in his own. He was just going to leave him there, begin a chain for vehicular theft and find somewhere else to be with someone else, but Tommy just had to go and open up his big and stupid mouth.

“Yeah, and what about you huh? I didn’t say shit about the way you were rubbing all up against Steve during gym!” Tommy started to get up, but Billy quickly responded by putting him right back down. He pushed him back down onto his back with the grip of his shoulders and climbed on top of him where both his knees were sitting on both of his hands leaving him completely immobile. Tommy screamed out in pain as his knees dug into his palms and the sharp rocks cut the skin on his hands.

“You calling me a fag?!” Billy yelled, his grip growing tighter and tighter on his shoulders, thumbs digging and bruising and Tommy didn’t have the breath to stop screaming to say anything in response. Billy chose to remove his knees from Tommy’s hands so that he would stop, but he stayed on top of him, sitting down so he wouldn’t be able to get out.

That’s when he noticed it.

Tommy was fucking hard.

“Oh, so Harrington ain’t the only guy who turns you on huh?”

Tommy made a bold move, and spit up at Billy, hitting him directly in the eye. “Get off of me.”

Billy just laughed and freed one of Tommy’s shoulders to wipe away at his eye. “Nice shot. This how you treat all the boys or am I just special?”

“I’m not fucking gay!”

“Well your dick tells me otherwise.”

Tommy just squeezed his eyes tightly, like he was trying to focus all of his energy on making it go down, which wasn’t made easy by having Billy Hargrove’s literal ass pressed up against it.

Billy had told himself he wouldn’t let this happen. Not here. But he also didn’t think he’d have the temptation so readily available, already hard for him and on his back ready to go. Billy Hargrove wasn’t one to pass up a treat like this. Sure, it wasn’t Steve Harrington, but Billy wasn’t anything if not good at playing pretend.

Billy leaned his body down to where they were chest to chest, both of their hearts pounding hard enough that they could feel each other’s. His mouth found Tommy’s neck where Billy found the most sensitive spot and took the skin right in between his teeth, causing Tommy to shudder and his dick to twitch against Billy’s ass.

“So Tommy likes a little pain with his pleasure too? You learn more and more every day.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Tommy said through a sigh followed by a gasp for air.

“Would you like me to stop?” Billy asked, knowing full well by the expression on Tommy’s face what his answer would be. But for good measure, Billy rocked his hips against Tommy’s dick to milk another moan out of his mouth. “You ever kissed a boy Tommy?”

Instead of answering with his words, Tommy bucks his hips upwards and utilizes his now free hands to grab Billy by the face and bring his lips down to his own, faces slamming together with bruise inducing force that leaves Tommy breathless and craving more. He kisses him like he’s starving, like just the taste of Billy’s lips was like a drug necessary for the continuation of his life and he’s not going to let go of it for even a second. Take all of it that he can get his hands on.

And Billy just kisses him back, closing his eyes and imagining dark brown hair and pale skin peppered in moles and deep brown eyes that could turn a sour kid sweet.

Tommy reaches his hands through the opening in Billy’s shirt and wraps his hands around to Billy’s back. Tommy’s cold hands against his skin cause him to shiver as they trace up and down and pull him in closer.

Billy grinds his hips into Tommy’s at a comfortable pace, his own dick matching Tommy’s level of hard as they’re both aching and throbbing and leaking with pre into their jeans, both of them agonizingly starved.

Billy trails a hand down the length of Tommy’s chest and undoes the button on his pants the moment he reaches his waist. Tommy’s rhythm was erratic and desperate and helping the guy out a little was the least he could do for being the tool he used to live out his own fantasies. Once the zipper was lowered, Billy reached his cold and bruised hand, coated in a layer of spit from his own mouth, into the space below Tommy’s boxers where he wrapped his hand around Tommy’s dick, pretending it was Steve’s, the one he managed to catch a glimpse of while they were in the showers after practice, the one he permanently ingrained in his mind and could see just as vividly now, and pumped. And Tommy did a lot of the work himself, thrusting himself into Billy’s hand, no longer able to focus on kissing Billy from all the intense pleasure that he was just breathing into Billy’s open mouth all hot and heavy. Tommy didn’t say it, but Billy could tell that he was on the brink with the way his face contorted more and more with each thrust. The sweat was spilling from his pores like multiple waterfalls and Billy just kept on closing his eyes, picturing Steve, not the freckled face below him that made all the sounds that sent him reeling.

Because it was one thing to want someone unattainable, and an entirely other thing to want someone who was.

Tommy came into his hand as Billy had that thought, moaning out the name “Steve” as he did, reminding Billy of exactly what this was, ripping the word “attainable” directly from his vocabulary and leaving him with the most disappointing orgasm of his life.

Okay, not true. It was still ten times more epic than any girl had ever given him.

The problem was that with all that buildup with Steve at the forefront of his mind, he came to the image of Tommy, who had just come to the image of Steve, another guy’s name on his tongue.

Billy just got up from where he was on top of Tommy, pressing his boot into Tommy’s thigh with an anger induced force, and walked off. He ignored the damp and sticky mess in his boxers and took a seat in the passenger seat of Tommy’s car while Tommy was still laid out on the gravel.

“Let’s go! Not a fucking word about this Hagan, you got it?”

He just nodded his head, his face flushed likely due to the answer to that initial question about ever kissing a boy being true, maybe because he was embarrassed for himself, maybe because he was embarrassed for Billy.

He didn’t want to think about that.

“Keys?” Tommy asked as he took his seat, holding his hand out for Billy to drop them. Billy tossed them over, ignoring the outstretched hand and instead reaching for his technically third beer from the back of Tommy’s car and not saying a word about it. Letting Tommy just take him wherever he so pleased.

Tommy took him to his house, surprisingly knowing where he lived, and Billy didn’t bother to question how exactly he knew the address. He didn’t say anything, not even a thank you before he closed the car door behind him and watched Tommy drive off down Cherry Lane.

He stood out there for a while by himself. Staring blankly at the yellow front door knowing that Hell awaits him on the other side.

And yet he couldn’t stop thinking about those words that Steve said to him when he first stepped out of the Camaro outside the Byers House.

“Don’t cream your pants.”

Because it was too fucking late for that.

He should have listened to him.

[nblesbianbenhanscom]

43+45 for kaspbroughzier or streddie

anon! hello! a million years later, and your fic is ready! are you even still here? i hope so ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

*

i had to go with the kasproughzier cause i love those goofs and also sonia is the perfect no, really you don’t want to meet my family.

the prompts were ‘trust me, you don’t want to meet my family’ + ‘you may technically be an adult, but you are still my child.’

***

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Little Dashes of Doom

“Eh-Eddie, your phone is r-ringing,” Bill says. It’s the tenth time in the last half hour.

“Just turn it off, Bill. I’m not going to answer it.” Eddie doesn’t look up from his computer.

“Buh-But it’s your ma.”

“I know, Bill. I already told her when I was coming home. She can chill.” He sounds tired, and Bill just wants to wrap him up in a blanket and make him relax between him and Richie. This semester had really kicked all of their asses.

Bill watches the phone as it stops ringing. It dings a moment later with a voicemail. Bill picks it up and turns it off. He kisses Eddie’s hair as he sits it on the table next to him.

“H-How’s the puh-aper coming?” Bill asks as he opens up the fridge. Bill himself had just finished his own last final just a few hours before.

“I hate fucking Shakespeare,” Eddie growls.

“Th-That good, eh?”

Eddie doesn't respond while Bill looks through the fridge. He finds a beer and heads to the couch where Richie is playing on their shared Switch. His legs are spread awkwardly, one up and over the back of the couch, the other hanging down by the floor. Bill sits in between his legs, pulling Richie’s leg into his lap.

“Hey, babycakes, you ok?” Richie asks without looking up.

“I’m ok.” Bill takes a sip of his beer. “You ok?”

“Yeah, fine. Why wouldn’t I be? Shit! I just fucking died!” He sighs and lets the Switch fall to his chest. “What are we doing for food?”

“We have l-leftover p-pizza,” Bill says.

Groaning, Richie sits up and tugs himself closer to Bill with his legs. He leans close and kisses Bill’s neck.

“I am so tired of pizza.” Richie scrapes his teeth against Bill’s chin. “Maybe I’ll just have you for dinner. How does that sound?” They giggle and Eddie huffs from the kitchen.

“Ugh, rude of you to start without me,” Eddie grouses, but there’s no real heat to his words.

Bill and Richie giggle again.

“S-Sorry, E-Eddie!”

“We were just discussing dinner.” Richie kisses Bill’s neck again.

Giggling, Bill pushes him away. “Shhh… St-Stop.”

Richie just pulls him closer and they giggle again.

“If I fail my final, it will be all your faults!” Eddie yells.

“Wh-What d-do you want for d-dinner?” Bill asks.

Eddie is silent for a minute. “Surprise me.”

Bill turns and kisses Richie. “We’re guh–nna go p-pick up dinner.”

“We are?” Richie asks. Bill nods. He holds his hand out and Richie takes it. They go to the door, tug on their coats and boots. It’s cold outside, but Bill just holds tightly to Richie’s hand.

“Where to, Big B?” Richie asks after they’ve climbed in the car.

Bill shrugs. “I don’t care.” He thinks for a minute. “Wh-Where do you—”

“I already told you what I wanted.” Richie winks.

Leaning back against the passenger seat headrest, Bill smiles at him. “Ok, b-but like a-actual food, Richie.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun,” Richie says. They talk for a few more minutes and end up going to the local diner. They get pancakes, fries, salad, and pie. Sometimes Eddie has trouble eating when he’s stressed, and they want to make sure to get him something he’ll eat.

When they get back, Eddie’s computer and his books are in a neat stack. The bathroom door is closed and they can hear him screaming at someone.

“I am working on my finals, mommy!” Eddie screams. Richie and Bill hesitate in the doorway. They look at each other but creep in. It’s been a while since Eddie had gone off like this. When they’d first met him a few years back, he’d yelled a lot more. Richie liked to tease that he was a feral chihuahua until Eddie’d absolutely lost it and tried to beat Richie up. It hadn’t gone well; Richie was so much taller than him and he had just pulled him into a hug, apologies sliding off his tongue. He promised to never do it again. After that, there were less and less explosions until there were none.

“No! No! You listen! I’m doing my work. I’ll be home in three days. Three! You have my–” Eddie pauses. “Please, would you just–”

Richie puts the food on the table and Bill clears away Eddie’s school work.

“God damnit, mom! They are not my roommates, they are my boyfriends. We have been over and over–” Another pause. “Well maybe I won’t come home then!” There’s another pause followed by a loud banging sound and then Eddie begins to sob.

Bill and Richie look at each other as they sit there listening to Eddie cry and yell at himself. Bill can’t quite make out everything he’s saying, but he knows it’s not good. He hears things like pussy, and coward, and little bitch. Things that he’d been told his whole life. Things Bill had thought he’d worked through.

Bill had apparently been wrong.

“I’m gonna go get him,” Richie says, and gets up. Bill catches his hand, and shakes his head. They sigh.

“Wuh–ne m-more m-minute.” He swallows hard. Richie sits back down slowly. Bill hates this just as much as Richie, but he doesn’t want to push Eddie too hard.

Slowly, Eddie’s sobs lessen. Bill wants to get up and go to him, but still he hesitates. Richie leans into his space and rests his head on Bill’s shoulder.

“Can we go get him now?” Richie asks.

Bill licks his lips. He’s about to say yes when they hear the bathroom door open, and Eddie sees them as soon as he looks up.

“Oh,” he says softly. His eyes are red and puffy. He swallows hard several times. “I-I–” And then tears fill his eyes, and his face crumbles, and Richie and Bill go to him, pull him close and let him cling to them as he cries.

“It’s ok, Eddie, we’ve got you,” Richie murmurs into his hair. “We’ve got you.”

“L-Let it out, b-baby,” Bill whispers.

Eddie’s fingers dig into Bill’s shirt as he sobs. His whole body is shaking and Bill wishes he could find Sonia Kaspbrak and give her a piece of his mind, but he tries to push these thoughts away as he kisses Eddie’s hair.

They sit on the couch, and it takes a long time for Eddie to calm down. Even after he’s stopped crying, he still clings to them. He whines when Richie pulls away.

“I’ll be back, my love, just going to get you some water,” Richie says as Eddie grips his shirt hem.

“But I–” Eddie’s hoarse, and Bill can’t help but feel sorry for him.

“I-It w-will help,” Bill says. He reaches out and pulls Eddie’s hand free. “It will help.” Slowly, Eddie lets go and lets Bill lace their fingers together. He leans back into Bill and closes his eyes.

After Eddie drinks his water, he looks around at them with heavy sad eyes. He’s cradled between them, both of them pushing into his space.

“I’m–I’m sorry,” Eddie says.

“What for, love?” Richie asks. He strokes Eddie’s hair, kisses his temple.

“Because I–Because I’m such a freaking mess,” Eddie whispers.

“Yo-You’re n-not a m-mess.” Bill kisses Eddie behind his ear and Eddie’s eyelashes flutter a little.

“Your mom is a fucking cunt,” Richie says.

Bill frowns at him. Eddie usually freaks whenever someone says something bad about his mom.

“Yeah, she is,” Eddie says. 

Bill and Richie make shocked noises. Bill squeezes him.

“I’m just so tired of her. She’s...” His voice waivers and takes a deep breath. “I have to use the bathroom.” Eddie gives them each a kiss before he gets up.

Once the door is closed, Richie looks at Bill, scowling.

“What the fuck is that bitch’s problem?” Richie growls.

“I d-don’t kn-know.” Bill sighs. He scoots closer to Richie. “I h-hate her so much. It’s been s-such a l-long t-time si-since–”

“Yeah, he’s been doing so good.” Richie huffs. “I just wish I could meet that bitch just one time so I could–”

“Trust me, you don’t want to meet my mom,” Eddie says. Richie and Bill jump, neither of them had heard the toilet flush. “C’mon. I’m hungry.”

Sharing glances, Richie and Bill get up and follow Eddie into the kitchen. He’s sitting at the table, pulling the food out of the bag and frowns at the fries.

“Aww, fuck, they’re cold.” Eddie’s lip trembles a little. “I’m sorry. I should have waited to call. I just finished my final and I–”

“N-No, b-baby. It’s ok. Th-The fries w–ill heat up,” Bill says.

“Yeah,” Richie agrees. “That’s why God invented microwaves, right?” He picks up the container and throws it in, pushing buttons quickly. “See? It’s fine.”

Sniffling, Eddie wrinkles his nose. “Nuked fries taste so gross.”

“I think we got some cheese and Ranch. That will help.” Richie goes to the fridge as Eddie looks at the rest of the food and looks up at Bill.

“You two are the best, do you know that?” Eddie asks. Richie kisses his hair as he wraps his arms around Eddie’s shoulders.

“N-No you,” Bill says.

Wrapping his fingers around Richie’s forearms, Eddie kisses his inner arm. “I love you both so much.”

“We love you, too.” Richie pulls away as the microwave beeps.

After they eat, they curl up on the couch to watch TV. They’re all crossed limbs and elbows in stomachs and pulled hair, but they don’t really care. Eddie just lets the others hold him close, pet his hair, kiss him.

“Are you doing better?” Richie asks after a bit. Eddie shrugs.

“Wh-What happened?” Bill asks.

Eddie shrugs again. “Just the usual. I finished my paper like right after you left, so I decided to call her before she called the police like she did that one time, and she said since I was done with my finals that I needed to come home right away. When I said I want to stay with you two, that my ticket is nonrefundable or exchangeable, she said she didn’t care about the cost, that she’d pay and…” He sighs. “She just wouldn’t listen. She kept saying, ‘You may be an adult, but you’re still my child.’” He huffs. “I’ve been financially independent from that old bag for over a year. She has no right to say shit like that to me any more.”

“N-No, she doesn’t,” Bill agrees.

“Honestly, she never should have talked to you that way, ever,” Richie says. Eddie leans a little closer to him. He plays with the strings on Bill’s hoodie.

“I know,” Eddie whispers.

Bill can hardly believe what he’s hearing. His heart fills with pride and he pulls Eddie’s legs into his lap and cups Eddie’s face in his hands before kissing him so, so gently. When they pull apart, Bill pushes his forehead into Eddie’s forehead. 

“L-Love you,” Bill whispers. When he pulls back, Richie presses his own kiss into Eddie’s temple.

“You know, you don’t have to go,” Richie says. “You can come home with us.”

“O-Or we c-could go wi-with you,” Bill says.

Eddie shakes his head. “It will be ok.”

Sighing, Richie shakes his head, no. “You shouldn’t have to deal with her alone. Let us come with you.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Eddie murmurs.

“Y-You d–idn’t. We’re t-telling you. We’re coming wi–th you,” Bill says. Richie smiles at Bill.

“You really don’t–”

“Eds, you may as well give it up. We’re coming with you, and if your mom can’t deal, well, fuck her, and we’ll leave early.” Richie pauses. “In fact, plan on it. We’ll all have to change our tickets, call our families, but we’ll split up the break evenly. It will be fun.”

“We can’t afford that!” Eddie protests.

“Y-Yes we c-can! I just got p-paid for th–at piece I wrote a why-while back,” Bill says.

“No, Bill, you were going to use that for a new computer!” Eddie says.

“I’ll j-just st-steal yours.” Bill strokes his arm.

“You’re ridiculous,” Eddie murmurs, but there’s a small smile on my face. He sighs and leans into Richie. “You guys are the best, do you know that?”

“N-No, you.” Bill laces their fingers together.

“Yeah, spaghetti, you’re the best.” Richie kisses his hair.

Eddie closes his eyes, and settles back.

“We d-don’t have to m-make any d-decisions tonight,” Bill says. “W-We can t-talk t-tomorrow.”

“Ok,” Eddie says. He sighs again and sits up. “You guys wanna do something?”

“Like what?” Richie asks.

“Play Mario Kart?”

“Only if you don't cry when I kick your butt!" Richie says as he pulls himself free and gets up to set up the Switch. Eddie scoots around and leans into Bill's side.

"Yeah, we'll see who cries, Tozier!" Eddie teases.

Bill knows it is a toss-up between the two; they are both really good. It's Bill that's going to be the loser, but he doesn't really care. He's terrible at video games, but he loves being with his boyfriends. 

He sits there listening to them argue about who is the worst player and waits to be handed a controller. He loves listening to them bicker like this, and he knows Eddie bickering is a good sign. Licking his lips, Bill leans into Eddie, eyes closed for a moment. 

"You ok, Bill?" Eddie asks as Richie's attention falters. He's fighting with the cords and cursing under his breath.

"Yeah, I'm good." Bill takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Love you so much."

Eddie squeezes his hand. "Love you."

"Got it!" Richie says triumphantly. He tosses a couple of controllers at them and sits near the TV. "You two losers ready?"

"Shut up, buttmunch," Eddie says. "Get ready to eat my dust!"

"Bring it!" Richie says. 

Bill struggles with his controller and gets settled. He knows the next couple of weeks are going to be hard. Eddie had agreed tonight that they would change their winter break plans, but that doesn't mean that it isn't going to be a struggle. He knows Eddie wants to break free, but Bill knows it isn’t easy; Sonia has a firm grip on her son.

Bill is not looking forward to the back and forth that is inevitably coming, but he decides there is no point in worrying about that now. Right now, Eddie is happy, Eddie is safe, and the three of them are going to have a good night. Tomorrow is future Bill’s problem, and tonight all he has to worry about is not driving the wrong way on the track. He knows everything will be ok.

[missfluffywriter]

Purple Irises  I Mafia Park Jimin x Reader

Authors note: Hello everyone! I know I’m supposed to be working on something else, but I couldn’t help myself. I read this amazing fic by @taetaewonderland Its called “The Bird Cage” and Oh My god it is so amazing. That is where I got the inspiration from, so please check out their blog. This isn’t my first BTS fic but it is my first mafia au fic. I had so much fun writing this I did this in like two day. And I was so inxplicably motivated. But yeah. And the fic does contain some medical stuff, and I tried doing my research but I could be wrong, and if you know something is wrong please tell me. :’) But there isn’t a lot of stuff. Just some here and there. If you think see any grammatical mistakes or mistakes in general, please let me know. Okay, that it for me. Happy readings!

Word count: About 7.6k 

Genre: Mafia AU, no angst yet :)

Pairing: Park Jimin x Reader 

Summary: You were supposed to be delivering flowers, how did you end up in an operation room digging out a bullet from a mafia boss’ shoulder? 

Purple Irises: Royalty and wisdom 

Warnings: Blood, guns, language, violence 

Next chapter I Masterlist

Gentle rays of light peered in through the store windows, the sun barely peeking over the mountains. A soft zephyr breezing through the streets. You admired the quaint peacefulness of the early mornings one more time, before starting your work in the flower shop. Relishing the freshness brought by the morning, you got up and grabbed your apron sitting on the reception desk, with a gentle smile you made your way to the back of the shop.

You made a mental to-do list as you collected the modified bucket. All the watering of the plants was done by hand. And this bucket was large enough to hold the amount of water needed to water all the flowers and plants in one trip. Only the problem was, when full the bucket was impossible to lift. So as a simple solution you suggested adding wheels to the bucket. Which had been working pretty well since installment. You wheeled the big bucket to the hose, and started the water as you waited for your boss to arrive. Sang Soomin, she was the owner of this lovely shop, and a good friend of yours. You were at a low point when she offered you this job, and helped you get back on your feet, and you were grateful for that.

“Good morning (Y/n)!” Speak of the devil, “Working as hard as always I see, We’re gonna need that kind of concentration today. There's a huge order that needed to be delivered later this afternoon” She smiled, putting away her bag under the reception desk. She rolled up her shirt sleeves before throwing her apron on.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, they asked for daisies, marigolds, white lilies, asters. And they ordered enough to decorate a mansion, I’m guessing a party.” She said, gliding over to where you stood. Ah, another party. The flower shop may have been small but it was in a rich neighborhood, a filthy rich neighbourhood. That was also why you were able to survive on only one job. You were snapped from your thoughts when you heard the splashes of water falling to the ground.

“Ah Darn it,” Soomin let out a soft giggle at your dismay. You hurried to close the faucet and sighed at the mess. Though not much had spilled over, you still had to clean up what had. You turned to grab some paper towels when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

“ I got it.” She threw some paper towels on the ground, she used her foot to move around the paper towels to soak up the spilled water. “Actually, leave all the watering to me. There's still some roses that need de-thorning. Can you get on that please? Seeing as you happen to be better at it,” 

“Got it,” You smiled, turning to the smaller flower room where most of the flower arranging happened.

“Okay, and that's the last one,” You heaved, hands tired from clipping thorns from roses for the past, what? Two hours? You pulled out your phone to check the time, 11:23 PM, okay maybe it was more than just two hours, then quickly pocketing your phone. Didn’t Soomin say the delivery was supposed to be made in the afternoon? It was about that time. You stretched before making your way to the main store. There were a few customers roaming the small shop, probably choosing flowers for a custom bouquet. 

“ Hey (Y/n) can you make the delivery? Hyun is out today. The address is with the daisies” Soomin asked, reading over what you assumed was the inventory list.

“Sure thing,” You quickly replied before leaving to load the van with the flowers. “Kay, I'm heading out” You called to her, grabbing the delivery clipboard and heading.  

“Be safe,” She waved at you. And you smiled in return.

‘Wow’ you thought as you looked at the mansion, which seemed more like a castel. They had an extensive front lawn, well manicured, neat hedges and bushes. And was probably bigger than a football field. Sure, you had seen your fair share of rich people houses. But this was just on another level. The front gates were large iron bars that bent to make beautiful floral designs, and two large pillars that supported the gates.

The house was beautiful, four large columns supported roman style columns supported a roof. Wide carrara marble steps that lead to large sierra double doors. You hesitantly climbed up the steps, reaching for the small doorbell. You rung the doorbell, somewhat nervous, the exquisite mansion making you feel smaller than any human being ever had. This whole place, basically calling you poor.

Tapping your foot on the ground, you impatiently waiting for someone anyone to pick up the flowers. You had rung the doorbell twice now and there was still no answer. They had to have known you were coming as the front gates were left open...right? And just as you let out another sigh, you heard a loud scream and glass breaking from inside the house.

BANG BANG

‘Gunshots!?’ Ducking on instinct, you covered your ears as loud bang’s echo throughout the property, only now there were more than a few guns firing. Loud cries and curses came from beyond the sierra doors. 

Finally gathering your barings, you beelined to the van, hurrying to get out of there, when the doors burst open and a man groaning and grasping at his bleeding shoulder fell to the ground, and you saw what was going on inside. People in black suits, crouching behind large objects and holding up guns.  

“Who the fuck are you?!” The man who came barreling out the door yelled. At his loud cries, a man from within turned to your direction.

“Shit, she saw. Kill her!” He yelled before a bullet narrowly missed his head. Eyes widening at his words as you tried again to rush to the van, when a grip on your right ankle nearly tripped you. “You’re not going anywhere, god damn it!”  

You tried using your other foot to kick yourself free from his grasp, but he roughly pulled at your ankle making you fall. You tried to stay as calm as possible you scrambled to get up on your feet, until you felt a hand on the base of your neck pull you towards the door.

You frantically tried to free yourself from his grasp, clawing at his hand, trying to kick your foot. But the man was on you left, and your legs wouldn’t reach so far left. As he dragged you inside, you took one more breath before grabbing the arm that was holding you with you left hand, then turning sharply, reaching with your right for the back of his neck and kneeing him in the stomach until he let you go.

As he fell to his knees clutching at his stomach, you axe kicked him, his head crushed onto the beautiful marble floor, knocking him out. A gunshot behind you brought you back to reality.

You turned and saw a man aiming his gun at you. You tried to move but your brain was processing faster than your body. Closing your eyes expecting you doom, but instead to be tackled onto the ground. You gasped and tried to push whoever it was that tackeled you off and scramble away from them, but hands grabbed at your waist and pulled you behind the bar counter. He had chocolate brown hair, and hazel eyes. His wore a black suit that had been bloodied and drenched in sweat.

“Who hell are you?!” He asked breathless, “What’re you doing here?!”

“Flowers!” you gasped, “I’m here to deliver flowers!”

His eyes widened in remembrance. Right they were supposed to have flowers delivered today.

“Stay here, and don’t move! Understand?!” You nodded, breath ragged as you eyed the young male. He tried peering from the above the hiding spot, then cursed dashing out from the behind the counter.

You brought your knees to your chest, trying to make yourself as small as possible. It was strange, you were terrified but calm. Anyone would be in tears by now in your situation. But now wasn’t the time for that, right now you needed to focus on not getting shot.

Moments passed and the number of guns being fired were dwindling. Until a man stepped beside you, his focus was at the people shooting at him. But he wasn’t alone, he had someone at gunpoint, it was the same guy who told you to stay here, and the two slowly backed away.

“Let him go Haewon, you’re done” A voice came from behind you, behind the counter. So this guy was the last of them. Out of nowhere you felt a brashness you had never felt before. Adrenaline bubbling.

 You grabbed hold of the tall vase that was in front of you, clutching it to your chest, you could feel your heartbeat in your hand, you took a deep breath.

Standing as fast as you could, you smash the vase into the man's head. The man lets go of his hostage and crashes onto the floor, unconscious. You put the surprisingly unbroken vase on the counter, then breathe in deeply, trying to get your erratic breath under control.  

One of your hands was on your hip as you hunched, taking a final deep breath, before looking up. To be greeted to the sight of men with stunned expressions, pointing their guns at you.

“Who the hell are you?!” one yelled. Oh this was getting old, you breath out, your head slightly hanging.  

“Hyung, the flowers. Remember the flowers we ordered.” The brunette that saved you life breathed.

“Guk step away from her,” A tallest of them, with syrup brown hair exclaimed, still holding the gun at you. You slowly raised your hand so as to not make any sudden movements, and to show you did not have weapons, and that at the moment you could in no way, do them any harm.

“It’s like he said, I was here to deliver daisies, roses, white lillies, and asters from the Kabloom flower shop,” You said in a steady voice. Heart hammering in your ribcage.

“And we should believe you because?” A man with silver platinum hair asked, voice strained. His hand gingerly holding his shoulder, leaning against one of the sofas.

“Is the van standing outside proof enough?” You answered with a question, sighing you continued, “You can call the shop and ask them.”

The short one with silver platinum blonde hair fell to his knees. 

“Jimin!”

“Hyung!”  

You lurched forward on instinct, naturally making a mental list of supplies you would need. So his name was Jimin. ‘This isn’t a time for names, we can worry about that later,’ you chide yourself, shaking your head back into focus.

But just as you stepped forward,you were stopped where you stood.

“Stop right there! And don’t move!” One of them said, threateningly pointing his gun at you. All the men around rushing to Jimin. But you were intently focused on the one on his knees. How long had he been bleeding for? This wasn’t good, at this rate he would bleed to death.

 Two men, the one that saved you and another red headed one supported Jimin by the arms. ‘No don’t do that, you have to stop the bleeding, gauze, alcohol, tape, tweezer’ that was the bare minimum you would need, you bit your lip as you thoughts raced.

“How long has he been bleeding?” You asked, stepping towards the huddle of people.

“ Stay right where you are!” Nostriles flaring as you breath through your nose. Anger gradually bubbling within as you were being kept from helping a patient.

“Okay! Listen here, it takes less than ten minutes for an average human being to bleed to death after a gunshot wound. So unless you want your friend to bleed to death, Let me help him?!” You said, tone expasrated but still firm, getting a little louder as you spoke. The men nervously looked at each other.

“And you would know because”

“Let. me. help” You said worriedly, stressing each syllable,  looking at the man on the floor further pailing, as he tried to brush off the other. Probably telling them he was fine.

“And what exactly makes you think we would trust you,” A shorter male with light brown hair, and wore a navy blue suit exclaimed. You understood they didn’t trust you but that guy was bleeding to death.     

“Look, I am trying to help! Your friend is bleeding out as we speak一” But you were cut off as said injured male collapses. The men around him worriedly call his name, panic in their eyes. Nervouseness hitting gull swing,  if they would just一

“Can you really help him?” The tallest one of them asks.

“Yes,” You replied, fidgeting as you thought of just in case alternatives you could use for some of the supplies, if they didn’t have them. 

“Then please help him’’ You exhaled loudly and stepped forward, but stopped when he spoke up again, his voice threatening,“BUT, we’re gonna be watching. You make one fishy move and we shoot you on the spot.”

“Fine,” You gulped, quickly making your way to the platinum blonde on the ground.

“Gauze, alcohol, surgical thread, sterile needle, tweezers, um...um lidocaine, and tape,” You recited your mental list as you pressed your hands onto Jimin’s shoulder, trying to slow the bleeding.  

“Well help him!” Guk? Stange name, cried, throwing his arms in the air.

“I can’t just do that here. We aren’t in some movie where you just rub some alcohol on and wrap the wound up and you’re done. We’re gonna need an operation room, and surgical thread, his bones don’t seem broken, but we still need a lot of stuff,” You replied to them as cooly as possible.

“Alright then let's take him to an operation room. We should have everything you just said, there. Jeongguk, carry him,” The tallest one commanded, his eyes moving throughout the room. His mind seemed to be running a mile a minute. And Jeongguk, effortlessly hoisted Jimin into a bridal carry. And walked to the winding staircase that was along the wall facing the door.

“You have an operation room?” You asked, amazed, rushing after them up the staircase.

“Which door?” Jeongguk asked.

“The doctor's room, Guk,” The tallest of the bunch answered. And you felt yourself relax a little hearing the childish yet adorable name for the sterile room.

You were surprised to say the least when you saw the room. Eyes wide as you take in the room that was almost identical to an OR, only this place had cupboards along the right wall. The lights and monitors and everything. You snapped out of your thoughts when you heard Jimin being placed onto the table. There were too many people in the room.

“There were too many people in this room, you can’t all stay here.” You ran your eyes through the cupboards, searching for things you needed.

“Like hell we’re leaving him with you一” One of the men at the back exclaimed.

“Please” You pleaded, placing the alcohol you had found on one of the tables.

“Yoongi, Jeongguk, and Seokjin stay in the room, everyone else go clean things up,” It was the one who had let you work on Jimin again.

“But, Namjoon一”

“Hoseok please,”

“Fine, alright you lot get out,”

“Thank you,” Namjoon gratefully said to the men as they turned to step out.

They were having their moment, but you were focused on finding what you needed to listen in. And astonishingly, they not only had surgical thread but also, dissolving thread. Anesthesia was out of the question, you didn’t have enough knowledge about it and you doubted any of them were anesthesiologists. And they didn’t have lidocaine injection, which numbed the wound and was a much safer option. But you weren’t too surprised, though that also meant you had to do this with Jimin still conscious, or could come to consciousness mid procedure.

Okay, you didn’t have a lot of time. You needed to do this and you needed to do this fast.

“Wait, some of you might have to stay after all,” You said before all of them could leave.

“Why? Nevermind, how many should stay?” Namjoon looked at you, alerting further at your words.

“Four maybe five, depending on how strong he is. There’s no anesthetic so we need to hold him down in case he moves mid procedure” You answered both questions as you washed your hands as furiously and as fast as you could. You were running out of time, you didn’t have time for proper protocol. You put on clean gloves then hurry back to the table. When you returned there were five men standing around the table.

“Okay hold down his legs, arms and torso,” You instructed them as you put on the surgical mask you had found.

“This is gonna hurt a lot. So he’ll thrash around, if he moves too much I may end up hurting more than helping. So hold him down tight.” You looked at each man with calm eyes, and began removal.

Jimin did wake up mid procedure and he did thrash around quite a bit, but Namjoon managed to somehow talk to him. After that he was as still as he could be with you digging around his shoulder. Eventually he passed out again from the pain. You didn’t have time to hook him up to the monitors, so you had Namjoon constantly keeping track of Jimin’s pulse. You told him to inform you immediately if he felt any changes. You found the bullet rather quickly, and neatly sutured the wound. Once all sutures were in place, you cleaned the new neatly stitched wound and bandaged his shoulder. After bandages were in place you took his pulse one last time to make sure everything was fine. You still needed to look for a stethoscope but after all that you just didn’t have the energy for that right then.

Heaving a relieved sigh you eased away from the table and towards the sink to wash off all the blood. You peered behind your shoulder to see what the others were doing, and their expressions were still twisted with worry. You smiled as you saw how worried they were for him. They weren’t bad people, just worried for their friend. If anything they looked kind as they watched their friend rest. But you still feared the future to come as you thought back to the prior events. The shoot out, the guns, those people, you had an idea of what was going on. And an idea how they afforded to live in such a lavish mansion. You wiped your hands with paper towels as you explained Jimin’s situation.

“He’s out of the woods for now but we’ll have to monitor him twenty-four-seven for the next few days. His wound will have to be cleaned and his bandages will have to be changed twice a day. We can move him to a more comfortable room but you’ll have to be super gentle. We should get him pain medication too, lucky no bones were broken, but He’ll still be in a lot of pain. He’s also lost a lot of blood, and foods such as lean red meat, poultry, fish, leafy green vegetables, brown rice, lentils and beans can all boost haemoglobin. Vitamin C helps with iron absorption, so to get the most from the food you eat, so make sure he drinks a glass of vitamin C-rich fruit juice with his meals. I recommend pomegranate just the fruit or juice, whichever he prefers”  

All five men seem to release a breath of relief as they heard you talk. Their shoulders slumping, finally relaxing. You watched with a smile before your eyes widened as you realized. You had been so focused on Jimin that you forgot about everyone else that had been injured. You jumped at the realization. The abrupt movement startled the men, and all jumped into an alert.

“Is anyone else injured, bleeding, hurt?  No wound is too small,” You said, looking at each man as they sighed and relaxed their shoulders. The men looked at each other before looking back at you.

“We’re fine but some of the men outside maybe,” Namjoon said, pointing towards the door.A questioning brow rose on his face as he saw your eyes narrow.

“Is that right? So the red stain on your shoulder is part of the outfit then,” You hummed. To which no answer came. “Thought so,” You coasted towards him, picking up the alcohol and left over gauze from the table along the way. You firmly instructed Namjoon to take off his blazer and shirt, which he refused...at first. As he continued to deny your help you stared him straight in the eyes and repeated your instruction.

He caved the second time around, removing his blazer and shirt. The other four attempting and failing to hide their grins and giggles. You dressed his wounds in record time before asking once more, “Is anyone else hurt?” They all shook their heads no. You sighed, the hard way it is.

“Jeongguk can I see your foot?” you asked, scuffled to the cupboards to get the arnica cream you had seen earlier. You returned quickly, sitting on the floor before looking at Jeongguk expectantly. He wore an uncomfortable expression, good. He was gonna cave.

He hesitantly gave you his left foot, “Your other foot,”

“It’s nothing really, there's nothing there,” He stammered out.

“Well then let me see your foot,” You said passively. He caved after thirty seconds of continuous eye contact. You smiled softly and applied the arnica cream on the deep purple bruise above his ankle.    

“Arnica, it's a cream that helps with bruising. Looks pretty deep, you might feel tender tomorrow. Take it easy and apply this cream three times a day, and the bruise should get better faster,” Words thoughtlessly escaped your lips as you finished applying his cream.

“Ahem一” Namjoon coughed to get your attention, “一So thank you for you help. And I apologize for what happened earlier, we were all just worried. But I’m afraid we can’t let you leave.”

You smiled, sighing, “I figured as much. After all I’ve seen, I have a pretty good understanding of what your...job. Don’t worry I won’t try to run away or anything, I know it will only make my situation worse,” Getting up you headed to the drawers, collecting bandages and tape, then returning to the table for the alcohol bottle, and struggling as you did, there being too much to carry. “And if you want to apologize, help me dress everyone’s wounds.”

“You’re awfully calm for someone in your situation, you have Stockholm syndrome or something?” Seokjin laughed, kicking himself off the wall he was leaning on and taking the alcohol bottle from your hands.

“Well, will me panicking and screaming about the situation make it any better?” You chuckled softly, making your way to the door.

“Touche” He laughed softly.

“But一” Yoongi interrupted, asking the question that was on everyone's mind, “Tell me something why are you doing this? Why are you treating our wounds?”

“Well, there’s a simple explanation really,” You tilted your head. Which the men couldn’t help but compare to a puppy.

“And what explanation would that be?” Yoongi raises an eyebrow.

“I was just hoping that if I made myself useful, you don’t kill me, and preferebly feed me too,” You answered simply.

“That's it?”

“I’d say that’s a pretty reasonable reason.” You lips stretched into a smile.

Yoongie looked incredusely at your answer, which seemed to be a common reaction to your words so far. That was honestly your thought process, you thought if you could make use of your skills, they would hold off on killing you, or decide to keep you alive all together. You knew the minute you saw what you did you couldn’t escape this. And the only escape you would find would probably be death.

But there was a strange feeling resonating deep within you. And you knew what it was. It was a feeling you should not be feeling in the situation you were in, it was thrill. You were excited to be where you were. It was terrifying but you liked the adrenealine rush that had felt. Was it wrong of you to feel that? A tinge of excitement when most people would feel dread. These men, judging by their demeanor were most likely forced into this life. 

And you felt guilty for feeling this excitement when you shouldn’t be, these men must have suffered much in their lifetime. And would probably give an arm and a leg to get out of this life, and here you were excited for what would happen next.

Your chain of thought was broken when you saw movement in front of you. Jeongguk carrying Jimin in his arms. Ah they were moving him, and it seems like everyone was going together. You stepped aside to let them pass, and followed them. Out the door, down the corridor, they banked left and down another tall, long corridor.

“I’m assuming we’re headed to his room?” You asked, walking next to Seokjin, still holding the bandages.

“You assumed correctly,” He answered, “His room is in the east wing, right down the hall actually.”

You walked down the hall in silence, aside from slight groans of pain some of the men. Which you registered for later, but perhaps it would be best not to push you luck with them. If you bothered them too much they might just kill you because you were annoying them. Eyes on the floor, you let your thoughts drift.

But your mind didn’t get to wander long as everyone stopped, you raised your head, taking in your surroundings. The door were large white double doors, they were doors you would see in a palace or castle. There was a large window at the end of the hallway and flowers in vases every few doors. There was clearly a color scheme, blues, whites, and beiges, and seemed like marble was a common occurrence throughout the house, well mansion.

Wait, flowers, flowers! You were here to deliver flowers! What time was it? Soomin must be worried. Your hands were full you couldn’t couldn’t pull out your phone, no clocks in sight. And you didn’t really feel like asking anyone right now. You thought of ways you would apologize to Soomin as the men opened the doors and walked in.

The room  was huge, probably bigger than your apartment, then again your apartment was more of a studio with a bathroom, but a very cozy studio. And the ceiling was high and the color scheme seemed to bleed into this room. There was a large rectangular rug on the floor. It looked so soft, and so expensive. There was a window of the far left wall. And a window bench underneath it, fluffy pillows decorating it. There was a painting on the wall, a medaow. The room was neat, aside from some papers lying around the floor. The room was well lit from the natural light coming in through those ginormous windows. But getting a good look at the room it was  simplistic. And said a lot about Jimin as a person.

Lots of soft colors and soft, fluffy things, he must be a gentle person...well maybe. Then your eyes landed on the cabinet along the wall that connected to the bathroom. A built-in liquor shelf, so he drank, no...a conisure? From what they eye could see, none of the bottles were empty. No ash trays, did he not smoke? Or was it just put away.

A small bookshelf next the liquor shelf. An armchair and a small, hickory brown table by the books. Which was surrounded by white sofa set, with beige pillows.  

Your eyes roamed the beautiful room, you couldn’t help it. You’d never seen a room this luxurious, except in movies and films. ‘I think I finally understand what writers were try to describe.’ You thought as you let your eyes return to the people whom you entered the room with.

Jeongguk gently placed Jimin in the large king size bed. Lined with white and baby blue sheets. Namjoon pulles the blanket onto Jimin tucking him in, a dimpled smile stretching across his face. The sight was endearing, they took care of each other as though they were brothers...were they brothers? Jimin now laying on his bed still wore an expression of pain. It was a bullet sound of course it hurt.

You placed the bandages in your arms on the table that was right next to the door. And quickly pulled out your phone, it read ‘4:30 PM’. You had left around 11:30 AM and now it was 4:30 PM, you had been gone for nearly five hours. The van! You needed to return the van!

“Hey you guys一” The men looked to you, “一I need to return the van, and check in my boss.”

“I’m sorry but we can’t let you leave,” Namjoon shook his head.

“Okay, easy solution, can someone else drop it off at the store?” You asked with urgency in your voice. Hyejin had done so much for you, you didn’t want to make her worry, plus it was her van.

“Well, I guess we could do that,” Namjoon shifted his weight to his other leg, “What’s the address?”

“Just go down the rich people avenue, you’ll find Kabloom flower shop along it,” Jeongguk snorted at you directions, his hands on his lips as he stifled a laugh. An amused smile played at Yoongi’s lips and a simple smile stretched across Namjoon’s face.

“Or… the address is on the van,” You chuckled with them.

“Rich people avenue? Really?” Yoongi chortled.

“What? Its true.” You said, stretching the what into something more of a whine. All of them looked much more relaxed now, Even Yoongi, who was the most suspicious of you, laughed at that.  

“But一” Jeongguk piped in, “一we looked over something kind of important,” Important? What had you missed? Your forehead scrunched, head tilting in question. Jeongguk gave a short laugh when he saw your confused expression.

“Your name. We don’t know your name?” He asked, light-heartedly. Ah, looks like the finer details were missed.

“Ah right, My name is (L/n) (Y/n), but please call me (Y/n),” You smiled, making sure not to forget that the van still needed to get to the store.

“Well (Y/n), tell me something, who are you exactly?” Seokjin questioned, his tone wasn’t threatening, but the way he worded the question had you on alert. “I mean, with all that stuff about vitamin-C and hemoglobin, and I saw how you worked on his wound, and you knew what you were doing, one would think you were a doctor or something,”

“That’s cuz I am a doctor, well I never finished my residency, so I’m not an official doctor but I do have a PhD,” You shrugged, you didn’t mean to hide it, besides it wasn’t like it was a secret.

“That’s not possible, you’re too young to be a doctor,” Yoongi commented in disbelief. You didn’t look old enough to be a qualified doctor, you looked no older than twenty-four, twenty-six at most.

“I was in an accelerated program, so I graduated high school early, plus I never finished my residency, so again, I’m not an official doctor,” You played with the edges of bandages.

“Wait, wait how old are you?” Yoongi asked, still perplexed.

“Twenty-four,” You looked up, only to be met with five confused men.  

A still confused Seokjin asks, “Then why is someone with a PhD delivering flowers? Is it like a side job? Or did you just not like being a doctor?”

“I… have my reasons…” You trailed off, and they saw your expression somber, and understood not to push the subject.

“Alright (Y/n), we’ll have the van sent back to your store,” Namjoon smiled at you, he appeared to be much more relaxed like he trusted you… to some degree. You were grateful they were doing this for you. But there was something you needed to get from your house, for one, if you were going to be staying here then you would have liked to get some clothes, and more than that you needed to get someone from your apartment. As you thought the cluster had broken off into two and three person groups.

Namjoon and Seokjin were talking amongst themselves, wearing serious expressions,  probably talking about all that had happened today. Yoongi, Jeongguk and Hoseok were chatting with each other. They held lighter air to them.

“I just had one more thing,” attention reverted to you, “I need to get something from my apartment, and I need to go get it,”

“We’ll just bring it to yo一” You cut Namjoon off.

“I’m sorry but I have to go, you guys can come with me but, I have to go” You declared firmly. It wasn’t something you could just grab and go.

“Why?” Namjoon frowned, confused as to why you had to be there.

“I have to go because what I need to get isn’t a something it's a someone, I need to get my dog, and you can’t go alone because my dog is special,” You exasperated, your shoulders slightly slumping.  

“And how is your dog special?” Yoongi inquired.

“Well my dog isn’t just a dog, she’s a wolf dog, and she’s more wolf than dog, and I don't think she'll appreciate strangers in her home trying to grab at her. And More than that I’m afraid she might end up attacking you, and you guys end up shooting her,” You sighed. 

Namjoon nodded, understanding the situation. “Alright but it will have to wait till?”

“Yes,” You replied, knowing this must be just as stressful to them as it was for you. And your pupper would be fine without you for one night, she should be tied down for tonight with the whole chicken you left her.

“Okay一” Namjoon sighed, “一 so (Y/n), you said we had to monitor him, right?” You nodded. “You and Jeongguk stay with Jimin, while we’ll deal with the mess outside,” You bobbed your head in understanding, as the rest of them poured out of the room. And seeing as Seokjin grabbed the bandages on the table, you assumed he would take care of the injured.

“Well, I guess it’s just us now,” You smiled at Jeongguk. To which he returned one of his own. His face scrunched as he did, he had a bunny smile. ‘How cute’ You thought, taking a seat on the floor, next to Jimin. But there was a rug underneath, that honestly felt more like a cushion.

“So you have a dog?” He inquired intrigued. 

“Yeah, her name’s Shelty,” Jeongguk nooded as you thought about your adorable puppy. 

“And she’s a wolf dog?” 

“Yeah, a german shepard, wolf hybrid. But I’m not sure what kind of wolf,” You said, thoughtfully. 

“You know I had a pet fish once,” He began. 

By the time you had realized how much time had passed, the sun had set. When had you turned the lights on? The day seemed to have melted away talking to Jeongguk. You found out a lot of things about this group. He was one of the seven founding members. And that one of them was out right now. That he was the youngest of the seven, about how they would sometimes eat so much someone threw up, and that they weren’t actually blood related but were as close as brothers. 

And you listened and imputed comments when you thought necessary. But there was a common theme in his topics, it was his hyungs. He somehow always returned to his elder brothers, you couldn’t help the smile that made its way on your face . He was a good kid, sweet and caring. And judging by how his eyes softened and that gentle smile that you saw on his face. You could tell how much he loved his brothers. You couldn’t help but wonder, how had he ended up as a mafioso.

“Gebus, it’s late, where did the time go?” You stretched your arms, then got up and stretched your legs.

“Thank you (Y/n), for listening to me,” He says, looking at his lap, then up to you, “With my kinda job you don’t really talk much about anything besides business...so this was nice. So thank you,”He smiled. Oh it was his bunny smile again, you were going to melt. Too late, you melted.

“I liked talking to you too, Jeongguk,” You eyes softened and you grinned, as you ruffle his hair. He let out a noise of protest before the door opened behind you.

“We brought food!” Hoseok entered, beaming. White plastic bags in hands. He was followed by Namjoon and Seokjin, and Yoongi entered a little later, clutching: wine, whiskey, and soda.

“I get fed,” You cheered, as you laughed with the five men.

“Yes, yes you do (Y/n),” Namjoon chuckled, placing the bags of food he held on the coffee table. Hoseok, doing the same, opening the chinese take out boxes and throwing the bag somewhere in the room.

“I for one think I’d be pretty rude to not feed the person that saved our boss,” Seokjin concludes with a smile. “Well then, come on, eat!” He waves his hand to invite you to sit with them. You playfully roll your eyes and scuffle to an open seat.

“I’m surprised you’re letting me sit here and eat, not to mention with you guys,” You thanked Seokjin as he handed you a plate of food.

“Well, you cooperating and not screaming at us helped your case, though I would understand why you would,” Namjoon said, reaching for a plate. You hummed at his answer as you ate your stir fried noodles.

“(Y/n) what drink do you want?” Jeongguk asked, pulling out lowball whiskey glasses from the built-in cupboard, beside the liquor shelf.

“Hmm just coke please,” He nodded and poured coke into a lowball glass, then handed it to you, as you thanked him.

“No alcohol? Why cuz it’s bad for you?” Yoongi laughed, softly throwing his back.

“I for one recall being on montering duty, and I can’t exactly do that drunk now can I?” You laughed.

“True, true,” Yoongi said, sipping his whiskey.

Dinner went by just as fast, you made small talk with Seokjin. Favourite food, favourite animal, surface level question. During that small talk you learned some interesting things. Turns out Seokjin or Jin as he went by, was the only one with any skills in the kitchen. He told you stories of mishaps that occurred in the kitchen, complaining about the guy’s culinary skills, or their lack of said skills. Jeongguk protested, refuting Jin's claims, only to be silenced with tales of the tin foil in the microwave incident.

You helped Jin and Hoseok clean up the area, gathering all the empty boxes in a plastic bag and handing them to Hoseok, who volunteered to take out the trash. All five men had decided to stay in Jimin’s room tonight. You chuckled because you thought it was because they didn’t trust you. But thinking more about it, it was probably for you than for Jimin. Considering he didn’t know about you. And you doubted he remembered anything from the surgery. 

Jin turned off the lights, to your surprise, a lot could happen in the darkness. He waved you off simply saying it was so Jimin wouldn’t wake up. But you knew the actual reason for the lights being out. Everyone was tired, and the yawn Namjoon let out, proved that point. Jin must’ve wanted everyone to get some rest, it was probably going to be a hectic day tomorrow. You gave an understanding nod, before going back to your original stop on the floor beside Jimin. This time however, Jin sat next to you instead of Jeongguk, who sat at the sofa with Hoseok and Yoongi.

And sure enough, one by one most of the men had dozed off, lulled to sleep by the quiet darkness. Even Jin had nodded off, you smiled at them. You wondered if there were any extra blankets around, you looked about the room, not you could see anything. But knew better than to just get up and search for blankets. So you sighed and nudged Jin. Who gasped awake, hand reaching for his concelead gun.

“Hey, it's just me,” You whispered.

“(Y/n) what? What happened?” He asked, still dazed from sleep. 

“Blankets, are there any extra blankets? Looks like nearly everyone’s asleep” You said softly, as to not wake anyone.

“No, I’m not,” Jeongguk’s mischievous piped.

“Well, almost everyone,” You rolled your eyes in a playful manner.

Jin smiled at your words, not that you could see in the darkness. He got up yawning and stretched. Then left the room to fetch the blankets.

Sensing the question from the youngest mafioso, you answered before he could ask, “I just wanted everyone to be comfortable, we all need blankets at night no matter what you say. Besides I wasn’t gonna risk searching around for blankets in the dead of night only for you guys to shoot me for snooping around,” Jeongguk gave a short laugh 

Jin was having trouble carrying multiple blankets. You let him in and placed one of the blankets on Yoongi and gave one to Jeongguk, who accepted it happily. As he placed one on Namjoon and Hoseok. You had returned to your spot when Jin handed you a blanket as well. Turned out he got one for you too, which you took gratefully.

Minutes passed and the moon had completely risen, the moonlight pouring through the tall windows, you had much better vision now. You took Jimin’s wrist and took his pulse just in case. Pulse was steady and everything seemed normal. You placed his wrist on the bed and sighed, at this point Jin had dozed off again, but weren’t too sure of Jeongguk.

You sighed, your head resting on your palms as you continued your monitoring. You blinked as you took in Jimin’s features. He was pretty, well, handsome. Flawless skin, plump, soft lips. And he had a peaceful expression as he slept. His silver locks seemed to have this strange luster in the moonlight. He really was beautiful, like an angel.  

Before you knew what you were doing, your hand had moved to brush his hair off his face. When your fingertips made contact with his forehead, you felt his skin, and he was burning up. Your stomach twisting, you fully placed your hands on his forehead. He had a fever, now that you were looking properly he wore an expression of discomfort. It wasn’t unusual for people to get fevers after surgery, but you had to get it under control. How had you not noticed this? 

“Jeongguk, you up?” you questioned quietly, trying not to disturbe everyone, you stood. Your sudden movements seemed to have Jin awake again.

“Yeah, why? What happened noona?” He replied quickly sitting up.

“Wha? What's going on?” Jin asked, still half asleep.

“Jimin has a fever, I need a thermometer, a cold compress, and a fever medication, tylenol, Advil either will do,” You said, a hand on your hip, turning on the lights.

Jeongguk sprung into action, dashing out the door with an ‘I’ll get it”. Which seemed to have woken everyone else up. All of them with sleepy confusion written on their face.

“Will he be okay?” Concern lacing Jin’s voice.

“Fever after surgery isn’t unusual, his body has been through a lot, we’ll give him some medication and a cold compress. Then we’ll watch his fever. Okay?” You give a reassuring smile. Jin nods. 

“Here! (Y/n) I got everything you asked.” Jeongguk burst into the room, materials in hand. You quickly thanked him, placing the cool ice pack on Jimin’s forehead. His features, relaxed at the feeling of the cool ice pack. You gently opened Jimin’s mouth and placed the thermometer under his tongue. Letting him rest for a while, as you waited for the thermometer to beep. But now that you were thinking about it, he was going to have to eat something before taking any kind of medicine. You bit your lip, not really wanting to have to wake him up.

BEEP BEEP

The thermometer beeped, and you gently pulled it out. 101 degrees, okay a low-grade fever. So it wasn’t too serious. You decided it would be best to wait a few minutes, if the fever went down great, if not he needed the medecine. And the cold compress seemed to have been enough.

You took Jimin’s temperature again, and smiled at the result, 99 degrees fahrenheit. Good the fever went down. You sighed in relief, “The fever broke, we’re all clear, we won’t even need the medicine”

Everyone heaved a relieved breath, Jeongguk coming to sit on the rug next to where you sat on the bed. Namjoon and Yoongi relaxed where they sat, and Hoseok had a hand over his face. Jin sat down behind Jeongguk. And the lights turned back off.

You took your seat back on the rug, next to Jimin. You reached for Jimin’s wrist one more time, this time not to take his pulse. You just played with his fingers, tracing small scars you felt on his hand, you didn’t know why, but you felt this inexplicable need to be in some sort of physical contact. You rested your head on the bed, and the fatigue of the day hitting you like a truck. ‘No I can’t fall asleep,’ were your last thoughts as everything fell to darkness.

[xsparklingravenx]

breathtaking

Title: breathtaking

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Characters: Albedo, Klee

Rating: G

Word Count: 2,275

Summary: The times that Klee and Albedo tell each other to breathe.

AO3

The paintbrush dashed across the canvas, and in turn, something true came to life.

On the grassy plains of Mondstadt’s surrounding areas, a boy stood silent, a palette of colour in one hand, the brush in the other. Gently, he curved those colours across the blank sheet, splashes of blue and green and brown, the boars that roamed the plains recreated in paint and chalk outlines.

These boars were unremarkable, but that in itself was what made them noteworthy. Such a contradiction shouldn’t have made sense, but to the boy, it was perfect enough to immortalise. Hilichurls and Abyss Mages took to these lands like they were their own, but still the boars persisted, living free and unafraid. At any moment, they could be hunted, for sport or for food, and yet the few before him had survived their entire lives out in an unforgiving world.

Now they lived immortal in his image. Caught up in his work, he paid no attention to the passing of time around him, how the sun crossed the sky, how the wind danced across his skin, the Anemo Archon’s quiet blessing. Another brushstroke here and there brought his vision closer to completion. The boars continued to graze. The grass was emerald green, and if he mixed his colours just right, then maybe—

A distant explosion had him pausing. The boy turned his head, a single strand of pale hair falling into his eyes as he searched for the source. Somewhere over the hills, it seemed, far enough from him that he needn’t pay it any mind. Were the Knights of Favonius out exterminating vermin today? He wondered, idly, if Sucrose was with them, though he didn’t identify any sort of Anemo traces in the air from this far away. Another boom in the air, and he cast the thought aside, returning his attention to his art.

Life stilled around him once more. That was it. The boars carried on quietly. The colours melded together. Three boars, quiet, content, living beings, born from the soil and destined to return to it. They breathed, interacted with the elements, survived—

An explosion shook the air, so close that it rattled his canvas. The boy stopped still, a frown on his face, because he was certain he knew that sound. And he knew that intensity.

And he knew that brand of giggling.

He opened his mouth to shout, to cry, wait—but he was a fraction too late. The sight before him erupted into fire and chaos as an explosion roared and took out every single sign of life in front of him. The grass flamed, the boars that had survived their entire lives out on the plain now little more than charred carcasses before him. He stared at the carnage in front of him, the canvas still depicting his quiet moment from moments before, wordless at the sight.

And then, from the smoke and disaster, a tiny figure came sprinting out, arms at her side, eyes wide. She skidded to a stop before the boy, planting her hands on her hips, looking immensely pleased with herself. “Albedo! Did you see Jumpty Dumpty! It went boom!”

Albedo looked beyond her, to where the grass was still burning, smoke rising up into the sky. “Klee…? Why did it have to be here?”

He knew better than to question her intentions, because her intentions were always cause the biggest explosion possible. She beamed at him, and then, spotting his canvas, she bolted up to it. “Oh! Oh! Were you drawing again? It looks really good!”

“I was…up until you decided to blow my subjects up, yes.” Albedo looked between the smoking grass, the charred meat that was cooking in the fire, and his art, which was miraculously unscathed. “How did you…why were you…where’s Jean?”

Klee giggled. “Master Jean is busy today, so she let me go exploring! I wanted to try out some of my treasures, but Kaeya says that ‘explosion inside city wall, grounded be thy woe’, so here I am!”

She admired his painting as he looked down at his colours and wondered if he should add the fires to his painting. It was hardly an interesting specimen to recreate.

“They look really cool, Albedo is so good at making pictures!” Klee sat on the ground in front of it and watched the flames rise. “I didn’t know you’d be here, I just got lucky! I haven’t seen you in a while…you’re always so busy, but now we can hang out, right? Maybe we can play with my treasures?”

Playing with her treasures was a shortcut to a fiery doom, but he couldn’t deny that her words instilled a sense of guilt in him. So caught up in his alchemic studies as of late, all his time had been spent with Timaeus and Sucrose. He’d been hanging up his do not disturb sign constantly, and Klee had been all but left to her own (chaotic) devices. “Sorry, Klee. I didn’t realise you wanted my attention. Seeing as the boars are all…well, halfway to becoming a sticky honey roast, I suppose I can spare some time to play with you. Not that it was exactly how I saw my day going.”

“Oh! Oh! Can we find a cooking pot? Can you make Woodland Dream? I love when you cook, Albedo! It’s just like when you do your alchemy stuff, like, you go poof and then…bam! You make something new!”

Her enthusiasm might have been infectious to someone else, but fortunately, Albedo had been blessed with the ability to remain calm and casual-minded in her presence. “Considering we have plenty of fresh meat right here, Woodland Dream seems like a waste.”

“But if you make that, then I can go and get all the fishes with Jumpty Dumpty! We can play, and then we can eat! And then you can draw. Maybe you can draw me?”

She hopped up as Albedo considered her request. He hardly ever used his skills to paint that which did not pique his interest in the realm of alchemy, but she’d asked so earnestly. Would it be so wasteful to dedicate a couple of hours to produce happiness?

“Albedo?”

He looked down. The fire was beginning to die away now behind Klee, the grass singed and blackened. She adjusted her backpack, and he said, “Yes?”

“You should breathe,” she said, smiling impossibly wide. “Come on, let’s go! We’ve got fishes to get!”

And then she was gone, dashing off across the plains, and he realised that she was right. In his pursuit of life, in his creation of art, he had not taken a single breath in. He closed his eyes and did as she asked, allowing himself the mimicry of human necessity. Nobody noticed, except her, and she didn’t question it.

In the distance, she turned and shouted, “Albedo! I’m gonna leave you behind if you don’t hurry!”

Packing up his art supplies, he chased after her, thoughts of eruptions in the back of his mind. It was going to be a long day, keeping her from wanton destruction, but at least she’d be happy—and he couldn’t deny that a day spent with her wouldn’t brighten his spirits regardless.

***

The outskirts of Dragonspine mountain were bitterly cold, the water close to freezing entirely, and yet the moment Klee went beneath the surface, Albedo didn’t hesitate to dive beneath.

It wasn’t supposed to be serious. He’d asked the traveller and her floating companion for assistance in collecting Starsilver for an alchemical recipe, and yet Lumine had shown up on the mountain side with Klee in tow, claiming that she’d been with her when he’d sent word to Mondstadt that he wished for her help, and that she refused to stay behind.

“It’ll be fine!” Paimon had declared in Lumine’s lieu. “Paimon thinks that even if things go bang, at least it’ll be nice and warm!”

“And we can always cook you over one of her open flames if things start looking dire,” Lumine added, looking a little smug.

Klee had been giggling then, but that had been before they’d run into the Lawachurl, before the lumbering beast had picked her up in its great hands and thrown her through the air. Her scream still rang out in his ears. Life born from soil was so fragile, and that was what he’d thought when he’d watched, helpless, as she hit the water and sank beneath it.

He had not thought through his plan, he’d just acted, tossing aside his sword and abandoning the traveller to the battle. The cold had not been a factor in his mind. The fight was forgotten. Miss Alice’s words echoed in his skull, treat her like a real younger sister!

Elder brothers protected their siblings. The traveller had told him stories of her own brother, how she would do anything to find him. She’d also mentioned the Fatui Harbinger who would do anything for the sake of his baby brother, and he knew of Diluc’s loyalty to his own non-blood sibling, how the rift between him and Kaeya had not prevented him from coming to his aid before. Albedo was not related to Klee, but she was his sister nonetheless, and that meant he had to save her.

The water was akin to ice, but his body withstood it, powered by something more than adrenaline. His eyes stung, but there she was, floating lifelessly, a small body so still, and something surged in his chest, emotion that he did not often feel, emotion that overtook his thoughts, his logic.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest, and oh, she was still a child, still so tiny, with so much power but as fragile as every other being. He thought of the boars she’d taken the lives of that day before his canvas, how she’d ended their existence with the childish joy of an exploded bomb, and he thought of the Lawachurl and its base desire to attack. They were not the same, yet they were; life was inexplicably difficult to understand.

He broke the surface, not choking or hacking, but that was normal for him. Klee did not move. There were no coughs, no groans, no cracking open of her eyes. She was limp in his arms, drenched through and frozen in his arms.

“Klee!” Albedo shouted, the roar of the Lawachurl’s fierce battle with Lumine nearly sweeping away his voice. He kicked his legs to keep them afloat, but he was losing his strength fast, the cold sweeping it away. “Wake up!”

Still, she didn’t move. She hung there in his grasp, and it was then that he realised that she wasn’t breathing. Fear gripped his heart as he dragged her through the water to the snowy bank. He had to hope that Lumine could hold it off without him. He had to hope that there was still enough of Klee left in her body for him to save.

Pushing back his shivers, he laid her on the snow and tipped her head back. Acting on instinct more than thought, he pressed the heel of his hand to her chest, one hand instead of two, not wanting to hurt her with his actions, but wanting to keep her with him through any means necessary.

Usually, he brought things to life through the act of creation, through alchemy, through his paintbrush and his clever mind. This was different. Klee was already living, he just had to keep her that way, and in his experience, keeping something alive was almost always more difficult than giving it a pulse. Practicality and alchemic practices went hand-in-hand, and yet here he was, doubting himself.

He pressed down. One compression. Two. Three. Keeping track of the time between them as Lumine shouted behind him, as the Anemo Archon’s winds whipped across his skin, as the unforgiving bitterness of Dragonspine bit deep into his bones of chalk. Albedo thought of blooming flowers, of exploding bombs, and he thought of Miss Alice and his own chest splintered beneath the pressure.

“Breathe, Klee!” he cried. “Breathe!”

And she did. She choked. Water expelled itself from her lungs as Albedo sat back to give her space. He heard the thump of the Lawachurl hitting the ground behind him, and, trusting Lumine to finish it off, he gave Klee all his attention.

As her breathing calmed, he asked, “Are you okay? Klee, speak to me.”

“Too much water…” she whispered, reaching out her arms to him. “I was scared…”

He knelt in front of her and answered her request silently, pulling her close to his chest as she buried her head into his. Alive. She was still frozen but she was alive.

“Your catalyst,” he said. “Your Vision. Use it.”

Between them, Pyro erupted, warmth in a different sense than her usual explosions. It swept through him and her both, and into his chest, she said, “You rescued me, Albedo…”

“Of course I did.”

And as she wrapped her tiny arms back around him, she said, “Breathe too, please?”

He closed his eyes and did. In and out in time with her, soil and chalk. The oxygen did nothing for him, but it did everything for her, so he followed her lead, this girl full of energy and life, his family until the end.

“Woodland Dream when we get back,” he said. “I promise.”

She held onto him tight, and he listened to her breaths, the cold forgotten, the fear draining away.

He could breathe for her as much as she needed him to.

[yamithediaperdork]

Baby Universe (Steven Universe)

Peedee wasn't sure what made him go over to Steven's house. It wasn't like he normally went up there, when Steven wanted to hang out he came into town. Still with the restaurant closed while they were fixing the freezer he had nothing better to do. and as it would turn out, the walk would be MORE then worth it.

Steven was enjoying a rare bit of time alone for a change, and was taking advantage of it. It wasn't that he didn't like the gem,s they were like three mom's to him, but just sometimes he needed time alone. double so since his little fetish had kicked itself into overdrive as puberty was hitting him and while the Gem's didn't seem to care, Steven still had a hard time bringing himself to wear his shameful fetish gear while they were home. Said fetish gear wasn't as bad as it could of been, it wasn't like he was wearing 30 pounds of leather or dressing up like a fox to go and yiff, Nope, all Steven wanted to do was wear thick crinkly diapers, and usually up to half a pack at a time so he could barely waddle. This of course HAD led to him being busted by the gem's in the past, but once they were convinced he was ok and didn't NEED the diapers, they left it alone and passed it off as one of those 'human things.' Today with the place to himself Steven already had 4 tena's on and was wiggling his butt in the mirror and trying to decide if he should keep it safe and just add anther 2 or go for broke and add 6 more. it would be all of his remaining diapies and he wouldn't be able to get more for awhile which was the only reason he was hesitating. Still, Nothing ventured, nothing gained and he decided to go with as thick as possible and went to work. He was JUST getting the last diaper on, sitting on the floor and touage hanging out in effort when there was a knock on the front door and without thinking about it, Steven called out. "It's open!" and then slapped his hands on his mouth, having JUST got the last tape on.

Peedee smiled and walked in, he had assumed as much but had been taught manners so naturally had knocked. "Hey Steven, i was wondering if you wanted to..hang..out..Why's it smell like half a bottle of baby powder in here?" the slimmer boys asked, heading for the stairs and sniffing. "N-No reason! you should just go home! I'm sick!" Steven's panicked voice range out and then as Peedee got to the top of the stairs he was treated to the side of Steven's pamper clad butt sticking out, the top half of Steven was trying to hide under his bed. Without even pausing to think about it Peedee took out his cellphone and started to snap pictures. "Nice pampers Steven~ Did your mommies diapie you up nice and safe and sound before going out for more?" Peedee asked in a mocking tone. "J-Just get out of here or I-I'll-" Steven stammered, trying to think of a threat. "You'll what? make a stinky boom boom? doesn't look like baby Steven has any more diapies though so you'll hafa sit in your boom boom till they get back." Peedee laughed. the taunt had the desired result of Steven coming out from under the bed and glaring at Peedee, but all that did was let the slimmer boy get a snap shot of Steven's face to go with his butt and then clicked on his phone. "Andddd saved to my cloud. So if you get any ideas about trying to snatch my phone away tubby, it's doomed to fail." Peedee said, chuckling. Here he was, in shorts and a muscle shirt, slender and lanky but at least looking his age while Steven was a tubby little butter ball who was older then him but between his baby face and well.. BABY PANTS he looked so much younger. "ngggh..what do you want." Steven huffed, hands balled up into fists but staying his ground. "I wanna go and have LOTS of fun with the big baby, In town. if your a good boy, I won't tell anyone about your diapies. if your bad, I'll pants you in the middle of the amusement park. but if your a super good boy, I'll get you a new pack of diapies." Peedee said. Steven huffed and whined, but it wasn't really like he had a choice in the matter and after sulking, nodded.

the tricky part for heading out and keeping baby Steven in his bulky diapers was finding something to go over them, which between the boys chub and the massive thickness of the diapers was proving to be next to impossible. "well geez, if we can't cover them I'll just have to stay home. shucks, that sucks sooo much." Steven said, shrugging his shoulder and smirking while Peedee dug though a box of old clothes. "Don't count me out yet, I'll find so- AHA!" Peedee said, and held up a old hula skirt of Greg's (what it was doing there was anyone's guess) "This should cover your thick crinkly butt, at least as long as you don't bend over or there isn't too much of a breeze." Peedee said and smirked. "...ah poop." Steven whined.

the skirt actually did a fairly decent job of hiding the diapers for the most part, if anything was giving Steven away as they made their way into town the was the waddling and the crinkling Steven was doing plus his face being beat red. Thankfully most people just assumed it was from wearing the hula skirt and chuckled and told Steven and Peedee how cute they looked as they headed for fun land. "I swear to god, everyone know!" Steven mewed holding onto Peedee's arm for comfort even though the slimmer boy was the cause of all of his suffering. "now now, enough of that! Unless you want me to go and take you dress shopping thats the best your gonna get." Peedee said, though a evil look came over his face as he said it. "Uhh nope! I'm good! Let's go get some cotton candy!" Steven mewed. "Oh like you need MORE candy tubby~" Peedee teased and poked a finger into Steven's flab. "Come on, we'll go play a few games then go and get the baby a dress..and of course lots of new diapies." Peedee said, not bothering to keep his voice down but with the noise from the crowd no one heard him. that didn't stop Steven though from wetting himself a little as he looked around, almost crying. "Don't say stuff like that out loud!" he whined, sounding like a pouty toddler. "Sheesh your grumpy..Did I snag you before your afternoon nap or something? or does somebody need a diapie change?" Peedee asked and then even as Steven tried to say no, and with people around Peedee lifted up the back of the skirt and looked quick. it was quick enough anyone watching wouldn't be quite sure of what they saw and no one was close to being able to get a picture but it had Steven in mute silence, jaw hanging open. "Hmm, just a little soggy your good." Peedee said and then noticed Steven was frozen in humiliation. "Awww is the widdle baby scared somebody saw his diapies?" Ok, the plan HAD been to drag this out, but the look on Steven's face was waking something twisted up in side of Peedee and with a crowd around and some people looking worried about Steven frozen state, Peedee smiled. "I know a solution to get rid of all that doubt!" he said cheerfully. he grabbed either side of the hula skirt and far too late Steven realized what was about to happen and hand hands moved to grab Peedee's but were FAR too late. with a yank downwards the chubby babies thick massive diapers were on full display for the crowd to see and a silence went over the park, before a eruption of laughter broke out. "oh my god, Stevens a big baby!" cried Lar's holding his belly and laughing while Sadie covered her mouth and elbowed Lar's to be polite. "Man, I knew he had baby fat, didn't think he was a baby.." Snickered sour cream. "what are you talking about, that's not baby fat, he's just a little oinker!" Jenny giggled, taking out her phone for pictures. "Man, This explains so much about how naive he is." Buck commented. "S0Steven what are you.." Came Connie's voice, and shaking and tears welling up in his eyes he turned to see her with her parents, hands on her mouth and her father trying not to laugh, while her mother was shaking her head. "I think it goes without saying you won't be hanging out with him anymore, Unless it's a babysitting job." Connie's mom said and then with a bitchy sneer added. "And Steven, I can hook you up with a dietitian if you want." it was all too much for the little piggy and Steven plopped on his butt and started to bawl, kicking his legs and rubbing his eyes just like the big baby he was dressed like. any hope that this was the worse that could happen today was soon dashed however as Peedee intended to keep the rest of his promises to the big baby, which included a new outfit and LOTS of diapers.

Any and all fight was out of Steven as he held onto Peedee's hand, walking on the board walk toward the new little miss plus that had opened up in town. it had all the same styles of outfits most other girls wore but was meant for the chunky girls, or sissies in Stevens case. It was picked because well, where else was Peedee gonna get a dress that was going to fit his little butter ball and because it was the furthest away from the only shop in town that sold diapers in any size, so Steven would be showing off his new outfit when they went to get him his diapies. walking in the young girl minding the counter burst into the later and then excused herself, her name tag said her name was sally and she was tall, about 20-25ish and had her long blond hair in a pony tail. "H-Hi, I'm Sally, H-How can i help you?" she said, the back of her hand up to her mouth and trying not to laugh as Steven's blush traveled from his chubby cheeks down his neck, he was heading for full body blush territory. "Hi, I'm Peedee and this is sissy piggy Steven. Oink for the nice lady Steven." Peedee said and swatted Steven's padded behind, making him jump and let out a loud oink. "I was wondering if you had any cute short dresses that would help hide my little piggy princess fat rolls while also letting him feel all sweet and dainty. and before you answer, this is what your working with." at that Peedee grabbed Stevens shirt and yanked up up and over his head, leaving the poor half gem in just his Bulky diapers and shoes. "pffft..I dunno.. Maybe. I-I might have to set up a video conference with my fri- other consultants so we can figure out what'll look best on the piggy, is that ok?" Sally asked Peedee, since it was clear who was in charge. Steven mewed and looked at Peedee, willing him to say no, it was clear it was just gonna be a lot of women looking at him and laughing! "oh yeah, that makes sense. go for it." Peedee chuckled and then laughed as Steven started to whimper and suck his thumb.

Half a hour later and the full body blush was going on big time, all of the women on the call where on speaker and he could heard all of their cutting comment and mocking questions. for the most part he didn't answer them though, Peedee insisted he speak for Steven who was currently sucking on a large pink costume pacifier that Sally had found in the back that had been sent there by mistake instead of a costume shop. The nipple was too big really for his mouth and so Steven had a constant line of drool going down his chin but there had been a bib too to go with the paci and it'd been tied around his neck and adjusted to go over every outfit they had Steven try on, and the bib of COURSE had to read 'Daddies baby girl' "Have you thought about trying to put him on a diet?" One lady asked. "Yeah, but the little piggy will go though the trash looking for left overs. at least when I let him eat 2 whole pizza's to himself it's not trash pizza."  Peedee lied. "Does he use his diapers for like..everything?" anther asked. "Of course. he doesn't get a diaper change till he's totally filled the front and back of his diapers or he's leaking. I'm not made of money for him to just waste them." "aww, what a lucky little piggy! I bet you love your daddy VERY much huh Steven?" A third giggled, directing her question right to Steven who locked eyes with Peedee. there was no doubt what the right answer was and if all of this had happened with him trying to be a good boy and play along, he didn't wanna think about what would happen if he was a bad boy. Steven nodded his head slowly as Sally squealed and then held out what she claimed would be the PERFECT dress for widdle piggy Steven. The top part of it had no sleeve, just little puffy bubbles in a white cream color, little indents with hot pink, then the main part of the top half of the dress was also hot pink  and had a piggy face on the front, in a little shade of pink. the skirt part of the dress clearly wasn't going to be long enough to get close to covering up his massive diapers and was white with a little piggy head print going all around it. "I totally forgot we're getting in a line of fat shaming clothes for mothers and fathers who are sick of their girls being little piggy's! what do you think Peedee? prefect?" Peedee nodded and getting the dress on Steven it pinched at his flab rolls and much as Steven had predicted, did next to nothing to cover up his diapers, at least Half of them were still on display. with his bib on the top of it but not covering up the piggy on the front of the dress Peedee also got Steven a pair of pink flat heels and then of all things, promised that Steven would pay for the clothes by modeling them off in the store window for a few hours a week! "Well, as long as I don't have to change him I'm sure that can be worked out." Sally laughed. Steven just sniffled and sucked on his paci, knowing as bad as today had been so far, it was only going to get worse.

The end, for now.